"That was the emperor's order. Casualties at the front lines are too great. Without any of the princes being around, I'm afraid the soldiers' morale will drop to rock bottom.
"This is just like sending the Fourth Prince to his death!"
Li Mu realized what the emperor was up to right away.
With the commanders and the soldiers alike dropping like flies while the sons of the emperor remained back in the capital having an easy time... That was very bad for morale on the front lines.
Sending a prince to the front lines would boost morale and, at the same time, declare to the world that the members of the royal family would go to the front lines just like any regular soldier.
As such, it would be imperative for Clan Zhao to assassinate the prince to cripple their enemy's morale.
If the prince were to survive, it would boost morale even further.
If the prince were to die, he would serve as a martyr solidifying the troops.
A prince could die just like anyone else after all.
At that moment, the meals that Li Mu saw Concubine Jing preparing were no different from the last meals that prisoners ate before getting executed.
He realized that that was why Concubine Jing was preparing the dishes without saying anything and had almost made just about everything Liu An liked eating.
"It'll be fine. The Fourth Prince is smart after all."
Li Mu comforted An Mu, seeing how the latter was feeling so dejected.
"Eunuch Li, is there anything we could do?"
"What can I do?"
"Isn't the Fourth Prince close with the eldest princess? You could head over there, right? Could you ask the princess if she could speak on his behalf to the emperor?"
"You have really thought things through, huh? But do you really think that would be possible?" Li Mu asked.
"Who knows? There's no way His Majesty will sacrifice the other princes, but we would have at least tried to help the Fourth Prince."
"Okay, I'll see what I can do."
Li Mu shook his head. The kid knows that he's asking for the impossible, yet he insists on doing it nonetheless.
An Mu really is one h*ll of a friend indeed.
As for looking for the princess, Li Mu shook his head at that idea right away.
Ruirui was having a hard time even saving her own skin at the moment.
However, Li Mu didn't think that it'd be so easy to kill Liu An.
That boy is powerful and very smart after all.
He probably is hiding somewhere cooking up something as we speak.
...
At the front lines along the Tianlong River...
The arrival of the Fourth Prince had boosted the low morale among the troops right away.
Many of the commanders and soldiers seemed to have found a core that they could rely on.
The royal army, which had practically been at the brink of dissolution, found a way of keeping themselves together again.
...
Over on the other side, Clan Zhao's army had received word of the prince's arrival on the front lines as well.
"Get prepared. We'll give the emperor the shock of his life."
In a huge tent in Clan Zhao's military camp...
Several disciples of the Xuan Sect had gathered around.
All of them were elites in the sect.
All of them were at the Spirit Manipulation Realm.
"Sending only one prince to his death on the front lines, huh? The emperor really is stingy."
"We'll kill the prince and see who else the emperor will send for us to train with then."
"I heard that this prince is the emperor's least favorite. He hasn't been given any training resources and has never studied under any teachers. In short, he's just a regular person."
"Where is the fun of killing someone like that? One of you can do it. Count me out."
They'd learned of the Fourth Prince's background.
All of them became disinterested in the assignment.
After discussing it among themselves, they sent the youngest one who had also joined the sect the latest among them all.
"Killing a regular guy, huh. What a drag."
"My girl is waiting for me back in the camp. I'll be off then."
He left right away.
The others shook their heads and headed back to their own places to continue fooling around.
The youngest brother among the bunch had no choice but to head to the other side of the river with his sword.
The sooner I get rid of that prince, the sooner I get to return.
According to intelligence, it seemed that the Fourth Prince hadn't brought any guards with him.
He seemed to be all on his own.
The youngest brother quickly sneaked into the center of the royal army's camp.
He was dumbfounded right away.
Huge central tents and tents of generals were everywhere.
Which one is the central tent? Where is that prince?
In the past, the regime had had only one central army.
A central army only had one huge central tent and one general's tent.
Those two tents were especially eye-catching, and they had flags perched on top of them.
The brothers will definitely laugh at me if I just go home without finding him. I'll just search one by one, and I'll be sure to find him.
He headed straight for the first tent.
There were only about a dozen regular troops sleeping inside.
Second one...
Several troops sitting around boasting.
Third one...
Several troops gathering around roasting something.
Fourth one...
