Chapter 884: Here to Fulfill My Promise

The assassins had suddenly descended from the sky.

With no cultivators guarding directly overhead, the tent where Niu Youdao had been staying was almost breached from above in a single rush.

The three venerable elders who stormed inside were badly startled.

Where was Niu Youdao?

There was not even a shadow of him inside!

They had been tricked!

The same thought flashed through all three minds.

But the defending army had already surged in.

The three immediately became locked in battle with the troops guarding the area.

Just as the attack erupted from the center and threw the defenses around the tent into confusion, a group of black-clad masked men suddenly appeared from nowhere and joined the fighting.

Seeing this, the Supreme Elders of Zhao's three great sects immediately seized the chance to break away.

They had never intended to remain for long.

Their purpose here had only been to put on a show.

They quickly rose into the air and withdrew.

With their cultivation, once they reached the sky, stopping them in midair would be extremely difficult without experts of corresponding strength.

They had already escaped quickly, yet when the three glanced back and saw the fighting continuing below, all of them were somewhat baffled.

They could not understand what was happening.

The people of Yan's three great sects seemed to still be following the plan agreed upon beforehand.

Yet Niu Youdao had not been inside the tent at all.

And Yan's side truly had not paid any serious price to stop them from leaving.

The three men could not understand what Yan's three great sects were playing at.

Long Xiu, Gong Lince, and Meng Xuan had already rushed to Shang Chaozong's side.

Meng Xuan waved his hand.

"Quickly! Escort His Highness away first!"

A group of cultivators immediately moved to surround Shang Chaozong and escort him away from the possible danger.

Shang Chaozong raised one hand.

"No need!"

Not only did he refuse to withdraw, but when he saw troops from every direction rapidly closing in to reinforce the area and charging toward the fighting, he instead turned to a communications officer.

"Pass down the order. The army is to stop attacking. The soldiers at the battle site are to withdraw immediately. Let the assassins make all the trouble they like. Ignore them!"

"Yes!"

The communications officer hurried away to pass down the order.

The three Sect Leaders exchanged looks.

One of Gong Lince's brows twitched.

He understood something and secretly let out a breath of relief.

Meng Xuan could not help asking, "Niu Youdao is in danger. Why is Your Highness standing by and refusing to save him?"

Shang Chaozong replied, "If the soldiers keep fighting, they'll only be sacrificing themselves for nothing. Haven't the cultivators from the various sects already gone over to suppress the assassins?"

The army obeyed and withdrew from the fighting.

The tent where Niu Youdao had supposedly been staying had already been destroyed so completely that not a trace remained.

Meanwhile, the cultivators of the three great sects and the black-clad masked assassins fought with impressive seriousness.

The disciples of the three great sects, who previously had no opportunity to approach this place, now finally had one.

There was no way to keep them out.

They had come to save people and kill enemies.

The fighting did not last much longer.

The group of black-clad masked assassins soon rapidly withdrew from the scene.

With Shang Chaozong's military order in force, no one from the army tried to stop them.

The assassins were simply allowed to leave, while only the cultivators of the various sects pursued them.

Shang Chaozong then went personally to the site of the fighting.

He looked at the bodies of soldiers lying dead everywhere.

Bloodwater soaked beneath his boots as he inspected the scene, the muscles in his cheeks twisting violently.

Suddenly he spun around and stared at the three Sect Leaders.

His voice was heavy.

"The assassins descended directly from the sky and struck straight into the heart of my army. Are the aerial defenses you cultivators built for this army nothing but decoration?"

"If this continues, then in this Prince's view, there is no need to fight this war at all!"

Meng Xuan replied, "We will investigate this thoroughly and give Your Highness an accounting!"

His mouth gave the answer, but his eyes kept searching the area, looking to see whether he could find Niu Youdao's corpse.

He found nothing.

Forget Niu Youdao's body.

None of the corpses of the people usually at Niu Youdao's side could be seen either.

Wu Zhaoxing and the others had never appeared during the fighting.

Meng Xuan and the others were already beginning to sense that something was wrong.

A short while later, a cultivator hurried over and reported quietly to the three Sect Leaders.

"After we fought our way into the tent, we found no trace of Niu Youdao. Aside from the 'assassins' who fled, there was no one else there at all. We can be certain Niu Youdao was never inside."

