Chapter 952: My Son!
Truthfully... people really were different from one another.
Fortunately, the father sat across the river.
From the Regent Prince’s mobile headquarters, he could only watch the battlefield from a great distance.
He could not see the details clearly.
He did not see that when Demon Child possessed Tian Tian for the first time...
Demon Child did not seize control of Tian Tian’s body.
Of course, one could explain the difference easily enough.
Back when the future Regent Prince had first been possessed, he possessed almost no real combat foundation.
His strength had been weak.
When danger arrived, if Demon Child did not take complete control, father and child might simply die together.
Only by seizing the body could Demon Child make the best possible use of the strength available.
But there was another problem.
Every time Demon Child possessed someone... it loved stretching the mouth into an absurdly wide grin.
“Jie-jie... Jie-jie... Jie-jie...”
That was why the corners of the Regent Prince’s mouth had repeatedly split and bled whenever he was possessed.
None of that appeared on Tian Tian.
The same thing... performed with a different mood... could look utterly different in every detail.
Xiong Tingshan’s gaze narrowed.
He had assumed the absurdly young Heir Prince Jingnan would now use whatever secret art had awakened his potential to attack directly.
The words Tian Tian had spoken... and the killing intent with which he had locked onto Xiong Tingshan... both seemed like preparation for exactly that.
Instead... the Heir Prince suddenly turned around.
He drove his saber through the back of a Chu cavalryman who had just fallen from his horse.
Then he turned again... moved back toward his own formation... and quickly merged into one corner of the ranks to fill the gap.
“Heh.”
Xiong Tingshan laughed.
He swept the horse lance sideways and knocked away an arrow flying toward him.
Then he hurled the lance directly toward a shield ahead.
Squelch!
The shield was pierced.
The Brocade-Clad personal guard behind it was impaled as well.
Xiong Tingshan surged through the opening.
On the way, he picked up a Yan saber from the ground.
Then he hacked straight ahead.
One slash... and another Brocade-Clad personal guard took the blow directly in the face.
But in the next instant... a shield slammed in from the side.
Two spears thrust toward Xiong Tingshan’s face at the same time.
He had no choice but to retreat.
And while he was retreating... two saber-and-axe men rolled toward him.
Their posture made the intention perfectly obvious.
Even if they had to take one of his blows... they would still place their own blades into his body.
Hum!
Xiong Tingshan’s blood qi erupted.
The two Brocade-Clad personal guards erupted with blood qi of their own.
Their saber and axe struck his protective qi but failed to break through.
Then... both men threw aside everything else and wrapped their arms around Xiong Tingshan’s legs.
Like two patches of dogskin plaster... they clung so tightly he could not shake them loose.
A Chu soldier beside Xiong Tingshan stepped forward and drove a saber into the back of one guard.
Even dying... the guard refused to release Xiong Tingshan’s leg.
At the same moment... two more spears stabbed toward Xiong Tingshan’s face.
Xiong Tingshan swept his saber and knocked both aside.
Immediately afterward... three more saber-and-axe men rushed in and closed the distance.
Xiong Tingshan released a low roar.
Terrifying saber qi burst outward and sent all three flying.
But even as they flew backward... ignoring their wounds, ignoring the blood pouring from their mouths... all three instinctively tore open the sleeves of their brocade robes.
Three concealed crossbows fired.
Hum!
Hum!
Hum!
The bolts shone silver.
Clearly poisoned.
Xiong Tingshan did not dare ignore them.
He twisted violently, kicked away the two guards still clinging to his legs, and barely avoided the crossbow bolts.
But the instant he landed... before he could fully regain his footing... another personal guard had somehow slipped silently behind him.
A dagger stabbed toward Xiong Tingshan.
His protective blood qi remained in place.
But the instant the dagger’s point struck that qi... the tip split open.
Inside it were tiny particles shaped like miniature iron caltrops.
The moment Xiong Tingshan’s blood-qi defense struck them... they scattered violently.
