The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 529- 531

Chapter 529: City Gates Opened, the Wan Capital Take

No sooner had the bugle blared when the main force hiding outside the city heard it.

“Attack!”

Yuwen Tong gave the order to attack and with that the troops charged at the west city gates at full tilt.

The hush of the inky night was immediately broken by the massive offensive and even the ground was quaking.

The whole capital city was awoken by the noises. The citizens, both those who understood the meaning of the loud bugle calls and those who didn’t, were thrown into panic.

“What’s going on?!”

“The Great-Wen buglers are sounding attack! They’ve breached the defense!”

Pandemonium reigned over the Wan capital.

Ling Zhang and his bodyguards, along with He Xiao and the others, took control of the city gates immediately after gaining entry into the city, and with that they engaged an army patrol coming to check on the gates.

“You!” The captain of the patrol was shocked and infuriated as he saw the commander of the garrison unit responsible for guarding the west city gates standing side by side with some soldiers of the Great Wen. “You’ve actually stooped to colluding with the enemy! You traitors!”

“We’ve just chosen to serve a wiser master!” huffed the garrison commander, the look on his face turning ugly at the accusation. Driven by a pang of mingled guilt and rage, he shouted a command and then lunged at the patrol with his men.

Ling Zhang exchanged a glance with He Xiao and said, “It’s just a small patrol. Let these people handle it. I’ll take my bodyguards and go a little further to check out the lay of the land.”

He Xiao preferred him to stay with the soldiers, but then he recalled what Yuwen Tong had said before departure. “Be careful, Your Highness,” he said with a head bob.

Ling Zhang and his bodyguards galloped squarely towards the far end of North Street. At this time, news of the opening of the west city gates had just started spreading, and none of the defenders had arrived except for the army patrol.

“Young Master, there’s another army patrol coming.”

“Intercept them. Our troops have reached the city gates already.”

“Yes, Young Master!”

…

Yuwen Tong had just led his men into the city when he found that Ling Zhang and his twenty-four bodyguards had wiped out a whole army patrol, the street strewn with dead bodies, Ling Zhang standing in the highest position, holding a sword from the point of which blood was still dripping.

“The garrison’s coming,” Ling Zhang told Yuwen Tong aloud, turning his head around after glancing into the distance.

Yuwen Tong gave a bob of the head and then split his men into three groups, two of which headed for East Street and South Street respectively, the third pushing towards the royal palace.

Ling Zhang shook the blood off the point of his sword and leaped off the height gliding like a bird in night sky, then landed beside Yuwen Tong.

“I’ll go to the south city gates with them,” he said, face cold, eyes gleaming. Having just killed a lot of enemy soldiers, he was not interested in going to the royal palace to look for Shan Congli and wanted to go to the south city gates to help.

Yuwen Tong raised his hand and wiped off a speck of blood that Ling Zhang had spattered on his cheek unawares. “Stay safe,” he cautioned.

Ling Zhang nodded, gave an instruction to his bodyguards, mounted Snowflake the horse and then followed the troops heading for the south city gates.

“Sire, the gates of the royal palace are tightly shut. Considering the loud noises out here, Shan Congli sure as hell has come to know what’s happening, but the palace is oddly quiet,” an officer reported to Yuwen Tong after returning from the royal palace which he had reconnoitered a few moments ago.

Yuwen Tong withdrew his gaze from Ling Zhang’s receding back, looked in the direction of the royal palace and said, “Keep your eyes peeled. Do not underestimate the enemy.”

“Yes, Sire.”

…

The troops advancing towards the south city gates soon encountered head-on a Wan garrison, who had heard the commotion from the west city gates and were heading here with the intention to help. Neither side in the mood for greeting the other, they directly engaged.

“Archers, nock! Draw! Loose!”

Unlike the Wan garrison who were in a great hurry and unaware of what was going on, the soldiers of the Great Wen were fully prepared. Xiao Jiangyue, who was in charge, promptly got those with shields into defensive formation and then commanded the archers to fire arrows at the enemies.

The Wan garrison failed to finish their defensive formation in time and instantly suffered heavy casualties in the rain of arrows.

After the first volley of arrows, the Wan garrison began to show signs of panic.

“Charge! Kill them!” Xiao Jiangyue gave the order in a timely manner.

