Chapter 498: Destruction of the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom (Four)
“You’d best not lie to me.” Jian Chen’s eyes revealed an intimidating light as he glared at the eunuch.
The eunuch’s body trembled in his spot on the floor. His eyes revealed a terrified expression as he spoke, “This slave wouldn’t dare. This slave doesn’t dare!”
“Now then, where did the second prince run off too?” Jian Chen was convinced that the second prince had exaggerated the story to the king of the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom to make it sound more serious. Since his Changyang clan had been a victim to calamity because of the second prince, Jian Chen definitely wouldn’t let him go. Jian Chen already had a few problems with the second prince at the Gesun Kingdom’s palace.
“The second… the second prince… he left the palace two days ago. This servant heard from the king that the second prince may have been sent to the Sunset Kingdom.” The eunuch trembled with fear as he replied to Jian Chen.
“What!? The second prince has already left the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom?” Jian Chen’s eyebrows narrowed together. If the second prince had truly left the kingdom two days ago, then finding him would become more difficult than he initially thought.
“Ye-yes… This servant heard this from the king’s mouth. It shouldn’t… it shouldn’t be wrong.” The eunuch explained.
With his eyebrows still furrowed together in thought, Jian Chen had two soldiers from the Eastern Deity Swords take the eunuch away.
“The second prince is quite quick-witted. I didn’t think he would run away. Jian Chen, what will you do now?” Ming Dong asked. For him, there was only hatred in his heart for the second prince.
“I won’t let him get away, but there’s no need to rush. Wait until we ascertain the second prince’s whereabouts. We will think of the proper countermeasure then. Right now, we should stay here for a while; those who were trying to escape in the secret passageway will be soon brought here.” Jian Chen answered.
Right now, the entire palace of the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom was in turmoil. The king had already been captured and the palace was seized, but there were still countless imperial guards in there.
Although a good portion of the imperial guards had already surrendered, there were still a few loyal imperial guards that fought to their deaths in an attempt to resist. Battling against the Eastern Deity Swords, the battles could be heard throughout the palace.
How could these imperial guards be a match for the elite squadron of the Qinhuang Kingdom? Although the imperial guards were all at the Earth Saint Master level, the Eastern Deity Swords were all comprised of the same level as they and there were even more of them than the imperial guards. Despite the fierce resistance the imperial guards put up, they were still powerless, and were beaten into submission by the Eastern Deity Swords.
The imperial guards didn’t last for more than an hour before they were all defeated. Any of the last remaining resistance was soon weeded out with the Eastern Deity Swords only sustaining minor injuries.
After all of the resistance had been rooted out, the Eastern Deity Swords began to do a sweep across the palace. However, just like Jian Chen had commanded, they had captured most of the royal members of the kingdom and did not make things difficult for the maids and servants.
In this blanket sweep, the entire palace had its hidden cellars revealed and searched, revealing a good amount of nobles squirreled away. There was even a secret passageway where a group of Eastern Deity Swords were sent in to investigate. With all of them being Earth Saint Masters, they cautiously began to walk deep into the passageway.
In no time at all, they arrived at the end of the passageway where they managed to capture over a thousand people who were stuck due to the passageway caving in in front of them. Gathered in front of the palace, the prisoners were now awaiting the verdict of the Imperial Protector.
Within the center of the palace of the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom were about two thousand members of the royal family kneeling down in the open space. There were males and females, young and old, but they were all terrified to the point where their bodies trembled with fear. Everyone was afraid for their own lives and feared that they would die here. Such a fear like that caused many to start to cry.
That was because every noble and official of a dead kingdom would always be killed by the enemy without mercy on the Tian Yuan Continent. Even the imperial concubines and children were no exceptions. Only a small minority were allowed to live, that was the method of eliminating the roots to destroy the weed.
Surrounding the royal family of the kingdom, several hundred white-armored soldiers stood like stone statues. Forming a circular ring, they imprisoned the two thousand royal members within.
Jian Chen looked expressionlessly at the dense crowd of people who were kneeling on the ground. “Now, I will ask everyone a series of questions. The first one to answer, I will spare and let go.”
Hearing this, everyone’s eyes began to light up with hope. Their originally deathly still hearts began to rekindle with the flames of desire to live. Although Jian Chen looked extremely young and they had no idea who he was, they weren’t idiots. Their eyes were bright and sharp. When they saw the three generals standing behind Jian Chen, they knew the youth was their leader. His words were definitely worth their weight in gold. In front of so many people, just who would play a joke on a group of prisoners?
“How many princes does the king of the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom have?” Jian Chen gave out his first question.
“Three!”
