High-class Spring Joy

Di Qing followed the direction his subordinate was pointing and, sure enough, found a fire in the snowdrift.

The subordinate reached out and felt the temperature, concluding, "My lord, there's still a trace of warmth left. It must have been extinguished not long ago. The person should be nearby."

"What a clever scheme of waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump! I'd like to see if, when cornered like this, even a tiger on the mountain or a dragon in the sky is trapped in the plains or a dragon in the abyss. I don't believe Chu Jingxian can come up with any other method. All of you, go and search every single cave, search carefully!"

At Di Qing's command, his men dared not question or hesitate, and immediately did as he said.

Before his men could notice, Di Qing carefully examined the snowdrifts, trying to see from a high vantage point to see if there were any angles from which he could see inside or detect anything amiss.

But then Di Qing noticed that the huge lion beneath him was moving. The lion, which had been lazily sitting on the snow, now seemed to have spotted some incredible prey. Its nose twitched incessantly, and it slowly propped itself up on its legs. The enormous lion head turned to look in the direction of one of the snowdrifts.

Di Qing sensed the unusual nature of the enormous creature beneath him and followed the lion's gaze in that direction. However, from Di Qing's perspective, no matter how he looked, he couldn't discern anything amiss about the snowdrift.

However, Di Qing naturally trusted the lion he had raised. As a companion who had lived with him for more than ten years, even though the lion could not speak and was just a wild beast, Di Qing had unwavering faith in the lion beneath him compared to his useless subordinates.

Di Qing gently patted the lion's neck, then bent down and approached it: "Have you discovered something? Take me to them."

The lion seemed to be very intelligent. After hearing Di Qing's words, it seemed to understand, and it flicked its tail, which struck the snow with a loud crack.

As the lion's tail swished across the snow, leaving trails of marks, it slowly strolled towards the suspicious snowdrift.

When Di Qing reached the bloody pit, he couldn't see anything by looking down at the lion's body. It was like a pot with a big belly and a small eye; if you looked through the eye opening, you naturally couldn't see what was inside.

Di Qing lowered his body and continued communicating with the lion: "Are you sure this is the place?"

The lion swung its tail even faster and stuck out its scarlet tongue to lick its fangs, clearly sensing the prey's reaction.

Having received the lion's reply, Di Qing did not hesitate. He flipped down and leaped directly into the snowdrift.

In an instant, the Third Young Master and Chen Sha, who had been hiding in the snowdrift, rushed out and, without giving any time to react, had already placed their long swords against Di Qing's neck.

To everyone's surprise, Di Qing remained calm and composed, neither annoyed nor impatient. He said, "So you were hiding here, waiting for me to come to you. Chu Jingxian, I truly admire you. You're a merchant, registered in the business world, yet you've managed to become a close confidant of the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince seems to trust you quite a bit, proving you are indeed capable and talented. Originally, I wanted to kill you today, and I had to. But now that you've put your sword to my neck, I'm not so keen on killing you anymore. How about you abandon your evil ways and work for me? I'll spare your life and treat you with the utmost respect, without any disrespect."

"Young master, why waste your breath on him? We already have a knife to his throat; taking his life is just a matter of a word! Young master, order your men to kill him today!"

Chen Sha spoke and looked quite reckless, as if he wanted to chop Di Qing in front of him with a single stroke, but was stopped in time by the Third Young Master:

"Stop. Do you think we can just kill this man as we please? Putting aside how many men he brought with him, what can we do about his enormous lion?"

Hearing the Third Young Master's words, Di Qing curled his lips into a confident smile: "Chu Jingxian, you're a smart man. How about we discuss terms? I could have had my darling crush you all to death, but I've thought about it. To survive in this environment, even being abandoned by your parents since childhood, and to become the Crown Prince's right-hand man, shows you're extremely resourceful, cunning, and talented. Such people are rare, and they're either enemies or allies. If they're enemies, then naturally we should seize every opportunity to eliminate them. Whatever the Crown Prince promised you, I can promise you now. Don't forget, the Emperor and the Crown Prince are still under our control. Killing them is just a matter of a thought for me. Once the Emperor dies, the Crown Prince dies, and all those so-called princes perish outside this Devil City, then the entire Song Kingdom will be mine alone. I won't even need to rebel; I'll be able to suppress all the other warlords."

Di Qing spoke to Chu Jingxian with great patience and sincerity, completely unlike how he had spoken to his subordinates earlier:

"Think about it: even if you fight me to the death, what will you gain? Not only do you think you can't defeat me, but even if you fight to the death, you have no chance of breaking through that crowd and finding a way to survive. But if you're willing to cooperate with me, it's a different story. Just a nod and a word from you, and you'll become my ally. If I ever ascend the throne, you'll be my prime minister. You'll not only be able to leave here safely, but you'll also gain countless riches, power, and status. I'll even find someone to heal your eyes. But if you disagree and remain stubborn, you'll die here. You may have grand ambitions and not care about your own life, but think about the guards and brothers beside you—they've risked their lives for you, risking their lives countless times. Can you bear to watch them lose their lives because of you? And if I'm not mistaken, there should be a little girl in that place, right?"

After saying that, Di Qing shifted his gaze to another place.

That was supposed to be a blind spot, and the loud noise of the sand dunes blocked it, so logically it shouldn't have been visible.

