Yan Xu paused and continued, “Only two major events recently happened today. First was, Prince Zhao suffered defeat in the battle against Ye Li, and the Emperor died.”
His words caused Ye Mu to frown in incomprehension; she was truly flabbergasted on what matter had provoked Ye Li.
However, since things had already come to this point, she had a premonition of Ye Li’s imminent defeat, as things were closely progressing in tandem to the plot. Now, besides Mo Linyuan, the only other person she could place her hopes on was the person before her…
She hesitated for a moment before she finally asked in a low voice, “If Ye Li loses in this battle, can you spare his life?”
Yan Xu could only look at her in utter surprise. “I never thought you actually held feelings for someone like Ye Li.”
Yet, Ye Mu only smiled wryly at this comment. “I really don’t know if he’s good or bad inside—but from the very beginning, I never thought of having him killed. So…can I ask for this?”
When Yan Xu heard this, he narrowed his eyes, the confines of the cellar suddenly becoming one with silence.
“I can promise you anything else,” He paused for a moment before abruptly saying in his most chilling voice, “But Ye Li must die!”
Ye Mu suddenly raised her head and looked at him her black eyes shining like orbs in the night.
“Ye mu, he must die. And, of course there’s a reason for this. When Ye Li said he wanted to liberate the martial artists and kick away all scholars, he was dead serious. When was spying inside the genera’s residence, I also discovered that Ye Li was an extremely paranoid person—he distrusts people too much. Especially those who are erudite in their words and are cunning. That’s why such a crazy idea was borne from him: that is to suppress all scholars and uplift all martial artists after he ascends the throne. As for the consequences of such an act…Ye Mu, I think you know about it,” he fixed her with an imploring gaze.
Yan Xu continued, “The rebellion failed three years ago because they were cautious and anxious—if more emphasis was placed on the martial path, people would inevitably succumb to their carnal impulses. Ye Li is smart and he definitely understands this, but his conceitedness is the very shackle that prevents him from thinking clearheadedly; he believes that he can control the situation in the event a revolt breaks out…Moreover, he is a very inflexible person, who extremely believes in his ideals—no one would be able to shake his decision.
Paired with this dangerous idea is his extraordinary ability, both brains and brawn. As long as he is alive, he will always be plagued with this huge contradiction in him—and he will not stop until he attains it. In order to protect the country and myself, I will not stop either.”
Ye Mu’s tightly clenched fists gradually loosened at the sides. Indeed, she had already sensed that Ye Li’s unbendable will, he would refuse to give up, don’t talk about retreating. And if Yan Xu retreated, Ye Li would also pursue him like a lion hungry for his prey and massacre him.
Both options only lead to a dead end for this unfavorable situation.
Yan Xu closed his eyes momentarily, “Since the words have already been spoken, there’s no point in speaking about this matter any further. I am going to depart for the Middle Palace to fight Ye Li. As for you, I will have someone to send you back to Mo Linyuan.”
With this parting sentence, he waved his hand and summoned his shadow guards to escort Ye Mu. He did not bid farewell to his mother again, and instead, went straight to the battlefield.
Ye Mu watched Yan Xu’s disappearing back, her gaze becoming more profound by the minute.
Then, everything is unstoppable?
Is it truly destiny for Ye Li to be stubborn on retreating? That he would only advance despite the odds, and only after exhausting all his manpower would he then kill himself in front of a mountain of corpses?
Are these truly unchangeable things? He clearly wasn’t a person with a clean heart, yet why did he show her a shred of kindness she’d never seen in him before? And now…she had to calmly watch him die?
Ye Mu took a deep breath to steady herself, and when she opened her eyes again, she was filled with an unyielding determination.
No matter what happens, she wants to work hard one last time!
Thus, when the shadow guards weren’t paying attention, she stealthily escaped from their sight and headed towards the battlefield a second time.
In the current state of affairs, it seems that taking over the Imperial Palace is the key that would determine victory or defeat. This time, the Second Prince had command over the Imperial Army in the battle with Ye Li.
