Chapter 102
The Southern Continent army quickly arrived and tied Ye Jin up. Seeing that their goal had been achieved, the opposing side immediately covered each other, tied Ye Jin to a horse, and rode away. Deng Ning turned back and shouted at them, "Ye Qian! If you want your sister to live, exchange her for Jue City. Otherwise, just wait to collect her corpse."
After Tang Qi and his companions realized what was happening, they immediately spurred their horses and gave chase. However, they hadn't gone far when they suddenly heard the sounds of clashing weapons and shouts of battle coming from ahead.
"Something's up!" Tang Qi and the others exchanged glances, tightening their grip on the reins. Soon, the scene before them took them by surprise. A group of soldiers, dressed in fur-trimmed leather armor, were engaged in fierce combat with a squad of Southern Continent soldiers. These soldiers were few in number, but each one was brave and skilled in battle, driving the numerically superior Southern Continent army into a retreat.
The leader rode a black horse with a masked face, wore a blue ghost mask, and held a longbow in his hand, his arrows never missing their mark.
"Gui Luo?"
Tang Qi and Ye Qian, who had stopped, looked at each other again, both of them looking strange.
The two groups of people in front of him were fighting fiercely, and Tang Qi suddenly laughed out loud: "It really is a case of dogs fighting each other."
As they spoke, an arrow grazed past Tang Qi's face. Looking over, Gui Luo on horseback spoke without any politeness: "Don't talk nonsense. Do you expect me to clean up your mess on your turf?"
"Huh?" Tang Qi tilted her head, as if she didn't understand what he meant.
"Gui Luo!?" Deng Ning was also taken aback when he saw who it was. He quickly revealed his Southern Continent armor and declared his loyalty, "I have surrendered. You are one of us!"
Gui Luo glanced down and said, "Oh."
They hit even harder.
"It's the Northern Army." Ye Qian finally exclaimed, finally understanding the situation.
Gui Luo is leading the Northern Dai army in a battle against the Southern Continent.
What's going on?
"You think you can sit back and watch the tigers fight? This isn't the time," Gui Luo said coldly, nocking his bow on horseback. "What are you waiting for? Why aren't you attacking?"
Gui Luo is right. Although the situation is chaotic at the moment, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Tang Qi made a quick decision and said to Sheng Xingxing and Hu Xingche, "Let's finish this quickly."
Deng Ning and his men, who were already thrown into disarray by the surprise attack from the Northern Army, were now attacked from both sides, and the situation on the field suddenly turned around.
Seeing the situation take a sharp turn for the worse, Deng Ning was terrified. He stared blankly at Gui Luo, then suddenly seemed to realize something and shouted, "Retreat!"
He squeezed the horse's belly tightly, trying to get Ye Jin away from the battlefield.
"Trying to leave?" The voice beneath the Ghost Luo mask remained icy. He did not pursue, but instead drew his bow again.
The arrow pierced the horse's leg joint with pinpoint accuracy. The warhorse let out a mournful neigh and collapsed to its knees, throwing Deng Ning and Ye Jin both into the air. Deng Ning landed awkwardly, rolling several times before regaining his balance, while Ye Jin crashed heavily to the ground, letting out a muffled groan.
"Protect the general!" The remaining Southern Continent soldiers surged forward, trying to protect Deng Ning.
Just as Tang Qi was about to leap up and charge forward with his sword, the sound of hooves suddenly came from the woods next to him. Soon, a group of people rushed out again. Tang Qi was stunned on his horse because the person who came was wearing the same blue ghost mask as Gui Luo!
"Two demons?!"
Tang Qi, Ye Qian, and even Sheng Xingxing on horseback were all taken aback. Only the "main character" remained unusually calm, his gaze merely lingering on the newcomer.
This new group of Southern Continent soldiers clearly had no intention of engaging them in a prolonged battle, and instead rushed directly towards Deng Ning and Ye Jin on the other side.
The incident happened in the blink of an eye. The change came too quickly. By the time Tang Qi and the others recovered from their shock, Ye Jin had already been kidnapped and taken to a horse. Soon they turned into the forest, seemingly preparing to leave.