“Three!”
“There’s three!”
……
As soon as Jian Chen asked his question, plenty of people frantically began to answer in a cacophony of sound. The answers were unanimous. With the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom at its end, they would rather save their own lives and throw away their loyalty to the kingdom to the farthest reaches of the earth.
Seeing the result exceed his expectations by a tremendous amount, Jian Chen couldn’t help but crack a satisfied smile. “Very good. Everyone is very cooperative. If things continue on like this, then I will be very happy and will allow everyone to go free.”
“My lord, is that true? If we answer everything, will you really let all of us go?” Someone from the crowd asked, trying to hide the hope in his voice.
Jian Chen displayed a warm expression on his face. However, in the eyes of the nobles of of the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom, his smile was the smile of a demon.
Jian Chen pointed to the group of people behind him, “Everyone can see this, right? If these people are not the nobles of the Gesun Kingdom, they are the generals of the Qinhuang Kingdom. In front of so many people, how would I make a promise that I would not comply with?”
Jian Chen’s words were like a tranquilizer for their fears. The authority of the nobles of the Gesun Kingdom wasn’t something they could have faith in so easily, but the generals of the Qinhuang Kingdom were different. The each of them were even higher in military strength than the king of the Gesun Kingdom. Even their authority was on a higher level than the king.
Right now with even the generals of the Qinhuang Kingdom standing behind the youth, it was very obvious that this youth’s status in the Qinhuang Kingdom was even higher than theirs.
Continuing to speak, Jian Chen said, “Naturally, there will be a small group of people that will have to remain behind.”
The meaning of Jian Chen’s instantly made each of the two thousand captives think to the immediate family of the king of the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom.
“By chance, are any of the princes still here?” Jian Chen asked.
“Yes! There is! He’s the eldest prince!”
“This is the third prince!”
……
As soon as Jian Chen finished asking, many people began to point out the third and eldest prince, causing the faces of the two princes to drain into a pale color.
“Bring them forth!” Jian Chen commanded. Straight away, several silver-armored soldiers wrestled the two figures the group had pointed out and brought them to Jian Chen.
Jian Chen’s eyes measured up the two princes in front of him. In an attempt to hide their identities, they had worn the clothes of a person of lower rank with countless of smudges on them. Their hair was dishevelled, making them seem more like the beggars on the streets rather than princes. Between the two, one youth looked to be nearing his thirties while the other was about twenty years old, an age that wasn’t too far away from Jian Chen.
Trembling in fright before Jian Chen, neither of the two princes dared stare at Jian Chen.
“Are you or are you not the third and eldest prince?” Jian Chen asked.
“Ye-yes!”
Both princes were men who were afraid of death and greedy for life instead of men who were proud and unyielding. Up against Jian Chen, they could only answer as they quaked in fear.
“Tell me, where is the second prince.” Jian Chen demanded.
“He went to the Sunset Kingdom.” The eldest prince didn’t hesitate to reveal the whereabouts of the second prince. Although he and the second prince were bound together by blood, they were not on the best of terms. There had been many secret clashes between them, so the eldest prince was eager to see the second prince die.
Jian Chen narrowed his eyes, “What is the second prince doing in the Sunset Kingdom?”
“I… I don’t know. Something like this… I’m afraid only my father would know the answer. If you wish to know… then… you must ask him.” The eldest prince swallowed as he pushed the burden onto the king.
Contemplating for a moment, Jian Chen spoke, “Take these two princes and investigate them thoroughly. As for this group, look through their Space Belts and Space Rings before letting them go.”
As the two princes were taken away, the two thousand remaining members were thoroughly searched. As a kingdom that was far wealthier than the Gesun Kingdom, the nobles of the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom had to have a terrifying sum of wealth if combined together.
Jian Chen hadn’t bothered to kill them and instead gave the two thousand people a way of escape. Having only confiscated a good portion of their wealth and letting them have more than enough to survive, Jian Chen held up his promise to let them all live and leave.
Now that the matter with the two thousand people was over, Jian Chen turned to the three generals, “Qin Wutian, have a group of people chase after the second prince in the Sunset Kingdom, you must capture him.” The second prince could be said to be the cause for this entire matter, so there was no way Jian Chen would let him go so easily.
“Yes! I will have some men go after him straight away!” Qin Wutian answered before leaving to dispatch a division of a hundred elite soldiers toward the Sunset Kingdom.
At that moment, a single silver-armored soldier came before Jian Chen and knelt down, “A report for the honored Imperial Protector, we have discovered the treasury of the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom!”
Jian Chen’s eyes lit up before waving his hand, “Lead the way!”