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He shot a sharp gaze to the two of them and asked faintly, “Second prince, are they your personal guards?”

“Hmm?” Ye Qiao started.

“What are their names?” Jiang Chen asked again.

“Jiang Chen, you’re a vaunted Skylaurel Kingdom Medallion holder, yet you’re so interested in my two personal guards?” Ye Qiao smiled. “They’re personal guards who’ve been with me since I was little. They have no first names or surnames.”

“No first names or surnames? Even dogs have a first name. Second prince, it isn’t right to treat your men like this.”

Ye Qiao’s face darkened. “Jiang Chen, what do you mean by this?”

“What do I mean?” Jiang Chen chuckled. “Second prince, after leaving the maze realm, don’t get any nightmares, okay?? I’ve heard that the tide of Goldbiter Rats is very frightening.”

A piercing killing intent flashed through Ye Qiao’s eyes, but he repressed it in the end. He was different from Ye Dai. As the first prince, Ye Dai had great power and backing. This had allowed him to act recklessly and outrageously since young, and as such he was used to using absolute power to trample over his opponents.

Ye Qiao was different. He was more adept at using his mind and understood even more the importance of seizing the opportunity when the time is right.

In terms of absolute strength, his team had a ninety percent chance of annihilating Ye Rong’s team. However, to erupt into conflict at this moment didn’t mean they would be able to quickly end the battle.

They were also in an open space. Once they started fighting, he would be unable to guarantee that he’d kill all of Ye Rong’s people. Once someone managed to escape, the consequences would be unthinkable.

In the hidden struggles between the princes, you could deploy countless schemes in private. There was no harm as long as you weren’t discovered and there was no evidence.

But once you engaged in open slaughter, unless you could guarantee that you could pull it off flawlessly without any holes, there was no turning back. Once the news of this event travelled, all of his previous efforts would be in vain.

Not to mention that Ye Qiao had the same reservations as Ye Dai, and that was Dan Fei.

Although Ye Qiao’s thoughts towards women were much better than Ye Dai, he still drooled over Dan Fei, but not as crazily as Ye Dai did.

He drooled over Dan Fei for one because she was a breathtaking one in the capital and her conduct was above the masses. The most important thing was that her background was simply too impressive. Taking Dan Fei as a wife would mean obtaining the honored tutor’s support.

Having the honored tutor’s support meant having the world.

Ye Rong chuckled, “Second brother, for you to be so carefree, you must have had a large haul. It looks like I can’t fall behind and I will take my leave first.”

“Heh heh, not at all, not at all.” Ye Qiao’s mind wasn’t fully here.

“Second brother, say hello to our big brother if you see him.” Ye Rong smiled and left with his team.

...

When they’d walked roughly ten li away, Jiang Chen suddenly stopped.

“Fourth prince, I sniffed out traces of blood on the two personal guards and those traces of blood matches with the ones from the Goldbiter Rats. Those two people were definitely the culprits who framed us.”

“Are you sure?” Ye Rong had used words to probe Ye Qiao as well. He was ninety percent sure that Ye Qiao was behind this matter.

Except that no matter how certain he was, he had no solid evidence in the end. Although it was strange that Ye Qiao had appeared here, Ye Rong could only probe him give his lack of evidence.

“I am hundred percent sure. Fourth prince, you should leave first. We cannot just let this matter go like this.. If I don’t kill the second prince, I must at least kill his two personal guards and take him down a peg. This will prevent him from having any other thoughts along this road.”

Ye Rong’s thoughts raced, “You’re going in alone? How about having Qianli accompany you?”

“No need. Have Qianli go with you guys. He’s the strongest and will be able to take care of you guys along the way. Although I don’t have a one hundred percent certainty of killing his two personal guards, I still have a seventy to eighty percent chance.”

“Jiang Chen, I won’t object since you’ve made your decision. However, you shouldn’t do anything to number two in case you might bring trouble onto your own head. He’ll be in great trouble when I go back and lodge a complaint against him.”

Although he said this, Ye Rong actually did wish for Jiang Chen to kill Ye Qiao along with the others, he just couldn’t speak plainly in this way.

Jiang Chen cupped his hands, nodded, touched his feet to the ground, and left for unknown whereabouts.

When Jiang Chen left, he circled away and let the Goldbiter Rat King out. “I’ve found the culprit who killed your descendents. You can sense for yourself if he’s the one or not. You will likely sense the blood of your descendents on him.”

The Goldbiter Rat King was greatly enraged, “Where is he?”

Jiang Chen said, “About twenty to thirty li away from here. If you encircle him from here, I think they will have no choice but to flee in the direction we left from earlier!”

The Goldbiter Rat King laughed coldly, “Flee? That area’s my territory. They want to flee? Not a chance!”

Jiang Chen chuckled, “Let’s not waste time. I’ll circle around and occupy that intersection first so that they have no place to run to!”

The Goldbiter Rat King nodded, “That works too. I’ll send ten troops of my children to surround the premises. We’ll use the fastest speed to occupy the path to the mountain valley. This way, they won’t have any place to escape to.”

...

As for Ye Qiao’s side, a thick sense of killing intent danced in his eyes when he watched Ye Rong’s team disappear from view.

“Your Highness, this... something is odd here.” Ye Qiao’s underling Ling Xuan said lowly.

Ye Qiao also felt that this was extremely odd. “Ling Xuan, number four is extremely clean all over. He doesn’t look like he had encountered the tide of rats at all. Can it be that the tide of rats isn’t as frightening as we thought?”

