Fu Yanyang felt he had been quite ruthless.
Sect Leader Xue’s ten fingers had been chopped down to less than half by the two of them. Yet far from closing the mountain gate, Sect Leader Xue hadn’t even shifted his bottom. He just sat cross-legged on the ground, his face twitching with pain but still refusing to yield unto death.
When Ye Qi emerged from the cave supporting himself against the wall and saw this bloody scene, even his heavy mood couldn’t help but waver—just now he had indeed mentioned chopping fingers, but that was merely an auxiliary method of intimidation. For martial artists, if you truly crippled them, who would still cooperate? Since death was inevitable anyway, it would be best to drag everyone down to hell together.
Zhou Qin was already desperately anxious. Seeing Ye Qi come out, she immediately stood up, “Sect Leader Xue refuses no matter what to reveal the mechanism for closing the mountain gate. Young Marquis, what should we do?”
Sect Leader Xue was soaked halfway through with cold sweat. When he looked at Ye Qi, the muscles at the corners of his eyes wouldn’t stop twitching, “No need to waste your efforts… If I truly help you close the mountain gate, would I still have a way to live?”
At this moment, a He family expert hurried forward, “Marquis, many of the Yulin Guards at the mountain gate have retreated, but other experts have arrived. They all wield ring-pommel swords—they seem to be from the Longxiang Army…”
The sky’s light was deep blue and dim.
When Ye Qi and the others rushed over, Changling was fighting intensely with a new wave of people. The He family experts could block ten Yulin Guards each, but facing the burly Longxiang Army with their rich assault experience, they were clearly struggling—even Changling, though the Muling Sword remained unstoppable as ever, with more and more soldiers surging in layer upon layer, there were always fish that slipped through the net and broke through. This “gate” was already showing signs of loosening.
Seeing this, Zhou Qin without another word grabbed her weapon and went to intercept. Fu Yanyang, holding Sect Leader Xue, didn’t dare advance and could only stare anxiously with wide eyes. Seventh Uncle blocked horizontally with his blade at Ye Qi’s side, finally converting his grief into focus on the current crisis, “Young Master, isn’t the Longxiang Army troops from Liangzhou? How could they come to Yuzhou?”
Ye Qi’s eyes turned slightly cold, “I was originally wondering—even if Shen Yao wanted to move against the martial arts conference, why would he dispatch the Yulin Guard? Wouldn’t he fear that weakening the imperial city’s garrison would give others an opportunity?”
Seventh Uncle said, “Young Master, I forgot to mention—this time His Majesty came to Yuzhou on an imperial expedition…”
Hearing this, Fu Yanyang turned his head in shock, “Imperial expedition? That shouldn’t be… Even if Yuzhou had an uprising, it’s far from requiring an imperial expedition…”
At this point, Ye Qi suddenly said, “Unless someone orchestrated it…”
Seventh Uncle deflected several flying crossbow bolts with one blade. Fu Yanyang exclaimed, “Orchestrated against His Majesty?”
“His Majesty must have known in advance that there would be treasonous acts in Xiaoyao Valley, but couldn’t learn the specific circumstances. He could only deploy troops in advance to lie in wait, only revealing the butcher’s blade once there was concrete movement.” Ye Qi’s mind spun rapidly, his tone becoming urgent, “But to have him personally venture into danger couldn’t possibly be just for eliminating rebels… Even Prince Liang’s Longxiang Army could ‘come from afar.’ It seems our Emperor intends to use this opportunity to consolidate his military power…”
Seventh Uncle was deflecting arrows in quite a fluster, momentarily overlooking Fu Yanyang standing beside him, “But hasn’t Prince Liang already colluded with Prime Minister Fu…”
Fu Yanyang’s entire body trembled.
“That’s right. Prince Liang and Prime Minister Fu are aligned, but Shen Yao doesn’t know… No wonder, no wonder such chaos has erupted in Xiaoyao Valley yet your elder brother hasn’t made a single move.” Ye Qi’s gaze deepened as he turned to Fu Yanyang, “No, it’s not that he hasn’t moved. I’m afraid all this disaster came from his hand.”
Fu Yanyang was so shocked he was momentarily at a loss for words, “Impossible. This is too far-fetched… The dramas at this conference came one after another. Even that Yan Kingdom prince appeared out of nowhere. How could these things… be calculated?”
Ye Qi said slowly, “What if Prime Minister Fu knew from the very beginning about Jing Can disguising himself as Lu Yazi?”
When Jing Wuwei died, Fu Yangui went to the border to gather the Jing family troops, yet conveniently allowed Jing Can to escape.
Thinking further, on that day searching for evidence in Yanling Town, the person who arranged for Yue Qingyi to wait at the Qian residence was also Fu Yangui. If that was so, then the Yan Kingdom evidence that should have been in his hands—how did it fall into Jing Can’s hands?
