Chapter 427: Battle, a good opportunity to contribute
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Fang Zhengzhi quickly made the choice between saving himself and saving others.
He really wanted to save others.
But, he needed to save himself first!
Guilt.
Fang Zhengzhi did feel guilty. Even though he did not really mean to slap Princess Shan Yu, it had already happened.
Provide an explanation?
Fang Zhengzhi wanted to explain himself, but this was not something that he could explain himself out of.
He had slapped a princess...
Even if Princess Shan Yu believed that he did not mean to slap her, it would not absolve him of blame! If you were drunk and slept with someone"s wife, you would still have to be responsible for it.
Just because it was an accident didn"t mean that you were off the hook!
Even without considering the possibility of a baby, the woman"s husband would never let you off!
That was the situation Fang Zhengzhi was in.
He had slapped Princess Shan Yu in front of Shan Ling. As such, Shan Ling would never let him off.
"Fang Zhengzhi, stop right there! I will have your head!"
"Don"t you dare run!"
Their voices reverberated throughout the forest.
Fang Zhengzhi was not going to stand there stupidly. He continued to sprint on all fours as he tried to put some distance between himself and the two furious royalties.
Visibility was bad in the forests and this made it hard for Shan Yu and Shan Ling to track Fang Zhengzhi.
After about 15 minutes...
They lost him.
"Phew..." Fang Zhengzhi caught his breath as he rested in between a couple of large rocks. That sprint drained him of much energy.
But now, he had a huge problem on his hands.
On the surface, it looked like Fang Zhengzhi was safe. However, without Shan Ling and Shan Yu to guide him, where was he going to go?
Was he going to find the Dragon Protection Squad and the Mountain Breaking Army?
Fang Zhengzhi had given up all hope of that. That 15 minutes of running meant that he had already left the Sagely Mountain City far behind him.
Throughout the entire journey, he didn"t see any trace of them.
Where were they?
Did they not come to the Sagely Mountain City?
That"s impossible!
The edict was clear! They were supposed to wait for an opportunity to play the savior! Where else was this opportunity supposed to come from?
Could it be...
That they were at the Iron Hill Settlement?
The thought flashed past Fang Zhengzhi"s mind.
Ordinarily, he would not think of something like that. However, the 50,000 Demon soldiers had already been ordered to the Iron Hill Settlement.
As such, if the two elite squads had been setting up an ambush here, they would have caught wind of that.
It wasn"t a stretch to think that Xing Yuanguo would bring his troops there. An astute general like him would know how important that battle was.
But, all of these were mere guesses.
What if...
Was he wrong?
What if he ran off to the Iron Hill Settlement whilst Xing Yuanguo was still in the Icy Monkey Settlement? Won"t he be jumping to his death?
No way!
The safest option would be to return to the Icy Monkey Settlement.
Fang Zhengzhi turned towards the Icy Monkey Settlement but stopped himself in his tracks.
If he really chose to run away...
Then...
What was going to happen to the Iron Hill Settlement?
How was he going to settle the misunderstanding between Princess Shan Yu and him? He could run for now, but could he run forever?
Furthermore, how was he going to settle the misunderstanding between Princess Shan Yu and him? He can run now, but he can"t run forever.
Fang Zhengzhi raised his head and looked at the stars in the sky.
Fang Zhengzhi raised his head and looked at the stars.
He was someone who was afraid of death, but he was still a responsible person. Since he had caused this...
He had to be the one to solve it.
He will have to risk it!
Fang Zhengzhi bit his lip. He would rarely risk his life on something, but he had no choice this time.
He would go to the Iron Hill Settlement.
If Xing Yuanguo was really on his way there, then he would have a chance to meet the two elite squads on the way.
Furthermore...
Fang Zhengzhi knew that the only way he could redeem himself was to save the lives of the 80,000 soldiers.
"I will go and have a look, mm... just a look!" Fang Zhengzhi clenched his fists and ran in the direction of the Iron Hill Settlement.
He did not know the exact location of the settlement.
However, based on the map given to him by Wu Yuer, he had an idea of the direction he had to run towards.
For an ordinary person, the dense forests may be difficult to navigate...
But for Fang Zhengzhi, it was no problem.
...
Shan Ling and Princess Shan Yu gave chase for a mile before stopping. Speeding through the forest was not difficult for them.
In fact, it was easy.
However, after chasing for so long, Shan Ling and Princess Shan Yu were beginning to regain their composure.
"That guy runs fast. Rest a.s.sured sister, as long as he is still here, no... even if he returns to the Great Xia, I will kill him!" Shan Ling looked at Princess Shan Yu affectionately.
Princess Shan Yu looked back at him, her posture relaxing as her skin reverted to its original state and color.
"Brother, what do we do now?" Princess Shan Yu asked as she looked into the dense forest.
