The spear was as fast as a meteor with such momentum that made it look like a rainbow. Leng Changxi turned over and leaped into the air, hands grabbing downwards. The momentum of the spear made him take a step back, but it didn’t stop him from standing still. With the spear in hand, Leng Changxi wouldn’t accept the result as he turned the spear and threw it towards Wanyan Su, Fourth Prince. The spear had ripped into the pillar with its entire sharp, which was a fist away from Wanyan Su.
Wanyan Su looked solemn. Droplets of sweat all over his body seemed to curdle at once, “Are you aware of the situation you’re facing now?”
Despite knowing the answer, Leng Changxi asked, “What kind of situation?”
Wanyan Su threw his bracer hard onto the ground and turned his head to the other side, “I’ve only heard that when Grand Khan came back yesterday, he had a nightmare that the crown prince of North Di would be killed by an ugly monster. Now all the officials are suspecting you. General of Qi, if you go to meet Prince Regent at this very moment, you will certainly be criticized.”
Leng Changxi smiled, “Shouldn’t it be Prince Regent to worry more about the present situation? Paramount and powerful as he is, he has the right to compete for the crown from the beginning because he is Grand Khan’s brother. What’s more, it was he who invited me in the afternoon. The one being criticized more should be him, not me.”
The way Wanyan Su stared at Leng Changxi was like watching a monster, “Are you intentional? Did you plan all of this?” Then he denied his own conclusion quickly, “Impossible. How can you control other’s dreams? It’s impossible.”
Leng Changxi said slowly, “Now that there is the medicine which can control people’s mind and make them obey orders, why can’t I enter other’s dreams?”
“You…”
Leng Changxi sighed and made it straightforward, “However, I’m wrong about one thing.”
“What?”
“Grand Khan of North Di has been given slow poison, causing him to feel tired and drained and lack of good sleep every day. I wanted to take the opportunity to appear to him when he was mind-clouded by using the smoke, making him think it a dream. My only goal is to ask him to lift the blockade of Yeren Valley so that it will be easier for us to enter it. However, things didn’t happen as I wish. His focus was on my face instead of what I said. What’s more, I have enough reason to assume that he is conscious now.”
“What do you mean?”
“It is quite possible that Grand Khan has known that he is poisoned, but he cannot detoxify himself completely. What he can do is no more than to ease it. He has cast doubts on me after seeing me in the competition arena today. All the words I said to him when he was hair asleep at nap time failed to make him believe. Rather, he begins to suspect that I’m the one who uses the poison to control him.”
Wanyan Su’s heart had immediately cooled down by half a degree. Now that Leng Changxi was living in the mansion of Fourth Prince, he was afraid that it would cause trouble for him.
“But it was merely struggle of the trapped beast.” Leng Changxi’s calm analysis made Wanyan Su unhappy.
“Nonsense! Grand Khan is strong and healthy now. There won’t be any problem even if he reigns for another twenty years.”
Leng Changxi sneered, “Your Higness, you’re loyal to Grand Khan, but others may not be all like you. What’s even worse, others may try to convince Grand Khan that the first one to betray him is nobody else but you.”
“It’s all because of you,” Wanyan Su hit Leng Changxi in the face with his fist, “It’s you who have muddied the issue.”
Leng Changxi clenched Wanyan Su’s fist and warned coldly, “Your Highness, if you ever want to get out of the trap, or to seize what you desire most, you’d better cooperate with me.”
“What are you going to do?” Wanyan Su seemed to lose his patience, “General of Qi, I’m telling you, losing trade routes and crops may be troublesome to me, but it won’t kill me. I don’t want to take such a great risk for a stranger like you.”
“Your Highness, just trust me,” Leng Changxi looked quite confident, “All depends on the second competition tomorrow.”
The next day, the sky that used to be clear suddenly turned dark. Even the wind was blowing with coldness. The flags in the competition arena were waving crazily. Dark clouds are scudding across the sky from a distance as if implying an oncoming downpour. In North Di, a downpour was really rare, but it couldn’t affect all people’s passion to watch the game and the fight between the two warriors.
The two competitors were still the number three warrior and the number four one who hadn’t battle it out yet yesterday. The number four one was Leng Wu wearing the close-fitting armor with tiger stripes, whose equipment and weapons were much better than yesterday. It seemed that the competition yesterday made Wanyan Ba, the Grand Prince, value Leng Wu a lot. After all, the number three warrior was the winner of two successive competitions. Having fought with him for such a long time and broken even in the end was enough to prove Leng Wu’s ability.
This time, the Grand Prince chose two warriors to take part in the competition. He used to put his hope on the other warrior who was born and grew up in North Di. However, Leng Wu’s appearance made him wild with joy. As soon as the competition began, Wanyan Ba said bluntly on his seat.
“Warrior Chang Wu, if you can win your opponent, I’ll give you a big house, eighteen beauties and countless delicious wine and dishes.”
