xymnovel Chapter 964 Obstacles on All Sides, Su Ye's Schemes!
Chapter 964 Obstacles on All Sides, Su Ye's Schemes!
"Your Highness, we are going to Hengzhou to find the Duke of Zhenguo."
He spoke softly, trying to make his voice sound calm.
Si Jinxuan paused, seemingly trying to process the information. Although he was young, he vaguely sensed the changes in his family and the turmoil in the country.
"The Duke of Zhenguo? Who is he?"
Si Jinxuan blinked and asked with some curiosity.
"Does Your Highness recall that during the reign of the late Emperor, three imperial daughters, who were Your Highness's aunts, were sent to Hengzhou to marry the Duke of Zhenguo? That Duke of Zhenguo can now be considered a consort of our Great Qian Dynasty."
"If we can find him, he will surely be willing to protect Your Highness because of the influence of the three princesses."
Zhao Xiao smiled slightly, and despite the bitterness in his heart, he tried his best to explain in a calm tone.
"Then... will we be able to see our aunts?"
Si Jinxuan's voice began to sound expectant, as if at this moment, his three aunts, whom he had never met, had become the warmest support in his heart.
"Of course, Your Highness, once we arrive in Hengzhou, we will be able to see your aunts."
"They will be very happy to see you."
Zhao Xiao smiled slightly, and although his heart was full of bitterness, he still nodded.
Upon hearing this, a glimmer of light flashed in Si Jinxuan's eyes, as if he had finally seen a ray of dawn in this endless darkness.
"Then we'll definitely find him, right, General Zhao?"
He nodded, his voice carrying a hint of youthful determination.
"I can definitely do it! Your Highness, rest assured, Zhao Xiao will protect Your Highness to the point of death to ensure your safe arrival in Hengzhou."
Zhao Xiao was startled, but still nodded vigorously.
As he spoke, he once again swung the Qiankun Sword in his hand, cutting through the thorns blocking their path, and led the team to continue forward.
Along the way, they also encountered many stragglers of the Yellow Turban Army, but as the most elite Taoist soldiers of the Great Qian Dynasty, they were probably powerless against a beast like Li Cunxiao with extreme qi.
But when facing these ordinary Yellow Turban soldiers, these Qiankun Imperial Guards are like fathers to them!
Basically, every time they encountered ordinary Yellow Turban soldiers in the wild, the Qiankun Imperial Guards could instantly disperse them with overwhelming force.
...
The night was as dark as ink. In the camp outside Qianling County, Su Ye sat upright in his tent, the candlelight crackling in the bronze lamp, toying with a jade Pixiu seal in his hand.
He had just changed out of his dusty battle robe, with a few bits of grass still clinging to his hair. He was stirring the medicinal soup on the table with a silver spoon—it was a calming soup specially prepared for him by the army doctor, who said it could dispel the fatigue from days of travel.
"Your Highness, an urgent report from Luo Wang!"
Jingni's voice rang out from outside the tent, carrying the chill of the night breeze.
Su Ye paused slightly, causing ripples to spread across the medicinal soup.
"Come in."
Su Ye didn't even look up, her fingertips lightly tapping the edge of the table.
Jing Ni lifted the curtain and entered, the sealing wax on the secret letter in her hand bearing a ferocious spider totem, which gleamed with a ghostly blue light under the candlelight.
"Did Si Yunzhang break through the encirclement with the Crown Prince?"
Su Ye's fingers tightened suddenly as he opened the secret letter, the edges of the letter wrinkling into bitter ripples in his palm.
"Three hours ago, they broke through the south gate of Qiandu. Li Cunxiao personally led the Flying Tiger Cavalry in pursuit, but at Luofeng Slope, Si Yunzhang used most of his Qiankun Imperial Guards as suicide soldiers to lure them away from the mountain."
Jingni remained silent, bowing her head.
"A diversionary tactic? Si Yunzhang, you're quite the ruthless one!"
"Even elite Daoist soldiers like the Qiankun Imperial Guards were able to abandon most of them without hesitation, using them as suicide soldiers to hold off Li Cunxiao, while he himself led the Crown Prince southeast."
Su Ye chuckled softly, tossing the letter into the charcoal brazier. As the flames rose, they reflected the dark gold emblem dancing in his eyes.
