You are a prince of Xifu.

Amidst the sound of chaotic soldiers.

Barbarian King Yao Li, covered in blood, trampled through the scorched earth until he finally saw the familiar camp lights and tents. He laughed heartily, as if relieved, and rushed into the camp.

"Damn you!" He kicked aside the soldiers blocking his way and roared, regaining his former prestige. "How dare you set up a trap in front of me?! I will fight them to the death!!"

He turned around and pointed at the guards surrounding the outer circle, scolding them harshly, "And you! What are you doing?! You're clearly in such a dangerous formation, yet you have no idea what's going on. You're all useless!!"

No one answered. The camp was eerily quiet, with only the flickering firelight illuminating his out-of-control face.

Yao Li panted heavily, gritting his teeth and roaring, "Send the order, get the cannons! The ground energy in the valley has been cut off, and the ground veins are disordered. Now is the time to bury all those bastards!"

After a moment of silence, a series of gazes slowly fell on him, cold and piercing.

The next moment, a cold light flashed.

A sharp steel blade silently pierced Yao Li's chest, the blade penetrated his back, and blood flowed like a waterfall.

Yao Li's eyes widened, and he turned back in disbelief, cursing furiously, "You bunch of bastards... How dare you betray this king?! Bastards!!"

The young man in the main seat slowly stepped forward and stood before him. His voice was calm, but his eyes were as deep as a cold pond. "Senior, I'm afraid you've forgotten that you were the one who abandoned them first. You left them in Southern Xinjiang first."

Yao Qi smiled slightly, like a sigh, but also like a sarcasm: "Now that the senior has returned in disgrace, how can he command them again?"

Yao Li's eyes were bloodshot, and he seemed to be struggling to speak.

But the young man continued, "Master taught me that killing is not worthy of respect. It seems that you, Senior, have never learned this."

The man holding the blade drew his sword, knelt on one knee, and presented the blade to Yao Qi.

Yao Qi calmly took the blood-stained blade, stood before the old king's corpse, and said in a decisive voice, "Senior, your story ends here."

Yao Li's body became blurred, and the barbarian king was completely swallowed by time.

Yao Qi ordered calmly: "Get the cannon."

The deputy chief was stunned when he heard this, his expression stagnant: "King Khan... are we going to do what he says?"

Yao Qi smiled and said slowly, "It's good for me, why not do it?"

He slowly looked outside the tent, and seemed to be talking to himself: "What did the Master say?"

···

Before dawn, the night wind was blowing, and bonfires were flickering on both sides of the tents.

Pei Jiming saw from a distance that there were two menacing heads beside the campfire.

Fang Che was furious: "Lu Xiyun, you are a prince of the Western Palace, how come you are spoiled like this? I used to be a prince, but I never experienced anything like you!"

Lu Xiyun refused to give in: "Fang Che, you are a prince of the Southern Palace, how come you are controlled like this? If I become a prince in the future, I will never be like you!"

The two men were arguing fiercely, and the generals around them were enjoying the excitement.

Pei Jiming stepped forward quickly and raised his hand to calm the atmosphere: "What's going on? The barbarians have retreated, and Wen Congren has been brought back. We should be celebrating, why are we arguing?"

Han Rongyue raised his eyelids and said calmly, "The barbarian soldiers on the border have retreated. The princess activated the shadow array on Prince Fang, and he asked him about last night's attack in detail."

Pei Jiming was stunned: "...So?"

Han Rongyue said quietly, "Qin Shu also asked."

Fang Che's face flushed immediately. He was very serious and took great pains to report the battle situation, enemy situation, enemy gains, and even how he had honestly used his skills and not wasted his life essence. Everything was reported clearly.

When I turned around, I saw that Lu Xiyun had already cut off the communication after saying "I'll come to you later".

The young prince felt unbalanced all of a sudden.

Where's my 100,000-word summary? You're giving me a one-sentence battle report. Is that appropriate?!

Lu Xiyun was not one to swallow her anger: "You are already under Fang Ci's strict control, so what's the point of getting angry at me?"

Fang Che immediately glared at him: "What do you know?! I was just respecting my elder sister!! You are the one who has no respect for Qin Shu at all!"

Lu Xiyun refused to give in: "You are just afraid of Fang Ci!"

