After following Xie Yi for so long, he was no longer as naive as before.
He even vaguely sensed that neither entering the Eastern Palace nor becoming deputy guard of the Training Guard Office was Xie Yi’s true goal.
After hearing this analysis, Xie Yi showed a faint smile: 【Mm. You’re right.】
He walked to the weapons rack: “I heard Bai Siwei’s paired maces are quite formidable. May I have the honor of witnessing them today?”
Bai Xingmao froze slightly.
He had assumed Xie Yi would still compete in bare-handed combat, but unexpectedly he was choosing weapons.
Moreover, paired maces were battlefield weapons designed specifically to break heavy armor—extremely heavy and brutally destructive.
Originally, Bai Xingmao only intended to lightly teach him a lesson, but now Xie Yi had just won a match and already become so arrogant and conceited.
Since he had said it, Bai Xingmao had no way to refuse.
He himself was also a martial man; after repeated provocation, anger rose in his chest.
He decided: even if Xie Yi truly died, it would be his own fault.
“Bring my maces.”
Bai Xingmao’s paired maces were indeed extremely heavy, requiring two men to carry them in.
He swung them casually in his hands, and even the wind they stirred felt heavy.
Lin Zhiji had confidence in Xie Yi, but even he started to feel uneasy.
Meanwhile, Xie Yi remained as relaxed as ever, casually picking up a sword from the rack.
“Bai Siwei, please.”
Bai Xingmao could no longer hold back and struck down with furious force.
Xie Yi’s swordsmanship was agile and elegant.
But after a few exchanges, Bai Xingmao realized something—although the execution was exquisite, the foundation was still the most ordinary sword technique.
He had assumed that Xie Yi suggested weapons because his swordsmanship was extraordinary.
But now it seemed, in Xie Yi’s eyes, he was no different from Zang Feng.
He looked down on everyone equally.
Bai Xingmao’s face darkened with anger.
He could only win this fight—he could not lose.
His attacks quickened, the heavy maces in his hands becoming almost weightless.
Lin Zhiji immediately felt the pressure transmitted through Xie Yi’s movements and grew worried: 【Host, are you okay?】
Xie Yi replied calmly: 【I’m fine.】
The two were now in a pure clash of strength and precision.
A deadlock formed.
Then Bai Xingmao saw an opening.
It reminded him of how Xie Yi had lured Zang Feng before.
He sneered.
Same trick again?
He charged forward instead of retreating, intending to break through by brute force.
But the expected trap never came.
Xie Yi’s sword was knocked aside, and the maces slammed into him heavily.
Xie Yi spat blood and collapsed instantly.
Bai Xingmao froze.
Zang Feng reacted immediately: “Call the imperial physician!”
Lin Zhiji noticed that Xie Yi’s sword had deviated by half an inch—he had deliberately taken the hit.
But at that moment—
Everything went dark.
All sound vanished.
It was as if his connection to Xie Yi’s senses had been severed.
Or rather… he had returned to death.
【Host…?】
His voice trembled.
But there was no response.
Panic surged through him.
Then, the system interface flickered.
A broken voice echoed:
【0…4…7…】
Lin Zhiji froze.
047?
That was his number in this mission space, assigned by System 03.
【03, is that you?】
【It… is… me…】
He was both shocked and relieved.
But the signal was unstable.
【047… why… are you bound… to the villain…?】
Before he could answer, 03 quickly explained the situation in fragments.
When Lin Zhiji was bound to the villain, contact was cut off. Only after he completed a main mission did he briefly regain energy and manage to reach him during Xie Yi’s injury.
Now 03 had applied for a physical body for him in the system shop—once Lin Zhiji accumulated enough points, he could leave Xie Yi and reconnect properly.
But before Lin Zhiji could ask more, the signal weakened again.
【The villain… is waking… I must go…】
The connection vanished.
And the real world’s sounds rushed back.
Xie Yi was awake.
—
He was in a side hall of the Training Guard Office.
Zang Feng was beside him.
“Are you alright, my lord?”
Xie Yi did not answer immediately.
The injury was part of his plan, but he knew very well it should not have caused unconsciousness.
Yet he had indeed blacked out.
He narrowed his eyes.
This feeling of losing control—he had not experienced it in many years.
After dismissing Zang Feng, he pressed his fingers to his temple.
Then he heard Lin Zhiji cautiously ask: 【Host, are you okay?】
Xie Yi paused.
Something flashed quickly through his mind.
He lowered his eyes: 【What happened while I was unconscious?】
Lin Zhiji tensed.
He instinctively felt that he could not let Xie Yi know about 03.
But he also knew Xie Yi would immediately detect any lie.
So he bit his lip and said in the most pitiful tone: 【I don’t know… suddenly I couldn’t see or hear anything… I called you but you didn’t respond…】
As he spoke, the fear that had been suppressed surged back.
His voice trembled.
【…I was scared.】
—
【Forget it.】
Xie Yi rubbed his temple.
【What?】
【I won’t ask. Stop crying.】
Lin Zhiji stared blankly.
Then slowly calmed down.
—
Shortly after, the imperial physician arrived.
Behind him stood Ge Yan and Bai Xingmao.
Ge Yan’s gaze immediately fell on Xie Yi lying on the bed—pale-faced, with dried blood at the corner of his lips.
Doctor Yang began taking his pulse, but his brows gradually furrowed.
Ge Yan quickly asked: “Physician Yang, how is it?”
Doctor Yang sighed: “The pulse is deep and rough; I fear the internal organs have been injured.”
Ge Yan’s heart immediately sank. Even that last trace of luck was gone.
He had in fact suspected whether Xie Yi had deliberately taken the injury.
But the sparring match had been proposed by Bai Xingmao, and it had taken place in the training ground under everyone’s watchful eyes. It was indeed Bai Xingmao’s double maces that struck Xie Yi.
Those were weapons capable of breaking heavy armor; a single mistake could cost a life.
Even Bai Xingmao himself admitted that he thought Xie Yi had deliberately revealed a flaw, so he pressed the attack. He had not expected Xie Yi’s sword to actually slip from his hand. In the end, it really had been an accident.
An accident?
Ge Yan gave a bitter smile at the word.
If it truly was an accident, then they were just disastrously unlucky—so unlucky he did not even know who to blame.
He had already been worried something would go wrong, so he had repeatedly instructed Bai Xingmao to act with caution.
He had believed that with Bai Xingmao’s steadiness, nothing major would happen. Who could have known…
Outsiders would not care about the truth. They would only know that Xie Yi had been badly injured on his very first day entering the Eastern Palace.
Whether it was the Crown Prince’s reputation or the relationship with the General’s Manor, it would all become troublesome.
He sighed again, but could only steel himself and begin handling the aftermath.