Over two hundred years ago, the founding emperor of the Yue country had expended all of his country’s resources to construct the most magnificent palace in the world. Now, at the face of a brutish war, it had been completely destroyed, all former beauty and splendor gone. One could even hear the faint weeping of the palace eunuchs as they ran away from the battle.
Ye Mu dodged incoming attacks while hastily advancing with all her might. Whenever someone would see her, no matter which side they were on, they would subconsciously brandish their swords at her without a care in the world that she was only a child.
But Ye Mu knew, in war, this was a conditional reaction. In the frenzied battle to death, no one would care whether the other person on the tip of their blade was the old, weak, a babe or an innocent.
Ye Mu dodged all the way without hurting anyone. As she progressed further, her movements became faster, and her originally small amount of inner Qi was continuously stimulated, as if tiring herself is not an option at this point.
As for Ye Li… where is he?
Dressed in red, she stood on the bloody stone steps, looking around the vicinity and at everyone fighting. Yet, not a single soul was Ye Li…
But then, a tall figure suddenly appeared amidst the chaos.
Ye Mu’s eyes lit up as she forced her petite body to penetrate through the countless masses to run towards his side!
“Father!”
At this moment, Ye Li no longer rode a horse, and his armor was broken in many places—gone was his former magnificent glory before the battle. Nevertheless, he alone was actually able to resist more than twenty inner force experts crowding him.
From this alone, it could already be seen how tremendously powerful his martial arts is!
Ye Li thought he was imagining things when he heard Ye Mu’s voice. But upon seeing her in the flesh, he subconsciously used all his strength to separate from his enemies and fetch Ye Mu, grabbing her back from the heat of the battle.
The twenty enemies on the other side clearly knew Ye Mu’s identity. Seeing that Ye Mu was in Ye Li’s hands, they didn’t dare act rashly for a moment.
“Why are you here?!” Ye Li was flustered for the first time and exasperated. He didn’t expect that Ye Mu still hadn’t left the battlefield.
“Do you want to die!?”
Ye Mu’s little hands tightly held onto his battle robe while the people around them continued in their carnage, with the twenty inner force experts surrounding them. In the raging battle, Ye Li and Ye Mu almost looked insignificant and inconspicuous to the world.
“Father, go back!” Ye Mu’s face was currently streaked in black and white dust, and a large portion of her red skirt was burnt. However, her eyes were still clear and bright as she continued to say, “I do not care for your reasons why you decided to rush into the imperial palace, but if you will continue this—you will definitely die here!”
But Ye Li only narrowed his eyes dangerously at her when he heard this.
“You want me to retreat? Impossible! Don’t fret about the matters of this general that does not concern you! Scram back now!”
He pushed her little body, causing Ye Mu to retreat a few steps and fall to the ground. However, she quickly got up and glared at him.
“Father! Can you listen to me once! Just once!?”
She stepped forward to pull at his battle robe again, and angrily said, “I didn’t want to care about you either! But because you also wanted to save me, I also won’t give up on you so easily. Retreat now! There’s no other way!”
“What do you know?” Ye Li’s tall body slightly trembled, “No matter how many people die, there is one thing that I must have today! Even if it means my death, we will get it!”
His words caused Ye Mu to become stunned, as if she had finally grasped the crux of the matter.
However, the enemy’s troops suddenly retreated. Only then did Ye Li discover that his army was trapped in the square of the Middle Palace near the Inner Palace’s entrance. Rows of soldiers appeared on the four walls, their bows raised at the ready and aimed at them.
Damn it! They were surrounded!
He finally wanted to retreat, but he didn’t expect that the path behind him would be blocked. The person leading this unexpected troop was Yan Xu, and in this moment, he was exposing his true face for the first time.
After removing part of his disguise, his originally rigid face became even more of a cold, handsome beauty.
“Ye Li! A thief always loses, the rightful victor will prevail; you have already lost this battle!”
With Yan Xu soundly sealing Ye Li’s escape route, he unsheathed the sword from his waist, pointing the blade at the opponent before him. Yet, from time to time his eyes would faintly fall on Ye Mu’s little body—so out of place of the brutality around.
“Fifth Prince, Qi Yan…” Ye Li was only caught in extreme shock.
