The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 43 The Predicament

The mountain roads were rough and not easy to navigate. Most of them were narrow, meandering footpaths which were formed when villagers went hunting, cut wood, and went to Sanqingguan to pray. There were almost no stone steps. The trees were so tall that they blocked the sky and sun. Thorns and weeds grew everywhere. This mountain was full of primitive flavors.

The Taoist priests of Sanqingguan led the way ahead. Wu You and Fang Zheng talked very happily. When Fang Zheng said that he was angry about the corrupt behavior of the officials of Hu County and decided to go to Chang’an City with Rich Fang’s wife and son to complain to the Imperial Court without fear of difficulties, Wu You was very excited and yearned for it.

The chivalrous action of the strong helping the weak was always correct, attractive, and worthy of respect in the eyes of the naive girls.

At this point of time in Li Ye’s Last Life, he had been driven to the streets and lived a hard life with Shangguan Qingcheng. Now he knew that the world was going to be chaotic. However, limited by his previous experience, he didn’t know what kind of change the two phrases, ‘the world is going to be chaotic’ and ‘the great Kalpa will appear’, meant.

The situation of the present Tang Empire was strange and everchanging. If Li Ye wanted to change his fate and compete for hegemony with the heroes and feudal princes of the world, he would gradually realize and experience what the phrases ‘the turbulent wind precedes the mountain storm’ and ‘dark clouds overwhelm the city’ meant.

There was no scenery in the unfrequented and undeveloped footpath. After walking in such places for a long time, Li Ye gradually felt uncomfortable, especially at the moment when they were in a very bad situation. Maybe because of his intuition or his sense of danger that was cultivated by his practical experience in his Last Life, Li Ye felt that Niushou Mountain was unpredictable and full of mystery.

Then he found that the light golden Dragon Qi floating in his Elixir Field was slowly swimming up and down. It seemed as if it was threatened or attracted by something, restless and stirring.

Li Ye couldn’t help looking up at the direction of the main peak of Niushou Mountain.

Dragon Qi was undoubtedly his greatest weapon now. After he absorbed the Luck which represented the Grand Prince of Tang Empire from the Royal Seal of Prince An, the Dragon Qi became solid and kept quiet for a long time. Today, it became active. Were there any lucky chances in Niushou Mountain?

Around noon, they came to a small lake in the mountain. The lake was green but deep. They decided to rest here for a while.

When Li Ye fetched water from the lake, Shangguan Qingcheng stood behind him with her hand on her knife, looking around vigilantly. Even though she was doomed to see nothing, she would not let her guard down.

Li Ye turned back and said with a smile. “The valley here is deep and quiet, and nobody else would want to come. You can rest here too.”

Shangguan Qingcheng shook her head earnestly. “Your Highness, it’s my duty to protect you. But my cultivation is not high, I can’t give you much help when we’re fighting. So in ordinary times, I have to pay more attention to the surroundings.”

This time when they came to Niushou Mountain, Shangguan Qingcheng didn’t lead troops, nor did she wear armor. She was only dressed in ordinary Hu clothes. At the moment, she stood upright with her hand on her knife. The curves on her body were exposed, and her gracefulness did not diminish at all, looking more attractive at the same time.

Some memories of his Last Life emerged in Li Ye’s mind. When Li Ye was a puppet emperor in Daliang City, all of the eunuchs, maids, and guards belonged to Zhu Quanzhong, a powerful minister. The high walls of the palace were extremely cold and dangers were everywhere, as if they were going to devour him at any time. At that time, Shangguan Qingcheng guarded him outside the room day and night, as it was now, without a moment of slack.

Li Ye got the water and stood up. At that time, a large group of shadows rose rapidly from the quiet lake which was several steps away from him. It was like a big bird flying over in mid-air, casting a reflection, and also like a big fish coming out from the lake.

“Watch out, Your Highness!”

Shangguan Qingcheng drew her knife out of its sheath, held the handle of the knife in both hands, raised it over her head, and was going to attack the shadows in the lake.

When the Knife Qi flew out, everyone at the lakeside was astonished. They looked at Shangguan Qingcheng with puzzling looks, as if they were asking what danger there could be since this place was near the Taoist temple. Was Shangguan Qingcheng too paranoid?

However, before the Knife Qi touched the water, the lake, which was calm a moment ago, suddenly burst out a spring that was higher than a man, snow-white water splashing in all directions.

The water revealed a figure, a big man with a huge ax. When he appeared from the water, he roared and chopped at Li Ye directly with his ax!

Due to the timely warning from Shangguan Qingcheng, Li Ye was able to deal with it calmly. He floated back several steps to avoid the attack of the big man. The Spiritual Qi of the ax fell to the lakeside, and instantly gravel flew in all directions and the water became turbulent.

At the same time, about seven figures came out from the lake and rushed to the youths of the Imperial Clan by the lake.

The youths of the Imperial Clan were shocked at first and then became angry. Fortunately, they had seen Shangguan Qingcheng’s attack just now. So at this time, they were not completely unprepared and these attackers didn’t attack successfully. Wu You and Li Jing’an, with their high strength, had already taken out their magic weapons to fight against them. Li Ji and the others quickly moved backward to distance themselves from the attackers.

“For the Duke, kill them!” When the attackers started a fight, they did not forget to pretend to be Li Guanshu’s people.

