The administrator is sick, the updates will be sporadic.
Thank you for your patience!
Part 2
Lian Qing adjusted the tactics in time: “Use the Imperial Carriage as the core and expand the battle circle outward. Kill one for every one that comes! This is the border of the two provinces; with General Xie Meng holding the front line, he can’t reinforce his troops!”
The Longwujun shouted: “Understood!”
The cavalry unit rapidly fanned out around Ying Xi. Anyone who approached was strangled to death by the soldiers’ blades.
Lian Qing advanced with his saber, becoming the final line of defense guarding the Emperor.
Surprisingly, a distracting thought flashed through Lian Qing’s mind: If Bixia suffers any mishap, General Xie will definitely go mad!
Xie Qianli held a high position; taking on the stance of a protector, he had sheltered many people.
Yet exclusively toward the Emperor, his loyalty seemed to hold an extra measure of reverence and fanaticism.
Lian Qing fiercely lifted his saber and cleaved an approaching rebel!
The rebel tumbled off his horse.
Bloody carnage was everywhere.
But Ying Xi didn’t blink an eye, even as fresh blood splattered onto his face, staining his jade-white complexion. The Emperor showed not a sliver of fear or panic.
The enemy soldiers flanking from behind charged forward.
Two steel sabers executed a ‘Splitting Mount Hua’ strike, aiming straight for the Emperor from the left and right rear!
Lian Qing didn’t have time to turn his horse around. He was just about to pull the Emperor onto his own horse. But if he did that, he wouldn’t be able to strike back, and he would definitely have to take a hit from those two enemy soldiers. The soldiers in the back hastily moved to assist.
Right at this moment.
A resounding, violent clap of thunder exploded across the night sky, pushing the atmosphere to its absolute peak.
The lightning illuminated the entire Hanshui riverbank.
Everything—whether mountains, water, trees, or people—instantly revealed their true colors under the intense light.
People of the world revere nature and fear the power of ghosts and gods, and people often believe that the Emperor possesses the ability to communicate with heaven and earth.
Therefore, the two enemy soldiers who wanted to hack at Ying Xi had their courage shattered in an instant.
“Tian… Tianzi…”
This momentary hesitation was enough for the Longwujun to regain the advantage. The shrunken battle circle expanded, and the enemy soldiers appeared to grow fewer and fewer.
Tiantong had already exhausted all the potential energy it had accumulated recently and said weakly: “Bixia, I can only help you this much.”
The Dating System extinguished in an instant!
Ying Xi’s brow sank: He couldn’t return to the stronghold.
He had to decide the victor quickly. He pursued his advantage: “The Mandate of Heaven rests with my Great Qin; you all act against the heavens. You will eventually be punished by the Heavenly Dao; will you still not lay down your weapons and accept death?”
Indeed, some rebels could not withstand it; the terror deep in their bones made both men and horses halt their advance.
How could the Longwujun let such an opportunity slip?
Seeing that the battle was about to be settled, Yingzi stood up in the pavilion, set down his fishing rod, and picked up a torch. Yingzi struck the torch alight; the flames flickered. Yingzi was trembling unsteadily and still coughing; Xie Qianli had truly beaten him to the point of internal injuries.
Only then did the people see from a distance that tied to every single pillar supporting the octagonal pavilion was a gagged hostage!
Yingzi’s coir raincoat and bamboo hat were illuminated by the firelight. He said slowly: “The monarch has been away from home for so many years; do you miss your old friends from Guangling?”
He pulled out a rag.
Instantly, voices pierced the Hanshui: “Bixia! Little Brother Xi!”
“His Highness the Shizi, is it the Shizi…”
“The Shizi has become the Emperor. Day and night, we hoped the Shizi could recover Yangzhou. Wangye once showed us deep grace; there is no need to worry about our lives. Avenge Wangye, avenge Wangfei!”
“Is His Highness still the His Highness from back then? Has His Highness acknowledged a thief as his father?”
Ten years had passed.
These were all existences that Ying Xi had forced himself to forget completely.
Now, memories reignited like a raging prairie fire. He didn’t even need to think closely; his past with everyone here was vividly clear before his eyes.
Ying Xi pulled the reins and walked forward a few steps.
Lian Qing exclaimed in shock: “Bixia…”
That youngest child was now a teenager. His father sold candied hawthorns, and knowing the two young masters of the Yongning Prince Manor had money, he always waited at their gate. Ying Xi would buy an extra stick and give it to him to eat, because he would always look on with eager eyes.