Ling Zhang and his bodyguards, along with the troops, charged at the enemies. To prevent Snowflake from being hurt by friendly fire, he left the horse behind and flew over the crowds of soldiers squarely towards the Wan garrison like a giant black bird or a sharp blade, the sword in his hand gleaming menacingly. With a single stroke of his sword accompanied by a wicked glint, he took the lives of several Wan defenders.

Xiao Jiangyue was taken aback at the sight of Ling Zhang flying forward, feeling that the empress was making a risky move and might be wounded by the enemies, but soon he noticed that those men’s weapons couldn’t even approach Ling Zhang, who quickly downed all the enemies in the vicinity single-handed!

Ling Zhang was capable of fighting off dozens of enemy soldiers all at once, and his twenty-four bodyguards, fighting in a certain formation, were progressing quickly, their blows neat and deadly, spattering blood in all directions, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Their combat capabilities were so formidable, the murderous air they were emanating so palpable, that all the others felt the hair on the backs of their necks rising.

Xiao Jiangyue closed his open mouth, watching in a faintly dreamy way as Ling Zhang, closely followed by his bodyguards and the soldiers, unstoppably fought his way forward, killing with great ease. Though he had long since come to know that Ling Zhang was no common person, this was his first time seeing Ling Zhang fighting in a battle.

Why did His Majesty have misgivings about letting His Highness join the fight when he knew His Highness had such consummate kung fu skills? It was the enemies that His Majesty should be worried about.

Ling Zhang enjoyed the fighting very much. He had not fought with such gusto since the battle outside Shengzhou Pass, which had been a long time ago.

Because of Ling Zhang and his bodyguards, this backup unit of the enemy was defeated sooner than expected. All the surviving enemy soldiers got on their knees and surrendered themselves.

They reached the south city gates before the other team reached the west city gates.

Getting through the south city gates was the best way for Yuwen Tong’s army to take the city. Also, the south city gates were the most heavily defended. If they were opened, more troops waiting outside would immediately enter and then occupy the whole city.

“Blow the bugle!”

The moment they reached the gates, Xiao Jiangyue commanded the bugler to play a bugle call as a signal for the troops biding their time outside.

Ling Zhang, whose five senses were exceptionally sharp, cocked an eye at the ramparts, listening hard. “Stay alert. There are archers on the ramparts,” he cautioned.

Xiao Jiangyue’s face went grave and with that he ordered, “Shields up!”

No sooner had a wall of shields was formed when arrows started raining down on them.

Evidently the enemies, after finding out that the backup unit heading for the west city gates had failed to stop the army of the Great Wen, had quickly deployed some archers on the ramparts. Though they had shields, the rain of arrows still inflicted some casualties on them.

Under the cover of night, Ling Zhang and his bodyguards wormed their way into two small alleys on the side respectively, quickly detoured to the foot of the ramparts, and, when the defenders’ attention was distracted by the army, climbed up the ramparts and cut the throats of the guards. They did it very quick without making any sounds. When the archers sensed that something was wrong, Ling Zhang and his bodyguards had sneaked up on them.

Ling Zhang was a master of Formation. When he had reached the sixth layer of his cultivation method, he had developed the ability to deploy a Formation by simply arranging a couple of objects. With the dead bodies of a couple of defenders, he in the blink of an eye finished a Formation which would serve as a smokescreen. Then he swooshed down the passage at the top of the ramparts like a shooting arrow, slitting the throats of the archers along the way with his sword before any of them could set eyes on him, splattering blood across the parapet.

A dozen archers were downed in the twinkling of an eye.

And then he swiftly removed the torches from the ramparts with strokes of his sword and sent them flying forward like a dragon of fire, which whooshed past the archers’ faces as Ling Zhang’s sword cut their throats.

“AAAARGH!”

“KILL HIM! KILL HIM!” bellowed the commander in charge on the ramparts, astounded and panic-stricken.

Ling Zhang coldly gave a snort, rapidly tapped another seven or eight torches with the flat of his sword, sending them into mid-air, and then shot them straight towards the face of the commander.

At the same time, on the other side of the gate tower, Wang Dashan and some others were also killing the Wan archers with high efficiency, working as a seamless team.

Soon all was confusion and chaos on the ramparts. The rest of the archers no longer a threat, Xiao Jiangyue immediately instructed his men to launch an assault on the Wan soldiers standing guard at the city gates.

