The Attack of the Wastrel

Although the defence shield could help block external attacks, it had its weak points. When it breaks, it would reverse the attack on the people on the inside.

This attack was a small issue to Martial Artists, but to the common folk who did not have Spiritual Roots, it could be life-threatening.

The proportion of Martial Artists to common folk was sixty to forty percent. Although the common folk was in the minority, an entire city of common folk could not be overlooked. This was also the reason why Lan Yanqing made the decision to open the city gates and did not activate the shield to fight it out with Rong Yuan. He could not bear to see the people he had been trying to protect get hurt. But now, Ding Wei was attacking the shield in order to gain back control of Shixi County.

A portion of it was due to his anger at having the city snatched away from him. However, this also represented Ding Wei’s position – he did not think of the safety of the citizens in Shixi County as his responsibility!

Upon realizing this point, quite a few people within the city started to cry. As part of the common folk, they had no choice when it came to which side they wanted to be on. Unfortunately, when the shield breaks, the people that would suffer the most would be them.

“Your Highness…now, now what should we do? The defense shield will not be able to hold for long under their attacks.” Shi Yang felt his throat constrict as he saw the shield tremble repeatedly under the attacks. He could only pray that the shield was sturdy enough and he would not have to face Ding Wei’s fury.

“Rest assured, since I dared to enter the city, it means that I would not give it away easily.” Rong Yuan rubbed his Storage Ring in a calm manner.

He had just sent a message using the Communication Conch to Hua Qingcheng, instructing him to ask Zang Guangping to come to Shixi County with his army. With Hua Qingcheng’s intelligence he must be able to guess what was up. Now, all they needed to do was to wait for Zang Guangping’s men to surround them from behind.

On the other side, upon receiving Rong Yuan’s order, Hua Qingcheng increased his attacks on Pang Huan and Chu Chao.

Under the protection of the lotus, Hua Qingcheng was like a fish under water, weaving skillfully through the petals. Chu Chao’s domain was made of soil. This not only did not pose a problem to Hua Qingcheng but was in fact helpful. Pang Huan’s corrosive rain could only land on the outside of the gigantic lotus flower and did not do much harm to Hua Qingcheng.

As for the last Martial Sage that came from Shixi County, he had been injured near the start and had fainted outside the flower, completely disabled.

“Hua Qingcheng, if you are honorable then come and face me head to head. Stop being a sissy and hiding behind your flower petals!” Never having seen Hua Qingcheng face to face from the start of the fight, Chu Chao growled angrily. The feeling of not knowing where your opponent was was really horrible.

Hiding in a flower petal near Chu Chao, Hua Qingcheng chuckled as a mocking look appeared on his handsome face, “Aren’t I fighting you squarely? You haven’t forgotten that a Martial Artist’s domain is also part of his ability right?” If his domain’s abilities were weak, he could only blame himself for not realizing a higher level of techniques, how was it considered being sissy?

Chu Chao was rendered speechless by Hua Qingcheng and the anger in him grew even more, “What a shitty ability. A man’s domain yet it does not have any semblance of a man and it looks so sissy. What an embarrassment!”

Hua Qingcheng was not at all affected and replied, “Even such a sissy domain can trap you, you must be really manly then.”

“Sss—” Chu Chao felt like the rationality in him snapped and he could no longer hold back what he had wanted to shout from the beginning, “Gigolo! Get your ass out here now!”

He then waved his sword wildly, tearing the petal in front of him apart. It revealed a huge empty space. Hearing the commotion, Pang Huan secretly muttered to himself as he quickly called out a reminder, “Brother Chu, relax. Don’t fall for his tricks!”

Unfortunately, his reminder was too late. Hua Qingcheng had intentionally angered him just for his moment of rashness. With the last strike of Chu Chao out, it was too late to hold back, and Hua Qingcheng appeared from the petal behind him. The lotus flute struck out in a flash, directing a green spiritual energy to Chu Chao, causing his whole body to vibrate and fall forwards uncontrollably. Hua Qingcheng continued his attack, shooting repeated bolts of spiritual energy towards Chu Chao. It was too late for Chu Chao to block his attack and all he could do was create a shield made out of mud in front of him. Hua Qingcheng’s attack caused him to fly backwards, knocking through layers of flower petals before he could stabilize himself.

“Brother Chu, are you okay?” Pang Huan rushed out from another petal as he looked dumbstrucked at Chu Chao’s defeated self.

Hua Qingcheng was actually so strong?

He had thought that after Hua Qingcheng had been out of the scene for so many years, no matter how strong he was, he would definitely be much weaker than before. He never thought that he would be as strong as the rumors said he was. He was outnumbered against the three of them and was actually able to gain the upper hand. From the start until now, they had hardly even touched him.

