Chapter 151: The Spunky Little Firebrand

The Goguryeo soldier was so terrified that he was stuttering incoherently. The more he tried to conceal the truth and hesitated to speak, the more Li Dong became convinced that the Qionghua Palace must be harboring a massive secret. Hardening his resolve, he pressed his meteorite-iron longsword against the soldier's throat and forced him toward the inner bedchamber from which the sound had just emanated.

Though deeply reluctant, with the cold, sharp blade resting against his neck, the Goguryeo soldier had no choice but to drag his feet and walk inward.

Upon stepping through the door, a wave of rich, pleasant fragrance mixed with a woman's unique natural scent washed over them. Stationed within the Sui dynasty garrison camp, Li Dong was constantly surrounded by the foul-smelling stenches of men. Having had no contact with women for over two months, the moment he inhaled this feminine fragrance, an unfamiliar surge of agitation stirred within his heart.

Suppressing the tumultuous emotions in his chest, Li Dong swept his gaze rapidly around the room. He noticed that the interior was luxuriously and magnificently decorated, filled with the sorts of trinkets and ornaments young girls typically adored. A thought flashed through Li Dong's mind: this was undoubtedly the bedchamber of a maiden of noble birth, most likely of princess-level status.

Seeing that the room appeared empty, the Goguryeo soldier forced a calm composure and said, "There is no one here. We might as well head to the inner palace; it isn't much further from here."

The sound had clearly originated from this very room just moments ago; how could there be no one here now? Feeling somewhat puzzled, Li Dong spoke in a cold, deceptive tone: "I see you! If you don't show yourself right now, I'll start a bloodbath!"

A rustling sound came from beneath the bedstead, followed by a man's alarmed voice crying out, "Commander, no, no, please don't! It's me, it's me, hehe..."

Hearing someone recognize his military rank, Li Dong knew the speaker couldn't be a Goguryeo soldier, but rather one of the Sui imperial guards, which caused him to lower his guard slightly. He said softly, "Come on out! Staying under the bed is no pleasant experience!"

Then came the overbearing voice of the imperial guard shouting, "Get your ass out here!"

Immediately following that came a sharp "Ah!"—a crisp, piercing scream from a young maiden: "Let go of me! I'll kill you!" Even though she was screaming at the top of her lungs, her voice sounded strangely pleasant to the ear.

Two figures crawled out from beneath the bed: one was a Sui garrison soldier dressed in light yellow robes, tightly gripping a woman draped in a vibrant fire-red long dress. Because of their hiding place beneath the bed, her long dress had become thoroughly creased and stained with filth.

Dragging the woman out from under the bedstead, the imperial guard showed no shred of tender affection, hauling her all the way across the floor to the front of Li Dong. He offered an embarrassed, lewd chuckle and said, "I hadn't even had my fun yet before you barged in. This... she is Emperor Gao Yuan's younger sister, Princess Gao Qionghua! How about this, Commander, I'll transfer her over to you?"

Princess Gao Qionghua, accustomed to supreme nobility, had never faced such rough treatment in her entire life. She immediately scrambled up from the floor, her delicate hands desperately prying at the guard's grip in an attempt to break free. After struggling for quite a while without success, she suddenly leaned forward, opened her mouth, and bit down fiercely on the back of the guard's hand.

Li Dong was standing to her side. As her petite body leaned forward, her voluptuous buttocks rose into the air, fully exposed beneath her red dress—round, alluring, slightly upturned, and overwhelmingly sexy.

Unable to endure the agonizing pain, the guard let out a shrill cry, jerking his hand away and leaping high into the air. With a distorted face and murderous intent flashing in his eyes, he snarled, "How dare you bite me?"

Fresh blood trickled from the corners of Princess Gao Qionghua's mouth, and her delicate face was filled with the grim satisfaction of revenge, her eyes cold and merciless. Realizing she had freed herself from his grasp, she bolted for the palace doors like her life depended on it.

