Chapter 221

“Xi.” No sooner had Duanmu Xi taken two steps forward than Situ Kong called her name.

Duanmu Xi looked at Situ Kong in front and slightly knitted her brows, “Chief Master?” She had asked him to leave first. Why was he still here?

“Why are your clothes wet? Are you alright?” Faced with Duanmu Xi’s confused eyes, Situ Kong changed the topic with determination.

Duanmu Xi lowered her head to look at her collars. As expected, her collars were mostly wet. She looked at Situ Kong and said with a smile, “It’s okay. I must have been wet by the water poured out by Lanze.”

Duanmu Xi patted Lanze’s head with her face full of affection. Lanze raised its head and rubbed its head against Duanmu Xi’s palm.

Situ Kong saw their intimate interaction and also smiled, “Good thing that you’re fine…”

“Your Highness…” While they were talking, a shout came from not far away.

Upon hearing the voice, Duanmu Xi and Situ Kong looked up at the same time.

“Your Highness, are you okay?”

“Your Highness, are you injured?” Phoenix Five and Phoenix Fourteen rushed to Duanmu Xi at the same time. Long Yue and Yu Ying followed closely.

“Why are you back?” Duanmu Xi slightly frowned at the four of them before her.

Phoenix Five and Phoenix Fourteen prostrated themselves at once. Long Yue and Yu Ying also knelt on the ground.

Duanmu Xi blinked at the four people in front of her. For the moment, she was quite confused.

“As your guards, I ran away regardless of Your Highness’s safety. I deserve to die. Please punish me,” Phoenix Five said and lowered her head. Currently, she only felt ashamed. If there was a hole in the ground, she would hide in it without hesitation.

“Please punish me…” Long Yue and the others also lowered their heads.

Duanmu Xi’s eyes flashed. It turned out that they were ashamed of this. It was thoughtless of her indeed. She only cared about their safety without considering their stance and feelings.

“You weren’t wrong. You’re not deserters either. You’ve only followed my order. As my guards, you should protect me, but following my order is also important.”

Duanmu Xi directly exerted her mysterious Qi and held several people up, “Remember this. Being loyal isn’t wrong, but I don’t need blind loyalty.”

Phoenix Five and the others were touched to hear that. They had done something wrong, but Her Highness still comforted them. It was an honor for them to have such a mistress in their life.

Duanmu Xi finally sensed something wrong. She looked at Phoenix Five and the others, “Why are there only the four of you? Where are Thirteen and Long Ri?”

Phoenix Five and the others looked behind. What was going on? Where were Thirteen and Long Ri? Shouldn’t they follow behind?

“Did anyone of you see Thirteen and Long Ri?” Long Yue asked Yu Ying and Phoenix Fourteen with a frown.

Yu Ying and Phoenix Fourteen exchanged glances and shook their heads together, “No.”

“Has anything happened to them?” Phoenix Fourteen asked anxiously. Given her understanding of Thirteen, Phoenix Fourteen believed that Thirteen would surely follow them. Something wrong must have happened.

Duanmu Xi knitted her eyebrows, “Let’s go back and take a look now!”

Duanmu Xi directly rushed forward, followed by the others.

Phoenix Thirteen kept running after the vine. The vine moved so fast that Phoenix Thirteen could narrowly catch up with it when she ran at the fastest speed.

Long Ri was entwined by the vine in the air. At first, he tried his best to struggle. However, the more he struggled, the more tightly the vine twined around him.

Currently, Long Ri felt that he couldn’t breathe at all. His mind was gradually going blank. He could only think of one person for now. At the thought of that person’s cold face, Long Ri subconsciously curled his lips. It was so great to see her for the last time on his deathbed!

Seeing that Long Ri got paler and slowly closed his eyes in the air, Phoenix Thirteen knew something was wrong and directly exerted her mysterious Qi to throw the sword at the vine.

The vine was cut off into two halves. Red blood erupted from the cut constantly.

The moment the vine was cut off, Long Ri fell from the height.

Without thinking much, Phoenix Thirteen directly flew forward to catch Long Ri.

In midair, Phoenix Thirteen carried Long Ri in her arms and landed slowly. The vine behind twisted itself madly due to the pain. Its blood splashed. The scene was quite heroic.

Long Yue who could finally breathe again slowly opened his eyes. Staring at Phoenix Thirteen’s beautiful face, Long Ri tittered and couldn’t help stroking Phoenix Thirteen’s face.

Phoenix Thirteen was slightly taken aback. Her eyes flashed but she didn’t avoid his touching.

The warm feeling struck Long Ri dumb again. Why could the delusion be warm?

Phoenix Thirteen directly carried Long Ri in his arms and landed. Staring at Long Ri’s eyes, she asked with worry, “Are you okay?”

Long Ri instantly composed himself and hastened to withdraw his hand. He looked away in a fluster and faltered, “I’m… I’m fine…”

“Great.” Hearing Long Ri’s answer, Phoenix Thirteen let out a sigh of relief and also released her arm around Long Ri’s shoulders.

