Chapter 413 - Stampede

Long Chen naturally didn’t know what was wrong with the Sword Emperor with his current understanding.

The next day, Long Chen was eager to find out whether his plan had worked or not. He hoped that Lin Zichen would be sent towards the north. Long Chen waited at Qianwen Palace while Lin Batian went to the palace in the morning. Lin Batian ran back in a hurry before long.

“Your Highness, how was it?”

“We are facing a big challenge! We don’t have time, so I will talk to you while we walk. We need to prepare three thousand Ghost Horse Riders!”

Three thousand Ghost Horse Riders?

Long Chen was stunned.

Did the Sword Emperor make Lin Batian go to the north instead of Lin Zichen? But what about the leader of the beasts that’s rumored to be at the Category Nine Earth-tier? Lin Batian cannot deal with that beast without Lin Zichen.

“Your Highness, did the Emperor ask you to deal with the stampede?” Long Chen probed as they ran.

“No. My father announced to everyone that both me and Lin Zichen will go to Ginger City together. He will send observers to oversee our contribution in suppressing the stampede. The one who contributes the most will succeed the throne. That means I will be fighting Lin Zichen in Ginger City!” Rather than fear, Lin Batian was filled with anticipation.

Long Chen was excited when he heard the news. His plan had worked! After killing the First Commander, he had made Lin Batian and Lin Zichen quarrel with each other, and the Sword Emperor had indeed gotten so annoyed that he sent both of his sons to the north to deal with the stampede. Since no one other than Lin Zichen could kill the leader of the stampede, the Sword Emperor would naturally send him.

Which was why Long Chen was surprised when the Emperor sent Lin Batian as well. But it wouldn’t affect the next part of his plan. All Long Chen needed was to catch Lin Zichen far from the palace.

“Your Highness, don’t worry. If Lin ZIchen tries to kill you, I will definitely be able to fight back! I didn’t use my full strength last night.” Long Chen patted his chest with confidence.

“Is that so? Then I will be counting on you! To be fair, Lin Zichen is very difficult to deal with. I don’t think you will be able to defeat him, so Father has ordered him not to attack me in order to maintain fairness. He will send people to oversee his movements, so rather than defending me from him, it's much more important that you rack up contributions for me.”

Long Chen nodded in understanding.

He was well aware that this was a world where power stood above all. Lin Zichen was inferior to Lin Batian in all aspects, but he was certain that the Sword Emperor would give the throne to Lin Zichen. However, he didn’t want to leave his oldest son in the dust, as it would incur rumors in the city, so he had given Lin Batian a seemingly fair chance.

Once they are there at Ginger City, Lin Zichen could just kill the strongest beast. How could Lin Batian fight back against Lin Zichen’s strength?

“Your Highness, will Lin Zichen depart with us?”

“No. He will depart on his own. But no worries, Father had told me that the beasts up north have stopped advancing for now. We still have some time before they resume their attack. Lin Zichen might be able to reach Ginger City first, but it will be pointless since there are no beasts there yet. Father gave me a fair chance, and I must seize it!”

The two of them quickly reached the barracks. Other than the regular guards and Immortal Guards, the imperial family had another army division on their own. Each of them were almost as strong as an Immortal Guard, and they were geniuses in their own right, especially the Ghost Horse Riders.

Lin Batian was the direct commander of the army, so a group of people came out and kneeled down the moment he entered the barracks. Using a loud and stern voice, Lin Batian ordered, “Call the Eight Generals to get ready to move out! Bring the strongest Ghost Horse Riders, three thousand of them! We shall head to Ginger City in the north!”

“Yes!”

They heeded his orders and soon, the thunderous sound of thousands of hooves hitting the ground came from afar. The elite forces consisting of three thousand Ghost Horse Riders stopped in front of Long Chen.

“Brother Yang, get on the horse!”

Lin Batian was riding one of the largest Ghost Horse while holding the reins to another. Long Chen grabbed the reins, leaped onto the horse, and followed Lin Batian out. The Eight Generals as well as the rest of the troops moved out towards Ginger City!

The citizens made way when they saw the massive army moving out. Only a very high-ranking individual was capable of commanding three thousand Ghost Horse Riders. Lin Batian’s name spread out amongst the crowd when one of them recognized him.

“The man leading them is the Eldest Prince, Lin Batian! The eight people behind him must be the Eight Generals! I’ve heard that two of them are at the Eighth River Stage!”

“But who’s the young man beside the Eldest Prince? He’s only slightly behind him and seems to be even higher ranked than the Eight Generals?”