There was fierce fighting on both sides of the south city gates. Ling Zhang, who had been killing dozens of times quicker than a common soldier did, had taken the lives of countless enemies, his armor blood-spattered.

At this time, the troops outside started battering the city gates. Under attack from both sides, the city gates were soon opened.

When the south city gates creaked open, Jiang Ke and his men were still having a fierce fight with the garrison defending the east city gates. However, the areas in the vicinity of the east city gates were not the main battlefield, and the team of soldiers Jiang Ke had taken there was smaller than the one sent to the south city gates. Their task was to take over the east city gates rather than opening them.

At this time, the gateway of the royal palace was in a mess, strewn with dead bodies of palace guards and arrows, the ground gleaming with blood in bright firelight.

As Yuwen Tong expected, there had been enemies lying in ambush in the seemingly quiet royal palace. His troops had been greeted with a rain of arrows as soon as they had reached the front gates.

Opening the front gates of the royal palace took some doing. There turned out to be quite some palace guards hiding inside.

Shan Congli was standing right behind the ranks of palace guards, but he had not changed into armor and was still wearing royal robes.

“Yuwen Tong, I would have had you assassinated in that battle had I known beforehand things would come to this!” said Shan Congli flintily.

“It’s pointless to say this kind of stuff now. You should have seen this coming when you failed to subjugate the Great Yue. Since you’ve been waiting here with these men of yours, I think it’s safe to say you have no plans to walk out of this palace alive, so let’s just get it over with,” said Yuwen Tong.

Shan Congli looked at Yuwen Tong, a sinister and ferocious expression in his eyes, clenching his fists tightly. He was unreconciled to this situation. There had been a time when the Wan Kingdom had been at a great advantage. He had waged this war with the ambition to annex the Great Wen, but he had not bargained on falling prey to Yuwen Tong’s subterfuge, which was a mistake that had directly led to the subjugation of the Wan Kingdom. How could he not have grudges and regret when the result was such a contrast to his goal?

However, unconvinced as Shan Congli was, he was aware that there was no way he could turn the tables. It was a fact that Yuwen Tong had subjugated the Wan Kingdom, and maybe it wouldn’t be long before Yuwen Tong reunified the three countries. The knowledge of this further deepened Shan Congli’s hatred. A few years ago Yuwen Tong had been merely a military officer of the Great Yue, and at that time the Wan Kingdom had stood a better chance of achieving the reunification of the three countries. Why did Yuwen Tong get to have all that in the end?!

“You deserve to die. Now that you’ve entered this palace, there’s no way I’m letting you leave here alive. I can’t wait to see the regret on your face when you’re on the verge of death knowing you’re so close to reunifying the three countries!” Shan Congli suddenly sneered in a peculiar manner.

Yuwen Tong’s eyebrows contracted slightly. It struck him that Shan Congli’s bearing verged on the demented.

Chapter 530: An Explosion in the Royal Palace

As both Shan Congli’s tone of voice and his mien were uncharacteristic, Yuwen Tong was on the alert and unnoticeably motioned for Jiang Xi standing beside him to go and guard the front gates of the royal palace, in case anything unexpected happened.

Jiang Xi gave a slight nod and then secretly made some arrangements, cautioning everybody to stay vigilant.

Given the number of the palace guards present, Shan Congli could do no more than put up a deathbed struggle, but apart from anything else, this place was the royal palace of the Wan Kingdom, and there was no telling whether or not Shan Congli, as the owner of this palace, had anything else up his sleeve that he might resort to to do them harm.

…

After the south city gates were opened, the troops waiting outside charged into the city and took control of the south city gates and the whole south street.

There were not many surviving enemies left, so there was no longer any necessity for Ling Zhang to stay involved. Still worried about the situation in the royal palace, he hurried towards the palace with his bodyguards.

When he reached the palace, he saw that the front gates were open. There were Great-Wen soldiers standing guard both in and outside the palace, the sound of fighting issuing from inside, but he was unable to tell what was happening in there.

“I’m honored to kneel before you, Your Highness,” chorused the soldiers guarding the front gates at the sight of Ling Zhang.

“How’s everything going in there?” asked Ling Zhang.

“Shan Congli has summoned his palace guards and put up fierce resistance. The fighting is continuing. His Majesty and General Jiang are both inside,” answered a soldier.