Hadn’t his army dispersed all his enemies’ men? But then why was it that this Fifth Prince still had extra troops to stop him at this perilous time?
Soon, the answers to his anxious doubts were revealed. Behind Yan Xu, a man in black roughly pushed a man forward, who was gagged and tightly tied up—it was none other than the Prince Zhao!
This only meant that Ye Mu’s guess was correct: they had already captured Prince Zhao and used his life to threaten his subordinates to fight alongside them…through this cunning way, the originally fifty to fifty would surely become an evident loss.
Ye Li stared unblinking at Prince Zhao, in a state of disbelief.
He was not expecting this drastic change of events! Then it could only be said that they were in a clear disadvantage in this current situation; they were outnumbered and surrounded.
Then…he truly has lost.
Impossible! He had the upper hand with all his hidden cards: the treasure and his old subordinates. How could he have lost?
But no matter how much he felt the situation was incredulous, the truth had already become this; no matter how strong he was, he could not withstand the combined efforts of these two men. This unexpected collaboration could only leave him scrambling for his life. Therefore, he could only lose…
Ye Mu thought, how similar could this scene possibly be as that in the plot? To think that…in the bitter end, she was still unable to change Ye Li’s ill-fated ending.
But then, “HAHAHAHA!” Ye Li released a maniacal laughter after being silent for a moment!
“Interesting, interesting! Just you? Just all of you? You want this general’s life?”
Yan Xu coldly snorted in reply, with a brisk wave of his hand, all the guards on top of the city wall aimed their bows downwards, ready to release the pointy arrows to kill.
“You think I won’t dare take your life? If you commit a gruesome crime in this country, then you rightly deserve to die ten thousand times for it.”
“You want me to be executed? We will have to see first if you have the ability to do so!” Ye Li derisively smirked.
Ye Li continued to sneer at the youth and said in a seemingly laidback manner, “Even if all of you were to scheme against me, did you know that I had already reached an agreement with the Prime Minister of the Mo Country? Due to our agreement, he can convince the Mo emperor to send their troops to this city at any time. The chess pieces I’ve also placed at the borders will aid him in infiltrating the country successfully. With this, the Mo Country will declare the Yue Country to be under theirs. Therefore, even if you kill me now, you won’t be able to sit on the throne for long!”
Ye Li’s heavy words made Yan Xu widen his eyes. He couldn’t help but be filled with rage and hate, as he menacingly pointed his sword at the other party.
“What do you mean? It’s fine if you are trying to instigate a pointless rebellion, but you actually dared to lure a wolf into my country?!”
“Why not?” Seeing him riled up, Ye Li’s entire body relaxed. “If you want to live, then secure my life. But if you want to die…then we will die together. I, Ye Li, will never accept defeat!”
Yan Xu looked at him with a deep, imploring gaze. “You have already gone mad. Do you think I would let a madman become emperor?”
He then narrowed his eyes and bit back, “Furthermore, your wishful thinking will all be for nothing! So what if you have the Prime Minister’s support? The Crown Prince of the Mo Country—the rightful, future emperor, is on my side!”
“The Crown Prince?!”
This time, Ye Li was the one caught in surprise. He had known for a long time that the Crown Prince of the Mo Country was missing and had gone hiding in the Yue country. He was actually saved by the other party?!
After this surprising revelation, the Second Prince walked out from another direction to join Yan Xu. He said with a smile, “With your bewildered look, I can only guess that you are still in the dark of the identity of this elusive Crown Prince of the Mo Country. Let me give you a refresher, he became your slave some time ago. Have you already forgotten him?”
A slave…? That slave?!
“Aji! Could it be that he…he is Mo Linyuan?!”
Ye Li had never been so shocked before. No wonder he couldn’t figure out the gist of everything happening around. It was also no wonder that despite being a child, his instincts, like a wild beast, kept driving him to kill the boy.
It turns out that the person he had been looking for all this time was right under his nose and had become a slave in his residence!
This constant onslaught of attacks made Ye Li freeze on the spot.
