Chapter 140: Sent Away to Become a Eunuch

The young man in the python robe was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with a sallow, greyish complexion and a layer of lingering gloom seemingly etched between his brows and eyes.

He was Yi Yiyi’s own third uncle, Prince Rui of Southern Zhao.

From the moment she saw her third uncle appear at the stone yard, she felt immense wariness; it was likely not a coincidence.

He must have known about this trip today in advance and waited here specifically to cause trouble.

Regardless of his purpose, avoiding him and preventing conflict was the best policy.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Ding Suian staring intently at the field, his usually smiling face now very serious.

It looked like he wouldn’t be leaving.

After a moment of thought, Yi Yiyi quickly abandoned the idea of persuading him and instead whispered to the old servant beside her: “Uncle Yi, take a guard back to the city, find Li Qiushi, and ask him to come here immediately. Also, find the State Preceptor and tell him I have something to request.”

Li Qiushi was, after all, the official envoy of the State of Wu; having him negotiate would be more official than Ding Suian’s status.

Yet she feared Li Qiushi wouldn’t be able to control the situation, so she hoped her teacher could come as well. However, she had no confidence in whether she could persuade the State Preceptor to come.

Just then, a “clang” sounded in the field.

A steel saber was thrown in front of the emaciated man.

A guard from the stone yard stepped forward and rudely removed the heavy Protective Aura suppression collar from his neck.

Prince Rui slowly stood up, his feminine gaze sweeping over the man’s withered face, a playful smile on his lips. “Don’t say I’m bullying you. You are at the Astral perfection stage, and my guard Dui Gu is also at the Astral perfection stage. Fair, isn’t it?”

“…”

Behind them, the many prisoners of the Wu Army remained silent.

Half a year of torture through hard labor, combined with cold and hunger, had left them barely surviving, their bodies already exhausted and their Qi depleted.

Furthermore, having worn the Protective Aura suppression collar for so long, their internal Protective Aura was sluggish and stagnant; they probably couldn’t even defeat someone in the Manifesting Elemental State, let alone fight an opponent of the same realm.

Fair? It was clearly a slaughter, like a cat toying with a mouse.

The emaciated man was naturally aware of his own condition, but he didn’t offer a single word of defense, simply stooping to pick up the steel saber. “Come on!”

“Hahaha, not bad, still have some backbone!”

Prince Rui clapped his hands and chuckled, turning his head to the burly guard standing in the field. “Dui Gu, have some measure later; don’t finish him off with one blow. Take off his hands, feet, ears, and nose one by one. I want to see if he can still be as tough as he is now.”

“As you command, Your Highness!”

Dui Gu’s voice was deep like thunder.

Prince Rui nodded in satisfaction and leisurely sat back into his grand armchair.

Only Dui Gu and the emaciated man remained in the field, confronting each other.

“Please!”

The emaciated man flexed his wrists, which were bloody and mangled from long-term shackling. After whispering a reminder, he ignored the huge gap between them and charged forward first.

A blue light flashed on the steel saber, but like his frail body, it only shimmered with a faint, weak layer of Protective Aura edge, minuscule and feeble.

Compared to when his blood and Qi were at their peak, it was like a firefly before the bright moon.

The result was without suspense, lasting only one exchange.

“Ding!”

As the two blades clashed, the steel saber in the man’s hand was knocked flying, his web between thumb and index finger instantly split, blood dripping everywhere.

He seemed to have anticipated this; even after losing his saber, he showed no fear. Instead, empty-handed, he did not retreat but advanced, lunging forward with his whole body, his arms reaching out like iron pincers, aiming straight for Dui Gu’s waist.

This grappling Move appeared particularly familiar in Ding Suian’s eyes.

Because he and this man were taught by the same teacher.

However, Dui Gu’s burly body only swayed slightly before standing firm like a rock. He looked down at the man who was using all his strength but couldn’t shake him in the slightest, a mocking, ferocious grin on his face. “Didn’t you eat? Use more strength!”

“Hahaha…”

Prince Rui’s guards burst into laughter.

The man’s face turned beet red, veins bulging on his forehead. He wanted to mobilize the nearly exhausted Protective Aura in his body, but wherever the thin Protective Aura passed, his stagnant meridians felt excruciating pain.

In the distance, the Wu Army prisoners stared at this scene, their eyes reddening, teeth gritted.

