Chapter 25

Ka cha- Dang lang lang- Dozens of weapons slammed harshly on Tang Yin. However, all they could hear was just the colliding sounds of the weapons, but not the sound of slashing flesh and bones.

Yuan Kui took a deep breath and took a step back subconsciously. He looked again at the spot where Tang Yin was standing. Tang Yin, who was initially surrounded by them in the middle, had disappeared into thin air.
It was impossible for a big man like him to just disappear into thin air. Unless… Two words suddenly flashed across Yuan Kui’s mind, <Shadow Kill>!

Shit! He shivered, widened his eyes and shouted, “Protect His Royal Highness…”

Unfortunately, it was already too late for him at that moment when he shouted.

When Tang Yin had fallen into desperation, and it was a moment of life and death for him, he executed a unique skill in the dark spiritual art, the <Shadow Drift>, which was also known as the <Shadow Kill>.

<Shadow Drift> could be regarded as one of the secret skills of the dark spiritual art. It allowed the user to move instantly through shadows within a certain range. The higher the Reiki [1] was, the wider the range of instantaneous movement. Yan Lie had used this skill before when he was in the final battle with Gu Zhen back then.
However, as <Shadow Drift> was a middle to high-level skill, Tang Yin couldn’t use it freely with his current Reiki. But when he was at the moment of life and death, he had no other skills except the <Shadow Drift> could be used to protect himself. The reason why he could use it was due solely to the strong survival instinct within him was being stimulated.

Although he had only managed to move a distance of one meter with the <Shadow Drift>, that was more than enough for him.

Yu Shang was cheerfully watching the battle with many spiritual art masters around to protect him. He had never expected that Tang Yin would suddenly appeared behind him.

Before he could figure out what was going on, he suddenly felt a tight grip on his neck by an ice cold hand.
He screamed subconsciously, “Who are you?” Then he turned back and looked into a pair of dark eyes.

“It’s you…” Yu Shang couldn’t believe his own eyes. He was in front of me just now, just how did he suddenly appear behind me?

“Don’t move! Otherwise I will burn him to ashes!” Tang Yin stood close to Yu Shang like a ghost. His face had no expression with the corner of his lips slightly raised; he put on an indifference look. He pressed against the wound under his ribs with one hand, and he strangled Yu Shang’s neck tightly with the other hand. He could burn him at any time with the <Flame of Darkness>.

“Ah-“
This sudden change was responded by several screams. Ning soldiers and generals were shocked and terrified, they kept stepping backward in pale faces.

There were not many people who knew the secret of dark spiritual art. Apart from Yuan Kui, the others did not understand how Tang Yin escaped their siege, and how did he suddenly rushed behind the prince.

At this time, Yuan Kui who was an experienced general could no longer remained calm. He shouted, “Don’t hurt him!”

Although Tang Yin still couldn’t be sure of the exact identity of Yu Shang, it was not difficult to guess the nobleness of Yu Shang’s status just by looking at the Ning side’s reaction.

It seemed that he had gotten the step of capturing the chief right. With this hostage, it should not be a problem for them to successfully escape from the enemy camp.
After he finished thinking, he looked around. At this time, there were more Ning soldiers gathered around, the space was packed with the crowd. All he could see was the shining silver armor and he had lost count of the numbers.

Tang Yin judged the situation on the field slightly. Finally, he looked straight at Yuan Kui. He said in a cold tone, “It is very simple if you want your master to be alive.”

Yuan Kui secretly swallowed saliva, he clenched his teeth and shouted, “Just tell us your request, but if you dare to hurt His Royal Highness, I swear I’ll make you pay for it!”

He seemed furious on the surface, but was secretly releasing his spiritual pressure, intending to trap Tang Yin again.

“Haha–” Tang Yin laughed at the sky and said, “Your master is in my hand. You are no longer qualified to bargain with me.” As he spoke, he gripped tighter and said, “Don’t exert spiritual pressure against me. You may be able to suppress me with the spiritual pressure, but I can guarantee that your master will die first under the <Flame of Darkness>. If you don’t believe it, we can try it!”

As he was tightening his grip, Yu Shang couldn’t breathe properly. His eyes popped out, mouth wide opened and his face turned red, as if he was going to die at any time.

Yu Shang’s half-dead appearance had scared the hell out of Yuan Kui. He retracted the spiritual pressure hurriedly and waved at Tang Yin, “Don’t be impulsive! You… What are your requests? Let’s talk about it!”
Tang Yin snorted, “First, free all my men.” He did not forget the hundred brothers who came with him.

“Sure!” Yuan Kui didn’t even think about it. He nodded and agreed. Then, “What are your other requests? Continue.”

Tang Yin shook his head and said, “Proceed with the first request first.”

At this time, he was alone and surrounded by powerful enemies. Although he had their chief as his hostage, accidents could happen without some helpers beside him.

Yuan Kui bowed his head and contemplated, did not agree immediately.

Seeing that he was hesitant, Tang Yin’s hand which was about to relax tightened again. The poor Yu Shang who had just felt a little easier to breathe, was again suffocating.
“Don’t do it!” Yuan Kui was shaken and said hurriedly, “I promise you!” When he spoke, he called a young general on the side and whispered a few words. The young general nodded and ran away quickly. .

