Chapter 727: Do Not Sheathe the Blades!
When the Prince of Jingnan appeared here...
Li Fei knew... his part in this Barbarian royal city was over.
He reached out and squeezed his wife's hand.
He did not blame Yiguna.
There was nothing to blame.
And he had no right to blame her.
He felt fortunate.
No.
Incomparably fortunate... that he had survived.
Before today... he had never actually seen the Prince of Jingnan.
But just as the people of Great Yan always thought... whenever the Prince of Jingnan was mentioned, everyone spoke of him with a certain taboo reverence.
Yet if they heard the next great campaign would be commanded by the Prince of Jingnan... then the outcome was almost already assured.
Outside the army, very few people truly loved him.
But wherever he stood... the people there... felt safe.
This... was Great Yan's God of War.
Seeing Tian Wujing... and hearing himself mocked as a mongrel...
Saboduo did not become angry.
At least... he did not charge directly forward and fight for his life.
With the situation already like this, the fall of the royal city was practically settled.
The Zhenbei cavalry had broken in without warning.
The entire situation had collapsed.
This was no longer something a handful of experts could reverse.
His left hand still held Yiguxie.
Saboduo retreated rapidly.
He admitted defeat.
He did not believe he could kill the Heir while blocked by Great Yan's Southern Prince.
Unfortunately...
Saboduo wanted to retreat.
Tian Wujing had no intention of letting him.
To put it another way...
Tian Wujing had come today to kill people.
Only a dead Barbarian... was a good Barbarian.
Saboduo withdrew.
Tian Wujing moved as well.
Then... in the very next instant...
Tian Wujing appeared beside Saboduo.
Close.
Far too close.
The speed was so terrifying Saboduo could scarcely believe it.
But he was still an expert.
Still a true master.
So in that instant, he understood.
It was not that Tian Wujing had moved at some impossible Martial Artist's speed.
Tian Wujing had not even kicked off the ground and hurled himself forward with sheer physical power like a stone launched from a catapult.
Instead... when he had said:
"Which one of us looks more like a mongrel?" he had already used an art to shift position.
Yes.
You thought the famous Southern Prince of Great Yan was wasting time mocking you.
No.
He did not have that leisure.
He was flanking.
The art created an illusion and left an afterimage behind.
Tian Wujing himself had already predicted that this Right Guli King of the Barbarian Royal Court was unlike the former Left Guli King, Sha Tuo Queshi.
Saboduo would choose the most rational course.
Retreat.
And carry the Royal Court's bloodline with him.
In other words...
I predicted your prediction.
And made my choice before you even finished making yours.
Years ago, the Sword Saint had bitterly complained to Zheng Fan about exactly this.
Tian Wujing had used battlefield methods in a jianghu duel.
He had simply bullied a jianghu man because his brain was better suited to calculation.
He had no martial virtue whatsoever!
Back then...
Old Tian had not yet been this powerful.
He had used his own body and blood-qi to grind away the Sword Saint's sword qi while laying out a formation.
Then... with an art forming the array... he defeated the Sword Saint.
Defeating the Sword Saint one-on-one had once been the clearest proof of the Southern Marquis of Great Yan's peak personal strength.
Later... the Sword Saint gradually came to understand something too.
When fighting... just fight.
There was no need to make it beautiful.
One should learn how to calculate.
And so... whenever the Sword Saint fed the chickens and ducks at home, he might look like he was merely scattering grain.
In truth... he was calculating exactly how many grains of rice would fill those little bastards without wasting any.
Unfortunately... the Right Guli King before Tian Wujing had no such opportunity.
The Sword Saint had escaped that old duel.
Gone back.
Trained.
Returned later.
Tian Wujing had not truly pursued him with the intention of killing him.
But today...
Tian Wujing intended to kill the man before him.
If he had not come here to kill... then why had he come?
Kunwu came out.
No flourish.
Saboduo, startled, snapped his wrist.
The bone club smashed toward the Southern Prince at his side.
The Southern Prince did not dodge.
Bang!
The club struck the gilded armor over his chest.
But it failed to send him flying.
First... the strike had been hurried.
It had been thrown together at the last instant.
Naturally, the force behind it could not be that great.
It was nowhere near Saboduo's peak strength.
So...
Tian Wujing simply accepted the blow.
Then...
Kunwu caught against Saboduo's neck.
Tian Wujing drove downward!
Buzz!
BOOM!
Saboduo had no choice but to release Yiguxie.
The boy crashed to the ground.