Ling Zhang nodded, looked up at the towering front gates of the Wan royal palace and then resumed riding forward. When going through the gates, he inexplicably felt somewhat unnerved as though there was something dangerous inside.

Ling Zhang, who had been having mounting confidence in his occasional forebodings, found his heartbeat quickening in spite of himself and he immediately spurred Snowflake and galloped into the royal palace.

Wang Dashan and the others, unaware of why Ling Zhang had suddenly picked up speed, hastened to follow in his wake.

There were dead bodies on the ground inside the palace, which clearly had witnessed an intense fight not long ago.

They detoured around another palace wall, rode through another pair of gates and were greeted with bright firelight. The troops of the Great Wen and a number of Wan palace guards were engaged in a full-on fight. Shan Congli was in the middle of his palace guards. They were surrounded by troops of the Great Wen.

Yuwen Tong was on his horse at the foot of a palace wall, under the protection of some soldiers led by Jiang Xi.

Ling Zhang glanced around the scene and let out a sigh of relief as he saw that Yuwen Tong was safe and sound. “Gee–up!”

Snowflake, without slowing down, made a beeline for Yuwen Tong.

“Sire, His Highness is coming.” Jiang Xi was the first to notice Ling Zhang and hastened to tell Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong twisted his head around and saw Ling Zhang galloping towards him on Snowflake, who was all white and very conspicuous, but who was overshadowed by Ling Zhang’s great presence. Yuwen Tong’s attention was instantly drawn to Ling Zhang.

Ling Zhang galloped up and reined in Snowflake a couple of paces away from Yuwen Tong. Snowflake reared and then abruptly put her front legs down with a long neigh.

“How’s it going? Are you hurt?” Ling Zhang inquired immediately after his horse halted.

Yuwen Tong shook his head and looked Ling Zhang all over as the latter’s eyes appraised him. Having sensed Ling Zhang’s even and steady breathing, he knew that Ling Zhang was unharmed.

“How did it go at the south city gates?”

“We’ve taken control of the gates. Right now General Xiao and his men are hunting the surviving enemies in the city.”

Ling Zhang glanced at Shan Congli who was in the middle of the surrounding circle under the protection of his guards resisting desperately. “Why is he still alive?” he asked.

Yuwen Tong said, “The situation here is quite messy, but he’ll be either captured or killed in a few moments. You’ve just been through a fight. You should get some rest.”

Ling Zhang shook his head. “No. I’d just come in here when I felt there’s something wrong with this place. You need to be extra careful.”

Yuwen Tong slightly furrowed his brows. A moment ago Shan Congli’s inexplicably confident manner had struck him as weird and put him on the alert, and now Ling Zhang was giving him a forewarning …

“I want you to get out of this place first. I’ll retreat after capturing Shan Congli.”

Ling Zhang disagreed, turned on his heel and instructed his bodyguards, “Search this place and nearby palace walls immediately.”

“Yes, Your Highness!” Wang Dashan answered and promptly left to carry out the order with his fellow bodyguards.

Then Ling Zhang glanced at the palace wall behind him. It struck him that standing in that spot made him feel somewhat subdued and uncomfortable, so he said to Yuwen Tong and those beside him, “You guys should move elsewhere. I have a sense of foreboding.”

Yuwen Tong immediately cast a backward glance at the palace wall behind him. His piercing eyes swept around the scene and with that he said to Jiang Xi, “Let’s go somewhere else. Tell our men to stay away from palace walls.”

Jiang Xi nodded and immediately gave the order.

The soldiers changing their positions was a noticeable activity, one that Shan Congli in the middle of his palace guards observed. His face promptly changed and with that he yelled at a man beside him, “Shoot it right now!”

The bodyguard beside him quickly pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back, nocked it and raised his bow, but surprisingly, he was aiming at a bell hanging from a palace wall rather than Yuwen Tong or any of his men.

He loosed the arrow which then whizzed through mid-air like a shooting star.

Ling Zhang and the others also saw it immediately. Having an intuition that there was something wrong with the direction the arrow was going, he shot out a hand and grasped Yuwen Tong’s wrist. “GO!” he shouted.

Yuwen Tong flung an arm around Ling Zhang’s waist and with that the two of them leapt up from their horses and swooshed in another direction.

Jiang Xi, who also had very quick reactions, rapidly left that spot.

At the same time the arrow went into something attached to the outside of the bell with a great peal.

