Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

126. The Blooming Color of Blood

Translator: Flying Lines

When Xia Zhi saw that the main part of the army had already entered the area they were ambushing, his face revealed a cold smile.

He sent out the signal to attack, and his soldiers pushed down the boulders they prepared earlier.

The boulders rolled down the slope of the valley.

“Ambush!” Ju Liandao’s expression changed massively. At this time, most of the army had already entered the mountain, and there was no way to retreat. The boulders harmed many soldiers and horses, as well as destroying the army’s formation.

Ju Liandao’s vice-generals rapidly co-ordinated their soldiers. Yet, Xia Zhi hurriedly gave an order to fire the arrows.

The arrows fell like rain. The men and horses were swept off their feet, tumbling and howling. The wailing of the warhorses was like a desolate elegy. Fresh blood spilled everywhere, dyeing everything the most tragic and cruellest color.

“Where’s the crown prince?” Xia Zhi’s eyes searched several chariots, but he discovered that there wasn’t a young man with a golden pattern on his face. Also, because Ju Liandao had tens of thousands of soldiers. They couldn’t find the crown prince anywhere.

Xia Zhi tried to focus his gaze on the places that had the most soldiers. He thought Su Jie would definitely have a lot of soldiers protecting him. After all, the crown prince was only traveling with the army as a figurehead to boost morale. There hadn’t been any information saying that the crown prince knew martial arts.

“Attack!” Xia Zhi’s soldiers shouted as they rushed down the valley to fight with Ju Liandao’s soldiers.

Yet, Xia Zhi remained in the place where he waited for the ambush, his eyes searching non-stop through the soldiers for even a shadow of the crown prince.

The goal for this operation was to kill the crown prince. If the crown prince didn’t die, then the sacrifice of these three thousand elite soldiers would become meaningless.

No matter how many soldiers of Ju Liandao’s they killed, it didn’t hold a candle to the death of an immortal’s descendant.

Only with the death of the immortal’s descendant would the morale of Ju Liandao’s army suffer a huge blow. When the army’s morale was shattered, he would send people to stoke the flames of rebellion in the hearts of ambitious people, and State Yanling would fall into a deeper state of chaos.

At that time, Ju Liandao’s army would meet bigger obstacles, and no one would ever be able to reunite Yanling.

Xia Zhi couldn’t find Su Jie even after searching for a long while. Also, his three thousand elite soldiers were dying one by one rapidly as they all tried desperately to find the young man with the golden pattern.

Suddenly, a stray cry came from the mass of soldiers, “The immortal’s flower! The crown prince is here!”

After saying that, a few desolate cries rang out. The soldier who shouted the message was killed.

Finally, Xia Zhi saw Su Jie.

The young man wearing a suit of armor looked handsome and quiet. Under the corner of his right eye was a golden flower, which added a few degrees of elegance to him. The actions of the handsome youth were swift and forceful. Every movement brought forth blood.

The martial arts of this crown prince were quicker and more decisive than even the soldiers’. He gradually moved closer in the direction of the places where there were more elite soldiers. Each blow was full of killing intent, and his strikes were concise and decisive. There were no unnecessary actions, only bloody cruelty.

Xia Zhi’s first thought was: this crown prince was a fake.

How could the long-lost crown prince have such a high level of martial arts upon returning?

The crown prince was so powerful to the point where elite soldiers didn’t stand a chance against him?

Impossible——

Perhaps this was only the crown prince’s stand-in. The golden flower on his face could be faked.

Where was the real crown prince?

Xia Zhi’s mind was a little befuddled. He was not skilled in these kinds of things that required him to think, and so, it was hard for him to think properly at the moment.

However, at this point, he couldn’t care for much else. These thoughts flashed past Xia Zhi’s mind, and Xia Zhi rushed down the valley, using the quickest speed to head towards Su Jie.

Who cared whether the crown prince was a fake or not – Xia Zhi had to kill him.

He would rather wrongly kill a thousand people than letting one escape!

*

Right now, Su Jie was happily killing.