Saboduo himself... was trapped at the neck by Kunwu and forcibly driven forward along the ground for twenty meters.
The situation had become extremely dangerous.
Saboduo's left hand clamped around the blade before his throat.
His right hand raised the bone club again.
And smashed it toward Tian Wujing's body.
Tian Wujing still ignored it.
His right hand gripped the saber.
His left hand formed a fist.
And rose.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Saboduo struck Tian Wujing three times with the bone club.
The incomparably hard gilded armor over Tian Wujing's chest broke apart in several places.
Blood seeped from within.
Not because an old wound had reopened.
But because the violent blows had forcibly driven blood from his body.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
At the exact same time Tian Wujing accepted three blows from the bone club... his own fist struck the back of Kunwu three times.
This was the truest form of: you fight your way.
I fight mine.
The first punch landed.
Saboduo's left palm, which had been gripping the saber edge... was sliced clean through.
The second punch landed.
Kunwu cut into the Right Guli King's neck.
At the same time, Saboduo rapidly sealed the blood and qi around that area.
He used muscle and bone to forcibly trap the blade.
This... was the terrifying physique of a Martial Artist.
A Third Grade Martial Artist.
But... it meant little.
Because the third fist... was already coming down.
Bang!
The third punch crashed onto the back of the blade.
Kunwu cut completely through Saboduo's neck.
No matter how strong you were... once your head left your body... you were dead.
Saboduo...
Right Guli King of the Barbarian Royal Court... was slain in battle!
The clash had been brief.
It practically overturned every fantasy people held about duels between true experts.
It shattered every fixed impression they had of high-grade Martial Artists.
Marquis Zheng had understood this long ago.
Because he knew...
Old Tian had never been a romantic man.
Perhaps once.
Before.
But after exterminating his own entire clan...
Tian Wujing either did nothing... or when he acted... he carried it all the way through.
To the end.
Until there was a result.
War was like that.
Killing... was like that too.
A hurried clash between two peak Third Grade Martial Artists... ended like a butcher chopping through ribs with a cleaver.
Tian Wujing stood.
The armor over his chest was badly broken.
After all... an attack from a Third Grade Martial Artist... even one thrown without full strength... was never something one could easily bear.
Blocking a blow... and simply standing there to take it... were entirely different concepts.
But... it did not matter.
He had no time to compare martial arts with anyone here.
Tonight was not a night for duels.
There were too many things left to do.
Too many people left to kill.
His gaze landed on Yiguxie, who lay on the ground not far away.
The boy had already been wounded by an arrow.
Then struck by a warhorse.
Then thrown aside.
He could only crawl.
He could not even stand.
One could attach many labels to the Prince of Jingnan of Great Yan.
But "benevolent" and "righteous"... were not among them.
"Your Highness! Your Highness, I beg you, spare him! He's my wife's younger brother. I'll bring him back to the residence. Mother and Elder Sister both agreed already. Truly!"
Li Fei dropped to his knees and begged.
Perhaps five years from now... or ten... after Li Fei had sat in the seat of Prince Zhenbei for long enough... he would never do something like this again.
But who told him... to still be young?
At that moment... another group of Zhenbei cavalry rushed over from the side.
This place was now relatively secure.
Tian Wujing did not answer Li Fei's plea.
Nor did he comment on whether the boy was being womanishly soft-hearted.
This time... he kicked off the ground.
His entire body shot away like an arrow loosed from the string.
Toward another corner of the battlefield.
The heavens were deep.
But there were still traces of Heaven's workings.
At least... inside this royal city... the Barbarian experts could no longer conceal themselves.
Experts naturally sensed one another's qi.
And the Prince of Jingnan... who understood some arts... was even more sensitive to those fluctuations.
If this royal city were compared to a chessboard... then which pieces shone brightest upon it...
Tian Wujing understood perfectly well.
Those shining pieces were probably not the two men he truly wanted to kill.
But the two men he wanted... were almost certainly being protected by them.
Tonight would be long.
Before the killing ended... there would be no dawn.
...
"Hoo..."
"Your Highness!"
"Protect His Highness!"
Li Fei held Yiguxie in his arms.
Behind him...
Yiguna knelt.
After his own men surrounded and protected them, Li Fei licked his cracked lips and smiled.
"It's fine. It's fine now."
"My father... my grandfather?"
Yiguna asked in a daze.
Li Fei answered just as simply:
"They'll die."
...
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Protect the King!"
At first, there had been a respectable number of Barbarian warriors guarding them.
But after repeatedly splitting men away to stop Yan troops charging from different directions... only twenty or thirty remained.
