Death Scripture

Duodun felt the pain of betrayal. All of his companions and generals were pretending as if they hadn’t heard anything. As the only one whose name had just been called out, Liman was as embarrassed as if he had just accidentally knocked a brazier over.

“Guards,” Duodun commanded as he tried to keep his voice calm. “Take the Second Consort to her tent. She’s not allowed to leave without my permission.”

The guards at the doorway looked at one another, but none of them moved until the look in the prince’s eyes turned severe and angry. Finally, four guards walked in front of the Second Consort and bowed respectfully.

The Second Consort didn’t try to resist. As she walked past Duodun, she shook her head at him with a smile. “Silly kid.” Then she said to Liman, “Only you can save His Highness.”

Liman felt even more awkward after hearing her words. Among all of Duodun’s companions, his head was lowered the most, and he didn’t dare to say a single word in return.

The Second Consort was promptly escorted away. Duodun let out an empty loud bark before saying, “Just a stupid woman. She never knows where her place is. This is a war. What does a woman know about war?”

“Yes. You don’t need her at all, Your Highness.” One of his companions decided to risk saying these remarks, but as soon as he finished speaking his last word, he realized that he had made a mistake, so he backed off quietly.

As he gazed at the faces of these people surrounding him, Duodun abruptly frowned, and snapped, “You two! Why are you acting so stealthily?”

The two guards standing at the doorway knelt down at once. In a quivering voice, one of them said, “The Second Consort… The Second Consort’s maidservant… has been away for a very long time. She still hasn’t returned yet.”

“Which maidservant?”

“The… older one.”

Duodun raised his head and tried to recall the face of the maidservant, but his memory only returned a faint impression. “A maidservant,” he mumbled. The first thing he thought of was the possibility of his secrets all being spilled, but then he remembered the Waning Moon Hall. With that thought in mind, he commanded, “Make this order known to everyone — no woman is allowed to approach my tent. Tell those outside to keep their eyes peeled for any female who might be disguised as someone else.”

A guard left the tent to announce his order. After taking a deep breath, Duodun began to issue the most important order of this day. “Liman, take 40,000 men and go to the Naihang Tribe to rope them in.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Liman was just about to leave when Duodun suddenly said, “Wait.” This man had just been heavily exhorted by the Second Consort, so Duodun didn’t know how much he could trust him. “Take a couple helpers.”

Four companions took the hint. They walked to Liman’s side and left the tent alongside him.

“Kuke, fill me in on the other areas’ situations,” Duodun said to another companion.

“On the right side, General Li Shun has made his move and everything is going fine. At the Middle Corps, Azheba’s waiting for the Dragon Army to join the fight. The female soldiers of the Land of Fragrance haven’t moved, so I sent more men to help Azheba in case he needs it.”

“Good.” Duodun’s mood gradually improved. He felt that this was the kind of helper that he needed. The Second Consort had nearly ruined his big plan, and Liman’s loyalty was already questionable enough. If it weren’t for the fact that he was Zhesu’s son, Duodun would have preferred to replace him with another vice commander-in-chief even though the war was still going on.

“Good,” Duodun repeated. The hounds had been let loose, and the only thing he could do now was wait and see what prey it would drag back. Then he recalled something. “Kuke, go and help Azheba yourself. If he hesitates, you know what to do.”

Now, Duodun could truly rest assured. He reviewed the whole plan from the beginning to the end and couldn’t think of any flaws. With regards to the Naihang Tribe, he felt that the Second Consort had been too dramatic. Zhesu was a boor, and if he had allied himself with Luoluo, he would have bragged about it all day long and the whole world would have known about it.

Meanwhile, Kuke was in his early twenties. Among all of Duodun’s companions, he was the youngest, the most loyal, and also the most energetic. After receiving his order, he immediately departed and upon arriving at the Middle Corps, went to the tent of the Commander-in-chief first.

Mo Chu was indeed an experienced and sophisticated general. After realizing that Mo Lin had been away for such a long time, he had formed a general idea of what was going on. And upon seeing Kuke, he recognized him and knew that he was one of Duodun’s companions as he knew that this man had once participated in his abduction. His response was to yell, “Kuke! You’re Kuke, right?”