Li Ye moved backward quickly for several steps, threw his water bag, drew out his Luke Sword and held it in his hand. Shangguan Qingcheng had come close to the ax-wielding man and chopped at him several times. The big man with the huge ax was covered by the lights coming out from Shangguan Qingcheng’s knife. “You bold rebel, don’t be arrogant!”

Li Ye’s look became serious and he slightly tilted. The Luke Sword was lifted behind him and collided with another sword, causing a crisp sound. A long sword came towards Li Ye from the forest behind Li Ye and was blocked by the Luke Sword.

Li Ye’s hands were numb and his wrist shook, and the Luke Sword almost fell from his hands. He became serious and quickly realized that the other party’s cultivation was higher than his. He immediately frowned and when he moved sideways, he looked at the attacker.

The attacker was a middle-aged man with good features. He did not look like a villain but like a gentleman. This was the middle-aged Taoist priest who had spoke to Xu Qingfeng. This assassination was also led by him. In fact, he was the first disciple of Xu Qingfeng, Xu Fengzhu.

Xu Fengzhu was very surprised that his attack just now was not successful. He had planned well. When the attackers in the lake attacked and forced the youths by the lakeside to retreat, other attackers came from the forest. Then they attacked these youths on both sides unexpectedly. The possibility of success was very high. Unexpectedly, Shangguan Qingcheng noticed them and warned the others in time. And Li Ye’s reaction was so quick that he had failed just now.

When Li Ye moved sideways to the left, Xu Fengzhu had already followed him. Xu Fengzhu had missed the first time, but he didn’t stop at all. He lifted his right foot and kicked at Li Ye’s left waist.

Li Ye bent his knee and raised his leg, blocking Xu Fengzhu’s foot. But the strength from his left leg was so great that he almost couldn’t stand steadily.

Then he quickly stepped on the ground steadily with his right foot and stabbed at Xu Fengzhu’s throat directly with his sword.

Xu Fengzhu’s gaze became cold. He did not think that Li Ye would be able to fight back at the same time while defending. Such a skill of defending and attacking together was far superior to other people.

He bent backward and avoided the Luke Sword, and at the same time, he obliquely wielded his long sword and attacked Li Ye’s left rib.

But it was unexpected that Li Ye’s attack was a feint. He had jumped away and increased the distance between them.

Li Ye did not blindly avoid. When Xu Fengzhu bent backward and hadn’t yet adjusted well, he took back the Luke Sword and chopped several times, Sword Qis flying and reaching Xu Fengzhu in an instant.

Awe flashed in Xu Fengzhu’s eyes. He hadn’t expected that Li Ye’s tactics to so good that he could use them freely. In the face of a sneak attack and an attacker whose cultivation was higher than his own, Li Ye was not in a hurry and dealt with them calmly. He acted like a Great Cultivator who had experienced countless vicious battles.

This surprised Xu Fengzhu. Li Ye could see through Li Guanshu’s conspiracy, which was superb wisdom. There was nothing to say about this kind of talent. But combat skills were cultivated from countless battles and focused on experience and integration.

In Xu Fengzhu’s prediction, Prince An had had a life of privilege. Even though Li Ye had powerful cultivation methods, as long as he fought in close-combat and didn’t give him the opportunity to perform high-ranking cultivation methods, Li Ye would be trampled upon.

The reality was like a slap to Xu Fengzhu’s face, but it was not enough to make him panic. He flashed and avoided the Sword Qi from Li Ye.

The Sword Qi hit the trees, cutting off branches and leaves. It hit the trunks, causing several sword marks and making the trees tremble.

Xu Fengzhu didn’t simply retreat to avoid the Sword Qi. He moved sideways and then went forward. He wielded his long sword repeatedly, causing Sword Qis to cover Li Ye. This shielded himself and also restricted Li Ye. At the same time, he followed his sword and approached Li Ye with the Sword Qi.

“Your Highness Prince An, you must die!” Xu Fengzhu had no hatred and resentment, but only the merciless intent of killing Li Ye. There was no conflict between him and Li Ye. He simply wanted to kill Li Ye.

Xu Fengzhu’s shout was not aimless. Hearing his voice, two attackers around them immediately rushed over and besieged Li Ye with Xu Fengzhu.

There was only one person here who could be called Your Highness.

Li Ye was the Prince An. That was why Xu Fengzhu personally surrounded and killed Li Ye.

Because a Grand Prince was noble enough and his death could lead to a great impact, which was most in line with Xu Qingfeng’s intentions.

The youths of the Imperial Clan were now facing the dilemma of a flanking attack and they located in the lakeside. There was only one path. Although it was much wider than the rugged mountain path, the other side of the path was the dense forest and the widest place in it was about several meters wide.

In such a place, Wu You’s and Li Jing’an’s attendants couldn’t show all their strength even though their cultivations were in Level 5 of Qi-refining. People of both sides were mixed together, so they couldn’t kill the attackers easily.

In such a short period of time, the two sides became entangled and were dragged down.

“Ah!”

Suddenly, Li Ye heard Li Ji’s scream, and then it was the sound of him falling into the water. Li Ye glimpsed that a large mass of blood was spreading in the lake, but no one struggled in the water. He realized that Li Ji had died. Li Ji had been injured and lost his invocations. Even though he had a magic tool, he still couldn’t resist a serious attack.

Li Ye himself had already fallen into danger.

A sword stabbed towards him from the left side, and he jumped and avoided it. Then another sword came from the right side. He raised his sword to block it. At the same time, Xu Fengzhu struck out a Sword Qi which went straight for Li Ye’s head.