With his hands tied up behind his back, Leng Changxi remained so calm that people couldn’t help bearing scruples. He looked up at Sima Ray and said, “You can kill your friends, brothers and soldiers at will. But I can’t. I care for my men.”
When Sima Ray didn’t figure out what he meant, Shi Ruisheng suddenly took out a sword that was tied to his waist. He wielded the sword to cut off the rope that tied Leng Changxi, and the latter was free at once.
“General, take it.” Leng Changxi didn’t take any weapon with him. And right because of this, Sima Ray wasn’t fully on the alert. But at this time, Zhuge Qingtian shouted and directly threw the black-iron spear at him. Zhuge Qingtian had very strong arms so that the spear directly stabbed into the battlement after flying several hundred meters.
“Shi Ruisheng, how dare you disobey me?” Sima Ray always thought Shi Ruisheng was his loyal pawn. But unexpectedly, he should betray him at this crucial time.
“Shi Ruisheng is a good name. But you can call me Su Chenghai.” Shi Ruisheng replied and took a look at Sima Ray with a smile.
“Su Chenghai? Su Rian’s son? He died in a remote mountain village in East Qin long ago when he followed Leng Changxi to fight there.” Looking at Shi Ruisheng, Sima Ray was on the alert. He didn’t expect that Shi Ruisheng would betray him at this crucial time. Was Shi Ruisheng really going against him or just pretending to do so? He didn’t get the answer until he saw who Shi Ruisheng would wield his sword to.
“Today, it’s time for us to get even and for you to get the punishment you deserve,” Shi Ruisheng wielded his sword twice, and Leng Changxi followed. Sima Ray was forced to step back. He moved to dodge the first attack of Shi Ruisheng.
Sima Ray, who was skilled in martial arts in the first place, had acquired Yu Haitang’s inner Qi, so he became more powerful.
He turned around to randomly pick a flagpole on the battlement and cut it off with his hand. At once, the pole had a sharp spike. Sima Ray threw the pole to Shi Ruisheng who skidded. Leng Changxi stood too far to help Shi Ruisheng, although he had his spear in his hand now.
Right at this time, someone behind Shi Ruisheng said in a deep voice.
“Why do you always aim at a young man? Mr. Yu, come and fight with me if you dare,” the man said and directly cut off Sima Ray’s pole with his Crescent Blade. The sharp bamboo spike pierced deep into a pillar several centimeters away from Shi Ruisheng. Then, Leng Zhongxiao, namely Prince Ning who was in armor, landed gently. For him, the 40-kg Crescent Blade was just a light toy, and he easily wielded the blade at will.
“Your Highness, you should still go out to fight at 50. Respect,” Sima Ray said when looking at Leng Zhongxiao. The corner of his mouth lifted a bit to show his disdain. Leng Zhongxiao was indeed invincible on the battlefield before. But now 20 years had passed. Getting old, he was less strong and sensitive, so he was not as skilled as before.
“Mr. Yu, you are over 90, but you haven’t stopped fighting on the battlefield. How dare I, a younger man, stop fighting first?” He meant that the body Sima Ray stayed in after all was 90 now, although he looked younger and younger and became much more skilled. It went against the natural law to integrate one’s soul with another person’s body. It would definitely do some harm.
Shi Ruisheng, Leng Changxi and Leng Zhongxiao stood in different positions to attack Sima Ray together as if they had planned before.
Qin Yunuan, who stood in the opposite camp, looked at them in the distance. She squinted and murmured, “It’s Spring Equinox today when day and night are of equal length. Yin and Yang have to achieve harmony. Shi Ruisheng, Leng Changxi and father stand in three Yang positions respectively, while Sima Ray is forced to stay in a Yin position. But all martial arts he learned by himself and absorbed from others are Yang-natured. Once, he fails to strike a balance between Yin and Yang, ho…”
It seemed that Sima Ray figured out what situation he was in. He turned around. But once he tended to change a position, the other three followed too.
Guards down were held up by those royal members and servants Prince Fu took here, so they couldn’t go upstairs to help Sima Ray. Sima Ray gritted his teeth and directly lit up the last three signal flares.
Seeing that, Prince Fu looked back and said to soldiers who he kept in his mansion, “Everyone, in three groups. You head to the western, southern and northern paths respectively to stop them from lighting the fire.”
Sima Ray saw Prince Fu’s soldiers scattered away soon, and he said to Leng Changxi with his head tilted, “Leng Changxi, fight with me alone if you dare. Now, you three are fighting with me. Even if you win, I’m afraid it is inglorious.”
“Who cares about that at such an urgent time? Moreover, you have absorbed many people’s martial arts. So we can say that we’re actually fighting with many people rather than you alone.” Leng Changxi’s black-iron spear was shining. So were his eyes. The cold light in his eyes was so dazzling as if it could hurt people.