Long Ri realized in hindsight that they were so close now. When Long Ri smelt Phoenix Thirteen’s faint scent, his heart pounded a few times faster. He took several steps back. Now, his hands and face were extremely hot.

While they were having an intimate vibe, the vine came to them quickly again.

Phoenix Thirteen pushed Long Ri aside and then picked up Long Ri’s sword to slash at the vine.

Long Ri stared at Phoenix Thirteen swinging the sword sternly, his eyes full of affection. Within three days, she had saved his life three times. Was she the one for him?

Suddenly, the vine directly whipped at Phoenix Thirteen’s face.

“Watch out…” Long Ri was shocked and directly struck his palm at the vine.

Feeling a blast of sharp pain, the vine immediately retracted.

Long Ri rushed to Phoenix Thirteen. When he saw the bloody weal on her face, his eyes became red at once.

“Argh…” Long Ri shouted and sucked Phoenix Thirteen’s sword into his palm.

Holding the sword, Long Ri just wanted to slash the vine into pieces.

Watching the dark blue sword Qi swishing in the air, Phoenix Thirteen was surprised. Long Ri was displaying his ability as a Mysterious Emperor of the peak stage. He deserved to be the No. 1 dragon guard of the Qinglong Empire.

Long Ri swung the sword with unstoppable momentum. The vine also seemed to feel Long Ri’s anger. It retracted its branches and strived to flee toward the depths of the jungle.

Long Ri stared at the fleeing vine with red eyes. Since it dared to hurt her, he must cut it into pieces.

After shouting again, Long Ri flew toward the fleeing vine like a gust of wind. He raised his sword and threw a fatal blow at the vine.

The vine turned into ashes before it could scream.

Seeing that the vine dispersed, Long Ri held the sword and returned to Phoenix Thirteen.

Seeing Phoenix Thirteen’s bloody weal on her face, Long Ri felt pity for her, “Does it hurt?”

Long Ri wanted to touch the weal on Phoenix Thirteen’s face but he felt that it was inappropriate. He put down his hand rigidly.

Phoenix Thirteen shook her head casually, “It’s a minor injury only.”

Long Ri frowned. Didn’t the women of the Zhuque Empire care about themselves so much? He thought of something and then took out an ointment from his arms.

“I’ll apply it to your injury.” Long Ri dipped his finger in the ointment and looked at her weal with a frown, “It may hurt a bit. Bear with it.” Then, Long Ri smeared the ointment across Phoenix Thirteen’s weal softly.

Phoenix Thirteen’s eyes slightly flashed. She looked at the handsome face at a close distance. Her heart skipped a beat. She looked away in a fluster and didn’t dare to look at Long Ri’s extremely serious face anymore.

“Done. Are you feeling better?”

Phoenix Thirteen finally felt a stinging pain in the injury and then a cool feeling. She looked up to meet Long Ri’s caring gaze and slightly curled her lips, “I’m fine now.”

All of a sudden, Long Ri felt a wave of energy churning in his chest. He covered his chest tightly.

Phoenix Thirteen was shocked to see Long Ri covering his chest all of a sudden, “What’s wrong? Are you injured?”

Long Ri directly slumped to the ground and felt the churning energy in his body. He slightly knitted his brows, “I’m fine. No worries. I’m just getting promoted. Please be my guard for a while.”

Phoenix Thirteen nodded with a stern face.

Seeing that Phoenix Thirteen nodded, Long Ri immediately closed his eyes.

Duanmu Xi and the others rushed to the place where Phoenix Five and the others had stayed before.

Phoenix Five looked at the empty place and frowned, “Where is Thirteen? She was here before. Why is she gone?”

Long Yue looked around and said with a frown, “Let’s split up and look. Maybe we can find some clues.” Given Phoenix Thirteen’s prudent character, even if something had gone wrong, she would leave some clues for them.

Everyone nodded and immediately split up to search for Thirteen.

Very quickly, Yu Ying found the jade pendant left by Phoenix Thirteen, “Whose jade pendant is this?”

Phoenix Fourteen saw the jade pendant and immediately seized it with excitement.

“It’s Thirteen’s. Something must have happened to her,” Phoenix Fourteen looked at Yu Ying and said with a worried face.

Duanmu Xi stared at the serene jungle and slightly frowned, her dark purple eyes glittering with worry.

Suddenly, Phoenix Five pointed at a wisp of red smoke in the air and said, “Look. It’s a signal sent by Thirteen.”

The others all looked up.

“Thirteen is over there,” Phoenix Fourteen said and ran in the direction of the red smoke.

The others all followed her.

With the guidance of the red smoke, everyone found Phoenix Thirteen and Long Ri quickly.

Seeing that Phoenix Thirteen and Long Ri were fine, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

When everyone tried to approach the two of them, a flash of purple light suddenly erupted from Long Ri’s body.