Chapter 414
Chapter 414
Su Jianting let out a long sigh and sneered.
“That bastard Shen Lang coined the term 'imbecile,' and now I see he's the real imbecile. To think he'd actually let me go like this, hahaha. Does he really believe I'll let Zhang Chong's grandson go? Dream on! The moment I reach the Marquis of Zhenyuan's estate, I'll kill this little brat and send his corpse back to Shen Lang. Hahaha!”
Su Jianting looked at Xiao Xiao and said.
“Sister Xiao Xiao, you've suffered much. From this day forward, I'll make sure you never leave my side again.”
“Alright!”
Xiao Xiao smiled, then pressed a device hidden in her sleeve.
*Shwick, shwick, shwick.*
In an instant, countless slender, thorn-like poison needles rained down on Su Jianting's back. It was a Pear Blossom Storm. Hundreds of poison needles pierced Su Jianting's back and neck.
“Argh!”
Su Jianting let out a bloodcurdling scream. With a look of disbelief, he desperately turned around and asked in a hoarse voice.
“Wh-why...?”
The last word was barely audible. The poison on the needles was a potent neurotoxin—the same one that had paralyzed the Grandmaster Xue Yin. After Shen Lang's successful research into the Voodoo Mountain's poisons, this neurotoxin had become his new weapon.
Xiao Xiao said.
“Why? Because I want to live, too. I don't know how many substances Shen Lang put into my body while experimenting on me. If I leave his side, I will surely die.”
Xiao Xiao took the child from Su Jianting's arms. Five-year-old Zhang Jun was completely unharmed by the needles. Xiao Xiao had waited for the right moment, firing the needles as Su Jianting turned his back.
“Su Jianting, I was your first woman, the one who awakened you to the ways of men and women. But you were just one of my many men.”
Xiao Xiao sneered. She took the reins of Su Jianting's warhorse and returned to Shen Lang's army, where she was once again bound and became his prisoner. Su Jianting was left trapped inside the iron cage. Just then, Zhang Shun awoke, and upon seeing his lost-and-found child, he hugged him tightly, his body trembling. Only then did five-year-old Zhang Jun burst into loud sobs.
* * *
Surrounded by the large army, Su Zhan trembled as he asked.
“Shen Lang, what in the world happened? What about A'Luotai? Where is Su Jianting?”
Shen Lang smiled.
“Does that matter now?”
Su Zhan sighed.
*'Right. Nothing matters anymore.'*
Su Zhan shook his head and said.
“Shen Lang, you may have won the battle for White Night Fortress, but you still won't be able to destroy our Su Clan. Have you seen the fortress of our Marquis of Zhenyuan's estate? It's built on a treacherous mountain, a place where even ten thousand men cannot conquer it if a single person defends it!”
Shen Lang had, of course, seen the fortress of the Marquis of Zhenyuan's estate. The Su Clan's fortress was far larger and more solid than the great fortress of Raging Tide City. It had taken the Su Clan several hundred years to build a fortress of such a grand scale.
“Our lord is no less intelligent or cunning than you, but he has suffered repeated losses because his greed drove him to seek more. However, having been defeated on the battlefield of White Night Fortress, our lord will now focus on the single goal of protecting the Su Clan. Therefore, you cannot destroy the Su Clan. As long as our lord lives, the Su Clan is not destroyed. Our Su Clan still teems with talent.
Our Su Clan's fortress is as impregnable as an iron wall; not just your ten thousand troops, but even thirty or fifty thousand would not be able to conquer it. Our fortress has no shortage of water or provisions; we could close the gates and defend it for years without issue. You will never be able to take the Su Clan's fortress, and you will never be able to destroy the Su Clan.”
Su Zhan shouted loudly, and Shen Lang still replied with a single sentence.
“Su Zhan, does any of that have anything to do with you?”
Su Zhan laughed loudly and replied.
“Why wouldn't it? How could it not? As long as the Su Clan is not destroyed, we will one day rise again and kill every last member of your Jin Clan.”
