Support the scholar!
The moment Jun Beiyue moved, Ziqing followed close behind, and everyone else followed suit—another massive slaughter began.
Whether it was the Medicine Clan head, the old Beast Clan elder, or Elder Sheng, all three were terrified by Da Zhou’s army pressing forward with such relentless momentum, unable to even guess how many troops they must have to dare pursue them all the way into Nanzhao’s own territory!
Faced with such a fierce assault, all three elders fled south in a panic. Soon, Jun Beiyue and his group crossed Nanzhao’s northern gate, officially setting foot on Nanzhao soil.
Sure enough, in war, morale could sometimes matter even more than sheer numbers.
Though Prince Nanzhao’s Beast Clan army had suffered roughly fifty percent casualties, the remaining half was still more than enough to handle Jun Beiyue’s forces—this was Nanzhao’s greatest advantage: sheer troop numbers.
Unfortunately, Elder Sheng and the others simply weren’t cut out for military command. Frightened by Jun Beiyue’s mix of feints and real attacks, all they could think of was fleeing to save their lives, completely forgetting they still had the option to counterattack.
The three elders fled at the very front of the beast army, while Jun Beiyue and his group pursued them from the rear—and among them, it was Baili Weisheng, the “scholar,” who proved the most ferocious of all.
Because he charged in the very front, even ahead of Jun Beiyue himself, both daggers slashing wildly, his eyes bloodshot with fury, as if he simply couldn’t tolerate anyone wronging him and was determined to have his revenge!
Jun Beiyue had never expected Baili Weisheng to become the vanguard of their entire army, but he had to admit—this vanguard was performing his role admirably.
In a certain sense, simply having broken through into Nanzhao’s territory was already a victory, and Baili Weisheng was absolutely the man of the hour.
This pursuit lasted an entire day and night before Elder Sheng and the others finally managed to cross a great river, cutting down the bridge behind them, and the intense fighting gradually came to a halt.
With their masters having fled, what fighting power did the beasts have left? Naturally, they fled right along with their masters.
“A mere river—you think this can stop me?”
Baili Weisheng stood at the very front, gazing coldly at the panting beasts on the opposite bank.
Unaware that behind him, Ziqing and the others had already stopped in their tracks, their faces filled with shock.
Perched high on the poison beasts’ backs, they looked into the distance and saw a dense black mass moving steadily toward them.
Too far away to make out numbers precisely, but one thing was certain—that was a massive beast army.
Nanzhao’s reinforcements had arrived!
Below, Baili Weisheng was about to jump into the river when Xiong Xiaobao urgently grabbed hold of him, “That’s enough, that’s enough! You can wake up now!”
“Let go!” Baili Weisheng, still lost in the bloodlust of battle, wasn’t the least bit lucid.
“Uncle Scholar, really…”
Before Xiong Xiaobao could finish, Baili Weisheng’s dagger swung backward at him. In that split-second flash of danger, fortunately, Jue Mingzi managed to knock Baili Weisheng unconscious just in time.
Xiong Xiaobao stared at the blade, now less than an inch from his own chest, frozen stiff in place, not daring to move at all. At that moment, Ziqing and Jun Beiyue landed as well.
Seeing this, Ziqing hurriedly pulled Xiong Xiaobao close, letting out a shaky breath of relief after the fact.
What had gotten into that damned scholar—had he lost all sense of friend from foe?
A complicated look flashed across Jue Mingzi’s eyes. He carried Baili Weisheng away first—after all, this was the front line, and having their vanguard collapse the moment fighting paused would only give the enemy something to laugh at.
Across the river, Nanzhao’s great army came to a halt as well—clearly aware that reinforcements had arrived, but using reinforcements to intimidate Jun Beiyue seemed unlikely to work; having already advanced into Nanzhao’s territory, why would Jun Beiyue withdraw now?
On the opposite bank, the terrified Medicine Clan elder had already disappeared entirely, leaving only Elder Sheng and the Beast Clan head standing on the shore, watching across in a state of shaken alarm.
Jun Beiyue too stood on the riverbank, gazing coldly across, taunting, “If you surrender now, this king might still consider it!”