Fang Che was so angry that his veins were throbbing: "You're asking for a fight!"

Lu Xiyun raised his chin: "Come on! I'm not afraid of you!"

The flames flickered and the atmosphere was tense.

Fang Che shouted, "I won! The taxes in Southern Xinjiang for the next three years will be written off!"

Lu Xiyun suddenly said, "What if we lose?!"

Fang Che gritted his teeth: "If I lose, I'll apologize to you! I'll admit it if I lose. I, Fang Che, am just afraid of my sister!!"

The surrounding generals immediately burst into laughter and jeers, shouting "Let's fight!"

Pei Jiming covered his forehead and looked sideways at Han Chenglie, who was supposed to be in charge of the situation. "Let them fight...shouldn't His Highness be informed first?"

Han Chenglie stood aside with his arms folded, his expression gloomy: "Why don't you just call me Princess? I don't know if Qin Shu can control Lu Xiyun, but the Princess is in charge of the young prince, and she's sure to control him."

Pei Jiming thought about it and it seemed to make sense. He immediately asked the formation master on the scene to activate the shadow formation and report it directly to Fang Ci.

On the other side of the shadow formation, Fang Ci's voice instantly turned cold: "Fang Che, are you itching again?!"

To everyone's surprise, Fang Che showed no guilt this time: "Sister, we have a deal! If I win, the taxes for the next three years in Southern Xinjiang will be written off!"

In the general's tent a hundred miles away, Fang Ci's eyebrows curved, a gentle smile appeared on his face, and his attitude immediately became much more amiable: "So, did Prince Lu win?"

Fang Che said confidently: "He won, I apologize to him!"

Pei Jiming hurried forward to remind him: "Sir, this deal is a bit of a loss--"

Lu Xiyun snorted coldly, confidently saying, "What are you afraid of? I'll definitely beat him!"

Fang Ci frowned, "It's a good thing for young people to learn from each other. Master Lu, as for the taxes... it's not appropriate for you to talk about it. Just let Qin Shu talk to me directly."

The implication is - I have to see Qin Shu nod in person before it counts.

Lu Xiyun agreed without saying anything: "Wait, I'll go find him."

On the other side of the shadow formation, Fang Ci sighed, "Ah Che, how come you don't have any sense at all? Come with the prince!"

She smiled gently, "Remember to ask Qin Shu to sign a written agreement."

Fang Che leaped up to catch up with Lu Xiyun, his attitude completely changed. The young man grinned, "How was it? Was my acting just now okay?!"

Lu Xiyun was a little uncertain when he asked this: "...I think so?"

He waved his hand and simply didn't bother to argue: "Never mind, the performance is over anyway. Let's go and get the imperial edict."

Fang Che, however, still had some concerns: "Every state has sent people this time, so only taxes in Southern Xinjiang will be exempted. Will others have any objections?"

Lu Xiyun raised an eyebrow and said righteously, "If they have any objections, let them find someone to beat me."

Fang Che was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but sigh: "Prince, your performance as a dandy prince is also very concise."

Lu Xiyun was immediately displeased: "I'm just helping you out of kindness!"

——Who are you calling a playboy?

Fang Che quickly responded, "Yes, yes, good brother, I owe you a favor this time!"

Lu Xiyun lowered his head and thought for a moment: "Not really, Qin Xuan was going to exempt Southern Xinjiang from taxes anyway, and Qin Shu asked me to fight you, I actually..."

He paused. Using the taxes of thirty counties to challenge someone to a fight, he seemed a bit of a dandy...

Lu Xiyun was confused: "Isn't this a bit fake?"

Fang Che didn't respond to his hesitation at all. Instead, he smiled and said, "I think my sister accepted it very well."

He said sincerely, "Qin Shu agreed to exempt taxes for three years because of you. It doesn't sound unreasonable at all, really."

Lu Xiyun:?

Prince Lu began to reflect, this is not right? Is he really a dandy?

Fang Che's eyebrows curved, his smile was dazzling, and he looked like he was taking credit for it: "I've definitely done a great job this time. I'll tell Jing Yuan about it tomorrow!"

Lu Xiyun lowered her eyes, and then she remembered Wen Congren's instructions last night. She remained calm and said, "You should contact him later... I heard Shuaicheng is quite busy lately."

