Chapter 79
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Chu Xie, now dressed plainly, took off the only cloak on him that was still of some value and gave it to Xu Chunmu. His figure appeared even more slender.
Jiang Yanchi’s pitch-black pupils were imprinted with the two figures. The sharply defined jaw lifted slightly, and a shadow cast beneath the eyebrow, the arrogance slowing exceptionally, as if he couldn’t see Xu Chunmu standing between them. He took two steps forward and called out indifferently, “Ah Xie?”
Chu Xie instinctively reached out, grabbing Xu Chunmu’s sleeve, wanting to urge him to leave. But the words choked in his throat.
The presence of Jiang Yanchi in front of him gave him a very bad feeling.
Chu Xie quickly assessed the situation in his mind, thinking about what methods he could use to escape.
Seeing Chu Xie’s eyes beginning to flicker again, Jiang Yanchi finally suppressed the last hint of cold and silent smile.
“Chu Xie.” Jiang Yanchi stopped, “I’ll say it one last time.”
“Come here.”
Swish—
A long arrow came through the air, and Xu Chunmu quickly intercepted it with swift hands. Jiang Yanchi angrily shouted, “Who shot that arrow…”
Before he could finish speaking, the sharp arrow, with a slight turn, headed straight for Jiang Yanchi’s neck, just a hair’s breadth away. With a gentle movement, it could pierce his throat.
Chu Xie hadn’t figured out a way yet, but Xu Chunmu had already broken the deadlock.
However, if he wanted to leave the city by holding Jiang Yanchi hostage, he would be torn to pieces if he failed.
“Xu Chunmu!”
Chu Xie exclaimed in astonishment, only then did he look around: they had already been surrounded.
It was Jiang Yanchi who spoke first, looking at the young Marquis Xu holding the arrow feathers in his hand, he coldly laughed, “What does Young Marquis Xu mean?”
“Your Majesty, spare him.”
There was no killing intent in Xu Chunmu’s eyes, his movements were very steady. He gave a low shout to the imperial guards behind Jiang Yanchi who were about to enter, “Get out!”
Jiang Yanchi snorted coldly, and then lifted his foot to take another step forward. Xu Chunmu couldn’t retract in time, and the arrowhead grazed his skin. He immediately took advantage of the opportunity, raised his hand, grabbed the sword hilt, and snapped it in half.
Then, with a swift motion, he wiped it towards Xu Chunmu’s neck.
Things happened in just a moment, and Chu Xie couldn’t keep up with their actions. He only saw Xu Chunmu seemingly retreat three steps and narrowly avoid the attack. The broken arrow turned and flew towards him, forcing Xu Chunmu to sidestep.
With nothing blocking the view in front of him, Chu Xie saw the cracks in his eyes, filled with deep restlessness.
His right hand was pulled forward, and he hadn’t even had time to exclaim when his whole person fell into a cold embrace.
At the same time, he heard the sound of unsheathed blades, the applause falling with the wind, and the numerous exclamations of the generals behind them: “Your Majesty!”
He smelled the familiar scent of sandalwood, felt the hand on his wrist with a strength that seemed to want to break it.
Lifting his head, he saw that Xu Chunmu had drawn a long sword from someone’s waist, pressing it against Jiang Yanchi’s shoulder.
And the hidden assassins finally showed up, their blades pointing directly at Young Marquis Xu.
The atmosphere froze once again.
“Ah Xie, didn’t you say that Xu Chunmu would never betray us?” Jiang Yanchi released his wrist, seemingly placing it casually on Chu Xie’s lower back, forcing him an inch away.
Turning around, the close cold light reflected in his consistently silent black eyes, murmuring, “Does this count as regicide?”
“Surname Xu, put down the blade in your hand!” Threats came from the doorway, and General Zhou approached with a long knife drawn, exuding a threatening air.