Clearly... there should still have been more than eighty thousand Barbarian warriors outside the city.
And yet now... inside the royal city... damned Yan soldiers were everywhere!
At that moment... a unit of Yan cavalry suddenly burst out.
The Barbarian guards fought desperately to stop them.
A group fell beneath Yan crossbow bolts.
The survivors... were broken apart as well.
These Yan troops excelled at fighting in formation.
Even experts found it difficult to gain any advantage against them.
Unless... they were experts of an entirely different level.
Beside the old Barbarian King stood an old woman.
Her figure was graceful.
Her face... ancient.
Rumor said the reason the old Barbarian King had lived so long... was because this old shaman-priestess had spent years extending his life.
Now... she guarded his side.
She bit the tip of her tongue.
Spat blood into her palm.
Then bent and pressed that palm against the ground.
Her mouth... began chanting an obscure incantation.
Her entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Around her... the corpses that had only just fallen suddenly sat up.
Roaring... they raised weapons and hacked at the Yan soldiers.
Caught off guard... several Yan troops were cut down immediately.
"My King! Go! Go!"
The old shaman-priestess continued driving the incantation.
She intended... alone... to block pursuit from one entire direction.
...
Elsewhere... the Right Wise King of the Barbarian Royal Court led his personal cavalry through the chaos outside the city.
They broke through scattered troops.
Entered the royal city.
And rushed to escort the Barbarian King.
The Left Wise King had already led men east to confront Li Chenghui.
That left the Right Wise King carrying an enormous burden.
Unfortunately... for days he had been responsible for the military exercises.
The results of the daytime review had naturally looked excellent.
But that same preparation had also laid the groundwork for tonight's collapse.
Most importantly... no one had expected the Yan people to launch their surprise attack tonight.
And before it happened... there had been no warning at all!
Eight hundred organized Barbarian cavalry charged into the city.
For a time... the Yan forces that had already split apart in multiple directions found it difficult to stop them.
Inside and outside the royal city... the entire battlefield had become tangled.
You among me.
Me among you.
The Barbarians were suffering a vast collapse.
But one fact remained undeniable.
At this moment... the Yan army did not possess enough men to dominate every direction simultaneously.
Unless... they waited for the Barbarian collapse to continue.
But that would also mean allowing some of the men who absolutely should have died here... to escape.
"Charge in! Reach our King!"
The Right Wise King roared.
He ordered the warriors beside him to advance without fear.
But then... a figure suddenly smashed out of a tent at the side.
Bang!
Bang!
Two guards beside the Right Wise King were knocked bodily from their horses.
Tian Wujing stood directly before the Right Wise King.
By instinct... the Right Wise King thrust his saber forward.
Trying to hold Tian Wujing back.
But Tian Wujing seized the blade with one hand.
Then drove his own body forward.
His shoulder... slammed directly into the Right Wise King's chest.
Bang!
The Right Wise King was knocked from his horse.
Two more expert guards rushed in from the sides.
One carried an axe.
The other... a wolf-tooth club.
They came to save their lord.
Tian Wujing ignored them completely.
His body dropped.
His back faced upward.
Kunwu stabbed directly into the Right Wise King's chest.
Then twisted.
And shredded the spleen inside.
The axe and wolf-tooth club... slammed viciously into Tian Wujing's back.
His body shuddered.
Blood immediately seeped from the corner of his mouth.
A high-grade Martial Artist on the battlefield was extraordinarily powerful.
Years ago, Sha Tuo Queshi had repeatedly charged through a thousand Zhenbei cavalry by himself.
But that had been under one condition.
He had been protecting himself.
Not deliberately throwing his body away in pursuit of kills.
If a Martial Artist abandoned defense entirely and cared only about reaching the target... then even that body... was not truly indestructible.
Buzz!
A crossbow bolt buried itself in the face of one guard.
Several Yan soldiers rushed in behind it.
One threw himself onto the remaining wolf-club guard's neck.
Another drove a saber deep into his body.
"Your Highness!"
"Your Highness, are you all right?"
Tian Wujing ignored them.
He cut off the Right Wise King's head with one stroke.
Then tossed it to a lieutenant standing before him.
The lieutenant immediately understood.
He raised the head high and shouted in the Barbarian tongue:
"The Right Wise King is dead! The Right Wise King's head is here!"
The organized cavalry that had followed the Right Wise King against the tide and charged into the city to rescue their sovereign... began to loosen.
And at a moment like this... looseness meant collapse.
An organized force would naturally draw scattered soldiers into itself.