Di Qing's smile widened, becoming even more certain:

"This girl is being protected so well; it's clear she's had a significant impact on you, isn't she? Her face is so beautiful and refined, with a unique charm. Even in the entire Song Kingdom, you might not find many girls as pretty as her. She looks so young; it wouldn't matter if she were to die, or even if the guard next to you were to die, it wouldn't matter. But can you bear to see such a beautiful girl, such a lovely flower, perish here because of you? If she falls into my hands, do you think death awaits her? Even if I can protect her, there will be times when I can't. Those tall and brave men under my command are all in their prime, full of passion and energy. I can't guarantee that I can protect her at all times... So, the only one who can save her is you."

Di Qing's words plunged Qing He's heart into an icy abyss.

For women, death is never the most terrifying thing.

Just then, seeing that Chu Jingxian didn't agree immediately, Di Qing curled his lips: "Do you really think you can escape from my dozens of strong men with just you and these two barely clinging to life?!"

Di Qing's words were full of sarcasm.

Suddenly, a loud sound came from above the snowdrift:

"Those two are indeed no good, but now you dozens of strong men are all useless cowards who can't even kill a chicken."

After he finished speaking, the bodies of his two subordinates were thrown down from the height and landed right at Di Qing's feet.

Di Qing frowned immediately. After confirming that the two people on the ground were indeed his subordinates, his expression turned cold as he looked up at the people above.

Upon seeing the people standing next to Xuewozi, their expressions changed drastically. It wasn't just Di Qing, but also Qinghe.

The person standing next to that pool of blood was none other than His Highness the Crown Prince and several princes!

The Crown Prince and the other princes showed no signs of distress; instead, they each carried long swords at their waists and held in their hands the corpses of the men they had just seen.

Di Qing stared at the Crown Prince on the snowdrift for a moment, when Chen Sha, standing to the side, spoke with a cold laugh:

"You don't really think the young master and I are that stupid, that the two of us would be able to lure you in and trap you like a turtle in a jar? Don't we care about that giant beast you brought? Do you think the young master and I have been hiding in the snow for so many days? It's all because we were waiting for you to make the first move. Once you make your move, once you bring most of your main force here, then the Devil City will definitely withdraw some of its defenses. In that case, wouldn't it be a piece of cake for His Highness the Crown Prince and his men to break in and retake the Devil City? Once they've taken over the Devil City, dealing with you will be much easier, won't it? Even someone as slow-witted as me can understand this. I may be a bit slow, and I don't have all those tricks up my sleeves or any of those literary or military strategies, but at least I'm obedient. Besides, the young master is betting his and my lives, and he definitely wouldn't include Qinghe's name in the stakes. The reason the young master has kept Qinghe by the side is because he knows you have no chance. We've won this game!"

"It's your turn to surrender now."

Chu Jingxian uttered these words coldly from his thin lips.

In fact, anyone familiar with Chu Jingxian could detect a hint of murderous intent in his tone.

Qinghe was stunned into ecstasy, her mind a little fuzzy. She was stunned for a few moments after hearing what Chen Sha guard said before she could understand what he meant.

At this moment, Di Qing wore a cold and sinister smile. "You think you can defeat me just because you've controlled and eliminated my men? You seem to have forgotten what my greatest asset is."

As he spoke, Di Qing dodged Chen Sha and Chu Jingxian in a flash. The two swords that were pressed against his neck were about to whistle and summon lions.

But to everyone's surprise, neither Chu Jingxian nor His Highness the Crown Prince present made any attempt to stop Di Qing; they simply watched calmly as he made his next move.

Di Qing whistled for such a long time, and the sound was just like what Qing He had heard before, but no matter how long Di Qing whistled, there was no response, and the earth-shaking lion's roar was no more.

Not to mention Di Qing, even Qing He, upon seeing the unchanging expressions of the Third Young Master and His Highness the Crown Prince, already realized something.

Di Qing quickly realized that something was definitely wrong with the lion; otherwise, these people wouldn't be so calm and indifferent!

At this moment, His Highness the Crown Prince raised an eyebrow, merely chuckled with a hint of sarcasm, and remained silent.

It was Chen Sha who spoke first. Looking at Di Qing's expression, Chen Sha couldn't help but burst into laughter. He was a warrior, outspoken and straightforward: "You're clever in some ways, but you're also incredibly stupid. If your lion is alright, why didn't we hear a single roar when His Highness the Crown Prince was fighting with your subordinates? And if your lion is truly alright, how come His Highness the Crown Prince and the other princes are here? The closest thing to this snowdrift, besides you, is none other than your lion!"

His Highness the Crown Prince spoke up at the opportune moment: "Do you think you're invincible just because you have that lion? You think you can conquer the entire Song Kingdom with your small force and that lion? That's utterly delusional. The reason we set up this scheme and bought this time was to find a way to deal with your lion. Unfortunately, you're really unlucky; we actually found it. Later, finding the strange object that the lion feared took some more time, otherwise you would have been captured two days ago. Now it's my turn to say this: if you're willing to bow down to me, sincerely admit your mistakes, and genuinely repent, I might spare your life!"

The situation had been completely reversed. Di Qing, who was standing between Chu Jingxian and Chen Sha with knives held to his neck by the two men, showed a hint of anger but quickly regained his composure.

He chuckled, "You really think you can control my treasure with what you have??"