Chapter 92 [VIP]
"General! I have already ordered my men to catch up. The Ninth Prince is currently on Grass Fin Mountain, and our men have arrived there," the soldier reported.
Xiao Qi: "Alright... Prepare the horses, this general is now heading to Caoqi Mountain to collect his body."
"Report—Lord Wei Ning requests an audience!" The soldier outside the tent lifted the curtain, and Wei Ning's figure, leading his horse, could be seen faintly.
Xiao Qi: "Let her in."
Wei Ning's arrival at this critical juncture—could something have happened to His Majesty? Xiao Qi frowned as she watched Wei Ning put down his horse, lift the curtain, and enter his tent.
"Greetings, General Xiao. Is General Xiao currently very busy?" Wei Ning inquired.
Xiao Qi: "Miss Wei, there's no need for such formalities. I'm on my way to capture the Ninth Prince. What brings you here? Has something happened to His Majesty?"
As he spoke, the words his lord had spoken the day before echoed in his ears; the weak cough seemed to still resonate, causing a jolt to run through him. Although capturing the Ninth Prince was of utmost importance, Xue Yi was still the top priority. If anything were to happen to Xue Yi, how could he explain it to Song Zhao and the court officials?
Wei Ning smiled at him and said gently, "That's right. I heard that Physician Qiu is in the city, so I came here specifically to find General Xiao and go with him to ask the physician to treat His Majesty."
"General, you are now going to capture the Ninth Prince... General, you may go. I was not confident going alone, but that divine physician has an eccentric personality. I thought you could go with me. If he really does not want to, we can force him to come back. His Majesty's condition cannot be delayed."
Meanwhile, Lu Xuejin and Xue Yi had already gone to see Qiu Ji and Xiao Qi, but they were unaware of this news. Lu Xuejin had not informed anyone, and only took Xue Yi and a few attendants with her.
Wei Ning: "Since General Xiao has important matters to attend to, let's drop this matter and I will go alone."
Xiao Qi had witnessed Qiu Ji's supernatural abilities in the palace and knew the physician's temperament. It had taken Song Zhao nearly a month to invite him into the palace. Now that Qiu Ji was in Fugou City, Xue Yi's health couldn't be delayed, and even if Wei Ning went alone, he wasn't confident he could bring him back.
He was familiar with the terrain of Caoqi Mountain. There were only cliffs leading up there. All their men had already gone there. If the Ninth Prince wanted to escape, it would be harder than climbing to heaven.
After a moment's consideration, despite his concern for the Ninth Prince, he ultimately chose to side with his lord.
“Fine. Miss Wei, I’ll go with you,” Xiao Qi said. “If that divine doctor refuses to come, I’ll have to point my sword at his neck to get him to come.”
After Xiao Qi finished speaking, she said to the deputy general beside her, "Send more men to search and surround the entire Caoqi Mountain. Before the Ninth Prince's head is chopped off, not even a fly is allowed to get out."
"yes!"
Wei Ning remained silent, then bowed slightly and said, "I admire the general's sincere devotion to His Majesty."
That's natural. Xiao Qi followed Wei Ning out. He didn't interact with Wei Ning much, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a woman beside him dressed in red. The red lotus-shaped skirt draped down, making Wei Ning's skin appear even whiter than snow. The layers of crimson looked like a blood lotus in full bloom. When he saw this red, for some reason, he thought of Lu Xuejin.
He then brought up the matter, "Miss Wei, we should go and come back as soon as possible. That Ninth Prince is not easy to deal with. Every moment we delay, my soldiers are in greater danger... Speaking of which, I noticed you haven't worn red for a long time. Is that a popular color in the capital lately?"
Wei Ning laughed and replied, "General Xiao, I just noticed that Changyou has recently changed back into red robes. So today I also chose a red dress. Red is auspicious, and I hope it can ward off bad luck... General, you should wear it."
The carriage was already waiting outside, and he and Wei Ning boarded it together. As the carriage pulled away, he gazed at the scenery outside the window, his mind still preoccupied with Caoqi Mountain. He looked at the distant, indistinct peaks; though the world was a blanket of white, for some reason, he felt as if a dark mist clung to it. The sunlight seemed to have taken on a crimson hue, and a large patch of blood-red clouds drifted by.
Wei Ning noticed his emotions and said to him, "General Xiao, don't worry. Your soldiers are going... No matter how powerful the Ninth Prince is, he can't escape the encirclement of layers of iron helmets. You can relax."
