We carefully set the cargo right in the middle of the town square and reinforced it heavily with strong, thick roots from Jian and Liangyu's earth cultivation. We got into our hiding positions yet once again, crossing our fingers and desperately hoping to have the king himself grace us with his royal presence.
It was quiet for a while after that. Just the sound of wind whistling through empty streets.
Han kept pacing back and forth nervously in the open square, waiting like bait in a trap.
After about twenty long minutes or so of tense silence, we could finally hear the distinct sound of a horse approaching from the direction of the palace. From the sound of it, it seemed like just one single horse. No army, no guards. I really, really hoped it was actually the king himself and not just another messenger, and lo and behold, King Cangyuan appeared at the town square in no time at all. He stopped his magnificent horse right in front of the cargo, gracefully dismounted, and immediately met eyes with Han in an intense stare-down.
On one hand, I was genuinely kind of happy that we'd finally get to talk to the king directly and maybe get some answers. On the other hand, this development meant he obviously wouldn't be sending any military reinforcements here to retrieve the cargo, which also meant the palace would be extremely well-guarded and nearly impossible for us to sneak into and investigate the situation further. Anyway, he was here now standing right in front of us, and we had to deal with whatever came next.
Unlike our first rodeo with the regular soldiers earlier, this time was drastically, fundamentally different in every way. The King had a certain powerful aura surrounding him that sure did seem incredibly heavy. You could literally feel the weight of his presence pressing down on everything. He was the king of a huge and powerful town, after all. This wasn't some random guard captain.
Han's knees started slightly shaking beneath him, trembling just a bit, but to his immense credit he kept his outward confidence completely intact. His face showed nothing but determination.
The both of them just kept staring at each other with intense focus for several long moments until the king finally spoke up first. "So... I'm assuming you're the Mighty Han."
"You're goddamn right," Han replied, managing to keep his voice steady despite the fear I knew he must be feeling.
"Mhm. You've got some serious audacity doing what you just did to my soldiers and my cargo. May I know exactly why you're holding my property hostage?"
"And may I know why you've been acting all weird and erratic lately?" Han shot back without hesitation.
"Weird? What do you mean?" The king's eyes narrowed.
"You know exactly what I mean," Han said as he started pacing around in a circle, trying to appear confident and in control. "Putting the entire town on complete lockdown for no apparent reason, taxing us like absolute crazy and bleeding us dry, and being so obsessively worked up about whatever the hell this mysterious stuff is." He gestured dramatically at the sealed cargo boxes.
"What I choose to do with my power and authority is none of your business, citizen," the king said firmly. "Your duty as a resident of this town, assuming you're not from outside, is to heed to my will without question. That is how kingdoms function."
"And is it not your duty to communicate properly with the people you're ruling over and inform them of the proper reasons for your actions?" Han challenged boldly. "You used to be so loving and kind to your people! Everyone respected and admired you! What the hell happened to you?!"
The king's expression darkened considerably. "I will tell you this just once, and only once. Let go of my cargo immediately, turn around, and leave this square. Do that, and you will be spared any punishment."
Han planted his feet and stood his ground firmly. "No."
That's when it happened. The sudden, violent shift in the entire vibe of the confrontation. My gut began to stir uncomfortably with a terrible feeling. Something was very, very wrong here, I could definitely feel it in my bones, and before I even finished blinking, the king had drawn his sword with impossible speed and was just a few inches away from completely slicing off Han's head in one clean strike!
I almost screamed in horror when Qinyue and Jian reacted at exactly the right time with perfect coordination. Jian created a sudden powerful gust of wind that threw off the king's balance and footing just enough, while Qinyue rushed forward and physically pushed Han away from the blade's deadly path.
Me and Liangyu immediately jumped in from our positions. Liangyu summoned thick roots from the ground to grab hold of the king's legs and arms while I quickly took hold of Han and dragged him inside a nearby building for safety.
Jian joined Liangyu in restraining the thrashing king as he struggled violently to break free from the root bindings. Qinyue promptly set the roots on fire, trying to use the pain to subdue him.
The flames didn't seem to do much significant damage to the king at all. Sure, he screamed in pain from the burning, but his body was clearly hardened enough through years of cultivation training to not take any serious damage from basic fire techniques.