Some flew backward and pierced the guard who had stabbed him.
To move quickly, that guard wore no armor beneath his brocade.
Blood immediately seeped from his chest and arms.
The other particles... were driven the opposite direction.
They shot toward Xiong Tingshan.
And because it was his own protective qi that had thrown them... they entered with frightening force.
Most struck his armor and bounced away.
But several buried themselves in his left hand.
The Brocade-Clad personal guard who had been pierced by the same poisoned fragments did not hesitate for even a heartbeat.
He raised his saber.
Dragged it across his own throat.
And ended his life cleanly.
A warning exploded inside Xiong Tingshan’s mind.
Without hesitation... he lifted his saber and chopped down at his own left hand.
Squelch!
The hand fell away.
But at the cut... the blood had already turned pale blue.
Xiong Tingshan had no choice.
He hacked down again.
Another section of his arm fell to the ground.
Then, without time to worry about pain or examine the wound again, he forcibly sealed the bleeding with blood qi and kicked hard against the ground.
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
He shot backward and avoided the sabers of two more Brocade-Clad personal guards.
By all logic... a Third Grade Martial Artist should never have been driven into such an ugly state.
Years ago, Sha Tuo Queshi had been able to charge repeatedly through Zhenbei Army cavalry.
Xiong Tingshan was not as strong as Sha Tuo Queshi at his peak... but he should not have been humiliated like this either.
If one had to blame someone... then blame the Regent Prince of Yan.
A very long time ago... that man had already suffered from an extreme lack of security.
Once he had thousands upon thousands of troops around him, he began worrying obsessively about being assassinated by the great experts of the world.
And in fairness... he had indeed been targeted by assassins more than once.
So Xue San, Fan Li, and A’Ming... three Demon Kings working together... had developed an entire set of detailed methods specifically designed to deal with top experts.
A’Ming usually served as the “expert” during testing.
With the complete system in place... with Brocade-Clad personal guards possessing sufficiently high individual quality... with carefully coordinated tactics... and with special devices personally designed by Xue San... a top expert encountering these methods for the first time could easily suffer a devastating loss.
The dagger hiding poisoned iron caltrops inside its tip was one of the most vicious examples.
It had been created specifically for Martial Artists who believed their bodies and protective blood qi were invincible.
The whole point... was to use the strength they trusted most... against them.
Break them... with their own greatest pride.
Xiong Tingshan... had fallen for it.
It was not that Xiong Tingshan was weak.
Nor that Third Grade Martial Artists were weak.
The problem was simply that the Demon Kings’ knowledge, experience, and methods... when combined... were unbelievably sinister.
“Save His Highness!”
“Save His Highness!”
Xiong Tingshan had barely forced himself upright when he suddenly realized something.
At some point... the man who had originally been breaking into the outer edge of the Yan formation... had somehow been swallowed by it.
He understood very quickly.
That silver-armored young general... wherever he stood... was the core of this formation.
Under his direction, the entire Yan formation had shifted in an almost unbelievable fashion.
Truthfully, once Chu’s cavalry failed to break the enemy formation with the first charge, the effectiveness of cavalry had already dropped dramatically.
Cavalry that lost its momentum while still sitting atop horses became elevated targets.
And comrades behind them found it much harder to provide support.
Xiong Tingshan gritted his teeth.
His gaze could still lock accurately onto the silver-armored youth.
But the silver-armored youth... was not deliberately looking toward him at all.
He simply kept killing steadily.
Kept moving.
Kept drawing the formation along with him.
The secret art had clearly stimulated Tian Tian’s potential.
Judging from the explosive rise in his aura... his personal strength had risen substantially as well.
And yet... he had restrained himself completely.
Not once had he tried to challenge Xiong Tingshan in single combat.
Instead, while Xiong Tingshan was still unprepared for it...
Tian Tian had simply returned to formation.
Some men avoided individual heroics... because they had no individual heroism to rely on.
