Li Jin Qing: The one behind it all

Chapter 45

Yu Qi descended down the stairs of the prison that held the prince of Wei.

Wu Xin had given her a task, and just like all the years before, she will not fail her.

She had already set fire to a building in the palace to create a distraction, and the keys to their cells were already in her pockets. Walking in the dark, she approached the Prince who was already waiting for her.

"I've been waiting. Is it finally time?" Shang Ye asked.

Yu Qi took out the keys and opened the heavy iron lock. "Come, quickly. I'll take you somewhere and you'll wait there as I gather the men that I can release."

Shang Ye nodded. He knew that they wouldn't be able to save all of the captured soldiers as many of them have already died in captivity. Yu Qi wouldn't tell him why or how they died, but she had assured him several times that none of them spoke under interrogation. "Is Jin qing alright?"

Yu Qi was still getting used to people calling the crown princess Jin qing but nodded. "She's fine. We can't waste any time..." she unlocked the cuffs on his wrist, letting it fall with a sharp clang. "Come, hurry. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to assist you."

"You've already done more than enough." Shang Ye nodded and followed her out the stairs.
He can still see orange hue the fire painted in the dark sky and correctly guessed what was going on in that direction.

"Go in the opposite direction of the fire, following this path." Yu Qi pointed and started to walk back. "You'll see a fleet of horses waiting in a garden by the wall. I didn't have the time to saddle most of them. I'll go free your remaining men... there isn't much left, unfortunately. I'll see you soon!"

She turned around on her heel and sprinted toward the direction of the other prisons. She was a trained bodyguard to the royal family so she was granted the luxury of wearing the light garments that she knew Wu Xin has always longed to wear.

Yu Qi can see the servants and guards of the palace rushing to tame the raging fire and silently thanked her late father who had taught her how to use fire as a controlled weapon. The fire had brought her some precious time, but it wouldn't go on forever. She needed to get the Wei soldiers and their prince out before the fire was put out.

The men looked up when they heard her footsteps crushing the hay on the floor. They all knew it was time and stood up, waiting patiently for her to unlock all their cells. Out of the seventy-five that had been captured, only forty was left after a total of two weeks of staying in the Song.

Yu Qi placed her keys back into her pocket after releasing all of them. She grabbed a lantern off the walls and began to run up the stairs. "Quickly! We mustn't dawdle. I'll take you all through a shortcut through the side gardens, but you all will have to move quickly. Hurry."

The men followed her faithfully. They had grown to put some trust into this woman after her repeated signs of kindness all as a favor to the Xue Xian.

However, this trip wasn't all smooth sailing as Yu Qi had hoped. They soon came across three guards that were in front of the gates to the shortcut.

One stared at Yu Qi and the people behind her in confusion. "Commander Yu Qi? What are you-" the man didn't get to finish his sentence as she had drawn two short daggers and had impaled one neatly in his chest.

His blood blossomed but no hesitance was shown from Yu Qi. Her attention was turned to the other two and swung her arm, cutting both of them down as her blade met the soft skin of their neck.

This was the way of a Liang assassin.

She put her knives back and opened the gates, gesturing to the stunned men to follow her. She knew that she'll have to cut up their body even more so it would look like the Wei soldiers got past them on pure force.
But her main attention was to get them to Shang Ye first.