Just as Jiang Suizhou expected, by the time he arrived at the foot of the mountain on his horse, everyone knew what he had done in the courtyard.
When he arrived, the Successor Master laughed sarcastically and said, "Fifth Brother, you are my right-hand man. You worry about me and think about me. How gratifying!"
Everyone around him laughed along.
He was in a good mood today, and Jiang Suizhou had more or less heard about it.
After all, Pang Shao knew how to cater to someone's liking. He had his new lover serve him by his side, and he had done everything possible to find a good steed for him. The hunting dog led by the eunuch beside him was also tall and mighty. It was said that there were many rare birds and beasts in the hunting ground, and all of them were to the Successor Master's liking.
Seeing Jiang Suizhou coming over on his horse, the Successor Master lazily flicked the whip in his hand and urged his horse to stop in front of Jiang Suizhou.
"You're here, Fifth Brother?" he asked with a smile.
"I'm not feeling well, so I came late. Please punish me, Imperial Brother," Jiang Suizhou lowered his head and said.
The Successor Master laughed and looked him up and down.
Jiang Suizhou was wearing a black riding suit today. It was clean and neat, but it couldn't hide his pale face.
"It's fine," the Successor Master said lightly and urged his horse forward.
Everyone followed him all the way to the hunting ground.
There was a large forest at the foot of the mountain, and it stretched as far as the eye could see.
Jiangnan was not like the north, and it was difficult to see a large flat grassland. However, it was inconvenient to ride a horse to hunt in the forest. At the foot of the mountain, Pang Shao deliberately ordered people to clear out the forest on the flat terrain and plant a grassland.
When everyone arrived, there were already many guards on horseback scattered around the grassland. They were chasing the animals out of the forest and onto the grassland for the Successor Master to hunt.
The Successor Master's eyes lit up.
"Since you're all here, please help yourselves. I will reward the winner of today's hunt!"
As he spoke, he pulled out the bow and arrow on his back. With a wave of his horsewhip, he charged towards a goat in front of him.
Although the people behind him heard him say "do as you please", they also knew that the Emperor's riding skills and archery skills were very average. If they really followed the Emperor's words and "do as you please", it would be a loss of face for the Emperor and a setback for the Emperor.
For a moment, the crowd dispersed in a hubbub, but most of them followed far behind.
Jiang Suzhou didn't want to join in the fun, so he trotted along on his horse. Fortunately, the weather today was gloomy and the sun was not too hot. Jiang Suizhou took it as a stroll, which was quite pleasant.
He watched his successor hunt from afar.
His archery skills were indeed terrible. The goat was chased out of the mountain and was exhausted. A group of guards chased after it to cut off its escape route. Even so, only one of the arrows hit the sheep's buttocks. Instead, it was in so much pain that it started to charge around.
However, no matter what archery skills the Successor Master had, there would always be people praising him.
Because of this, the Successor Master was quite confident. He shot out arrows one by one, but even if he hit the goat, he didn't hit any vital points.
The goat was hit by four or five arrows before it finally fell to the ground with a wail and was surrounded by the guards who rushed up to it.
"Your Majesty's archery skills are superb. You actually hunted such a big animal so quickly!" An official behind him loudly praised.
The Successor Master was so tired that his forehead was covered in sweat. He held the bow with one hand and gasped for breath. He turned around and saw that the officials scattered around the hunting ground were all empty-handed. One or two of them had hunted, but they were only rabbits and pheasants.
The Successor Master revealed a satisfied expression and ordered people to take the goat away. Tonight, he would make it into a dish and distribute it to everyone.
For a moment, everyone around him thanked him.
The Successor Master looked around and asked, "Hm? Where's Fifth Brother? "
Seeing that the Emperor was looking for Imperial Prince Jing, everyone began to look around. After a while, Jiang Suizhou rode a horse and trotted to his side.
"Imperial Older Brother ran too fast, so this younger brother couldn't catch up," Jiang Suizhou explained with a faint smile.
The Successor Master glanced at his unhealthy complexion and curled his lips into a smile.
"Fifth Brother, don't just watch," he said. "No matter what, we have to hunt something today."
Jiang Suizhou cupped his fists and said, "Yes."
The Successor Master turned around and glanced at Pang Shao. Then, he said to Jiang Suizhou, "Follow me closely. Today, you'll hunt with me."
Jiang Suizhou felt annoyed, but he didn't dare to show it on his face. He replied, "Yes."
He thought to himself that once the Successor Master saw the prey, he wouldn't care about anything else. In any case, his body wasn't good and he didn't know martial arts. If he couldn't catch up, it was understandable.
At this moment, a cry of surprise sounded from afar.
Everyone looked over and saw a tall and beautiful stag being chased out of the forest.
This stag wasn't like the goat from before. It was strong and tall, and it ran very fast. Although there were several imperial guards riding horses to chase it, it didn't seem tired at all. When someone blocked its way, it would even lower its head and attack with its horn.
"Your Majesty!" An official immediately shouted from the side.
The Successor Master stared at the stag. He raised his horsewhip and said, "Watch me hunt it!"
As he spoke, he rushed in the direction of the stag.
Jiang Suizhou sighed in resignation and raised his horsewhip to catch up.
Then, he saw Hou Zhu shooting arrows at the deer again, but the arrows were all empty. Gradually, the Successor Master became anxious and reached for an arrow from behind.
Finally, an arrow hit the stag's hind leg.