Ling Xuan shook his head. “We saw it on the outskirts as well. The tide of rats stretched to the heavens and covered the ground. There was almost no gap at all. As strong as they were, they should’ve never made it out. Not to mention that the route we arranged was to surround that mountain valley completely. When the tide of rats arrived, they would’ve had nowhere to go.”

“Ling Shi, Ling Feng, come here.” Ye Qiao called out to his other two personal guards. These two were the ones that Jiang Chen had purposefully pointed out just now.

“Your Highness, your underling respectfully requests that you give the order for us two brothers to go after Ye Rong’s team. We cannot swallow the humiliation that Jiang Chen gave to the two of us.”

Ling Shi and Ling Feng were all practitioners of the first level spirit realm. They were adept at killing in secret, particularly in long distance tracking.

This was why Ye Qiao had sent them to trigger the tide of rats.

“Second prince, with your underling’s analysis, Ye Rong’s side must have had their suspicions. Their words all seemed to suggest it. Jiang Chen in particular didn’t target anyone else but purposefully pointed out Ling Shi and Ling Feng. Did he really discover some traces?”

Ye Qiao’s gaze was sinister as he looked at Ling Shi and Ling Feng. “How sure are you two of annihilating their entire team?”

“If we faced them in direct combat, we’d only have a twenty percent chance. If we used our strengths in tracking and assassination however, we’d have an eighty percent chance. In addition, us brothers are adept at concealing and disguising ourselves. We absolutely won’t expose the second prince.”

Ye Qiao’s thoughts raced as he thought of Ye Rong and Jiang Chen’s words. They made him feel vaguely uneasy.

“Can it be that number four really has grasped some evidence? Ye Dai and Ye Zheng didn’t come out, they’re dead for sure. If number four grasped some evidence of this and went back with it, all of my previous efforts will have been in vain if he hands it in. At that time, the position of Crown Prince will naturally fall into his hands!”

Ye Qiao nodded when his thoughts travelled here and said gravely, “Remember, your moves must be ruthless. Since you’re going to make a move, make sure you cut the weeds and pull up the roots!”

“Understood!”

“Go, make it a quick and tidy battle!” Ye Qiao gave the order.

He had nothing to hesitate over now that matters had progressed to this phase. He had already done the bigger deed and killed his greatest competitor, Ye Dai. He couldn’t very well leave that fellow Ye Rong alive to mess up his grand plans. As long as Ye Rong was dead, he wouldn’t have any competitors amongst the princes.

Although the princes weren’t just limited to the four of them, the remaining princes were either mediocre or too young. They wouldn’t be able to compete with him.

“After killing Ye Rong, I, Ye Qiao, will become almost the only candidate!” A dense killing intent flashed through Ye Qiao’s eyes.

“Ling Xuan, you go investigate in that area as well and see just what’s going on. Remember, place personal safety above all. Don’t enter if the tide of rats has yet to disperse. You’re my deeply trusted confidante. Even if I gain the world, it would not be perfect without you.”

This was Ye Qiao’s strength. He was adept at swaying human hearts. These words were spoken so naturally that his men would be willing to die for him.

“Understood, I will go take a look.” Ling Xuan was the head of the personal guards and he turned to say to the others, “You guys must make sure to protect the second prince.”

“Understood.”

Ling Xuan had been about to set off when his ears suddenly twitched and his body abruptly halted, a trace of gravity showing in his eyes.

“What is it?” Ye Qiao started slightly when he saw Ling Xuan’s movements.

Ling Xuan’s facial expression suddenly changed as he crouched on the ground and listened for a while. A look of fright suddenly appeared on his face. “This is bad!”

“What’s wrong?”

Ling Shi and Ling Feng, who’d just left, came flying back at this moment. Their faces were also filled with terror.

“Your Highness, hurry and retreat. The tide of rats has encircled us in the front and is coming for us!”

“What?” Ye Qiao was thrown into a panic when he heard these words. The tide of rats? Why would the tide of rats be in front of them? They were on the outskirts of the tide and hadn’t sensed the tide of rats pass by here at all. Why would it suddenly change directions and come backwards?

“The route of the tide of rats is very strange. They made a huge circle to flank us. They’ve actually surrounded us now!” Ling Xuan had made out the tide of rats’ line of movement now and made his conjecture.

“Hurry, hurry, Ling Xuan, hurry and find a way where the tide is the thinnest. Use the fastest speed possible to carve a path of blood out. We cannot afford to be surrounded by them!”

Ye Qiao was anxious. How could he have possibly thought that the tide of rats he had so arduously set into motion, would leave Ye Rong’s group alone and surround him instead?

Ling Xuan knew of the dangers of the tide of rats and he crouched down to listen carefully to the movements of the tide in an attempt to devise an escape route. As long as the tide hadn’t fully closed in on itself and completely surrounded them, then with their speed and under the conditions of not stopping at all, they still had a chance to break free.

“Your Highness, it’s really strange. Apart from the mountain valley, all the other areas have been surrounded by the tide. There’s no area of weakness at all.” Ling Xuan said.

“The direction of the mountain valley?” Ye Qiao’s brow furrowed. “Isn’t there only one way in for that valley and no exit? Won’t we be dead for sure if we go in?”

“The mountain valley is a dead end, yes. But we may be able to find other paths on its outskirts. If we circle around it and don’t enter the dead end, perhaps we’ll still have enough time.” Ling Xuan wasn’t sure himself either. Although they had investigated the terrain, they had only investigated it and the real situation was still an unknown.

If the paths of the mountain valley were not easy to take and needed to be climbed, then their speed would greatly decrease. If that was the case, then they would run the danger of the tide of rats catching up with them.