White-Robed Chief

The four scouts continued to stare at him vigilantly; their eyebrows knitted together.

Chu Li removed the white jade ring from his index finger and held it out to them. “This is a token of trust. I’m a Scribe of His Royal Highness, Liu Si. When His Royal Highness sees this ring, he’ll know my identity. I hope you four heroes can help me out here. I’ll definitely add in some good words for you when I meet His Royal Highness!”

It would only take a few words from His Royal Highness to have them assigned to a more pleasant task, yet this would be a matter of life and death for the four of them as it could change their fates entirely.

The four men exchanged a glance amongst themselves. Judging by Chu Li’s noble and respectable appearance, he was indeed not a common figure. Not to mention, considering he did not seem to have any inner energy or know any martial arts, he should be someone safe. In fact, he had also presented a token of trust, so it should be worth a try.

If he could really put in a good word for them in front of His Royal Highness or even mention their names once, it would bring them a great fortune.

“Alright then. Please wait while we go back and pass the message. However, we might not be able to speak to His Royal Highness,” said a young man with a long, oblique scar on his handsome face, “Wait outside. You’ll receive further notice on this.”

“Thank you very much. I haven’t gotten your names.” Chu Li gave a fist salute with a smile.

Upon seeing how sincere and tactful he was, the four men became even happier and told him their names before spurring their horses away. After traveling over a distance of five miles, they entered the military encampment.

The soldiers guarding the encampment saw the tags on their waist, identifying them as scouts before allowing them to enter immediately. The horses galloped through the encampment and arrived at a normal-sized tent. Then, the four of them got off their horses in an orderly manner and held up a fist salute while conveying the message.

Chu Li raised an eyebrow. Could this be the Marshal’s tent? He found no sign of the Commander-in-Chief, so that should not be it.

The four men soon entered the tent, and Chu Li’s Omniscient Mirror lost sight of them.

He had not paid any attention to this small round tent before this. Now that he observed it more carefully, he noticed an invisible force enveloping the tent, making it appear to blend into its surroundings. Thus, his gaze would naturally have been averted from it, causing his attention to be turned away from this tent.

It seemed this was one of the benefits of a battle formation: that of allowing them to conceal the main tent.

A few moments later, a soldier strode out of the tent and quickly ran to the exterior of the military encampment.

On both sides of the military encampment gate, more than twenty horses stood in a row tied to a pillar. There were three horse-keepers supplementing food and water to the mangers, two horse-keepers brushing the horses, and one horse-keeper treating the horses’ cracked hooves.

The soldier led two horses out and jumped onto one of them before spurring the horses toward where Chu Li was.

Chu Li remained in his spot waiting. As the vigorous soldier approached him, the soldier raised his voice and asked, “Are you Mister Liu?”

“I dare not accept the honor. Indeed, I am Liu Si.” Chu Li gave a fist salute.

“Come with me. General Sun would like to meet you,” replied the soldier, letting go of the reins of the other horse.

Chu Li went forward to grab the reins before jumping onto the horse. “Thanks.”

The soldier rode his horse ahead with Chu Li trailing closely behind, coming to a stop when they arrived at the front of the military encampment. Then, as they cast their reins aside, two horse-keepers rushed over to lead the horses back.

Chu Li followed the vigorous soldier into the encampment. They walked over a mile, passing by the tent he had seen previously, and arrived at a bigger tent, which seemed to have been concealed within the battle formation as well.

He had been observing the layout of the battle formation along the way and found that there was actually nothing out of the ordinary. It was simply “orderly”.

As for the rest, they probably would not have allowed any important details to be exposed, so he was unable to find anything useful.

Nonetheless, he could sense the presence of an unknown force surging in his surroundings. He felt as though he was being immersed in the ocean; his breathing and the flow of the forces in his body were not as smooth as usual. Clearly, the battle formation was weakening his inner energy.

“General Sun, he’s here!” announced the soldier with a fist salute in front of the tent.

There were two other soldiers standing guard in front of the tent. Their gazes were as cold and as sharp as a sword as they looked at him.

