At the moment Nangong Mo"s figure disappeared into the tall gra.s.sland, An Keyi, Lin Xi and the others were currently ascending a moderate slope.
On the not so distant battlefield, soldiers were currently confirming the ident.i.ties of the fallen soldiers, morevely burying them there.
Because the crown prince"s ident.i.ty was revealed, many soldiers immediately changed sides. In the end, Lin Xi"s side"s military instead doubled, already becoming a twenty thousand membered great army.
However, even though it was only a short amount of time since Wenren Cangyue shot out with a Mountain Piercing Crossbow Bolt until he faced the ambush of An Keyi"s "Blue Apricot", thus retreating, the battlefield already had more than eight thousand corpses.
These were all Yunqin"s people, all Yunqin"s most elite soldiers. Moreover, even two Sacred Experts perished in this battle.
Cultivators were all precious resources of this world"s empire. Meanwhile, Yunqin Empire, in this battle, lost two Sacred Experts who would normally leave a whole battlefield in fear.
“One of the Sacred Experts who died under Wenren Cangyue"s hands was from our Green Luan Academy, named Lu Qi.” An Keyi looked at the battlefield where the officers and soldiers were currently being buried, quietly saying this.
Lin Xi took a deep breath, becoming momentarily silent, not saying anything.
Right now, even though An Keyi"s tone was still calm, Lin Xi could sense the bit of sorrow in her voice, knowing that that deceased Green Luan Academy senior was definitely someone she knew. Even though he knew that people would definitely die in war, if it was the good friends at his side who died, Lin Xi didn"t know what he would do.
An Keyi turned around, giving Lin Xi a look and quietly saying, “Actually, the crown prince"s condition doesn"t look optimistic.”
Lin Xi and Gao Yanan"s breathing both stopped.
Lin Xi"s brows furrowed deeply, he saw that An Keyi"s brows were also furrowed. “Teacher, what is his condition actually like?” He asked with a frown.
“Du Family"s medicines in staunching and treating some inner organs have no issues, but Wenren Cangyue is a Sacred Expert… The power of his flying sword almost completely shattered the blood vessels in the crown prince"s body. Even though I barely stopped the bleeding with the medicines I had on hand, without extremely fine medications , there is no way of stopping his condition from worsening.” An Keyi still spoke like usual, explaining clearly and in detail. “We have at most five days… if we cannot obtain further medicine to treat his injuries, he will definitely die.”
“Five days?”
Gao Yanan"s face paled, turning around to look at Lin Xi. Lin Xi"s brows furrowed even deeper, his voice becoming slightly cold. “Teacher… even if we took the fastest way through Mountain Sun Path and rushed out of Jadefall City, arriving at the neighboring city, would we be able to prepare the medicines in time?”
An Keyi shook her head. “Even if we don"t encounter any obstruction while rus.h.i.+ng out of Jadefall City, it would take at least three days. The amount of time for preparations to be made and for us to meet is only two days. In terms of time, the chance of success is already extremely small.”
Lin Xi took a deep breath. “Teacher, do you have any other methods?”
“As for how Vice Princ.i.p.al Xia and the others arranged for other things, I do not know, but I know that someone from our academy will head to Heaven"s Lens Lake Lost Forest, wait nearby Jadefall Border Army"s past Great Consecrator Xu Buyi"s cabin. This is someone from Medicine Department who was originally prepared to receive Gu Xinyin, provide Gu Xinyin with some treatment.” An Keyi looked at Lin Xi and said, “Rus.h.i.+ng there from where we are should only take two days.”
Because the life and death of the crown prince were too important, even though Bian Linghan and the others were alarmed, they became momentarily quiet, only nervously listening.
Lin Xi looked seriously at An Keyi, “There will definitely be suitable medicines there?”
An Keyi nodded.
“Teacher, are you worried that Wenren Cangyue won"t give up?” Lin Xi"s brows loosened a bit, quietly asking this.
“Right now is when Wenren Cangyue is weakest, so the academy will definitely make arrangements. However, Wenren Cangyue is still Wenren Cangyue in the end, he also has half of his Sky Wolf Guards, as well as many formidable followers. No one knows for sure where he will attack next. Someone like him, unless he dies… no one can relax.” An Keyi lowered her head, looking at her toe tips and saying, “Do you know why Tong Wei and the others didn"t come?”
Lin Xi already thought about this problem a long time ago, so he replied quietly without any hesitation, “Because the academy is scared that they will be killed by Wenren Cangyue?”
“Correct.” An Keyi nodded and said, “Only when he made his move did we confirm his whereabouts in Jadefall City. However, people on Tong Wei"s level, opponents worthy of his attention, have a high chance of being within his grasp because he is unmatched at the Sacred Expert level… That is why the academy cannot rashly send over some Sacred Experts for him to kill… That is why they previously didn"t appear near Jadefall City. Now that Wenren Cangyue shouldn"t have the strength to face them, there will definitely be some people among them who will rush over. Only, it will still take them at least a few days of time before they enter Jadefall City. That is why these few days will be the most difficult period… that is why I wanted to first discuss what we should do from now on with you.”
“Bringing the crown prince over is something we have to do.” Lin Xi didn"t hesitate at all and said, “Even though Wenren Cangyue is already not at his best, we indeed cannot ever look down on him. Most of Jadefall City is still under his control, moving an army is too slow. If you had me make the decision… the fewer the people, the harder it is for us to expose ourselves. Just like how we secretly infiltrated Jadefall City, we will secretly bring him out.”
