"Dog Ji, long time no see!" Chu Qing curled his lips into a grin, a hint of bloodthirsty glint flashing in his eyes.
Chu Qing never thought his luck would be this good. When he spotted the faint glow of a lantern coming from the secret passage in the distance, he knew he had hit the jackpot.
The blood in his entire body felt like it was surging restlessly, and he could not help but quicken his pace.
The moment he laid eyes on Ji Duoyan, gruesome images flooded his mind: his father's bloodied severed head, and the rivers of blood that the Northwest Army had shed.
Li Feng and the others behind him, along with the Jinyang Army, also picked up their pace unconsciously.
Ji Duoyan frowned. Chu Qing was covered head to toe in blood and grime, so he really had not recognized him at first glance.
Ever since he had seized control of the entire Chongzhou region, he rarely went out, mostly staying cooped up in his grand residence. It had been ages since he had last seen Chu Qing.
The lieutenant general, however, stared at Chu Qing with growing familiarity. Moments later, his eyes flew wide open in shock. "You... you are Chu Qing?"
Chu Qing let out a low chuckle. "Not bad, you've got a sharp eye."
The lieutenant general was horrified. "How... how did you escape?"
Chu Qing scoffed. "You are not worthy of knowing that."
Ji Duoyan furrowed his brows, finally recalling who this young general of the Northwest Army was. "So this entire siege was planned by you? You've been in league with Jinyang all along?"
Chu Qing smiled. "Guess."
Ji Duoyan was seething with rage. "You are asking for death!"
No one had dared speak to him like that in a very long time. This kid was simply too insolent to know the immensity of heaven and earth.
Chu Qing raised the blade in his hand. "The ones who are going to die are all of you."
Ji Duoyan's personal guards tensed up, their eyes fixed on Chu Qing and his men, as well as the Jinyang soldiers behind them armed with repeating crossbows.
Xia Bao stepped forward and quickly issued an order. "All of you, escort the Grand Chanyu out of here first."
The lieutenant general nodded, about to lead a group of men to trigger the mechanism that opened the secret passage's exit.
All of a sudden, more than a dozen arrows were loosed. Screams rang out, and blood splattered through the air.
In the blink of an eye, a large number of Ji Duoyan's elite personal guards had fallen.
Li Feng roared as he charged straight for Ji Duoyan. "No one gets out of here alive today!"
A cold glint flashed in Xia Bao's eyes. He swiftly drew the saber at his waist and strode forward, but before he could bring his blade down, a large broadsword sliced across his path from the side.
It was Chu Qing.
Feeling the biting cold of the sharp blade, Xia Bao had no choice but to deflect his attack to defend himself, and the two of them instantly clashed.
Meanwhile, Li Feng and his men engaged the lieutenant general and the remaining standing personal guards.
The Jinyang soldiers, armed with their repeating crossbows, simply watched coldly and did not shoot the rest of the Ji army soldiers.
They all knew these men of the Northwest Army had been holding back their rage for far too long, and this was the perfect chance for them to unleash all that pent-up fury. Their only job was to make sure none of the Ji's could escape.
Clang, clang, clang...
Chu Qing and Xia Bao exchanged move after move, nearly matching each other blow for blow.
Chu Qing was getting more and more invigorated as the fight went on. It had been so long since he last held a blade, and that fiery, blood-pounding thrill was rushing back to him. This time, though, he carried with him a newfound composure and the unyielding resolve of someone who had nothing left to lose.
Xia Bao, on the other hand, was growing more and more alarmed. His martial skills were not the very best in the entire Ji army, but they were certainly among the top ranks.
Yet Chu Qing had been locked up in chains for over two years. Not only had he been unable to train to keep his body strong and agile, he had barely even had enough food to eat. How on earth had he managed to reach this level of combat prowess now?
Moreover, from what he knew, Chu Qing had not been nearly this formidable two years ago. How was it possible that suffering such hardship had only made him stronger?
The moment his attention wandered, a searing pain tore through his shoulder.
Xia Bao staggered backward at top speed, barely dodging a killing strike from Chu Qing, but a long gash was sliced open on his left shoulder, and drops of blood dripped onto the ground.
Before he could even catch his breath, Chu Qing's broadsword came slashing toward him again.
Xia Bao had no choice but to refocus all his energy on fending off the attack.
With a squelch, one personal guard was cut down by Li Feng's blade. Li Feng's eyes glinted like a wolf's as he turned to face another enemy.
Ji Duoyan watched his personal guards fall one after another, his face darkening with fury. He drew his own saber with a sharp swish and charged at Li Feng.
