Chapter 29#

Kill That Emperor (29)#

Ni Xinyan openly embarrassed Murong Xiu in front of everyone. When he sat back down, a smug grin still lingered on his face, as if he were a hero who had just rescued a delicate beauty from a villain.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but glance at the “beauty,” only to find the “beauty” staring at him with a peculiar expression.

Ni Xinyan was taken aback. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Shen Jue really hadn’t expected Ni Xinyan to speak to Murong Xiu like that just now. But it was fine—he didn’t want to see Ni Xinyan fall for Murong Xiu at first sight and retread the same path as before. That would have been troublesome for him.

“Your Highness, speaking to the Sixth Prince like that—aren’t you afraid he’ll get angry?” Shen Jue asked.

Ni Xinyan, upon hearing this, assumed Shen Jue was worried about him. He reached out and tousled Shen Jue’s hair. “What’s there to be afraid of? Even if he gets angry, what can he do? We’re all going to the border. We won’t be back for at least a year or two. By the time we return to the capital, the Sixth Prince will have long forgotten about this.”

No, he won’t. Murong Xiu is a stubborn person, vengeful to the core.

By the time they returned to the capital, who knew what Murong Xiu would have become? He had used the Eighth Prince to regain Consort Jing’s favor. What would be his next move?

Shen Jue thought that Murong Xiu, with his memories intact, would hardly be willing to remain a puppet emperor. Yet the future regent sitting before him still looked so innocent and kind.

He couldn’t help but smile and chose not to reply.

What Shen Jue didn’t expect, however, was that he would end up staying at the border for six years, growing from a child into a youth.

In the military camp, despite being a eunuch, he was treated well because of Ni Xinyan’s special care. Most people didn’t look down on him, and even if they did, they didn’t dare show it openly. In the first couple of years, Ni Xinyan had punished quite a few people for that very reason.

Shen Jue had initially thought he would return to the capital in at most three years, but now it seemed that return was indefinitely postponed.

After winning that decisive victory six years ago, Prince Ning had been ordered to remain stationed at the border. Although the external enemy had been defeated, they would cross the border to provoke from time to time, so the Ni family’s army had to launch occasional campaigns. Shen Jue, however, never participated.

He had no interest in fighting and killing. If it wasn’t necessary, he wouldn’t do it.

But Ni Xinyan was too attentive toward Shen Jue. For six years, he had dragged Shen Jue along for training every single day. As a result, Shen Jue’s appearance had changed compared to his previous lives. In the deep palace, Shen Jue rarely saw sunlight, so his skin had always been pale. Now, however, he had developed a wheat-colored complexion, and the faint outline of muscles showed strength beneath his skin. At sixteen, Shen Jue had grown tall enough to reach Ni Xinyan’s ear.

However, Shen Jue had never grown facial hair, and his body was remarkably smooth—unlike the other men in the camp.

Still, Shen Jue wasn’t the most conspicuous person in the camp. That distinction belonged to Ni Xinyan.

Six years had passed, and Ni Xinyan had matured far beyond his teenage self, already bearing the shadow of the future regent. Although he ate, slept, and trained alongside the soldiers, his fair skin seemed impervious to tanning.

Ni Xinyan, however, wasn’t too pleased with this. He often looked at Shen Jue with envy.

“Xiao Jue, the military grain from the capital arrives tomorrow. I need to lead troops to receive it. Want to come with me?” Ni Xinyan lay diagonally on the couch, one long leg casually bent, his ink-black hair tied back with a simple blue ribbon. A faint smile graced his handsome, fair face.

Shen Jue refused without a second thought.

Ni Xinyan sighed. “Come on! I promised His Majesty I’d train you into a great general. But instead, you’ve turned into the camp’s handyman. How is that any different from being in the palace?”

“I don’t like smelling that stench,” Shen Jue said coldly, tossing the clothes he’d just collected onto Ni Xinyan. “Go take a bath.”

Ni Xinyan’s long leg hit the ground as he stood up abruptly. He leaned in close to Shen Jue, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “This is the scent of a man. What would a little brat like you know?” He let out a low laugh, his breath nearly hitting Shen Jue’s face.

Shen Jue, irritated by the smell of sweat, frowned and gave Ni Xinyan an annoyed look before turning to leave.

“Hey, I’m going now.” Ni Xinyan grabbed the clothes from the couch and headed out. As he passed Shen Jue, he couldn’t resist pinching his cheek before quickening his pace out of the tent.

Shen Jue wiped his face with the back of his hand, expressionless.

In the middle of the night, Shen Jue was awakened by the noise outside his tent. He rolled over and noticed a lot of torchlight flickering through the canvas. After a moment’s thought, he threw on an outer garment and went out.

Outside, chaos reigned. Soldiers scrambled out of their tents in a panic. Shen Jue noticed the deputy commanders of each unit taking a headcount. Frowning, he hurried toward Ni Xinyan’s tent.

Ni Xinyan’s tent was brightly lit with candlelight. When Shen Jue burst in, Ni Xinyan was just putting on his helmet. Seeing Shen Jue, he said, “Those bastards from Yong Kingdom have found out our grain transport route. I’m heading out now to prevent them from intercepting the supplies.”

Hearing this, Shen Jue felt a sense of foreboding. He immediately said, “I want to go too.”

Ni Xinyan looked at him. “What for?”

“Didn’t you want me to earn military merits? I want to earn them today,” Shen Jue said.

Ni Xinyan laughed. “Go back to sleep. Don’t cause trouble.”

