Chapter 353
Chapter 353
Su Baidu staggered and held out his hands toward Lu Jun.
“Here. Take me.”
The Great Eunuch Lu Jun asked.
“Where is Su Nan?”
The elderly Su Baidu smirked, the corners of his mouth lifting.
“You think you can capture my master? That is impossible!”
Just then!
*Fwoosh!*
As if on cue, Su Baidu dropped the candle in his hand, and the entire Marquis of Zhenyuan's estate behind him erupted in fierce flames. And it wasn't just the Marquis of Zhenyuan's estate; a dozen other locations nearby burst into flames simultaneously.
*Boom!*
Barrels of fish oil exploded violently, sending flames soaring high into the sky. At the same time!
*Rumble.*
As if by design, flames began to rise from every corner of the capital. Viewed from above, it looked as if houses were exploding one by one. It wasn't gunpowder, but barrels of fish oil igniting, yet once lit, their power surpassed that of gunpowder. In the dark capital, flowers of fire bloomed, one after another.
*Rumble.*
One, ten, a dozen, dozens, a hundred!
Fierce flames erupted in all directions; as one died down, another flared up elsewhere. Nearly a hundred houses in the capital were ablaze, the fires spreading with ferocious intensity. Countless citizens screamed as they fled in a hurry.
Witnessing the scene, the face of Yan E, Grand Commander of the Blackwater Terrace, changed drastically. He issued a command to his men.
“Go! To the Vermilion Bird Gate!”
The Grand Commander, known as the Black Flame King, was truly formidable. When they had arrived at the Marquis of Zhenyuan's estate and a Blackwater Terrace warrior reported that Su Nan was still sitting idly in the garden playing Go by himself, the Great Eunuch Lu Jun had been pleased, but Yan E had frowned. He had sensed immediately that something was amiss. And now, with flames erupting across the capital, he mounted his horse without hesitation and galloped toward the Vermilion Bird Gate with three thousand warriors of the Blackwater Terrace.
*Rumble.*
Countless flames illuminated the dark night sky. Numerous soldiers in the capital were mobilized, moving to maintain order among the people and extinguish the fires. But the entire capital was already in chaos, boiling over like water reaching its peak. It was an unstoppable, world-shaking conflagration. Fish oil had long been hidden in every corner of the capital, and it was only natural for it to explode once ignited.
***
The royal palace, as if facing a great enemy, sealed all its gates, and thousands of royal guards stood watch over every corner. Eunuchs, palace maids, and royal consorts were forbidden from taking a single step outside without the King's order. Anyone who disobeyed, regardless of their status, would be put to death. All the princes, except for the fifth prince whom no one cared about, entered the palace. The Crown Prince and the Third Prince donned their armor and personally guarded the King within the palace.
A young eunuch tried to help the King put on his armor, but Ning Yuanxian refused. He did not even wear his royal robes, instead choosing a long robe of a dark, understated color embroidered with a golden dragon—the very one Shen Lang had once admired. It made him look more like a high-ranking nobleman at leisure. His face was calm, showing neither tension nor anger. It was as if he was not the least bit tense about the current situation, not even considering it a threat. Seeing their King so composed, many within the palace regained their calm.
Ning Yuanxian ascended to the highest point of the palace and looked out over the capital, where a great calamity was unfolding and countless people were screaming in agony. Everywhere, raging fires burned, soaring high into the sky. Though no report had yet arrived, the King knew that Su Nan had already escaped. The news from the Blackwater Terrace in the State of Jiang had arrived in a timely manner, but it was still later than the Su Clan's. Su Nan's side had received the news first, and he had fled the moment he learned of the King of Jiang's sudden death. Even with hundreds of Blackwater Terrace warriors surrounding and monitoring the entire Marquis of Zhenyuan's estate, he would have escaped with ease.
“Su Nan could have just fled in secret. Why cause such a great disturbance?”
The Crown Prince answered the King's question.
“Isn't it because that beast is running wild?”
The Third Prince, Ning Qi, inwardly thinking the Crown Prince was a fool, spoke up.
“Your Majesty, Su Nan is making a show of force.”
The King said coolly.
“Correct. His actions are indeed a show of force. After playing the part of a docile dog for decades, the moment things went awry, he cast off his mask and became a vicious wolf, baring its fangs.”
Was it not so? Once things went wrong, Su Nan instantly became vicious and arrogant. He had no need to cause such a massive disturbance, enough to fill the capital with flames, yet he chose to set it ablaze. This was a vicious wolf completely abandoning its guise as an old dog, howling desperately at the lion that was Ning Yuanxian.
“But does digging a hole and fleeing like a mole show even a shred of a hero's spirit?”
***
Everyone had misjudged Su Nan. He certainly could have left the capital without a sound. Having received the news of the King of Jiang's sudden death four hours before the King did, he could have fled a hundred li away and entered Lang Prefecture by the time the Blackwater Terrace came to arrest him. But he did not, and he was still within the capital.
Su Nan sat ramrod straight on his thousand-li steed, his posture like a thrown javelin. With his back straight, he stood nearly one meter and ninety centimeters tall. As he rode, a magnificent aura, previously hidden, was revealed. Though his hair was dyed completely white, his face, only a few years older than the King's, showed not a single wrinkle. He looked thirty at most, and the white-dyed hair only enhanced his unique character.
