The Prince Can Do Divination

Chapter 378 - 239: Allies Gather, a Suspicious Defeat, Fighting the Blood Race Duke, Avenging the Father-in-Law

「On the way to the border pass.」

The desolate cries of vultures echoed across the sky as they circled high in the distance.

Even after riding for a hundred li, Lu Mingyuan still hadn’t recovered from the shock, his hand tightly clutching the Sword-shaped Jade Pendant.

Among the troops, veteran soldiers hung their heads, their morale abysmally low. Bored and listless, they muttered strings of curses. "Reinforcing the Northern Pass... I wonder when we’ll ever get to go home."

Unable to stand the sight, Marquis Wuan flew into a rage. "Look at you all!" he cursed. "You look as pathetic as men whose wives have been stolen! Show some spirit! Don’t let the Crown Prince look down on you!"

However, his words did little to improve the situation.

Lu Mingyuan put away the Jade Pendant and took his position within the Central Army. His gaze swept across the ranks, and he saw that most of the soldiers were in the same sorry state.

A man in a scholar’s robe, his long hair worn loose and his posture slightly languid, spoke to Lu Mingyuan via voice transmission:

"Your Highness, these tens of thousands of men we’re leading may look impressive, but in truth, they are the old, the weak, and the infirm. To accomplish anything of note in this battle will be as difficult as ascending to heaven."

His tone was laced with anxiety.

These were veteran soldiers whose fighting spirit had been utterly depleted. What great feats could possibly be expected of them?

Defeating the Holy Nether Army was out of the question; they would be hard-pressed just to survive.

Having been a general in a past life, Lu Mingyuan naturally saw the problem.

His Imperial Father had agreed readily enough, but in reality, he had assigned Lu Mingyuan the old and the weak, hoping he would fail to accomplish anything.

To leave with great fanfare and return covered in dust and shame.

He shook his head. "Our primary objective this time is to retrieve Elder Mr. Qi’s coffin, not to wage war."

He had never planned to rely too heavily on the army’s strength anyway.

It was better to rely on himself than on others.

"Do you know what it means if we win this battle? Your names will go down in history! This is a golden opportunity to be immortalized!"

Marquis Wuan did his best to raise morale, trying to ignite the fighting spirit of his officers. If he couldn’t rally all the soldiers, he at least needed the Captains and Centurions to have the courage to draw their swords.

"But... even Qi Xingyan fell in battle," a nearby Centurion muttered. "What can people like us possibly do?"

The moment the Centurion finished speaking, the flicker of morale that had just been kindled was instantly extinguished. A long silence fell over the men.

’He was right. Could they really win?’

In the eyes of the common soldiers on this expedition, a great man like Qi Xingyan was a legendary figure, someone they might hear about but could never hope to meet. Some had never even heard his name.

But that didn’t stop them from knowing that a major figure from the Court had recently fallen at the Border Pass.

If a man that great had died on the front lines, how could insignificant soldiers like them possibly hope to win?

’Were they supposed to rely on the Crown Prince?’

As far as they knew, the Crown Prince had never led troops before. This time, he was merely the commander-in-chief in name only. In their hearts, they all saw Marquis Wuan as their actual commander.

Although Marquis Wuan’s reputation had been tarnished by his involvement in the Third Prince’s rebellion, he was still a Marquis Wu who had rendered illustrious service to the Great Yan Dynasty.

But Qi Xingyan’s death was a crushing blow to the soldiers of Great Yan.

The kind of blow that utterly shatters a man’s will to fight.

SWOOSH!

Suddenly, a streak of rainbow-colored light flashed across the sky, coming to a steady halt in mid-air. It was a Flying Sword.

All the soldiers tensed, as if facing a great enemy.

But as a figure was revealed upon it—the trim silhouette of a woman in crimson robes—they heard her announce in a clear, loud voice:

"I am Li Exi, a True Disciple of the Taihao Sword Sect."

"I have come to serve the Crown Prince."

The surrounding soldiers let out a collective sigh of relief.

"It’s a Qi Cultivator from the Taihao Sword Sect."

"Who’s Fairy E Xi?"

"You don’t even know her? She’s pretty famous—the Sword Cultivator ranked eighty-first on the Great Yan Mountain and River List."

"Anyone who can fly on a sword must be powerful."

The soldiers whispered among themselves. The rank-and-file had little understanding of Cultivation grades; some were completely ignorant. In their eyes, all Middle Fifth Grade Cultivators were more or less the same: powerful Immortals capable of great Divine Techniques.

They could soar through the skies, burrow into the earth, tread on lightning, and command fire. They were omnipotent.

Li Exi descended from her Flying Sword and approached Lu Mingyuan.

Her eyes held a hint of surprise as she looked at Lu Mingyuan.

This Crown Prince of Great Yan had sharp and refined features. He wasn’t so much handsome or pretty as he was noble, possessing a divine, god-like air and an innate, jade-like grace.

His expression was aloof, yet an inconsolable sadness lingered in his eyes.

Li Exi bowed respectfully.

"I have long heard of Elder Mr. Qi’s great righteousness—how he sacrificed himself for the people of a city to resist the Holy Nether Army. Now that Your Highness has personally volunteered to travel to Celestial Profound to see him to his final rest, I, as one of the many Cultivators who fought in that battle, must do my part to help."

Lu Mingyuan nodded, for the most part understanding her reason for coming.

After Qi Xingyan’s death, the defensive lines on the Celestial Profound Continent had all but collapsed, with the Cultivators in each region left to fight on their own.

The defense relied solely on the desperate resistance of local Cultivators.

Now that he was heading to Celestial Profound as a representative of the Great Yan Court, it was only natural that many Cultivators would seek to rally to his side.

Li Exi’s imperceptible Divine Sense swept over Lu Mingyuan, yet she was unable to gauge the depths of his power.

’Does the Crown Prince not have any Cultivation?’

’Or is his power so far beyond mine that I can’t sense even a trace of his aura?’

Regardless, Li Exi felt a newfound sense of gravity toward him.

Lu Mingyuan composed himself and said quietly, "You said you were one of the Cultivators who fought in the battle. If so, tell me everything. Start from when you set out on the expedition. Tell me what Elder Qi went through, and at whose hands he fell."

Li Exi nodded. "To be honest, I’m only just now piecing much of it together. It wasn’t that Great Yan was no match for the Holy Netherworld... it was that there was a traitor within the Human Race. If the Blood Race army hadn’t managed to bypass Yu Yang Pass, perhaps Elder Mr. Qi would never have been backstabbed, let alone surrounded and overwhelmed by so many Blood Race Cultivators."