Chapter 114
The fourth prince was prepared to die a martyr, but he did not expect or believe that his martial arts skills were so poor. Batu simply waved his hand and he was sent flying away like a kite with a broken string.
He really felt like he was floating. The Fourth Prince had never felt so light before. Then, with a "splat," he slammed against the wall. His back, which had already been hit by an object thrown from a height, was hit again, and he immediately felt pain so intense that his face contorted in agony before he slid to the ground.
The whole process took less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea; if I had to be precise, it would probably have been just two breaths before I lay down.
As the sole observer of this battle, the only useful information Xue Jin'an gathered was: "You're really bad, no doubt about it."
The fourth prince pretended to be dead, and no sound could be heard.
What he didn't know was that this incident was recorded in history books by a twist of fate, and was used as an idiom, proverb, and allusion such as "Xue Si's bravery" and "Xue Si as the vanguard - easily defeated". His "muscular dystrophy" has been known for thousands of years and he became a famous weak prince, which can be considered as leaving a strong mark on history.
Xue Jin'an looked at the person lying motionless on the ground and added this sentence to his memo: "Still has no self-awareness."
Batu Na charged forward, swinging his fists and roaring. His target was clear: Xue Jin'an.
When Xue Jin'an saw the other party appear, he guessed that Rong Di people felt threatened.
The original owner's mother had been posthumously honored as Empress, making him the only legitimate prince and so-called favored by the emperor. The exceptional leniency shown to him by the court officials and princes in his two encounters with the Rong and Di envoys led them to mistakenly believe that his position was secure and that he was the undisputed next emperor.
The Great Qi and the Rongdi are mortal enemies. Neither side wants to see the other side have a strong ruler. If that ruler is also difficult to kill, it will be even more difficult. It would be better to kill him while he is still weak.
However, less than an hour had passed since they parted, and Batu had become like this. His body was very familiar with this irrational state, and his movements were not hindered at all. It was almost certain that he had been given some kind of drug since childhood.
The fact that the Rongdi people brought such a puppet assassin on their mission clearly indicates ill intentions; they were probably already prepared to ambush and kill the prince. As for how to escape unscathed… as long as the Great Qi doesn't intend to go to war with the Rongdi, at most it will be a matter of one life for another, and the other Rongdi envoys will still be properly sent back.
Even if we can't go back, it doesn't matter. The Rongdi were one step ahead of the Daqi, and the initiative in the war is in their hands. Even if the Daqi can eventually win this battle and eliminate the Rongdi, the process will be much more difficult than a normal war, and there is another great empire watching us from behind...
The Rongdi came with the intention of causing trouble from the very beginning, and there must be their inside agents in the court, which put the Great Qi in a passive position.
Ultimately, the reason why the Rong and Di tribes dare to act so recklessly is because the emperor is incompetent.
Xue Jin'an decided to have Teacher Xiao X send more articles to the emperor about abdication and job transfer.
Xue Jin'an's thoughts flashed by in an instant. He closed the memo panel, shifted his footwork, and easily dodged Batuna, who pounced on him like a hungry tiger.
The fourth prince's confident vows still echoed in his ears. Faced with Batu's fierce attack, he did not retaliate immediately, but instead asked the fourth prince, "Fourth brother, are you dead?"
The current Xue Jin'an is not the same Xue Jin'an as before. He feels that he has been in the human world for a long time and has learned some ways of the world.
He could tell from the Fourth Prince's breathing and heartbeat that they were at the frequency of someone who was awake. Seeing the other person lying there motionless, he guessed that the other person was in too much pain to get up, or that he felt too embarrassed to lift his head after being defeated in one move, so he simply pretended to be unconscious, or perhaps both.
That wasn't important. Xue Jin'an considerately refrained from directly exposing him, instead asking in a friendly manner if he was dead. If he was, he would immediately deal with Batu.
The Fourth Prince couldn't hear Xue Jin'an's true feelings; when he heard Xue Jin'an's question, he only felt that the other party was being sarcastic and cynical.
Damn it! The Fourth Prince cursed inwardly, his face burning red, but he remained silent, lying obediently face down, pretending that he had really died on the spot as soon as he received the goods.
Xue Jin'an took this as a tacit agreement, and with a tremor in his hand, the soft sword moved like a real, lurking snake, its gleaming blade resembling snake scales.
This was Xue Jin'an's first time using a soft sword, and it felt very different from using the Lotus Sword. The soft sword was thin, light, and delicate, like a piece of paper. It could be bent at will with the slightest breeze, which was a great test of the strength and skill required to wield the sword.
Xue Jin'an found it a bit awkward to use at first, since he was more used to swords of normal hardness, which could be used for stabbing, parrying, chopping, and slashing, but soft swords could not, as the blade would bend and spring back, making them more suitable for slicing.
Within three moves, Xue Jin'an had figured out the correct way to use the soft sword. He then discovered that the soft sword, which required calculating the angle of the sword being drawn from its sheath, the force, the degree of the blade's bending and rebound, and many other aspects, was a perfect match for math problems.
The fourth prince is not very good at fighting or thinking, but he has some talent in calculation, so this soft sword is indeed the most suitable weapon for him.
Batu is tall and strong, and he is quite skilled in martial arts, but his weakness is that his large stature makes him somewhat clumsy.