Other men... possessed the courage and strength to fight alone... yet still knew how to choose the better option.
He was the legitimate son of Prince Jingnan of Yan.
He had inherited the title Heir Prince Jingnan.
He was also the adopted son of Great Yan’s Regent Prince.
Everyone beneath Heaven knew that from childhood, the Regent Prince had loved him dearly.
At the investiture ceremony years ago... the Prince had not carried the Crown Prince.
He had carried Tian Tian.
And now... he had grown up.
So young... yet possessing this kind of temperament.
A huge fear suddenly swallowed Xiong Tingshan.
Great Yan had relied upon the previous generation’s pattern of one Emperor and two Princes to lay the foundation.
Both Qian and Chu had suffered catastrophic defeats.
The present Emperor of Yan trusted that bastard surnamed Zheng like a man whose brain had been kicked by a donkey.
And the Zheng fellow himself... after the previous era ended... had almost single-handedly upheld the new military structure of Yan.
During the war among the three states... he had broken Shangjing and directly crushed Qian and Chu’s attempt to counterattack.
And now... he too... had grown up.
“Imperial Brother... even if you truly obtain what you wish... even if Heaven grants you long life... their side... has produced heroes for three generations!”
“Save His Highness!”
“Save His Highness!”
Chu cavalry began throwing themselves desperately toward the gap.
One after another... they were dragged from their horses by Brocade-Clad personal guards and cut down.
Still they came.
At last... after paying casualties far beyond what should have been necessary in an ordinary engagement... one cavalry detachment broke through.
Xiong Tingshan swung his saber with his remaining arm and forced back the men pursuing him.
Then he mounted a horse.
Protected to the death by the guards around him... he fought his way out.
“RETREAT!”
There was no other choice.
Once their Prince had been rescued... the remaining Chu cavalry could only withdraw.
Dust was already rising upstream and downstream.
Yan cavalry that had landed on both wings were clearly rushing toward this battlefield.
At the same time... behind the Brocade-Clad personal guards... the second wave of Yan reinforcements had already landed and was hurrying forward.
There had only ever been one chance to strike.
One blade.
No more.
Delay further... and they would be wrapped up like dumpling filling.
Tian Tian had seen Xiong Tingshan become wounded.
Badly wounded.
But since the man had already broken out...
Tian Tian made no attempt to pursue.
Instead... he raised his saber.
Then roared:
“Form ranks!”
“Yes!”
The Brocade-Clad personal guards immediately began reforming.
At that moment... many Chu soldiers still lay groaning on the ground.
Not one guard stepped forward to finish them.
Many wounded personal guards lay fallen as well.
No one rushed to treat them either.
Everyone rigorously rebuilt the formation.
Scattered shields were recovered.
Bows and crossbows soaked in blood were picked up.
Time continued passing.
At last... the retreating Chu army showed no sign of halting at a distance and reorganizing for another charge.
Instead... they continued withdrawing south without looking back.
At the same time, Yan reinforcements from the rear reached the battlefield.
Covered in blood, Tian Tian glanced toward an Assistant General surnamed Sun whom he recognized.
He ordered:
“Take your men forward and form ranks.”
“Yes!”
Assistant General Sun, who had arrived with the reinforcements, immediately led his command past them and established a new forward line.
Only after that formation settled into place... did Tian Tian look around.
Then he ordered the Brocade-Clad personal guards:
“Treat our wounded.”
“Yes!”
After issuing that order...
Tian Tian dropped to one knee.
Once Demon Child’s power withdrew, his body suddenly became hollow.
The degree of overexertion... was severe.
Even so...
Tian Tian relied upon willpower alone to prevent himself from falling unconscious.
Around him, the personal guards began treating the wounded.
Facing the direct charge of elite Chu cavalry... many Brocade-Clad personal guards had died.
Many more were maimed.
And among those wounds... a large portion would leave permanent disabilities.
But right now...