The stag let out a mournful cry and actually went berserk. It knocked the nearest imperial guard off his horse and rushed into the forest not far away.
The surrounding people panicked and hurriedly chased after it. However, it was the Emperor's prey. Without the Emperor's permission, no one dared to hunt it.
The Successor Master looked around, then turned his horse around and headed for Jiang Suizhou.
"Fifth Brother, why aren't you helping me chase that stag back?" The Successor Master shouted.
Jiang Suizhou was stunned.
He was going to chase it?
However, before he could refuse, the Successor Master had already rushed to his side. He pulled on the reins to dodge, but he saw the rear master raise the horsewhip and fiercely lash it on his horse.
The horse neighed and rushed in the direction of the stag.
Jiang Suizhou was shocked. He hurriedly pulled the reins to stop the horse. But at this moment, there was a faint sound of something breaking through the air behind him. Very quickly, he heard his horse neighing again.
This time, the horse seemed to have gone mad as it galloped forward.
Jiang Suizhou's pupils constricted.
It was clearly a hidden weapon!
However, he couldn't care about anything else. He desperately tried to stabilize himself on the horse and prevent himself from being thrown off. He saw a dense forest in front of him. If he continued forward, he would see the mountains hidden in the forest.
He had to think of a way to stop it!
However, this horse had clearly been hit by a hidden weapon and had gone crazy. It only cared about charging forward. There seemed to be some imperial guards who wanted to stop it, but they heard the Successor Master's voice from behind.
"Get out of the way!" The Successor Master said. "Imperial Prince Jing is in a hurry to chase the prey for me. Why are you blocking his way?"
Jiang Suizhou's heart sank.
Amidst the violent jolts and strong winds, he vaguely remembered the Successor Master's expression just now.
His face was full of evil intentions and he kept looking at Pang Shao. It turned out that among all the gifts that Pang Shao had prepared for the Successor Master, he was the most important one.
— —
The deer rushed into the forest and quickly disappeared from sight.
Immediately after, Jiang Suizhou's horse rushed into the forest as well.
The dense foliage in the forest slowed the horse down a bit, allowing Jiang Suizhou to vaguely see his surroundings.
However, the horse was still running at full speed. It even seemed to be stumbling a little. Jiang Suizhou hurriedly tried to pull on the reins. Even if he couldn't stop it, he had to control its direction.
However, Jiang Suizhou's horsemanship wasn't good and his body was weak. At this time, he had exhausted all his strength. Not only was he unable to control the horse, but he was also gradually losing his grip on the reins. He was about to fall off the horse.
He gritted his teeth and pursed his lips until they turned white.
He knew that this horse was tall to begin with. At this speed, it would either die or be crippled if it fell. There were many branches in the forest. It was even more dangerous than on flat ground.
He forced himself to calm down as much as possible and think of a countermeasure.
The horse was running very fast. In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared into a bottomless forest. He knew that Tianping Mountain was dangerous. Not only were there mountains in front of him, there were also many canyons and abysses. If he kept running like this, even if he didn't fall off the horse, he would definitely die.
It was obvious how much Pang Shao hated him after all this time.
Right at this moment, Jiang Suizhou saw that not far ahead on the left, there was a large, rotten tree lying across the forest. The tree was tall and supported by the trees beside it. It was lying horizontally in the air.
Here!
Jiang Suizhou gritted his teeth and used the last of his strength to pull on the reins and pull the horse in that direction.
With a loud thud, the horse crashed into a huge tree trunk.
The horse neighed and fell to the ground. Taking advantage of its sudden slowing speed, Jiang Suizhou bent over and fell to the ground with it.
The horse fell to the ground. Jiang Suizhou fell to the ground as well. He felt as if his whole body was falling apart. However, amidst the pain from the fall, he felt an extremely sharp pain in his ankle.
He must have twisted it when he fell to the ground just now.
Jiang Suizhou took a deep breath in pain and panted deeply.
'Thank goodness.' He thought to himself. 'At least I've survived and stopped running.'
However, before he could heave a sigh of relief, as he fell to the ground, he saw a few black shadows above the dense canopy of the surrounding trees.
'There are people!'
Then, he heard the familiar sound of something piercing through the air.
A sharp arrow was reflected in his eyes. The tip of the arrow was flying towards him, breaking through the air.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Jiang Suizhou was already exhausted. Moreover, the arrow was extremely fast. It only took a blink of an eye.
He knew that he couldn't dodge it.
He faced the arrow and closed his eyes.
However, at this moment, a strong wind blew.
In front of him, there was a clear clang. Something had actually blocked the arrow.
Jiang Suizhou opened his eyes in disbelief.
However, before he could see the situation in front of him clearly, his arm was grabbed by someone. An extremely strong force lifted him up from the ground.
He followed the inertia and crashed into the arms of a tall and straight person.
The next moment, he felt a tight grip around his waist as he was pulled to the side of his body.
In the blink of an eye, the sword at his waist was pulled out. A silver light flashed in front of Jiang Suizhou's eyes, and he saw that person holding him and wielding that sword with one hand so that not even a drop of water could escape. After a dozen or so crisp and sharp sounds, the broken arrowheads rustled and fell around him.
Jiang Suizhou raised his head in a daze. He saw the side of a face that was as sharp as a blade.
Under the long eyelashes was a pair of black eyes as sharp as an eagle's.
… Huo Wujiu?
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