“It doesn’t count, certainly not.” Chu Xie forced a smile, clearly in a disadvantageous position now. “Your Majesty, please don’t misunderstand. Young Marquis Xu thought it was an assassin chasing him, that’s why he had to draw his sword. Now that he sees it’s Your Majesty, naturally…”
Continuously signaling to Xu Chunmu.
Drop the sword! Drop it now!
Chu Xie could only curse inwardly, almost stomping his foot in frustration. If only Xu Chunmu had a bit of insight. General Zhou had arrived, and as long as they kept the green mountains, there would be no shortage of firewood to burn.
Jiang Yanchi glanced at Chu Xie in his arms, then at Xu Chunmu holding a blade in front of him. For some unknown reason, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Pinching Chu Xie’s chin, forcing him to face forward, and then looking at General Zhou, he calmly ordered, “Kill him.”
General Zhou’s face changed, “Your Majesty…”
“Kill Xu Chunmu.”
The scene quickly descended into chaos. Chu Xie couldn’t discern who had the upper hand in those flashing blades. Xu Chunmu had been imprisoned for quite some time and was somewhat physically exhausted. Chu Xie was anxious, wanting to turn his head and say a few soft words.
But as soon as he moved, the hand holding his chin immediately tightened.
He was trapped in his embrace, immobile.
“Chu Xie, you’re quite capable.”
The voice was indifferent and hoarse; Chu Xie couldn’t see the little emperor’s expression, but the hand pinching him was as cold as ice.
“Your control over Yingtian Mansion is remarkable. Clearly, you haven’t set foot in the Ministry of War, but the simple act of changing the guard personnel wasted a great deal of my effort. You’ve lost your position, yet you can still command the young master of the Zhao family… Chu Xie, someone who doesn’t know better would think you’re the emperor.”
The hand pinching his chin had turned purple.
Chu Xie couldn’t speak for a moment.
“True.”
Jiang Yanchi lowered his head, smelling the faint scent of cypress in Chu Xie’s hair, mixed with a bitter medicinal smell.
“I was originally your puppet, right?”
“A puppet…. you used to protect your beloved.”
Several arrows whizzed through the air, piercing the ground and tearing through Xu Chunmu’s clothes, leaving traces of blood. Chu Xie’s face suddenly changed, and he struggled hard, shouting unclearly, “Stop!”
The struggling person inadvertently hit somewhere, causing the whole body to shrink in pain. Jiang Yanchi’s hand slightly loosened, then he heard a stern shout, “Zhou Wen! He is from the Xu family! You once served loyally under Changming Army, promoted to deputy general by Xu Chengjin—”
General Zhou tightened his grip on the blade handle, glancing at Chu Xie’s direction. His decisive movement paused for a moment.
“He defended the border for over a decade, willing to die on the battlefield and be wrapped in a horsehide, but he shouldn’t die under the bright and dark arrows of the capital!”
The raised blade once again paused in mid-air.
In that momentary flaw, Xu Chunmu gained a slight advantage. He retreated several steps, leaning against the wall, gripping the wound on his forearm. Turning his gaze towards Chu Xie.
“Heh.” Jiang Yanchi chuckled softly, completely letting go of him, not worrying about his escape. In the recent struggle, Chu Xie’s normally well-groomed hair was disheveled, a blush on his cheeks from being pinched. The usually dignified Chu Zhangyin now looked rather disheveled. His clothing was overly thin, and the cold wind threatened to dishevel it further.
Jiang Yanchi loosened the ties of his own cloak, seemingly intentional, and draped it slowly over Chu Xie.
A very gentle movement.
Hidden with fierceness and determination.
Then, taking slow steps forward, he reached out and pulled out the blade from the waist of the imperial guard. The blade reflected the dazzling sunlight, flashing across Chu Xie’s eyes.
In the blink of an eye, he personally took the blade, carrying a fierce determination, and thrust it towards Xu Chunmu.
“Your Majesty!” Zhou Wen exclaimed.
Xu Chunmu’s skills were honed through years of battles on the battlefield, even though his strength was depleted from being imprisoned, he still held his ground against Zhou Wen.