“Have you thought about the consequences of this matter?”
An Keyi raised her head to look at Lin Xi. Because of her nervousness and worry, the tip of her nose even had fine drops of sweat. She seriously said one word after the next, “You all also understand a bit about the emperor"s temperament… Changsun Wujiang is one of the people he has entrusted his hopes to, he was most likely sent over to take control over the west, in this way, Jadefall City will truly be under Central Continent Imperial City"s jurisdiction. Only then could Yunqin"s territory have a chance of truly spreading beyond Sanskrit Pa.s.s… If only a few people bring him over, then his life is completely in your hands…”
“I understand what teacher is trying to say. To put it simply, this responsibility is too great, an arduous and thankless task.” Before An Keyi even finished speaking, she was cut off by Lin Xi. He turned around to give that tent a look, and then said with a light sigh, “But we can"t just leave him to die… To be honest, I don"t like Changsun Jinse, but Chen Mu, no, I should call him Changsun Wujiang, the feeling he gives me is extremely good. Moreover, you all can see that in the end, it was him who stopped Du Zhanye who wanted to block this blade for him. Putting aside his status as the crown prince, he can be considered my friend, even though we only spoke a few sentences. If I do my best, but still can"t save him… what the emperor wishes to do will be up to him. At the very least, the academy wouldn"t allow us to accompany him in death.”
Gao Yanan gave Lin Xi a look.
After spending time together with Lin Xi, she understood Lin Xi more and more, feeling more and more that Lin Xi had areas of brilliance many other people didn"t have. No matter what he did, Lin Xi would always guard his own bottom line of self integrity.
From the beginning indistinct like, to now, her feelings towards Lin Xi developed much more respect.
“I will go with you.” She nodded and said.
“All of us will go together.” Lin Xi gave An Keyi, Bian Linghan and the others a look, saying honestly, “It is precisely because the following few days will be the most troublesome, leaving any one of you here alone will instead leave me worried.”
“You all can go, but I must stay here.”
An Keyi shook her head and said, “Right now, everyone knows we are people from the academy, especially the other side, even they are aware that I am a Medicine Department professor. If I am not here and you all don"t show yourselves, it wouldn"t be hard to figure out that the crown prince was already brought away by you all.”
Lin Xi decisively shook his head. “I do not agree with you staying here. After all, this is already a game of hide and seek to begin with. By having teacher at our side, we will have another layer of protection.”
“I am not a Sacred Expert.” An Keyi didn"t feel half a trace of annoyance, instead beginning to explain with a low voice as if she was a student. “I already lack things like Blue Apricot, so regardless of whether it is the Sky Wolf Guards or other formidable followers who come, I can only deal with a few at most, unable to display much use. If I can distract most of his formidable followers here, it will be safer for all of you.”
Lin Xi frowned. However, before he had time to say anything, An Keyi already gave him a look and quietly said, “I understand your intentions… I promise I will ensure my own safety. If it is too dangerous, I will also immediately choose to run. Do not worry, I am within an army of twenty thousand after all. Also, this is merely an issue of stalling for some time. When necessary, I will let them notice that the crown prince isn"t actually here. There is no way they will pay the price of facing twenty thousand soldiers head-on.”
Lin Xi completely threw aside his ident.i.ty as a student. He looked at this beautiful female professor, saying seriously, “You really promise to place your own safety first?”
“I understand my value to the academy and what I need to do.” An Keyi raised her head slightly, giving the battlefield a look. “Of course I promise.”
When An Keyi gave Lin Xi her serious promise, Lin Xi was still not convinced, but since he couldn"t shake An Keyi"s resolution, he could only take a deep breath and slowly exhale.
...
A golden troop was currently emerging from the limits of the sand that couldn"t be made out with the naked eye, following an old merchant path covered in sand and wind, they entered Ghost City.
Within the golden carriage at the very center that was pulled by four camels, Gu Xinyin looked to already be extremely tired, always in deep sleep. Even when two figures, one large and one small walked out from the city ravaged by yellow sand and the entire troop stopped, he still didn"t wake up.
Only when all of the guards saw the clothing and appearance of the two who were walking over, waves of cheers sounding, did Gu Xinyin wake up, coughing lightly a few times.
Zhen Pilu and Nangong Weiyang walked up to Gu Xinyin"s carriage.
These two individual"s faces were also shrouded in fatigue that was hard to hide.
Only when the two of them walked up to Gu Xinyin"s carriage, did Gu Xinyin push open the carriage door, moving aside the thick curtains.
“How is my junior brother?”
Zhen Pilu gave Gu Xinyin a bow of respect, the first words he spoke like this.
“He doesn"t even have the strength left to see me out of the imperial palace… but he shouldn"t die. He"s young, should recover quickly.” Gu Xinyin said with a chuckle.
Nangong Weiyang suddenly frowned, looking at Gu Xinyin who didn"t seem to be extremely respectful, saying, “I don"t really like you.”
Gu Xinyin stared blankly for a moment, starting to size up Nangong Weiyang. The more he looked at her, the more it seemed like he found something rare. He didn"t become angry in the slightest, instead laughing. “But I like you a lot.”