Chapter 70

The smell of blood, wet earth, and burning pine-tar torches filled the rain-soaked night.

Sui Yuanqing charged through the Yan Province army with Changning in his arms. Using the momentum of his horse, he swept through the battlefield, his spear sending soldiers flying one after another.

Blood splattered across Changning’s face. She had cried so much that her voice was nearly gone.

Sui Yuanqing’s own face was streaked with blood, yet he laughed wildly and arrogantly. He even found the leisure to tease her.

“Kid, if your father doesn’t have the guts to come save you, why don’t you stay at my Prince Changxin’s Manor from now on? My nephew likes you quite a bit. You could make a decent little maid for him…”

Bracing his spear, he lifted another Yan Province general off his horse.

Just as he was about to finish the man off, a long halberd suddenly thrust in from the side, knocking his spear aside before sweeping horizontally toward him.

Sui Yuanqing hurriedly blocked with the shaft of his spear, but the force still drove both him and his horse backward several paces before they managed to steady themselves.

He raised his eyes and met the gaze of the halberd’s owner.

A provocative smile curled his lips.

“I thought the Marquis’s noble personage wouldn’t show himself tonight.”

The fine drizzle had become a torrential downpour.

Standing amid the curtain of rain, Xie Zheng seemed almost carved from the storm itself.

Lightning split the black sky behind him into countless fragments. Water dripped steadily from his soaked cloak onto his horse’s back. His halberd rested diagonally behind him, blood still running from its blade.

His phoenix eyes regarded Sui Yuanqing coldly.

He did not answer.

Only then did Sui Yuanqing notice the blood on the halberd blade.

Glancing down at his own arm, he discovered a fresh wound there.

Rainwater soaked into the cut, and pain finally began to spread through it.

His brows furrowed.

What frightening speed.

Xie Zheng sneered.

“Bringing a child onto a battlefield as a hostage. The Heir Apparant Sui truly possesses remarkable courage.”

The sarcasm darkened Sui Yuanqing’s expression.

However, he had no intention of lingering.

Turning his horse, he immediately rode away with Changning.

The night’s slaughter had terrified Changning so thoroughly that she was still dazed. It was dark, and she had not recognized Xie Zheng at first.

But the moment she heard his voice, and as Sui Yuanqing carried her away, she suddenly burst into tears.

“Brother-in-law!”

Placed in front of the saddle, she desperately twisted around to look back despite her swollen, tear-filled eyes.

Sui Yuanqing pressed the nearly-falling child back down.

His expression suddenly became strange.

“What did you just call that man?”

Now that she had seen Xie Zheng, Changning’s courage returned.

Staring at the villain before her with tear-swollen eyes, she shouted fiercely,

“My brother-in-law won’t let you go!”

Sui Yuanqing looked as though he had seen a ghost.

“So you’re not his daughter at all?”

The moment Xie Zheng heard Changning’s cry, he had already urged his horse forward.

A deputy general who had just climbed to his feet hurriedly called out,

“Marquis, this may be a trap!”

Xie Zheng narrowed his eyes as he watched Sui Yuanqing retreat into the distance.

He selected only a handful of personal guards to accompany him.

“You will remain here. Do not follow.”

With that, he spurred his horse and gave chase.

The deputy general wanted to say more, but all he could see was the sharp arc of Xie Zheng’s black cloak whipping through the cold wind.

—

Arrows hissed through the darkness, skimming past Sui Yuanqing’s head.

Forced to duck low, he continuously evaded the relentless white-feathered arrows pursuing him.

The memory of being hunted through Qingping County resurfaced, instantly souring his mood.

Pressed flat against the horse’s back by his movements, Changning now knew someone was coming to rescue her and stubbornly did everything she could to oppose him.

She pulled his hair.

She bit the hand holding the reins.

Pain shot through the back of his hand.

Sui Yuanqing hissed sharply.

Using his other hand, he pinched both of Changning’s cheeks between his fingers, forcing her to release her bite.