Not there?

The three Sect Leaders were shocked.

Gong Lince abruptly turned and glared at Shang Chaozong.

"Your Highness, disciples of our three sects rushed over to save him, yet the tent was empty and Niu Youdao wasn't there at all. What is the meaning of this?"

Shang Chaozong replied slowly, "It was indeed empty. Master Dao woke yesterday and left immediately after awakening. Fortunately he did. Otherwise, the consequences today would have been unimaginable."

He escaped?

Long Xiu and Meng Xuan's expressions immediately turned ugly.

Gong Lince shouted sternly, "If he had already left, then why did the army keep pretending to protect this place?"

Meng Shanming, seated in his wheelchair, spoke.

"That was this old man's decision. Is there something improper about it?"

Now that trouble had occurred, he immediately took responsibility onto himself.

If anything went wrong, he would not allow the matter to fall on Shang Chaozong's head.

Gong Lince became furious and pointed toward the corpses strewn across the ground.

"Marshal Meng's meaning is that you wanted to watch soldiers die here for nothing?"

Meng Shanming replied, "Master Dao has considerable influence over the morale of the Nanzhou army. This deployment was intended to prove that Master Dao was still here and stabilize the troops. There was nothing improper about it."

"We merely did not expect assassins to appear, much less assassins able to identify Master Dao's exact location so accurately."

"In this old man's opinion, there is unquestionably something strange about this affair."

Meng Xuan immediately cut in.

"Even if there is nothing strange, outsiders will think there is after seeing this."

"In my view, the assassins did not come for Niu Youdao at all. They came for Your Highness."

"This place was surrounded by heavy troops and heavy weapons. Anyone looking from outside would naturally assume it was the central hub of the Yan army."

The two sides argued back and forth for a long time without producing any result.

Since nothing had happened to Niu Youdao, Shang Chaozong's side did not want to tear away all pretense completely either.

As for the three great sects' pursuit of the assassins, astonishingly, they failed to capture even one.

Afterward, based on descriptions from the soldiers who had been present, they determined that the assassins were people from Zhao.

Yan's three great sects also gave their own explanation.

They claimed two large flying birds had been hijacked by Zhao, allowing the assassins to exploit the opportunity and infiltrate the heart of Yan's army.

They denounced Zhao for resorting to any means necessary in order to break its encirclement and warned everyone to beware of Zhao trying to sow discord, and so on.

If Niu Youdao had not warned them beforehand, and if there had not also been that mysterious secret letter, Shang Chaozong's side might actually have believed this nonsense.

Now, although both sides understood perfectly well what had happened, neither pierced the thin paper covering the window.

For Yan's three great sects, the fact that Niu Youdao had actually escaped left little need to guess how he had done it.

If he had managed to avoid all their eyes and slip away, he had most likely once again borrowed Yun Ji's earth-escape art.

They had colluded with an external enemy and meticulously planned an assassination, only for the entire operation to accomplish nothing.

Instead, Shang Chaozong's side now trusted them even less.

Long Xiu, Gong Lince, and Meng Xuan were clearly in extremely poor moods.

Xin Jikui asked to see his master.

All his master told him was, "Recover properly."

Deeply disappointed, Xin Jikui left his master's tent.

They had actually failed!

Under the night sky, lit by the glow of fires not far away, Xin Jikui looked down at his severed arms.

Countless emotions churned in his heart.

The operation had failed, which meant there was no achievement to speak of.

No one wanted to bring up something this humiliating.

He knew the merit he had hoped to earn was gone...

A land blessed with spiritual beauty, its graceful mountains and rivers seeming like an immortal realm.

Zijin Cave!

Yan Li came down the mountain with suspicion in his heart.

A disciple below had reported that an old friend of his was visiting outside the mountain gate.

The visitor had not revealed his identity.

He had only handed over a letter to be passed to Yan Li, saying that once Yan Li read it, he would naturally know who had come.

Even after reading the letter, Yan Li could not be sure who the visitor was.

It contained only an approximate date and said the writer deeply regretted not listening to Yan Li's advice.

What kind of nonsense was this?

According to the date in the letter, Yan Li had already entered the Tiandu Secret Realm by then.