More people silently lowered their heads, seemingly unable to bear watching Commander Chen, known for his bravery, being toyed with like a three-year-old child.

Prince Rui enjoyed the man’s humiliated yet unwilling expression for a while, then glanced lazily at the few riders at the stone yard gate, saying, “Dui Gu, this is boring. Kill him.”

“Understood!”

With a roar, Dui Gu’s hands, like an eagle’s sharp talons, gripped the man’s waist, lifted him up, and slammed him violently onto the ground.

“Zheng!”

The long saber left its sheath, whistling through the air as it hacked toward the man’s right hand.

He hadn’t forgotten the Prince’s instructions: cut off hands and feet first, then the ears and nose.

“Dang!”

A pitch-black straight saber materialized out of thin air, blocking the front. A long, resonant sound of metal clashing echoed across the stone yard.

Prince Rui, who had been slumping in his chair with a lack of interest, suddenly sat up, leaning forward, faintly excited. “Who goes there?”

“Ding Suian, Envoy Guard of the Great Wu delegation and Dutou of the Elite Cavalry of the Vermilion Bird Army!”

Yi Yiyi, who was reining her horse in the distance, only felt a shadow flash beside her, and the person on the horse had already darted several zhang away.

She was stunned at first, then became extremely anxious.

She was stunned because she realized that compared to a dozen days ago, Ding Suian had undergone a transformative improvement in his movement technique.

Back then, he was nowhere near as swift as he was now.

She was anxious because her third uncle was notoriously perverse.

If he were truly angered, he wouldn’t necessarily care about Ding Suian’s status as a member of the delegation.

With this thought, she hurriedly urged her horse forward.

“Uncle Tai, can you get up?”

In the field, Chen Hantai lay on the ground, turning his head to look up at the young man standing in the sunlight. The heavy slam just now had left him dizzy, and during the fight, he had squeezed out the last bit of his body’s potential, so he was inevitably a bit delirious at this moment.

The familiar yet strange, tall figure reflected in his pupils made him dazed, and he muttered, “Brother Lie… Is Brother Lie here to save me?”

“…”

Ding Suian leaned down and helped Chen Hantai up. “Uncle Tai, it’s me, Ding Suian.”

“Ding Suian, Yuanxi?”

Chen Hantai’s bewildered expression changed abruptly. He looked around and became completely clear-headed. “Why are you here!”

“I came to Southern Zhao with the delegation. The two countries are currently in peace talks to welcome all the uncles and brothers home.”

He deliberately raised his voice when saying this.

The stone yard, filled with thousands of prisoners, stirred slightly.

“Hahaha, who said they could go back?”

Prince Rui stood up and shouted loudly.

The stone yard instantly returned to deathly silence.

The faint spark of hope that had just been ignited was gently snuffed out.

Prince Rui paced forward, looking him over, his feminine smile carrying an ambiguous meaning. “Ding Suian, is it? You interrupted Dui Gu’s sparring match just now; were you intending to replace…” Prince Rui reached out and pointed at Chen Hantai, “Were you intending to finish the sparring for him?”

“Uncle!”

Just then, Yi Yiyi arrived, nimbly dismounting and stepping forward to bow. She said hurriedly, “Uncle, this person is a member of the Wu delegation; you cannot harm him!”

“Oh?”

Prince Rui turned to the side and waved his hand casually as if shooing away flies. “Then don’t come and make trouble; get lost! Dui Gu, continue.”

“A sparring match, right? I accept.”

A crisp and decisive response.

Beside her, Yi Yiyi turned her head in astonishment. Seeming to realize she couldn’t change Ding Suian’s decision, she hurriedly shifted her target of persuasion. “Uncle, let’s just leave it at that! The two countries are in peace talks; what if there are casualties?”

Concern leads to chaos; her usually aloof and calm tone could not help but leak a trace of urgency.

Before she finished speaking, Prince Rui suddenly chuckled and interrupted. “Dear niece, are you really concerned about the peace talks between the two countries, or are you worried about this handsome Wu Dutou?”

“…”

Yi Yiyi couldn’t help but pause.

She knew that her two uncles had long regarded her and her father as thorns in their sides and had already taken action.

But those were ultimately under-the-table, shady methods; when everyone met, they always had to maintain a surface-level peace.

Yet she hadn’t expected her third uncle to’slander’ her in public.

