Gate of God

"Wu Feng is eliminated? Who eliminated Wu Feng? Is it Nangong Hao? Or is it Yan Xiu?" No matter how many times Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was answered, he was still in somewhat of a disbelief.

"None of them... the person who eliminated Wu Feng is... Fang Zhengzhi!" Su Qing shook his head, took a deep breath and spoke.

"Fang Zhengzhi?!" This time, Crown Prince Lin Tianrong’s expression changed for real and immediately stood up from his chair.

His initial lazy expression changed to one of immense shock at this moment and his pale white pace turned somewhat pink. His feminine and tender eyes was tightly fixated on Su Qing’s face.

He couldn’t believe it.

"Based on intelligence reports, last night, Fang Zhengzhi had eliminated Chen Feiyu. After which, at noon, he eliminated Wu Feng. Both of these incidents occurred in the Thunderous Lion Settlement." Su Qing could understand Crown Prince Lin Tianrong’s feelings completely.

However...

Reality was reality.

He could only speak the truth. However, even he himself wasn’t able to understand how did Fang Zhengzhi accomplish such a thing.

It has to be made known that the Thunderous Lion Settlement was Chen Feiyu’s settlement. Furthermore, most importantly, Chen Feiyu had over ten thousand soldiers.

Not even mentioning that Chen Feiyu wasn’t at all weaker than Fang Zhengzhi.

Just based on those ten thousand soldiers, if each of them spat at Fang Zhengzhi, it might even be possible to drown him.

Leveraging on the fact that Chen Feiyu and Wu Feng were fighting among one another to reap the rewards?

But, this probability was equally low.

Wu Feng’s abilities ranked him third in the Rising Dragon Roll. Just based on abilities and powers alone, he ranked above Fang Zhengzhi. In addition to the almost twenty thousand soldiers strong army in Wu Feng’s hands.

Taking the head of the enemy general from among tens of thousands of soldiers?

Su Qing didn’t believe that Fang Zhengzhi had this ability. Moreover, Wu Feng was an expert in the Dao of Music. The offensive power behind this, not mentioning that Fang Zhengzhi was alone.

Even if there was five Fang Zhengzhi-s coming at him at one go, it would still be almost impossible for him to close in.

Su Qing couldn’t understand what had happened within the Thunderous Lion Settlement. Crown Prince Lin Tianrong couldn’t understand either. Hence, what was left was silence.

After exactly an hour of silence.

Crown Prince Lin Tianrong finally returned back onto his chair. After all, he was the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, the chief examiner of this court combat examination.

"How is the current situation like?" Crown Prince Lin Tianrong tried his best to remain calm. He had to consider the entire situation. Because, he knew very clearly all the plans that the Great Xia Dynasty had in mind during this military movement into the Southern Mountain Range.

Initially, the entire plan was being carried out smoothly and as planned one step at a time. However, there seemed to be a small accident at the moment. This was an accident that was out of his control.

Hence...

The most important thing for him to do now was to grasp this accident within his hands, or, discreetly destroy this accident.

"Based on the rules of the combat examination, after Fang Zhengzhi eliminated Wu Feng, all the military forces and territories under Wu Feng would now be completely under Fang Zhengzhi’s control. Hence..." When Su Qing neared the end of his sentence, he sounded somewhat hesitant.

"You mean, at this moment, the Thunderous Lion Settlement, the Shi Zun Settlement and the Yan Ya Settlement are all controlled by Fang Zhengzhi?" When Crown Prince Lin Tianrong heard this, he felt somewhat giddy.

He was really a little giddy. Among the four main settlements, three were taken by Fang Zhengzhi. This accident was truly larger than what he had imagined.

"Yes, based on the rules of the combat examination..."

"I don’t care about the rules of the combat examination! Send the order, the journey starts now. I want to go to the Thunderous Lion Settlement, I cannot allow Fang Zhengzhi to act so blasphemously!"

"Your Highness, I fear this is somewhat inappropriate. If Your Highness goes to the Thunderous Lion Settlement now, not only will you break the rules of the court examination, you might even raise suspicions on the Southern Mountain Range’s side. If, by some unfortunate circumstance, the Southern Mountain Range plan is disrupted, I fear there might be movements on King Duan’s side. Your Highness, you must not forget that King Duan is the real person in charge of the military!" When Su Qing heard this, he immediately stepped in and advised.

"Don’t tell me my brother dares to badmouth me in front of Father Emperor?"

"If I am King Duan, now only will I badmouth you, I will ask the Emperor to strip you of all your powers to host the court examination. After all, if the Southern Mountain Range plan succeeds, the rewards will be great!"

"I dare him!"

"Your Highness, please think this through carefully!" When Su Qing finished his sentence, he immediately knelt down onto the ground.

