Ashes to Crown

Chapter 214: Chapter 39: Morning Light

The cries of battle shook the heavens and earth.

The entire mountain forest seemed to have plunged into a chaotic melee. People were everywhere, and the din of slaughter filled the air. Here, arrows rained down; there, boulders crashed like thunder. Wild boars were even rampaging through the chaos.

The rampaging boars were thick-skinned and tough. Even bristling with arrows, they could charge forward and send seven or eight people flying.

The darkened mountain forest was like an ocean churning with violent waves.

Still some distance away, Tie Ying reined in his horse. He wasn’t afraid of a scene like this, of course, but he was stunned.

”What’s going on?” he asked. ”Where did these reinforcements come from?”

A man before him was just as stunned. ”We’ve been guarding the road the whole time. We haven’t seen any government troops.”

’Is it real or a bluff?’ Tie Ying spun his horse around, his hand resting on the long blade at his waist, his expression grim. ”I don’t believe they can have that many reinforcements. Even if they do, I can take her down by myself—”

Just as he was about to urge his horse forward, another shout came from behind.

”The garrison from Chen County has assembled! It looks like they’re heading this way.”

The closest garrison was indeed in Chen County. Tie Ying was shocked; Chen County was a considerable distance from here.

”How could the news have spread so fast?” he asked in alarm. ”I was told that not a single person was allowed to escape!”

”It’s the absolute truth. No one escaped from here,” the man reiterated. ”Besides, even if someone had gotten away to raise the alarm, there wouldn’t have been enough time to go and come back.”

’So that means the nearby garrison was also keeping an eye on Chu Zhao’s movements?’

’If the garrison rushes here too—’

It wasn’t that he feared these government troops; he feared exposing the Princely Heir.

The court and the King of Zhongshan had not yet had a complete falling out; they were merely waiting for an opportunity—or rather, a pretext.

After all, there was no evidence that the Princely Heir had incited Chu Lan to assassinate the Imperial Grandson, and Chu Zhao couldn’t just hand her uncle over to be executed.

If Xiao Xun were to be caught ambushing and trying to kill Chu Zhao now, the court could immediately proclaim to the world that the King of Zhongshan was a traitor and send an army to crush him.

’Perhaps this was a trap deliberately set by Chu Zhao and the court, using her as bait to lure out the King of Zhongshan—wasn’t that incident where she fell into the water at Chu Garden the same kind of tactic?’

His horse’s hooves pawed at the ground before it spun around.

”Let’s go!” Tie Ying commanded.

The men beside him acknowledged the order, waving their torches. A moment later, men and horses vanished with Tie Ying, like a rolling black cloud into the night.

...

...

By the time a hazy, green-tinged dawn light enveloped the forest, the sounds of battle had faded. Only the mountain fire still burned, CRACKLING and popping.

Chu Zhao and Ah Le moved among the wounded, doing their best to render aid. They fought to save every life they could, their faces and clothes covered in blood.

When Xiao Man ran over, she almost didn’t recognize them.

But Chu Zhao had already seen her and rushed over with open arms. ”Xiao Man! I’m so glad you’re all right!”

Xiao Man was caught off guard by the sudden embrace. ’We’ve been together day and night for a while now, but we barely talk! We’re not that close!’

”You... you—” Xiao Man reached out to push her away, but then she saw the smile on the girl’s blood-streaked face. The words died on her lips, turning into a mumble. ”What could possibly happen to me?”

She huffed again and turned her head away.

”This is nothing. A trivial matter.”

Chu Zhao shook her gently, nodding repeatedly. ”Yes, yes, you’re incredible, Xiao Man.” As she spoke, tears began to fall.

’She must be terrified,’ she thought. ’It was incredibly dangerous, after all. When has Chu Zhao ever experienced this kind of horror? Even the chaos in the Capital City that night was nothing compared to this.’

’She must be scared out of her wits, so scared she’s clinging to me and crying... She has no one else to cling to but me, but actually...’

Xiao Man couldn’t help but look over her shoulder.

Chu Zhao noticed. ”What are you looking for?”

She followed Xiao Man’s gaze. In the torchlit, night-shrouded forest, the flickering light made everything seem illusory. Many people were moving about—some she recognized, and some she didn’t.

But for some reason, Chu Zhao’s gaze landed on one figure in particular.

The person wasn’t far, standing beside a large tree. The flickering firelight made their form appear and disappear, seem both real and illusory.

’But... was that a woman?’

’Besides Xiao Man, Ah Le, and myself, were there other women here?’

”That is—” Chu Zhao couldn’t help but ask.

Who was that?

But in the instant she spoke, the firelight wavered, and the figure vanished. They seemed to turn away to get busy, and in the blink of an eye had blended into the crowd milling about the forest, disappearing from sight.

”What?” Xiao Man asked from her side, her voice tinged with impatience.

Chu Zhao pulled her gaze back and looked at her. ”Where did you find all these people?”