Fang Che tutted his words, feeling rather depressed, like a neglected child. "After the battle this time, Jing Yuan didn't even look for me. He wasn't like this before."

Lu Xiyun was speechless for a while, and finally couldn't help but said: "No, Fang Che, you really like being controlled, don't you?"

Fang Che was immediately furious. The young man stiffened his neck and retorted stubbornly, "Stop talking nonsense! It's not true!"

···

Daybreak is coming.

Behind Longyao Pass, the Dragon Vein Canyon was silent.

Suddenly, a roar split the night sky, and the entire canyon shook.

“——Bombardment!!”

I don't know who shouted those two words first, but the valley was instantly in chaos.

A huge hole exploded in the cliff, rocks rained down like a waterfall, and waves of dust covered the sky.

Ren Xuan looked up at the sky and saw thousands of flame bombs streaking across the sky under the cover of night, lighting up half of the valley blood-red as day.

He was startled. "How could this happen?! Even if there were three more rounds of bombardment like this, this canyon shouldn't collapse so quickly—"

Beside him, Lu Shian's face suddenly changed, and he almost blurted out: "Could it be related to the disorder of the earth's energy?"

The dragon energy has dissipated, the mountains have vanished, and the bones of the earth have been broken. Now this valley is no longer the solid shell it once was. It looks solid, but in fact it is as empty as paper and can be cracked at any point.

Often, only sudden emergencies will make people realize that this world is just a makeshift team.

The aliens attacked at night, and the general's tent looked as if it were dead.

Ren Xuan couldn't contact either Qin Xuan or Qin Shu.

He cursed.

Ren Xuan frowned, not having time to think carefully: "Shi'an, your formation masters are the most familiar with the earth's veins. First find a stable place and lead everyone to escape! I will take people to destroy their artillery camp!"

If possible, Qin Shu really wanted to curse at someone about this.

The aliens attacked at night, and the artillery fire roared continuously.

The general's tent, located deep in the canyon, was about to be buried, but Qin Xuan couldn't be woken up even by his calls.

It's rare for His Royal Highness Prince Xiang to be a little crazy.

As for why His Majesty the Emperor cannot be awakened, we can only turn back time to several hours ago.

When Qin Xuan walked into the barracks, he saw a bunch of people lying in the military tents.

Qin Shu raised his eyebrows: "What's going on?"

The captain of the Imperial City Guards looked embarrassed and whispered, "Senior Brother Yuan Feng was trapped in the spell, and Senior Brother Chu Ming went to rescue him, but ended up getting trapped too. Then Senior Brother You and the others tried to save him, but ended up..."

His voice gradually became quieter, and finally he simply closed his eyes: "...In short, all the people from the Imperial City Guards and martial arts schools are trapped in it."

Qin Xuan: “…”

Fang Xingfei was getting impatient: "If it really doesn't work, just wait for them to wake up on their own! I'm tired of trying to pull them out one by one, and then they fall down one by one. I've never seen a whole bunch of them get stuck in at once!"

Qin Xuan rubbed his brows and said helplessly: "Let me do it."

Fang Xingfei raised his eyebrows: "This is the last one!"

Qin Xuan shook his head: "No need. Thank you for your help just now, and leave the rest to me."

Qin Xuan concentrated his breath and used the flying technique, and all that was left in front of him was a vast expanse of white.

In this vast expanse of white, the imperial guards who should have been trapped in an illusion stood there at a loss, completely bewildered.

Qin Xuan understood: So, except Chu Ming, no one went in.

He first raised his hand to circulate his Qi, and the halo of Bodhi Mingxin spread, sending the imperial city guards back to reality one by one.

After everyone had left, Qin Xuan stepped into the depths alone to break through this artificial barrier of consciousness.

In a fantasy, the fire crackled and above the bonfire, the aroma of fish filled the air.

Beside the fire, Chu Ming suddenly came to his senses, looked down, and found that he had returned to his youthful appearance.

He suddenly raised his eyes and saw Yuan Feng, who was also a young man, grilling fish intently across the campfire.

Chu Ming's heart tightened, and he hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed the boy's wrist: "You've been tricked! This is an illusion!"

The young man looked up, his eyes clear: "I know."

The bonfire crackled, and the boy's tone was calm, simply stating the facts: "I took over this place. I let you in."