Clang.
Li Feng felt no fear at all. In fact, he was brimming with excitement, lifting his blade to meet Ji Duoyan's strike.
The Grand Chanyu of the barbarian tribes was generally quite skilled in combat, especially the kind who had fought to carve out their own kingdom, and Ji Duoyan was still in the prime of his life.
Though he had indulged in a life of debauchery and luxury for the past few years, letting his martial skills slip considerably, his solid foundation still remained.
After just two exchanges, Li Feng was already on the back foot.
The Jinyang soldiers raised their repeating crossbows and began shooting at Ji Duoyan and his remaining personal guards.
The lieutenant general panicked, lifting his saber to block. Bang, bang, bang — he deflected three arrows in a row.
But the personal guards behind him did not have the same level of skill. In just moments, all of them had been shot dead.
The lieutenant general roared, "Han dog, you are dead meat!"
He was just about to charge toward the Northwest soldiers not far away when three more arrows were shot at him almost simultaneously, locking down his upper, middle, and lower body all at once, leaving him no room to escape.
The lieutenant general was horrified. He swung his saber to block, but only managed to deflect two of them. The third arrow plunged straight into his abdomen.
Before he could even register the pain, a large broadsword came crashing down at him.
It was one of the Northwest soldiers, seizing the perfect chance to deliver a fatal blow.
The sharp edge of the blade sliced through his neck and drove deep into his throat.
The lieutenant general spat out a mouthful of blood. His last gaze was fixed on the Grand Chanyu who was still fighting for his life, his eyes filled with searing unwillingness and deep worry.
The Northwest soldiers were panting heavily. Though they had been well-fed and cared for over this period, they had not been able to train consistently for a long time. After a whole night of fierce, nonstop fighting, they were pushed to the brink of utter exhaustion.
Yet their hearts were burning with such fierce exhilaration that it kept them from collapsing, and the only thought in their minds was to kill, kill, kill.
Ji Duoyan had been seconds away from cutting Li Feng down under his blade, but the arrows from the Jinyang soldiers forced him to deflect them first, breaking his momentum.
Li Feng seized the opportunity to strike. The moment the arrows paused, he swung his blade at Ji Duoyan.
Ji Duoyan had just blocked several arrows, so he could only parry Li Feng's attack in a frantic, unsteady move.
The Northwest soldiers glanced over at Chu Qing, who was trading blows evenly with Xia Bao, then looked at Li Feng, who was struggling desperately to hold his own.
They immediately joined the fight on Li Feng's side, surrounding Ji Duoyan.
Ji Duoyan roared at the top of his lungs, "You Han dogs, attacking me with numbers, what cowardly tricks!"
He felt so stifled and humiliated he could barely breathe. The dignified Grand Chanyu of the Ji army was being besieged by a bunch of unknown Han bandits.
These very same Han bandits had once been his prisoners, people he could torment, beat, and kill as he pleased. Now they were here hunting him down!
Back then, back then he should have just killed all of them!
He let out a muffled groan as a blade, swung by someone he could not see, sliced a cut across his face. The sharp sting made his heart jolt hard.
It had been ages since he had last suffered a wound.
The pain sparked a flicker of fear in him. It was not fear of the dozen or so men surrounding him.
What he truly feared was the Jinyang soldiers standing off to the side, their repeating crossbows aimed right at him. He knew perfectly well that even if he managed to defeat the men besieging him, he would never escape this place alive.
He had already experienced firsthand how deadly the repeating crossbows were. If dozens of them fired at the same time, there was no way he could dodge all the arrows.
A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes as he thought this. Fine then, if it had to be this way, he would fight to the death with everything he had.
He stopped holding back to protect himself, throwing all his strength into his attacks as he charged wildly.
Xia Bao caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye that the rest of the Ji army had been wiped out, and the Grand Chanyu was completely surrounded. His heart flooded with panic, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Don't you dare!"
Chu Qing seized the exact moment Xia Bao's focus slipped. He brought his saber slicing down hard, landing a perfect hit right on Xia Bao's arm. Blood sprayed through the air as a severed hand, still clutching the saber it had been holding, went flying.
Before Xia Bao could even let out a scream, Chu Qing's second strike came crashing down with blinding speed.
Blood splattered once more, splashing all the way up onto the ceiling of the secret passage.
Thud. Xia Bao's head hit the ground.
Seeing his most trusted personal guard killed right before his eyes, Ji Duoyan was so enraged his eyes nearly burst from their sockets. He roared and charged toward Chu Qing like a madman.