Like a snowball... it could grow larger and larger.
But once that organization vanished... no matter how many men remained... they would feel only confusion and helplessness before the situation.
A total rout... became inevitable.
Tian Wujing stood in place.
His left hand... covered his left eye.
His lips moved faintly.
He too... was chanting an incantation.
The next instant... not far away... the old shaman-priestess manipulating corpses to block the Yan pursuit suddenly felt danger.
The corpse directly in front of her... which had only just been raised... did not have the blue-green light of her own control in its eyes.
Instead... its left eye... flashed scarlet.
Right before her.
Before her very eyes... the corpse lifted its blade.
And stabbed into her throat.
She was no Martial Artist.
Death... could be that simple.
The old shaman-priestess fell.
The corpses she had controlled... all collapsed with her.
The Zhenbei veterans already knew Barbarian shamans could manipulate the dead.
They had simply never seen corpse-puppets this fast... or this quick with a blade.
But... it was nowhere near enough to frighten them.
Now that the corpses were down... they immediately resumed pursuit toward the fleeing Barbarian King.
And not far away... beside the corpse of the Right Wise King... the Prince of Jingnan lowered the hand covering his left eye.
Blood streamed steadily from the pupil.
Tonight... the Prince of Jingnan was not the only expert fighting.
Among both Barbarian and Yan ranks... there was no shortage of powerful men.
But one fact could not be denied.
The terrifying strength Great Yan's Southern Prince displayed tonight... was enough to become a true nightmare inside every Barbarian heart.
He was powerful.
He seemed capable of everything.
No one could stop him.
And Yan soldiers followed him like madmen.
Protecting their Prince.
Whenever they encountered experts... soldiers willingly turned themselves into stepping-stones, using their own lives to obstruct the enemy and create openings for him.
Since ancient times... many great masters of military theory had said that individual valor became pale amid thousands upon thousands of troops.
But... what if the man with that individual valor... was the commander of the army?
Then... the situation truly became different.
The Prince of Jingnan's white hair... had long since been dyed dark by enemy blood.
The armor over his body... was already broken beyond recognition.
Yet his personal ferocity... seemed inexhaustible.
The great fire consuming the royal city... made him remember the Tian Clan's bloody night.
Perhaps... only now.
Perhaps... only here.
Could this endless, self-forgetting slaughter finally let him release the depression that had accumulated inside his heart for five years.
All those years of bitter endurance.
All those years of bitter waiting.
At last... tonight... the curtain could truly fall.
One might even say... this... was the day he had been waiting for.
A true man... suffers alone... so an entire Barbarian people... may weep!
In truth... the great victory of this surprise attack had already been decided.
But whether they could bury the very essence of the Barbarian people in one stroke... remained uncertain.
The old Barbarian King... under the suicidal protection of guards, experts, and shamans... finally broke out of the royal city.
The city where he had lived his entire life... had almost become his grave tonight.
He did not get far.
Ahead... another cavalry force appeared.
Prince Zhenbei Li Liangting sat astride his horse with a long cavalry lance in his own hand.
Behind him...
Zhenbei cavalry had already formed their ranks.
"Old bastard. You can't get away."
"Heh... heh..."
The old Barbarian King gave two dry laughs.
Then... somewhat defeated... sat down on the ground.
Ahead...
Li Liangting urged the Pixiu beneath him into a charge.
The riders behind their Prince followed.
In one rush... they broke through the exhausted guard formation that had already burned away the last of its strength escaping the city.
Li Liangting's Pixiu... brought one hoof down directly onto the old Barbarian King's body.
The frail, withered body... was crushed apart instantly.
Only one thing remained intact.
The head.
Li Liangting bent down and reached out.
He lifted the remains.
The head was preserved.
Beneath it... hung torn strips of flesh and skin.
An entire lifetime of patience.
An entire lifetime of planning.
In the end... it failed to buy the Barbarian people their revival a century later.
On the very night filled with their greatest hope... the old Barbarian King died.
The desert was vast.
The State of Yan... was vast too.
But there was no room in this world... for two empires to rise at the same time.
One of them... had to be trampled underfoot.
The Yan people did not want it to be themselves.
The Emperor of Yan would not allow it to be themselves.
Therefore... it could only be the Barbarians!
Li Liangting lifted his face guard.
Looked around.
And shouted:
"Transmit this Prince's military order! From today onward, throughout the Royal Court... the Zhenbei Army will not sheathe its blades! No prisoners!"
[End of Chapter 727]
Use ← → arrow keys or A D to navigate chapters