The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 34 The Undercover Competition

Li Ye opened Yin and Yang at his feet and walked in a cross. He fought with his sword in the face of the attackers who kept coming. He did not rush out too far, nor retreated too far. He only moved several inches.

There was no long-distance bombardment of techniques, no cultivation methods that arose anomalies. Li Ye’s action didn’t cause any big sounds. His movement was fast and his sword couldn’t be traced. However, his thrusts and rotation were within several inches, leaving an incomplete shadow of him.

Few of the attackers who rushed to him could fight with him. Because of the fierce casualties, flesh and blood were sprayed from time to time, which sometimes made him need to stop and wait for the next attacker to arrive.

There was no sword light and no cloth flashing. Li Ye’s fighting style was like that of a common warrior. But he was incredibly fast. Also, he was low-key and not conspicuous.

But his opponent did not neglect him because he was surrounded by more and more fallen corpses. The pebbles were constantly washed with blood, and the blood penetrated into the river sand, making the ground under his feet particularly sticky and thick.

“Elder Brother Ye, I’ll help you!”

Wu You, dressed in a Hu suit, came quickly. She used double rings which of course were many times larger than earrings. The double rings were colorful and were twined with numerous flower-like bells. When they were used, it sounded like countless orioles singing together.

But her attacks were quite fierce. She used Colorful Glazed Rings, and strips of colorful lights flew out which hurt or killed those attackers.

Without thinking too much, Li Ye knew that the Colorful Glazed Rings must not be an ordinary magic tool. Maybe it was Rank 3. After all, the princess and her husband were much richer than a Duke.

An attacker rushed to Li Ye, with a golden hammer in his hand and a fierce gaze. He hid behind several attackers and was about to launch a sneak attack. But when he saw Wu You coming, he hesitated slightly and looked deeply at Li Ye, then changed his direction and rushed towards another youth of the Imperial Clan.

Li Ye suddenly sensed something, so he looked in the direction of the man with a golden hammer. With the rich experience of fighting that he accumulated in this Last Life, Li Ye felt danger from that man. However, the man had already left and Li Ye did not see any strangeness.

Shangguan Qingcheng had adjusted her condition and escorted Li Ye again. This time, as Li Ye’s attendant, she did not wear armor but wore blue cotton-padded clothes.

Li Ye looked at her and his eyes fell on her chest, understanding flashing in his eyes. When confronting the enemy just now, he was very close to Shangguan Qingcheng. Although they separated very soon, a cultivator’s senses were keen, so he still perceived the thickness of her chest was... very thick.

Wu You and Shangguan Qingcheng guarded Li Ye on both sides, and immediately Li Ye became an idler, which made Li Ye feel funny. But he did not care about that too much, now he had time to observe the situation of the battlefield.

More than 40 attackers had rushed out of the narrow open space that was less than 50 steps long before the riverbank weeds. At this time, more than 10 attackers had fallen down. However, the six youths of the Imperial Clan and his or her attendant, together with Song Yuanqiao and the officers he brought, had been separated.

Suddenly, a scream came, Li Ye turned his head to look, and saw a youth of the Imperial Clan was hit on his shoulder by the attacker with the golden hammer. His whole arm drooped down, and his shoulder bones had sunk in. His attendants were sieged from saving his lord and soon fell to the ground with serious injuries.

Li Ye knew that youth. His name was Li Ji and his cultivation was in Level 1 of Qi-refining. The cultivation of his attendant was in Level 3, which was neither strong nor weak. After all, not every family of the Imperial Clan was in a high position. And in the whole world, those whose cultivation was high and in the middle level were big figures.

“What are you waiting for?! Why don’t you do your best?!” Holding his shoulder, Li Ji cried and ran to Li Ye. His serious injuries and the fall of his attendant made him panicked and angry to the extreme. He shouted at Wu You with his red eyes. “Duchess of Li?!”

Li Ye took a look at Wu You. She bit her lower lip lightly and ignored Li Ji’s cry.

Li Ye knew that many people didn’t try their best and didn’t show their real power. He was also one of them.

They came to take part in the examination for the purpose of becoming an official. But the Imperial Court couldn’t provide enough official positions. So only several powerful official positions were provided. It was impossible to meet the needs of all the descendants of the Imperial Clan, so there was competition.

Only those who performed excellently in the assessment could get a position of real power. Only those who performed overwhelmingly could get a high position. Therefore, some people would be sacrificed and eliminated.