“RUN!” Ling Zhang shouted at his bodyguards.

Wang Dashan and the others were just about to climb up the palace wall when they heard Ling Zhang’s cry, promptly kicked the wall and flew backwards.

The next moment, a bizarre fizz was heard, which was closely followed by a loud explosion.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The whole palace wall was blasted. None of them knew what it was that was so powerful as to reduce such a thick palace wall to rubble. Broken stones carried by a violent shock wave shot outwards in all directions. All those who were too close to the wall to run away in time were hurled away by the blast.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong both felt the shock wave pushing them, but thanks to their consummate kung fu skills, they instantly extricated themselves from the area where the blast was the most powerful.

Wang Dashan and his fellow bodyguards were fairly unlucky. Though having evacuated quickly, they were still wounded. A couple of them, who had been hit hard by shooting stones, sustained severe internal injuries and spat out several mouthfuls of blood.

The whole royal palace was quaking violently. After a while, the ground on the scene also blew up as the palace wall had.

Yuwen Tong, carrying Ling Zhang, went up to the rooftop of a palace with a couple of flying leaps. Looking at the soldiers wounded by the explosion from underground, they both had grave faces.

“How many explosives did Shan Congli bury in this place exactly?!” Ling Zhang was confused with anger.

Yuwen Tong made no reply, because Shan Congli had not survived the explosion either. He had not prepared any escape routes for himself, presumably determined to die with his enemies. A pointed broken stone sent flying by the explosion had gone into his temple only a split instant before he kicked the bucket.

“That bastard!” Ling Zhang was so angry he had an urge to go down there and chop Shan Congli’s body into pieces.

Yuwen Tong could have been among the victims of the explosion had he not had the foreboding feeling beforehand … As this thought crossed his mind, Ling Zhang felt cold sweat breaking out over his back, his hand holding his sword trembling from rage.

Yuwen Tong gently hugged him, patting his back. “I’m fine. Let’s get this matter settled first.”

Teeth gritted, Ling Zhang cooled down and gave an “Um” of agreement with a head bob.

Yuwen Tong let Ling Zhang out of his embrace. At this time the explosion had stopped. The square was strewn with bodies blown apart, some of them palace guards, the others soldiers of the Great Wen.

As Ling Zhang landed on the ground, he caught sight of a Great-Wen soldier whose leg was wounded, but who was still alive. He hurried up, removed the rock pinning the soldier’s leg to the ground, hit a particular acupoint of his to slow down the bleeding, tore a piece of cloth off his robe and quickly tied it around the top of the soldier’s thigh. “Hang in there. You’re going to be all right.”

Groaning in pain, faced covered with blood, the soldier nodded at Ling Zhang feebly, clenching his teeth to stifle a pained cry.

Jiang Xi, along with those of his men who could still fight, went to kill the surviving palace guards. Each of those unequal to moving due to their injuries received a fatal stab. When all enemies had been finished off, Jiang Xi disgustedly glanced at Shan Congli’s body on the ground and let out a “Faugh!”

Soldiers outside the palace had heard the loud explosion and many of them came to help. Yuwen Tong directed them to give first aid to the injured.

Ling Zhang found his bodyguards. A couple of them had suffered rather severe internal bruising, and Qiu Bing had had them take some medicine which could help to heal internal injury, but he had not found the time to treat their trauma.

Ling Zhang crouched down to bandage Yang Liuzi’s injured arm.

“Young Master, I can manage it myself,” said Yang Liuzi, feeling overwhelmingly flattered.

“Sit still,” said Ling Zhang, his face grave. His bodyguards wouldn’t have been wounded had he not sent them to check the palace wall.

Ling Zhang glanced up at Qiu Bing dressing someone’s wound and said, “Qiu Bing, you hurt your thigh as well. Dress that wound of yours first.”

Qiu Bing looked down at his wound and smiled fairly nonchalantly, “I wouldn’t have known had you not told me, Young Master.”

With that he casually tore a strip of material off his robe and tied it tightly around his thigh.

Wang Dashan, who had been hit by flying rubble and spat out a mouthful of blood, was faintly ashen-faced. Having taken a pill which helped to heal internal bruising, he had regained his mobility. He walked up to Qiu Bing, snatched the vulnerary from his hand, untied the strip of cloth binding Qiu Bing’s thigh, ripped Qiu Bing’s pant leg, carefully applied the vulnerary to the wound, and then tore a piece of cloth from his own robe to bandage it. “Just because you’re a physician doesn’t mean your wound will heal without medical treatment,” he said.

