Chapter Twelve You're Not Worthy of Being a Rogue

  Qīng Chén remembered a sentence that said if you don't trample on others, how will they look up to you and acknowledge your strength?

  Today, he didn't want to be a strong man, as long as Zhao Cheng could swallow his pride and keep quiet once, he wouldn't pursue the crime of Zhao Xianglin's poor teaching. After all, competing with Zhao Xianglin's father and son in Ningzhou wasn't his task, his goal was to return to Junlin City and prepare for next year's campus competition. But now, seeing Zhao Cheng dare to use public power for personal gain, treating the Ningzhou army like his own private guard, and even daring to fabricate crimes, wanting to harm people's lives, he felt a bit angry, his piercing gaze shooting towards the young school lieutenant's face.

  The young county lieutenant had never seen such a sharp gaze as Ji Qingchen's, like the eyes of a wild wolf on the grasslands. He felt a sudden chill run down his spine and weakened by three points in terms of momentum. However, he quickly regained his composure because he thought of his powerful backer, the son of the Ningzhou City Governor. At this moment, he felt ashamed and indignant that he had been intimidated by the white-clad young master in front of him for a moment, and angrily shouted, "Dare to commit murder openly in Ningzhou City, take them all down!"

  At his command, the elite soldiers pounced on Ji Qingchen and the four others like wolves and tigers.

  "Halt!" Guo Lin thundered, stepping forward to block the lead soldier's path. "Which battalion of the Ningzhou army are you from? Who is your general? And who gave you the audacity to sneak out of camp and cause trouble at Tianxu Residence?"

  Guo Lin, as a Lang of the Feathered Forest, was the hundred-man commander of the Feathered Forest Cavalry and also a seasoned veteran who had been through many bloody battles. In an instant, he released the killing aura from his body and let out a loud roar, causing the famous soldiers to suddenly feel a wave of killing aura rushing towards them, their bodies trembling with fear, involuntarily stopping in their tracks.

  "Hmph! You think you're worthy of knowing our general's great name? Haha, aren't you just dreaming?! The young lieutenant cast a disdainful glance at Guo Lin, laughing uncontrollably, and then his eyes flashed with a cold light as he bellowed loudly, "What are you all still standing around for? Take them all away!"

  Name Jia saw that his superior had already gotten angry, even if he clearly felt the fierce killing intent on Guo Lin's body in front of him, he didn't care about his own life and death, and rushed towards Ji Qingchen and Gu Qi, Jiang Rou.

  "Hold on!" Just as Guo Lin was about to make his move, Ji Qingchen suddenly shouted. ?? Emperor's Ambition 12

  He slowly stood up, walked calmly to the young lieutenant and asked in a warm tone, "I won't ask which battalion of Ningzhou Army you belong to, nor will I ask who your general is. All I want to know is, who ordered you to come to Tianzuiju to capture people?"

  The young school lieutenant took a step back involuntarily, not daring to look directly at Ji Qingchen's gaze, and said in a low voice, "It is Liu Gongzi of the Taishou Fu."

  The icy gaze that Ji Qingchen had shot at the young lieutenant earlier was like a knife, piercing and painful. Now, this calm and composed demeanor made the young lieutenant feel an aura of death. He had enlisted at sixteen and spent ten years working his way up to lieutenant through military merit, having been in no less than ten battles and crawling out from piles of dead bodies. Yet he had never felt as close to death as he did now.

  The young lieutenant's sudden bowing of his head left the soldiers around him bewildered, and they couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the general who was just proudly strutting about. They could only shift their puzzled gaze to him, waiting for his orders. However, at this moment, the young lieutenant had already been intimidated by Ji Qingchen's aura, which was almost as if he were on the verge of death, and didn't have the courage to give any orders. For a brief moment, an awkward silence fell over the grand hall on the second floor, and the atmosphere suddenly became somewhat chilly.

  "Yes, they were sent by me to capture you at the Tianxilei residence. But what's the point of asking this? If I, Zhao Cheng, want someone dead, I won't let them leave Ningzhou City alive." Just then, the sound of voices from downstairs suddenly broke the silence on the second floor. As soon as the words fell, the soldiers surrounding Ji Qingchen on the second floor automatically made way for a path. Zhao Cheng, who was carried out of Tianxilei after being injured by Guo Lin earlier, was now lifted onto the second floor by four soldiers using a chair.