“Come in, then,” said a warm voice from inside the tent.

Chu Li could not see very clearly how the tent looked like from the inside.

The soldier drew the curtain and said in a low voice, “Mister Liu, please enter!”

Chu Li thanked him with a fist salute and entered the tent.

As soon as he stepped into the tent, he was surprised at how bright it was inside. Unlike the gloomy darkness he had expected to see, he was greeted by a warmly lit and broad space.

A plump young man stood by a table with his hands behind his back, sizing him up. “You’re Liu Si?”

Chu Li held up a fist salute and said, “Greetings, General Sun. I’m Liu Si, a Scribe from the Imperial Residence of Prince Ping. I’ve received orders from Chief Bai to meet His Royal Highness.”

The plump young man wearing a gray robe had a warm gaze and pleasant smile, giving off an entirely different aura from the cold and vicious atmosphere that surrounded the place. Nonetheless, he did not seem out of tune with his surroundings either.

This was Sun Zhanhe.

While Chu Li usually would not judge people by their appearances, he still felt surprised to see how different the man’s image was from his expectations.

“The General is discussing the war situation, so he may not be able to meet you so soon.” While speaking, Sun Zhanhe stretched out his hand, gesturing for him to take a seat with a smile. “You’ve come in such a hurry. What’s the matter?”

Chu Li gave a fist salute and sat on the edge of the armchair, leaning forward slightly while speaking respectfully, “Forgive me, General, but I dare not reveal any information without permission.”

“Hehe…” Sun Zhanhe chuckled, shaking his head. “It seems to be a very important issue then.”

Chu Li slowly nodded.

Sun Zhanhe continued to say, “How about this? Take a rest here first. When the General finishes discussing the war situation, I’ll inform him then.”

Chu Li appeared to hesitate before replying, “Can General Sun please inform the General immediately?”

“What exactly is this important matter about?” Sun Zhanhe’s expression turned grave. “Does it have something to do with the General?”

Chu Li shook his head, sighing. “I can’t say.”

Sun Zhanhe guessed, “State affairs?”

Chu Li shook his head again. “It’s a family affair.”

“Since it’s a family affair, we’ll have to put it aside. The war situation is more important. Even if the General knew about this, he wouldn’t care anyway. It’s not like you don’t know the General’s temperament,” said Sun Zhanhe with a smile as he shook his head.

He thoughtfully looked at Chu Li.

Chu Li sighed. “General Sun, in any case, you have to inform the General at once.”

Sun Zhanhe shook his head. “If you won’t tell me what it’s about, how am I supposed to inform him? How about this? I’ll pass on a simple message from you to explain why you’ve come.”

Chu Li frowned and thought about it for a moment before sighing. “Alright then. General Sun, please just say that the Princess is terminally ill, His Royal Highness should return immediately.”

“Nonsense!” Sun Zhanhe felt his heart skip a beat and then replied grimly, “The Princess has always been very healthy. How could she be terminally ill? Are you trying to undermine the morale of the army?!”

He raised his voice and called, “Guards!”

“Present!” echoed the voices of the two soldiers from outside.

Chu Li sighed to himself. Surely, there was really something going on with this Sun Zhanhe.

The two soldiers entered the tent and stood by the entrance with their hands on their swords’ hilts.

Sun Zhanhe looked at Chu Li calmly. “The war situation is very urgent right now. I can’t allow you to disturb the thoughts of the General. The lives of the ten-thousand army are in the hands of the General. If his mind becomes troubled, there’s no way to tell how many people might die because of it. The Princess and you will have to bear some inconvenience first. After this, I’ll go and offer my humblest apology to the General. For now, please go with them first. I’ll release you after this!”

Chu Li put on an expression of anger. “General Sun, if the General can’t even see the Princess for the last time, he’ll definitely blame it on you!”

“I’ll take responsibility for all the consequences!” Sun Zhanhe retorted. “For the sake of the army of ten-thousand, I have to do this. Even if the General decides to behead me for this, I’ll accept it. You just go ahead and have a good rest!”