ITVCFITB CHAPTER 107

Chapter 107 – Lucky Break

Jiming Mountain named because its silhouette looks like a crowing rooster, sat with a ring of “peasants” at its foot. Only, these peasants breathed like soldiers and stood like soldiers. They were soldiers.

This was Prince Two’s third day here.

After slipping across Great Xia’s border, his elite force had split into five groups and threaded different goat paths toward Jiming Mountain, where they were to reunite within three days. By the third day, only three groups had arrived. Two were still missing.

“Delays?” his strategist ventured.

Prince Two’s right eyelid wouldn’t stop twitching. “We chose backwoods paths to avoid people, not the official roads. Even if they met trouble, those two captains can fight through small bands.”

“Could Great Xia have found them?”

He sent another scouting party. Near the Hour of the Rooster, the previous scouts staggered back, hauling a dozen wounded.

A thousand-household officer from the fourth detachment reported, voice breaking. “Your Highness, we were ambushed in the reed marsh. They used fire. Half our men burned inside; the rest burst out only to be cut down on the bank, clean strokes, no chance to answer back. Too cruel.”

“Who?” Prince Two pressed.

“All masked, dressed as commoners but uniform in color, drilled like troops. Likely local garrison.” He dissolved into tears.

Conclusion: the fourth detachment was gone. The fifth, silent. Someone had set the perfect trap. Prince Two had been too confident: disguises wouldn’t blind a country that still had fangs. Was this Li Mingjin’s hand?

By dusk, still no word from the fifth. But a streak of red appeared outside the camp.

Shen Mingyun, in full crimson.

He had left the capital in disguise and promptly decided roughspun didn’t suit him; beyond the city, who would recognize him? So he’d changed back, bright, furious red.

For a heartbeat, Prince Two thought the figure on horseback looked… ethereal. Then Shen opened his mouth.

“Well, well, constipated much?”

…Fantasy over.

“You came. The Fourth isn’t with you?” Prince Two asked, scanning the rear.

“Don’t look so disappointed.” Shen yanked his reins and curled his lip. He’d once called this man a friend, this man who slept with his husband.

Prince Two raised two palms in peace. “Come down. We’ll talk inside.”

Shen slid down, struck a pose…and then remembered something very important: he hadn’t gotten to beat this homewrecker yet.

He cracked his whip. “Prince Two, you homewrecking piece of trash! Today I’ll lash you to death!”

Prince Two bolted. Of course he did. Shen chased him around camp until he was wheezing, brandishing the whip up at a branch where Prince Two had vaulted.

“Get! Down!”

Prince Two, still perched: “Let’s talk. Put the whip down. I’ll come down.”

“You shameless side-piece! Try marrying a spouse and letting other men warm their bed every night!”

Prince Two chose not to answer that. “How did you even find me?”

Shen’s focus, famously fragile, wobbled. He plopped cross-legged to catch his breath. “I know what I want to know.”

“At least tell me why you’re here.”

“If the Fourth hadn’t asked, do you think I want to see you?” He certainly wasn’t going to explain the coercive “main quest” in his skull.

They ate; Shen washed up. Without the cursing and the whip, he was almost palatable. Almost.

“What’s your situation? Say it; I’ll see what I can do.”

Prince Two laid it out: two detachments missing, scouts gone, the current spot likely exposed. They’d move at first light. Shen nodded. “I can’t conjure your elites back, but I can help you vanish.”

Instant improvement in Prince Two’s mood. If two groups had been netted, his own would be next. Luck, no, time, was running out.

Later, Shen checked with the system. “Those tools, how long? Can they really hide an entire force?”

“Three days. Enough to erase the trail. Hide first. Emerge once the Fourth ascends.”

“He will ascend. Why not just withdraw them from Xia now?”

“No. Follow the task steps. Deviations incur penalties.”

Trash system. He had no way to pry it out of his soul.

At dawn, Prince Two marched the remaining elites toward their next hide. Shen slipped a Barrier Card over them, three days of absolute protection within the radius. Step outside, and all bets were off.

They tucked the men into a bamboo sea beneath Matou Ridge. For now, they were ghosts.

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Not far behind, Li Mingjin’s scouts watched the army vanish overnight. No wheel ruts. No footprints. Nothing.

Mingjin grimaced. “So Shen Mingyun came to help them. What trick is that?”

Luo Shuyu, jiggling a rattle for their son, stayed calm. “Even sorcery has a timer. Men need to eat and drink; a few thousand mouths leave traces. Track their supply shadows. His toys won’t last.”

“Are you sure his tricks expire?”

“It’s a feeling and common sense. He’s no formation master. Trust me?”

“Always.” The rattle went up and down; Mingjin’s temper went up and out. Trust your spouse, win the realm, as the proverb (he just invented) went.

He didn’t have to wait long. Heaven or luck, helped.

Exactly on the third day, the cover winked out. From Chen Rong’s base came word: a pair of “hunters” slipped down the mountain and spotted a mass cooking fire at the foot.

Sometimes the quarry delivers itself.

Too easy.

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Author’s Note

We’re in the closing arc now, might wrap by September, maybe sooner!

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