From this, it was clear he had deliberately “returned” the evidence to Jing Can’s hands.
Because that was bait.
Only by releasing this bait, then inadvertently letting it swim into Xiaoyao Valley, could he cast a long line to catch a big fish.
This entire deployment was flawless.
“So that’s it…” Ye Qi murmured, “So this is his ambition…”
Fu Yanyang didn’t understand, “If my elder brother truly wanted to do something, why would he let His Majesty use today’s events to consolidate military power?”
“Military power? Whose soldiers, whose power?” Ye Qi leaned on Seventh Uncle’s hand to maintain his standing posture, “Prime Minister Fu truly has divine powers to actually make Shen Yao do something so self-destructive…”
Fu Yanyang froze, “What do you mean self-destructive? Shifu, speak clearly. What exactly does my elder brother want to do?”
“Second Young Master Fu, have you still not figured it out?” Ye Qi closed his eyes and took a few gasping breaths, “This martial arts conference has over a thousand peerless experts. The Yulin Guard alone has absolutely no possibility of successfully suppressing them…”
“But isn’t there still the Longxiang…” Fu Yanyang’s voice came to an abrupt halt. He raised his head in disbelief.
“The Longxiang Army belongs to your elder brother.” Ye Qi suddenly turned around, gazing at the distant mountain peaks, “When the time comes, the Longxiang Army won’t even need to do anything. They only need to ‘fail in protecting their lord,’ and Shen Yao… will be finished.”
Outside Longmen Buddhist Temple, an elite force stood in strict formation at the gate.
Boiling water poured into a cup, and new tea leaves stretched out neatly. A wisp of white mist rose from the cup’s mouth.
Instantly, within the meditation room, candles flickered and tea fragrance filled the air elegantly.
Fu Yangui pushed a cup of tea before the temple’s abbot and smiled, “Mojiang Cloud Needle tea is most suitable for light sipping and slow tasting.”
The abbot had no intention of sipping lightly with him, only saying coldly, “I wonder how long the benefactor plans to confine our Longmen Temple?”
“Fu is merely here to view the mountain scenery. After intruding for two days, I’ll naturally leave.” Fu Yangui poured himself a cup of tea, “Please rest assured, Abbot. As long as before Fu departs, the people of your esteemed temple don’t act rashly, the entire temple can be kept safe.”
The abbot snorted coldly and left with a flick of his sleeves.
An attendant hurried into the meditation room, clasping his fists, “Reporting to Prime Minister, the Yulin Guard is still besieging Xiaoyao Valley. However, the martial artists from various sects are resisting to the death. Nearly half of the three thousand Yulin Guards have been casualties. Now the Longxiang Army has also deployed. If they can hold until dawn tomorrow, the prefectural armies from nearby provinces should arrive in time for reinforcement… Prince Liang sent someone to ask the Prime Minister when to act?”
Fu Yangui gently stirred the tea lid and asked, “Are Yanyang and the others still in the valley?”
The attendant said, “When we went in, we didn’t see Second Young Master. However, we heard that before the Yulin Guard attacked, His Majesty had already sent people to escort the martial students from Qingcheng Academy out. I think Second Young Master should be with them.”
“What about His Majesty?”
“Still at Fuyun Manor in Xiling. Outside the manor there are still three thousand Longxiang Army and three hundred of the Imperial Attendants’ men.”
Fu Yangui drank a few sips of tea and set it down, “Send a Longxiang Army deputy general to deliver a message to the manor. Say… that although the situation inside Xiaoyao Valley has basically been controlled, there are still some Western Xia experts who have successfully broken through and wish to leave Yuzhou’s borders. Request His Majesty to deploy additional troops to capture these fanatics in one sweep.”
The attendant understood and said, “Yes!”
Inside Fuyun Manor.
Hearing the news, Shen Yao suddenly rose from his chair, his eyes widening as he asked, “The Western Xia people escaped? Who escaped?”
The Longxiang Army deputy general knelt on the ground, “Wei Shaoxuan and Murong Fei have all escaped! Your Majesty, while they haven’t yet left Yuzhou, they must be intercepted in time. Otherwise, once they return to Western Xia…”
A flicker of hesitation crossed Shen Yao’s eyes, then he gritted his teeth, “Fine. Deploy another two thousand troops to pursue and capture them. If you cannot bring them back, bring me your heads!”
“Your subject obeys the decree!”
From daylight to night, the entire Xiaoyao Valley had fallen into a life-and-death struggle.
Outside the mountain gate, the Yulin Guard and Longxiang Army joined forces, yet still couldn’t break through after prolonged assault.
Luo Zhou remained guarding the stone chamber. Qu Yunzhen and Shujuan also joined the battle circle. After each wave of attacking soldiers was killed and repelled, they would soon persist relentlessly and swarm up again.
