Chapter 22
Chapter 22 Friends
All people looked up and saw this scene, their hearts and minds quivering.
Li Ye jumped off the attic and picked up Li Yao who had already fainted in the courtyard like a dead fish. He jumped back two steps to the roof of the main courtyard. With a wave of his big hand, Li Yao was thrown away and slammed down to the ground.
With Luke Sword in hand, Li Ye glanced at the cultivators in front of the floral-pendant gate without a word.
His long hair landed on his shoulders and the roof restored calm again that even the falling needles were audible.
There was still a crescent moon in the night sky. The Milky Way and the stars were as bright and clear as before.
No noise, no one spoke.
People in the courtyard whether the cultivators in front of the floral-pendant gate or the guards in Great Mystery Formation, all widened their eyes and opened their mouths that were big enough to tuck an egg in. Speechlessly, they stared blankly at Heir Apparent who was standing on the roof with a sword.
They would not forget this scene tonight even after a very long time.
In their lifetime, they would always remember how graceful Li Ye was underneath the night sky and the stars ocean.
No words could be used to describe that kind of demeanor.
But they would remember how Li Ye made them feel.
The return of the king.
A few breaths of time were like as long as a few spring and autumn.
Having been knocked into the air by Luke Sword, Cloud Splitter Spear now fell from the night sky and inserted straightly in the roof, its trembling body made a slight whirring sound. It was not until now that all the people managed to regain their consciousness one after another.
The whirring sound Cloud Splitter Spear made when it faced Luke Sword was just like a tremulous and tender worship of a courtier to the emperor.
Li Muzhao had already jerked up. His bulging eyes looking at Li Ye, there was no other color in his eyes except awe and fear.
“Childe Yao… Unexpectedly failed?”
“A genius in Chang’an City who also used a top-grade cultivation method ‘Nine-roar Rousing Pythons: Forbidden Spell’, was directly banged into unconsciousness?”
“What was the cultivation method of Li Ye? Why was it so strong?”
“Never to Kunlun Never See Immortals, Sky Pond Sword Kills Immortals… Purple Qi sky pond sword… The kind of swordsmanship that can even kill immortals certainly can defeat Childe Yao. Is this very appropriate?”
Those cultivators looked at each other that they could only speak but could not move.
They dared not to move.
As they had just said that Li Yao’s Forbidden Spell of Nine roars rouse pythons could wipe out them all and it could be seen that the purple Qi sky pond sword had broken up the Forbidden Spell effortlessly, then if the sword turned to attack them, there wouldn’t be anything left of them.
At this time, if Li Ye did not speak, who dare to move?
Heir Apparent was standing on the roof with his sword, the guards in Great Mystery Formation turned to look at him in unison, their eyes were hot with unspeakable excitement.
Li Yao was a genius leader of all Imperial Clan’s offsprings. In the whole Chang’an city, there were only a few people such as Duchess of Li could be his equivalent in reputation. Standing high above the masses in usual, he was like an unconquerable hero, how magisterial could that be. Officers below five-class who saw him should be in a respect attitude, let alone Warrior Knights and Warrior Masters in Mortal Realm like them.
He was already a Level 3 Qi-refining practitioner in his twenties which meant that he had infinite possibilities in the future. Even if he could not build a foundation to achieve Spiritual Master Realm, he could at least reach a high level of Qi-refining and became a big shot who wielded the power of the empire.
A genius like that held his Cloud Splitter Spear and commanded a dozen practitioners of Qi techniques to rush in Prince An’s Mansion and kill. He who abused his power and bullied the people was absolutely lawless… Who could have thought that he would be chopped down in the sky?
Previously when Li Ye used Forbidden Spell of Nine roars rouse pythons, many guards dropped their weapons under his pressure. While now the pressure was off, the guards held their weapons in hands again and looked up at Heir Apparent on the roof.
