General Taishi was naturally one member of the Taishi Clan which was one of the seven great clans. His full name was Taishi Zhen, and he was one of the ten elite generals in the Divine Martial Camp. He was the leading commander-in-chief for this army and was at the peak stage of Soul Travel Realm.
For him to be in this position, the Taishi Clan had given him a lot of support. Of course, he had enough strength to qualify for this role, too; but the most important factor was his intelligence. His role for this time was to protect Xia Wuhui, and Jiang Yi was just by himself. Even if he was formidable, would he be able to overpower nearly 20,000 soldiers? Jiang Yi’s strength might be powerful, but there were so many subordinates around. Was there even a need for this commander-in-chief to personally make the move?
Of course, there was another important fact—Jiang Yi’s status!
Who would dare to mess with Jiang Bieli’s son?
Jiang Bieli was the Divine Martial Kingdom’s no.1 martial expert, the kingdom’s guardian deity, and the man that Xia Tingwei trusted the most. Seeing the fact that Jiang Rentu led 10,000 Killer Divine Guards to the Ten-Thousand Dragons Valley and that Jiang Bieli personally went to the royal capital to visit Jiang Yi, it meant that Jiang Bieli highly regarded Jiang Yi. This fact was without a doubt, and unless Taishi Zhen thought that he had lived long enough… would he go mess with Jiang Yi?!
Thus, he hesitated before he spoke bluntly, “Your Highness. Your safety is of utmost importance. Looking at the current complex situation, this general dare not leave your side. If something was to happen—even if this general had ten heads, they wouldn’t be enough to behead.”
If Taishi Zhen didn’t dare to make a move, then forget about the rest of the people. Everyone gave their opinion: “Your Highness, how is Jiang Yi going to deal with the army when he is alone? Your Highness, be at ease. A report of victory would soon arrive. All of us have a duty and dare not neglect it.”
“Useless!”
Xia Wuhui was so angry that he was fuming. He naturally understood what these people were worried about. He also knew that if Jiang Yi managed to obtain the no.1 rank in the Kingdom War, he must have some formidable trump that regular people wouldn’t be able to resist.
Xia Wuhui had an idea as he looked at the old eunuch by his side and requested, “Eunuch Wei, go take the head of that renegade for this prince. How dare he intercept the army? This renegade cannot be forgiven!”
Eunuch Wei was obviously the Crown Prince’s secret guard, and he didn’t even think before he immediately bowed and replied politely, “Your Highness, His Majesty gave me a decree to never leave beyond ten steps from Your Highness. Without His Majesty’s decree, this old servant cannot leave your side.”
“Useless! All of you are useless!”
Xia Wuhui was mad and had no choice but to instruct Taishi Zhen to send his men and surround Jiang Yi. This time, Taishi Zhen didn’t go against his orders—as long as it wasn’t for him to personally kill Jiang Yi. If Jiang Bieli was to look into this matter, he would only go find trouble with the Crown Prince and had nothing to do with him. Taishi Zhen immediately yelled out, “Pass the orders! Kill the enemy at all cost!”
…
Once Taishi Zhen gave the orders, Jiang Yi’s battle became even more intense. All these soldiers, who were originally fearful of Jiang Yi, suddenly charged at him without any regards for their lives when the order came down and when the battle drum sounded.
“Die! Anyone who obstructs me shall die!”
Jiang Yi had gone all-out and wasn’t afraid to expend the Earth Fire as he allowed it to constantly surge out, forming a fire ring around his body. These soldiers which flocked over would be incinerated into ashes as their armor and clothes caught fire before they could even get near to the blazing flames. Despite so, the army endlessly charged at Jiang Yi, which clearly demonstrated the Divine Martial Kingdom’s prowess in managing their military.
In just a short amount of time, Jiang Yi had incinerated at least 2000 soldiers; and he was just a few hundred meters away from the treasure boxes.
“Swish! Swish!”
Many Soul Travel Realm experts flocked over and shot out countless essence force attacks. With the Earth Fire ring around Jiang Yi, these essence force attacks could only blast away at the Earth Fire, which instead injured even more soldiers. Of course… under the countless essence force attacks, Jiang Yi’s Earth Fire was exhausted like running water.
“Die!”
Jiang Yi rushed forward in a frenzy. When he saw six or seven Soul Travel Realm experts constantly releasing their essence force attacks, the Fire Dragon Sword instantly lit up and shot two fire dragons out of the Earth Fire, bringing along some Earth Fire as they whizzed towards the people in front.
“Ah—!”
Numerous miserable screams echoed as the fire dragons and the Earth Fire whizzed across the group of people in front, wiping everything out. Five of the eight Soul Travel Realm experts were burnt to death while the rest escaped in time and didn’t get injured.
“We can’t hold him back anymore!”
The Soul Travel Realm experts that back off looked at each other and were appalled. If Jiang Yi’s Earth Fire wasn’t exhausted, he would be invincible. Anyone that rushed at him would just be throwing their lives away unless there was a seventh- or eighth-stage Soul Travel Realm expert—or if a peak-stage Soul Travel Realm combatant made a move.