  Just now, Ji Qingchen told Guo Lin to punish Zhao Cheng slightly, and Guo Lin indeed didn't use his full strength. He only broke one of Zhao Cheng's right arms and one of his left legs. So now, after simple bandaging, Zhao Cheng looks extremely comical. His right hand and left leg are fixed with wooden boards and wrapped in white cloth, unable to stretch out, and can only stiffly hold up. Now he is leaning against the chair at an angle, looking exactly like a withered old tree trunk that has lost its leaves.

  Zhao Cheng's eyes had already spewed out flames of indignation when he saw Ji Qingchen and Guo Lin. He didn't give Ji Qingchen a chance to speak, and in a shrill voice, he rebuked Zheng Fang, who was standing aside, "Zheng Fang, what the hell are you still stunned for? It's these two who injured our young master, why haven't you given the order to kill them yet?"

  Seeing the hesitation in Zheng Fang's eyes, he added, "They dare to coerce the young master in Tianxu Residence, they must be traitors who have escaped from the country. Killing them is eliminating harm for the country, what are you afraid of? Besides, when the officials ask later, won't there still be the young master?"

  Young County Lieutenant Zheng Fang listened to Zhao Cheng's words and thought that Zhao Cheng was the son of the governor, so he didn't dare disobey Zhao Cheng's orders. He took a deep breath, mustered up his courage, and his hand quietly reached for the dagger at his waist. "Clang!" The sound echoed as he drew out the dagger from its sheath. However, just as Zheng Fang's dagger was halfway out of its scabbard, a dark shadow flashed by, followed by a soft "thud". Ji Qingchen's foot lightly kicked up, and with a gentle touch on the hilt of Zheng Fang's dagger, he sent it back into its scabbard. At the same time, using this opportunity, his body sprang high into the air, and with a fierce kick, he struck Zheng Fang's chest.

  Zheng Fang's sword-drawing action was stopped, and his heart had already been in a state of panic. Ji Qingchen's movement was very fast, facing Ji Qingchen's fierce attack, he didn't have time to dodge, only hearing the sound of "peng", his body involuntarily flew backward, hitting an armored soldier before heavily smashing onto the floor.

  Ji Qingchen settled Zheng Fang with just one move, and this sudden battle left the surrounding armored soldiers unresponsive. But at this time, Guo Yun had already taken the initiative to charge forward into the surrounding armored soldiers who were still in a daze.

  Ji Qingchen learned from the military god Li Qingyi, mastering the essence of hand-to-hand combat on the battlefield with speed, ferocity, and accuracy as the main focus, supplemented by simplicity, power, and practicality. His fist path was direct, and his attack was swift and fierce. As a Lang of the Feathered Forest, Guo Lin was one of the thirty million elite soldiers selected from the Yan army, and his hand-to-hand combat skills were naturally exceptional. The two joined forces, and for a moment, they seemed invincible, quickly taking down all thirty armored soldiers who had rushed up to the second floor in just an instant.

  "Bang——" When Ji Qingchen's fierce punch knocked the last armored warrior to the ground, only Zhao Cheng lying on a chair and four armored warriors standing still on the spacious second floor remained. Compared to the people groaning in pain on the ground, they seemed a bit out of place.

  "Quickly! Quickly!" Zhao Cheng had never thought that Ji Qingchen and Guo Yun's courage was so great, daring to attack the Ningzhou army; nor did he think that the two would be so formidable, thirty armored soldiers were no match for them. Seeing the situation was not good, he wanted to leave, but it was already too late, Ji Qingchen had already stepped forward and blocked his way.

  "You, you want to do what? I'll tell you, my father is the governor of Ningzhou City. You, if you dare to kill me, he will definitely not let you go." Zhao Cheng had already been scared into incoherence, his eyes full of pleading.?? Emperor's Ambition 12

  "Are you talking about Zhao Xianglin?" Ji Qingchen said disdainfully, "I suppose he's too afraid to say a word now that he sees me beating you!"

  "You——" Suddenly, upon hearing Ji Qingchen's words, Zhao Cheng seemed to have thought of something and understood the identity of the white-clothed young master in front of him. His face suddenly turned deathly pale, his body slumping into the chair like mud, trembling lightly as he spoke in a sorrowful tone, "Just now, it was Zhao Cheng's fault for being blind to your presence, I implore you, Ninth Young Master, please magnanimously pardon me this once!"

  Ji Qingchen ignored Zhao Cheng's plea and continued to ask, "I heard that your Ningzhou City is a tyrant?"