“If you continue being ungrateful,” he threatened coldly, “I’ll throw you off this horse right now and let you be trampled to death.”

Her cheeks hurt from his grip.

Tears immediately welled in her eyes again.

Only after she quieted down did he release her.

As he guided his horse and the Chong Province cavalry in zigzag patterns to avoid the arrows behind them, he weighed something in his mind.

Since this little girl was not Xie Zheng’s daughter, was she really worth such a risk?

Their original plan had been simple.

Use the child as bait.

Lure Xie Zheng into an ambush.

Even if they couldn’t kill him, they would at least strip away a layer of skin.

The bait had turned out to be far lighter than expected.

Yet Xie Zheng had still taken it.

A growing sense of unease settled over Sui Yuanqing.

What had he overlooked?

Based on everything he knew about Xie Zheng, the man should never have acted so impulsively.

His father’s rebellion had not been conceived overnight.

The seeds had been planted years ago when the First Princess Consort died in the Eastern Palace fire.

Prince Changxin had believed that fire was the Emperor’s warning to him.

To protect himself, he had concealed his ambitions for over a decade.

And if they wanted to deal with Wei Yan, they first had to break the blade in Wei Yan’s hand.

Since Xie Zheng first rose to prominence, Prince Changxin had been grooming Sui Yuanqing specifically to defeat him.

Military strategy emphasized knowing both oneself and one’s enemy.

Everything Xie Zheng had studied, Sui Yuanqing studied as well.

Every battle Xie Zheng had won was repeatedly analyzed by his father’s strategists, searching for weaknesses and developing countermeasures.

After years of imitating everything Xie Zheng had done, there were times when Sui Yuanqing felt he had become nothing more than Xie Zheng’s shadow.

Aside from Xie Zheng himself, no one in the world understood him better.

If the child had been born of that woman and Xie Zheng, then perhaps Xie Zheng might have taken such a risk.

But merely that woman’s younger sister?

For men like them, she was hardly worth gambling the lives of countless soldiers.

Could it be…

Had he actually overestimated Xie Zheng?

Lost in thought, he failed to notice danger approaching.

Suddenly, his horse screamed.

An arrow had pierced its front leg.

Driven by momentum, the animal stumbled forward.

His expression changed.

One hand grabbing Changning and the other bracing his spear against the ground, Sui Yuanqing launched himself onto a nearby cavalryman’s horse, narrowly avoiding being thrown to the ground.

At that moment, Xie Zheng caught up.

He positioned his horse squarely in the middle of the road, blocking the path of Sui Yuanqing and his guards.

Holding the reins loosely in one hand and his halberd diagonally in the other, he looked at Sui Yuanqing with amusement.

“It seems the Heir Apparent Sui didn’t learn enough from last time.”

A thunderclap exploded overhead.

Lightning illuminated Xie Zheng’s sharply sculpted features while the endless darkness stretched behind him.

One man.

One horse.

Facing more than a dozen Chong Province riders.

Yet the pressure he exuded made it difficult for them even to breathe.

Sui Yuanqing nearly failed to suppress the anger in his eyes.

Fortunately, he regained his composure quickly.

“They say the Marquis’s horsemanship and archery are unmatched. Having the chance to experience them twice is my honor, isn’t it?”

The handful of personal cavalry who had accompanied Xie Zheng finally arrived, cutting off Sui Yuanqing’s retreat.

Yet Sui Yuanqing remained calm.

Tilting his head, he smiled.

“I always thought the Marquis wasn’t the sort to treat his soldiers’ lives lightly. Yet for the sake of rescuing this little girl, you’re willing to go this far.”

As he spoke, he casually stroked Changning’s rain-soaked hair as though petting some small animal.

The implication was obvious.

He was attempting to sow resentment among Xie Zheng’s followers.

Xie Zheng merely asked,

“Do you think this spring rain is heavy?”