He took a look inside, shook his head, and left.
Huff~
He heard the sound of air being sliced right by his ear, and he put his guard up right away.
He started to turn around to see what was happening.
Pfft~
A sword was sticking out of his chest, and blood was splattered everywhere.
It was only then that he managed to turn his head around.
He saw a young soldier holding the sword that was stuck inside his body.
The light in the Xuan Sect disciple's eyes was extinguished.
Thump~
His body dropped to the ground.
Liu An pulled out his sword with shaky hands.
That was the first time he had ever killed anyone.
And this first man that he'd killed was someone on his same level.
He was tense and excited.
"His Highness really is something." A middle-aged man dressed in soldier attire came up behind him.
"Save your flattery, General Cai. Search the guy and see if there's anything precious on him."
"Yes, Your Highness."
A few moments later...
Everything that the Xuan Sect disciple had carried with him was divided up between Liu An and the troops around him.
They had literally stripped the man down to his last piece of clothing.
"General Cai, are the traps finished?"
"Forgive me, Your Highness. They're still being dug."
"Hurry up then, and remember to be quiet about it."
Liu An frowned.
...
It had gotten very late. The disciples of the Xuan Sect in Clan Zhao's camp gathered around again.
"Little brother isn't back yet?"
"Did he get lost?"
"What if that prince was protected by some formidable warrior, and the prince was just a lure…"
"Who wants to go out and have a look?"
Another disciple of the Xuan Sect went to check out the center of the camp of the royal army.
He let his guard down right away.
It seemed to him that his younger brother must indeed have gotten lost.
Hmph~ "Do you really think that playing tricks like these will keep me from locating your general's tent?"
The disciple appeared before an unassuming tent before long.
"So many soldiers and weapons surrounding the tent, and you still think that you can hide? Are you dumb or something?"
The disciple flicked the tent open with his sword and approached the bed.
He pulled the blanket back and was baffled by what he saw.
He saw a young man wearing the white garb of the Xuan Sect lying sideways on the bed.
He didn't get to see the sleeping man's face since the man was lying sideways.
His breathing was normal.
It seemed so normal that it didn't seem to belong to someone trained in the arts.
"Brother?"
The disciple frowned and called out with a subdued voice, while staying wary of the person lying on the bed.
A regular person wearing the garb of the Xuan Sect lying in the general's tent?
Swoop~
The sounds of bows and crossbows being loosed could be heard outside the tent.
A trap?
He turned around right away only to find arrows the size of his arm flying at him.
Arbalests!
This was a kind of crossbow that could only be operated by warriors at the Acquired and Higher Heaven Realms.
A weapon made specifically to take on armies that consisted of warriors at the Higher Heaven Realm.
Even someone at the Spirit Manipulation Realm could be easily injured with so many of those bolts flying around, if they were not careful enough.
Worse still, those bolts were flying in from all sides, looking as if they were intent on keeping him right where he was.
Hmph~
You people have really underestimated me.
The disciple burst out his aura and took on the bolts with all his might.
Pfftt~
He let his guard down after tackling the last bolt flying at him with his sword.
That was the time when the man on the bed leapt up all of a sudden and pierced his heart.
"You…"
"Another one."
Liu An pulled his sword out, got a piece of cloth, and wiped the sword clean.
That was his second time killing someone, and the tension of his first kill had eased considerably.
"Your Highness. Gunpowder, sulfur, and coal are all ready."
A general came in after the prince had taken care of the body.
"Nice."
Liu An was excited.
He'd seen Li Mu play with such things when he was very young.
One could stick a small stick of firecrackers inside a rat's hole, sealing the hole and igniting the stick, then one would find bodies of several rats the next day.
Shouning Palace had the least number of rats among all the palaces.
Some of the other palaces were on the brink of a rat plague.
Yet, nothing like that ever happened at Shouning Palace.
The prince had pestered Eunuch Li because he'd wanted to eat fish.
Li Mu simply ignited a stick and dropped it into a pool in the garden.
The explosion from that stick was something that Liu An would never forget.
News about the prince came three days later.
The entire capital city was raving about it.
The court became silent. Not even the emperor had anticipated such an outcome.
All the ministers were surprised and curious.
None of them dared to say anything before they were clear about what had happened.