When Crown Prince Lin Tianrong saw Su Qing kneeling down, a faint light flashed in his soft eyes. However, in the end, he didn’t continue to maintain his stand.

"Smash!" The golden flower on the table shattered onto the ground.

"Rise, in your opinion, what course of action should we take?" After a long while of silence, Crown Prince Lin Tianrong finally waved his hands towards Su Qing and signalled for him to stand up.

"Your Highness, it wouldn’t harm to pass down a secret order to ensure that Fang Zhengzhi can only do as he wishes within the three main settlements. However, he must not go near the Icy Monkey Settlement and raise any conflicts with Nangong Hao. In this case, things may still be controlled."

"You think that Fang Zhengzhi would dare to attack Nangong Hao?!" When Crown Prince Lin Tianrong heard this, he was somewhat taken aback. He knew very clearly how important this Southern Mountain Range plan was.

Nangong Hao!

Must not be affected!

"Wu Feng wouldn’t dare to. Chen Feiyu wouldn’t dare to. Yan Xiu wouldn’t dare to. However, Fang Zhengzhi might!" Su Qing replied confidently.

"He will definitely be defeated, without a doubt! But... I’m afraid that he would cause trouble. If he orders a brute force attack on the Icy Monkey Settlement, resulting in heavy casualties among the military forces of our Great Xia, things might be messed up."

"If this is the case, would it be more appropriate to send to order to Nangong Hao for him to avoid fighting?"

"Your Highness, don’t you remember that Nangong Hao only listens to the Emperor? Furthermore, Nangong Hao definitely has enough reason and drive to battle Fang Zhengzhi." Su Qing reminded.

"What you said does make some sense. Let’s do it this way, you will personally make a trip to the Thunderous Lion Settlement and pass the order for me."

"This... I fear I am unable to go."

"Why?"

"Don’t tell me that Your Highness had forgotten that during the court theory examination, there had been some conflicts between me and Fang Zhengzhi?" When Su Qing recalled the scene during the court theory examination, his expression darkened somewhat.

"Then, who do you feel is more appropriate for this?" Crown Prince Lin Tianrong nodded.

"Xing Qingsui!" A glow flashed in Su Qing’s eyes. However, he still hesitated for a moment before finally voicing out the name.

"Xing Qingsui? Yes... It is indeed better for him to go. However, Xing Qingsui has the Mountain Breaking Army of the Stabilisation Constabulary with him. If he is ordered to enter the Thunderous Lion Settlement, will it expose things?" Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was evidently somewhat surprised by Su Qing’s suggestion and his expression seemed somewhat hesitant.

"Your Highness, you can order for him to make the journey alone. If he was to journey to the Thunderous Lion Settlement secretly, things naturally wouldn’t be exposed." When Su Qing saw the Crown Prince’s expression, he thought for a moment and suggested.

"Alright, bring my order token and personally invite Xing Qingsui over. I will personally explain to him everything that was planned and arranged." Crown Prince Lin Tianrong stayed silent for a moment, but finally nodded his head.

"Roger!" Su Qing nodded and withdrew with his head bowed.

After leaving the military tent. Su Qing stabilised himself and raised his head lightly to gaze at the white clouds in the sky. An icy glow flashed across his eyes.

"Personally give the order? The position of the Stabilisation Constabulary in the Great Xia indeed cannot be matched by anybody else, regardless whether it is the current Emperor, or the Crown Prince, or King Duan... Looks like it is time for some action!"

...

At the same time news of Fang Zhengzhi’s elimination of Wu Feng and Chen Feiyu reached Crown Prince Lin Tianrong’s military tent, a soldier in rattan armour also entered Princess Shan Yu’s tent.

"Princess, Fang Zhengzhi had taken the Thunderous Lion Settlement, the Yan Ya Settlement and the Shi Zun Settlement. Furthermore, his current military strength has expanded to almost thirty thousand people." As the soldier spoke, his forehead dripped with sweat.

He had sprinted all the way here.

Of course, that wasn’t the main reason he was soaked in sweat.

The main reason was that he was truly frightened. How many days did these incidents take to happen? Three main settlements were now all under Fang Zhengzhi’s control.

This was simply terrifying.

It felt as if an wolf had leapt into a flock of sheep. Isn’t this a little too extreme?

When Princess Shan Yu, who was lying on a golden coloured animal skin chair, heard this news, her initially casual and indolent expression turned into one of shock.

If it wasn’t for the fact that the soldier was present.

She might have almost rolled off her chair in shock.

Her body, covered in white animal leather, began to tremble and her chest rose and fell rapidly. Her wheat coloured skin also turned somewhat flushed with red.

This was extreme surprise and delight. She had really never imagined that Fang Zhengzhi would be able to achieve this.

Furthermore...

He had done so in such a short span of time.

