The House Of Bloody Lotus

The Fallen Prince

Lord Yi Yuanji rode horseback accompanied by lord Chua Chashin along with an elite unit of their own army. They were a few miles away from reaching Prince Sui Jungqi's encampment when they spotted a group of riders, far smaller than the fifty strong they have. The riders carried no banners, but Lord Chua and lord Yuanji had been on the road and had been on this war for far too long to trust their instinct.

The strange riders were not part of their army, they were sure of that. Based on the clothing the men wore alone, lord Chua Chanshin and lord Yi Yuanji could tell those were the fashion of the central kingdom, not the north, neither the south.

Lord Chua Chanshin waved his men down, pausing to stalk the coming riders when lord Yuanji broke off from the group without notice.

"Yuanji! Where are you going?" The southern lord called out to his lover out of alarm. It isn't like Yuanji to make a sudden unannounced move like that. This concerned lord Chua greatly and he musters there's something graver happening he's not aware of.

Lord Yi Yuanji made no awareness of his lover's voice. He either ignored lord Chua Chanshin's call or he's too drawn and preoccupied with his current thoughts.

Chanshin soon realized Yuanji was too hypnotized to yield to his call. Whatever he saw in those riders, they were bad enough for Yuanji to decide to come after them on his own. Chanshin kicked his horse into motion chasing after his lover when Yuanji kicked his own horse into a hastened trot.

Lord Chua Chanshin had no choice but to call his men to cover them.

All fifty strong answered and rose to the call of their lord, sending their horses galloping after Chua Chanshin.

Yi Yuanji kicked his horse faster, and soon, he was careening full throttle to the direction of the group of men in the opposite direction. He counted at least twenty of them, far smaller than the number he brought with him. Yuanji focused his fierce and bloodthirsty gaze to a single man.

He could not mistake the face of a man he learned to loathe the most in his life. The man who killed his best friend, Changi Jingam. Yuanji could still recall that day, the bright sunny day of Jingam's wedding as the memory of his best friend's severed head fell rolling on the ground played before his eyes.

He swore then, on that day, he would kill fourth prince Jungqi with his own hands if he ever made it through alive. Yuanji had thought of many ways to do it. In those days when he was alone captive in the dusky and smelly dungeon, he thought of nothing but ways to kill the Sui prince.

Fourth prince Sui Jungqi never thought his luck will run out this day. Not long ago he faced the most nightmarish woman he ever faced in the battlefield. Not once he came across someone as daunting, as vexing and so unreal.

Stories of the southern kingdom of Wang spread across the nation, he knew about the clan of God's warriors but never had first hand with the kind of foes and battles they fought. They were a different kind of kingdom from the rest of the four kingdoms of the nation. The southern kingdom of Wang was strange and a recluse far away and closed off to the rest of the world. Now he understood why.

Fourth prince Jungji never thought he would come across another member of the house of Yi in such a very short time. His sharp eyes snared the man charging at him.

He knew exactly who it is, and he could not mistake the man he knew he should have killed a long time ago before he had a chance to create so much trouble. A predatory grin played on his lips as he drew his sword, waiting for the sweet moment to clash sword with Yi Yuanji.

The man must be a real glutton for punishment if he thinks he could take on fourth prince Jungqi on his own on one on one combat.

Lord Yi Yuanji held his sword steady, he knew the chances of him winning against a prince who leads a great number of Sui's army would be slim. Prince Jungqi is a very strong and dangerous man, especially in the battlefield. Yuanji experienced that when he fell under prince Jungqi's brutal hands as he got beaten near to death only a year ago. It took him a very long time to recover from his injuries, but right now, none of that mattered, because right now, he felt invincible. His lover was behind him to give him strength and the army behind him was far stronger and far greater in number than the prince's very few.

Yuanji was the first to strike his sword as he broke through the formation of the group of men. Soon, a thick dust cloud formed from the ground and rose veiling the chaos. The fighting lasted no more than twenty minutes. It was a short but fierce, leaving severed bodies of both men and horses on the ground, polluting the soil with blood.

The only surviving member of the Sui army was fourth prince Jungqi. He kneeled to the ground bloodied and cut, his own blood trickled from his head. He laughed with deranged lunatic malice as he came to understand he had fallen captive to the hands of his enemies. Not only that, every man he brought with him was now dead.

It was lord Chua who ultimately made him dropped his sword, the prince knew he could've killed Yi Yuanji if only the other man hadn't got in between and took him on with each blow stronger and faster than his own.

His sinister laughter fanned menacingly, he charged for Yi Yuanji who backed away from his reach. "I should've killed you, you son of a bitch! You should have been dead a long time ago!"