A Contrived Fight to the Finish with Prince Lian
They had plenty of true abilities; however, they did not know which one the opposition wanted to see.
Xuan Tian Ming gave Bai Ze a look. Since he had made use of a guard to communicate, there was no need for him to personally engage in the discussion. Bai Ze understood his master very well and immediately shouted: “Lord Lian, what exactly is this so-called true ability?”
The two on the top of the wall spoke for a while before the guard said: “We heard that Da Shun’s ninth prince has an array named the heaven beheading array that is unrivaled in the world. We’ve heard that this array is made up of ten thousand soldiers and can take on 200 thousand soldiers. Is this true!”
Xuan Tian Ming laughed; however, he shook his head while laughing and personally replied: “The heaven beheading array is only stronger than you have described, not weaker; however, it remains to be seen if your Qian Zhou is worthy of seeing this array.”
Feng Yu Heng’s eyes lit up. The heaven beheading array, this was the first time that she had heard about Xuan Tian Ming having this sort of trick. She could not help but look over and cast an inquisitive gaze.
Xuan Tian Ming had been recognized 20 years prior as being a cold-faced king of hell. He was reserved but completely unreasonable. If he saw someone or something that he found to be an eyesore, he would swing his whip in that direction. But there were always exceptions. Ever since Xuan Tian Ming got to know Feng Yu Heng, it was Bai Ze that noticed the changes at first. Following that, the army could feel the love between the two. Later on, he simply stopped concealing it and doted on his wife until everyone knew about it. There was no information that was held back.
For example, when Feng Yu Heng cast her inquisitive gaze, Xuan Tian Ming’s right hand immediately patted her head and lovingly caressed it a few times before he said: “Husband originally felt that it was an insignificant matter, thus I did not tell beloved consort about it. If beloved consort wishes to know, husband will teach you all about it when we get back.”
All of the generals lowered their heads and grimaced, turning their backs to the situation.
Prince Lian rolled his eyes grandly. Damn, this scene was one that would arouse the indignation of both men and gods. Forget it… “Tell them that if they won’t show their array, we shall compete in archery! This prince wishes to compete with Ya Ya. If she wins, Luo City will be given to them. If she loses… just have Da Shun go back!”
The guard passed along the message and even copied Prince Lian’s tone. It was very vivid.
Feng Yu Heng and Xuan Tian Ming looked at each other. She then turned to look straight at Prince Lian. Pulling out her megaphone, she loudly said: “You can’t beat me.”
The person at the top of the wall did not move, nor were any words passed along. She, however, did not know that Prince Lian stood at the top of the wall while looking down at the people. The jealousy in his eyes nearly forming tears of blood. He said with difficulty: “That’s right! I can’t win because I don’t know how to shoot an arrow.”
The guard to his side wanted to offer some advice; however, Prine Lian had already received a longbow from behind. He struggled to keep it steady and tried a few times to draw the string but found that he could not draw it fully. “Give me a hand.” He said to the guard: “I can lose some of my bearing, but I can’t lose my influence. In any case, I need to shoot one arrow. Don’t let Da Shun look down on us.”
The guard took a step forward and stood in front of him, saying in a heavy voice: “Your Highness, you can shoot an arrow, but this subordinate will block the arrow that they shoot over.”
Prince Lian paused for a moment then pushed a couple times, hoping to get the guard out of the way. As a result, he could not move the guard. “Hah, get out of the way!” He made use of his stature, “Ya Ya won’t shoot at my head.”
“She is Da Shun’s imperial daughter Ji An!” The guard reminded him once more, “That is the enemy that Qian Zhou has fought against. The reason that they are standing down there is to get into Luo City and conquer Qian Zhou, turning this piece of land into a belonging of the Xuan family! Your Highness, please rethink it!”
“This prince has already thought it over many times!” Prince Lian did his best to pull the guard out of the way, “Get up, to make it big, you must not be overly cautious and indecisive. Even if an arrow hits, what of it? As long as she does not kill this prince, compared to the request that this prince wishes to make, it would still be worth it!”
Feng Yu Heng watched Prince Lian stumble stupidly while bringing the longbow to the top of the wall, and this sight caused her to frown. She could not help but quietly ask Xuan Tian Ming: “Does that woman know how to shoot an arrow?”
Xuan Tian Ming corrected her: “He’s a man.” He then looked up and said after a while: “It seems most likely that he does not.”
“He’s crazy.” Feng Yu Heng helplessly insulted Prince Lian. Putting away the megaphone, she reached out and received a bow from a soldier behind her. “Since he wants to die, this imperial daughter will wake him up a little and allow him to lose sincerely.”
Once this was said, the bowstring moved. Without waiting for them to react, the tracking shot was shot forward. The arrow soared straight forward toward the city wall. The figure in red at the top of the wall was bumbling about. When he finally managed to draw and loose the arrow, the arrow went straight down. His archery was extremely shabby. There was no need to talk about distance. Just being able to make sure that it went forward was already enough.
Da Shun’s soldiers could not hold back their laughter. This was a prince of Qian Zhou? This was too much worse, right? They were both princes, but how could the gap be so large?
Atop the wall, the guard was already extremely nervous. He watched the arrow shot by Feng Yu Heng fly straight toward Prince Lian, yet his master still did not allow him to block it. He just stood there on his own to receive the wind and arrow. He looked quite free of worry and looked to be deserving of a spanking.
But in truth, this guy was also very nervous. Just because he had not seen a pig run, did this mean he had never eaten a pig? Feng Yu Heng had shot a tracking arrow. Should he dodge? Where would he dodge? Wherever he dodged, he would be chased. Right now, he was just gambling on Feng Yu Heng’s arrow not targetting something vital and would leave him alive.
