The Young Swordsman of Dalu

Shangguan Chenxing sent a special envoy with a secret letter that Li Chaoyang had given him before leaving to the Northern Dynasty. Li Chaoyang told him that if Li Wei's life was threatened within the territory of the Northern Dynasty, he should send someone with the secret letter to the Northern Dynasty's palace to deliver it to Murong Bo.

After the special envoys, including Shangguan Chenxing, left, he paced anxiously back and forth in the camp.

"General! A scout reports!"

"Come in quickly!" Shangguan Chenxing said anxiously.

"General! Young Master Wen and the others have been arrested and imprisoned in the Northern Dynasty's jail."

"How were you caught?" Shangguan Chenxing asked.

"The spies say that it seems that Young Master Wen and the others voluntarily allowed themselves to be arrested."

"Nonsense!" Shangguan Chenxing said angrily.

"The situation was extremely critical. They were surrounded by enemies many times their size. For everyone's safety, the Second Young Master Wen laid down his weapons and surrendered."

"Has the special envoy arrived at the Northern Dynasty's palace yet?" Shangguan Chenxing asked.

"It's time to go to the palace."

"Report back as soon as you have any news! You can go and rest now!" Shangguan Chenxing said.

Inside the Northern Dynasty's imperial palace, a special envoy from the Great Lu Kingdom entered the palace carrying a secret letter from Li Chaoyang, requesting an audience with the Northern Dynasty's Emperor, Murong Bo.

In front of the Zhengqian Palace, the secret envoy of the Great Lu Kingdom was waiting to be summoned by the emperor of the Northern Dynasty.

Wang Xiao slowly walked out of the hall and came to the special envoy. He said dismissively, "His Majesty is too busy to see you. If you have anything to say to me, I will report it to His Majesty."

"I'm afraid Eunuch Wang cannot bear the consequences of this matter. I must personally meet with His Majesty the Emperor of the Northern Dynasty," the special envoy said righteously and firmly.

"Then you can wait patiently!" Wang Xiao turned and left.

"The Northern Dynasty is going too far!" the envoy said angrily.

All of this was observed by the eunuch who was hiding in the shadows, and he hurriedly went to report to Murong Bo.

Inside the Zhengqian Hall, Murong Bo was consulting with several veteran ministers of the Northern Dynasty about strategies for governing the country. Compared to Murong Xuan's arrogance, overestimation of his abilities, willfulness, and attempt to control everything, the veteran ministers were very pleased to see Murong Bo's humble attitude.

The young eunuch entered the hall and cleverly positioned himself where Murong Bo could see him. Murong Bo quickly noticed him, exchanged pleasantries with the old ministers for a while, and then dismissed them.

The young eunuch waited until all the old ministers had left before stepping forward.

"Your Majesty! The special envoy from the Great Lu Kingdom was refused entry to the palace by Eunuch Wang, and he's currently outside cursing in anger," the young eunuch reported.

"How dare Wang Xiao be so audacious! Summon him to see me at once!" Murong Bo said.

The young eunuch hurriedly left the main hall and found the imperial guards driving away the envoy from the Great Lu Kingdom. The envoy, filled with righteous indignation, shouted, "Is your Northern Dynasty ruled by eunuchs? How pathetic!"

"Stop!" The little eunuch walked up to the imperial guards.

“Eunuch Liu, I advise you not to meddle in other people’s business. This is what Eunuch Wang ordered,” said the head guard.

"His Majesty has decreed that the special envoy of the Great Lu Kingdom be summoned for an audience!" Eunuch Liu announced in a clear and resonant voice.

Upon hearing that it was His Majesty who had summoned him, the head guard respectfully withdrew.

"Please, Special Envoy!" said Eunuch Liu.

The special envoy from the Great Lu Kingdom followed Eunuch Liu into the Zhengqian Hall, where Murong Bo was sitting.

"Your Majesty, the special envoy from the Great Lu Kingdom has arrived," said Eunuch Liu.

"The special envoy of the Great Lu Kingdom pays respects to His Majesty the Emperor of the Northern Dynasty!"

"Rise! Eunuch Liu says you have a secret letter to deliver to me."

"This is a secret letter left to Your Majesty by Li Chaoyang, the Grand Marshal of the Army of the Great Lu Kingdom, before he left."

