Chapter 395 Scared
The fight between the two sides has reached a fever pitch.

The battlefield was filled with screams and shouts. Nearly two thousand cavalrymen collided with each other, the sound of killing was deafening, the soldiers and horses were galloping, and the fighting had reached the point of life and death. The ground was littered with corpses of people and horses, and some ownerless horses were running around the battlefield.

Hundreds of corpses lay on the ground, trampled in the mud by countless horse hooves or boots. The ground was already covered with blood, which mixed with the land that had been trampled into a quagmire, giving the mud a strange purple-black color.

Amid the shouts and screams from both sides, Li Maozhen could clearly hear the arrogant words spoken by that guy.

“Are you Zhu Youwen?”

After squinting and looking carefully for a while, Li Maozhen finally confirmed the man’s identity. His brows frowned instantly and his heart sank.

He vaguely sensed that something was not right.

Zhu Youwen didn’t waste any words. At this moment, wisps of Yin energy were constantly overflowing from the palms of his hands. The blood and energy of the entire battlefield seemed to be gathering towards him, making his whole body seem to exude the energy of the Nine Nether Hell, as if he was haunted by a ghost, and full of murderous aura.

Before Li Maozhen finished his questioning, he just said nothing in response, stomped his feet heavily on the ground, and his tall figure swept past several people like a gust of wind and went straight towards Li Maozhen.

At this moment, Li Maozhen had already sensed a familiar aura on Zhu Youwen, a aura he had come into contact with in Fengxiang half a year ago.

That is the Nine Nether Mysterious Heavenly Divine Art that is of the same origin as Xiao Yan’s!

Several cavalrymen of the Yaer Army who had been following Li Maozhen to charge into the battle line were unaware of Zhu Youwen’s terrifying strength. Relying on the toughness of their armor, they actually wanted to ride their horses to block him. However, Li Maozhen knew that to deal with Zhu Youwen or even someone like himself, it would take an infantry formation, so he immediately ordered a few people to retreat, and went straight out of the crowd, instantly meeting Zhu Youwen.

The two men suddenly pressed their palms together. There was a muffled sound at first, followed by a continuous and loud sound. However, within a breath, the two men had already pressed their palms together for more than ten times.

Zhu Youwen had just fallen from the sky and had actually consumed a lot of his internal energy. At this time, he had exchanged more than ten moves with Li Maozhen. His face was particularly gloomy, neither sad nor happy, but his whole body revealed an extremely crazy fighting spirit. Murderous energy was overflowing from his body, attracting the blood energy of half of the battlefield. In an instant, it seemed as if there were thousands of blood-red threads pulling behind him, which began to continuously charge him.

Continuous blood and energy began to roll around Zhu Youwen’s body, and the internal energy he had consumed before was replenished in an instant. Not only that, because the continuous blood and energy were absorbed into his body, even his eyes began to surge with blood, slowly filling the entire whites of his eyes.

The murderous aura and fighting spirit of this guy are constantly rising!
If he was just fighting this monster head-on, Li Maozhen could think of countless ways to slowly wear away this guy’s incredibly thick protective Yin Qi, but at this moment he couldn’t really immerse himself in this fight.

Because not far away from where the two were fighting, there was a strange creature!

At this time, seeing that Li Maozhen was entangled, Yelu Zhiwu did not go up and take advantage of the situation to surround and kill Li Maozhen with Zhu Youwen. Instead, he just touched the ground with the demon-subduing pestle in his hand, and the eyes behind the ancient shaman mask just slowly moved as they followed the fight between the two.

Li Maozhen and Zhu Youwen were entangled in a fight. Any soldiers and horses that approached were torn into bloody wounds by the wisps of strong energy. The moves of the two men were so fast that it was impossible to see clearly. Then, with them as the center, a circle-like inner battlefield spontaneously formed. The Yaer Army and the Mobei Orudo Palace Guards continued to charge around this inner battlefield. The surging herds of horses galloped around the circle, raising a constantly flowing cloud of dust.

But in Yelu Zhiwu’s eyes, the moves of these two people were as fast or slow as usual. The strong energy that was raging on half of the battlefield and constantly colliding and mixing with each other could not hurt her at all. It just made the hem of her robe flutter wildly backwards.