However, Jiang Yanchi was different. He was not really intending to assassinate the emperor.
He exercised some restraint.
But Jiang Yanchi dealt a deadly hand to him. Each thrust and stab aimed to kill, and the swordplay was elusive and hard to defend against.
Watching an arrow pierce through his shoulder blades, Xu Chunmu was forced to retreat several steps, pressing against a tree trunk. The dagger passed through his shoulder blades, deeply piercing into the wood, causing the remaining leaves on the tree to flutter down.
“Jiang Yanchi!” A sharp, angry shout came from behind, Chu Xie’s sharp and angry shout.
Withdrawing the sword, the scattered blood stained Jiang Yanchi’s pale-colored robe, and he unhesitatingly aimed the blade at Xu Chunmu’s heart.
“I’m begging you!”
The desperate scream was too piercing.
Surprisingly, it stopped the lethal sword in its tracks.
Drops of blood fell from the tip of the blade.
“I am nothing, nothing at all. You are the emperor, the sovereign of Great Wei!” Chu Xie was restrained by Zhou Wen, but he immediately knelt down in front of him. This disheveled and urgent appearance was unprecedented.
It was the first time Chu Xie kowtowed and bowed to himself, each thud hitting the heart heavily.
“Please, I beg you. I know you hate me. Kill me. I deceived you. He knows nothing!”
If it weren’t truly pushed to a desperate situation.
How could Chu Xie reveal such a panic-stricken and despairing side?
Jiang Yanchi looked at his blood-covered hands, then at the trembling person. The restlessness in his heart grew thicker, as if every breath was suffocating, and his blood and bones were ground to aching.
Dragging the sword towards Chu Xie, he squatted down, and when he wiped away the tears, the blood on his hands stained Chu Xie’s cheek.
Chu Xie smelled the bloody scent on him, and a twisting pain began in his chest.
Jiang Yanchi acted impulsively and recklessly, and Chu Xie was afraid that he might foolishly harm Xu Chunmu in a fit of rage. As if unafraid of the blood, Chu Xie eagerly grasped Jiang Yanchi’s hand, saying, “Your Majesty, it’s me. It’s me who shouldn’t have deceived you, who used you. I am bad, I was wrong, I’m sorry. You are right; I shouldn’t have provoked you. I—”
However, the young emperor handed the blade to Chu Xie, manipulating his hand, silently instructing him to grip the hilt.
Chu Xie didn’t understand his intentions.
Then, he was pulled up and pushed in front of Xu Chunmu.
Seeing Xu Chunmu bleeding profusely, Chu Xie panicked. He wanted to cover his wound, but as soon as his hand reached out, it was forcefully stopped. His injured left hand was squeezed, causing intense pain deep into the bone.
“Chu Xie.”
“Kill him.”
The indifferent tone sent chills down one’s spine, as if carrying a breeze with snow.
Chu Xie couldn’t believe his ears.
“What?”
Jiang Yanchi repeated, pointing at the person in front of him. “Kill him with your own hands.”
Chu Xie’s awareness slowly returned. He stiffly turned his head to look at the emperor who looked down on him. “Jiang Yanchi, you…”
“Kill him. I will consider this matter as if it never happened. Ah Xie, you are still my empress, and I will treat you as before.”
Seeing him in a daze, Jiang Yanchi squatted down, reached out to hold his hand, pointed at Xu Chunmu’s neck, and said, “Ah Xie, I’ll give you everything. How about it?”
The surprised gaze of Chu Xie stabbed at Jiang Yanchi’s heart. Clearly having the upper hand, but the young emperor looked like an injured beast, begging for mercy.
“Ah Xie, don’t like him, okay?”
Chu Xie’s face turned pale. “I never liked him in the first place!”
“Then kill him.”
Chu Xie trembled all over. In his more than a decade in this world, he had never felt so dizzy with anger.
A surge of breath churned in his chest, as if a bloody smell was rushing up his throat.