Before Yi Yiyi could speak, Prince Rui turned to look at Ding Suian again, deliberately sweeping his ambiguous gaze back and forth between the two, laughing loudly. “Dear niece, uncle once heard that on your way back to the country, you encountered bandits in a night raid, and it was a Wu Dutou who protected you as you fled to Yunzhou City. Could it be him?”

Yi Yiyi was instantly speechless, her lips opening and closing several times, but she couldn’t organize an effective rebuttal.

Feeling guilty leads to a lack of confidence.

“Hehe, you’ve been a hostage with my brother for a few years, have you really started to think of yourself as a Wu person? Want to be a Wu wife?”

This was exactly what Prince Rui wanted to express, using the attack on Nickname to cut off the possibility of the Prince of Nanshun becoming the crown prince.

Don’t look at Prince Rui as a man; he could talk more than a woman. He raised his eyebrows flippantly and raised his voice. “Dear niece, if you fancy him, you can just hide him in your manor as a male concubine. You can give your body to the Wu person, but your heart must be towards our Great Zhao!”

“Hehe…”

The guards behind Prince Rui lowered their heads and snickered, the timing just right.

Southern Zhao was late to be civilized, and in matters between men and women, the social customs were far more open than in Great Wu. But hearing her own uncle talk about her like this, Yi Yiyi was still so angry her chest heaved, and a red blush spread from her cheeks all the way to her earlobes.

In her shame and anger, a layer of misty, blurry water uncontrollably welled up in her beautiful, clear eyes.

Ding Suian stepped forward twice and scanned Prince Rui up and down. His tone carried a rich, street-smart laziness. “Your surname is Wang, right? Wang Shu, how are you even more gossipy than Auntie Yao in our alley? Stop nagging, come on.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the laughter of the guards behind him stopped abruptly.

The playful smile on Prince Rui’s face instantly froze, then was replaced by a sinister, malevolent air. He turned and patted Dui Gu’s upper arm, instructing, “Don’t kill him; cut out his tongue, cut off his bird, and send him to my dear niece’s manor to be a eunuch.”

The field became silent once more.

Dui Gu clearly felt Prince Rui’s disgust for the kid in front of him. Thinking he could vent his master’s anger, he couldn’t help but lick his lips excitedly.

Without saying a word, his mountain-like, burly body suddenly lunged fiercely toward Ding Suian.

Ding Suian didn’t Move.

He still maintained a very relaxed state, not even drawing his saber.

The Protective Aura in his body seemed to have truly transformed into an invisible Qi, overflowing from countless pores and merging with the ubiquitous Qi of heaven and earth.

Every step of Dui Gu, every movement, even the flapping of his clothes as he charged, was fed back into Ding Suian’s perception along with the slight disturbance of the Qi.

The feeling of becoming a human radar was very wonderful.

All thanks to the guidance of the Old Man.

But in the eyes of others, Ding Suian was already shrouded in Dui Gu’s blade range, having completely lost the space and time to dodge.

Yi Yiyi subconsciously turned her head and closed her eyes.

In the blink of an eye, however, Ding Suian was seen sliding half a step to the side with an extremely small movement, the strong wind of the Protective Aura lifting a few strands of hair from Ding Suian’s forehead.

Dui Gu’s sure-fire strike missed, a flash of surprise appearing in his eyes, but his offensive didn’t stop. Taking advantage of the close proximity, he bent his other arm into a hammer and chiseled it toward Ding Suian’s chest and abdomen.

The Protective Aura condensed, powerful and heavy, fierce and peerless.

Ding Suian, however, seemed to have long predicted his follow-up Move. Before the elbow hammer could touch his body, the unsheathed Kunwu seemed to poke forward casually, hitting Dui Gu right in the armpit, precisely and accurately.

The timing and angle were tricky, and it poked exactly at the weak spot that was difficult to notice when Dui Gu’s Protective Aura was circulating.

Dui Gu felt excruciating pain in his armpit; his Protective Aura suddenly stalled, and his offensive dissipated on its own.

“Eh?”

“Wow!”

The Wu Army hard laborers let out two exclamations almost without interruption.

The first was astonishment because they didn’t understand how Ding Suian had dodged Dui Gu’s close-range downward slash.

The second was admiration for his extremely exquisite counterattack.

Hearing the sound, Yi Yiyi thought the outcome of the match had been decided and, suppressing the fear in her heart, opened her eyes.