494 Desertion (2/2)

However, they could feel the strange atmosphere before even entering the city.

The soldiers were all walking hastily. One officer yelled at them when he saw Shang Liao and Chu Nanping wandering and asked them to return to their armies immediately.”We'll be soon at war. How dare you two wander around!”

The people in the street pick up their speed and lowered their heads as if they were preoccupied.

The second battle between the Dragon Army and the Golden Roc Army came to an end while they were still on the boat.

It seemed that the Golden Roc Army had won the war because the Dragon Army had to give up the second defense line and continued to retreat. However, it was unexpectedly difficult for the Golden Roc Army to continue the battle and they lost a lot more than people could imagine.

There were nearly 10,000 casualties in the war. Shangguan Jianyi expected the decisive battle to happen in the last defense line of the Dragon Army, but Dugu Xian's counterattack shocked him. He had to admit his fault for he had not fully prepared for the war.

However, he did not retreat. He ordered his soldiers to fight to the death, causing a disastrous result.

Before long, Shang Liao and Chu Nanping heard the remarks in the city. Even soldiers thought that their general wanted to win with using the lives of soldiers. Moreover, the Golden Roc Army had many more soldiers. Even if they lost 10,000 soldiers, they still had the upper hand and the Dragon Army had also suffered casualties. It was a profitable business to exchange one life with two lives.

Therefore, though the soldiers of the Golden Roc Army were confident in winning, they began doubting about their own safety.

Shang Liao was so overjoyed that he even took the initiative to speak to Chu Nanping. ”This is great! This is the kind of atmosphere I want.”

After that, Shangliao met with a cousin of his. Although the Golden Roc Fort was at war with Dragon King and the royal families of Xiaoyao Lake had been divided into two factions, they were still in contact with each other. In terms of their families, they were working for their own interests, and some people would certainly enjoy the fruits of victory.

Due to this reason, Shang Liao was not wary of his cousin, but he ignored an important problem. He was not a common son of royal families, but the new king of the Kang Kingdom conferred by Dragon King.

It was a secret talk, so Shang Liao decided to met his cousin alone and asked Chu Nanping to stay in the rented inn.

In fact, Shang Liao had misunderstood Chu Nanping. The youngster had never tried to monitor his words and deeds.

In his life, there was only one thing in his heart—improving his swordsmanship. He cared about nothing else, not how high the status of Left General was nor who the man was loyal to.

After Shang Liao left for a while, Chu Nanping found himself surrounded by troops.

Chu Nanping was disguised as a commoner, as were those people. However, they were a group of strong youngsters. They had forgotten that the eligible men in Xiaoyao Lake had all already been recruited into the army.

Although Chu Nanping had only been trained as a killer for several months and had not learned a lot, it did change some of his habits and thoughts. This time, he did not use his sword to fight against his enemies in a siege. He pretended not to know it and fled through the window after returning to the room.

Walking in the street, Chu Nanping thought that there were certainly no Golden Roc killers among those people.

He was simple but not at all stupid. At this time, the Kings and royal families of all countries were forced to gather in a place like prisoners. So it was natural for Shang Liao to go there to discuss with his cousin.

Chu Nanping sneaked into the palace when night fell. His idea was simple. Since Dragon King asked him to protect Shang Liao and kill him at a critical time, he would strictly follow the order.

The Kings of the Hui, An, Sha, and Kang Kingdoms all stayed in the royal palace under extremely strict supervision.

Chu Nanping, once prisoned in the underground secret chamber of the royal palace, knew that it was a place to prison people. So he went to the back palace first, only to find that the entrance to the secret chamber had disappeared. Besides, the former queen's bedchamber had been razed to the ground, replaced with flowers and plants.

But Chu Nanping was not discouraged and walked carefully in the dark. He had enough patience. Since the royal palace was not very large, it would just take him a few days to find the person he was looking for.

It was out of the sudden that he came across the intruder in the latter half of the night. Both of them were trying to avoid the guards and happened to choose the same route.

Chu Nanping did not have the time to unsheathe his sword and decided to directly hit the man. He then made a surprised noise after discovering that that man seemed to have learned Wayless Qigong.

The other man behind him asked in a small voice, ”Is that Little Chu?”

”Yes.”

These two men were Shangguan Fei and Long Fanyun who finally managed to escape from house arrest but met acquaintances before leaving the royal palace.

It was not a good place to talk, so they left the royal palace. Shangguan Fei asked excitedly, ”Did Dragon King send you to save us?”

”No, I'm here to look for someone.”

”Oh.” Shangguan Fei was a little disappointed. ”There are spies around Dragon King, so we must return and inform him.”

”But Dragon King has left and we don't know where he has gone.”

”Ah, could he have entered Wushan? There's a trap waiting for him there!”