Different from the shocks of others, Shangguan Qingcheng had other emotions in her heart. As a “warrior” who had been always loyal to Li Ye, the present scene was the same as what Shangguan Qingcheng would like to see in her dreams. She seemed to have seen a picture that Prince An Li Xian with her father was fighting on the battlefield in millions of troops and they decapitated the head of the enemy’s chief commander. This made her whole body shake with excitement, her face was as white as Saussurea and her lips were as red as peach blossoms.
“Mighty Heir Apparent!”
Shangguan Qingcheng beat her chest with her fist, raising her arms and shouting. There was a whole lot she would like to say but only this sentence could express her mood accurately.
“Mighty Heir Apparent!”
Under the leadership of Shangguan Qingcheng, guards with knives beat their chest with fists, guards with spears strike the ground with their spears, guards hit the shields with knives. Amid the sound of wars, the guards roared their hardest, their morale was like a rolling thunder.
Li Ye pointed to the floral-pendant gate with the sword and said, “Take them down.”
“Yes, Heir Apparent!”
The guards rushed out of Great Mystery Formation and encircled the cultivators in front of the floral-pendant gate from all sides.
At this point, other guards who had gathered outside the courtyard that didn’t reveal themselves in the battle before also rushed out from their hiding houses. Eight hundred guards formed a dozen black rivers, roared, and gathered to the floral-pendant gate.
In front of the floral-pendant gate, a dozen cultivators were going haywire at once. If a dozen low-level Qi-refining cultivators were encircled by eight hundred elite guards, naturally they would only be killed in the ring of encirclement. In a mansion with complex terrain, they could have the chance to escape. However, at this time, Li Ye was looking at them fiercely as a tiger on the roof. The cultivators who had seen the elegance of Li Ye’s sword barely had the nerve to take risks.
Moreover, Li Ye just said “take down” instead of “kill” which meant that they would very likely be killed if they took risks, but they may get a chance for survival if they gave up resisting, it’s not a hard choice for the majority. However, if they were captured as attackers, they may lose their identity as the Pang Xun rebels.
“What should we do?”
The cultivators looked at Li Muzhao, who had become the man of the highest position here when Li Yao’s life was uncertain.
Li Muzhao let out a long sigh and gave Li Ye a deep look as if he had known him for the first time. Then he said, ” Let’s surrender.”
“But our identities will be… Attacking Prince’s Mansion is a capital offense!”
A cultivator said.
Li Muzhao said bitterly, “Childe Yao has been caught and it’s not our fault of being exposed… Whether we will live or die, leave it to fate. Which of you can withstand the sword of Prince An’s Heir Apparent?”
All the people fell silent and no one spoke anymore. They could only watch when the guards of the Prince An mansion were closing in and then they were besieged by layers of guards.
The guards of the Prince An mansion wearing black armor and black robes were combat-ready who stared at them with murderous eyes as if to swallow them in one bite. As you could imagine if Li Ye’s order was not “taken them down”, they would not hesitate to kill them and tear them to pieces.
Shangguan Qingcheng walked to the front of the battle array. Under her willow-leaf eyebrows was a pair of eyes which was so cold and had no feelings. Glancing at the cultivators, she saw that they had no plans to resist, so she waved her hand and said, “Unarm and take them into custody!”
Li Muzhao and the cultivators dropped their weapons. They let the guards rush forward to take them down and bind them with iron chains and locks.
Shangguan Qingcheng felt something in her heart at this moment. She frowned and immediately looked up in the direction of the mansion gate from which a ripple of Spiritual Qi came. Someone rushed into the enchantment Li Yao had laid.
Li Ye, who was going to come down from the roof, stopped and looked at there.
Someone who could force his way through the enchantment Li Yao had laid, then his cultivation should be at least Level 3 Qi-refining.
A few vigorous figures leaped at here, their voices came before them, “Brother Ye, I am coming to save you!”