Jing Ni's pupils contracted slightly. To the southeast of Qiandu was the encampment of Gu Changqing's army. If the Crown Prince were to reunite with that pillar of the nation... she suddenly understood why Su Ye had summoned the Yin Yang School overnight.
"Should we mobilize all the elite troops from the Luo Wang (Net of Justice) in the surrounding counties of Qianzhou to intercept and kill them?"
Jing Ni stood with her head bowed in the shadows, the pink Jing Ni sword at her waist gleaming coldly in the darkness.
"There's no need for a major conflict."
Su Ye's slender fingers traced a circle on the map on the table, marking a location in the southeast of Qiandu.
"Where is the Moon Goddess of the Yin-Yang School?"
As Su Ye stood up, the map on the table was rolled up by the wind from her sleeve, revealing seven ferry crossings circled in vermilion.
"They are already waiting outside the tent."
Jingni looked out of the tent with a blank expression.
"Your Excellency, the Moon Goddess observed the celestial phenomena last night..."
When the Moon Goddess, who was opposed to Dongjun Feiyan, lifted the curtain, she brought in a tent full of starlight. Her wide sleeves hung like clouds, and her hair was adorned with a silver ornament of the Big Dipper inlaid on a jade crown.
"Don't talk to me about astrology."
Su Ye tapped the Luoxia Ferry mark on the map with his finger.
"Si Yunzhang, the leader of the Qiankun Imperial Guards, is bringing the Crown Prince of Daqian here. I want you to set up the Nine Palaces Star Array at the ferry."
"This is where the river is narrowest, and the banks are covered with reeds, making it an ideal place to set up an ambush."
He traced the winding river on the map with his fingertips.
"The Nine Palaces are the pivot of Yin and Yang. When combined with the 'Seven Fiend Soul-Locking Nails' newly refined by the Yin-Yang School, even a Celestial-level expert will arrive..."
The Moon Goddess remained silent for a moment, her hands clenched tightly in her sleeves, and she whispered.
"What I want is not necessarily to kill."
Su Ye suddenly stopped talking, the candlelight casting a shadow of light and shadow on his profile.
"The Crown Prince can live, but he must not live to see Gu Changqing."
"Do you understand?"
He turned and looked out of the tent, as if he could see a sky full of stars through the tent.
"Understood. We will embed the 'Disruptive Spirit Curse' into the core of the formation, so that the child... will be forever soulless!"
The moon goddess paused for a moment, a chill running through her.
"very good."
Su Ye nodded, and the hourglass on the table turned just then.
"Jing Ni, order the Luo Wang to intercept and kill Si Yunzhang's troops along the way. Remember—"
"We must not allow the Crown Prince to safely reunite with Gu Changqing!"
He suddenly lowered his voice, as if afraid of disturbing the conspiracy hidden in the night.
As Jingni withdrew, she happened to see the Moon Goddess take out seven bronze nails from her wide sleeves. The nails were engraved with twisted runes and gleamed with an eerie green light under the moonlight.
"Once this nail enters the body, the three souls and seven spirits become like a trapped beast, no matter how powerful one's martial arts are..."
"This is the Moon Goddess of the Yin-Yang School speaking in a low voice."
"I want absolute certainty."
Su Ye remained expressionless, his gaze piercing through the tent and landing in the distance.
There, the hoofbeats of Si Yunzhang and the other Qiankun Imperial Guards were tearing through the night, startling countless crows into flight.
……
At the same time, at Luoxia Ferry.
The river shimmered silver under the moonlight. Si Yunzhang reined in his Mo Yunzhui. Behind him, the remaining hundreds of Qiankun Imperial Guards were all wounded, and the blood scabs on their armor rustled in the night wind.
The young prince was wrapped in a fox fur coat, his face pale, but he kept his lips tightly pressed together and didn't utter a sound.
"This place is less than twenty li away from Grand Tutor Gu's camp."
Si Yunzhang wiped the bloodstains off the Qiankun Sword, the blade gleaming with a bluish light under the moonlight.
"After crossing the river..."
Before the words were finished, seven beams of blue light suddenly rose from the river surface and shot straight into the sky.
Si Yunzhang's pupils shrank suddenly—the arrangement of stars could be vaguely seen in the blue light, which was actually the Nine Palaces Formation, famous among the Hundred Schools of Thought!