Chapter 267: Returning Rider
A small contingent of cavalry roared in pursuit, their hooves shattering ice and snow, their sabers glinting coldly under the pale moon.
“Prepare the crossbows,” Li Zhao stood at the forefront.
The ice sled death warriors, lurking in the shadows, leaped up like leopards, drawing crossbows from beneath them. In an instant, they shot down the first few riders, their aim precise and deadly.
Ashina’s scouts reined in their horses in alarm, daring not to approach easily. They circled and cursed from a distance, blowing their horns to summon more reinforcements…
The battle erupted instantly, arrows flying like locusts…
Blood seeped into the snow layer, staining the pure white with a glaring dark red.
In the midst of the fierce battle, someone in the crowd shouted.
“Everyone, quickly escort the Crown Prince to break through, we will cover the rear!”
Li Zhao looked back and saw it was the leader of the death warriors who had come to their aid.
He was seen wielding his sash knife, leading the death warriors to form a shield formation, charging into the enemy ranks with a fearless demeanor…
“Impossible! Come back!”
Li Zhao’s voice was swallowed by the wind and snow.
Those death warriors showed no intention of retreating, their expressions resolute and fearless.
“Quick! Quickly escort Your Highness away!”
Guan Ya grabbed Li Zhao, shouting hoarsely, “Your Highness! The overall situation is paramount! We cannot let our brothers’ sacrifices be in vain!”
Several personal guards immediately surrounded him, protecting him in the center of the ice sled, and charged fiercely towards the mountain pass.
Li Zhao looked back, watching with his own eyes as those people, like moths to a flame, were instantly engulfed, leaving only a few short cries before falling silent…
The wind and snow suddenly intensified, blurring the vision with swirling snow.
The gorge fell into a brief silence.
No one in the group spoke, as if mourning the fallen loyal souls…
After walking for an unknown amount of time, dark shadows vaguely appeared in the snow mist ahead.
“All personnel, stand by!”
The group tacitly closed ranks, drawing their swords, their gazes fixed on the front.
More dense hoofbeats could be heard from the snow slope, and there were quite a few of them…
Just as they were about to draw their bows and arrows, a light cavalry unit bearing the Daliang flag charged in like a whirlwind. The captain at the forefront waved a command flag, his voice like a thunderous bell.
“Crown Prince! Your subordinate is ordered by Prince Duan to lead the main force of the Light Cavalry Camp to your aid!”
The soldiers’ spirits lifted, and they immediately let out earth-shattering cheers.
“Your Highness! It’s reinforcements from the imperial court!”
“It’s people sent by Prince Duan!”
The two groups met in the wind and snow.
The captain dismounted and presented a secret letter sealed with a wax seal to Li Zhao with both hands.
“Reporting to Your Highness, the supply line is open, and subsequent supplies will arrive soon! Please take care of yourself, Your Highness. We will do our utmost to escort Your Highness to safety…”
Li Zhao took the secret letter, still warm from the sender’s touch, and rubbed his fingertip over the wax seal. Without a word, he abandoned the ice sled.
“Since you are here, then follow me back and kill them!”
Before his voice faded, he mounted a strong warhorse brought by the newcomers, his voice hoarse but carrying an undeniable power.
“All soldiers, heed my command! Form ranks and advance! Follow me—back to kill, and rescue!”
The cavalry, like a bursting dam, surged back into the death gorge, carrying ice shards and killing intent.
The snow was littered with bodies lying in disarray.
Most of them were Ashina cavalry…
And the group of ice sled death warriors, who had appeared like divine soldiers descending from the heavens, vanished silently into the vast wind and snow, leaving only a few blurred footprints quickly covered by fresh snow…
Guan Ya couldn’t help but shiver.
“My goodness, this… this is too bizarre…”
In terms of numbers, the group of death warriors was far fewer than Ashina’s small contingent of light cavalry.
Who would have thought they possessed the combat power of one against ten?
Everyone exchanged glances, all of them awestruck.
“Crown Prince, Ashina’s main army is nearby. We must leave immediately, or it may be too late…” The captain, a general, tugged at his horse’s reins, his face filled with anxiety.
Li Zhao reined in his horse and looked back at the mountain pass that had swallowed countless lives. The wind and snow blurred his vision.
“Let’s go.”
—
The journey back was filled with wind and snow, and Li Zhao gripped his sword in silence.
Yuan Cang rode closer, offering a piece of cooked meat wrapped in oiled paper, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.
“Your Highness, Captain Chen said that the supply team brought a large quantity of medicinal materials, which have been distributed to all camps. General Lu… has also broken through the blockade and is approaching the exit of the Chishui Pass gorge.”
“Furthermore, the imperial court has established a Stabilizing Granary in the Capital Region to distribute grain for relief, and the refugees are engaged in work relief, voluntarily clearing official roads and constructing frontline fortifications…”
Speaking of the imperial court’s decrees this time, Yuan Cang’s tone was incredibly enthusiastic.
Li Zhao took the dried meat but did not eat it immediately.
He looked at the horizon, which appeared as a fish-belly white after the wind and snow gradually stopped in the distance, and raised his hand to his chest.
—
Three days later, Li Zhao led the remnants of his troops to the Chishui Pass camp.
The military doctor, holding the prescriptions and medicinal materials rushed from the imperial court, looked at the large number of wounded soldiers in the camp whose symptoms had eased, and was so moved that tears streamed down his face.
“It’s miraculous! This prescription… the combination is exquisite, and the medicinal effect is remarkable! After drinking it for half a day, many of the brothers’ high fevers have subsided!”