The rain intensified further.

Large drops hammered the earth, creating countless tiny craters in the muddy ground.

At first, Sui Yuanqing didn’t understand the question.

Then realization struck.

His face instantly darkened.

Thinking about the fifty thousand troops besieging Lu City and their likely fate in the coming flood, veins bulged on his forehead.

Suppressing his fury, he pointed his spear at Xie Zheng.

“You knew all along this was a trap? The request for twenty thousand reinforcements from Ji Province was fake as well?”

Xie Zheng neither confirmed nor denied it.

Grinding his teeth, Sui Yuanqing stared at him.

A moment later, he suddenly burst into laughter.

“Fine. If we lose the Battle of Lu City, then we lose it. Capturing you would be far more satisfying than taking Lu City and marching directly into Ji Province.”

He grabbed Changning from the saddle.

A cold smile appeared on his face.

“The Marquis’s schemes are truly brilliant. I concede defeat. In that case, there’s no reason to keep this little girl alive.”

With that, he tossed Changning high into the air.

His spear immediately thrust upward after her.

Changning let out a terrified cry.

Xie Zheng’s eyes turned icy.

His halberd swept aside the spear.

Using the saddle for leverage, he launched himself upward to catch Changning.

Sui Yuanqing seized the opportunity.

His spear thrust diagonally beneath Xie Zheng’s arm, piercing through the gap in his armor.

Without the protection of the breastplate, the spearhead drove into flesh.

Only when it struck bone did Sui Yuanqing feel resistance through the shaft.

Everything happened in an instant.

Still holding Changning with one arm, Xie Zheng spotted a personal guard approaching and immediately threw the child toward him.

At the same time, he slammed down on the spear shaft.

Using the dark-gold spearhead to pry open his own chest armor, he landed back on his horse and swept his halberd toward Sui Yuanqing.

Startled, Sui Yuanqing planted one hand on the saddle and vaulted into the air to evade the strike.

What he hadn’t expected was for Xie Zheng to use the halberd as support, launching himself upward and delivering a vicious side kick to his chest.

The moment the kick landed, Sui Yuanqing knew several ribs had broken.

Pain exploded through his chest.

A metallic taste filled his mouth.

Instinctively, he tried to rise.

But the blade of a halberd was already resting against his throat.

The rain fell too heavily.

The pain made his vision blur.

He could not clearly see Xie Zheng’s expression.

But he understood one thing perfectly.

He had lost.

And he had lost completely.

With their commander captured, the Chong Province cavalry no longer dared act recklessly.

Yan Province riders soon arrived and bound Sui Yuanqing securely.

Looking down at him, Xie Zheng said only,

“Take him back.”

Sui Yuanqing’s personal guards could only watch helplessly as he was dragged away.

None dared move.

One of them eventually found an opening, mounted a horse, and galloped back to report the news.

Xie Zheng turned to several of his personal riders.

“Proceed immediately to First-Line Gorge.”

Originally, he had worried about luring Prince Changxin’s forces into the gorge.

But now that Sui Yuanqing had been captured alive, he was a far more effective bait than Xie Zheng himself could ever be.

The group began riding back.

Seated atop his horse, Xie Zheng’s posture remained perfectly straight.

Yet his lips had grown noticeably pale.

Blood continuously seeped from beneath the sleeve of the arm holding his halberd.

Droplets slid across the back of his hand and dripped from the halberd’s blade.

Fortunately, the dark reddish-brown inner robe concealed the color of the blood.

The torrential rain also masked its scent.

None of his personal guards had noticed anything unusual.

Changning sat on a guard’s horse, utterly traumatized.

After finally recovering from her shock, she began sobbing again.

Between hiccupping cries, she alternated between calling out,

“Big Sister…”

and

“Brother-in-law…”

Xie Zheng glanced at her.

Thinking about the corpse-strewn battlefield they still had to cross on the journey back, he instructed the guard,

“Cover her eyes.”