Xiao Man grunted an acknowledgment. ”They’re—hunters. I ran into them in the forest.”

...

...

Morning sunlight filtered down, dappling the forest floor. The birds, ignorant of the brutal human conflict, resumed their quiet existence, hopping and chirping merrily among the branches, completely indifferent to the blood staining the ground.

Ding Dachui and his remaining men gathered with the survivors from the other two bandit camps. Before, they would have been at each other’s throats on sight. Now, their eyes were still red—not from anger, but from a sleepless night.

They didn’t attack one another. Instead, they huddled together, survivors of a great battle, propping each other up. All of their eyes were fixed on a group of people a short distance away.

There were about a dozen of them.

This dozen or so people were a strange sight.

There were girls, men who clearly carried the disciplined air of government troops, and others who couldn’t hide their rough, lawless dispositions. No matter how you looked at it, these people did not belong together.

’Is this group the ”big score” the new boss was talking about?’

Ding Dachui looked down at the ground, stained red with blood. Last night’s ”heist” had been intense. Their three camps had lost nearly half their men—but they had finally caught their ”fat sheep.”

But why was the girl who had clearly thrown herself into the new boss’s arms and cried now standing with these ”fat sheep,” spouting a stream of nonsense?

”I was in a rush, trying to run and find the government, and then I ran into them—they said they were hunters from the mountains! These kind-hearted people heard that we had encountered bandits, so, seeing an injustice, they were filled with righteous indignation and heroically drew their blades to help—”

Having exhausted every heroic phrase she knew, she then bowed to Ding Dachui and his men.

”Thank you, good sirs, for saving us.”

The scene fell completely silent.

The ”good sirs” who were being thanked did not immediately reply with, ”Don’t mention it, it was our duty.”

Chu Zhao and Old Bai’s eyes, however, were fixed on the weapons in the ”sirs’” hands—sabers, spears, swords, halberds... they had a bit of everything. ’These mountain hunters have quite the complete set of hunting equipment,’ they thought wryly.

’This deep in the mountains... in the middle of the night... so many hunters? Impossible.’

Chu Zhao and Old Bai didn’t need to guess to figure out their true identities.

Bandits.

Real bandits.

How interesting. The fake bandits tried to kill her, and the real bandits saved her.

Although she didn’t know how Xiao Man had convinced these bandits to rescue her, she was certain it wasn’t a simple case of ”heroically drawing their blades to help.”

But since Xiao Man was unwilling to speak on it, there was no need to press the issue.

After a moment of frozen silence, Chu Zhao bowed solemnly. ”Thank you all for saving us. Such a great kindness must be repaid. I will reward you all with a great sum of money.”

Hearing the words ”great sum of money,” Ding Dachui and the others’ eyes sharpened.

”My family is immensely wealthy, and my parents cherish me like a precious jewel. You didn’t just save me; you saved my whole family,” Chu Zhao continued in a loud voice. ”Besides money and valuables, whatever you require, my parents will surely provide. And even so, it would be difficult to truly repay you all for the kindness of saving our lives.”

She punctuated her words with another deep bow.

These were her true feelings.

If not for these bandits, her life would have ended here.

Therefore, she would not question why they came or what their motives were. She only needed to thank them.

Old Bai and the others followed her lead, bowing and shouting in unison, ”Your great kindness is a debt we shall never forget!”

Although there were not many of them, their synchronized shout was quite intimidating.

Ding Dachui and the other bandits were taken aback. Hearing these words of gratitude and seeing the group’s solemn bows, they were momentarily at a loss for what to do.

Meanwhile, their new boss had vanished. During the chaotic night battle, they had seen her everywhere—when they charged, she was at the front, parting their enemies like the sea. When they hesitated, she would appear at their back, cutting off any notion of retreat.

The new boss’s people were mixed in among them—someone nudged him from behind.

Ding Dachui was a quick-witted hunter—er, bandit. He immediately stammered, ”Y-You’re too kind.”

His eyes couldn’t help but dart toward the girl named Xiao Man.

The girl looked back at him, then suddenly arched an eyebrow.

”Big score,” she mouthed.

Ding Dachui’s expression flickered for a moment. Then, he mostly understood. This kind of scheme wasn’t actually that unusual.

First, you plant a mole among the ”fat sheep.” Then, when the ”fat sheep” encounter danger, you burst onto the scene. While most would just take advantage of the chaos to rob them, there was another tactic: play the hero, earn the ”fat sheep’s” trust, and then—

To put it bluntly, it was a case of letting out a long line to catch a big fish.

Looking at the brutal scene of the battle, it was clear this girl’s party had been ferociously attacked by a huge number of people. The greater the danger, the greater the potential profit.

It was even possible that the new boss’s sudden conquest of their bandit camps wasn’t really about taking over the mountain, but was all in preparation for this very moment.

’Such profound scheming and foresight—’

’This really must be a big score.’