Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Azheba didn’t know that he had just had a narrow brush with death. He was very surprised when someone led him into another tent and became even more surprised when he saw Prince Duodun.
“Who’s this other person?” Duodun asked while struggling to subdue his anger. When the two were close enough to him, Duodun finally clearly saw that the one who had just taken off his hood was an old man who didn’t resemble the Dragon King at all.
“This is Doctor Sun from Jade City. After hearing that many Norland soldiers were failing to acclimate themselves to the new environment and were falling sick, the Dragon King has sent Doctor Sun here to help us.” Azheba was concerned about the situation here and had had a premonition of disaster, which was soon verified when he saw the gagged Liman.
Doctor Sun was a little nervous. If the patient were Prince Duodun, he would’ve acted arrogantly, as not only did that satisfy his own sense of vanity, but it was also an effective means of stabilizing the patient’s mood. However, the prince seemed vigorous, angry, and difficult to please, so he instead chose to be respectful. “This humble subject of yours pays his respect to you, Your Highness. My name is Sun Zhihao.”
All of Duodun’s companions pointed at Doctor Sun and yelled out, “The Dragon King’s capable of disguising himself. He must be a fake doctor!”
Doctor Sun was confused and asked, “Why would the Dragon King disguise himself as me? I’m just an old man who barely has any hair left.”
Duodun’s sullen face instantly lit up as he laughed out loud. “A doctor’s come to us. This is a favor from God. Someone find the doctor a decent room and take good care of him. He will treat our troops when he’s rested.”
The moment Doctor Sun left, Duodun’s demeanor changed again. There were a lot of people he had to punish, but the most pressing issue was to find the enemy. “Where’s the Dragon King?”
Azheba glanced sideways at Liman, who was shaking his head at him. Ye Chuo walked over and blocked Liman from Azheba’s sight.
“The Dragon King left the city and didn’t tell me where he was going.”
“How many men did he take with him?”
“There were five of them, including the Dragon King himself.”
Azheba had answered honestly, but Duodun was a little distrustful of his answers. However, the prince soon understood what had happened. Even as he thought about the situation, he ordered, “Here’s what you’re going to do, Ye Chuo.”
Ye Chuo’s tactic didn’t work and he was starting to panic. Upon hearing Duodun’s words, he walked forward hurriedly and knelt down before Duodun. “At your service, Your Highness.”
“Take 500 archers and hunt down the Dragon King. I want a head, either his or yours.”
Ye Chuo was astounded. He replied “Yes,” stood up immediately, and was just about to leave when Duodun stopped him. “Don’t run around like a headless chicken. Go check whether the Flame Foal’s still here. If the Dragon King took it, then there’s no need for you to go after him.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Ye Chuo answered as his body was covered in cold sweat.
“The Dragon King must be heading south towards Shang Liao’s army camp. You know the direction, don’t you?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Ye Chuo was unable to say any other words, but the prince still didn’t indicate that he could leave.
Duodun turned around and faced Azheba once more. “You’re my most trusted man as well as a top-notch archer. Go with Ye Chuo and help him finish the job.”
“Me?” Azheba didn’t expect that this task would be assigned to him. Yet the light of understanding soon dawned on him and he realized that this was a test of his loyalty. Liman’s “betrayal” had made the prince suspicious of his own men. “Yes, Your Highness.”
The two companions accepted Duodun’s assignments to them and left. Duodun finally flew into a rage as he shouted, “Get me the herald and the scouts! They must have lost their eyeballs. If not, then why didn’t any of them identify the fake Dragon King?”
Duodun’s soldiers had seen Azheba and then made the mistake of assuming that the man walking side by side with Azheba could be nobody else besides the Dragon King. The distance was a little far so none of the soldiers had clearly seen the old face under the hood.
Gu Shenwei was heading south with Long Fanyun, Chu Nanping, Han Fen, and Shangguan Yun. His destination was precisely where Duodun had speculated he would go – the Restoration Army Camp of the Shule Kingdom.
Han Fen had volunteered to come because she needed “a distraction,” while Shangguan Yun had been forced into coming. He reminded the Dragon King, “Once we pass though Heaven’s Pass, we’ll be in the Western Regions, which means that the alliance between us will be over.”