Staring intently at Hua Qingcheng, Pang Huan said slowly, “Retreat!”

As he completed his sentence, he carried Chu Chao’s body and jumped. Identical to what he imagined, when he jumped, the flower petals that were trapping them in, moved to reveal a crack for him to go through. Using this crack, Pang Huan escaped. With his other free hand, he picked up the Martial Sage that was outside. He no longer wanted to fight as he rushed towards Shixi County.

After he left, Hua Qingcheng finally stepped out from the huge lotus. The lotus flower was glowing brightly and brilliantly as if it was from a painting. As he left, the lotus that had trapped the three Martial Sages for a few hours withered away seeming to have lost its soul, returning to nothing. Looking at the retreating backs of the three of them, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It was tough fighting three of them by himself. Keeping the three of them in there for so long pushed him to his limits. If Pang Huan did not retreat, in less than half an hour, his internal spiritual energy would not be able to hold the domain open any longer. He wondered if Rong Yuan would be pleased with his performance.

“…Please send reinforcements to help His Highness.”

“What? What did you say?” Soaking in Hua Qingcheng’s glory, Zang Guangping asked dumbly as he was pulled back to reality.

“I said…His Highness has already taken over Shixi County and is currently surrounded by Ding Wei. If you do not send reinforcements, I am afraid that Shixi County will be in Dajyin’s hands once again.” Hua Qingcheng summarized the situation Rong Yuan was in. A weird expression then appeared on Zang Guangping’s face.

“Did you say that His Highness has already gained control of Shixi County?”

Hua Qingcheng nodded.

“Did you say Ding Wei…the prince of the Dayin Kingdom is currently attacking Shixi County?”

Hua Qingcheng nodded once again.

In a moment, Zang Guangping’s entire being was in shock. Did he hear wrongly? How many hours had it been and they had already taken control of Shixi County? The attack and defense group had changed entirely. Hua Qingcheng was not joking right?

Seeing that he was in disbelief, Hua Qingcheng simply took out the Communication Conch that Gu Lingzhi gave him and replayed Rong Yuan’s message.

Hearing Rong Yuan’s message, Zang Guangping’s face changed from disbelief to utter shock. Looking at the sky, it has only been about two hours since Rong Yuan left. How could he have already taken control of Shixi County?

“This? This…” It was extremely hard for him to believe.

Hua Qingcheng looked at him unhappily, “If you do not hurry and follow his order, His Highness will be losing the city that he has taken control of.”

“How can that happen?” Zang Guangping gave a weird cry. He regained his composure and called out to his army who had yet to move, “Everyone, listen up! First and Third Division, stay behind to guard the city. Everyone else, follow me, we are going to provide reinforcements to Shixi County!”

Everyone was stunned, thinking that Zang Guangping had misspoke. Why would they be providing reinforcements to Shixi County? Shouldn’t they be attacking the city?

It was only half an hour later that the soldiers of Xia Kingdom realised their error. Zang Guangping did not misspoke, they were really going to help Shixi County and not attack them. Their Third Prince had left Sangbo Town half an hour before them and had already taken over a city. This must be the first time in history that a takeover had happened so quickly and it was all because of the Third Prince. In a few seconds, the entire battlefield was filled with shouts, “Glory to His Highness! Long live the Third Prince!”

As the subject of admiration, Rong Yuan did not just stand still and do nothing. Seeing the army of the Xia Kingdom rushing over, he gestured to two groups of the Silver-Armored Troops to jump off the city walls. He wanted to surround the front and the back of Dayin’s army with the Xia Kingdom troops.

Yesterday, the city was their refuge, today they were facing the shield that they had put over their city and slowly being descended upon by the Xia Kingdom’s army. Taking a look at Ding Wei who was carrying two bodies, one with mild injuries while the other was severely injured, and immediately gave the call to retreat.

The Xia Kingdom’s troops wanted to make use of their advantage and take the chance to continue chasing them but were stopped by Rong Yuan.

If it were yesterday, Zang Guangping would have ignored Rong Yuan’s orders. However, after Rong Yuan had taken control of Shixi County with a mere few hundred men today, he instead asked, “Your Highness, is something wrong?”

Rong Yuan looked at him and said plainly, “We have just gotten control of the county, it is more important now to first reassure the citizens.”

Zang Guangping froze before realization hit him.

Ignoring how Rong Yuan had obtained control of Shixi County, it was still a fact that sixty percent of its citizens were Martial Artists. If these Martial Artists, who did not join the army were to rebel, it would create a lot of trouble.

“I understand.” Zang Guangping replied. His voice carried newfound respect.