“Stop dawdling and just kill yourself. If you keep this up, I'll order my men to kill you.”
Su Zhan was filled with regret. Today, he had been so close to victory, on the verge of taking White Night Fortress, and the Su Clan's army was about to sweep through the southern part of Tianxi Province. But all his efforts had crumbled in an instant because of that wretched bastard.
“Aaaargh!”
Su Zhan cried out in anguish, then forcefully drew his sword, pressed it to his own neck, and hesitated for a moment.
*'I'm not ready. I really don't want to die.'*
“My lord, Brother Su Nan, avenge me! Shen Lang, I'll be waiting for you in hell!”
Su Zhan gritted his teeth, slit his own throat, and his massive body collapsed. At this, Shen Lang shouted loudly.
“Soldiers of the Su Clan! Your commander is dead. Lay down your weapons and surrender, and I will spare your lives!”
After Su Zhan's death, the several hundred Su Clan warriors who had stood by his side trembled with utter fear. One of them, shivering, asked.
“Will you really keep your promise?”
“You're completely surrounded by my men. What need is there for me to make promises?”
Shen Lang raised his hand forcefully and said.
“Draw your bows!”
In that instant, thousands of soldiers drew their bows in unison, aiming at the three hundred surrounded Su Clan soldiers. Shen Lang sneered at them and said.
“If you don't drop your weapons and surrender right now, I will give the order to fire.”
An officer among the Su Clan soldiers said.
“Shen Lang, you must keep your word. All brothers, lay down your weapons and surrender!”
At that moment, the three hundred Su Clan soldiers dropped the weapons in their hands.
“Kneel, cover your heads, and wait for us to bind you.”
At Shen Lang's command, the three hundred men knelt and covered their heads with their hands. Shen Lang looked at them and smiled.
“Hah, there's a saying, 'Kneel and live, stand and die.' I just wanted to see you die on your knees. You're all so obedient. I tell you to kneel, and you kneel!”
Shen Lang's expression changed abruptly, and he shouted.
“Kill them!”
As Shen Lang's command fell, the drawn arrows were released in unison.
*Shwick, shwick, shwick.*
The three hundred Su Clan soldiers kneeling on the ground were instantly turned into porcupines and died gruesome deaths. Before they died, only one thought crossed their minds.
*'Shen Lang, you motherfucker!'*
Of Su Zhan's twenty thousand troops, apart from the few thousand who fled, all the rest were killed. Shen Lang did not take a single one of them prisoner.
* * *
Inside White Night Fortress.
As soon as Shen Lang lifted Zhang Chong's clothes, he frowned deeply. There were at least dozens of wounds, and some of them had already festered and become infected. The deep gash on his chest, inflicted by Su Zhan, was especially badly infected. No wonder he had such a high fever. Shen Lang took a surgical knife and cut away all the festering flesh. Then, he looked at the wound on Zhang Chong's neck and saw that it had already been sutured.
“Who stitched this?”
“I did. Why do you ask?”
Princess Ningjue answered Shen Lang's question.
“You did a rather good job.”
“How is Lord Zhang?”
Before, she had called Zhang Chong 'Lord Zhang Chong,' but now she called him 'Lord Zhang.'
“Because he slit his own throat and lost a lot of blood, his high fever has actually dropped a little. After applying medicine, his temperature hasn't risen again, which means the infection is somewhat under control.”
Shen Lang stroked Zhang Jun's small head and said.
“Besides, with his grandson by his side, Lord Zhang will surely wake up and recover quickly.”
Shen Lang crouched down and carefully examined the wounds on the child's neck. That beast Su Jianting had laid hands on such a small child, leaving several small cuts on his neck. However, the wounds weren't deep enough to require stitches. Shen Lang took out his self-made tincture of iodine and, dabbing it on a cotton swab, said.
“Kid, this is going to sting. Try not to cry.”