“I’d like to give it a try,” Gu Shenwei replied.
After leaving the city, Shangguan Yun looked towards the east where Golden Roc Castle was located before saying, “We don’t necessarily have to be enemies just because we’re no longer allies, Dragon King. How about I stop working for the Unique King and just sit on the fence?”
Long Fanyun snorted disdainfully. He would never forget how much harm this Third Young Master of Golden Roc Castle had done to the Dragon Army at Wu Mountain.
Gu Shenwei replied blandly with a single word. “Okay.”
Han Fen rode forward and yelled happily, “I want to sit on the fence as well!”
Everyone ignored her, but she didn’t care and just pranced around in front of the others.
There were still some medium-sized checkpoints ahead of them, and Long Fanyun handled all the crossing procedures. He told those soldiers that he was the General of the Right as well as the envoy of the Shule prince, and they passed through all the checkpoints without any issues.
It was nearly dusk when the other group caught up to them. Long Fanyun was the first one to notice the sounds from behind them. He turned his horse and quickly glanced behind him before riding up to the Dragon King and reporting, “It’s Norland Cavalry, about 500 to 600 men.”
There was a small isolated hill ahead. Gu Shenwei had been here before and he still had a vague memory of the surrounding terrain. “Go there and send them a signal.”
Long Fanyun grunted, “Um,” and then glanced over his shoulder at the Norland Cavalry that were approaching rapidly one more time. He was concerned, but refrained from saying anything. He immediately spurred his horse on and rode towards the top of the hill.
Chu Nanping stayed by the Dragon King’s side silently. But Han Fen asked in confusion, “What should a person who sits on the fence do at this moment?”
Shangguan Yun had been staring at Long Fanyun’s receding figure, believing that the Norland cavalrymen would undoubtedly arrive first. Even if Long Fanyun managed to miraculously conjure up reinforcements, they would never make it here in time. So, even as he bitterly smiled, he said to Han Fen, “If you are sitting on the fence, then you don’t have to do anything. If you want to stay, stay; if you want to flee, flee. Right, Dragon King?”
Gu Shenwei was also gauging the distance and the speed of the approaching cavalry. At the same time, he produced a short bow and drew an arrow. “You can stay, but you can’t flee.”
Shangguan Yun nodded approvingly as he said, “I have an idea. We can have Han Fen disguise herself as the Dragon King to distract the Norlanders. The disguise doesn’t have to be perfect – an average one will suffice.”
“I’ll do it,” Han Fen replied immediately, unaware of how big a risk she was taking on.
“There’s no time for that,” Gu Shenwei said before he suddenly raised his arms, drew the bow, and shot an arrow into the sky.
Like a rainbow, the arrow arced through the sky before dropping in the distance. This was their distress signal.
Another arrow shortly followed, and the route of the second arrow was nearly the same as that of its predecessor.
Shangguan Yun shook the arrow in his hand and smiled as he said, “It’s a surprise that I still remember the kung fu I learned back in Golden Roc Castle.”
Most killers didn’t focus on archery, but every killer had to learn it as a basic skill during their apprenticeship.
The two arrows fell into the ground, quivering. The 500 Norland cavalrymen separated into two streams and split around both sides of the arrows like a river’s course when encountering a huge rock. Soon, they formed a semicircle.
Yet the arrows shot by the Dragon King and Shangguan Yun flew much farther than a normal archer’s shots, and most Norland cavalrymen were unable to replicate their feat. Thus, the army still needed to advance a bit more before they could launch an attack.
Ye Chuo had only met the Dragon King once before. Looking at the four people, he asked worriedly, “Is that the Dragon King?”
Azheba gave a careful look and said, “It looks like him, but I have to get closer to be sure.”
“Kill them first and then identify the corpses later.” Ye Chuo had been given an inviolable order, and he didn’t want to risk anything.
“Wait. If it’s really the Dragon King, then we have to be cautious in case there’re traps. Look, there’s someone’s riding to the top of that hill.”