At the foot of the mountain gate, what they trod upon was no longer the stream, but layer upon layer of corpses.
After several hours of ceaseless slaughter without rest, let alone others—even Changling’s consciousness began to drift. If it were before, this level of military formation could be fought for three more days and nights as a matter of routine. But since her resurrection, her stamina was far inferior to before, not to mention the continuous true qi she had expended to save Changsheng.
Ye Qi couldn’t help wanting to go forward. However, just as he leaned forward, the heart-piercing pain in his extraordinary meridians and eight vessels forced him to stop.
Although to everyone else, within three zhang of the second Young Master Yue was the King of Hell’s killing field, he knew very clearly that even an immortal couldn’t possibly keep fighting endlessly like this. Moreover, even if Changling held Jiulian Mountain, another “Five Finger Mountain” still awaited her.
Thinking of this, Ye Qi almost couldn’t catch his breath. He bent slightly at the waist and spat out a mouthful of blood, bracing his hands on his knees to barely steady himself.
An inexplicable sense of dread rose in his heart.
He had thought that as long as they survived tonight, the escape route he’d laid out in advance would be enough to help her smoothly pass through the crisis. But Fu Yangui was clearly already in the Longmen area—this would be their greatest threat.
If he still had one or two more days of life left, he had full confidence to contend with him. But now… his time was up. What could he do for her?
He could almost foresee what would happen next—Shen Yao would be caught in schemes and unable to protect himself, either defeated or dead. Fu Yangui would turn the tide and clean up the aftermath… Then break in, and before the He family army arrived, everyone would fall into his hands.
Including Changling and Changsheng.
Yes, he wouldn’t harm her, but he would obtain her at any cost—obtain her person… obtain her heart.
Fu Yangui’s methods were always endless. He possessed extraordinary patience and perseverance beyond ordinary people. He could devise countless unheard-of tricks, mixing truth with falsehood, reality with deception, combined with his obsessive fixation on Changling and his overwhelming regret…
Even if he couldn’t have her, he would absolutely never let go.
Ye Qi raised his forehead, watching Changling wielding her sword in fierce battle in the night wind. Though she had reached the end of her strength, her eyes and sword intent showed not the slightest fatigue.
Was this the way of the strong?
Not born invincible, but no matter what circumstances one faced, as long as there remained a thread of hope, even if risking everything on one throw, still moving straight ahead without hesitation.
He had never known that liking someone could penetrate so deep into one’s bones.
Liking her to the point that… just one look, and his flesh and blood about to sink into death’s silence could “revive” in an instant, like a final burst of energy before death, coming alive from head to toe.
Ye Qi slowly straightened up. After just a pause, he headed toward the lake. Seeing him suddenly stride energetically, both Seventh Uncle and Fu Yanyang were startled. Seventh Uncle hurried to follow, “Young Master…”
“Summon the flying eagle.” Ye Qi said crisply, “I need to send a letter to Tao Feng.”
Seventh Uncle immediately blew a whistle. The flying eagle circling overhead soon landed on his shoulder. After writing the note according to Ye Qi’s dictation, his expression still held some doubt, “Since Mingyue Zhou is from Yan Kingdom, in this chaos he wouldn’t even have time to escape himself. Why would he bother with our life or death?”
Ye Qi pulled out a ring from his pocket—precisely the gold-inlaid ring that Changling had dropped at the Five Poisons Gate that day.
“Have Tao Feng give the ring to Mingyue Zhou. He’ll come.”
The stars and moon understood nothing of slaughter and strategizing, silently gazing at the long night.
Few of the He family experts remained. The Longxiang Army had somehow quietly retreated. The remaining Yulin Guards were exhausted. Just as they didn’t know whether to fight or retreat, they heard from behind a series of well-trained footsteps approaching.
Changling, Shujuan, and the others also heard this commotion. They gripped their weapons tightly, calmly evening out their breathing, quietly awaiting a new round of slaughter.
The people outside did charge in, but unexpectedly, their target was the Yulin Guard.
Changling’s heart was filled with uncertainty—at this critical juncture, who could the newcomers be?
The answer quickly surfaced. A ring-pommel sword flashed past, and in an instant, the heads of a dozen or so Yulin Guards attempting to flee were separated from their bodies.
When Mingyue Zhou broke into the valley, everyone was shocked.
How could it be the Yan Kingdom Crown Prince?
Changling was also stunned. Before she could ask, Mingyue Zhou passed by her side as if not seeing her, directly moved to seize Sect Leader Xue from Fu Yanyang’s hands, retreated several steps, and said quietly to Sect Leader Xue, “Sect Leader Xue, that day when you helped this prince enter the valley, you promised to guarantee our safe retreat. Now Xiaoyao Valley is surrounded. Your sect’s elders said you know other escape routes and entrusted this prince to rescue you.”