The person in the van wearing a purple robe and a long sword, leaped up a few times and landed on the floral-pendant gate. He pointed the long sword at the people in the courtyard and rebuked angrily, “Bold fanatics, how dare you… Gee?”
At first, he was full of momentum like tigers dashing down a mountain. However, after he said this “Gee”, his momentum was killed immediately, and his imposing manner sharply decreased countless steps. “Why are they all the guards of the Prince An mansion?”
When he saw Li Muzhao and the others whose hands were tied behind their back, his eyes were full of doubts and he scratched his head, “What is going on?”
He was accompanied by two attendants, one of whom had a white face and no beard, and his robe was spotlessly clean. He arrived and saw Li Ye on the roof of the main courtyard. Although his eyes were full of doubts, he saluted Li Ye the first time. “Greetings, Heir Apparent.”
The young man wearing a purple robe and a long sword finally saw Li Ye. But he was okay before he saw Li Ye, after he saw him, he looked so surprised that his chin was almost falling off. “Brother Ye, you… You are all right?”
This man was exactly Li Yan, Prince Pu. While the cultivator who had a white face and no beard was naturally Tian Lingkong.
When Li Ye came down from the roof and they met in the courtyard, Li Ye smiled and said, “What’s going to happen to me?”
Li Yan also felt that there was something wrong with his reaction just now. He made twice hollow laughs, scratched his head and said, “I am glad that you are fine. I’ve been worried for quite a while. ThesePang Xun rebels are audacious in the extreme and dare to commit crimes in Chang’an City. They just dug their own graves… ”
Suddenly, something occurred to him. Li Yan looked at Li Ye in surprise, as if to see him through. “Today I have just come back from Luoyang and even missed to participate in your Capping Ceremony. I heard that you have got Taoist’s Luck left by Celestial Master Yuan in Cloud-engulfed Mountain and have already broken through Qi-refining. Is it true?”
After he said this, he slapped his brow suddenly. Li Yan said awkwardly, “You just floated down from the roof and your posture is strong and vigorous. It’s obvious that you have achieved Qi-refining…”
As he said this, he was happy again and patted Li Ye on the shoulder with great excitement. “Well, Brother Ye, you are really lucky to have got the Taoist’s Luck left by Celestial Master Yuan which has been beyond the reach of countless people for a century! Now that you’ve achieved Qi-refining, you are a powerful and prestigious man from now on. When we brothers secretly go to brothels in Kang Fu lane again, even the most popular Qing Guang’er who only sells her performers instead of selling her body will be docile and obedient to you, haha…”
Li Ye had achieved Qi-refining, the thing this fellow expected was nothing but the scene of spending their time with prostitutes in brothels.
Seeing Li Yan’s such a behavior behind, Tian Lingkong’s eyes were full of helplessness, but he did not say anything more. Obviously, he was accustomed to Li Yan’s vagaries.
Li Yan could come to support so quickly, Li Ye was very touched in his heart. The cultivation of the former was quite common that he was just at Level 1 Qi-refining. He was a nobody in sons of the imperial clan and was even more so among the princes. Usually, his favorite thing was to pull Li Ye who was not just worse but had nothing in cultivation to drink and hell around with him. Li Ye used to think they were just wine-and-meat friends and he didn’t expect Li Yan came here so cleanly tonight.
When Li Ye and Li Yan entered the room, the former asked about recent developments of the latter to show his concern, “How was your trip to Luoyang this time?”
Li Yan had already taken back his long sword. When he heard this, he waved his hand and said with an indifferent expression, “In previous spring days, it’s always my elder brother to supervise the water transportation in East Capital. While this time, my elder brother had more important things to do that his majesty sent me instead. I was simply nominal, it was all the following officials who did the real work.”
Li Ye nodded to show that he had understood without saying more on this topic. Li Yan called the emperor his majesty rather than father which showed that they were not very close in private.
Entered the room, Li Yan finally noticed Li Yao who was lifted to this room by Shangguan Qingcheng from the courtyard and was lying on the ground.