More than forty attackers had emerged, and the attack was fierce. These youths of the Imperial Clan seemed to be at a disadvantage. In fact, they were not, because the high-ranking combat forces of the two sides were not on the same level.

The cultivation of the attendant brought by Wu You, who was the daughter of the princess and the Emperor’s son-in-law, was at least in the middle level of Qi-refining. The cultivation of the attendant brought by Li Jian’an, the second son of Grand Prince Gong, was also not low.

There were not too many of such masters in the whole world. These attackers were unable to defeat them. Li Ye observed this very clearly. In this group of rebels, the highest cultivation that had been shown was in Level 3 of Qi-refining.

The sudden battle gave these youths a stage for intrigue.

“Your Highness, do I need to save Childe Ji? He seems to be unable to hold up...” Shangguan Qingcheng beat back the cultivator in front of them and returned to Li Ye’s side. She gave a look at Li Ji who had fallen down and asked Li Ye.

Li Ye shook his head.

He did not want to be the first to help Li Ji. It was not certain whether he could get the gratitude of Li Ji. But it was certain that he would be hated by others if he broke the tacit understanding between the youths of the Imperial Clan.

Li Ji, who had fallen, was surrounded by two attackers and was about to be killed by their knives.

Li Ji, whose blood flowed out his mouth, looked at Li Ye and Wu You with resentment. When the knife was about to fall upon him, he suddenly flicked his sleeve, threw out several invocations, spoke out incantations and made incantation gestures. Then those invocations exploded, bursting out a circle of light and a dazzling wave of Spiritual Qi.

The two attackers close to him spit out blood and flew out because of the invocations, and the attackers a little farther away shook backward.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Ji quickly got up and ran to Li Ye and the others. He gasped and stared at them, as if he wanted to kill them and eat them.

Shangguan Qingcheng was shocked. She moved close to Li Ye and whispered, “Why didn’t he use the invocations earlier?”

Li Ye chuckled and observed that clearly. “The invocation is his final card. It can kill enemies and save lives. He won’t easily use it. If we save him, he will hide this card and use it when the examination is at a critical moment. Then he will have the opportunity to compete with us. Or at least he will have a good performance.”

Shangguan Qingcheng was stunned. “But his attendants... were all dead!”

Li Ye looked at the battlefield and said without too much care. “If you can become an official and get a position of real power, are you afraid that there will be no guests and attendants to follow you? Because his attendant is dead and his strength is greatly undermined, and he has no ability to compete with us, we should have saved him... But obviously, the thoughts of these youths are both cruel and deep-rooted.”

At this moment, Li Ye found out that Wu You had a look at Liu Jing’an.

Wu You and Liu Jing’an were the strongest in the Imperial Clan.

They waved their hands almost at the same time, and then their followers behind them rushed out and showed their real fighting skills.

The elder that Wu You brought rushed into the crowd of attackers. His sleeves inflated and the Spiritual Qi in front of his hands condensed into two long white chains which were several feet long. He swung the two chains and they immediately swept away numerous attackers who were either dead or injured.

The attendant Liu Jing’an brought was a middle-aged woman. She rushed into the crowd of attackers with a long sword. Then she couldn’t be seen. Only sword lights flashed in front of the attackers from time to time, then blood splashed and the attackers fell one after another.

Li Ye saw Shangguan Qingcheng look over, he took the initiative to explain to her. “Eliminating the weak is one of the means by which the group of the Imperial Clan clan suppresses their opponents and reduces the competitors. But Wu You and Liu Jing’an are outstanding in strength. Eliminating the weak can no longer meet their needs. They also need to strive for merit and get first place.”

“I see.” Shangguan Qingcheng understood. Saying that, her gaze became cold and serious again and she was about to rush out to fight.

Li Ye quickly caught her and asked, puzzled, “What are you going to do?”

“I’ll kill these rebels to strive for more merits for you.” Shangguan Qingcheng took it for granted.

Li Ye shook his head and said, “We needn’t strive for merit.”

“Your Highness, you needn’t compete for a high ranking in order to get a better official position?” Shangguan Qingcheng was stunned.

Li Ye looked at the battlefield, and his gaze was deep. “There’s no hurry.”

“Why?”

“Because this attack was quite strange.”

“Ah?”

“I’ll explain to you later.”

“Well... Your Highness...”

“What’s the problem?”

“Er... can I take my hand back?”

“...”