Fairly abashed, Qiu Bing scratched his head. “I’ll keep that in mind, Chief.”

All twenty-four of them, to a greater or lesser extent, were wounded. After receiving quick first aid, they went to help the other injured soldiers with those who had just entered the palace to rescue their comrades-in-arms.

Wang Dashan and Liu Yi stayed, because Ling Zhang was still here and they could not leave their young master unprotected.

His bodyguards being pallid but still insisting on protecting him gave Ling Zhang a headache.

Fortunately Xiao Jiangyue and his men, after hearing the explosion, immediately came to help. With the efforts of a great number of rescuers, the injured were soon transferred. The remaining task was to clear the palace of the dead, including the handling of Shan Congli’s body.

Jiang Xi, filled with fury, had taken some men and set out to search the royal palace for Shan Congli’s offspring, knowing that one mustn’t cut a tuft of grass only, but must uproot it, that all those who might be a recipe for disaster must be eliminated.

With the death of Shan Congli and the fall of the Wan capital, the Wan Kingdom was subjected to thorough subjugation.

It had been quite some time since Yuwen Tong had led his men north, but considering they had annexed a nation, the mission had been fulfilled in a very quick manner, for which Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang who had spent three years planning it out deserved most of the credit.

“You may go and have some rest. I can handle this. We’ll talk about the rest after daybreak,” Yuwen Tong said to Ling Zhang.

Ling Zhang, face covered in dust and etched with weariness, shook his head. “No. I’ll stay here keeping you company.”

Chapter 531: A Hunt for the Princes of the Shan Family

Members of the Shan Family, the royal household, were soon captured. Jiang Xi also discovered a secret passage in the royal palace. Two sons of Shan Congli’s, both of whom he thought highly of, were not in the capital, presumably having fled through the secret passage.

According to the eunuchs who were the last to have seen the two princes, it had been only two hours since the princes had taken flight.

That had been the time when the city gates had been opened and the troops had started flooding into the capital. None of the members of the royal family had bargained on someone colluding with the enemy and opening the city gates. Caught flat-footed, Shan Congli had only had time to have his two most valued sons escorted into the palace and whisked off. It had been done with such haste that they had left with only a couple of guards.

Jiang Xi wanted to take some men and go into the secret passage to pursue the princes. Ling Zhang decided to go with him. “There are sure as hell some defensive measures and divergent paths in there. If you fall victim to any of the defensive measures or go the wrong way, you’ll never be able to catch them. I’ll lead the way.”

“Young Master, Liu Yi and I can handle it,” said Wang Dashan.

Ling Zhang shook his head. “I’ll do it myself.

By the way, it’s best if you send some men to search the north of the city right away. They’ll definitely flee to the north after getting out of this secret passage, because there’s a border garrison there, and it’s the only place where they can find shelter.”

Yuwen Tong said, “I’ll have He Xiao and Yuwen Jin take some men and search that area. You need to be careful down there. Take Yao Yi and Xie Shi with you.”

Ling Zhang nodded, raising no objections, then hastened to lead them into the secret passage.

It was almost dawn, and the sky was beginning to lighten in the east, but the moment they entered the secret passage, they found themselves in pitch-blackness. Wang Dashan and Liu Yi, holding lighted torches, were leading the way, followed by Yao Yi and Xie Shi protecting Ling Zhang, Jiang Xi and his men in Yao Yi and Xie Shi’s wake.

The secret passages were indeed labyrinthine. They frequently found themselves at a fork while progressing. Fortunately Ling Zhang was cool-headed all the time, and with his high proficiency in Formations and his amazing sixth sense, he always knew which path to take.

There were also many defensive measures which could do people severe harm. There were even two thick stone doors blocking the paths at a fork.

Opening one of them took a lot of doing. They all felt thankful that Ling Zhang was with them, who knew a special method of lifting that kind of stone door.

After that, the secret passage led them straight north. Judging from how long it had been since their departure, they should have some time ago traveled past the north ramparts from underground.

It was in a wood to the north-west of the Wan capital that they got out of the passage. Between the wood and the capital city stood a hill. It was not easy to get to this area which was desolate as far as the eye could see, and there were no paths or national roads in sight.

