Jiang Li waved his hand, and the Vine Armor Army rushed down the mountain path in front of Prince Huai and his entourage, surrounding them.

Prince Huai's face changed, and he said in a deep voice, "Go, head into the mountains."

Prince Huai changed direction and headed into the mountains behind him.

"Whoosh..."

The sharp sound of breaking wind echoed far in the pitch-black night sky. Everyone heard it, and their faces changed. Prince Huai shouted, "Quick, dodge, it's a bed crossbow."

Jiang Li and his group had been waiting here for a long time, naturally well prepared.

Prince Huai and his entourage were already in the encirclement of the Vine Armor Army; escaping was not going to be easy.

Just as he finished speaking, two unlucky personal soldiers were pierced by the bed crossbow, and the tremendous force pushed their bodies off the mountain path.

"Release!"

A sharp command rang out, and countless arrows flew towards Prince Huai and his entourage.

Prince Huai was a Third-Grade Martial Artist.

Jiang Li was only Fourth-Grade; although he had numbers, catching Prince Huai alive was not so easy, so Jiang Li intended to kill.

He dared not rush up and fight Prince Huai one-on-one.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."

"Puff puff..."

Most of Prince Huai's personal soldiers were turned into porcupines by the arrows.

Even Prince Huai was struggling to dodge. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Due to the fleeing over these days, the Innate Spiritual Qi inside him was almost entirely depleted, and the Innate Spiritual Qi he had absorbed was Dragon Qi, scarce in Fengzhou's dragon veins, leaving him unable to replenish.

So he had no Protective Spiritual Qi Defense.

Ordinary arrows would hardly harm him, but if struck by the bed crossbow, he would not escape death.

In the blink of an eye, Prince Huai was left all alone.

However, he also successfully entered the forest.

With the cover of trees and night, the arrows were less effective.

Jiang Li apparently also realized that Prince Huai's Innate Spiritual Qi was exhausted and was overjoyed, saying, "All together, life and death do not matter."

Once Innate Spiritual Qi is exhausted, he could no longer use Divine Powers.

And human strength eventually runs out.

That is to say, Jiang Li had a chance to catch him alive.

But he would not be careless, nor would he waste the lives of his men.

After all, trying to exhaust Prince Huai's strength to capture him alive would likely cost thousands of casualties.

"Kill!"

Prince Huai killed a Vine Armor soldier rushing towards him, discarded his sword, picked up an enemy's long spear, and swept forward with it.

A Divine Power Realm Martial Artist, even without using Divine Powers, still had blood and energy. Slaughtering small soldiers was like cutting grass; one sweep broke the Vine Armor, with flesh flying and remnants littering the ground, leaving a line of blood on the ground.

Such a bloody scene intimidated the Vine Armor soldiers from advancing.

But that was only temporary.

A voice came: "A thousand gold for killing the rebel Prince Huai, and a reward of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households."

Upon hearing this, the Vine Armor soldiers were suddenly motivated.

There were many such historical examples.

Not to mention distant times.

Take for example when the Grand Ancestor Emperor rose in rebellion against the previous dynasty's tyranny; a mere soldier, who only managed to seize a vassal king's leg, was directly honored as an Earl with his name recorded in history books.

"Kill..."

"Kill him."

Arrows flew, blades slashed chaotically in the mountains and forests; flesh flew around, most becoming dead souls under Prince Huai's spear.

Prince Huai hadn't escaped a hundred steps before leaving over a hundred corpses in his path.

However, Prince Huai also sustained many injuries, albeit mere flesh wounds, insignificant, but to the Vine Armor Army this only increased their morale.

It turned out an Upper-Grade Martial Artist could also be wounded by ordinary soldiers.

Prince Huai did not linger in battle; in such a situation, the physical exhaustion was too great. Having broken through an opening, he immediately took advantage of an Upper-Grade Martial Artist's speed to swiftly escape.

"Quick...quick, chase him down, don't let him escape."

He fled, and they pursued.

Although Prince Huai had the speed advantage, in the forest, there were no roads, sometimes having to clear his path, so the distance from the Vine Armor Army wasn't particularly large.

And this flight and pursuit lasted the entire night.

