Chapter Seventeen: The Princess Has Been Kidnapped?

Ye Qingyan had never dreamed that this meeting with Lin Qian would plunge him into mortal danger.

Still less had she imagined that Sun Feng would deceive him!

Gnashing her teeth, Ye Qingyan glared at him. “Sun Feng! Wasn’t this what we agreed upon?”

Sun Feng immediately burst out laughing. “It was indeed what we agreed upon—to have your former lover come here and meet his death, was it not?”

“You are an intelligent woman. How could you fail to understand what I truly intended? Am I wrong, Princess Anping?”

The way he uttered the title “Princess Anping” was unbearably flippant.

Yet he deliberately emphasized it, making the words especially grating to Ye Qingyan’s ears.

“You—you shameless wretch!”

Mounted on his horse, Sun Feng gave a wicked chuckle. “You are absolutely right. I am shameless. And what of it?”

As he spoke, his gaze fell upon Lin Qian. Sun Feng smacked his lips and forced a smile that never reached his eyes. “Big Brother, don’t blame me for being ruthless. When all is said and done, this is your own fault. Of all the things you could have done, you should never have returned from the Imperial Horse Bureau!”

“Men! Kill him! If the princess dares to interfere, kill her as well!”

The crowd surged forward, surrounding Lin Qian so completely that not even a drop of water could have passed through.

The men around him were brimming with murderous intent.

But Lin Qian was utterly unafraid. He slowly raised one hand.

The sight caught Sun Feng’s eye, and he sneered. “Big Brother, are you actually planning to resist? Do you really think you can win?”

Unexpectedly, Lin Qian merely lifted his hand to scratch his ear.

Whoosh!

A sharp sound split the air.

Everyone froze.

An arrow had been fired from an unknown distance. It shot from behind Lin Qian straight toward Sun Feng.

Sun Feng’s face went deathly pale. He hurriedly ducked, but the arrow was far too swift, grazing the side of his ear as it flew past.

“Argh!”

Sun Feng let out an anguished roar.

“We’ve fallen into an ambush!”

“Quickly! Finish this before anything goes wrong! No matter the cost, kill Lin Qian! Hurry!”

The men finally came to their senses. Just as they leaped forward to take Lin Qian’s life, a rain of arrows descended.

Every arrow came from an unexpected angle.

Within a dozen feet in front of Lin Qian, every martial artist who rushed forward was struck down and killed.

They were not even given the slightest chance to catch their breath.

“It’s an ambush! Retreat—retreat at once!”

Sun Feng heard someone shout from within the crowd and immediately panicked.

“No one is to retreat! No one! Charge forward and kill him! Anyone who refuses—I’ll kill him first!”

In the blink of an eye, Sun Feng drew his sword and brought it down upon a man who was trying to retreat.

The man cried out in pain.

A moment later, he was dead.

“Everyone, charge!”

Even then, Sun Feng still had not realized the gravity of the situation.

Only after every man around him had been struck by arrows and fallen dead did Sun Feng finally understand what had happened.

He looked around.

Not a single person remained at his side.

In the distance, Li Yuanying emerged from the peach grove, leading several dozen archers.

“Young Marshal!”

“Hm.”

Lin Qian raised an eyebrow, a trace of amused disdain appearing in his eyes.

“Sun Feng, you thought your schemes were unrivaled beneath heaven, didn’t you? Have you never heard the tale of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it?”

Sun Feng’s face was as pale as paper.

“Lin Qian! You cannot kill me! I am the heir of the Prince of the Western Expedition! Everyone under heaven knows who I am!”

“Would you dare incur the wrath of the entire realm by killing the true heir?”

Lin Qian had heard Sun Feng repeat the word “heir” so many times that his ears had grown callused to it.

What did the title of heir matter?

Even the title of Crown Prince would never have impressed him.

“Very well. You are Sun Ye’s son, the continuation of his bloodline. I, Lin Qian, owe my upbringing to the Prince of the Western Expedition. Naturally, I will not allow his line to end.”

“Men, clear a path and let him return to the prince’s residence!”

Li Yuanying was stunned. His brows drew tightly together. “Young Marshal, he—he just tried to kill you!”

Lin Qian gave a helpless smile. “There are countless people who want me dead. He is still far too inexperienced. Let him go.”

“Yes!”

Li Yuanying waved his hand, and the armored soldiers behind him immediately opened a path.

Still mounted, Sun Feng was frightened out of his wits, but he continued to feign composure as he slowly rode past the soldiers.

When he turned his head, he saw that Ye Qingyan had not left.

“Ye Qingyan! Do you really intend to follow him to Chunping City? What do you think you are without me?”

“Hurry up and follow!”

Sun Feng was fierce only when bullying his own people; beneath his harsh words lay nothing but cowardice.

But by then, Ye Qingyan was filled with regret.

Her eyes held both reluctance and resolve. She turned and followed Sun Feng away.

The scene in which those former lovers had once spoken their hearts to one another had been destroyed. There was no returning to the past.

“Young Marshal, the army has already set out!”

As Lin Qian turned his horse around, his heart was as calm as still water.

Three years earlier, he had already foreseen the ending that awaited him and Ye Qingyan.

This final meeting had instead allowed his thoughts to settle completely. He drew a deep breath, then gave the reins a sharp tug.

“Move out!”

The three thousand soldiers and Lin Qian raced toward Chunping City, building bridges wherever they encountered water and halting whenever the rain came.

Half a month later, when Lin Qian led his three thousand armored soldiers to Chunping City, the scene before him left him utterly stunned.

“What—what happened here?”

Half a month earlier, when he had been in the capital, he had received no news that the frontier was in danger.

Yet the smoke and flames of battle still hung before Chunping City. From the looks of it, the city had only just endured a major battle and had not yet recovered.

“Where is everyone? Where is Ye Huang?”

Even the banners atop the city wall hung crooked and tattered.

At last, someone burst through the smoke and charged at Lin Qian, raising his weapon and bringing it down without a word.

Lin Qian was startled. Li Yuanying immediately raised his weapon and knocked the attacker aside.

But in that instant, Lin Qian recognized the man before him. He looked exceedingly familiar.

“You? Chun Tuo?”

Lin Qian naturally recognized him. Chun Tuo had once served in the palace as well.

When he suddenly heard someone call his name, Chun Tuo froze. Only after looking up did he realize that the person before him was Lin Qian.

Then Chun Tuo spoke in a voice choked with tears.

“My lord! You—you have finally arrived! Our eldest young lady has been kidnapped!”

“What did you say?”

Lin Qian had never imagined that, upon arriving in Chunping City, he would immediately hear news as shocking as a thunderclap from a clear sky.