Tian Tian had no spare strength to wonder whether this battle had been worth the cost.
From his father Zheng Fan’s perspective... it was worth it.
This was the opening battle of the new national war between Yan and Chu.
Victory and defeat mattered enormously to face and morale.
And if Zheng Fan learned that they had nearly crippled Prince Ding of Chu... he would probably think the trade had yielded absurd profit.
Elite troops existed to be used.
Hiding them at the bottom of the chest forever... being miserly and afraid to spend them... would only reverse cause and effect.
Tian Tian knelt on one knee, leaning against his saber while breathing hard.
Two personal guards came forward and wanted to inspect his injuries.
Tian Tian shook his head.
“I’m fine. Go recover the bodies of our brothers.”
“Yes.”
Tian Tian silently reached inside his armor.
He felt around.
Then, from a cracked layer between the plates... pulled out a piece of shaqima that had been completely flattened.
Yes.
Tian Tian had genuinely loved this snack since childhood.
It had nothing to do with the Blind Man “teaching by word and example.”
Sometimes... there was no special symbolism at all.
Tian Tian understood the symbolism people might attach to it.
But he simply liked eating shaqima.
When he was little... after finishing lessons and drills... he loved sitting on the steps with a piece in his hands, nibbling it slowly.
Even the afternoon sunlight seemed sweet then.
Flattened shaqima... was still shaqima.
His own hand was covered in blood.
Blood stained the pastry too.
Tian Tian still took another bite.
Sweetness mixed with blood.
It did not taste awful.
Just... nowhere near as good as usual.
Tian Tian frowned slightly.
He remembered Father once speaking about an uncle named Li Fusheng.
That man had loved sitting on the battlefield after a slaughter and eating beans stained with blood.
Tian Tian had tried something similar now.
Truthfully... it was not that difficult to accept.
But then he remembered the look of rejection that always appeared on Father’s face whenever he told that story.
With some regret...
Tian Tian tossed the remaining half of the flattened shaqima onto the ground.
Better not do things Dad disliked.
After that...
Tian Tian remained sitting there for a long while.
Only when he saw Chen Xianba cross the river with his troops and walk toward him... did Tian Tian finally let his forehead fall against the hilt of his saber.
And sleep.
...
“Report! The enemy formation has not broken!”
“Report! His Highness is locked in close battle!”
“Report! His Highness is wounded!”
“Report! His Highness has withdrawn!”
Xie Yu’an spread both hands.
His expression carried both frustration and helplessness.
“Ah... what a headache.”
At that moment... an old man appeared behind Xie Yu’an.
He wore black robes.
His feet were bare.
This style of dress was common throughout Chu.
It belonged to shamans.
Ancient shamanic culture was a branch of Great Xia civilization.
The First Marquis of Chu had himself been one representative of it.
Later, when the Marquis of Chu opened the frontiers, shamanic culture followed into the lands that became modern Chu.
It absorbed many elements from the primitive traditions of the Shanyue as well.
Over time... it evolved into its present form.
“Actually... there is something this old man does not know whether he should say.”
“Master Wu, please speak.”
Great Chu had **Twelve Chief Shamans**.
This man was one of them.
His surname was Wu.
His name...
Qing.
He had inherited a lineage of divination.
His disciples now formed the core of Chu’s Directorate of Astronomy.
He had accompanied the army this time because he intended to perform divinations for the new Yan-Chu national war whose curtain had just risen.
Although... the result of any such divination would naturally have to be that Great Chu would win.
His status was extraordinarily high.
So even Xie Yu’an, scion of the Xie Clan and a Grandee of the current court, addressed him respectfully.
Wu Qing smiled.
“When this old man first met Your Excellency, I said that on your body... I smelled... something special.”
Xie Yu’an looked puzzled.
“What happened?”
Truthfully, Xie Yu’an did not especially believe in shamans.
Chu’s shamans were not fundamentally different from Qian’s Qi Refiners.
