Chapter 285 – To Sway a City

Translator: Coca5156

Editor: Drea

Standing on top of the city gates, Zang Guangping similarly stared dumbfoundedly at the group that was leaving. He cursed internally. Was the Third Prince here to help or to make things worse?

In the next fifteen minutes, he took back what he thought about Rong Yuan. Because of Rong Yuan, he saw Ding Wei frantically try to gather his troops and started to chase Rong Yuan, giving up on attacking Sangbo Town.

On the other side, as Hua Qingcheng saw Rong Yuan leave, his face twitched slightly as he turned his attention back to the battle at hand, filled with the intention to fight.

He understood that why Rong Yuan did not come to help him was to give him a chance to prove himself.

Ever since he pledged his loyalty to Gu Lingzhi, he never had the chance to prove himself. Whatever others thought of him was also the image of him ten years ago. At that time, he was still an arrogant youth and was making himself famous by his extraordinary talent. More than that, he was overestimating himself and challenging Demigods. Although he always lost terribly, he always gained a lot of experience through it. If not for what had happened with Meng Rou, he might have already broken through to become a Demigod.

Now, with the opportunity Rong Yuan gave him, he can take the chance to test his cultivation.

With this in mind, Hua Qingcheng did not hold back. His huge lotus flower trembled as it grew even bigger than before. The layers of light pink flower petals seem to come to life as they engulfed the three of them. Hua Qingcheng hid within the petals, controlling the petals, turning the lotus flower into a dangerous maze.

On the other side, Rong Yuan completely ignored the battle and rushed towards Shixi County. A long line of Silver-Armoured Troops followed close behind him.

The Silver-Armoured Troops was Rong Yuan’s private army. There were eight smaller groups within them and each small group had a captain, vice-captain and one hundred soldiers. Two of the groups had been sent to Muji Kingdom as reinforcements while two groups remained in the palace. There were only four groups following him.

Despite only having half his men, it was sufficient to cause a shift of power in the battle. Now, they were all aggressively heading towards Shixi County. No one doubted their ability to take over the County.

“Damn it! Pang Huan, Chu Chao! What are you guys doing?” Hurriedly calling for a retreat, Ding Wei took his anger out on his Martial Sages as he rushed towards Shixi County. In his mind, Rong Yuan had sent Hua Qingcheng to them as a sacrifice. With the three Martial Sages from the Dayin Kingdom, they would be able to take him down easily. But after a long time had passed, not only did the giant lotus flower belonging to Hua Qingcheng not wither, it grew even bigger.

“Your Highness, you should head over first. We will be right with you!” Stuck in the maze of petals, Chu Chao shouted. He then turned his attention back to the petal maze that was giving him a huge headache.

He never thought there would be a day where he could not handle a flower. After being sucked into the petals by Hua Qingcheng, he felt like he entered a maze. The originally tender and alluring flower petals was turning into a seal of death before his very eyes.

The speed at which these flower petals are growing were extremely fast and even if he cut off a few petals, they very quickly replaced themselves and were extremely annoying. He finally understood why Hua Qingcheng was so famous many years ago. With just this, he was already helpless. What was scarier than not even being able to locate your opponent?

Seeing how Chu Chao went silent after shouting that one sentence, Ding Wei muttered under his breath, “Wastrel.” He then led the troops to chase after Rong Yuan.

In his mind, he knew that the Martial Sage from Sangbo Town had been injured and would not be able to help for the time being. No matter how powerful Rong Yuan was, he was alone while he had three Martial Sages on his side. Even if they could not win Rong Yuan and Hua Qingcheng, he could delay Hua Qingcheng with two of them. He could then make use of his soldiers to handle the Silver-Armoured Troops. But who knew that Hua Qingcheng would be so hard to handle and hold back all three of his Martial Sages, allowing Rong Yuan to be free? They were a bunch of useless wastrels!

Zang Guangping took in the changes with wide eyes. In the previous fifteen minutes, the enemy had surrounded Sangbo Town and seemed extremely confident of taking over. However, with the appearance of Rong Yuan and his surprising move, they were now frantically chasing after him. Zang Guangping did not know how to feel.

Since when could this happen between two armies that were battling? They gave up the current battle to attack and rescue. Only Rong Yuan and the Silver-Armoured Troops were capable of something like this and could shift the battlefield so quickly.

Maybe...the Third Prince was not as useless as he had thought.

The Shixi County had always been relatively close to Sangbo Town and Rong Yuan reached it in no time. From afar, he saw the sturdy and simple city.