It took just a few more moments for him to violently cut down the burning roots with his sword and immediately charge directly towards Qinyue. I grabbed a loose rock and threw it hard at his head for that split second distraction, giving Qinyue just enough time to change her position. Then I started engaging with the king directly in close combat.
His sword skills were absolutely top-notch, no doubt about it. I couldn't even get remotely near him without risking getting cut to pieces. Every movement was precise and deadly.
Jian and Liangyu quickly worked together to set up an enclosed perimeter around our fighting area with dense roots and full-grown trees, creating barriers so we wouldn't accidentally damage the nearby buildings which held innocent people hiding inside.
All of us then attacked the king simultaneously from different angles, trying desperately to overwhelm him with sheer numbers, but he was somehow able to anticipate almost every single attack we threw at him, perfectly countering each one with minimal wasted movement.
We were just a bunch of fresh student cultivators, while he was a goddamn experienced king with decades of combat training and actual battlefield experience. We were absolutely no match for him in a straight fight. We could either hope to very luckily knock him unconscious through some miracle, or die painfully at his skilled hands. And maybe it was exactly that primal fear of imminent death that somehow kept us fighting and going.
We tried everything we could think of. Going in all at once in coordinated attacks, taking turns to conserve energy, and even trying creative and unconventional ways to get him to calm down and stop attacking. We tried talking to him, reasoning with him, but he just wouldn't listen to a single word. It was like he had only a single mission in his mind: killing us all.
After quite a long while of exhausting fighting, we were completely exhausted and gasping for breath, but he wasn't even sweating or breathing hard. He was stronger, faster, more experienced, and even smarter in combat than all of us combined.
That's when I observed something crucial during a brief moment of clarity. No matter how much we changed our positions around the square, no matter what tactics we tried, he absolutely wouldn't let us get anywhere near the cargo boxes, even himself when he was close to them. I thought maybe I could gesture to Qinyue to set the boxes on fire to distract him and create an opening to land a solid hit. But I seriously doubted that the packaging was weak enough to be destroyed by simple flames. Zhang had told us earlier that the boxes were qi-sealed with advanced techniques.
Then it suddenly struck me!
If they're qi-sealed by the king's specific qi signature, then not only will they open exclusively to the king's qi, they could also potentially be destroyed by that same qi! The king's sword was very clearly imbued and heavily enhanced by his personal qi for stronger, more devastating attacks!
I frantically gestured to the gang mid-fight, trying to communicate my plan without words, and we slowly tried taking the fight towards the cargo, step by careful step.
If we did it too obviously or immediately, the king might've easily guessed our plan and countered it, so instead we strategically drew away from our offensive attacks and tried to focus purely on dodging his increasingly aggressive strikes. Slowly and gradually, King Cangyuan began to get more and more frustrated with our evasive tactics. I was almost at my complete exhaustion point, my muscles screaming, and desperately wished this whole thing was over.
Soon enough, he got nearer and nearer to the cargo until finally, in a moment of pure rage, he struck at the boxes with his full force and power, intending to hit Qinyue who was standing in front of them, but she escaped at the last possible moment, rolling away.
His qi-imbued blade sliced clean through the sealed cargo boxes.
His eyes immediately widened with complete disbelief and he screamed in absolute shock, "NO!!"
Liangyu didn't waste the opportunity. He quickly created a thick, heavy branch and swung it at the king's head as hard as he possibly could, putting all his remaining strength behind it.
The king dropped down unconscious, crumpling to the ground. Everything suddenly got completely quiet for a long moment. All of us were huffing and puffing desperately, trying to catch our breath. Jian carefully let down the root perimeter and people slowly began cautiously peeking out from the buildings and hesitantly coming outside.
"Is it... is it over?" some of them said nervously as they slowly joined us and carefully encircled the unconscious king, keeping their distance.
King Cangyuan moved slightly, groaning in obvious pain. The townsfolk immediately took a frightened step back. Even we got into our defensive stances for a second, ready for round two, as he turned over on his back and looked up at us with half-opened, confused eyes.
"Where- where am I?" he said weakly, his voice completely different from before. "Li Xue! Is Li Xue alright?!" He held the back of his head in pain, wincing.
"Who the hell is Li Xue?" Jian asked, confused.
"She's... one of our king's wives," Han replied quietly.