He thought so too. He recalled the image of the Ninth Prince he had seen before; the fact that the boy had escaped death twice was not a good sign. Once or twice was just luck… but if it happened again, it could only mean that this person possessed extraordinary abilities, the capacity to survive dire situations, posing a significant threat to them.
Thinking of this, he said to Wei Ning, "Let's not mention this matter. I will naturally handle things over there... How much longer will it take to get there?"
Wei Ning glanced at the journey: "Half an hour."
It was supposed to be half an hour, but for some reason, the journey felt incredibly long to Xiao Qi. The woman beside him would occasionally chat with him about Xue Yi's illness, but he knew nothing about medicine, let alone any of that nonsense about heart disease. His attention was drawn to Wei Ning the whole way, and by the time they arrived, he had completely lost track of time.
He felt something was amiss... but he couldn't quite grasp the mystery. Upon arriving at their destination, Qiuji's daughter informed them that the Emperor had already met with Qiuji and returned home.
Wei Ning: "Look at me, I had completely forgotten that Changyou would arrange this matter. I was more worried about His Majesty than I was... which delayed the general's time."
Wei Ning feigned surprise, the scar on his cheek burning like a flame, his eyes showing no emotion whatsoever; he truly put on a good show.
Xiao Qi was now fully aware that he had been tricked; this woman surnamed Wei was likely stalling for his time. Thinking this, his expression turned ugly. Looking at Wei Ning's pretentious act, he suppressed the urge to punch her and let out a cold laugh.
"Miss Wei, your actions have wasted a lot of my time. I'll come back to settle accounts with you after I capture the Ninth Prince."
With a gloomy expression, he led his horse onto the steed and galloped away through the streets and alleys, nearly knocking over many civilians and leaving behind a mess.
After Wei Ning watched the person leave, the maid beside him appeared, still looking in the direction Xiao Qi had left.
"Miss, what do we do now?"
Wei Ning: "Go and have Xiao Yu write a letter. All our guards are going up the mountain to support the Ninth Prince."
"yes."
On Grass Fin Mountain.
Murong Yue slaughtered the remaining soldiers, his longsword stained with blood, leaving a trail of blood that stretched upwards. From the collapsed cave to the summit of Caoqi Mountain, there was a precipice beyond, with nowhere else to go.
The world was a blinding expanse of white. He walked for an unknown amount of time, passing through grasses that had withered overnight. Some stems and leaves had not yet fallen, only the front half remained withered, while the base of the grass showed a crisp, pale green. His blood dripped onto the grass roots, and the hot blood immediately thawed the frozen roots of the plants.
A rustling sound came from afar—the clinking of armor against the scabbard of an iron sword. He hid behind a cedar tree, holding his breath, gripping his longsword tightly, watching the searching soldiers pass by him.
"He can't have gone far! Search him thoroughly, don't miss an inch!"
"You guys, go check over there!"
Murong Yue glanced to the side and saw the soldier who had responded walk towards the direction where he was hiding. The footsteps grew closer and closer until the soldier parted a corner of the dense bushes. Before he could even see the soldier's face, his longsword swept across, and with a "thud," he decapitated the soldier, whose head rolled to the ground.
"...there—"
Several soldiers approached him, and he felt his blood surging, the more blood stained him, the more intensely it surged, as if a fire had been ignited within him. The endless stream of soldiers pressed on, determined to drive him to the brink of despair. His hands, gripping the longsword so tightly, felt as if the veins were about to burst in the frigid weather.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first...
He beheaded the soldiers, his longsword transforming into a deadly blade, causing their eyes to widen in terror. He saw his own reflection in their terrified pupils. He was wounded in several places, the severity of his injuries indistinguishable, his own blood mingling with the enemy's.
Only one thought occupied his mind... He had to get out of here.
The more fate seemed determined to kill him, the more he defied it, determined to change the outcome with his will.
Passionate blood, bright red blood, the blood of others, and one's own blood.
Severed limbs, heart-wrenching screams, and low, convulsive sobs.
Someone was crying... He didn't know how many heads he had chopped off. The soldier he had kicked away had several broken ribs and was buried in the snow, crying out in pain.
Why is he crying? He hasn't shed a single tear yet... so many people are trying to kill him. Whether he was moved by the crying or distracted, his sword veered off course, and he was pierced in the abdomen by the halberd that came flying at him.
His internal organs immediately contorted in agony, the intense pain causing him to lose consciousness for a moment. He heard the sound of flesh being torn and ripped apart, and a muffled groan escaped his throat as cold sweat dripped from his forehead. He snapped back to reality, gripped his halberd, and dragged the soldier forward, the sword piercing the soldier's chest.