Maybe they had believed that the Xia Kingdom was not capable of launching any attacks as they left the city gates of Shixi County wide open. The border guards were leaning lazily on the city wall as they looked in the direction of Sangbo Town. They were wishing that they could leave the city gates and follow Ding Wei to attack Sangbo Town. When they succeeded in occupying the town, a portion of it would be credited to them.

All of a sudden, one of the guards jerked. Seeing the dust storm that was kicked up as the wildebeest raced towards them, his eyes filled with glee, “His Highness has returned!”

This shout alerted all the other guards to focus on the group that was heading towards Shixi County. They all wore similar levels of delight on their faces, “I knew our Highness is much more powerful than the Third Prince of the Xia Kingdom. So what if he has the talent to become a True God? In the end, he was still defeated so easily by our prince.”

Similar sentiments could be heard from the border guards. The citizens of the area that were having activities near them overheard as they stopped and looked at the group that was heading towards them. Their eyes were filled with pride.

When they heard about the rumors of the Third Prince of the Xia Kingdom, they were wondering how great he could be. Alas, he was not that capable. In less than two hours since they attacked, their prince was returning victorious. The rumours were an exaggeration.

As the group neared, a guard on the whistle tower realised something was off and asked his fellow guard, “Eh, were the soldiers that the prince brought to Sangbo Town wearing silver armor?”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

“What nonsense are you saying?” His comrade snorted, “Since when does our kingdom use silver armor? Do you think we are the Silver-Armored Troops?”

In the entire Tianyuan Continent, only the Silver-Armored Troops owned and wore silver armor. Everyone knew that any group wearing silver armor was Rong Yuan’s troops.

The soldier then froze as he saw the silver reflection in the cloud of dust and suddenly shouted, “Silver-Armoured Troops! Those are not our prince’s army. It’s the Silver-Armoured Troops!”

“Quick, quick close the city gates!”

Following the shrieks of the two soldiers, everyone else stared at the group that was approaching. The silver-colored armor flashed beneath the dust cloud.

“Close the gates–”

“Goodness gracious, how can it be the Silver-Armored Troops? Where is our prince? Could it be that our army has been defeated?”

Closing the city gates in a panic, the citizens of Shixi County lost all signs of happiness that they felt earlier. Fear was written all over their faces.

Why were the Silver-Armored Troops here? Where was their army? Where was their prince?

Following the increasing fear was the sound of rumbling.

It was a rumbling caused by a few hundred wildebeests galloping towards them. It was as if something was pressed on the people’s chest, making it hard for them to breathe.

The wildebeest that Rong Yuan was on was the fittest and fastest. Even if it was carrying two people, it was still far ahead of the other wildebeests. Before the rest of the Silver-Armored Troops caught up, Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi had reached the city gate of Shixi County.

With Rong Yuan’s enhanced eyesight, he definitely saw the chaos when they tried to quickly close the city gates. On the way to Shixi County, he had already thought of a plan. He stopped his wildebeest near to the base of the gates and emitted his threatening Martial Sage level aura and bellowed, “Everyone from Shixi County, listen up. Your prince will not be able to come back for now. Will you open the city gates or do you want me to break it?”

Not..not coming back? Could the prince really have...

Hearing Rong Yuan’s intentionally misleading words, numerous people sucked in a breath as an icy cold feeling took over their hearts.

Could their prince have fallen so quickly?

Not giving them time to consider, Rong Yuan gave another shocking news, “I will only give you all half an hour to decide. If you do not open the city gates, when I take over Shixi County, don’t expect me to be kind!”

A pin-drop silence fell over the city.

They could not move on from the fact that their prince had been defeated. How many days has it been since they started the war with the Xia Kingdom? If their prince had been defeated, how were they going to continue the war?

“Will they really fall for your lies?” Gu Lingzhi whispered to Rong Yuan.

Even though he really wanted to give her a confirmation, Rong Yuan considered the speed at which the Dayin’s soldiers were rushing over and shook his head slightly, “I don’t know.”

This was a last-minute plan and he did not think how he would get them to open the city gates. However, after seeing the small number of city guards, he had the impulse to try.

“So? Are you all planning to resist?” Rong Yuan laughed lightly as he exerted his threatening aura on the guards at the city gates, looking at them sternly.

After a while, a middle-aged man that seemed to be the leader asked, “Where- where is our prince?”

Rong Yuan blinked, “He is currently a guest at Sangbo Town.”

“You are lying!” Before Rong Yuan completed his sentence, an indignant voice shouted, “Our prince brought three Martial Sages to attack the city, how can they have lost? You are definitely lying!”