Su Nan was a master of supreme martial arts, and his body was currently at the peak of its life. He looked like a completely different person from when he had disguised himself as a seventy or eighty-year-old man. He wore black light armor and held a long spear made of darksteel in his hand. The spear was so heavy that he had to let it drag on the ground as he rode. As his thousand-li steed galloped at extreme speed, the spear scraped along the ground, creating sparks and a piercing, sharp sound.
Behind him, dozens of warriors in black armor followed, all galloping at high speed toward the Vermilion Bird Gate. As they raced on, other warriors in black, waiting on the roadside, continuously joined their ranks. Their numbers grew from dozens to over a hundred, then to several hundred. Now, a long column of several hundred cavalrymen charged toward the Vermilion Bird Gate like a sharp blade. Just then, with flames soaring high across the capital, a state of great confusion had descended. Countless soldiers poured out like a tidal wave from the capital's various garrisons, the Central Military Command, and the Privy Council. One army unit spotted Su Nan's hundreds of warriors galloping down the Vermilion Bird Avenue and questioned them.
“Who are you? State your unit designation and countersign.”
“Kill them!”
At Su Nan's command, the hundreds of warriors behind him drew their blades with vigor. And in the blink of an eye, they slaughtered the entire army unit blocking their path. Su Nan's several hundred cavalrymen easily broke through the unit and continued their mad dash down Vermilion Bird Avenue, soon arriving at the Vermilion Bird Gate.
“Who goes there? The King has issued a decree to seal the four gates of the capital and allow no one to enter or leave.”
A defending soldier on the gate wall shouted loudly. Simultaneously, a thousand soldiers defending the Vermilion Bird Gate drew their bowstrings in unison. The defending soldier on the Vermilion Bird Gate shouted again.
“Halt where you are, or we will shoot to kill.”
Su Nan extended his hand, and a spear appeared in it, as if handed to him by someone unseen.
*Swish!*
He threw the spear with all his might, and it flew with the speed of lightning. Its momentum was astonishing, even making a *whooshing* sound as it cut through the air. The shouting soldier moved quickly, but he could not dodge Su Nan's spear.
*Thud!*
In an instant, the man's body was impaled by the spear, sent flying several meters, and pinned to the wall.
“I am the great bandit Go Duhwan. Who dares stand in my way? Kill them all!”
Su Nan roared, and the hundreds of warriors under his command charged forward like madmen.
*Swish, swish, swish, swish.*
The army defending the Vermilion Bird Gate fired arrows relentlessly. The warriors behind Su Nan quickly blocked the arrows with their shields, but some warhorses and warriors were hit. However, Su Nan's hundreds of warriors charged swiftly toward the defending garrison's camp. The cavalry, charging at high speed against the infantry, shattered their ranks in an instant. Su Nan's darksteel spear danced, thrusting wildly in all directions, and no one could stand against him. He left a trail of countless casualties; the soldiers blocking him fell like grass in the wind. Without stopping even once, he reached the base of the Vermilion Bird Gate.
The Vermilion Bird Gate opened, and Su Nan's hundreds of warriors surged out like a wave. The capital was a formidable fortress, harder to conquer from the outside than to ascend to the heavens. But killing the defenders from within and breaking out was not so difficult. After breaking through the Vermilion Bird Gate, Su Nan laughed heartily.
“Is this the capital of the State of Yue? Is this Sky Yue City? It's like walking in and out of an unguarded place. Hahahaha! The State of Yue is so weak it's unbearable to watch!”
Su Nan led his hundreds of warriors in a mad dash to the west, where fresh warhorses awaited them dozens of li away. Another two hundred li and they would enter the territory of Tianxi Province. For Su Nan, arriving there was like a fish returning to the sea. A quarter of an hour after Su Nan burst out of the Vermilion Bird Gate, Grand Commander Yan E of the Blackwater Terrace and several large army units arrived in pursuit. But upon hearing that Su Nan had already been gone for a quarter of an hour, Yan E knew he could not catch him. Nevertheless, the Sky Yue Central Military Command led an army of several thousand out of the city to pursue Su Nan. Grand Commander Yan E of the Blackwater Terrace returned to the royal palace.
***
“Your Majesty, Su Nan has escaped. He broke out through the Vermilion Bird Gate with great fanfare, under the name of Go Duhwan.”
Hearing the report, King Ning Yuanxian shuddered once, and everyone present wore an expression of disbelief. Su Nan could have escaped without a sound, so why did he leave the capital as if waving a banner in a grand display? Did he want to trample on the King's dignity and the State of Yue's authority? The man was cunning and deceitful, always leaving himself an escape route in whatever he did. Behaving with such arrogance was not like him at all. But the King quickly understood the reason. Su Nan's actions were a message to the states of Chu and Wu.
‘Look, everyone. The State of Yue is this weak now. I, Su Nan, with only a few hundred men, could come and go from the capital as I pleased. (Of course, this is an exaggeration. -Author's note) King of Wu, quickly raise your army and march south. King of Chu, quickly send your forces west. The State of Yue is weak; none of you should miss this golden opportunity. King of Wu, you can avenge the humiliation of your great defeat over twenty years ago and reclaim the nine prefectures taken by Yue. King of Chu, there can only be one hegemon in the south. It will be either Yue or Chu. Now is the best chance for you to be called the hegemon of the south.’