Su Jie hadn’t been able to find a chance to do anything these past few days. He would always be watching countless soldiers sacrifice themselves for him from the rear battlefield, yet all he could do was stand atop the war carriage. This kind of helplessness made Su Jie feel suffocated.

After they passed the village in the mountains, Su Jie got off the war carriage and walked together with the infantry.

The soldiers walking alongside Su Jie were extremely nervous. The immortal’s descendant was just walking beside them. These soldiers were excited like they received the immortal’s protection and blessings, but mostly, they were nervous.

Su Jie made a gesture to tell them to keep silent, showing that he wanted to walk quietly.

As for the chance to approach the crown prince, the infantry soldiers naturally wouldn’t reject it. And also, this was the crown prince’s orders, so they could only uphold it.

And thus, Su Jie mingled into the infantry.

Xiao Shengnian walked beside him.

Xiao Shengnian had never been to a battlefield. During this journey, watching the soldiers kill their enemies with Su Jie, Xiao Shengnian found it novel. He also experienced the cruelty and the destructive power of war.

In the brief battle before, Xiao Shengnian even personally killed quite a few of the enemy’s troops. After the rite of initiation of war, the prince, who had always been gentle, gained a few degrees of seriousness to his aura, as well as some passionate hot-bloodedness of the battle.

Now caught in the ambush, Xiao Shengnian naturally refused to fall behind as he saw that Su Jie started to fight himself. Also, he had never experienced this type of uninhibited close-quarter fighting before. Even though Xiao Shengnian’s martial arts were good, he wasn’t as used to blood as Su Jie was. At the start, he hadn’t adapted well to it, but he gradually got used to it. His body-count wasn’t as high as Su Jie’s.

Su Jie was particular about every strike of his being a killing blow, using the least amount of energy to kill the highest numbers of enemies. On the other hand, Xiao Shengnian was always better at the logistics of armies. After all, he very rarely had blood on his hands.

After fighting for a while, Xia Zhi reached Su Jie.

Xia Zhi fought the entire way. No matter who tried to obstruct him, he would use the quickest speed to finish his opponent off and then continue heading to where Su Jie was.

Xia Zhi was afraid that if he was too late, then Su Jie’s position would change, so he fought more desperately than usual. Also, although he was wearing an ordinary soldier’s armor, it was actually the strongest armor. On his journey there, there weren’t many obstacles.

Until he encountered Xiao Shengnian.

Although Xiao Shengnian killed very few people, he was strong.

Originally, Xia Zhi thought that the tall and handsome man in front of him wouldn’t be hard to deal with. However, with a flash of silver before his eyes, Xiao Shengnian dodged his attack and even returned a blow ferociously.

Xia Zhi froze for a moment. After exchanging a few blows with Xiao Shengnian, he knew that he was a formidable opponent.

Xia Zhi desperately wanted to shake Xiao Shengnain off his tail. After all, his aim was Su Jie. However, Xiao Shengnian adamantly refused to let Xia Zhi get what he wanted, and the two were locked in a stalemate, making Xia Zhi impatient.

As time passed, there was not much left of the three thousand elite soldiers. It was only a matter of time before they all died. One reason they could hold on for so long was that his elite soldiers were fighting recklessly without caring for their lives, whilst Ju Liandao’s soldiers didn’t want to die together with the enemy. Another reason was that the shower of arrows and the boulders had a very good effect, thus raising the morale of the elite troops.

However, the morale of Ju Liandao’s soldiers was even higher.

Someone yelled loudly, “His Highness has reached the very front! Everybody, kill!”

More and more soldiers yelled about their intentions to kill their enemies to protect the crown prince. In a flash, the elite soldiers’ momentum was the lesser of the two.

The corpses by Su Jie’s side grew and grew.

The weapon in his hand was like the life-reaping scythe, and his expression was as quiet and lonely as a mountain, yet his murderous aura was stronger than anyone else’s.

Countless soldiers died by his hands.

Fresh blood fell onto the young man’s armor. It was more eye-catching and vivid than the prettiest and most delicate flower in the world.

From the start to the end, the young man’s expression was cold.

He was like a god of war, releasing his radiance on this battlefield.

There was mournful wailing everywhere.