The long arrow soared through the air. It looked slow, but it was actually as fast as lightning. It was so fast that it caused people to feel suffocated. Prince Lian took a deep breath and watched the arrow fly toward his head. In an instant, all of the hairs on his body stood on end. Having grown up in this world of ice and cold, this was the first time that he actually felt a chill.
Whoosh!
The fast arrow brushed past his scalp and scattered the long hair that he had tied up. The arrow then firmly pierced itself into the wall behind them.
The guard let out a sigh of relief and quickly went forward to support Prince Lian, quietly asking: “Master, you weren’t given a fright, right?”
Prince Lian shook his head but still wiped away some sweat from his brow. The sweat had already become ice, sticking to his forehead. “Look, this prince said it. Ya Ya would not shoot at this prince’s head, yet you wouldn’t believe it.” While saying this, he began waving his wide red sleeves, loudly calling out: “Ya Ya! Luo City welcomes you!”
He used all of his strength for this shout, and it ended with his voice cracking. Feng Yu Heng heard it clearly; however, she was extremely speechless towards Prince Lian’s words. Luo City welcomes you, but why did he not add: “As the heaven and earth have been split apart for you”?
Very quickly, Luo City’s gates were slowly opened from the inside. Booming sounds shook the air. Even the wind and snow gave way when the gates were being opened. When the city gates were pushed open, a trace of dirt could be seen through the thick snow.
Xuan Tian Ming stood outside the city and watched for a while. Only when the city’s gates were completely opened did he wave his hand and lead the army inside.
With soldiers from Qian Zhou lining the way on both sides outside the city, not a single weapon could be seen in their hands. In fact, they were not even wearing their heavy armor. Feng Yu Heng felt that this was strange; however, Xuan Tian Ming said: “It seems that Prince Lian had no intention of fighting this battle.”
“Then why bother with a damn archery contest.” When Feng Yu Heng thought of Prince Lian, she felt conflicted. She was clearly a beautiful person, but the result was that it was a man. This was too much of a waste of her feelings.
She walked while looking up. She just saw a figure in red clothes run down from the city wall at an extremely high speed. She trembled and subconsciously moved her horse closer to Xuan Tian Ming’s side.
Very quickly, Prince Lian rushed down from the top of the city’s wall. He then spread his arms and rushed toward the army. While rushing over, he shouted: “Ya Ya! You’ve finally come!”
Along the horizon, a figure suddenly appeared through the wind and snow, stopping Prince Lian. Prince Lian glared and found that it was Ban Zou. He immediately lost it, “Are you crazy! A lowly hidden guard dares to stop this great one?”
Ban Zou snorted coldly: “Our master isn’t someone that can be hugged by just anyone.” Although he had also been cunning in critical junctures, others could not do it. “If you take another step forward, do you believe that his Highness’ whip will cut your cheeks up?”
Upon hearing that his cheeks would be cut up, Prince Lian was given a fright. He quickly lowered his arms but still said unhappily: “I’ve held her and hugged her before. Why is it that I can’t do it now?” While saying this, she pointed at Feng Yu Heng: “She even felt this great one’s face! Now that this great one has given you a city, is a hug to express some feelings not allowed?”
“That was before.” Ban Zou rolled his eyes, “You used a means to deceive my master, yet you still have the nerve to bring it up?”
Prince Lian realized that he had suffered a loss. Feeling unreconciled, he moved a couple steps to the side, “Forget it, just quickly get in the city.”
Ban Zou stood at his side and did not say anything; however, he stared fixedly at him. Xuan Tian Ming, however, acted as though he did not hear Prince Lian, leading the army into the city.
When passing by Prince Lian’s side, Feng Yu Heng laughed and said: “Your Highness Prince Lian, this city was not gifted by you to us. It was won from you in an archery contest.”
Prince Lian angrily stomped his feet, “I was giving you a way down. Do you understand? Have you ever heard of a city being won like this? Unless the person guarding the city was insane!”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “But of course! You really are insane!” She then held back her laughter and followed behind Xuan Tian Ming to leave.
Prince Lian had a bitter expression and asked Ban Zou: “Was what this prince just said rather boorish?”
Ban Zou nodded, “It wasn’t just boorish. It was outright stupid.”
“Tsk!” Prince Lian rolled his eyes and chased after Feng Yu Heng’s horse. While running, he shouted: “Ya Ya, slow down. This prince will lead the way to the temporary imperial residence. This prince’s temporary imperial palace is really beautiful!”
Half of the army remained outside of the city and half set up camp inside the city. Xuan Tian Ming and Feng Yu Heng were invited by Prince Lian to the so-called temporary imperial residence. Following behind them were Bai Ze, Ban Zou and a group of guards.
Aside from Duan Mu An Guo’s Winter Palace, this was the first time that Feng Yu Heng had entered a proper palace after entering the North. At this moment, she was like a country bumpkin that had just entered the city. She looked all over, feeling that everything was fresh. This rush caused her to forget about how Prince Lian had deceived her into thinking that he was a woman. Grabbing hold of the person in the red clothes, she smiled and asked: “Was this temporary residence built using quartz? How much quartz must there be! Take a look, all of the pillars and walls, why is it all quartz? Does Qian Zhou produce quartz? Hah! Can we negotiate? Are there any quartz mines that have not been mined? How about giving me a portion?” Before waiting for Prince Lian to speak, she immediately said: “If you agree, I will go ahead and provide you with a grand favor. How about it?”