The minor difference was that Chu shamans usually knew how to treat illness and often served as physicians.
But whether one spoke of the highest shamans or the highest Qi Refiners... what they pursued was still that vague, mystical Great Dao that Xie Yu’an found deeply suspicious.
Back in Ying Capital, Wu Qing had indeed said something similar when they first met.
Xie Yu’an had simply taken it as another version of powerful men carrying one another’s sedan chairs through polite flattery.
As long as Wu Qing did not stand in front of His Majesty and claim Xie Yu’an possessed dragon qi... he could babble whatever nonsense he liked.
Wu Qing raised one hand and pointed south.
“Just now... to the south... I smelled something somewhat similar to what I sensed on Your Excellency.”
“Oh?”
Xie Yu’an performed curiosity rather than truly feeling it.
“Could it be that Heir Prince Jingnan?”
“Indeed.”
“Oh. Then it really is a pity we failed to kill him this time.”
Xie Yu’an continued humoring him.
If the Regent Prince of Great Yan had been standing here and heard Wu Qing’s earlier words... he would probably have fallen into deep thought immediately.
Xie Yu’an and Tian Tian carried a similar scent.
Was that strange?
No.
Not strange at all.
Because originally... they should have been the same kind of person.
What mattered was that Wu Qing knew perfectly well he was not “lifting a sedan chair.”
He was not pretending to be mysterious.
He genuinely... had smelled it.
And so... he said:
“Your Excellency, permit this old man to cast one divination here while the scent before my nose has not yet dispersed.”
Xie Yu’an bowed respectfully.
“Please.”
Wu Qing did not delay.
He sat cross-legged.
Before him... he arranged three skulls.
Each skull contained a single hollow opening.
Wu Qing dragged one fingernail across a fingertip.
Into each hollow... he dripped two drops of blood.
Then... his hands formed seals.
In the next instant... blue flames ignited inside the eye sockets of all three skulls.
Wu Qing closed his eyes.
His lips began chanting an incantation.
He was genuinely curious.
Why would two men whose identities and positions had almost nothing to do with one another... carry a similar scent?
At this moment... the disposition of the battlefield... the fate of the state... all of it faded far away.
Boring.
Meaningless.
Only the chance to peek at the arrangements of Heaven itself... could awaken true desire inside him.
In truth, Wu Qing could sense Xie Yu’an’s “scent” because Xie Yu’an had once been divined in front of him.
Wu Qing had touched him.
Examined him.
Truly made contact.
Truly perceived him.
As for why he could sense Tian Tian... there was no mystery.
It was similar to the time Zheng Fan had been attacked on the surface of the Wang River.
Demon Child itself... was closer to the state of some great Qi Refiner who had discarded the mortal flesh.
Once Demon Child possessed someone, that aura became amplified.
To practitioners beyond the mundane world... it was like lighting a torch in the middle of the night.
Tian Tian had not, however, used any esoteric technique like Zheng Fan had once done when calling ghost soldiers beneath the river.
So naturally... he would not be “invited up a mountain” the way his father once had.
Besides... someone capable of using that white lotus as a guide while sacrificing a profound lifetime of Qi Refiner cultivation merely to “invite a guest”... was rare even among the rarest people in the world.
Just like being struck by a trebuchet stone in a rainy night years ago... one needed extraordinary luck... to encounter such fortune.
A smile slowly appeared at the corner of Wu Qing’s mouth.
He was about to find the answer.
Almost.
Almost.
Almost...
Then... an invisible wind swept through.
From the depths of the eye sockets of all three skulls... black blood suddenly began seeping outward.
At the same time... blood began pouring from all seven of Wu Qing’s facial openings.
His entire body started convulsing violently as though seized by madness.
The sight was horrifying.
Beside his ears... a majestic voice sounded.
Only Wu Qing could hear it.
“You dare pry into my son’s destiny? You... think you’re worthy?”
[End of Chapter 952]
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