...
Countless corpses lay on the ground.
Murong Yue felt a sharp pain in his wrist, and his vision was filled with crimson blood. The warm blood stained his eyes. After severing the last soldier's neck, he struggled to stand up.
An invisible weight pressed down on his back, draining his consciousness and causing his body to sway. His abdominal organs throbbed with pain as he walked, and blood gushed out. It was as if his intestines were being pulled out, his body was melting, and his blood turned into a blue, ghostly flame that burned through his skin like phosphorescent fire.
……elder brother.
……elder brother.
……elder brother.
He had to go see Changyou. He couldn't let him leave. He couldn't let his brother go. If his brother saw him like this, he would be heartbroken. Sometimes, he wished he could be injured like this, so his brother would feel sorry for him.
His morbid mentality has now been fulfilled by fate, so that when he is in a state of utter disarray, he can more clearly feel his brother's love for him.
...You are not allowed to leave.
...You are not allowed to leave.
...You are not allowed to leave.
—Stay.
...Stay.
He was plunged into darkness, and before losing consciousness, he felt a dizzying sensation of weightlessness, and then he passed out.
At the foot of Mount Kusaki.
Xiao Qi followed the deputy general to the foot of Caoqi Mountain and saw the collapsed cave. Their soldiers moved away the stones, revealing a gruesome scene of mutilated corpses underneath. The body parts were covered with a thick layer of slush in the snow, creating a horrific and tragic sight against the backdrop of the vast white landscape.
With a "crack," Xiao Qi's halberd cleaved into the tree. The halberd struck the trunk, producing a buzzing, reverberating sound that echoed within the cave. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the soldiers' blood; the halberd had nearly shattered the giant tree.
"That son of a bitch! Where is he now?!"
The deputy general who was guarding the mountain had escaped death and was frozen pale. When he recalled the way the Ninth Prince killed people, his lips turned a deathly bluish-purple color, and his throat felt like it had been scraped by a knife several times.
“General. That Ninth Prince is familiar with the terrain here… He used the traps in the cave to kill more than 160 of our brothers. The small team we sent out earlier, more than 20 of them, were all killed by him. After that, he slaughtered all the scattered groups of men he sent out. Yue Jun and I went together, but he had amazing strength, and he only managed to drag Yue Jun and me up with his halberd… Yue Jun was dragged to death in the snow. I… I was pushed off by Yue Jun halfway through, and that's how I survived.”
“I have never seen... I have never seen such divine power. The Ninth Prince kills without hesitation and without fatigue. He is not like a living person. Our brothers are likely to die... General, General, you must avenge them.”
Xiao Qi's face grew increasingly grim as he listened, his narrow pupils turning sinister and terrifying, like a vengeful ghost summoned. Seeing his deputy general on the verge of tears, he patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, go back and heal your wounds, leave the rest to me."
"Brothers in the cave, sew up the bodies carefully and send them back to our elders and fellow villagers in the future."
Xiao Qi led her troops up the mountain. The caves they had just seen were just a stroke of luck for the Ninth Prince... The higher they went, the denser the corpses of the soldiers became. The snow-white fir forest was stained red, bursting open in blood-red clusters. The soldiers' corpses lay on the ground, their unseeing faces frozen and turning an eerie purple.
Not far away, beneath a massive cedar tree, a long halberd pierced the soldier's body, the corpse contorted in a twisted, doll-like shape. The terrified face turned towards them, the grotesque posture suggesting the soldier's agonizing death. Beneath the halberd, the corpse's intestines spilled out, attracting a flock of crows to gnaw on them.
The fallen corpses gathered together, the stench of blood filling the air and splattering upwards to the clouds. Countless bodies lay on the ground, almost covering the forest floor, piled up in twos and threes.
A deathly silence fell over the air.
They reached the edge of the cliff but still couldn't find the Ninth Prince.
Xiao Qi: "Is there anything unusual at the foot of the mountain?"
"Reporting to the general, our men have sealed off all four exits of Grass Fin Mountain, and all routes down the mountain are blocked. There are no abnormalities for the time being."
“He’s still hiding here…” Xiao Qi said. “Find him. Search the entire mountain to find him.”
As Xiao Qi looked at those familiar faces, some of the children who had been waiting outside his tent just a day before, he felt a surge of blood rising in his throat, and his chest felt as if it were about to be shattered by overwhelming rage.
Ninth Prince... Ninth Prince.
He was determined to tear the Ninth Prince to pieces.
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