Shan Ling was silent.
They were already a mile from the Sagely Mountain City and there was still no sight of the Dragon Protection Squad or the Mountain Breaking Army.
That meant that...
Fang Zhengzhi had lied to them.
Urgh!
He must have done it on purpose!
He had used this ruse as a way to escape from the clutches of Shan Ling!
How shameless!
"I will go to the Iron Hill Settlement. You go back to the capital and take care of father! As long as the capital stands, we will be fine!" Shan Ling said decisively. "Rest a.s.sured! As long as I am there, our soldiers have hope. Even if I am to die there, I will delay them long enough for reinforcements to arrive. We... still have hope!"
"Since you have decided to go to the Iron Hill Settlement, how can I go back to the Sagely Mountain City?" Princess Shan Yu had made up her mind too.
"But sister, I only have one..."
"Enough, do you not know my character?"
"Okay then! We will head straight for the Iron Hill Settlement. I am sure father knows what to do!"
"Mm!"
...
The Iron Hill Settlement was not named as such because its defenses were st.u.r.dy.
In fact...
Its location was quite unstrategic.
There were no cliffs, no raised plains, no natural defenses. The Iron Hill Settlement was one of the worst places to defend.
However, it was an extremely important settlement. In fact, it was arguably more important than the Icy Monkey Settlement, which bordered the Sagely Mountain City.
The Iron Hill Settlement was built on an iron mine.
In other words...
This was the weapons factory.
There were many blacksmiths scattered throughout the settlement. The metalworks caused the Settlement to have a metallic glow.
The walls of the settlement were some of the st.u.r.diest around, but there were no natural barriers around the settlement.
They had been surrounded.
Furthermore...
Their opponents outnumbered them greatly. It was all too easy for them to attack from all sides.
The sun was at its zenith.
"General, what do we do now? Teng s.h.i.+sheng has reported that the Demon Army will arrive in about two hours." A messenger fell to his knees in front of a middle-aged man.
This man had black skin and carried two wolf tooth shaped weapons on his back. He was bald and wore heavy armor.
This was the General Mu, the same general who had been by Princess Shan Yu"s side during her archery compet.i.tion with Fang Zhengzhi.
But now...
General Tai had already been demoted.
As such, General Mu became the deputy. In Princess Shan Yu"s absence, he was now the commander.
"Split our army into four and have them guard the gates!" General Mu frowned.
"Yes, general!" The messenger nodded and ran down the steps towards the other generals waiting at the base of the wall.
The generals on the city wall all looked at General Mu with doubt.
"Old wood, the Demons are already coming. We can"t be splitting our forces. Even if we concentrated on holding just one gate, we might not be able to do it!" A voice rang out.
The voice had come from the recently demoted General Tai. His beard was p.r.i.c.kly, but he was missing an arm.
The arm that Fang Zhengzhi had taken.
No other general would have dared to address General Mu as "old wood". However, General Mu wasn"t angered by this.
He sighed.
"Tai... we have known each other for quite some time. We have been training together since we were five and we came to serve the princess together. Now, we are in trouble, and this is also an opportunity for you to do something great. Are you willing to help me?" General Mu looked to General Tai.
"With what? An arm? Haha... you want my only remaining arm?" General Tai hesitated.
He didn"t seem to be convinced.
However, he quickly suppressed it.
"Are you willing to help?"
"Hahaha... you know that I will help you. However, I am just a low ranking general now, how can I help you?"
"I will hold the front gate myself. The flanks are close by and I can take care of those as well. However, I am a little worried... about the back gate! If you are willing..."
"Enough, I will get there immediately!"
"Okay then, here are your orders. You are to take 20,000 soldiers and hold the back gate! You are not to let it fall! However, your rank does not change! These are orders from the Princess!" General Mu handed a tiger head token to General Tai.
"Roger that!" General Tai nodded and took the token in his hand as he turned and left.
General Mu looked at his disappearing silhouette, smiling as he did so, "You really haven"t let me down!"
...
Time flew.
There was an ominous boom at the gate of the Iron Hill Settlement as dozens of soldiers pushed it open.
"Aroo!"
The chilling roar of beasts cut through the air.
A squad of soldiers could be seen sprinting towards the settlement from afar. They were all well built and lightning quick.
The Silver Horned Wolves.
The best of the best.
The Silver Horned Wolves streamed into the city. They were rather fl.u.s.tered, a stark contrast from their usual disciplined demeanor.
After the last of them had entered the city, the gate was shut once again.
The sun shone brightly on the ground, revealing fresh blood stains. No one knew if they were from the soldiers or the wolves.
"General Mu, Teng s.h.i.+sheng is back, but..."
"But what?"
"There are less than 1200 surviving Silver Horned Wolves. Of those 1200, 200 are severely injured, 300 have light injuries..."
"What?!"