The man questioning him was a scholar his royal father had funded. That man had attained official rank and once served as an aide in the Guangling Commandery. The rebels usurped power; presumably, because he refused to pledge loyalty to Li Yilong, he was tied up here.
There was also the old woman skilled at growing flowers, providing honest floral supplies for the Prince Manor. His royal mother had subsidized her daughter’s dowry; from then on, she told everyone she met that the Prince Manor had the kindest Niangniang in all of Yangzhou…
They all had history with the Yongning Prince Manor!
Ying Xi practically ground his teeth to pieces.
He was destined to see plenty of greatly treacherous and wicked scoundrels in this life, but he was unwilling to use the people from the most beautiful period of his life as sacrifices.
Ying Xi said in a low voice: “What do you want?”
Yingzi raised the torch, the flames torn into red strips by the wind. Yingzi sighed: “I know I have offended the entire Yongning Prince Manor, forging an ocean of blood enmity with Bixia, resting only when one of us is dead. Ying Xi, I want you to truly come over alone this time.”
Lian Qing: “Bixia, you must not!”
Lian Qing shouted at Yingzi: “What kind of thing are you? Bixia possesses a body worth ten thousand pieces of gold; how dare you issue orders to Bixia! I’ll fucking chop you down in a moment!”
But Yingzi laughed wildly: “Ying Xi, I am the only person in this world who has spent the most time alone with you. You’ve disguised yourself for ten years. You don’t love Chang’an; you love power. Only holding power can make you happy!”
“But why do you crave power?”
Yingzi tilted his head and smiled, sinister and hysterical: “Because you want to save that former, powerless self.”
Inside Fanglan Dian, upon learning of his parents’ deaths, he didn’t even dare to cry; he even had to avoid his own biological younger brother.
It turned out Yingzi wasn’t stupid; he saw right through it.
He had dealt with Yingzi, but he had never deceived Yingzi.
Ying Xi took a deep breath.
His palms clenched tight; drops of blood trickled down through his fingers.
Yingzi shouted loudly:
— “If you want my life, I will kill your entire past!”
— “I will help you fulfill your role as a true loner!”
— “To me, you will always be that coward from Fanglan Dian!!!”
Yingzi threw down the torch and drew a short Yuchang sword from his sleeve.
The sword’s gleam flashed snow-white. Yingzi raised the sword and thrust it toward the commoners tied to the pillars.
But at this moment, Ying Xi hooked his lips. He spurred his horse and charged out of the battle circle, heading neither toward Yingzi nor toward the rebel army; the warhorse bolted like a sharp bolt of lightning toward the water’s edge.
The Emperor leaped into the Han River!!!
The core figure both sides sought to protect and kill simultaneously vanished in an instant.
No one had anticipated this unorthodox move from the Emperor. The target being threatened could no longer be found in the surging river waters; only the horse remained, pacing along the banks of the Hanshui.
Yingzi was stunned.
The momentum of the Yuchang sword was interrupted.
Lian Qing was beyond shocked, his scalp about to explode with numbness: “Quick, quick, quick, fish out Bixia, fish out Bixia!!!”
The rebel army also blew up in chaos simultaneously: “Catch Ying Xi! We’re good in the water; the Northern Army sucks at naval combat!!!”
Instantly, everyone on the riverbank rushed toward the river.
The riverbank fell into complete chaos.
At this moment, on the far end of the river, several small boats appeared, forming a fleet, rapidly gliding toward this location.
The river was vast. The small boats carried silver-armored soldiers. From afar, the archers had already notched their arrows upon seeing the targets; the clicking sounds of bowstrings being drawn were endless.
The lead boat cut through the waves. A tall, straight figure stood at the bow, his bearing as piercingly cold as a snowy mountain, yet his gaze faintly revealed burning anxiety.
Upon seeing that person leading the fleet on the river surface, Lian Qing felt as if he had found his savior and shouted loudly: “General Xie! It’s General Xie!”
“Bixia fell into the water! Bixia is in the water!”
“Hurry and find Bixia—”
The rescue fleet sailed to a distance of ten-some zhang from the riverbank.
Xie Qianli pressed his lips tightly together, lowering his head to search the river water.
The river rolled and surged. Suddenly, a white dot flashed amidst the river tide. Xie Qianli swiftly ordered them to approach. A snow-white hand reached out from the waves.
Xie Qianli’s gaze seemed to be ignited by this hand. He leaned over and gripped the hand tightly, and then, like a flood dragon emerging from the water, he hauled Ying Xi onto the small boat!
Recommended Reads