Meanwhile, Yan Xu was silent in the whole debacle. But then, his gaze shifted to Ye Mu to the side, as he spoke in a stern tone, “Come here. Don’t meddle in the matters of men. You’re still a child!”
Ye Mu’s expression could only be described as intensely dispirited. She glanced at the Ye family soldiers around her, with the same gloomy expression as hers, and softly sighed.
“Now that the outcome of the battle has been decided, can you…can you not kill us all?”
She thought, if Ye Li were truly to die, then at the very least, these people he had instigated to fight for him would not die in vain.
Yan Xu frowned. “I’ve never thought of slaughtering everyone of the Ye household.”
For Yan Xu, from the very beginning to the end, the only person he desired to kill was Ye Li.
At this moment, Ye Li, who had his head lowered the entire time, suddenly spoke with a coarse voice.
“Mu’er, you already knew about Mo Linyuan’s identity, didn’t you?” Although his tone was very low, when it entered Ye Mu’s ears, it felt as if the words weighed her little body down by a thousand pounds.
After everything, she still could not change the plot?
Ye Mu turned around to look at Ye Li’s weathered face covered in blood and nodded calmly; of course, she already knew.
In an instant, Ye Li’s gaze became extremely terrifying. “And because you were aware of his identity, you held back from cutting his tongue?”
Ye Mu pursed her lips. “Yes, that’s right.”
Ye Li gripped the handle of his blade in deathly grip. “So… you knew from the beginning that that his help was all a sham. that in truth, you were scheming against me with him. You knew the Map of the Imperial Army was a fake, and that I would lose in the inevitable end—you knew the fate of these people were to die?!”
Ye Mu frowned at this barrage of accusations, but without waiting for her to reply, Ye Li quickly interrupted.
“I was wondering why you were so protective of him—it turns out that you’re one of his men! The reason you hid by my side and humbled yourself to me was all for him, right? Placing my trust on you had been all for nothing; to think that you dared to betray me!”
As he roared, his inner Qi gushed out in a frenzy!
Ye Mu’s expression immediately became tense. In the face of a raging Ye Li, she could only refute, “I didn’t do it!”
But Ye Li was done listening to anything she had to say. Without a word, he thrusted the blade in his hand towards Ye Mu’s face!
“Quick, save her!”
Yan Xu was stunned and hurriedly ordered his men to help. Not only the people around Yan Xu rushed forward, but the 20 experts from before also used their full strength to block Ye Li’s attacks.
But the furious Ye Li’s martial prowess was even more astonishing than before! No matter how many people tried to stop him, his bell-like eyes only focused on Ye Mu’s lithe body, and he was getting closer and closer!
“I’ve been helping you all this time. Even if you want to kill me, I’ll only say the truth!” Ye Mu replied while trying to escape.
“How dare you lie to my face!”
Ye Li’s eyes were bloodshot as he fought one-on-one against thirty in a chaotic battle, furtively pressing closer towards where Ye Mu was.
“Since you already knew that he is the Crown Prince and that I was searching for him for a long time, how can you say you are helping me?”
After he finished speaking, the blade in his hand brought with it the smell of blood as it hacked down on her mercilessly; Ye Mu barely dodged the sharp curve of the blade. But as it brushed past her face by a margin, the hair on her back were instantly cut!
“You deserve to die!”
The more Ye Li spoke, the faster the blade in his hand rushed towards Ye Mu. Even if there were many people trying to block his attacks, Ye Li was simply too fast. Ye Mu didn’t even know how she was able to dodge attacks at such a speed.
“Stop!”
A youth’s voice suddenly sounded amidst the imminent carnage, and in the next second, the strongest expert beside Mo Linyuan suddenly appeared and struck Ye Li with his palm. With this, Ye Li and Ye Mu were finally separated from each other by a safe distance.
Seeing that Ye Mu was fine, Mo Linyuan finally calmed down.
“It was all my doing. If you want to settle a score, then do it with me!” With Mo Linyuan’s appearance, he shielded Ye Mu behind him defensively, looking at Ye Li with a challenging gaze.
“Ah, yes. It’s you…very good! It’s you I’ve been looking for!”