It didn’t take long for the young general to return with dozens of captives who were all tied up like Chinese rice dumplings [2].

Yuan Kui looked sideways and said to Tang Yin, “Your people are here!”

Tang Yin glanced at them and asked, “What about the others?”

This time, before Yuan Kui could answer, someone among the captives shouted, “Big Brother Tang, all the other brothers…have died! Wuwu–” The man cried as he spoke.
Tang Yin was shocked. Within such a brief period of time, they were left with only dozens of people from the hundred over brothers he brought here.

There was no time for sorrow, and the sadness in Tang Yin’s eyes just flashed past. He suppressed his emotions and said to Yuan Kui, “Let go of them now!”

The third prince had fallen into the hands of Tang Yin, Yuan Kui had no choice but to obey his words.

He clenched his fist and nodded at his subordinates, signalling them to do as Tang Yin said.
The Ning soldiers and generals dared not defy Yuan Kui’s order.

They were being untied and let free to return to Tang Yin’s side.

While Tang Yin was carefully confronting with Yuan Kui and the enemies, he got distracted and checked the approaching brothers carefully. He was worried to have any spies from Ning State among them.

Fortunately, his memory was superb and he could clearly remember his men’s appearances. He took a quick glance at their faces and could be sure that all of them were indeed his men.

It didn’t take long for the Feng soldiers to go through the encirclement of Ning soldiers and walked up to Tang Yin.
At this time, they felt as if being reborn when they finally met with Tang Yin again.

“Big…Big Brother Tang!” The person who spoke was Zhang Bao. He was injured in many places, his body was stained with blood that he couldn’t tell whether it was his own or the enemy’s. He carefully looked around for the Ning soldiers around them, and then he looked at Yu Shang, who was held as a hostage by Tang Yin. He asked in a trembling voice, “This… Who is this guy?”

Tang Yin wasn’t sure about the identity of Yu Shang. He murmured and didn’t answer. He said, “All of you stay close to me, don’t let the Ning people get near us.” He then shouted at Yuan Kui, “Second, immediately prepare me with thirty horses!”

There were only dozens of his men, dozens of horses would be enough for them.

“Why do you need so many horses?” Yuan Kui asked inexplicably.

“Cut your nonsense!” Tang Yin scolded, “Do as what I said, unless you want him to die!” He slightly pushed Yu Shang in front of him as he spoke.
In his lifetime, Yuan Kui had never been threatened by anyone like this before. His chest was filled with anger and his eyes were bloodshot, but he couldn’t do anything with Tang Yin. He couldn’t act on impulse and disregard Yu Shang’s life.

“Do what he said, prepare the horses!” Yuan Kui grunted reluctantly.

“Yes! General Yuan!”

With the response, Ning soldiers quickly brought out thirty horses and was planning to send them to Tang Yin. However, the royal guards took the lead and took over the horses and walked towards Tang Yin.

They were planning to take the opportunity of sending horses to approach Tang Yin so to have a chance for a sudden attack. It was less important as whether they could actually hurt Tang Yin, the key was to rescue their prince.

Tang Yin was clever yet suspicious, how would he not know about their intentions.

He didn’t wait for them to approach with the horses, he stopped them, “Stop over there!” Then, he said to the brothers around him, “Go and get the horses over, do check for any problem with the horses, don’t allow them with any chances.”
“Understood!”

At this time, the Feng soldiers had also realized that the finely dressed young man who was held down by Tang Yin must be an important figure in the enemy camp. Otherwise, the other party would not be compliant with Tang Yin.

They were regaining courage and slowly approaching each other.

Zhang Bao was the fastest and the first to contact the enemy. He took the courage to take the horse reins from the Ning State guard. He saw that although his opponent was having cold gaze and clenching his teeth, he dared not touch him at all. He was overjoyed and asked for more than he should ask, “Kid, give me your knife!”

“You–“

The royal guards were all masters of spiritual art. They were highly respected in Ning State and had high status. He had never been called a ‘kid’ by anyone before, and the other party had even asked for his weapon. It was like publicly shaming him.

“What’s the matter?” Seeing how he was drawing the knife, Zhang Bao was shocked and stepped back subconsciously. He said nervously, “Do you want to attack? Are you not afraid that he’ll lose his head?” He pointed back at Yu Shang when he spoke.

Before the guard could speak, Yu Shang was scared and screamed, “Don’t move, no one moves. If I die because of you, all of you have to die too!”

After listening to this, the guard was like a deflated ball, and he was demotivated.

He stomped heavily and handed his knife to Zhang Bao reluctantly.

The knife of a Ning State royal guard was narrow and long. It was similar to the knife that was once popular during the Tang Dynasty in China. It was made of fine steel and expensive materials.

The opponent could do nothing to him and had to surrender the weapon. Seeing this made Zhang Bao even more daring. He took the guard’s knife, drawing out half of it and laughed, “Not bad, it’s a good knife. I’ll keep it for you!”

[1] Reiki: Japanese, a universal life energy.

[2] Chinese rice dumplings: Chinese rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings, wrapped and tied in bamboo leaves.