There was almost no one around her, she was just quietly watching the battle attentively.

——

“Who is that?!”

In the watchtower of the main camp, Shuliduo held onto the wooden railing tightly, staring at the small battlefield shrouded in dust without blinking. Although she could only vaguely see the two people fighting in it, it did not affect her ability to identify the figure of the latecomer, who was actually fighting with Li Maozhen.

Shili Qixiang naturally couldn’t answer, so she could only turn around and look at Li Siyuan.

At this time, there was another uproar in the camp. The people crowded on the wall all looked towards the battlefield over there, wondering whether the red-haired man in blood-red armor was an enemy or a friend. But it was obvious that the sudden appearance of two masters who were able to rival the great shaman Aogu had shocked countless people present.

Compared to them, Li Siyuan looked even worse. He was usually calm, but now sweat broke out on his forehead. His eyes were wide open, staring at the direction of the battlefield. He seemed to have lost his composure, and just kept muttering to himself: “How could it be him… How could it be him? Isn’t this man dead?”

Shili Qixiang had excellent hearing, so he became alert at this moment: “What does the Holy Lord mean by this?”

Li Siyuan came to his senses instantly, but he could not hide the shock on his face for a while, so he just laughed dryly and said, “Maybe I recognized the wrong person… I recognized the wrong person, I must have recognized the wrong person.”

As he spoke, while Shuliduo also frowned and looked at him, he hurriedly and sloppily saluted: “I have something important to do, so I need to take my leave from the Queen Mother for the time being.”

“The Holy Lord doesn’t look like he is going to be relieved of his worries.” Shulido saw that Li Siyuan had some clues, but he remained calm.

Shili Qixiang also became more alert, hiding in front of Shuliduo, and clenched her hand that had been on the short knife at her waist.

Li Siyuan was extremely confused at this time, and all the thoughts in his mind seemed to have turned into a mess. All his previous plans seemed to be overturned the moment Zhu Youwen appeared.

Did Zhu Youwen come back to life or was he never dead at all?

No, no… This guy must be dead! At that time, he and the Hades died in Bianliang in front of countless people. Thousands of eyes saw it clearly. The information could not be wrong!
But the intelligence cannot explain the facts before us!
The most important thing is, when Zhu Youwen appears, to what faction does he belong?
The deposed Liang emperor Zhu Wen? Or the disintegrating Xuanming Sect? Or… the Bad Leader?

Could it be the most impossible point… Zhu Youwen, this guy, can’t be persuaded by Xiao Yan to surrender? There is absolutely no possibility! Xiao Yan is blatantly trying to seize your Zhu family’s kingdom!

All kinds of thoughts mixed together, and finally converged into one point in Li Siyuan’s mind –

Could it be that Xiao Yan has been paying attention to Yinshan all along?

When he thought of this, Li Siyuan felt as if a poisonous snake was staring at his back. How could he care about Shili Qixiang’s defense against him? Besides, he always cherished his life, and the life of the Queen Mother of Mobei was not worth taking risks for him!
“Haha…” Li Siyuan forced himself to remain calm, determined not to tell Shuliduo Zhu Youwen’s identity, and just laughed slowly: “After this setback, Li Maozhen can no longer threaten the Queen Mother before Generals Zhao Siwen and Yelu Helu return. It’s better not to tell you about my little trick. But although that man is an enemy of Li Maozhen, I’m afraid he is also an enemy rather than a friend to Mobei. Why doesn’t the Queen Mother let the Great Shaman take advantage of the fight between the two to reap the benefits?”

“The Holy Lord is thoughtful. I will have my own considerations.” Shulido looked at Li Siyuan deeply and let him leave.

Shili Qixiang was relieved by this. She had fought with Li Siyuan before and knew that his martial arts were quite strong. It would be difficult for her to fight him alone. Moreover, she was good at assassination and sneak attacks, and was not good at blocking the enemy head-on. If Li Siyuan suddenly attacked, she would probably have no choice but to knock him off the watchtower and die together with him.