“Prince Yao, young men should beware of arrogance and overconfidence. This old man speaks on behalf of our king: if Prince Yao and Consort Yao can put the matter of the isolated island behind you from this point forward, His Majesty will pursue this matter no further!”
This message, Elder Sheng had just received. He knew that within three days at most, all of Nanzhao’s forces would arrive in full. Prince Nanzhao had already made his decision: if Jun Beiyue was willing to compromise, then reconciliation was indeed possible; but if Jun Beiyue insisted on pursuing the matter of the isolated island further, then Nanzhao would commit its full military strength to the fight.
Seeing that Jun Beiyue didn’t respond immediately, a complicated look flashed across Elder Sheng’s eyes, and he called out again, louder, “Consort Yao, the dead are gone, and the past is past—what matters now is the present and the future. Heed this old man’s advice and let the matter of the isolated island go. I won’t hide it from you either—the Beast Clan’s and Medicine Clan’s reinforcements are about to arrive…”
Though Elder Sheng had already said quite a lot, he still avoided revealing exactly how many reinforcements were coming.
But Jun Beiyue and Ziqing were no fools—if Elder Sheng and the others dared linger by this riverbank, they surely had solid confidence backing them up.
First, the reinforcing forces surely weren’t small in number; second, the main army would likely arrive very soon.
Ziqing took in Elder Sheng’s words but didn’t respond immediately, instead murmuring quietly, “Jun Beiyue, is this meant as a threat, or as persuasion?”
“Is there a difference?” Jun Beiyue said with a smile, and Ziqing smiled too—the understanding between this couple was something no outsider could ever fully grasp.
Ziqing immediately stepped forward, calling out loudly in response, “Elder Sheng, please relay a message from this consort to your king: if the Nanzhao royal house is willing to publicly reveal the truth of the isolated island’s destruction to the entire realm, and personally apologize to the isolated island’s survivors before the public, this consort will consider negotiating peace!”
The moment Ziqing said this, Elder Sheng drew a sharp, cold breath—he never imagined that not only would Han Ziqing refuse to be intimidated, but she would actually turn around and propose such terms to Prince Nanzhao herself.
She was clearly demanding justice for the isolated island, clearly demanding the Nanzhao royal house publicly acknowledge its past wrongdoing, utterly destroying its prestige and dignity before the entire realm!
Ziqing glanced at Jun Beiyue, a flash of cunning crossing her eyes, then added, “Elder Sheng, for Baili Xiaosheng’s sake, I’ll offer you one more piece of advice: since we dared to chase you all the way here, we have nothing to fear. Nanzhao is welcome to send its entire military force against us!”
This statement of Ziqing’s sent another chill down Elder Sheng’s spine. What did she mean by this?
Could it be they still had some trump card up their sleeve they hadn’t yet played?
She wasn’t wrong, after all—for them to have pushed so deep into Nanzhao’s territory, they surely had some backing to rely on.
Elder Sheng couldn’t help but glance at the old Beast Clan elder, but though the old elder was far more experienced in the treachery of court politics, he knew absolutely nothing about the deceptions of the battlefield.
Intimidated by Ziqing’s words, the two men exchanged glances, both utterly unable to formulate a response.
In the end, Elder Sheng had no choice but to report back to Prince Nanzhao, and the two armies fell into a standoff.
That night, Ziqing and her group made camp on the spot. Of course, camping was one thing, but no one dared actually sleep—everyone knew perfectly well that what Ziqing had told Elder Sheng today was nothing more than a bluff; in truth, they had no trump card left at all.
“Their reinforcements are considerable—I’m afraid they’ve truly mobilized the entire nation’s forces,” Ziqing said seriously, her earlier bravado from the day now gone.
Yet Jun Beiyue merely smiled without a word, personally accepting a sealed dispatch from a guard—this was a secret letter from Lady Golden Jiaoren.
A Note to Readers:
Phew, two updates today—the cat’s been working hard! Both “Greedy for Wealth” and “Colored Glaze” have been revised and can now be viewed on the computer page. “Tyrant” still needs a bit more time, please be patient—it will be revised, not a single one will be left behind! This cat will keep doing her best! Mwah, you’re all the best!