The military orders must be obeyed, but no one wanted to die facing an invincible enemy. There was also the instinctive fear of death, resulting in a few of them not wanting to rush in anymore.
“Swish!”
As Jiang Yi rushed forward with the towering flames, the Soul Travel Realm experts backed off again. Once they backed off, the rest of the soldiers fearfully backed off as well while they looked at Jiang Yi as though he was a demon from hell.
“Treasure box!”
Jiang Yi finally succeeded in reaching the boxes nearby. He swiftly let the Fire Spirit Pearl absorb the Earth Fire while the Fire Spirit Pearl lit up as Jiang Yi dashed and kept all these boxes into the Fire Spirit Pearl.
“Eh…”
Once Jiang Yi kept more than ten boxes, the people in front of him suddenly snapped out of the fear. When they saw that Jiang Yi no longer had any Earth Fire on his body, they immediately rushed at him. However, Jiang Yi was surrounded by the betrothal gifts so no one dared to release their essence force attacks and could only try to get near to Jiang Yi!
“Hur! Massacre Intent!”
The killing aura was once again released from Jiang Yi’s body as it suppressed everyone’s speed. The Fire Dragon Sword lit up as well while the suppressive aura frightened everyone so much that they were shivering. Jiang Yi dodged around with flashes while the Fire Spirit Pearl lit up, keeping all the priceless treasure boxes.
“Earth Fire!”
When the last box was plundered, the Soul Travel Realm experts opposite of Jiang Yi gritted their teeth and rushed at him; but they were welcomed with an endless flow of Earth Fire.
Jiang Yi abruptly executed an Exploding Essence Palm to his front and back, incinerating a patch of soldiers. He then looked towards Xia Wuhui’s direction with some suspicion as he muttered. “Eh? So much time has passed already, and the peak-stage Soul Travel Realm expert has yet to appear?”
It wasn’t just the peak-stage Soul Travel Realm expert; not even one fifth-stage Soul Travel Realm expert came; otherwise, Jiang Yi wouldn’t be able to plunder all these treasure boxes with ease. An attack from a fifth-stage Soul Travel Realm martial artist was rather penetrative, and his Earth Fire wouldn’t have lasted this long.
“Let’s go!”
With the items in his hand, Jiang Yi didn’t bother anymore. After seeing the people in front and behind of him being incinerated, he quickly withdrew. He thrust the Fire Dragon Sword into the ground vigorously and entered the ground, too.
The underground was already dug with countless tunnels, giving credit to Jiang Yi’s busy work for those few hours which paid off. He quickly rushed into the underground maze, and with a flash of the Fire Spirit Pearl, a golden spirit beast talisman appeared while he yelled out, “Big Huang!”
“Moo-Moo!”
An enormous beast appeared in the spacious tunnels, which Jiang Yi leaped onto. The four yellow hooves turned into afterimages as it dashed into one of the tunnels. Jiang Yi constantly used the Exploding Essence Palm to destroy the tunnels behind him. As long as the peak-stage Soul Travel Realm expert didn’t give chase, he was able to easily escape with Big Huang’s speed.
There were only two peak-stage Soul Travel Realm experts in the bridal escort army, Taishi Zhen and Eunuch Wei. Would the two of them pursue Jiang Yi?
Obviously not!
Not even those fifth-stage Soul Travel Realm deputy generals dared to move. Hence, Jiang Yi escaped effortlessly, leaving behind a devastated battlefield with countless ashes of the incinerated soldiers and a shocking sight.
“What? Jiang Yi escaped? Killing more than 3000 soldiers? More than two Soul Travel Realm commanders are dead? All the treasure boxes are stolen by Jiang Yi? Good-for-nothing! Useless! Trashes! What do I even need all of you for?”
The information was tallied quickly, and Xia Wuhui could no longer hold back the rage and anguish in his heart as he pointed at Taishi Zhen and the others, reprimanding with fury. There were so many casualties and countless clansmen from the Divine Martial Kingdom were within this army; how were they going to cover up this incident?
This was a loud slap on the face from Jiang Yi and also a slap to the Divine Martial Kingdom’s royal clan!
A single individual attacked an army of 20,000. It was fine if he just killed a few thousand soldiers, but he even took the betrothal gifts that were meant for Su Ruoxue easily? He finally escaped grandly without a trace? If this matter was made known to the world, where was Xia Wuhui going to hide his face? Where was the royal clan of the Divine Martial Kingdom going to hide their faces? How were they going to fetch the bride without any betrothal gifts?
“Why did he plunder the betrothal gifts? Could it be for Su Ruoxue? To shame me when fetching the bride?”
After venting his anger, countless questions popped out in Xia Wuhui’s mind. His cold eyes flickered as his mouth revealed a sinister smile. One of the ancient divine essence rings suddenly shone brightly while a jade box appeared in his hands. He let out a nasty grin and sneered. “I know now… Jiang Yi, you are here to plunder this Soul-Subduing Herb, right? Fortunately, this Prince was prepared; otherwise, you would have gotten it. Hmph! You dare slaughter this army? Not even Jiang Bieli can cover for you this time! Wait till I report this to my King Father. The day of your death would be the day when reinforcements arrive!”
