The surrounding knights who had been feigning death, seeing Han Li fall, no longer lay still. They scrambled to their feet and knelt again before Dongfang Jibai. The lead knight spoke, "Princess, your subordinates were previously attacked by Han—ah!"
Without a sound, Dongfang Jibai lashed out with her whip, its tip precisely slicing through the throats of all the knights.
Two seconds later, the knights collapsed to the ground, not one spared.
"Hero, you must leave quickly! After killing Han Li, the rebels will never let you go. Their army will be here in an instant!" Dongfang Jibai said anxiously.
After speaking, Dongfang Jibai picked up a knight's saber, went behind Han Li, cut through his light armor, and began to dig out the bullet. It turned out she wanted to help me clear my name, to pin Han Li's death on her. That's why she killed those knights to silence them, leaving no witnesses or evidence.
"Princess Dongfang, how many troops are the rebels bringing this time?" I asked. Han Li had mentioned it earlier, but it might not have been the true number, possibly a bluff. Princess Dongfang, coming from that direction, should have already scouted the enemy's strength.
"No less than a hundred thousand."
Han Li had not bluffed. They were indeed bringing a considerable force.
"How many troops do you have stationed in the Three Yin Palace?" I asked again.
"Three hundred thousand."
"Then what are you afraid of?" I asked, puzzled.
"Of the three hundred thousand, only fifty thousand are my father's personal guards. The remaining two hundred and fifty thousand are King Qi's soldiers! If war breaks out, we won't have the advantage," Dongfang Jibai said.
"Then how do you explain Han Li's death?" I asked again.
"Pretend not to know! Oh, hero, thank you for saving me, but you really cannot stay here. Ten thousand rebels, led by the Ghost Fang Commander Hayachikaku, who is exceptionally brutal!" Dongfang Jibai urged me anxiously.
"If I leave, do you intend to surrender to the rebels, or fight them to the bitter end?" I asked again.
"...Why so many questions? Didn't I tell you? Our Three Yin Palace only has fifty thousand men, no match for the rebels. We chose to cooperate before, and we can only choose to cooperate now. Hayachikaku's arrival this time is to deal with His Highness Little Yama, it has nothing to do with our Three Yin Palace."
"Really unrelated?" I sneered. "If His Highness Little Yama dies in the Three Yin Palace, do you think your Dongfang family can escape responsibility? To my knowledge, the imperial forces are counterattacking across the entire battlefield, and the rebels' defeat is inevitable. If you have a change of heart now and rescue Little Yama, you might still receive the King of Hell's forgiveness. If you persist in your wrongdoings and become a henchman, it will truly be difficult to regret it later!"
I activated the persuasion mode.
Dongfang Jibai sensed something was amiss. She stopped digging out the bullet and asked me warily, "Who, exactly, are you?"
Before, in their gossip, I could hide my identity. Now, it was a serious persuasion, or rather, negotiation, politics. Naturally, I could no longer conceal it.
I cupped my hands and said, "To be frank, Princess, I am Wu Chengfeng."
"Wu... you are the one who... killed Ha'er, subdued Zheng Baobao, and annihilated the Black Dragon Army at Erqi City... the living emissary of the underworld?" Dongfang Jibai asked in surprise.
So, the troops outside Erqi City were called the Black Dragon Army. No wonder they wore all black.
It seemed that throughout the underworld, black was the color of prestige.
I wondered if it had anything to do with the black veils worn by relatives of the deceased in the mortal world.
"The Three Yin Palace is so far away, yet your news travels quite fast," I chuckled.
Upon hearing my name, a flicker of hope clearly lit up in Dongfang Jibai's eyes, but it quickly faded: "Lord Wu, you should leave quickly. Even if you were possessed by a war god, you could not save His Highness Little Yama."
"Why?" I asked.
"His Highness Little Yama has been trapped at Black Wind Cliff for three days. In these three days, all eight Commanders of the Yin Messenger Bureau have returned in defeat, and three have died. Do you think you can break through? Even if you manage to escape the rebel encirclement, how will you lead Little Yama to safety?"
"Three have died? Who were they?" I quickly asked.
Dongfang Jibai shook her head. "I don't know the specifics. I only heard that three male commanders all perished."
That's good. The four commanders I knew were all women: Wu Zhao, Ma Jiaojiao, Xie Bian, and Fan Wujiu. As long as they were alright, it was fine.
It wasn't that I was gloating; they were my colleagues. It was just that I hadn't met those male commanders and wasn't familiar with them, so I didn't empathize as much.
"It wasn't the guards of your Three Yin Palace watching Little Yama, but the rebels?" I asked.