With the speed of a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, the imperial guard lunged forward and tackled her to the ground. Grabbing her by one leg, he dragged her back in front of Li Dong and delivered a vicious kick straight to her lower abdomen.

Clearly suffering excruciating pain, Princess Gao Qionghua tightly clutched the spot where she had been kicked, curling her body into a giant shrimp and writhing ceaselessly on the floor. Unlike ordinary palace maids who would wail and shriek to the heavens, she bit her lower lip hard, enduring the agony with sheer willpower without uttering a single sound.

Realizing that even without speaking, the imperial guard had already figured out the princess's true identity, and seeing the once-dignified, inviolable, cold, and haughty princess reduced to the state of a dying insect in another man's hands—subjected to bullying and humiliation at whim—the Goguryeo soldier felt a surge of courage from an unknown source. With a furious roar, he leaped toward the imperial guard and threw a sudden, uncalculated punch straight at his face.

The Goguryeo soldier had been shaking like a leaf with his neck pressed against Li Dong's sword, putting on an utterly terrified act. From the moment they first met, the imperial guard hadn't maintained an ounce of vigilance against him. He never expected that this man, facing imminent death, would still dare to bare his teeth, and was caught completely off guard, taking a blow that left him dizzy and disoriented.

Throwing his arms around the Goguryeo soldier in a blind frenzy, the imperial guard grappled with him, the two rolling back and forth across the floor. In the end, unable to withstand the Goguryeo soldier's ferocity, the guard ended up pinned underneath. Unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks, the Goguryeo soldier rained heavy blows down upon his face and body like a torrential storm. With nowhere to evade, the guard took countless punches before finally resorting to covering his face with his hands in a feeble defense.

Li Dong stood just a few paces away, watching coldly. Seeing that the imperial guard was about to break, he suddenly leaped forward and swung his longsword with force, lopping off the better part of the Goguryeo soldier's head. Red blood and white brain matter sprayed across the floor. The imperial guard's face and body were splattered with gore, looking as though someone had dumped a bowl of mashed tofu over him, sticky and reeking of blood.

Dizzy and disoriented from the beating, the imperial guard managed to scramble up from the floor and stammered, "Thank you, Commander!"

Li Dong asked amicably, "How did you figure out that she is Princess Gao Qionghua?"

Wiping the mess off his face with a look of extreme disgust, the guard pointed at the headless corpse on the ground and said, "The other Goguryeo soldiers told me. This suicide-seeking fool was fighting desperately to protect her—wasn't that proof enough of her true identity?"

Li Dong praised him, saying, "Very well, very well. You have rendered a great service today. I shall reward you handsomely!"

"Thank you, Commander!" the guard said joyfully.

"Well... I'll reward the princess to you then! You may take her away now," Li Dong said with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.

The imperial guard was utterly astonished. A graceful little firecracker, a maiden of noble princess blood—he wasn't going to keep her, but was awarding her to him? Overjoyed on the spot, he turned and strode toward the princess, bending down to grab her garments.

Before he could even straighten his back, a sudden chill struck his lower back, followed immediately by an agonizing pain that coursed through his entire body and brain. He looked down to see two inches of meteorite-iron sword tip protruding from his lower abdomen, blood streaming from the blade in a steady line that quickly pooled on the floor.

"You... you... how..." The imperial guard twisted his body around to find that the one standing behind him was none other than Dang Yuqian. He could not fathom why Li Dong would turn on him.

Li Dong flicked his wrist lightly, withdrawing the meteorite-iron longsword from the man's body. Blood gushed from the wound on the guard's torso. After convulsing a few times, he slowly grew still.

As it turned out, Li Dong had long intended to dispose of him. He had remained indifferent when the Goguryeo soldier was pummeling the guard. Later, a sudden thought crossed his mind: he needed to verify the truth of the princess's identity before making a final decision, which forced him to step in and save the guard's life.

Once the situation was confirmed, Li Dong's killing intent resurfaced. He had feigned rewarding the princess to the guard, then caught him off guard by leaping forward when his back was turned to deliver a fatal, unexpected stab from behind.