The soft sword is a very flexible and versatile weapon that can be used unexpectedly. Xue Jin'an's calculation ability is beyond question. Soon, before Batu could even touch a corner of Xue Jin'an's clothes, he had several cuts on his body.
Batu felt no pain at all, and his movements were not slowed down at all. The soft sword could not pierce him directly, so it could only slowly bleed him out. Unless he bled out, this controlled big guy would not stop.
It took too long, and Xue Jin'an didn't want to deal with him for so long. He wanted to knock the man unconscious, but the man was too tall, and he couldn't reach his neck even with his arms outstretched.
Finally, Xue Jin'an decided to disable his mobility and attack his lower body directly. Even without the sensation of pain, the body still has its limits. If his leg is broken, he won't be able to get up, and once he can't get up, he'll be close to being completely powerless to fight back.
Xue Jin'an focused his attacks on his knees, pushing his strength to the limit, and soon the enormous figure in front of him swayed and collapsed.
Batu fell to the ground, still reaching out to grab him. Xue Jin'an kicked and broke his arm, but he still tried to headbutt him and bite him.
However, once the man was controlled, he became mentally impaired. Xue Jin'an picked up the piece of wood that the man had thrown at him and stuck it next to his neck. The man stretched out his neck and got stuck in the wood, only baring his teeth at Xue Jin'an, completely unaware that the broken piece of wood could not stop him at all.
"What's wrong with him?" The Fourth Prince also noticed that Batu was acting strangely. He shrank back in fear and said, "He looks a bit like Third Brother did before. Could he have been bewitched too?"
Xue Jin'an was also curious. He took the belt that the Fourth Prince used to hide his sword and used it as a data cable, draping it over Batu's wrist, his fingers touching it.
The protection system immediately activated and a virus scan notification popped up. Unexpectedly, Batu Na did not have any Gu in his body, because he himself was Gu.
Xue Jin'an told the Fourth Prince the truth.
Xue Jin'an had only ever seen the practice of "living people practicing Gu" in novels. This was the first time he had actually seen it, so he was quite curious. He used a health app to scan the person and see how they differed from a normal person.
However, there is nothing unusual in the data.
The fourth prince looked at Batu with an expression that was hard to define as either sympathy or pity, and couldn't help but ask, "Are you going to kill him?"
Xue Jin'an looked at him and immediately saw that he had felt pity for him. "You want to plead for him?"
"No," the Fourth Prince denied outright. He turned his head away and asked, "Do you know who's behind him?"
“There is a Weng Tianxin,” Xue Jin’an answered with certainty.
The highest-ranking member of the Rongdi envoy delegation was Prince Galdan, but Xue Jin'an could tell that Weng Tianxin was the true leader of the delegation, and Galdan was just a figurehead.
Since arriving in the capital, Weng Tianxin has kept a low profile and rarely goes out, while Galdan has been causing trouble outside, making a huge fuss. This combination is quite natural, making people subconsciously overlook the one who has such a low profile.
Clearly, this was their scheme. Weng Tianxin used this low-profile, unnoticed identity to do countless things on the outside.
Xue Jin'an's guess was correct, but he also noticed some problems. Weng Tianxin studied Confucianism from the Central Plains, but he didn't know how he learned it. He had learned a lot of dross, one of which was blind loyalty.
This was evident from the past; Weng Tianxin placed great importance on class, and even though he knew that Galdan sometimes acted impulsively and recklessly and did some unnecessary things, his attitude was quite powerless.
But he was clearly the one in control, and Galdan respected him greatly. As long as he was firm, Galdan would have to give up no matter how unwilling he was.
It is a human-characteristic bug, as contradictory as the emperor's "benevolence and weakness," which is incomprehensible to the code's life form, and seems to be called a personality defect.
"One? There are others?" The Fourth Prince keenly grasped the information in his words, and his heart sank inexplicably. "Could it be..."
"Yes, you're right. Weng Tianxin has an inside man in the Daqi court." Xue Jin'an spoke frankly and openly, which startled the Fourth Prince.
The fourth prince instinctively wanted to deny it. Even though he had not experienced war, he knew how bad the relationship was between the Great Qi and the Rongdi. To act as an inside agent under such circumstances was simply too shameless and lacking in morality.
However, he soon shattered these overly naive ideas himself, thinking with a touch of self-mockery: Haven't I already experienced the coldness and warmth of human relationships? How can I still be so innocent?
—After Chu Wenwan's death, the Fourth Prince's life was actually quite miserable. Although he had a new mother of higher birth, she was already dead. With no one to protect him, he had witnessed how the palace was full of people who fawned over the powerful and bullied the weak. However, he was depressed and changed his preferences, staying in his own courtyard all day without going out, which greatly reduced the chances of him running into her.
Xue Jin'an decided not to interrupt the killing of Batu for the time being. Apart from not knowing who the other person behind him was, he was also quite curious about this Gu person.
Xue Jin'an's research on Gu comes from novels. Each novel world has different settings, so for the Gu in this novel world, it's best to consult locals to avoid making any mistakes.
Xue Jin'an decided to let Zhou Yushu take a look, as he knew only one person skilled in Gu poison.
However, in that case, he would have to hide Batuna in a place where the Rongdi people would never find him.
Xue Jin'an thought of something: the Fifth Prince's secret base, the abandoned palace of the late emperor's favorite concubine.
To be honest, Xue Jin'an originally intended to search that place, but the frequent incidents delayed him, so this was a good opportunity to go and take a look.
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