He turned to leave, but Shen Jue moved to block his path, his expression serious. “I’m not causing trouble. I’m going with you. If you don’t let me, I’ll follow you in secret. Unless you have me tied up. But if you do, then from now on, you’ll have to mend your own clothes.”

This threat left Ni Xinyan speechless. He sucked in a breath and, after a long pause, pursed his lips in resignation. “Fine. If you want to come, come. But stick close to me and don’t wander off.”

“Okay,” Shen Jue said.

Shen Jue had insisted on following Ni Xinyan because he sensed something was off. What he hadn’t expected was for his premonition to come true.

That night, countless people died. Ni Xinyan had only brought a few thousand to protect the grain, but the Yong army had ambushed them with a full fifty thousand. Every single one of Ni Xinyan’s men died there.

Corpses lay scattered across the field, stained with blood. The air was thick with a heavy, nauseating stench of gore.

Suddenly, a grimy hand reached out from beneath a corpse. Moments later, a figure slowly crawled out from the pile of bodies. It was Shen Jue. He struggled to climb out, his face smeared with blood and dirt. He looked around but saw no sign of Ni Xinyan.

“Ni Xinyan! Ni Xinyan!” Shen Jue staggered to his feet, shouting Ni Xinyan’s name at the top of his lungs. But no one answered. Shen Jue wiped the blood from his face with his hand, gritted his teeth, and began searching through the bodies. If Ni Xinyan was dead, he at least wanted to see his corpse.

In every previous life, this battle had occurred. But back then, Shen Jue had been in the palace. He only remembered it happening three years after Prince Ning’s campaign. He hadn’t expected it to be delayed by three more years.

They had arrived at the site the night before, only to be ambushed immediately. Countless arrows rained down on them. Ni Xinyan had cut down the arrows aimed at Shen Jue before entrusting him to a deputy commander. Shen Jue had survived only because that deputy commander shielded him with his own body before dying.

There were too many corpses. Shen Jue searched from dusk until sunset but still hadn’t found Ni Xinyan. Exhausted, he slumped to the ground. He hadn’t eaten in a day, and his stomach burned fiercely. He looked up at the seemingly endless sea of corpses, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.

For some reason, he felt that this battle, delayed by three years, was connected to Murong Xiu.

Just as Shen Jue was lost in thought, a corpse not far ahead of him suddenly moved. Spotting it, Shen Jue rushed over. He pushed aside a body lying face up and found Ni Xinyan beneath it, half of his body covered in blood.

Ni Xinyan’s eyes fluttered open slightly. Seeing Shen Jue, his lips parted as if to speak, but no sound came out. Shen Jue tried to pull Ni Xinyan out, but the moment he touched him, Ni Xinyan gasped in pain, sweat pouring down his forehead.

Shen Jue stopped abruptly. He examined Ni Xinyan closely and noticed blood still seeping through his armor. Grabbing a dagger from a nearby corpse, Shen Jue cut open Ni Xinyan’s armor and saw an arrowhead protruding from his abdomen.

The arrow had entered from his back and pierced straight through his abdomen.

Frowning, Shen Jue half-rolled Ni Xinyan over and found the broken arrow shaft lodged inside him. There was no way to remove the arrow now—there wasn’t even a fire to cauterize the wound. Removing it recklessly would risk infection.

After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Jue hoisted Ni Xinyan onto his back. The burden was heavy, and the man on his back was barely conscious.

Although Shen Jue had grown taller, he was still slender. Carrying Ni Xinyan, he stumbled and nearly fell several times. Ni Xinyan’s wound was pressed against Shen Jue’s back, blood steadily flowing. His face grew paler and paler. Once, he woke up from the pain, his eyes glazed as he looked at the person carrying him. “Xiao Jue… go on without me,” he said weakly.

Shen Jue rubbed his face against his shoulder to wipe away the sweat. He couldn’t even use his hands to wipe it now. His arms and legs felt numb, and he was running on pure willpower alone.

“Your Highness, the Prince is still waiting for you. We can’t give up.” As Shen Jue spoke, he tasted blood in his mouth.

Fireflies in the grass, disturbed by their passage, fluttered up into the air, dotting the night sky like stars.

Ni Xinyan stared at the dancing fireflies for a long moment before closing his eyes. Finally, he said, “Yes… I have to go back and see my father. This was definitely a trap… there’s a traitor…” Before he could finish, he passed out.

Shen Jue’s steps faltered slightly. If his guess was correct, Ni Xinyan would never see Prince Yong again.

In previous lifetimes, the grain convoy ambush had always been orchestrated by Emperor Murong, aiming to kill both Prince Yong and Ni Xinyan. Ni Xinyan had survived by a stroke of luck, but Prince Yong, upon learning that his son was missing, didn’t panic. Instead, he calmly arranged his troops to defend the border. But without supplies, the army couldn’t hold out for long. After Ni Xinyan went missing, Prince Yong held the line for three grueling months, yet the court never sent grain or reinforcements.

When food and ammunition ran out, Prince Yong opened the city gates and surrendered.

He surrendered for the sake of the city’s people and soldiers.

The people of Yong Kingdom entered the city and delivered food—but they had one condition:

Prince Yong must take his own life.

Even when Shen Jue was in the palace, he had heard tales of Prince Yong. Everyone said he was an unparalleled hero, leading troops into battle at the age of fifteen. He had won countless battles and struck fear into his enemies’ hearts. But unfortunately, there were those who could not tolerate such a hero.