"Chase after them!" Tang Qi shouted, about to spur his horse into the woods. Suddenly, Sheng Xingxing spurred his horse and stopped in front of him.
"We can't chase them!" Before the person in front of her could speak, Sheng Xingxing quickly added, "We've already lost two people since leaving Juecheng. If we chase them, aren't we afraid of causing further complications? Deng Ning is here, and the situation in Juecheng is still unclear, not to mention the kidnapped Miss Shen. If we don't make a choice soon, we won't be able to save either of them!"
He then turned his head and fixed his eyes on Gui Luo, who had just fought alongside them but now seemed somewhat dangerous, on horseback: "Your appearance here can't be a coincidence, can it?"
Gui Luo slowly saddled his longbow back onto his horse, spurred it forward a few steps, and met Tang Qi and the others' gazes at them from a safe distance. He didn't directly answer Sheng Xingxing's question, but instead smiled and said, "Does it matter? I just saved you all."
"Save someone? The person who kidnapped my sister was wearing the same mask as you, and you call that saving someone?" Ye Qian suppressed his anger and slightly raised his eyes to stare at Gui Luo.
Gui Luo seemed unconcerned about Ye Qian's hostility, his tone remaining calm: "It wasn't me who kidnapped her. You Shuo Dynasty people really love to shift blame."
"What tricks are you Southern Continent playing?" Tang Qi asked, staring at him.
Gui Luo shrugged and said meaningfully, "Then you should ask Nan Zhou."
"Absurd!" Hu Xingche angrily rebuked from the side, "Aren't you a general from the Southern Continent?! You still want to absolve yourself of any responsibility at this point?"
"Whether it's absurd or not, you'll find out soon enough." Gui Luo changed the subject: "I'm not staying to be your enemy. On the contrary, I have a deal to discuss with you."
"A deal?" Tang Qi said coldly, his face full of disbelief. "Do we have something else you want on us?"
Gui Luo sighed and feigned a pitiful look, saying, "As you can see, Nanzhou now has another 'Gui Luo,' and I have completely lost my value."
"So you went to the Northern Dai Kingdom?" Ye Qian asked suspiciously.
“Yes, that’s right!” Gui Luo suddenly perked up again, his voice rising several decibels: “So in order to make Bei Dai trust me more, I’m prepared to put aside my own family and ask you to cooperate in taking down Nan Zhou.”
"Kill Nanzhou?" "Sacrifice family for the greater good?" Tang Qi and Ye Qian extracted two different keywords from their minds.
However, something just doesn't seem right. Gui Luo doesn't look like a stray dog at all now. How could a killing god general from the Southern Continent have turned to the Northern Dynasty?
Are generals in various countries now on a rotating basis?
"Since Nanzhou doesn't want you, why don't you come to Shuochao?" Tang Qi still looked at him.
Unexpectedly, the person opposite laughed and said, "Your Shuo Dynasty is even harder to retain people than the Southern Continent. I'm afraid that if I go there, I will also meet a tragic end."
His words were laced with undisguised sarcasm, yet Tang Qi and the others couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.
“I want Nanzhou to fall, and so do you.” Gui Luo continued to sweep his gaze across them: “Isn’t it better to be allies than enemies? You can use Beidai to eliminate Nanzhou.”
"A general who betrayed his country claims to represent the Northern Dai Kingdom. Aren't you afraid of biting your tongue?" Hu Xingche said with a sneer. He despised traitors the most in his life.
Unexpectedly, the person opposite him curled up the corners of his lips, and soon someone emerged from the shadows behind him.
The man removed his cloak and said calmly, "I am Li Pingfeng, the young ruler of the Northern Dynasty. I believe I am qualified to represent the Northern Dynasty in our cooperation."
This sudden turn of events stunned everyone on the other side. Sheng Xingxing was the first to react, looking at Li Pingfeng and saying, "Since you are the young lord of the Northern Dynasty, we naturally trust you. However, before we cooperate, you must first show some sincerity. I think in the cooperation you desire, it will be us who shed blood, sacrifice ourselves, and charge into battle, right?"
