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Chapter 2: Yan Chuan

"Anyone who stands in my way dies! Kill, kill, kill!"

Outside the bamboo hut, the battle raged with ear-splitting shouts. Blood sprayed into the air as bodies littered the muddy ground. The silver-armored soldiers suffered heavy casualties but still defended the hut with grim determination.

Huo Guang and the black-armored leader fought with bloodshot eyes, locked in a vicious duel, their bodies battered and bloodied. Nearby, the servants trembled in fear, and a middle-aged eunuch wore a look of despair.

Suddenly, a single ray of sunlight pierced through the sky, dispelling the darkness. It was the first sign of dawn, and with it, a fleeting moment of hope.

Creak!

The bamboo door swung open.

The eunuch snapped his head around. A pale-faced young man in a yellow robe emerged, his weak appearance hiding any hint of strength.

"Your Highness! Please, hide quickly! Don\'t let the enemy spot you!" the eunuch shouted in panic.

The boy gave him a cold glance but said nothing, continuing to watch the blood-soaked battlefield.

"There! That bastard\'s out! Kill him!" one of the black-armored soldiers shouted, eyes lighting up.

The shout drew everyone\'s attention.

"Your Highness! Run!" a silver-armored soldier cried.

The black-armored soldiers grew even more ferocious, surging forward like a tidal wave.

"Your Highness, let me escort you out of here!" the eunuch pleaded desperately, rushing to the boy\'s side. "This place is surrounded by a formation set up by the Grand Protector of Zheng! If we can break through it, the Royal Guard is waiting for us outside!"

Despite the eunuch\'s frantic pleas, the boy showed no signs of fear. His eyes scanned the battlefield, cold and distant, calculating the situation.

"A formation?" the boy muttered softly.

"Your Highness, if we don\'t leave now, it\'ll be too late!" The eunuch\'s voice cracked with urgency.

But the boy shook his head, turning his gaze toward a bamboo forest nearby. His eyes narrowed.

Deep in the forest, two men stood hidden.

One was dressed in fine clothes, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction as he watched the chaos unfold. Beside him was an old man in a tattered Daoist robe, his face twisted with malevolence.

The Daoist elder stood in front of a small flag, his hands glowing faintly yellow as he channeled energy into the flag. His face was filled with smug satisfaction.

"Zhao Tiande, without you, we\'d never have found this place. The Emperor of Yan would never believe that it\'s your Zhao family trying to kill this boy," the Daoist said with a wicked grin.

"The Emperor?" Zhao Tiande sneered. "He\'d be glad to see this bastard dead. His identity is too dangerous. His parents have long been dead, and there\'s no one to protect him."

The Daoist chuckled darkly. "Given his strange heritage, if I were the Emperor, I\'d kill him too. Still, this kid\'s been living here for seven years. The Emperor had no excuse to strike. Seems like your Zhao family got impatient first."

Zhao Tiande smirked. "Once my family controls Yan, you\'ll get what you were promised. Sixteen cities in the southern region, not an inch less."

The Daoist nodded in satisfaction. "With you as the eldest son of the Zhao family, I trust your word."

For the Daoist, it didn\'t matter whether Zhao Tiande kept his promises. All that mattered was that the chaos in the Yan kingdom continued to spread.

"The bastard\'s out," Zhao Tiande said, his eyes narrowing.

The Daoist glanced toward the bamboo hut, a sneer on his lips. "So what? He\'s as good as dead. My formation ensures the Royal Guard won\'t even know what\'s happening here."

"No... he\'s looking at us!" Zhao Tiande\'s face twisted in alarm.

"Impossible. He\'s just a mortal boy. How could he see through my formation?" the Daoist scoffed.

But no sooner had the words left his mouth than he felt a chill. A cold sweat broke out across his skin as he realized he was being watched—by the boy. His eyes widened in disbelief as their gazes locked.

The boy\'s eyes were filled with icy malice, piercing through the formation with ease.

The Daoist elder suddenly felt as though a mountain was bearing down on him. His heart pounded in terror.

"What kind of eyes are those?" he gasped.

The boy\'s stare was like a blade, sharp and deadly. In that moment, an overwhelming sense of doom gripped the Daoist elder.

"Roar!"

In a daze, the Daoist heard the deafening sound of a dragon\'s roar. It was so powerful that his very soul trembled, his mind spinning into confusion. In his daze, he imagined a golden dragon, its massive form tearing through the sky, its eyes blazing with fury as it charged toward him.

The Daoist\'s body froze in terror, unable to move as the dragon\'s crushing presence closed in on him.

In the next moment, the dragon struck, and his vision went dark.

"Master! What\'s wrong?" Zhao Tiande shouted, his voice filled with panic.

The Daoist elder was already dead, his soul torn apart by the boy\'s gaze. The formation collapsed instantly, the mist around the bamboo forest dissipating into nothing.

At the door of the bamboo hut, the boy staggered slightly, his face growing paler.

"This body is still too weak," he murmured.

"Your Highness! We must go!" the eunuch cried, eyes wide with fear.

