Qi Shuo had long ago ordered people to thoroughly investigate Eli’s background.

Eli’s parents had died early, and he’d been taken in by Wuye to be raised. Though the two didn’t spend every moment together, their bond wasn’t comparable to ordinary uncles and nephews.

It could be said that Eli was the most suitable target.

Qi Shuo gripped his long blade tightly, either dodging or cutting down several Qi soldiers, quietly drawing close to Eli.

Eli was currently fighting with a Great Zhou vice general.

The vice general was at a disadvantage, his shoulder stained with blood, his face deathly pale, looking like he could collapse at any moment.

Eli’s eyes were full of viciousness.

This Zhou general had cut down one of his good friends during the last engagement between the two armies, then fled far away when he’d tried to pursue. Today they finally faced each other—he would strike this villain down beneath his horse and avenge his friend.

Seeing the Zhou general begin to retreat, Eli pursued without hesitation. Suddenly a long blade thrust out from the side, colliding with the blade he was swinging at the Zhou general.

The two blades clashed with a teeth-aching sound, though on this battlefield thundering with killing cries, it counted for nothing.

“It’s you?” Seeing that cold, frost-like handsome face, Eli first froze, then was greatly delighted.

At first they hadn’t known, but after many engagements, they’d recently learned that this young Zhou general was actually Prince Jing’s son. Capturing this man would be a great merit!

The thought of avenging his friend in Eli’s mind was immediately cast to the heavens. All his attention focused on Qi Shuo.

Qi Shuo didn’t answer, slashing his blade toward Eli’s neck.

This blade seemed to come quickly, yet was full of openings everywhere. Eli easily dodged it, his confidence in capturing Prince Jing’s Heir alive growing like wild grass.

Because of this, as the two exchanged blows, he didn’t notice they were gradually moving away from the center of the battlefield.

Qi Shuo’s peripheral vision caught that the arranged people were in position. His body swayed, selling an opening.

Eli’s eyes brightened as he pressed forward, slashing toward Qi Shuo’s shoulder.

Qi Shuo didn’t dodge.

More precisely, he didn’t completely dodge.

The blade cut through the soft armor and sank into flesh. The corners of Eli’s mouth split wide, his smile carrying several measures of savagery.

“Boy, surrender!”

Around them came the shocked cries of Great Zhou soldiers: “The Heir is injured!”

With Qi Shuo’s status, he was already receiving quite a bit of attention from the Northern Qi side. This shout immediately attracted the Northern Qi soldiers’ gazes. In an instant, soldiers from both sides knew that Prince Jing’s Heir was injured.

The vast majority of soldiers from both sides continued fighting, while a small portion rushed toward this area.

One side wanted to rescue, the other to claim the fruits of victory.

Before these people could arrive, Qi Shuo’s long blade flicked up, knocking away the blade that had cut into his shoulder.

The force in this instant was completely different from their earlier exchanges. Before the smile on Eli’s face could transform into surprise, he felt a great force arrive, his body being pulled toward Qi Shuo.

He did have real skill. The instant he was suddenly pulled over, he quickly reacted, his legs clamping tightly to the horse’s belly.

At this moment, as long as his warhorse turned and retreated, human strength would find it very difficult to prevent. Eli’s warhorse indeed began to react this way.

At this critical moment, from somewhere a long spear thrust out, stabbing viciously into the horse’s leg. The warhorse uncontrollably stumbled forward to its knees, throwing the person on its back forward.

This way, Qi Shuo didn’t expend much effort pulling Eli over. With a turn of his hand, he pressed him onto the horse’s back, turned around, and withdrew.

After a brief shock, many Northern Qi soldiers shouted and gave chase.

The soldiers who had been arranged in advance desperately blocked the surging enemy troops for a moment. The warhorse carrying two people shot out of the battlefield like a bolt of lightning, racing toward the city gate.

“Eli!” Seeing his nephew captured, General Wuye’s eyes nearly split as he let out a heart-rending roar.

