Chapter 233

Chapter 233: Heartless and Unjust

Qi Shu Xian, who had been riding forward, suddenly turned. He yanked the reins of a stolen horse, called to his men, and chased after that small squad.

The one in front looked extremely young, and the men around him guarded him closely. Qi Shu Xian’s heart jumped with a guess.

That man was no one else but the Eldest Prince of Northern Di, Lu Yang.

With that thought, Qi Shu Xian immediately led a small group of men who had seized horses and caught up. The main force had already gone to support the battle ahead. If Qi Shu Xian could capture the Eldest Prince alive, he would have a Northern Di hostage in hand.

That way, even if they failed to find Governor-General Xu’s family, they would still have a bargaining chip.

Qi Shu Xian snapped his whip and chased without letting up.

The rider in front seemed to notice him. Even so, he did not change direction.

If Qi Shu Xian had not just cut through from that direction, he would have almost thought there was an ambush waiting inside. Even though he knew it was unlikely, he still had the dozens of men who followed him stay alert for danger.

Just then, the rider in front shouted in clumsy Sheng Kingdom speech, “I know you are Sheng Kingdom people! You want to save Xu Qi Shan’s family!”

“Xu Qi Shan’s family is hidden in a burning tent! If you stop blocking my road, I will tell you which tent it is.”

“Then you can save them and go claim your reward. Otherwise, they will be burned to death!”

Qi Shu Xian gave a cold laugh and kept chasing. Enemy words could not be trusted.

He pursued relentlessly, but the rider still did not retreat. Instead, he spurred his horse straight toward the burning tents.

After his horse leaped over, the Northern Di soldiers behind him immediately used the burning tents to cut off the path.

Qi Shu Xian’s horse was stopped by a wall of fire.

“Deputy General Qi! What do we do?” Li Ming An asked.

Qi Shu Xian scanned the area. “Go around from that side.”

Qi Shu Xian picked a direction, and everyone chased hard. In the end, they still managed to block that squad in front of a tent.

Qi Shu Xian leveled his spear at them, his face cold.

The rider on the horse stared hard at the burning tents behind Qi Shu Xian.

“Move!” the rider drew his spear, his eyes bloodshot. “If you let me pass, I can tell you where Xu Qi Shan’s family is. If we are any later, they will die without question!”

Qi Shu Xian did not move. “Impossible, unless you surrender.”

Neither side was willing to yield.

The rider struck his horse’s rump with the spear, and the horse charged straight at Qi Shu Xian.

Qi Shu Xian raised his spear and blocked.

Around them, the soldiers clashed in an instant.

Qi Shu Xian’s skill was not poor, but even so, after taking that strike, his palm went numb from the shock. He became even more certain that this opponent was no ordinary man.

They traded blows back and forth. In only a short time, they had exchanged dozens of moves.

In the end, Qi Shu Xian was still better. He planted his foot, kicked, and sent the rider flying off the horse. At the same time, Qi Shu Xian’s spear pointed straight at the man’s throat.

“Take off his helmet!”

The man hit the ground, but he showed no fear. Instead, he threw his head back and laughed.

Li Ming An jumped down and pulled off the helmet that covered half the man’s face.

A rather ordinary-looking face appeared.

Qi Shu Xian frowned. It was said that the four Northern Di princes were all strikingly handsome, but this man-

Was he not Lu Yang?

“You are not Lu Yang?” Qi Shu Xian asked.

The man laughed even louder. “Of course I am not the Eldest Prince! You Sheng Kingdom people really are heartless and unjust. You knew your own compatriots were in our hands, yet you still set fire to the camp. For an uncertain military achievement, you abandoned them without hesitation!”

“Ha! Hahahaha!”

The man laughed wildly, then pointed. “Do you see it? That tent. Inside, your Governor-General Xu’s two family members were tied up. You only needed to open it to see them. But now…”

“I bet they are already burned to death.”

He kept laughing.

Li Ming An stared at the blazing tent and swallowed hard.

That tent was one they had not had time to search earlier.

The Northern Di soldiers who came with the man had already been subdued. Aside from the flames, the area was temporarily safe, so Qi Shu Xian ordered Li Ming An to pry open the burning tent and check.

Li Ming An walked over and used his spear to poke and pull at the burning cloth.

After only one motion, his body suddenly froze.

One large body and one small body lay together. The adult body covered the small one, as if trying to shield it from the fire.

Li Ming An’s eyes dropped to what lay beneath them. His gaze locked in place. With his spear, he hooked out a jade plaque.

The jade plaque was scalding hot.

Qi Shu Xian took it. The single character “Xu” stabbed into his eyes.

His fingers clenched around it as he looked back at the man on the ground. “Who are you, really?”

“Me?” The man snorted. “Just a dead Northern Di soldier!”

After that, he ignored the spear at his throat. He sprang up and ran straight into the sea of fire behind Qi Shu Xian.

Qi Shu Xian’s pupils tightened. He was about to throw his spear-

Then he saw the man in the flames grab a corpse that was also burning.

“Sister! I’m taking you home!”

The long Northern Di intonation drifted out from the fire.

Li Ming An and the others could not understand the words, but the scene stunned them into silence.

Qi Shu Xian remembered what Governor-General Xu had once said.

That Northern Di concubine of his had come to Sheng Kingdom when she was young. Only after she betrayed him did he learn she had been a Northern Di scout sent into Sheng Kingdom.

So that man was not some noble at all. He was only a man who had fought desperately to become a junior officer, all for the chance to bring his sister home.

That was why he refused to change his route. He wanted to save his sister. He even tried to trade Governor-General Xu’s family for it.

When Qi Shu Xian realized this, he did not even have time to regret it.

“Withdraw!”

This man had been deliberately let return to stall him.