usatvline Chapter 299 Autumn Hunt Causes Chaos
Chapter 299 Autumn Hunt Causes Chaos
Chapter 299 Autumn Hunt Causes Chaos
Although Xingzhou is located in the north, its terrain is open and expansive, bordering the Qishan Mountains from west to north, seemingly embraced by the mountains. The Limu River, Xingzhou's largest river, originates from the Qishan Mountains and flows eastward. As the terrain gradually flattens in the east, it naturally gives rise to the vast Kemuzhe Grassland, creating a stunning landscape of mountains, forests, and grasslands—truly a place blessed by nature.
After arriving in Xingzhou and resting briefly, the imperial entourage held a sacrificial ceremony to pray for blessings on the second day. The emperor was required to wear a black robe with nine dragons and gold patterns, hold a jade tablet, and kneel on the altar for three days and three nights, during which incense was burned continuously. Three eminent monks from Huguo Temple stood beside him, reciting scriptures for three days.
In addition, the imperial heirs had to kneel and worship from behind the emperor up the eighty-one steps of the altar of Heaven, according to their seniority, while officials also had to wear black and red sacrificial robes and perform sacrificial rites until auspicious omens appeared from the sky, at which point they could stop.
If no auspicious signs are seen after three days, it means that Heaven is dissatisfied with the Emperor's policies for governing the country this year, and that the Emperor's virtue has failed. Therefore, the Emperor should not go on the autumn hunt, but should immediately return to the capital, govern diligently for another year, and cherish his people even more, before he can come back to pray for blessings next year.
Fortunately, on the second day of the sacrificial ceremony, auspicious omens appeared from the heavens, greatly pleasing the emperor. He believed that his achievements had been affirmed by Heaven, and he was extremely excited. After the ceremony, Sadar arranged a grand banquet on the grasslands, and the first round of the autumn hunt began the following day.
The Great Summer Autumn Hunt is conducted in three rounds: the first round tests horsemanship, the second round tests archery skills, and the third round tests courage.
The first round of the competition was a horsemanship contest. All participants in the autumn hunt were required to go deep into the grasslands, find wild horse herds, select and tame the horse they chose, ride it back to the starting point, and take down the flag to win.
Of all the princes, Chunyu Yang was the best rider. Therefore, in the first round of the competition, Chunyu Yang successfully tamed a top-quality steed, returned to the starting line, and won first place. Chunyu Jing and Chunyu Shan came in second.
The second round tested archery skills. The winner of the first round rode their newly tamed spirited horses across the grasslands, shooting at birds in the sky, with the winner determined by the number of shots shot. In this round, Chunyu Jing intended to sabotage Chunyu Yang, but Chunyu Yang was prepared and still won first place in the second round.
The third test of courage involves the winners of the second round venturing deep into the forests at the foot of Qishan Mountain to hunt and kill ferocious beasts, preventing them from threatening the survival of nomadic herders and livestock on the grasslands the following year.
Prince Yue harbored rebellious intentions and had already made thorough preparations to make his move during the autumn hunt. The third round of autumn hunts was his best option. However, his target was not in the forest, but rather the emperor's camp at the foot of the mountain.
After the first two rounds of competition, the most valiant warriors of the Great Xia have been selected. As long as these people enter the forest for the third round of testing, the camp's defenses will be relatively lax, making it the perfect time to make a move.
As expected, on the third night of the third autumn hunt, Prince Yue launched a rebellion while the emperor and others were fast asleep. Because of the calm of the first two days, the camp's defenses were very lax on the third day, and Prince Yue's actions caused chaos in the camp. Although the imperial guards and the Xuanjia Army left by Chunyu Yang resisted, the casualties were also very heavy.
Besides the royal family, most of the important officials of the Great Xia Dynasty had come for this autumn hunt, along with their families. The sudden turn of events caused utter chaos. The imperial guards risked their lives to escort the emperor and his entourage westward. In the urgency of the situation, everyone scattered. Ye Pianran and Ye Lingyue got separated, and she couldn't find Marquis Anshi and Gongsun Zhan. At this moment, Ye Yanxun found her and invited her to ride in a carriage with him. Ye Pianran didn't hesitate and got in. However, as the carriage traveled, Ye Pianran felt the temperature getting colder and colder. After investigating, 666 told Ye Pianran that the carriage had taken them into the Qishan Mountains.
Ye Pianran immediately lifted the curtain and looked outside. When she saw that it was indeed a mountain path, her expression changed instantly. She turned around to question Ye Yanxun, but Ye Yanxun held a knife to her neck.
It turned out that long before the autumn hunt, Ye Yingrou had already spoken to Ye Yanxun about their plans. Ye Yingrou told Ye Yanxun that a rebellion could only succeed, not fail; failure meant they would never be able to recover. If they succeeded, Chunyu Jing would grant them endless wealth and honor.
This is the best chance to kill Ye Pianran, and Ye Yanxun cannot miss it.
But what they didn't know was that an even more chilling danger awaited them in the mountains.
The Crown Prince harbored a deep resentment towards Chunyu Jing. This autumn hunt, where Chunyu Jing had tricked him into being confined to the Eastern Palace and unable to participate, only intensified his hatred. Following the advice of his retainers, he dispatched a group of assassins to lurk around the hunting party, waiting for an opportunity. When the third round of the autumn hunt began, half of these assassins followed Chunyu Yang and his men into the deep mountains, intending to kill them all. The other half, taking advantage of the chaos, joined Prince Yue's disorderly army in a massacre of the hunting party.
This is why Chunyu Yang and his men were unable to return to the camp in time; they were held back by assassins in the mountains.