"This guy, really caused me to... be very shocked!" Princess Shan Yu murmured softly as her dark eyes flashed with light. "Tell me in detail how did this guy do it."

"Roger!" After hearing Princess Shan Yu’s words, he immediately acknowledged and began to describe in great detail how Fang Zhengzhi had taken down Chen Hao’s Thunder Light Settlement, then set up a trap within the Thunderous Lion Settlement to ambush Chen Feiyu and Wu Feng.

When the soldier finished his words.

Princess Shan Yu’s expression changed again.

Her initial delight and surprise became somewhat awkward. When she thought of the scene in which Fang Zhengzhi tricked away Wu Feng’s clothes and jade flute, she couldn’t contain herself and scolded.

"This guy is just as shameless as before in his acts!"

"Princess, what arrangements do we need?"

"You can withdraw and rest for now, I will naturally have my own plans."

"Roger."

...

Within the Southern Mountain Range, on the peak of an extremely ordinary mountain, at the entrance of a certain concealed mountain cave, there was also a black figure, standing under the broad daylight. He seemed somewhat in a hurry.

"What is it that needs to be reported in the day?" When a man in black robe standing at the entrance saw this black figure, he immediately walked out from the side and blocked in front of the mountain cave entrance.

"Urgent matters!"

"Domain Chief is currently taking his afternoon rest, come again at night!"

"No, I must report this to Domain Chief right now. I wish that you will allow me to report immediately, else, if military intelligence is kept back and delayed, you will be responsible!" The black figure spoke with a cold expression.

"You... wait!" The black-robed man didn’t speak any further, turned around and entered the cave. A moment later, he walked out. However, there was an additional bright red palm mark on his face.

"Enter!"

When the black-robed man spoke, his tone sounded clearly somewhat grieved.

"Thanks." When the black figure saw the palm mark on the black-robed man’s face, a faint sense of pity flashed across his lips. However, he didn’t dare to delay any further.

Within the cave, Bai Xing lay on a glittering and translucent black stone. A faint icy aura was given off by the stone, causing the entire cave to feel somewhat chilly.

A blood-red demon eye was embedded on Bai Xing’s forehead, adding a blood-like mystery to this chilly atmosphere.

"What?" Bai Xing’s tone didn’t sound very happy.

"Domain Chief, Fang Zhengzhi had taken down the Thunderous Lion Settlement, and defeated Wu Feng and Chen Feiyu. Now, he controls the Thunderous Lion Settlement, the Shi Zun Settlement and the Yan Ya Settlement. Furthermore, he has almost thirty thousand soldiers." The black figure felt the aura emitted from Bai Xing’s body and didn’t dare to beat around the bush. He cut straight to the point.

"What?! How can things happen like this?" Bai Xing’s initially calm expression was finally broken.

"I heard that Fang Zhengzhi tricked Chen Feiyu and Wu Feng into entering the Thunderous Lion Settlement, then, set up an ambush." The black figure instantly reported everything he knew.

"Well done Fang Zhengzhi, a few days ago, he is still within Princess Shan Yu’s tent. Now, he already has control over three main settlements? This is truly somewhat unexpected."

"Domain Chief, what should we do now? Should we make an early move?"

"There is no rush. The more troops Fang Zhengzhi has in his hands, the faster he dies. This time, he cannot run anymore! However... in order to prevent the unexpected, insert a few more people inside!"

"Understood."

"You can leave."

"Roger!"

The black figure quickly left.

On the other hand, Bai Xing didn’t seem to have any further intention of sleeping. Instead, he slowly rose from the black stone and paced back and forth within the cave.

"Based on time calculations, Young Lord should be reaching by now."

...

Fang Zhengzhi didn’t know about the reactions of people from each side after eliminating Wu Feng.

In reality, he didn’t even figure out that he was already in control of three main settlements. Only when General Wang reminded him on purpose, he seemed to realise that at this moment, he...

Seemed to have some bragging rights!

Within a short span of time, he had already controlled three of the four main settlements. The military force in his hands had almost reached thirty thousand troops. He was filled with power. All he had to do was to stamp his feet for the entire Southern Mountain Range to shake.

"Don’t tell me that this is the legend about how intended actions never lead to good outcomes, but unintended actions result in great results?" Fang Zhengzhi raised his head to the sky and felt like a lonely champion without a worthy challenger.

Hence...

The next question was raised.

Where should he go and stamp his feet?

Fang Zhengzhi knew that the four main settlements were extremely dangerous. The Southern Mountain Range had already arranged for soldiers to be placed within the four main settlements. However, after possessing strong military forces, this feeling became somewhat different.

If it was said that the Fang Zhengzhi of before was a tiny sailboat in the middle of a tempestuous stormy sea that could flip at any time, now, he was riding a deluxe warship.

Whenever he saw somebody he didn’t fancy, he didn’t have to speak anything more than one word...

Die!