Fang Dongming was taken aback.

Zhang Rong said, "If you knew, you might feel it would have been better to fall at my hands..."

"..." Fang Dongming was at a loss for words.

It was hard for him to imagine, who he had lost to, that would make him prefer losing to a mining general...

Zhang Rong was actually quite right, he didn't have any ill feelings toward Chu Mo. Even at this point, he had almost begun to revere Chu Mo as a god!

Even the fact that the two vent tunnels weren't completely blocked was Chu Mo's idea.

Chu Mo had said, "We should always send some prisoners to His Majesty...otherwise, all military merits would be nothing but cold numbers."

Zhang Rong knew very well, Chu Mo was considering their mining corps. With facts, evidence, and prisoners...all combined, should this campaign of the Skybreaker Mountain Range go public, the mining corps would rise to fame throughout the world!

So, why did Zhang Rong inform Fang Dongming that knowing the truth would be harder to accept?

It was because Chu Mo, considering his young age and lack of military experience!

In terms of rank, Chu Mo wasn't even a small squad leader!

He was simply a special envoy sent by the emperor and the Grand Marshal. Yes, a fourteen-year-old special envoy.

If Fang Dongming knew now, he might feel so ashamed that he'd want to kill himself immediately.

In the end, along with Fang Dongming, these people were all taken to the temporary camp set up by He Xu.

The entire expanse of Skybreaker Mountain Range had now settled down.

At dawn, when the sun was rising, the light shone through the dense forest, forming a speckled light on the ground.

The ventilation tunnel that had been thoroughly blocked up, started showing signs of movement.

They seemed not to have expected a heap of large rocks, like a small mountain, to be piled up there.

Bang!

Bang!

There was a dull thud from below.

Obviously, someone was trying to forcefully blow up the rock above.

Eventually, the rocks were blown away to form a crack. An extremely battered figure crawled out from there.

Afterward, seven or eight figures came out one after another.

Twenty or so people had stayed behind with Jiang Qiuyang!

These twenty people were all Iron Bone Realm warriors. They were the close guards of the Third Prince and would never stray too far. This time was no different.

After these twenty-plus people emerged, they took a look around and then said to the inside, "Your Highness, you can come out."

A young man came out from inside the tunnel, bare-chested, with a bow slung across his back. His hair was disheveled and he was covered with dust. He looked extremely unkempt.

After he came out, Jiang Qiuyang lifted his head, looked up at the sky through the trees, and tears slowly streamed down his face.

"Your Highness... Fang Dongming has surrendered... that coward! He actually surrendered to Great Xia!" a guard said angrily.

Jiang Qiuyang sighed deeply and said indifferently, "So he's surrendered... Well, whether we die in battle or surrender... In Great Qi's history, there will be no trace of us. We came here in secret, and if we die in the mountains, it'll be as if we never existed."

"Great Xia won't miss this chance to strike us down," someone said.

Jiang Qiuyang said despondently, "Whatever..."

"Your Highness, what should we do now?" a guard asked worriedly, looking at Jiang Qiuyang.

A cold smile appeared on Jiang Qiuyang's face, "Rest... and after we've rested, we'll enter Great Xia!"

"What?" This guard was struck dumb, looking at Jiang Qiuyang, "But Your Highness... with just over twenty of us... what can we do?"

Jiang Qiuyang said indifferently, "Having lost our armies of hundreds of thousands, do you think… Great Xia will lose this opportunity?"

"No..." a guard murmured, "They'll certainly invade us..."

"Like a hot knife through butter…" another guard said.

"We… might… be…" The third guard could not continue, tears streaming down his face.

Jiang Qiuyang nodded, "Yes, we might be done for… even if we don't perish, we will… lose a lot of territory."

Everyone looked at Jiang Qiuyang in silence.

"And we... are the greatest sinners!" said Jiang Qiuyang. "If we hadn't lost those hundreds of thousands of soldiers, relying purely on our strengths, fighting Great Xia on the battlefield... Then the chances of winning or losing would actually be fifty-fifty. But now... we have no chance at all."

Wuu wuu...

Someone couldn't hold it in and started crying.

The pressure of being called sinners was even heavier than a mountain, pressing on them and making them feel the urge to die.

"Don't cry…" Jiang Qiuyang said softly. "We still have some strength left! At least… we can… easily slaughter all the villagers, small towns, small cities we come across… even if we can't kill a million lives. But at least… we can atone for our mistakes!"

"Slaughter civilians?" A guard hesitated and murmured, "That's what demons do..."

Jiang Qiuyang scoffed, "Aren't soldiers also from civilian backgrounds? They ambushed our hundreds of thousands of troops... isn't that a demon's tactic?"

"Good, Your Highness, you tell us what to do… and we'll follow you!" a guard said, his eyes red, tears streaming down his face, gritting his teeth, "Even if we'll be condemned by countless people… but at least… we can avenge Great Xia!"

"Yes... We, as few as we are, can slaughter every village and town we see! Even if we die from exhaustion... we'll kill a million people from Great Xia!"

"Your Highness, we will follow you!"

A ferocious smile appeared on Jiang Qiuyang's unkempt face.

Swoosh!

At that moment... an arrow suddenly shot toward Jiang Qiuyang's forehead.

The speed was unbelievably fast!

Jiang Qiuyang's pupils dilated a thousand-fold, shock filled his eyes.

Thump!

The arrow shot right between Jiang Qiuyang's eyes and went out through the back of his head. The ferocious smile still lingered on his face, but his eyes were filled with total shock and disbelief.

Before he, Jiang Qiuyang, died, he recognized that arrow... his Blue Jade Arrow!

The one he had lost in the Prairie!

He could never have dreamed that this arrow would appear here, and pierce the forehead of a man like him, a master of archery.

Was this retribution?

Jiang Qiuyang didn't have the strength to ponder over this question any longer, he fell to the ground... dead.

"Your Highness!"

"Your Highness has been attacked!"

"Your Highness..."

These twenty-odd people, as if they had gone mad, charged in the direction the arrow had come from.

Swish!

A dazzling light came soaring in.

It was the flash of a blade!

The light that erupted in the blink of an eye overshadowed even the sunlight.

Ten or so heads flew high into the air, blood splattering everywhere.

After that, a figure rushed in and, faster than the ear could follow, slaughtered these twenty-odd Iron Bone Realm warriors on the spot!

In the end, Chu Mo walked up to Jiang Qiuyang, who was lying on the ground dead... eyes still wide open, and said coldly, "Here's your arrow!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to lightnovelworld.com to vote, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

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