Originally, Prince Huai was just one step away from Yan State.

But thanks to Jiang Li's efforts, Prince Huai was getting further and further from Yan State.

Finally, on November 1st.

Prince Huai's escape route came to a definitive end.

The Chen Army led by Yue Ruyan arrived.

Surrounded on three sides, the combined forces of the Chen Army and Vine Armor Army numbered nearly thirty thousand.

Prince Huai had nowhere left to run.

Most crucially, after a night of fleeing, Prince Huai's physical strength was almost exhausted.

As the encirclement grew tighter, Prince Huai was trapped on a mountain called "Dragon-locking Ridge."

The mountain was not large.

Legend tells of a demonic dragon causing havoc in ancient times, captured by an immortal who sealed it on this mountain, hence the name Dragon-locking Ridge.

But that was merely a myth.

To prevent Prince Huai from escaping again,

once the armies encircled Dragon-locking Ridge, they began to search the mountain step by step.

Prince Huai was driven to hide in a temple on the mountain.

Yue Ruyan and Jiang Li arrived.

This was the first meeting between the two.

Jiang Li roughly guessed the other's identity and cupped his hands to Yue Ruyan, "I am General Jiang Li under Lord Yang, sent the moment he received Duke An's distress letter to lead my troops to Fengzhou to assist your army."

Yang Xian indeed received Chen Mo's plea for help.

But "at the first moment" was utter nonsense.

Having watched from the sidelines all along, he only brought troops when he saw the Chen Army had achieved great victories in Huai State.

Yue Ruyan was aware of this, but had no evidence to expose it, since they were genuinely here to help, even if a little late.

"General Yue Ruyan under Duke An, nice to meet General Jiang Li." Yue Ruyan said politely.

"No need for formalities, General Yue." Even if Yue Ruyan wasn't Chen Mo's woman, her cultivation as a Divine Power Realm was something Jiang Li couldn't offend.

Looking at the nearby temple, he said, "Now that General Yue is here, we can capture Prince Huai alive."

"No need," Yue Ruyan said coldly.

Jiang Li was startled, realizing Duke An wanted Prince Huai dead.

After all, Prince Huai was Chen Mo's father-in-law.

Reflecting on this, Jiang Li sighed internally.

To think Prince Huai, once the most powerful vassal king of the Great Song, allied with the Xiao Family, dominating Huai State Jiangnan, wealthiest under heaven, with vast troops; years back, he mobilized over half a million soldiers to oppose Xu Guozhong, though fruitlessly, it was a grand display of force.

Yet in just a few short years,

he rose high and fell low.

The last stretch of his life was now reduced to hiding in a ruined temple.

Jiang Li pondered, then cupped his hands and said, "No need to trouble General Yue with such matters; in a stick of incense's time, I assure you capture."

He was about to command the Vine Armor Army forward for the kill.

Yue Ruyan waved to stop Jiang Li, wanting to grant Prince Huai some dignity.

"No need for General Jiang," Yue Ruyan personally walked towards the temple.

Jiang Li was stunned, thinking Yue Ruyan intended to act herself, and couldn't help but think this was a relentless person.

...

In the dilapidated temple, Prince Huai sat on the weed-covered stone steps, panting heavily, gazing at the earth god statue with distant eyes as if witnessing its construction, once like himself.

At that moment, footsteps interrupted Prince Huai's thoughts.

Prince Huai looked up to see a silhouetted figure in the sunlight, glaringly radiant.

Prince Huai gave a bitter smile, "Here to take my life?"

He grasped his long spear and struggled to stand, shouting, "Then show me your skills."

"Clang..."

But the other threw a dagger before him, a clear voice said, "You were once a vassal king famed across the land, surely you wouldn't want to die by a woman's hand. I'll leave you some dignity, end yourself."

Prince Huai stared blankly, memories returning to his prime, then suddenly laughed maniacally, "Chen Mo, I'll wait for you in the underworld."

With that, he picked up the dagger and slashed his own throat.

After a moment, Yue Ruyan approached to check for signs of life in Prince Huai.

Seeing he was truly dead, Yue Ruyan snapped her fingers.

Soon, a blaze consumed the temple.