Ling Zhang’s brow corrugated in a slight frown. The search parties, after exiting the city through the north city gates, would continue the hunt along the national road, because it would be quicker for Shan Congli’s two sons to get to the north if they took the national road.

“Hoof prints,” said Jiang Xi, pointing at the prints on the ground.

It was full daylight when they got out of the passage, and the trees in this spot were relatively sparse, so they could distinctly see the hoof prints on the ground in bright sunlight.

Those were marks left by horses which had trampled on the ground agitatedly. Jiang Xi observed for a while before he spotted a place nearby which seemed to be a temporary stable. Judging from the size of it, there should be over thirty horses there. He also found a wide trail of hoof prints leading north-west. Left by a large group of horses, the marks were very obvious.

Pointing north-west, he said, “They fled that way.”

Ling Zhang looked in that direction, recalling the map of the Wan capital and nearby areas that he had carefully read before the battle started. Then the expression in his eyes went grave and he said, “Ten li (a Chinese unit of length, equal to 500 meters) of this place is a village which is connected by a road with Zhangfei City to the west of it. It seems the two sons of Shan Congli’s are pretty smart. They know that they could well be caught if they travel north alone, but if they go to Zhangfei City, they’ll find shelter and be in a much safer situation, no matter whether their next move is to stay in Zhangfei City or to exit the city through the north gates and then detour to the encampment of the border garrison. In addition, we haven’t taken the northern prefecture of Zhangzhou yet, which means they could unite the troops garrisoned in the three cities of Zhangzhou along the way.

It’s a whole day’s ride from here to Zhangfei City. I’m sure they haven’t reached Zhangfei City yet, no matter how fast their horses are. Yao Yi, Xie Shi and I will set off first to pursue them. The others are to travel to Zhangfei City as quick as possible. And don’t forget to send a message back to the capital.”

Ling Zhang, after explaining why the two princes had fled that way, promptly left to pursue the targets with Yao Yi and Xie Shi without saying anything else. The three of them, with their consummate Lightness Skills, could travel much faster than the others.

Jiang Xi had a team of soldiers with him, and it was inappropriate to leave his men behind, so he set off with his men, heading in the same direction the three of them had gone.

Wang Dashan and Liu Yi were wounded, and their Lightness Skills were not as good as Xie Shi’s or Yao Yi’s, so they decided to return to the city to report the situation to Yuwen Tong.

…

Ling Zhang, Yao Yi and Xie Shi, following those hoof prints, soon reached the small village but did not enter it. Jiang Xi and his men would come to this village and search it. It was most likely that the two princes had directly fled west instead of staying in this village risking being caught.

The nice thing about having superb Lightness Skills and powerful internal energy was that he could travel non-stop at a very fast speed for a long time.

Shan Congli’s two sons, along with their bodyguards, had been fleeing on horseback and were over two hours’ ride ahead of the three of them, but it was not difficult to catch up with them.

Ling Zhang wanted to catch the targets before they could flee into Zhangfei City, because letting them enter the city was no different from letting the tiger return to the mountain.

Therefore, he was swooshing forward at full pelt.

…

Half a day later, they approached Zhangfei City, but the targets were still nowhere to be seen.

Ling Zhang told Yao Yi and Xie Shi to stop.

“There’s no way they could’ve traveled that fast. We must’ve passed them without noticing. Xie Shi, I want you to stay here and wait. This is the only national road connecting Zhangfei City and the eastern areas. There’s no way they could reach Zhangfei City without passing this place. Yao Yi and I will double back and look for them.”

Xie Shi nodded. “Please be careful, Your Highness.”

Yuwen Tong had sent Xie Shi to accompany Ling Zhang because Xie Shi could offer Ling Zhang medical treatment if he got hurt, but what with the urgent situation, Xie Shi had no alternative but to stay and guard the national road.

Ling Zhang and Yao Yi retraced their steps. They had passed several villages during the previous trip. This area was sparsely populated, and there were no towns, so the two of them concentrated their efforts on searching the couple of villages.

“They’re running for their lives, so they would never stay in a place for long. If they enter a village, it’ll probably be for food and water, and they’ll leave immediately after getting what they need. Keep your eyes peeled. There’s a very high chance we’ll encounter them right on a street,” Ling Zhang cautioned Yao Yi.