Kuke walked in and nodded as he replied, “I am.”

“There hasn’t been any news from the Left Corps for a long time.”

“Because there isn’t any news.” Kuke looked down upon this senile Commander-in-chief, so his tone was disrespectful. “Prince Duodun and General Liman will adapt to the circumstances and make the right decision, so there’s no need for you to worry.”

Mo Chu gave out two short laughs. “Tell Duodun this: I have no intention of ruining his or anyone else’s plans.”

Kuke cursed, “Old fox,” secretly under his breath and decided to take action ahead of schedule. “I will.”

Twelve guards gathered around him from both outside and inside the tent. The eight vice generals in front of Mo Chu and the six bodyguards behind him were all startled, and their hands instantly went to their weapons.

Mo Chu knew very well that no matter how many more soldiers he called into the tent, they wouldn’t be able to overpower these twelve men, so he desperately flapped his arms like a bird would flap its wings, trying to console his subordinates. “Drop your weapons. Prince Duodun doesn’t want us dead.”

“Heh, you’re a smart guy,” Kuke remarked contemptuously.

“I’m old. This is all I have left. Both the Commander-in-chief’s seal and the flag of order are right here. Just take them.”

“If you’re so willing to cooperate, then you can keep these things for the moment.”

“Sure. I’m willing to cooperate at any time,” Mo Chu said frankly, with nary a mark of fear nor shame in his face.

Those vice generals and bodyguards vigilantly unfastened the sabers on their waists and placed them onto the ground. However, the guards didn’t walk forward to collect them — they didn’t place these people who had only low-level kung fu skills in their eyes at all.

Soon, Kuke received a new written order and left, satisfied. He saw that Mo Lin was looking into the distant battlefield from a distance, and he felt even more satisfied.

Since Han Fen had received an order to protect Mo Chu, she had subsequently disguised herself as one of the Commander-in-chief’s bodyguards. She lowered the saber alongside the others, feeling uncertain about what to do. Is this old man’s life in danger or not? Judging from the look on his face, he’s not worried about anything at all. Should I make a move?

She decided to wait for a while more, but in the meantime, couldn’t help but blame the Dragon King for not giving her more specific instructions.

Kuke rode to Azheba’s side. Thirty special guards had gathered here and most of them were kung fu experts who had been secretly recruited by Duodun back at Heaven’s Pass. They wouldn’t be of much help on the battlefield, but taking people hostage was their forte.

“How’s it going?” Kuke asked in a muted voice.

The wind was blowing stronger than it had been in the morning. The situation of the distant battlefield was completely untellable. Occasionally, one or two screams could be heard. The observing pavilions had been rendered useless by the wind, and only the front line scouts were to bring back news consistently.

“It’s a total mess,” Azheba said, wondering why Kuke was here. “Nobody knows what the exact situation at the front line is, but our troops are still fighting, which is good news. And with regard to the Dragon Army… Nobody knows where they are.”

“Nobody knows there they are?” Kuke didn’t understand the meaning of this sentence.

Azheba glanced in Dugu Xian’s direction and explained, “The Dragon King’s army has changed directions and they advanced northeast after departing, and progressed several miles forward. And he never sent any scouts back.”

Kuke imitated Prince Duodu with his frown as he asked, “What about the other scouts? They didn’t see the Dragon Army either?”

“You’ve seen it for yourself. In this weather, it’s difficult for the scouts to even locate their own fellow troops…”

“Hmph! Maybe they got lost. The Western Regioners must have never fought in a war like this before.”

“Maybe.”

“Liman has departed.”

This was both an indication and the order that Azheba had been waiting for all along. But he felt a pressure as heavy as a huge rock suddenly overwhelm him to the point that he could barely breathe under its oppressive weight.

“If you can’t do this…”

After glaring angrily at Kuke, Azheba raised his hand and ordered the guards to fall in behind him before spurring his horse to trot towards Dugu Xian. “General Dugu.”

Dugu Xian’s gaze never left the battlefield that was engulfed by wind and sand, as if he had a pair of eyes that could penetrate through the thick air. “Mmm, what’s up?”

“I think that we’ve fought long enough, and our goal of enhancing morale has been achieved. So, we should withdraw now.”

