Chapter 389: Chapter 389: The County City is Safe
This time, the Ninth Prince seemed incredibly reckless, barging in to scold Jingtai and the others.
In reality, he had his own considerations.
First, Lord Lan and Prince Duan were individuals of such transcendent power and status that, in their eyes, even a change of who sat on the throne was of little consequence.
Therefore, even if they saw through his intentions, it didn’t matter at all.
In their eyes, his schemes as the Ninth Prince were nothing more than petty tricks, hardly worth mentioning.
As for Jingtai and his men, they had just caused a great disaster and were certainly under immense psychological pressure.
A County City massacred, millions of citizens dead—an incident like this would not only be investigated by the Great Xia Dragon Guard internally, but would likely also attract the attention of the imperial family or other powers in the imperial city.
The matter might be manageable within the Great Xia Dragon Guard, but dealing with the other parties was another story.
Therefore, this was the perfect opportunity to subdue Jingtai and his men and bring them to his side.
The eight of them, Jingtai included, were not only powerful but also controlled the Great Xia Dragon Guard of an entire county. If he could win them over, they would be a huge asset in his future struggle for the throne.
Employing both carrot and stick was a cliché tactic, but the very reason it was a cliché was that it was so effective.
And the result was just as the Ninth Prince had expected.
Although Lord Lan and Prince Duan saw through his intentions, they simply sipped their tea in silence, not bothering to get involved.
However, the faces of Jingtai and his seven companions turned extremely grim.
They naturally understood the Ninth Prince’s meaning.
But to bow their heads to a mere Earth Spirit Realm practitioner—even if he was a Prince—was something Jingtai and the others found hard to accept.
Faced with this situation, the Ninth Prince didn’t say anything more. He simply found a place to sit and turned to look out the window.
’Hmph, go ahead and act tough. We’ll see if you can keep it up after you see the rivers of blood in the County City...’
The Ninth Prince thought to himself, a confident and smug smile spreading across his face.
He was in an excellent mood. He hadn’t expected to encounter such a golden opportunity on his way to join a sect.
As long as he subdued Jingtai and his men, his own power would increase significantly. Perhaps he could even surpass the Second Prince in one fell swoop.
As for the lives of the millions of citizens in Lianshan County City, he had never truly cared. In his eyes, they were just common rabble, a different breed entirely from a magnificent Prince like himself.
The atmosphere in the room grew heavy.
The Flying Ship traveled at full speed, moving incredibly fast. It took just over an hour to fly from the abandoned small city to the County City.
Although it was only an hour, Jingtai and his men were so anxious that every minute felt like an eternity.
The Flying Ship was moving too fast for them to get any kind of advanced look.
One second, they could only see the blurry outline of the County City; the next, the massive Flying Ship had already come to a steady halt above it.
After stopping in the sky above the County City, everyone in the room, including Lord Lan and Prince Duan, hurried to the windows to look down.
Within the County City, everything looked no different from usual. Looking closely, they could even see many pedestrians on the streets, and smoke was rising from the chimneys of many houses.
It was a scene of peace, not at all like a place where a disaster had occurred.
It was a world away from the rivers of blood they had imagined.
"It’s... it’s fine! The County City is fine!"
"Haha! It was a lie! That old bastard Profound Snake was tricking us!"
The three Chief Stewards and Six Great Army Commanders of the Lianshan County Great Xia Dragon Guard were overcome with excitement. If not for the presence of Lord Lan and Prince Duan, they would have burst out laughing with joy!
Throughout the journey, the Ninth Prince’s smile and threatening gazes had made them feel infuriated, embarrassed, and even humiliated!
A group of King Realm and Celestial Spirit Realm experts, being openly manipulated by a mere Earth Spirit Realm practitioner.
But now, the clouds had finally parted.
Since the County City was fine, Jingtai and the others no longer needed to pay the Ninth Prince any mind.
In the end, he was just a Prince!
"I’m afraid it wasn’t all a lie. Look near the city walls. There are large swaths of collapsed houses. A great battle must have taken place."
Lord Lan said in a low voice, standing by the window.
Lord Lan couldn’t care less about the Ninth Prince’s petty schemes. He was far more concerned with the matter of Lianshan County City.
Jingtai and his men were too tense and excited. They had only noticed that there were no rivers of blood inside the city, failing to see the obvious signs of a major battle around the city walls.
Meanwhile, the Ninth Prince stood by a window, his face gradually turning grim as he gazed upon the peaceful County City.
’The County City is completely unharmed? Doesn’t that make everything I did a joke? How am I any different from a buffoon!?’
The Ninth Prince had known nothing but smooth sailing his entire life, which had long since cultivated his proud and arrogant personality.
At this moment, he wished he could jump off the Flying Ship and slaughter everyone in the County City himself!
The Flying Ship continued to hover in mid-air.
Lord Lan, Prince Duan, Jingtai, and the others rode Flying Demon Beasts down into the Great Xia Dragon Guard’s encampment.
As for the prodigies picked up from the imperial city and other counties, along with some soldiers of the Imperial Guard and the Great Xia Dragon Guard, they had to remain on the Flying Ship, not having the authority to disembark and move about freely.
Upon entering the Great Xia Dragon Guard’s grounds, the group quickly noticed something was amiss.
The entire encampment was filled with Martial Master Realm practitioners; they couldn’t sense the Qi of a single person in the Small Spirit Realm.
After asking a few people, they learned that all the Small Spirit Realm experts had gone to the city walls to defend against the Martial Soul Hall’s attack.
So, they immediately dispatched men to all four city walls to recall those in the Small Spirit Realm.
A massive Flying Ship hovering above the Great Xia Dragon Guard encampment naturally did not escape the notice of Chu Qingyun and the others.
Looking at the Flying Ship, the remaining Small Spirit Realm experts on the four city walls grew tense once more.
’A Flying Ship that huge is clearly no simple matter. If this is another one of the Martial Soul Hall’s schemes, we don’t have the strength to stop it...’
Just as they were worrying, several ninth-level Martial Master Realm captains ran over from within the city, relaying the Chief Stewards’ orders for them to return to the encampment immediately.
When they learned that the experts who had left had returned, the remaining Small Spirit Realm cultivators on the four walls felt a true, profound sense of relief wash over them.
This battle, they had truly won!
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