Yao Yi inclined his head, his vigilance bolstered.

…

He Xiao and Yuwen Jin, along with their men, had turned around and headed for Zhangfei City when they received the message delivered by Wang Dashan and Liu Yi. They chanced upon Jiang Xi and his men halfway through the journey and spared a horse for Jiang Xi. The soldiers who did not have horses were commanded to search nearby areas.

“His Highness and the other two can travel very fast. I think they’ve reached the suburbs of Zhangfei City by now,” said Jiang Xi.

At these words, He Xiao and Yuwen Jin spurred their horses and galloped even faster.

Snowflake was in their company. She hurtled forward, soon was a long distance ahead of them and, after a few moments, disappeared from view.

Yuwen Jin and He Xiao were also riding thoroughbred horses, but the two of them still couldn’t help but feel envious at the sight of this. Snowflake was so fast!

…

At this time, Ling Zhang and Yao Yi spotted their targets.

Ling Zhang’s words turned out to be a prophecy. They came almost face-to-face with the two princes.

Shan Congli’s two sons both looked very much like him, so Ling Zhang recognized them at first glance. The two of them were under the protection of around thirty cavalrymen, which tallied with Jiang Xi’s conjecture.

At the sight of them, Ling Zhang directly uprooted two trees on the roadside and used them as barricades, blocking the targets’ path. Standing on a treetop, he watched the group of horsemen approaching, his sword unsheathed.

“The road ahead is blocked. Someone’s there!”

“Be careful, Your Highnesses!”

“Protect His Highnesses!”

Soon those horsemen noticed the obstacles on the road and Ling Zhang standing on a treetop and came to a halt, watchful looks on their faces.

“Identify yourself!” someone demanded.

“Stop wasting time. He’s from the Great Wen. Just kill him already!” said the man in charge.

In order to travel fast, Ling Zhang was not wearing armor, but his clothes were of Great-Wen style and different from those of common Wan people, which was why those men could tell where he was from.

“I’ll spare your lives if you surrender yourselves and kill these two men,” said Ling Zhang, looking flintily down at them.

He mobilized his internal energy, radiating a palpable sense of power which instantaneously made the air within a 100-meter radius feel heavy and suffocating. The powerful emanation also enveloped the two princes and their bodyguards immediately.

They promptly felt weighed down and began to have difficulty breathing.

The two princes had enjoyed high status for many years and their father had valued them very much. Even the air emanated by Shan Congli had never made either of them feel afraid, but at this moment, Ling Zhang’s brooding air was actually striking fear into their hearts.

“Who the hell are you?” demanded the elder one of the two princes.

Ling Zhang guessed that he was probably the Third Prince, the one that Shan Congli had valued the most, that the man beside him must be the Fifth Prince.

“Ling Zhang.” It was now unnecessary for Ling Zhang to keep his identity secret.

“Ling Zhang?! You’re the empress of the Great Wen?!” The Fifth Prince eyed Ling Zhang resentfully, gnashing his teeth against the sense of power radiating from him, but when his eyes met Ling Zhang’s which were as cold as blade, he couldn’t help but flinch. “You and Yuwen Tong killed my father, and now you’ve actually tracked us down alone. I’ll kill you to avenge my father’s death!”

There was a reason why he dared shout such words. He had observed the surroundings and found that there did not seem to be anybody lying in ambush. Ling Zhang was the only enemy in sight, so he was emboldened.

“Go and restrain Ling Zhang, all of you. We could use a hostage to force Yuwen Tong to withdraw his forces!” commanded the Fifth Prince aloud.

The Third Prince did not raise any objections. The thirty cavalrymen, though scared by the sense of power radiating from Ling Zhang, felt a jolt of hatred and an urge to take revenge after hearing the Fifth Prince’s words and immediately charged at Ling Zhang.

“Humph. Since you people want to meet your ends, I shall grant all your wishes!” snorted Ling Zhang, brandishing his sword which then turned into a blur of movement with great ease. The next moment, he leaped off the treetop and, like a giant bird, swooped down towards the group of cavalrymen galloping at him, dodging their arrows.

There were a dozen cavalrymen coming at him. The rest of them were still standing guard beside the two princes. A gleam flashed across Ling Zhang’s eyes and with that he decided to slaughter these men so that the rest of the bodyguards would leave the two princes and come to attack him.