Dugu Xian turned his head around and stared at Azheba. They were of the same rank, so neither of them could order the other to do anything. “There’s no hurry,” he said perfunctorily.

Kuke raised the paper in his hand and said aloud, “The Commander-in-chief has ordered Shulitu’s army to retreat, and the Dragon Army is to bring up the rear.”

Dugu Xian peered coldly at Kuke. “Apologies. This army is under my command.”

Kuke was just about to order the guards to take action when Azheba stopped him. He turned and looked at Shangguan Ru who was behind Dugu Xian. “I don’t want to see anyone bleed. Please persuade General Dugu, Instructor Shangguan.”

Shangguan Ru smiled, “It’s alright. I don’t want to see anyone bleed either. General Dugu, what’s done is done. We might as well talk about it.”

Upon seeing Shangguan Ru agree so willingly, both Azheba and Kuke were greatly surprised.

Dugu Xian looked around. Most of the armies under his command had been sent into the battleground, leaving only about a thousand men behind. However, Azheba’s 10,000 cavalrymen were all here.

“Mmm, we can talk about this. I hope that Azheba will send these 10,000 cavalrymen of the Second Consort’s into battle right away.”

Azheba’s facial expression changed. He was just about to try to persuade him again when two unexpected things took place simultaneously.

First off, Kuke didn’t want to wait any longer and he directly ordered the guards to take action. Thirty kung fu experts who had disguised themselves as guards whipped out their sabers all at once, which startled all off the soldiers in the distance.

Secondly, Tie Linglong also didn’t want to wait any longer either . She unsheathed her saber, leaped upwards and pounced onto Azheba — she knew that she had to overpower the leader first if she wanted to keep his followers under control.

At the command center of the Middle Corps, right beside the Commander-in-chief, a chaotic fight was about to begin.

At the same time, the fight in Shulitu’s tent had just ended. After killing a target with a throwing knife, Nie Zeng had never shown up again. Li Shun had sent multiple guards to the tent and before long, personally arrived.

“Ask your bodyguard to show himself, Your Highness. He won’t be in danger. There’s no need to fight.”

“Alas, I didn’t expect that it would be you. My father always told me that you were trustworthy.” Even as he curled up on the chair, Shulitu maintained a look of disappointment on his face.

Li Shun knelt down as he explained, “I’m doing this for you, Your Highness. The Dragon King has malicious plans, and sooner or later, he will hurt you.”

“So you beat him to it, then. Tell me, what did Duodun promise you?”

“I won’t receive any benefits. Duodun will allow you to keep the title of King Riying, and I’ll escort you back to your own army. You’ll have to give up the fight for the throne.”

“And what about the soldiers?”

“We can take the former troops of King Riying, and the others will be handed over to Duodun.”

“Stand up,” Shulitu commanded as he jumped off of the chair. The four guards sent by Duodun surrounded him immediately.

Li Shun stood up and yelled, “Don’t be rude to His Highness.”

But the guards held onto their weapons as if they hadn’t heard him.

“See?” Shulitu pointed at these guards. “If I were to fight for the throne, I’d never be so merciful as to let someone like me return to my own army. King Riying’s soldiers numbers almost 10,000 — it’s not a big number, but it’s not a small number either. Why would Duodun give that up so easily? Li Shun, I don’t blame you. Stop this. There’s still a chance to make up for it.”

Li Shun was an experienced general who had been through numerous battles. He didn’t know why, but when facing his young master who was merely twelve years old, he felt somewhat faint-hearted. “There’s no chance. The 10,000 troops of the Dragon Army at the right wing have already entered the battlefield. Neither they nor those who have previously followed the Dragon King will be able to come back. Your Highness, tell that bodyguard named Nie Zeng to show himself. Only then can I guarantee your safety and interests.”

Shulitu remained silent.

At the front, Gu Shenwei had gotten rid of all his suspicion and was now advancing at a steady speed in such a way that the troops behind him wouldn’t lose sight of him.

He and Dugu Xian had formulated a bold plan. Instead of charging into the chaotic battleground, he was instead advancing directly towards the left wing of Luoluo’s army. They were planning on carrying out a raid.