  "Your Highness, Zhao Cheng is blind and ignorant. He has been rude to you just now, please spare his dog's life this once!" Zhao Cheng continued to beg in a crying tone, only realizing now how foolish his previous actions were, and he regretted it so much that he wished he was dead.

  Facing Zhao Cheng's pitiful begging like a dog, Ji Qingchen felt extremely disgusted. He gave Zhao Cheng a cold and stern look, and instantly, Zhao Cheng was frightened into stopping his pleading.

  "Qīng Chén asked word by word, 'Do you know what another meaning of Níngzhōu Yī Bà is?'"

  "Returning to Your Highness, I, Zhao Cheng, don't know!" Zhao Cheng stuttered in response.

  "Hooligan!"

  "......" Zhao Cheng's body trembled and his face turned deathly pale.

  "I don't want to do anything to you, this is Zhao Xianglin's job. But I want to say one thing to you, with the kind of person you are now, aren't you ashamed to be a hoodlum? You're simply embarrassing the hoodlums." Ji Qingchen said coldly, then his hand pointed to the northwest direction on the second floor and asked, "Do you know what's over there?"

  "The wall——" Zhao Cheng followed Ji Qingchen's pointing finger and looked at the northwest wall face, responding in a low voice.

  "What——?"

  "It's leaving the country, it's going to the capital." Zhao immediately changed his words.

  "Right, you're still very clever. It's just that you've left the country and are now in the capital city of Xijing. What I want to tell you is, after you recover from your injuries, go to Xijing City. You don't want to be a villain or a rogue, do you? Then go to Xijing City and do it." Ji Qingchen said no more, ignoring Zhao Cheng who was still in a daze, but instead swept his gaze over the thirty armored soldiers lying on the ground and the suffering Zheng Fang not far away. He sternly rebuked them, "You are soldiers of Great Yan, yet you assist the tyrant and oppress the people of Great Yan. Do you know the crimes you have committed? But I don't want to see you die in the great prison of Ningzhou City, so I'll give you one chance. I hope you can die like a man, like a man of Great Yan, on the battlefield."

  "Thank you, Your Highness!" Zheng Fang and thirty armored soldiers had already understood Ji Qingchen's identity, and could only quietly take orders.

  "What are you waiting for? Get out of here!" Guo Yun growled again.

  Thirty wounded guards supported each other as they hastily left Tianxu Residence with Guo Lian and a frightened Zhao Cheng.

  Suddenly, the second floor became much quieter.

  At this time, Ji Qingchen turned around and very respectfully said to Gu Qi, "Just now being disturbed by these petty people from our quiet conversation with the master, it was not me, I am Qingchen. I would like to invite the master to the inn for a chat, and I hope the master will not decline."

  At this time, Gu Qi's wine had sobered up half, and he was much clearer-headed. Earlier, he didn't know Ji Qingchen's identity, so he made a heavy promise because of his intoxication. Now that he was sober and knew Ji Qingchen's identity, and hearing her invitation, he hesitated a bit.

  Ji Qingchen seemed to have guessed what was on Gu Qi's mind, and again bowed deeply.

  Gu Qi saw Jiucheng again perform such a grand courtesy and didn't dare accept it. He immediately stepped forward two steps to help up Jiqingchen.

  At the same moment, Gu Qi quietly gazed at Jie Xian who was treating him with courtesy as if he were a national scholar. A strange palpitation suddenly rose in his heart. Because just now when Ji Qingchen was fighting with the armored soldier, his performance was like that of a bloodthirsty ferocious wolf, cruel and ruthless. But facing Gu Qi, Jie Xian immediately showed a polite demeanor.

  At this moment, the demeanor of the two people made Da Yan's crazy chess player Gu Qi also curious. He wanted to know what kind of strange encounter or what kind of teacher could teach a prince like Jiǔ Dì Xià who was not yet twenty years old and already had the appearance of a heroic hawk.

  So when Ji Qingchen once again respectfully invited him, Gu Qi no longer declined. "Since it's the Ninth Prince who has invited me, how could I dare not obey?"

  "Please!" Xi Qingchen saw Gu Qi nod in agreement and was overjoyed. He laughed loudly as he went forward, pulling Gu Qi down the stairs to the second floor.

  Guo Lin glanced at Jiang Rou beside him and followed closely behind him down the stairs.

  Jiang Rou was secretly delighted when she heard that Ji Qingchen was the ninth prince of Da Yan, but when she found out that the Ninth Highness had left without even giving her a glance, she felt very disappointed. However, after hesitating for a moment, she tightly followed Guo Lin down to the second floor.