“Just do it. Each grassland cavalryman can fight off ten enemies by themselvse. Even if there is a trap, we have nothing to worry about. Besides, not many people in the Western Regions are good at archery… We’ve been friends since childhood, Azheba, and this might be the reason why His Highness assigned you to help me. You’re not going to just stand by and watch, right?”
“Of course not.” Azheba took out his bow and arrows, but didn’t start shooting just yet. “Was it you who advised His Highness to assassinate the Dragon King?”
This was an inopportune question which irritated Ye Chuo. “Liman betrayed His Highness because of the Dragon King. Meanwhile, you’ve been in the Dragon Army all this time, Azheba. You didn’t happen to have been influenced and now believe that His Highness should forge an alliance with an outsider, did you?”
“I’m loyal to His Highness. I won’t make any reckless decisions.”
“What did you say?” Ye Chuo stiffened in his stirrups and reached for his saber. “Reckless decisions? No risk, no reward! If the Dragon King dies in the army camp, I will become the biggest hero of the prince. I knew it, you’re just like those wolf cubs who are jealous of me…”
The look on Azheba’s face was still that of composure. “We fight for the same cause – assisting His Highness in unifying the grasslands.”
Ye Chuo realized that he had crossed a line. He sat down, loosened the grip of his right hand on the saber, and sincerely said, “You must help me, Azheba. If I fail to retrieve the Dragon King’s head, His Highness is really going to kill me. You know him. He never goes back on anything that he says in public.”
“I know.” Azheba tried to comfort him by saying, “When that guy reaches the hill and the situation becomes a bit clearer, I’ll do it right away.”
Ye Chuo was still hesitant to trust Azheba. Azheba rode forward and stopped at a position about an bow shot’s range away from the Dragon King. Then he yelled out, “You came to the city but didn’t visit us, Dragon King. His Highness blamed me for not having kept you there. Please come back with us to Heaven’s Pass, so that His Highness may treat you with the hospitality you deserve.”
Gu Shenwei also raised his voice to reply. “I have some urgent business. Please go back and tell Prince Duodun that I’ll return to Heaven’s Pass and express my apologies to him soon.”
Han Fen asked Shangguan Yun in a muted voice, “Isn’t Azheba our friend? Why is he talking so strangely?”
Shangguan Yun looked at her in amazement as he asked, “You just can’t stop surprising me, can you, Han Fen? I mean, you can even read between the lines now.”
Han Fen showed a self-satisfied smile. “I know that you’re a liar, but your compliments are always so sweet. Shangguan Fei’s your younger brother, right? All of the men of the Shangguan family are so talented at flattery.”
“I have an academic family background, but I’m just an average person,” Shangguan Yun replied modestly.
There was barely anything that could affect Chu Nanping, but this time he couldn’t help and glance over his shoulder at Shangguan Yun, feeling that Shangguan Yun was a bit too thick-skinned.
Gu Shenwei and Azheba had been exchanging pleasantries all the while. The latter continuously tried to invite the former, and the former continuously declined. Ye Chuo and the troops kept approaching, and in the distance, Long Fanyun had finally arrived at the top of the hill.
The longer Ye Chuo thought about it, the more unreliable he felt Azheba’s plan was. Ye Chuo was just about to give the order to attack and shoot the Dragon King to death when he heard a rumbling sound, like that of muffled thunder from thick clouds, in the distant sky.
Long Fanyun had blown the bugle.
Although nothing happened after the sound of the bugle, all of the experienced Norland cavalrymen’s vigilance spiked at the same time. They stopped their horses and looked around cautiously.
A team of cavalrymen emerged from behind the small hill. There were at least 1,000 of them, rapidly closing in on them like the wind.
Ye Chuo believed that the odds were still in his favor because there wasn’t enough time for the Dragon King to flee. Although the enemies outnumbered them, they were still no match for the Norland cavalrymen and their archery.
He raised his hand and was just about to give the order to attack when an arrow abruptly lodged itself in his chest, the archer who shot it someone he would have never expected.
Azheba calmly watched Ye Chuo fall down, and then turned to the Dragon King and said, “This is a gift from His Highness, Dragon King. Please accept it.”.