Then he carefully applied the tincture of iodine to Zhang Jun's wounds with the cotton swab. The child winced in pain for a moment, his mouth open and his face scrunching up a couple of times, but in the end, he didn't cry. Seeing this, Shen Lang said.
“Zhang Shun, the people of the Zhang family are truly remarkable.”
Zhang Shun said, deeply ashamed.
“I, Zhang Shun, am incompetent. Not only did I burden my father, but I nearly jeopardized the entire state. Even dying ten thousand times would not be enough to atone for my failure.”
Shen Lang said nothing and simply patted his shoulder a few times.
“Take good care of Lord Zhang.”
“Yes!”
Several military physicians answered Shen Lang. Shen Lang picked up Zhang Jun in his arms and went outside, while Zhang Shun remained in the room to look after his father, Zhang Chong. Princess Ningjue slowly walked with Shen Lang through the streets of White Night Fortress. Only twenty-odd days had passed, but the city had completely changed. The houses near the city walls were all in ruins. A third of the houses within the city had already been dismantled, meaning half the city was destroyed.
Suddenly, the sound of weeping could be heard from here and there. Zhang Chong had recruited three to four thousand new soldiers from within the city, and many of them had died in this defensive battle. Despite this, the atmosphere in the city was still cheerful, filled with the joy of having survived death and achieved a great victory. Everyone in the city looked at Shen Lang with grateful and affectionate eyes.
Shen Lang said.
“Lord Zhang is truly a remarkable man. In a fortnight of battle, he united the army and the people's hearts. From this day forward, the hearts of the people of White Night Fortress will belong to our State of Yue.”
Ningjue said.
“Building something is more remarkable than destroying it.”
Her words were a subtle jab at Shen Lang. Shen Lang had wreaked havoc on the various cities of the White Night Commandery, turning the world upside down in just a dozen short days. In comparison, Zhang Chong, who had won the hearts of the people of White Night Fortress, had certainly accomplished something greater.
“The battle for White Night Fortress is over, but the Su Clan's eight-thousand-strong army remains in Xueliang City. Aren't you going to seize this momentum, lead your army north, and eliminate Su Can?”
Su Can was Su Nan's younger brother and, likewise, a fierce general of the Su Clan. This alone showed that the Su Clan was overflowing with talent.
Shen Lang replied.
“What's the rush? Besides, my army is composed entirely of cavalry. Are they even useful for attacking a city? Count Zhengta has been putting on a play for a fortnight; it's about time he started working his hardest.”
Princess Ningjue said coldly.
“That man deserves to die.”
Shen Lang sneered, looking down on Zhengta. With the unexpected great victory at White Night Fortress, Count Zhengta would now be under immense pressure. He had thought Zhang Chong would surely die, that White Night Fortress would fall, and that the entire southern part of Tianxi Province would be conquered, bringing the State of Yue to the brink of collapse. That was why he had chosen to preserve his own strength. Turbulent times were coming, and in such times, the one with troops becomes king of the forest. How could he willingly expend his forces in a battle against the Su Clan? If disaster struck the State of Yue, Zhengta's twenty thousand troops would become significantly more valuable. He had thought and acted accordingly, but unexpectedly, White Night Fortress had won the battle against the Su Clan. Now, he was in an awkward, and perhaps even dangerous, position. The king was probably thinking something like this.
*'Zhang Chong and Shen Lang brought three thousand troops and annihilated the main force of the Su Clan. And yet you, Zhengta, with twenty thousand troops under your command, couldn't even eliminate the eight thousand defenders of Xueliang City. How pathetic.'*
“But how did you do it?”
Ningjue was asking how Shen Lang had defeated the Qiang King, A'Luotai, and placed A'Luonana on the throne.
“Haha!”
Shen Lang gave a fake laugh. No matter how beautiful a strange woman was, if there was no chance of sleeping with her, Shen Lang didn't want to waste even a single expression on her.
*'Why should I bother trying to please you when I can't even sleep with you?'*