Having collapsed onto the floor, Princess Gao Qionghua heard a dull thud and watched the headless Goguryeo soldier tumble to the ground. A pang of shock gripped her heart; pressing her lips into a thin line, she understood that he had been ruthlessly slaughtered and torn away from this world simply to protect her.

Before she even had time to process the thought, another miserable shriek echoed in her ears, followed by disjointed words and yet another dull thud. This time, the collapsing corpse belonged to the Sui imperial guard.

A wave of elation washed over Princess Gao Qionghua; she assumed that reinforcements from her own side had arrived. Struggling to sit up, she took a quick glance around, only to realize that the person standing before her was still a Sui imperial guard—albeit one wearing purple robes.

This time, she was completely baffled. Was this man a Sui soldier, or one of their Goguryeo troops? Why did he slaughter men from both sides without mercy? What on earth was he trying to achieve?

Li Dong strode toward her and extended a hand, saying, "Give me your hand. I'll help you up."

A look of utter disbelief crept across Princess Gao Qionghua's delicate face, as if she were gazing at a wild beast. Instead of offering her hand, she scrambled backward across the floor inch by inch.

Until she could ascertain this man's true intentions, she must never surrender herself so easily. If he harbored malicious designs and ill intent toward her, she would rather die to protect her chastity and purity. She refused to fall into his hands, suffer humiliation, and bring further trouble to her imperial brother Gao Yuan.

Her fearful demeanor did not prompt Li Dong to overthink things. He squatted down to bring himself level with Princess Gao Qionghua's line of sight, noticing that her eyes were filled with hatred, terror, and a faint trace of confusion. Under normal circumstances, those eyes would have been stunningly beautiful—the dream goddess of countless Goguryeo soldiers within the imperial palace, the visage so many guards would obsess over in the dead of night while pleasuring themselves in repetitive solitude.

Her face was incomparably delicate and smooth, like a freshly peeled hard-boiled egg, radiant and flawless as a mirror. At that moment, terrified out of her wits by the slaughter of the two men, her feminine vulnerability only served to stoke the fires of ambition within Li Dong's chest.

With her long dress torn by the imperial guard, patches of jade-like skin were exposed, delicate enough to break at the touch. Her full breasts rose and fell, displaying a cleavage that dipped downward in a tantalizing line. A wave of natural fragrance accompanied her gentle, breathless gasps; she had been frightened out of her mind by him!

Li Dong leaned in a fraction closer and said, "This is a critical juncture; now is not the time for chatter. Come with me!"

Princess Gao Qionghua swung her hand to strike him straight across the face.

How could Li Dong let her succeed? He grabbed her small hand—it was soft and remarkably comfortable. Yet, a trace of annoyance flickered in him: why did she have to hit him?

Right at that moment, the sound of footsteps echoed from the entrance of the bedchamber. The voice of the person leading the way rang out loudly, and upon closer listening, it was unmistakably Lu Laosan.

Li Dong knew instantly that Lu Laosan was leading his fellow imperial guards here in search of amusement.

At that very second, Li Dong's mind was preternaturally calm. *What should I do? No one must discover my secret!*

Glancing across the room, Li Dong spotted the princess's bedstead.

With a gentle twist of the princess's arm behind her back, Li Dong scooped Gao Qionghua up into his arms. Her body felt light and remarkably supple, boneless and pliant, while her natural fragrance grew even more intense. A wave of tumultuous, restless agitation surged through his heart.

"Let go of me! What do you think you're doing?" Princess Gao Qionghua had also heard the footsteps outside. Daring not to raise her voice, she hissed the demand in a breathless whisper while held tightly in Li Dong's arms.

"What do you think one does at a time like this? Isn't it obvious?" A malevolent, wicked grin spread across Li Dong's face, oozing vulgar lewdness. Turning around, he deposited her onto the bed, pressed his weight down upon her body, pulled the quilt over them both, and began to move.

Simultaneously, Lu Laosan, leading a dozen imperial guards, arrived at the entrance of the bedchamber.