Chapter 645
Chapter 645
Another half-hour passed, and another group of soldiers from the State of Yue broke ranks and fled. Even as the disciplinary corps desperately cut down the deserters, they couldn't stop them completely. When one unit flees, it signals the collapse of the entire front, even if the Yue army still outnumbered Prince Gong’s forces several times over.
“Your Highness, I request permission to enter the battle!”
The speaker was Zhang Shao, a former admiral of Yue and a direct subordinate of the Crown Prince. The ten thousand cavalrymen under his command were the last reserves the State of Yue possessed. Half of this force had been brought by the Crown Prince from the capital, while the other half consisted of elite knights sent by the noble scions of Yue to curry favor with him. These ten thousand cavalrymen had been held back, positioned at the very rear of the formation. Their sole purpose was to protect the Crown Prince, but with the entire front on the verge of collapse, he had no other choice.
Zhang Shao glanced at Li Nanfeng of the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion.
“Rest assured. Our two hundred warriors from the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion can certainly protect His Highness!”
Li Nanfeng was absolutely confident. The two hundred warriors he had brought were all exceptionally skilled masters, capable of looking down on the entire martial world. While they weren't suited for battlefield combat, they were more than capable of ensuring the Crown Prince's safety.
“Permission granted!”
At Crown Prince Ning Yi’s command, Zhang Shao led his ten thousand cavalrymen straight into the fray, finally managing to turn the tide once more. Crown Prince Ning Yi was drenched in sweat, his head throbbing. He had never imagined the battle would unfold in such a perilous and astonishing way. All three of his great generals had been deployed, and he had even committed his central army. Only then did the fighting capacity of Prince Gong’s forty thousand savage tribesmen finally reach its limit, and the battlefield entered another stalemate. The Yue army had regained the upper hand.
Crown Prince Ning Yi didn't yet know the casualty count on either side, but Li Nanfeng, who stood beside him, had been counting with his eyes. He reported that the savage army had likely suffered over ten thousand casualties, while the Yue army had lost around thirty to forty thousand. Hearing that ratio, Crown Prince Ning Yi gasped.
‘For every one savage tribesman who died, three Yue soldiers fell?’
What was even more infuriating was that with thirty to forty thousand casualties, the Yue army had lost, at most, a quarter of its total strength, yet the remaining one hundred and sixty thousand men had been on the brink of collapse. In contrast, Prince Gong’s savage army had lost over a third of its forces but was still fighting with high morale. The difference in combat effectiveness between the two armies was simply too vast. It was fortunate they had brought an army of two hundred thousand. Otherwise, the outcome of this war would have been hard to predict.
Now, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Yue army was poised for victory. It was a matter of momentum. Once the scales of war begin to tip, it is incredibly difficult to reverse the situation without external influence. Every time the Yue army’s front was about to break, they immediately sent in reinforcements to halt the decline. But Prince Gong’s side had no reinforcements. This war would be Yue’s victory.
“This is bad! Prince Gong’s forces are trying to break through the encirclement!”
Li Nanfeng suddenly shouted. Just as he said, the remaining twenty thousand or so savage tribesmen were preparing to break out. Moreover, their commander and great generals were at the forefront, forming a sharp, sword-like breakthrough formation. The man leading the charge wore a silver mask and wielded a silver spear, displaying such valor that none could stand against him. As he galloped across the battlefield, no one could even withstand a single exchange with him.
‘Is that Prince Gong? He looks somewhat familiar!’
But Crown Prince Ning Yi had no time to dwell on it. He roared out his orders.
“Stop him! Stop him! Do not let the enemy break through the encirclement!”
However, it was useless. The disparity in combat prowess between the soldiers of the two sides was too stark. Great General Zhu Lin and Great General Nangong Ao personally charged into the enemy lines to intercept the enemy commander, but they simply couldn't stop him. The Yue soldiers were terrified of the enemy in their hearts, and seeing the savage army breaking through the encirclement was, in a way, a relief to them. After such a brutal battle, fear had taken root. They were not saints, nor were they beasts; they knew how to fear their enemy.
Just like that, the commander of the savage tribesmen led his twenty-thousand-strong army and easily tore a gap in the Yue encirclement, charging right out. Zhu Lin and Nangong Ao led their cavalry in pursuit. In any case, they had won the battle and pacified the enemy within the Blackwater Stronghold. However, outside the stronghold, the land was a dense jungle of deep mountains, a terrain entirely unsuitable for a cavalry pursuit.
The savage warriors split into numerous groups and vanished into the deep mountains and dense forests. They moved with such speed, as if walking on flat ground, that it was impossible to give chase. It was utterly hopeless to face such an army in this kind of terrain. Despite having cavalry and an army of over a hundred thousand behind them, they could only watch with wide eyes as the enemy broke through the encirclement and disappeared without a trace.
But Crown Prince Ning Yi was not too disheartened.
‘A win is a win. That’s all that matters!’
He was a practical man. The brutal battle of the past few hours had shaken him so much that he no longer even thought of annihilating or capturing Prince Gong’s forces. Driving him out of the Southern Domain and repelling him was a great victory in itself. After all, he could write the victory report however he pleased, and the fact remained that they had won. It might not have been a complete annihilation, but it was a great victory nonetheless.