Meanwhile, a coup occurred in the royal palace of Ye Chu. In order to stand out in the struggle for the throne, the second prince of Ye Chu, Fu Lei, heard that the emperor of Da Xia and many ministers would be going to Xingzhou for an autumn hunt soon, so he sent 30,000 elite troops to lie in ambush in Qishan to wait for an opportunity to make a move.
To clear his name, Chunyu Jing also entered the mountain with Chunyu Yang in the third round of the competition. However, as soon as he entered, he took advantage of the crowd's dispersal and quietly withdrew through other paths, hiding his whereabouts and watching from the sidelines.
Chunyu Shan stayed with Chunyu Yang after entering the mountain. The two encountered attacks from two opposing forces, their attacks aimed at killing with deadly intent. Even with Chunyu Yang and Chunyu Shan's exceptional skills, fighting back against so many assassins was difficult, let alone for the others who had accompanied them. Moreover, their ambush in the mountains meant trouble at their camp, causing them immense anxiety. They fought desperately to get down the mountain.
Meanwhile, Ye Pianran, who had been taken into the mountains by carriage, was held hostage by Ye Yanxun at knifepoint. Ye Pianran showed no fear; she only wanted to get a clear answer from Ye Yanxun about why he had done this. Ye Yanxun mocked the Gongsun family for their bullying and ruthless behavior, forcing his birth mother to become a mistress and for taking away his and Ye Yingrou's position as the eldest son. He said their current predicament was entirely their own fault.
Ye Pianran, protected by the Lingyuan Vine, was naturally not afraid of Ye Yanxun. However, neither of them expected that the assassins sent by Ye Chu Kingdom had already noticed the carriage that had mistakenly entered the mountains. Naturally, they went forward to intercept it and killed the coachman and the horse on the spot.
The horse pulling the carriage died, and the carriage immediately overturned, nearly falling off the mountain road. If Ye Pianran hadn't possessed the Spirit Abyss Vine, which allowed her to tie herself and Ye Yanxun to the cliff in time, they would likely have lost their lives.
Three people, all dressed in black and masked, came to stop the car. When they saw that Ye Pianran and Ye Yanxun had not fallen off the mountain, they exchanged a glance and immediately drew their knives and rushed towards the two.
Another unexpected turn of events occurred. Ye Yanxun never expected that Ye Pianran would save him as well. Before he could figure out how Ye Pianran, who was powerless, had managed to do it, he looked up and saw someone coming towards him. Even though he had wanted to kill Ye Pianran before, in that life-or-death moment, the bond between siblings of more than ten years took over, and he stood in front of Ye Pianran.
Seeing this, Ye Pianran knew that his conscience was not completely extinguished and that he must have been bewitched by Ye Yingrou. She sighed and distracted herself by using the Lingyuan Vine to paralyze the three assassins. She then pulled Ye Yanxun and fled into the deep mountains, while simultaneously setting off the signal flare that Chunyu Yang had given her.
Ye Yanxun was surprised by Ye Pianran's extraordinary skills, and because he had just been saved by her, he did not make any further moves while the two were fleeing.
Because the Spirit Abyss Vine had limited destructive power and time was of the essence, the three assassins were only paralyzed for a short while before regaining their senses. They also sounded a signal to attract their companions and continued to pursue Ye Pianran.
When Chunyu Yang saw his specially made signal flare light up in the mountains, he immediately knew that Ye Pianran was also in the mountains. He became even more anxious, but the assassins lying in ambush in the mountains were really troublesome, and he couldn't get away for the time being.
Although Ye Pianran had cultivated the Tai Su Spirit Needle Technique, she was no match for a professional assassin, let alone Ye Yanxun. While the two were evading pursuit, Ye Yanxun's leg was slashed by an assassin, which slowed Ye Pianran down, and the assassins behind them quickly caught up.
Although Ye Pianran had the Spirit Abyss Vine that could paralyze the enemy for a while, her internal strength was insufficient. Before Chunyu Yang could come to rescue her, the two of them were forced to the edge of a cliff by the assassins.
Seeing no hope of escape, Ye Yanxun gritted his teeth, pushed Ye Pianran off the cliff with a palm strike, and then pounced on the assassins. Seeing that he was now alone, the Ye Chu assassins lost interest in the chase and instead gouged out his eyes, cut off his tongue, severed his tendons, and tortured him until he was on the verge of death before leaving.
Ye Yanxun felt excruciating pain in his body, felt his blood slowly draining away, and listened to the faint cries of wild beasts all around him, his despair growing ever stronger. Just when he thought he was really going to die, he heard the rapid sound of horses' hooves galloping towards him; it was Ye Yingrou coming to find him.
A glimmer of hope flickered in Ye Yanxun's heart, but Ye Yingrou didn't care about his injuries. Instead, she asked him if he had killed Ye Pianran. His tongue had been cut out by the assassins of Ye Chu Kingdom, rendering him unable to speak. Ye Yingrou already despised him for his appearance. When she saw him pointing to the cliff, knowing that he had helped her eliminate Ye Pianran, Ye Yingrou coldly cursed him as a piece of trash, kicked him off the cliff, and turned to leave.
When Chunyu Yang finally escaped the assassins and arrived, only bloodstains remained on the cliff edge. He was initially extremely panicked, but then he remembered that he and Ye Pianran shared the same space. If Ye Pianran died, that space would definitely disappear, but the space he possessed was still there, which meant that Ye Pianran's life was not in danger.
He gritted his teeth, made a decisive decision, and turned to run down the mountain to return to the support camp.