“Queen Mother, do you want me to arrange for someone to pass on the message to Aunt Ao, and wait for an opportunity to attack those two people, so as to nip the danger in the bud?”

“Whether they are enemies or friends is not up to Li Siyuan to decide.” Shuliduo pondered for a moment and said, “Tell Aogu to help the latecomers kill Li Maozhen. Aogu has a strong temper and may not be willing to fight two against one. Send someone to take the queen’s sword and pass the order.”

While she was talking, she watched Li Siyuan walk down the watchtower and be hurriedly greeted by Shi Jingtang. She narrowed her eyes and began to think.

——

“Master Taishan…”

Shi Jingtang was also somewhat flustered, but he hid it very well, and there was almost no surprise on his face. He just stayed beside Li Siyuan and said in a low voice: “I just squeezed onto the wall of the village to watch the battle, and I felt that the figure was somewhat similar to the Ghost King Zhu Youwen of Xuanming Sect…” “That’s him!” Li Siyuan cursed inwardly: “Didn’t this guy get forced to death by Xiao Yan? How weird! Pack up, we can’t stay here any longer!”

Shi Jingtang followed him and was surprised. He asked in a low voice: “What does Taishan mean? Didn’t the prince’s army go north through Yunzhou? I have observed that there are many tribes that are dissatisfied with Shuliduo. If Yelu Lage can gain the upper hand, seven or eight out of ten tribes will surrender. Shuliduo will be forced into a desperate situation and can only rely on the prince. In this way, won’t Mobei be within easy reach?”

When Li Siyuan heard this, his face became even darker.

He and Shi Jingtang both knew that the elite cavalry under Li Maozhen’s command was the Crow Army of Jin, but they did not reveal this to Shulido in order to create an illusion that Yelu Lage had already gained the support of the princes in the Central Plains and had enough capital to regain control of the grassland.

Just imagine that if Yelu Lagu, who is more popular among the seven tribes of the grassland than Shuliduo, regains power and is secretly supported by the princes of the Central Plains, he will be able to quickly sweep across most of the grassland and threaten the foundation of Shuliduo’s rule.

If Shuliduo loses its rule over the grassland, it will become even less valuable to Xiao Yan, who is busy attacking Sichuan and Shu, and the status of both sides will become even more unequal than before.

Comparing the two, the State of Jin, which is willing to give up Yinshan and even the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to join forces with Mobei, is more sincere than Xiao Yan and can also quickly send troops to help Shuliduo pacify Yelu Lage.

Both of these conditions are far beyond the reach of Xiao Yan, who is currently in Sichuan. Shuliduo’s turning to the State of Jin is a natural and inevitable trend.

Under the Marshal’s prior order, even if forcing Shuliduo to stab Xiao Yan failed, Li Siyuan could also give up this Mobei Queen Mother and instead support Yelu Lage to control the grassland. However, the effect would be far less severe than if Shuliduo betrayed Xiao Yan.

As for Yuan Tiangang’s sudden decision to make Li Cunxu the next King of Jin, although Li Siyuan was resentful, he was also able to accept it. He knew very well that based on Li Cunxu’s determination, Yuan Tiangang would never allow him to sit on the throne of King of Jin for long. When Li Cunxu was no longer of any use, it would be time for him to take power and stabilize the situation in Jin.

This is why Li Siyuan spared no effort to encourage Shuliduo to surrender to the State of Jin.

But at this last moment, Zhu Youwen made him smell a breath of danger!

“I’m just afraid that Zhu Youwen suddenly showed up here and that he has something to do with Xiao Yan.” Li Siyuan said coldly to Shi Jingtang: “Do you know that Xiao Yan has captured the Shu Emperor Wang Jian in Hanzhong? Has Wang Jian surrendered to Xiao Yan?”

Shi Jingtang knew this news, but he still advised: “It is precisely because Xiao Yan has the potential to conquer Shu that Taishan should promote this matter! If the world is divided into three parts and Xiao Yan occupies two of them, how can Hedong alone compete with Xiao Yan with the help of Mobei?”