Just then, the commander of the savage tribesmen turned back. He rode his tall, powerful horse and looked at Crown Prince Ning Yi from a distance, startling the prince.
‘Is that Prince Gong? Why is he wearing a silver mask?’
He had refused to meet Ning Yi before, so what was the meaning of this now? Although the savage army was incredibly strong, hadn't Prince Gong just been defeated? At that moment, the commander of the savage army removed the silver mask from his face, revealing a valiant countenance. The Crown Prince trembled all over, unable to hide his shock at the sight before him.
‘How is that man alive?!’
“Hahahaha! Ning Yi, you never would have dreamed of this! You never could have imagined that I didn't die!”
It was Su Nan, the Marquis Zhenyuan of the State of Yue. No wonder Crown Prince Ning Yi had felt a sense of familiarity when he saw him wielding the silver spear.
‘It’s Su Nan? But he’s clearly dead, isn't he?’
Crown Prince Ning Yi’s heart hammered in his chest, and his entire body trembled.
‘The enemy commander wasn’t Prince Gong? Th-then where on earth is Prince Gong?’
***
Didn't Su Nan die? Yes! Then who was it that died on the border of the states of Jiang and Chu? At the time, Su Nan’s clan was fleeing to the Western Regions, but they had wasted a great deal of time due to their greed for the gold in the Jiang King's palace. Furthermore, their army was collectively struck by dysentery and malaria, allowing them to be surrounded by the Jiang cavalry led by Shen Lang. To protect Su Nan, his loyal servant Su Yong disguised himself as the marquis and led the majority of the Su clan on a desperate charge to the west. Su Nan, meanwhile, took the direct descendants of the Su clan and headed north, planning to enter the State of Chu first before circling around to the Western Regions.
However, Shen Lang, along with the Sword King Li Qianqiu and the most elite Jiang cavalry, was blocking the path into Chu. There, Su Nan and Li Qianqiu fought a final battle, and in the end, Su Nan was cut down by the Sword King’s blade. Before his death, Su Nan personally killed his own family—his sons, nephews, wife, and brothers. He then asked Shen Lang if the grudge between them and the Su clan was finally settled, before striking his own head with a final palm attack, dying a spectacular death that left an indelible memory on both Shen Lang and Li Qianqiu. His image was instantly elevated, making him seem like a formidable figure filled with a tragic aura.
But in truth, the person who had died was not Su Nan, but the bandit chief San'anya. There was a story behind this. Because Su Nan had long disguised himself as an old man in the capital, Shen Lang had never seen his true face. And San'anya had always worn a mask, never revealing his own face either. Su Nan had exactly two body doubles. One was an elderly man, but they did not have identical faces, so Su Nan would always disguise himself to look like his old double. San'anya served as Su Nan's younger double. So, did he resemble Su Nan? They were not brothers and shared no blood relation, so it was impossible for them to be identical. However, their body shapes could be made similar through training, and the contours of their faces were somewhat alike. So how were their faces made to match? For that, one must mention the Great Calamity Temple!
As mentioned before, the Great Calamity Temple was always considered an evil faction because they were proficient in various dark arts. Perhaps it was because the ancient ruins they excavated contained a relatively large number of such arts. They were capable of many strange techniques. Even the statues inside the Great Calamity Palace depicted many scenes involving men and women, carved in extremely explicit detail. There were even statues of people who were neither man nor woman, and some who possessed the characteristics of both sexes.
The Great Calamity Temple had another skill. Whether you would call it changing one’s appearance or plastic surgery, it was hard to say. But it was not surgery performed with a knife; they could change a person's face through a very bizarre method. Of course, most people could not withstand such a malevolent technique and would die. It was considered a great success if even one in ten people who attempted the dark art survived.
However, there was another hidden detail. The remnants who carried Jiang Li's bloodline possessed a very special lineage. After reaching adulthood, if they could not release the power of their bloodline, their faces and bodies would become twisted. This was true for both Gou Duhuan and the ten brothers of the Lan Clan. But interestingly, that was the best time to reshape a face. The bandit chief San'anya was also one of Jiang Li’s remnants, possessing that special bloodline. In a way, Gou Duhuan was truly a brother to San'anya. Many clans in the past would adopt and raise war orphans, and Su Nan was no exception.
San'anya was one who stood out among the remnants of Jiang Li. From about the age of seventeen, he began living a dual life as a bandit and as Su Nan’s body double. But even with the unfathomable skills of the Great Calamity Temple, they could not make his face completely identical to Su Nan’s. Still, after extensive use of their appearance-altering arts, they managed to make their faces about ninety percent similar.
On the day of Su Nan’s spectacular death, only one person saw his true face: the Sword King Li Qianqiu. The Sword King had a particular trait—he did not look at a person’s face, but at their inner power, their true energy, and the aura of their martial arts. And in that regard, Su Nan and San'anya were remarkably alike. This was because they both trained from the same manuals and used the same weapons every day. Even so, at the time of their duel, the Sword King Li Qianqiu had a slight doubt.
‘Why has Su Nan's presence weakened? Why isn't he as imposing as he was at the Langjun Relay Station?’