“Who knows?”

The crowd gossipped amongst themselves as the Ghost Horse Riders thundered out of the city.

They were heading north!

Long Chen looked back at the Eight Generals and saw that they were slightly stronger than the Seven Commanders, especially the two men in front. Both of them were at the Eighth River Stage, and slightly stronger than the First Commander. If he had included the First Commander, the Eldest Prince had three very powerful subordinates. However, Lin Batian thought he had four, the fourth being Long Chen.

“Brother Chen, where do you think Lin Zichen is?” Ling Xi was irritated when she remembered what Lin Zichen had done to them.

“He should be around the capital. He wants to kill Lin Batian, but he can’t do it right now, so he’s probably biding his time. We should do the same. Once he appears in Ginger City, we will kill him immediately!”

Long Chen suddenly sensed something and chuckled. “Xiaolang is following us all the way at the back. There are even two Eighth River Stage elders following us. They must be the Sword Emperor’s confidants. They are here to oversee Lin Zichen and Lin Batian as well as count their contributions.”

“Oh, I see. Since they can’t keep up with Lin Zichen, they are following Lin Batian instead. They will all gather in Ginger City.”

Long Chen nodded. “Everything is going according to plan. Once we are out of the capital and far up north, Lin Zichen will appear. If he does, I will give him a big surprise.”

Lin Zichen had forced Ling Xi to abandon the Profound Jade Lotus and almost took Long Chen’s life. Lin Zichen probably thought Long Chen would keep a low profile, completely unaware that Long Chen was now back and far stronger than before.

The three thousand Ghost Horse Riders kicked up a massive dust cloud as they thundered up north. Time slowly passed as they traveled, and Long Chen determined that they were far enough to kill Lin Zichen, but he never showed himself.

Looks like the Sword Emperor really told Lin Zichen not to touch Lin Batian. Lin Zichen, you are hiding now, but I’m sure you will show up once we are at Ginger City in order to get the contribution points. If you do, I will kill you!

Long Chen swore to himself.

Ginger City was much further from the capital than Yuanling City. It was a city at the border of the Cangyang Kingdom, but its strength was roughly the same as Yuanling City, with the strongest cultivator at the Second River Stage. There was no chance they could survive the stampede!

Lin Batian collected a lot of information about the stampede as they traveled. Most of the beasts were at the Black-tier, and there weren’t many Earth-tier beasts, but there was one very special beast. Every time it appeared, it destroyed at least one city and caused innumerable deaths.

“That beast shouldn’t be from the Snowpeak Mountains, but from outside. It must’ve realized that the people here are weaker, so it became very arrogant.”

The three thousand Ghost Horse Riders traveled with very few breaks as they didn’t need as much rest as normal people. They were able to endure the trip because all of them were the elite of elites that were at the Heavenly River Realm at least.

As for the Ghost Horses, their vitality was seemingly unending. They did not need much rest while traveling.

They finally saw a city roughly the size of Yuanling City after traveling for ten days.

Long Chen looked ahead and saw that there were numerous beasts already outside the city walls. Most of them were Black-tier beasts, and there were thousands of them! All of them were waiting outside and howling to show off their strength. There were already numerous corpses of soldiers and cultivators of Ginger City on the ground.

Thankfully, there weren’t flying monsters, or the walls would’ve been useless.

Long Chen heard the sounds of killing and the howling of the beasts. There were corpses, broken limbs, and shattered bones all around them. There was so much blood that it flowed like a river on the ground.

“My goodness. Did the beasts go crazy?” They would’ve never attacked while risking their life like this unless they had a grudge with the city. If things went on, Ginger City would fall.

The mayor of Ginger City was commanding and directing the other experts on the walls as they looked down at the slaughter. Their hearts wrenched in pain every time they saw someone die.

“We are doing fine right now ... But if that beast appears, Ginger City will definitely fall ...” The mayor sighed.

“Mayor, there seems to be another Earth-tier beast.” An elder spotted the beast from afar.

“We need to kill it fast, or the Black-tier beasts will rally by its side. I can’t let them do that. I will kill it myself right now. Everyone, stay here and continue giving commands.”

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

“Mayor, let me do it instead. You are the only Third River Stage cultivator in the city, so you need to preserve your strength. Let me handle the Category One Earth-tier beast instead,” an elder said with conviction.

When he said that, a thunderous sound came from afar. Everyone was shocked and looked towards the south. They saw a cloud of dust coming towards them on the horizon and what looked like a troop of cavalry clad in black!