“This is a different time.” Li Siyuan pondered for a moment, and looked out from the door of the tent: “Xiao Yan… I dealt with him once, and he was no different from a mad dog. What he did was even more incomparable to that of ordinary people. For example, this time he went deep into the depths of Hanzhong alone, who could have imagined it? If even Zhu Youwen obeyed his orders, and we continue to stay here, I’m afraid that if you and I fail, we will be retaliated by Xiao Yan!”

From what Li Siyuan said, Wang Jian’s capture and Zhu Youwen’s sudden appearance happened right before and after, and they were both closely related to Xiao Yan, which did scare him a bit!

Well, Shi Jingtang also had some similar ideas.

He just hesitated and said, “Just go back like this?”

Li Siyuan sneered at him and said, “What else do you want? Tie up Shuliduo or kill her?”

“I dare not take such a risk.” Shi Jingtang said, “I just think that if we miss this opportunity, it will be more difficult to win over Mobei in the future. If we fail to make diplomatic relations, then we will attack the country in the future… I am afraid that Jin will…”

How else could Li Siyuan answer? Of course he could only sigh and give up. Whether the Jin State would perish or not, and when it would perish, was not as important as saving his life now!
If Zhu Youwen is really Xiao Yan’s man, I’m afraid Shuliduo will use him as a sacrifice first to show his loyalty to Xiao Yan!
If you don’t run now, how long will you wait?
——

On the battlefield, the sounds of fighting had slowed down. Many Yaer soldiers looked back to the southwest and could see Zhao Siwen’s Haner army and Yelu Helu’s tribal army already appearing in the distance.

Li Maozhen took several steps back with a loud bang. Although he heard the noise, he did not look back. He was alert to Yelu Zhiwu who was watching the battle not far away, while staring at Zhu Youwen.

He found that the latter’s strength was obviously stronger than he remembered.

“More than a decade later…”

At this time, Zhu Youwen finally said the first sentence after he appeared: “The martial arts in this world are still so unbearable.”

After saying this, he looked down at Li Maozhen again, stretched out his five claws and said, “As for you, you are even less able to satisfy me than you were a dozen years ago!”

Li Maozhen ignored him. Fearing that Yelu Zhi might suddenly interfere with the dance, he always kept some strength in reserve and would not fall into his own self-centered state like this martial arts fanatic.

At this moment, he caught a glimpse of a man from Mobei holding a sword in the distance coming to deliver a message to Yelu Zhiwu. Knowing that he could not capture Shuliduo today, he could only sigh to the sky, and then without hesitation, he jumped on an ownerless mount and ordered a retreat.

“How dare you escape!”

Zhu Youwen was waiting for the next game. Seeing this, he naturally became furious and immediately set off to chase after him.

However, the Yaer Army, carrying Li Maozhen, retreated northward like a tide, and Zhu Youwen was doomed to return empty-handed.

“Auntie Ao, don’t chase after a desperate enemy.”

Seeing that Yelu Zhiwu was also ready to make a move, the messenger was frightened and hurriedly held up Shuliduo’s sword to persuade him: “Yelü Lage has not been defeated. He still has tens of thousands of soldiers. The tribes on the grassland are eyeing the queen mother covetously. You need to protect her in person and don’t stay away from her.”

Yelu Zhiwu lost interest because the mount she rode on was killed by Li Maozhen before she came. So she just walked back barefoot and did not accept the mounts from the people around her.

——

The fighting between the two sides continued until very late. In the end, Shuliduo suffered a great loss, and many tribal troops were taken away by Yelu Lage.

The situation on the grassland changed temporarily, and Shuliduo’s dictatorship was eventually impacted.

The most crucial thing is that the master who suddenly appeared to intercept Li Maozhen never returned, and it is not even known whether he was an enemy or a friend.

However, even in this situation, there were actually people who came to secretly ask to see Shulido.

“Ghost King Zhu Youwen…”

Shuliduo finally had some free time to read the military report about Xiao Yan, and at the same time said, “I’m afraid your move is contrary to your father-in-law?”

In the shadow behind the curtain, the man simply bowed humbly.

“Only people with discerning eyes can see the overall situation of the world. I only hope that when I am in trouble in the future, I can have a place to stay here with the Queen Mother.”

(End of this chapter)