The boy shook his head. The danger was gone.

"Enemy attack! To the bamboo hut, now! Protect His Highness!" came the shouts of soldiers from the distance.

Outside the hut, the black-armored soldiers began to panic. Though they had held the advantage moments before, the sudden appearance of the Royal Guard changed everything.

"Retreat!" one of the black-armored soldiers cried.

"Our reinforcements have arrived!" a silver-armored soldier yelled in joy.

"We\'re saved!" The eunuch and the servants collapsed in relief.

The boy remained calm, despite his exhaustion. His cold eyes surveyed the battlefield as the Royal Guard drew closer. Some of the black-armored soldiers hesitated, their courage faltering as they prepared to flee.

But the black-armored commander roared, "We\'re surrounded! No one can escape now! Our only chance is to capture the boy! Either we die, or we bring him down!"

With a fierce cry, the remaining black-armored soldiers threw themselves toward the boy with renewed desperation.

"Protect His Highness at all costs!" Huo Guang shouted, raising his spear.

The silver-armored soldiers responded with a thunderous roar.

The final battle erupted in a storm of blades and blood. The clash of weapons filled the air as men fell, their bodies mangled and torn.

The eunuch glanced nervously at the boy. Despite the carnage, the boy\'s expression remained cold and detached, unfazed even as blood and viscera splattered around him.

Suddenly, the black-armored commander broke free from the melee, his right arm pierced by Huo Guang\'s spear, but he pressed forward, a knife in his left hand, aiming for the boy.

With a savage grin, the commander swung his blade down, intending to sever the boy\'s arm.

"Your Highness!" the eunuch screamed.

But the boy didn\'t flinch. Instead, he took a step forward, directly into the path of the blade.

It was a move that defied instinct—a step that required more than courage. It demanded unshakable confidence.

The commander\'s blade missed by a hair\'s breadth.

How could that be possible? the commander thought, eyes wide in disbelief. He was a seasoned fighter, yet this frail boy had dodged him with ease.

The boy\'s cold eyes locked onto the commander\'s. The commander felt a sudden wave of dread wash over him, as if he were already dead.

The boy\'s right hand shot forward, fingers glowing with a faint golden light, and in an instant, they plunged into the commander\'s throat.

Blood spurted from the wound, spraying across the boy\'s hand. The commander\'s body stiffened, his eyes bulging in shock.

With a single, casual movement, the boy tore out the man\'s throat.

The battlefield fell silent as the black-armored soldiers watched in horror. This boy was no ordinary target.

"Run! Get out of here!" one of them shouted, and the remaining soldiers broke into a frenzied retreat.

"Release the arrows!"

In the distance, the soldiers of the Imperial Guard shouted their command.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

...

A volley of arrows shot forth, many striking the Black Armor troops. However, most were aimed at their feet, ensuring that the arrows did not deal fatal blows.

In an instant, nearly a thousand soldiers had rushed forward, subduing the fleeing or injured Black Armor soldiers with swift, thunderous precision.

"We\'ve arrived too late to protect you, Your Highness. Please, punish us!" After capturing the Black Armor soldiers, the soldiers quickly bowed to seek forgiveness.

"Huo Guang failed to protect Your Highness. Please, punish me!" Huo Guang, too, dropped to one knee without hesitation.

In that moment, apart from the soldiers still chasing and guarding the Black Armor troops, everyone outside the bamboo pavilion knelt on one knee, begging for forgiveness.

"Protect me?" The young man\'s eyes narrowed.

Protect me? That term was reserved for emperors. He was merely a prince in this life, so why use such language?

"Your Highness, have you forgotten again?" a middle-aged eunuch suddenly interjected.

"Oh?" The young man looked at the eunuch.

"Indeed, it\'s the ninth day of the ninth month again. Your Highness, this old servant was ordered to take care of you, and this is the seventh year. Every ninth day of the ninth month, you forget everything from the past. It\'s my duty to remind you of it all," the eunuch explained, bowing respectfully.

Forget everything once a year on the ninth day of the ninth month? The young man\'s expression shifted as realization dawned on him. The remnants of his previous life\'s will, stored in his Tianmen Acupoint, surged on this day, overpowering his present self. His former will was far stronger than his current one, and each yearly impact caused significant memory loss in his present life. Now, the memories of his current life had been completely scattered.

"Your Highness, your name is Yan Chuan," the eunuch said with deference.

"Yan Chuan?" The young man muttered the name to himself.

After a brief silence, he nodded. "If that\'s the case, from now on, I will be Yan Chuan." He accepted the name of his current life.

"Your Highness, you are the most esteemed prince of the Great Yan Empire, titled \'Equal of the Emperor,\' with a rank on par with His Majesty himself," the eunuch stated solemnly.

"Equal of the Emperor?" Yan Chuan\'s brow furrowed.

As an emperor in his past life, Yan Chuan knew that there could only be one ruler in the heavens and the earth. No one could share the emperor\'s rank or dignity. The very concept of someone being titled \'Equal of the Emperor\' was preposterous. How could such a title even exist?