Gui Luo snapped his fingers sharply: "Clever."
"In exchange, I can help you find that person."
Ye Qian and Tang Qi exchanged a glance.
"Two." The former suddenly looked at Gui Luo and said, "I want you to find two people, besides my sister, there is Tang Yan, the one you kidnapped back then at Dongshou Mountain."
Upon hearing Tang Yan's name, Gui Luo's eyes, hidden behind his mask, suddenly narrowed. He then pulled on the reins, turned the horse's head, and said, "Deal."
*
On the other side, Ye Jin was tied to a wooden stake with her hands behind her back, while Deng Ningjing sat quietly in the chair in front of her.
"Miss Ye, how have you been?" His voice was deep and imposing.
Ye Jin slowly raised her head, her eyes showing no fear: "General Deng, it really has been a long time. When we met before, you were the Right General of the Shuo Dynasty, but today you have become a lackey of another country. Life is really getting more and more interesting."
Deng Ning scoffed, unconcerned by her sarcasm: "Ye Jin, there's no point in trying to be a hero with your words. I invited you here just to ask you to do a few things. As long as you honestly help me, I guarantee you'll be safe and sound."
"what do you want to do?"
"Send a letter to Juecheng, asking Ye An to withdraw his troops," Deng Ning said bluntly.
The person opposite suddenly burst out laughing, looking at Deng Ning with a pitiful expression: "You don't think everyone is like you, eager to become a lackey, do you?"
Ye Jin spat at him: "You're dreaming."
"It's no use arresting me, it's no use arresting anyone else. Li Guang will not retreat, and your warhorses will not set foot in Jue City!"
Looking at her fierce expression, Deng Ning continued with a smile, "Fine, since you're unwilling to do this, let's do something else."
After saying that, one of his men stepped forward and held up a piece of paper in front of Ye Jin: "If you sign this, I can still let you go."
"You want me to frame Li Guang?" Ye Jin read the words on the paper, then looked at Deng Ning with utter contempt: "Are you out of your mind?"
After being rejected twice, Deng Ning finally made his real request: "Then give me that secret letter about the Katyu rescue that you received in Xuanhe Army three years ago."
Ye Jin was taken aback for a moment, then realized what she meant and smiled calmly, "So that's what you were after."
"What, you weren't afraid three years ago, but you're afraid now?" Ye Jin laughed without any attempt to hide her laughter. "But you've come too late. That thing was lost long ago."
“You have no use for that thing.” Deng Ning was still good-natured.
"What use is this to you? Are you afraid I'll report you to the Emperor?" Ye Jin chuckled again. "You're wearing Southern Continent armor now, are you afraid the laws of the Shuo Dynasty will behead you?"
“They cannot overturn the verdict,” Deng Ning suddenly said.
Ye Jin's gaze froze, and the person opposite her continued, "Lang Ce, the case cannot be overturned."
"Katyu's case has long been closed. Can a secret letter really overturn it?" She continued laughing. "Are you stupid or am I stupid?"
"One possibility is that he was a spy in the army, and the other is that he was deliberately framed. Which of these two possibilities would clear Lang Ce's name in the history books? Don't you understand?" Deng Ning was still looking at her.
"I don't understand."
“If you didn’t understand, you wouldn’t have come back from the Northern Frontier.” He suddenly became certain: “You’ve met someone who can overturn Wolf Strategy’s case.”
“I didn’t,” Ye Jin said.
“Someone has come back alive from Katyu.” Dunning’s eyes suddenly turned sinister.
“No one has come back from Katyu,” she said again.
Where is he?
"No one is coming back."
"What a pity, you really aren't cooperating at all," Deng Ning said regretfully.
"I don't know anything, so give up on that idea."
“You’ll want to say something.” Deng Ning stood up and walked to Ye Jin: “You’re not afraid of death, but are you afraid of pain?”
Ye Jin looked at him, her eyes suddenly trembling: "What do you want to do?"
Deng Ning didn't speak, but simply raised her hand and waved. Soon someone brought a fishing net and bound her tightly, leaving her exposed flesh as if it could be cut off at any moment.
"I told you, I'll let you say what you want to say."
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