With a lifeline appearing out of nowhere, how could Sect Leader Xue not grasp it?
His entire body already ached beyond thought. He said without hesitation, “This seat naturally knows the secret passage out of the valley. As long as Your Highness rescues me…”
“Good. I hope Sect Leader Xue won’t break his word.” Mingyue Zhou retreated with Sect Leader Xue to the mountain gate under Tianhun and Tianpo’s protection. Before leaving, he said uneasily, “If we let them out, our tracks will be exposed…”
Sect Leader Xue nodded repeatedly. But with both hands crippled, he could only lean close to Mingyue Zhou’s ear and say extremely quietly, “Under the water at the right gate, there are pebbles arranged in the Big Dipper Tianshu formation. Move the stones to form the Tianquan formation. This is the method of opening and closing.”
Mingyue Zhou nodded. Suddenly he raised his voice and repeated once more, “Under the water at the right gate, there are pebbles arranged in the Big Dipper Tianshu formation. Move the stones to form the Tianquan formation!”
“You…” Sect Leader Xue glared furiously at Mingyue Zhou. Before he could finish cursing, the Soul-Hooking Blade swept across his neck.
At this moment, Mingyue Zhou’s hundred-plus troops had all entered the valley. Seventh Uncle’s eyes and hands were quick—he swept to the mountain gate and manipulated the stone formation underwater. With a rumbling sound, the mountain gate slowly closed.
Changling stared at the mountain gate in a daze for a long moment. When she came to her senses, her first reaction was to turn her head to look for Ye Qi’s figure.
She found him at a glance.
Ye Qi was also looking at her. When their gazes met, all the background around them was obliterated.
Seeing him still standing there alive, her eyes grew hot and she almost couldn’t hold the Muling Sword.
Changling staggered forward. Somehow, the strength that moments ago seemed capable of killing hundreds of enemies was now completely drained, making even walking a few steps extremely difficult.
Her mind was fixed on that Purple Gold Pill. She knew he couldn’t wait any longer, but this fellow always had so many self-righteous concerns, so this time no matter what, she would personally stuff it in his mouth.
Unfortunately, across a distance of ten steps, she only made it halfway before heaven and earth unexpectedly began spinning.
Changling bit her teeth to keep herself from fainting, but her body simply wouldn’t obey. She struggled to look at him once more, then everything went black and she knew nothing.
Seeing her fall, Ye Qi wanted to go forward to support her. However, as his body leaned forward, his feet went soft. He fell into the shallow water and just watched as she fell into Mingyue Zhou’s embrace.
Mingyue Zhou caught Changling and lifted her horizontally, delivering her to the shore in two or three steps, his expression anxious, “What’s wrong with her? Is she injured?”
Shujuan and Qu Yunzhen came forward to check her pulse. Shujuan said, “The second young master’s internal force is severely depleted. She fainted from exhaustion, but fortunately it doesn’t threaten her life. She should wake after resting one night.”
Only then did Mingyue Zhou breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing Ye Qi walking over supported by Seventh Uncle, he frowned, “What exactly is going on? How did you end up here? And those Yulin Guards—aren’t they all Eastern Xia people? Why would they try to kill you all?”
Ye Qi signaled Seventh Uncle to release him. He raised his sleeve in a bow and performed a proper courtesy, “He Yu thanks Third Prince for his life-saving grace. If not for Third Prince’s timely arrival, this mountain gate couldn’t have been closed today.”
Mingyue Zhou glanced at him, “Don’t. This rotten scheme was your idea. This prince doesn’t dare claim credit… But if this prince hadn’t come, you truly couldn’t have resolved the situation. When Miss Changling wakes, don’t compete with this prince for credit.”
Ye Qi smiled faintly, “Alright.”
Seeing him so restrained, Mingyue Zhou felt somewhat uncomfortable, “Fine. Young Marquis, you’re resourceful and calculating. No matter how chaotic it is outside, you can handle what comes next. I imagine the He family troops are already on their way?”
Ye Qi said, “If there are no accidents, they should arrive after dawn tomorrow.”
“That’s good. This prince rushed here tonight not for you, so Marquis need not express thanks.” Mingyue Zhou lowered his head to glance at Changling, standing up somewhat reluctantly, “You needn’t be smug. After this incident, I’m afraid you can’t stay in Eastern Xia either… Even if her reputation is high, it can’t withstand your Central Plains people’s treacherous hearts. If you can’t protect her completely, this prince can take her away at any time…”
Ye Qi said, “That would be fine. Then please, Prince, take Changling with you.”
Mingyue Zhou felt he must have misheard, “What did you say?”
“He Yu is about to leave the valley.” Ye Qi said slowly, “I asked the Prince to come here precisely to request that before reinforcements arrive, you protect Changling’s safety.”