It had been not long after his entry.

He could not remember advising anyone around that time.

Given his status, he did not ordinarily grab random people and offer them advice for no reason.

If there truly was someone he had advised who then refused to listen, the only person who seemed to fit was Niu Youdao.

Yan Li had advised Niu Youdao to humor Chu Fengping of Lingjian Mountain for the time being.

Niu Youdao had refused.

Could Niu Youdao have come?

But according to reports from the front, wasn't Niu Youdao gravely wounded and unconscious inside the frontline army?

With those doubts in mind, Yan Li hurried toward the mountain gate.

Several people were waiting outside, all of them obviously disguised.

Yan Li remained wary.

He slowly walked out and asked, "Which one of you sent the letter to this Yan?"

One of the men cupped his hands and smiled.

"Elder Yan truly is forgetful. It has been a long time. Have you been well?"

At the familiar voice, Yan Li's brows jumped.

Then he looked at the man's build.

The man deliberately shifted the treasured sword tucked at his waist so Yan Li could see it.

Who else could it be but Niu Youdao?

Yan Li was about to laugh in delighted surprise when Niu Youdao gestured for him to keep his voice down.

Yan Li immediately restrained his smile and lowered his voice.

"Brother, I heard you were gravely injured at the front. How did you end up here?"

Niu Youdao replied, "As for why I came, Elder Yan can ask Sect Leader Gong afterward. He'll naturally understand."

Yan Li asked, "You suddenly came all the way here. Is there something you need from me?"

"What else could it be? I came this time to fulfill my promise. I agreed to join Zijin Cave. Surely Zijin Cave hasn't forgotten?"

"Ah?"

Yan Li was badly startled.

"Now? Brother, you can't be serious. If you join now and word gets out, once the other two sects start making trouble, are we still going to fight the war at the front?"

"That's exactly why I came in disguise. Zijin Cave is such a large place. Surely you can find somewhere to hide me."

"So long as Zijin Cave keeps the matter strictly secret, outsiders won't know."

"No, I mean..."

Yan Li cautiously looked around and lowered his voice further.

"Brother, the war is already nearly at its end. Why rush at this particular moment? There's no need to take this risk."

Niu Youdao gave a soft laugh.

"Now this is interesting."

"I was afraid Zijin Cave would worry that I might break my word, afraid you'd think I would dismantle the bridge after crossing the river. That's why I rushed over before the war ended."

"I came to show my sincerity."

"I voluntarily delivered myself to your doorstep and placed myself in Zijin Cave's hands as a hostage, yet now you don't want to accept me?"

"Elder Yan, let's make one thing clear first. This isn't me breaking my promise. You're the one driving me away."

"Since I'm not welcome, we'll take our leave."

He cupped his hands in farewell.

And he truly turned to leave, without the slightest hesitation.

Something about those words sounded very wrong to Yan Li.

He immediately grew anxious, hurried forward, and caught Niu Youdao by the arm.

"Don't be in such a hurry to leave! Brother, you're already here. Come up the mountain and rest first. Let me at least show you some hospitality, or afterward you'll say I don't understand human feelings."

"If we're going up the mountain, then we're going up the mountain. Stop pulling and tugging at me. I came in disguise because I don't want anyone to discover me. If people see you acting like this, they'll grow suspicious..."

The two muttered back and forth like that as they went up the mountain.

Guan Fangyi and the others followed behind.

Along the way, Niu Youdao told Yan Li who the people behind him were.

Yan Li merely glanced back at them a few extra times.

Once they reached a secluded guest courtyard, Yan Li pointed at Niu Youdao's face.

"Take off the mask first. Let me see your real face so I can feel at ease. I don't want to find out later that some impostor slipped in."

Niu Youdao complied and removed the disguise, revealing his true face.

He was still somewhat pale.

His injuries had been too severe to recover from in only a short time.

Yan Li had heard from reports sent back from the front about the rescue of the hostages.

Seeing that Niu Youdao had clearly not yet recovered from those injuries, he could not help sighing a couple of times.

They had interacted inside the Tiandu Secret Realm, and Yan Li knew very well what this man's methods were like.

He had never expected anyone to actually beat Niu Youdao into such a state.

[End of Chapter 884]