All at once, the fight started.
Sima Ray in white armor held the soft sword on the wall. Leng Changxi in silver armor embroidered with golden silk chased after him while Shi Ruisheng in green and Prince Ning in black attacked Sima Ray from two sides. Shi Ruisheng, Prince Ning and Leng Changxi were all skilled in martial arts, but Sima Ray still could fend off the blows at ease. It meant he had very strong inner Qi now.
Right when they were fighting fiercely on the wall, a scout suddenly climbed upstairs and risked his life to shout at Sima Ray, “General, something goes wrong. His Majesty is missing.”
“What?” Sima Ray couldn’t let his guard down when fighting with the other three. He spared some energy to ask that scout, “He’s missing? Have you searched him in the palace?”
“Yes, but he’s not there.”
“Impossible,” Sima Ray said angrily and directly stabbed the long sword in his hand into the pillar nearby. Instantly, an arm-long crack appeared on the pillar whose perimeter was as long as two people’s arms. Taking a look at Leng Changxi, Sima Ray tended to pull his sword out and left, even if the other three were attacking him together now. But Leng Changxi stopped him.
“Your Royal Highness, the fight isn’t over yet.”
“Leng Changxi, I’ve told you we can fight alone if you dare. Besides, do you think merely you three can stop me? I have more than 200,000 soldiers in this large city. Aren’t you fighting in vain?” Sima Ray said plausibly, but in fact, his voice was shaking. Obviously, he was in fear.
The emperor took a kind of chronic poison. With the help of perfume that he always used, the poison could gradually invade his blood vessels and organs, leading to sore and weak muscles. Then, he would become like a paralyzed person. Even if he was cured later, he couldn’t walk like normal people until several months later.
So apparently, someone took away the emperor. Sima Ray turned his head and took a look at Leng Changxi. He only hoped that it wasn’t Leng Changxi who did that. If it was, it meant that Leng Changxi had pawns in the palace.
Right when Sima Ray looked back, he heard someone scolded him in a serious and deep voice under the wall. “B*st*rd, get off. I’m still alive. How dare you start a revolt?”
Obviously, Sima Ray’s legs were shaking, but soon, he stopped and walked downstairs while lifting his armor hemline. He saw the emperor who looked ruddy and energetic scolding him. He looked at that “emperor” carefully.
“B*st*rd, you’re still not believing I’m alive? Why do you look at me like that?” The emperor was apparently unsatisfied with how Sima Ray looked now.
“Your Majesty, I’m afraid you have mistaken me for Prince Ray. I’m Yu Haitang,” Sima Ray said while cupping his hands. Although he lowered his head, he was glancing at that emperor.
“B*st*rd, do you think I can’t recognize you after you live in another person’s body?” The emperor was clear-minded. “I’ve accompanied you since you were born. How will I not recognize your gesture and behavior? How will I not know what ruses you are planning? B*st*rd, stop fighting now, or I won’t show mercy even if I’m your father.”
The emperor sounded so plausible, but Sima Ray didn’t care. He raised his head slowly and said, “If so, father, I think you’d better show no mercy.” Then, he directly took out the sword of a guard nearby and wielded it to the emperor.
The emperor dodged and got off from the chair. Leng Changxi fended the sword with his spear in time. He raised his eyebrows and said to Sima Ray, “Your Royal Highness, are you in revolt now?”
“I already did it long ago,” Sima Ray said to the agile emperor. “And this sham has no right to scold me. I drugged father with the short life powder all the time. It is virulent and can paralyze his nerves. He can’t be cured unless the antidote is made of the blood of people having a rare blood type. To prevent you from finding such people to cure him, I already ordered people to kill them all. Even if some survived, it still takes several months for father to fully recover. How could he get well so quickly? Leng Changxi! Who’s the idiot that disguises himself as my father?”
Looking at Sima Ray, Leng Changxi didn’t say anything. Then, a deep and majestic voice broke the strange silence.
“Sima Ray, you finally admit that you are drugging me all the time.”
Hearing the same voice twice, Sima Ray looked back in terror. He saw people pushing out a man in the wheelchair who looked exactly like his father. The first “emperor” who was agile put his hand somewhere near his ear and took off the human-skin mask. That thin and small “emperor” was Qin Yunuan.
“Sima Ray, surrender now,” Leng Changxi said to Sima Ray.
But Sima Ray clearly had lost his head and only thought about fighting with them now. “Surrender? Why? I have 200,000 soldiers in the city. Leng Changxi, now that you are here, I won’t let you leave here alive. Come on, let’s burn the city down together. I will drag you all together down to the hell if I can’t survive.”