Many Northern Qi soldiers had their minds thrown into chaos because of Eli’s sudden capture. When fighting with others, a single moment of carelessness meant mortal danger. Immediately, quite a few Qi soldiers were cut down by the Great Zhou soldiers they’d been entangled with.

“Chase them!” General Wuye spurred his horse into a mad gallop toward the city gate, but there were people all around—his own people and enemies—forming a swarming obstacle to pursuit. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as the steed carrying his nephew charged through the city gate and disappeared from sight.

According to the original plan, their side would withdraw once Qi Shuo succeeded. But battlefields were always changing in an instant, requiring decisions on the spot. Prince Jing saw that Wuye had lost his composure due to his nephew’s capture and immediately waved his hand, leading people to charge over, not letting this fleeting golden opportunity slip away.

As he charged, Prince Jing’s eyes were bloodshot, his heart tremendously excited.

If he could cut off Wuye’s dog head, his son wouldn’t need to take such risks!

With a sharp clang, Prince Jing’s customary long blade collided with Wuye’s large hammer.

Tremendous force arrived. The precious blade nearly slipped from his hands.

Seeing his nephew beyond rescue, Wuye vented all his fury on Prince Jing. After several hammer blows, every hair on Prince Jing’s body stood on end. He turned his horse’s head and ran.

The gong sound signaling withdrawal rang out. In the blink of an eye, the Great Zhou soldiers retreated cleanly, leaving behind a ground full of corpses on the battlefield where they’d engaged.

Remarkably, this time the corpses left behind were actually more from the Qi army, fewer from the Zhou army. Adding that Qi Shuo had captured Wuye’s nephew Eli alive, it could be considered a victory that made them hold their heads high.

But before the cheering could even sound, Qi Shuo tumbled from his horse’s back. He conveniently pulled Eli down as well, perfectly using him as a cushion.

“Heir!”

“This is bad—the Heir is injured!”

Cries of alarm rose one after another. Many people surrounded them, only to see Qi Shuo with his eyes tightly closed, face deathly pale, fresh blood having soaked through his silver armor. In contrast, Eli, who he’d landed on, wasn’t injured and was struggling to get up.

In this situation, even if Eli had heaven-reaching abilities, he couldn’t escape. He was quickly controlled by everyone, bound tightly and placed under guard.

Qi Shuo was also carried by people and sent into a commandeered mansion, with military physicians summoned to treat him.

Not knowing how much time had passed, he awoke to see Prince Jing keeping watch at his side.

“Father?”

Hearing this call, Prince Jing, who had been dozing, suddenly became fully awake, jumping up in delighted surprise: “Shuo’er, you’ve finally awakened!”

Qi Shuo’s gaze moved. Seeing there were no outsiders in the room, he smiled helplessly: “Why is Father so agitated?”

“You still have the nerve to ask!” Prince Jing slapped the bed board, anger coming from nowhere in particular. “Wasn’t it supposed to be pretending to be injured? How did you turn yourself into this sorry state?”

Heaven knew that when he’d fled back disheveled after being unable to withstand Wuye’s large hammer, seeing his son fall from his horse at first glance had scared his soul out of his body.

Faced with his old father’s accusations, Qi Shuo thought to himself that if he spoke of being truly injured, who knew how much persuasion it would take to push the plan forward. His face showed shame: “I made Father worry. That Eli—”

Prince Jing’s attention was immediately diverted: “Don’t worry. That boy has been locked in a secret cell. Even with wings, he can’t escape.”

“The news of my injury has also spread, hasn’t it?”

“It’s spread. Everything is developing according to plan.”

Only then did Qi Shuo reveal a truly relaxed smile. Then his gaze fell on Prince Jing’s arm: “Father is injured?”

“It’s all that old dog Wuye—his strength is actually greater than when he was young—” Seeing Qi Shuo frown, Prince Jing abruptly stopped speaking.

“Father didn’t retreat in time?”

Prince Jing hastily stood up: “Ah, I’ll go see if there’s hot porridge.”