“Jiang Yanchi… Must you, must you do this…”
“Yes, I must.”
He thought Jiang Yanchi stopped just now because he was moved by his words, showing a moment of compassion.
But now, he had to kill Xu Chunmu with his own hands.
Wiping the blood off his face, Jiang Yanchi looked down at Chu Xie. “Take action. If I do it, he will die painfully.”
The smartest fox in the past was now forced into a dead end, powerless to resist.
Jiang Yanchi slightly narrowed his eyes. When he first learned of Xu Chunmu’s departure, he was shocked, angry, worried, and filled with resentment. He tried everything he could to stop him, to prevent his departure.
But all those complicated feelings were burned to ashes with a gentle word behind the closed door.
—-Xu Chunmu, you should know.
—-I manipulated the hearts of everyone, but I never deceived you.
Jiang Yanchi’s smile was gently cold. “Chu Xie, you’ve killed so many people. You surely know how to end a life, whether it’s the heart or the neck.”
Seeing that person’s beautiful face gradually turning as pale as paper, his expression was unprecedentedly fragile.
The young emperor’s voice became increasingly silent, lifting his eyes to look at Xu Chunmu as if he were indifferent to the world. “If you act now, he can still have a decent end.”
Seeing that he remained motionless, the young emperor cruelly lifted the corners of his mouth and whispered in his ear.
“Perhaps you haven’t heard of this, but it’s called ‘death by a thousand cuts.'”
Before the words settled, the scent of blood lingering in the surroundings struck his heart like a long whip. Chu Xie’s figure bent, unable to suppress the bloody sweetness rising in his throat.
By the time Jiang Yanchi noticed something was wrong, it was too late.
He sprayed a mouthful of blood on Jiang Yanchi’s clothes.
The world suddenly went black, and before passing out, he didn’t even have time to threaten the young emperor not to kill Xu Chunmu.
Xu Chunmu would be killed.
What’s the use of threats? Useless.
Jiang Yanchi was a madman, a complete madman.
***
“Xu Chunmu… is not the legitimate son of Xu Chengjin?”
Su Mingan looked at the letter in his hand, feeling that things were becoming more bizarre. Xu Chunmu held the military power of the Northern Border for ten years, yet he was just an illegitimate child.
Moreover, he was brought in from outside, raised under the knee of the Xu family, and didn’t even know who his biological mother was.
Wait.
Xu Chunmu was born in the thirteenth year of Yongan.
He assisted Emperor Xuanhe, defeated the three barbarians, destroyed the State of Yue, and caused the chaos of Yongan.
Su Mingan seemed to think of something.
That year was also the year when the Shen family was framed and massacred, the year Emperor Xuanhe feared them, and they were exterminated in a fire. The wife of General Shen, the first beauty of Da Wei, Princess Yunyi, was forced to commit suicide in a big fire.
The fire lasted for three days and three nights, burning down the entire Shen mansion.
Xu Yi originally served under Shen Qianan, just a small light chariot captain at that time.
After the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Changye in the twelfth year of Yongan, Xu Yi betrayed Shen Qianan, pushing him into an irreparable abyss.
The following year, Xu Chunmu was born.
The child was placed beside Xu Yi and treated as a treasure, personally raised and educated by him.
Xu Yi gave him the nickname Yuan An.
It meant being placed in a corner.
With outstanding military achievements and commanding three hundred thousand troops, why did Xu Chunmu choose to be placed in a corner?
As grandchildren, Xu Yi sent Xu Changling to the capital, but never let him come to the capital.
Why?
Xu Chunmu, a military genius, first went to the battlefield at the age of thirteen, taking advantage of the dangerous terrain of Langya Mountain to achieve a great victory over the Northern Xiongnu.
Such talent, where did it come from?
He had a stubborn and pure character, a disposition that wouldn’t turn back once a decision was made, just like someone from the past.
Su Mingan suddenly staggered and thought of an extremely absurd possibility.
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