In the main hall of the post station where the Third Prince of Ziying resided in Great Capital City, the hall had been newly decorated.
The Third Prince, Yin Tianzheng, and his advisors had been waiting for most of the night.
The attack on the Chen family merchant guild and the assassination of Chen Baiwang were not merely out of personal vendetta; their primary objective was to sabotage the Chen family's marriage alliance.
Chen Baiwang was the pillar of the Chen family and a leader in the Shuzhou business world. Besides possessing genius-level business acumen, he also had exceptional organizational skills.
Many had jokingly said that if Chen Baiwang were appointed Minister of Revenue, the Great Xia Dynasty would never lack money.
Although a joke, it was enough to demonstrate Chen Baiwang's abilities.
Therefore, with Chen Baiwang dead, the Chen family's value would be reduced by more than half, rendering the marriage alliance between the Chen family and the Qin princess meaningless.
To achieve this goal, Yin Tianzheng mobilized almost all his hidden agents in the Daxia Dynasty, including four mercenary groups, hundreds of martial artists from three martial academies, and ten of his own skilled men, assembling a force of two thousand.
Moreover, Yin Tianzheng had anticipated that the Chen family's large-scale relocation would be heavily guarded, and perhaps even supported by experts in secret.
Therefore, they devised a plan for two attacks, one feint and one real.
The second attack, with a thousand men, was their true killing blow!
Dawn was approaching, and the Third Prince, sitting on the main seat, suppressed a yawn, his face showing obvious annoyance.
Just then, the head guard, Hu He, strode into the hall, instantly invigorating everyone.
Hu He clasped his hands and said, "Your Highness, as you predicted, there are indeed experts secretly supporting the Chen family's caravan. Our first attack has failed."
Yin Tianzheng smiled coldly: "Were they from the Haotian Academy, or the Hidden Dragon Pavilion?"
After carefully reviewing the intelligence gathered from various parties, Yin Tianzheng admitted that he had underestimated Chen Ke.
Chen Ke wasn't as useless as he seemed. During his studies at Haotian Academy, he not only became an unofficial disciple of the secret realm but also established a relationship with the Hidden Dragon Pavilion.
After arriving in the capital, Chen Ke assisted the Hidden Dragon Pavilion in cracking a major conspiracy by an assassin organization to ambush the Qin princess, thus doing them a great favor.
Therefore, after much consideration, the only experts the Chen family could mobilize were from Haotian Academy and the Hidden Dragon Pavilion.
Hu He glanced at the Third Prince and said with a forced smile, "Your Highness, the expert supporting the Chen family is a subordinate of the Qin princess. Someone recognized Ding Lizhen."
Ding Lizhen?!
The Qin princess's chief bodyguard, Ding Lizhen?!
The people in the hall were moved, and their expressions became solemn.
The Third Prince's face turned ashen. In a fit of rage, he grabbed a teacup and smashed it to the ground, yelling, "Bitch! Bitch!"
Hu He ignored the flying shards of porcelain and hurriedly said, "Your Highness, look at it this way. Ding Lizhen bears the heavy responsibility of protecting the Qin princess. They can't possibly follow the Chen family's caravan forever, so our chances of success are much greater!"
Another elderly advisor also stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, Chief Guard Hu is right. The Qin princess sent people to protect the caravan probably out of public interest, not personal feelings."
No personal feelings?
If there were no personal feelings, would the Qin princess send Ding Lizhen out for the Chen family?
The Third Prince gripped the armrests of his chair tightly, gritting his teeth, his eyes filled with endless rage and indescribable humiliation.
Another advisor stood up and said, "Your Highness, a small act of impatience can ruin a great plan. As long as we successfully intercept and kill Chen Baiwang, the Chen family will be leaderless and severely weakened. Even if the Qin princess intends to maintain the marriage alliance with the Chen family, her subordinates will not agree."
Everyone nodded in agreement. At this critical juncture, they could not afford any complications. What His Highness needed most now was to remain calm.
The Third Prince suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice, "Pass down the order. Tell Fan Tianhe to act according to the original plan and make sure to destroy the Chen family's caravan and hand over Chen Baiwang's head to me!"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and bowed, saying, "Your Highness is wise!"
"Disperse!"
The Third Prince, Yin Tianzheng, stood up and strode out.
Rumble!
A muffled thunder rumbled in the sky, and fine raindrops slanted down in the wind.
Thud!
The blood-red dragon-tail sword flashed out like lightning, and a spray of blood flew from the throat of the warrior who tried to ambush Chen Ke.
A warrior, half-charred, stared at Chen Ke with bulging eyes, a gurgling sound emanating from his throat, before collapsing with a crash.
Chen Ke sheathed his sword and looked up in delight: "It's raining!"
Rain was good; with rain, he wouldn't have to laboriously clean up the battlefield. He could dig a few trenches on the hillside, and the mudslides flowing into the canyon would cover the charred corpses and limbs.
The vast canyon was filled with the stench of burning flesh.
The ground was pitted and covered with charred corpses and countless twisted and deformed weapons.
Chen Ke, carrying his blood-stained longsword, wandered through the canyon like a messenger of death.
He would immediately strike any survivor he found, and he was more than happy to see those who jumped out to ambush him.
By dawn, Chen Ke had cleared the canyon, its interior and exterior, as well as the hillsides on both sides.
More than a thousand white-clad killers, none spared!
Chen Ke looked up at the increasingly thick lines of rain in the sky, opened his mouth, and spat out green leaves.
Piloting the Divine Ship, Chen Ke flew to the left hillside and fired spiritual energy bullets, carving two deep trenches.
After creating sixteen trenches in total, Chen Ke flew to the right hillside and similarly carved out sixteen more.
The rain intensified, and rainwater and mud surged through the thirty-two trenches, like thirty-two yellow dragons roaring and rushing into the canyon.
In moments, a thick layer of mud covered the canyon.
Chen Ke nodded in satisfaction, switched the ship to flight mode, and soared into the sky.
Under the shimmering spiritual light, the view from the cockpit remained unaffected.
In a short while, Chen Ke flew above the town, clearly seeing the parked vehicles and the laborers and warriors braving the rain, ready to depart.
Sure enough, Ding Lizhen and the others had left.
However, before leaving, they scouted the surrounding area for a hundred miles to ensure there was no danger before bidding farewell to Chen Baiwang.
Within three days, another team of warriors sent by the Qin princess, along with warriors from the Chen family in other cities, would arrive.
Chen Ke was still uneasy. He patrolled the route the Chen family caravan had taken, confirming there were no more white-clad assassins, before finally finding a secluded mountain peak and landing.
Although the heavy rain provided cover, he still dared not pilot the divine vessel back to the capital. The reason was simple: the closer they got to the capital, the more skilled the experts would be.
You never knew where a sword light might come from and shoot down the divine vessel.
Besides, he couldn't show his face in his current state.
His body and face were covered in too many scars that hadn't fully healed.
Moreover, his hair and eyebrows had been burned off, making him look like a freshly peeled egg.
He should rest for a while. Besides, after such a fierce battle, there's so much he needs to learn and understand.
Sitting cross-legged in a spacious tree hollow, Chen Ke slowly lowered his eyes.
*Ding!*
[Mergeable skills detected. Merge?]
A dialog box suddenly popped up.