Chang Wu looked back and imitated the way warriors of North Di used to greet each other. He made a fist, put it near his heart, and lowered his head as an answer. However, when he lifted his head, he glanced at Leng Changxi in a casual way. He knew who his real master was from the very beginning to the end.
The competition had begun. Unlike the close race yesterday, this time number three warrior gave rather violent attacks while Chang Wu repeatedly retreated. Wanyan Ba’s look was getting much unhappier. For several times, it seemed that he was going to stand up and attend the fight himself. Qin Yunuan and Leng Changxi stood far away on the seats opposite to Wanyan Ba to watch his reaction. They also saw the reaction of other princes.
Qin Yunuan hadn’t been able to see places too far away from her yet. She could only hear Leng Changxi’s whisper to her ears, “Second Prince is lean and thin. Every time Wanyan Ba gets angry, he always tolerates and caters to him. However, he is wearing expensive fur clothes and having delicious wine and dishes. It seems that he is living an affluent life.”
“Such a person won’t follow Wanyan Ba,” Qin Yunuan analyzed, “He is timid and likes fortune only. If he acts wrong in the war of competing for the position of the crown prince, he will lose everything. North Di is not like Qi. Even if he can’t be Grand Khan, he can become the Khan of a small tribe as Bochaerji did. Then he can continue to enjoy the food and wine.”
“Right,” Leng Changxi nodded, “The next one is Fifth Prince. I’ve inquired about him. He is also the legitimate son born by the empress like the Grand Prince. However, the relationship between him and the Grand Prince has always been glacial. They are quite estranged from each other. The reason is unclear.”
“Estranged, of course,” Qin Yunuan said, “They’re both legitimate and capable. They will fight against each other sooner or later.”
They talked about several princes in order, but all of them were denied by Qin Yunuan. There was only Prince Regent who was the most obvious following the Grand Prince now. It was not a good message. If there were only two people, the connection between them was fast and efficient, so they were not likely to have internal strife. However, when there were three people, things would be different. Three people all had their own opinion, so it was easy for two of them to isolate the other one. Therefore, it would be easy to crush them one by one and sow discord.
But for the recent situation, the conclusion shouldn’t be drawn too fast. After all, Prince Regent had the right and power to inherit the throne himself. It remained unclear whether who would be the one laughing at last.
A loud thump came from the competition arena. Everyone turned to it. Surprisingly, Chang Wu was beaten to the ground by Zhigu, unable to move.
Wanyan Ba stamped with rage, “Rubbish! Rubbish!”
Although the adviser beside Wanyan Ba, Song Lian, had been pulling Wanyan Ba desperately to prevent his reckless actions, he failed to block Wanyan Ba’s roar towards his servants, “Go and find Zhigu! I won’t believe that the people from my mansion will lose to such a small potato.”
While Wanyan Ba was saying, Fifth Prince trembled. This was because it was he who found the so-called small potato after innumerable trials and hardships, which was the winner of two successive warrior competitions. His power was extraordinary.
His servant immediately came to find Zhigu, who was definitely another warrior collected by Wanyan Ba. However, after a while, the servant came to report in a hurry. He was out of breath when talking to Wanyan Ba, whose face had turned from red to the ugly cyan.
What he had ordered the servant remained a mystery. Seeing that Song Lian followed the servant to leave in a hurry, other nobles felt curious about this weirdness. Even the Grand Khan of North Di couldn’t help asking, “Ba, why are you in such a hurry?”
Wanyan Ba stood up immediately. The way he spoke to Grand Khan of North Di was still modest, “It’s because one of my warriors has an accident. Father, there’s no need to worry.”
Wanyan Su was watching what happened on the other side, always feeling uneasy in his heart. Looking straight ahead and appearing calm to the change, he asked Leng Changxi, “Will your method really work? My eldest brother has a bad temper. He cannot be dealt with by ordinary people.”
“The aim is to piss him off,” Leng Changxi smiled, “What I want most is to rile a lion.”
A moment later, Zhigu, which Wanyan Ba had mentioned, appeared to everybody. However, it was weird that the warrior who was said to have a strange appearance and magical strength was wearing a silver mask, which was similar to the one on Leng Changxi’s face. But it covered the face tighter, hiding the back of his ears as if hiding some secrets.
Zhigu was born to be tall and strong, but his whole body seemed to be trembling, and the tips of his fingers were pale. Through the vibration and propagation of the air, Qin Yunuan seemed to feel his racing pulse. Wanyan Ba glanced at him in disgust and urged him to go up the stage immediately, but even the leg Zhigu lifted to go upstairs was unsteady.
The number three warrior raised his head. He was looking for Zhigu’s weakness.
The ringing gong marked the opening of the competition. The number three warrior spared no effort to attack fiercely. His attack focused on nowhere else but the mask on Zhigu’s face.
After all, Zhigu was a warrior with a rich experience of fighting. He used offense as a defense all the way. But at the very moment when he was careless, the mask on his face was taken down by the number three warrior with one action. However, after seeing Zhigu’s face, the number three warrior felt a wave of nausea and threw up at the edge of the arena.