"This Li Chaoyang is amazing! Could he really be a fortune teller? Bring up the secret letter!"

The special envoy from the State of Lu took out a secret letter from his sleeve and handed it to Eunuch Liu, who then presented it to Murong Bo.

Murong Bo eagerly opened the secret letter. After reading it, Murong Bo frowned and his face showed anger. Murong Bo quickly calmed himself down. He did not fly into a rage, but instead politely said to the special envoy of the Great Lu Kingdom, "Special envoy, you must be tired from your journey! Eunuch Liu, please arrange for the special envoy to get some rest!"

“Your Majesty! Now that I have read the secret letter, my mission is complete. I should return to the Northern Frontier City to report to General Shangguan. I appreciate Your Majesty’s kindness,” the envoy said.

"The special envoy should go back and tell General Shangguan that I will give him a satisfactory result," Murong Bo said.

After the special envoy from the Great Lu Kingdom left, Murong Bo picked up the secret letter in his hand and flew into a rage: "Li Chaoyang actually dared to threaten me!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down!" Eunuch Liu advised from the side.

"What is Wang Xiao doing?" Murong Bo asked.

"Eunuch Wang should be in prison right now."

Inside the Northern Dynasty prison, Wang Xiao sat in a grand chair, drinking tea and eating pastries, watching Wen Jie and the others.

The jailer was whipping Wenjie and Sang Ziqi, leaving them covered in bruises.

"You bastard! You'll die a horrible death!" Sang Ziqi cursed.

"Can Sang Ziqi hold on?" Wenjie asked.

“Wenjie! The men of our Great Lu Kingdom have never been cowards!” Sang Ziqi said.

Li Wei, one of the three women in the cell next door, felt very upset when she heard Sang Ziqi's cursing.

"Since we're going to die anyway, we might as well fight him to the death!" Li Wei said sadly.

“Sister, don’t be anxious. I think General Shangguan should already know about our situation. He will send someone to rescue us,” Liang Feiyan comforted her.

“Sister Shangguan, your father will come to save us, right?” Li Wei said.

"Yes, it will," Shangguan Xingyun said confidently.

"If you don't sign this paper, I'll let those three delicate girls taste what you've got!" Wang Xiao said viciously.

"You beast! You bastard!" Sang Ziqi wished he could skin Wang Xiao alive.

“Come at us all you want, but if you’re a human being, don’t make things difficult for the three young ladies!” Wenjie said.

"Once you sign, everything will be fine!" Wang Xiao said.

"Give it to me, I'll sign it!" Wenjie said.

Wang Xiao gestured to his men to bring the paper to Wen Jie. Wen Jie was untied and took the paper, which was completely blank.

"There's nothing on it, how can I sign it?" Wenjie asked.

"Don't worry about that. Just sign your names. As for what's written on them, don't worry about that," Wang Xiao said smugly.

"Bastard! Shameless scoundrel!" Wenjie cursed.

"You don't have to sign. I'll have those three girls sign first," Wang Xiao threatened.

"Shameless bastard! Wenjie, let's fight him to the death!" Sang Ziqi was so angry he felt like he was going to vomit blood.

Wenjie was quickly tied up again.

“Sang Ziqi, my decision back then was wrong, which led to everyone ending up like this,” Wenjie said dejectedly.

“Wenjie, don’t blame yourself. If you hadn’t done this, we might have lost our lives long ago,” Sang Ziqi said.

"Alright! Stop trying to evoke emotions in front of me. Whether you sign or not, I'm going to find the three young ladies." Wang Xiao put down his teacup and got up to go to the cell next door.

"We'll sign! Don't make things difficult for the three girls!" Wenjie said calmly.

"Young Master Wen, you must not sign! Don't be fooled!" Li Wei shouted.

“If Young Master Wen signs for our sake, we will be tormented by our conscience even if we survive. We might as well die!” Shangguan Xingyun said.

"Second Young Master! Don't sign! Today, whether we live or die, we'll all be in this together!" Liang Feiyan shouted.

“Wenjie, the girls are so determined, what do we have to be afraid of!” Sang Ziqi said.

"We won't sign!" Wenjie shouted.

"You're all crazy! You're all crazy!" Wang Xiao stormed out of the prison in a fit of rage.