“Your Highness, Heaven blesses Daliang! Heaven blesses Daliang!”
Guan Ya cautiously looked at Li Zhao’s stern profile and lowered his voice, “Your Highness, these are people sent by Prince Duan. Where did those death warriors who brought charcoal in the snow the other night come from?”
Yuan Cang was also somewhat puzzled, “Captain Chen said that the imperial court had just released the diagrams for the ice sleds, and the Armaments Bureau was rushing to produce them. They were afraid of delaying the rescue of Your Highness, so they rushed here with the Light Cavalry Camp first…”
Lai Fu rubbed his frozen red hands and leaned closer, “It’s truly uncanny! Could it be that Sixth Miss Xue sent them from the Old Mausoleum Swamp…”
“Silence,” Li Zhao interrupted him, his gaze fixed on the vast snowfield. He spurred his horse and galloped away, disappearing in an instant.
The cold wind whipped the hem of his cloak, making a rustling sound…
Lai Fu glanced at Guan Ya, shook his head, and tucked his hands into his sleeves, retracting his neck.
Speaking of Sixth Miss Xue, one must mention that old affair…
Just three days after they arrived at Chishui Pass, during a pursuit of Ashina stragglers, they unexpectedly captured an old man in foreign attire, gaunt and emaciated…
He wore a bulging snakeskin bag at his waist, his fingernails were as black as ink, and he exuded a strange medicinal scent. His behavior was very peculiar, and he claimed to be a Gu Master from a border tribe of Xizi, proficient in various shamanic and Gu arts.
Guan Ya escorted the man into the command tent to meet the Crown Prince.
The old man, unaware of the Crown Prince’s identity, scanned him with his cloudy eyes for a moment. Instead of fear, his face showed a hint of curious interest, and he offered to take his pulse.
The Crown Prince calmly agreed.
The old man’s withered fingers rested on his wrist pulse for only a moment before he mysteriously asked, “This Noble Person, there is a residual foreign energy within you, faint yet condensed and unscattered… Have you ever been poisoned by Gu?”
The Crown Prince was immediately enraged.
“Absurd! What kind of charlatan is this, spouting nonsense here?”
“I have been immersed in this art for over fifty years, and I would never be mistaken,” the old man stated with certainty, then pointed to the Crown Prince’s chest.
“This energy is lingering, like silk winding around bone, carrying a hint of heat… It should be a type of Love Gu.”
He paused, and seeing the Crown Prince’s instantly sharp gaze, he slowly said, “The residual poison in your body has not been completely removed, but there is no need to worry. This Gu has been removed, and with time, the residual poison will dissipate on its own, and you will be free from all entanglements…”
“Is that true?”
“Nine out of ten,” the old man said, stroking his beard and smiling. “However, the method to resolve this Love Gu is perilous, and only those with great willpower and determination can undertake it. The one who cast the Gu must feed it with their heart’s blood for three days, enduring the suffering of ten thousand ants gnawing at their heart, and losing ten years of their life, to make the Gu worm leave the body…”
“What did you say?”
The Crown Prince was struck as if by lightning. His eyes instantly filled with terrifying bloodshot veins, and he raised his hand to fiercely grip the old man’s neck with such force that he almost crushed the withered neck…
The old man, choked to the point of rolling his eyes, still managed to say with difficulty, “Love… Gu resolved, obsession… gone. All entanglements… ultimately turn to naught… The caster… is skilled, and the resolution… is clean. Congratulations, Noble Person… Now, your mind is free and no longer disturbed by external things…”
The Gu… had been resolved.
Resolved cleanly.
Mind free, undisturbed by external things.
The Crown Prince trembled violently, as if all his strength had been drained. He suddenly released his grip and stumbled back several steps, collapsing heavily back into the cold command chair…
At that moment, his face was frighteningly pale under the flickering candlelight, and he looked as if he had been frozen in ice.
Sixth Miss Xue was willing to endure the suffering of ten thousand ants gnawing at her heart and lose ten years of her life to sever her connection with the Crown Prince. What else could that be but a heart of stone?!
She was always like this, doing the most compassionate things in the most ruthless ways.
The air around them instantly froze.
Guan Ya and Lai Fu were by Li Zhao’s side and heard everything clearly.
The two exchanged astonished glances, seeing shock in each other’s eyes.
So, the twisted and passionate connection between the Crown Prince and Sixth Miss Xue, forcibly maintained by the Gu poison, had truly been completely severed!
From now on, would His Highness no longer suffer from the bone-gnawing, heart-burning love poison, nor be inexplicably swayed by his emotions?
They felt a faint sense of relief…
The Crown Prince sat there, motionless, lost in thought, listening to the howling wind and snow outside the tent.
The candlelight cast his shadow long on the tent wall, stiff, lonely, flickering…
His face was almost devoid of expression, but Guan Ya and Lai Fu, for the first time, saw what appeared to be tears welling up in the Crown Prince’s eyes…
“Take him away and care for him well.”
His voice was calm and unruffled, betraying no emotion, making one think that what they saw was merely an illusion.
But from that day on, the Crown Prince seemed to have completely changed.
He became even more taciturn, acted decisively, and was almost ruthless, with no warmth left in his eyes.
He never mentioned anything related to Sixth Miss Xue again. He was a completely different person from the arrogant Crown Prince who had once charged into the plum grove of Shui Yue Nunnery, forced Li Huan to swear an oath, and kissed her passionately in his arms.
