Chapter 598: Someone

Tuan Tuan had just about to whisper when a voice rang out loudly: "I yield!"

Everyone was startled.

The Great Prince shouted: "Father King!"

All the men in black knelt together, shouting: "Great Prince!"

Duo Shi's body went limp, collapsing to the ground.

Gu Li Han sheathed his sword and walked to Wei Chi Guang's side.

"But," Bai Buluo raised his hand and pointed at those women and children, "you must release these people."

His gaze was gentle as he looked at his three young sons and their mother: "You may not trouble my women and children either."

"Exile them to a distant place and forbid them from setting foot in Kucha even a single step."

The crowd fell silent.

A moment later, Wei Chi Guang burst into a hearty, unrestrained laugh:

"Hahaha…! Bai Buluo, your day has come too!"

He strode onto the carriage, and Gu Li Han followed closely behind, standing beside the carriage.

Wei Chi Guang stood before Bai Buluo, his gaze falling on the jade crown atop Bai Buluo's head, the symbol of Kucha's royal authority.

The jade crown was entirely snow‑white, its apex set with a blood‑red gem the size of a pigeon's egg, shimmering with a warm luster in the sunlight.

Wei Chi Guang's eyes gleamed greedily: "If that's the case, why don't you quickly take off this jade crown that only the Great King of Kucha may wear and place it on the Second Prince yourself?"

Bai Buluo did not move a muscle.

Wei Chi Guang's smile grew even brighter: "What's wrong? Reluctant?"

Bai Buluo slowly raised his hand, his two fingers gripping the straps on either side of the jade crown, and pulled hard.

The jade crown fell with a sound.

He cradled the crown, stared at it quietly for a moment, then tossed it, landing it at the Second Prince's feet.

Tuan Tuan whispered: "Third Brother, the Great King Turtle is a good man; I'll save him and those children!"

"Good!" Xiao Ningxun said at breakneck speed, "Tuan Tuan, first rescue those women and children, then summon Xiao Dandan!"

"When the hostages are freed, Xiao Er, sprinkle the bewildering drug that Old Valley Master gave you onto those guards' heads!"

"Lu Qi and the rest of you, get onto the carriage and knock the Dagger from Jade Concubine and the Second Prince!"

"Yes!"

Tuan Tuan whispered: "Make the bad ones beside those aunties and children fall! No one can catch them!"

After speaking, she relaxed her small hand, a faint light flickered, and the fruit core vanished.

The next instant.

The guards watching the women and children collapsed simultaneously.

"What's happening? Why can't I move?"

"Me too!"

The women and children bolted away.

Gu Li Han shouted: "Grab them!"

But every guard who tried to sprint after them went wild, kicking their legs in place, each exerting all their strength yet unable to take a single step forward.

"I can't get out!"

"Heaven! What kind of demonic spell is this?"

Tuan Tuan cupped both small hands around her mouth, strained, and shouted: "Xiao Dandan! Come quickly! Xiao Dandan!"

Xiao Er pulled a paper packet from his chest, pointed his toe, and rose into the air like a great bird.

He swooped over the heads of those leg‑kicking guards, tore open the paper packet and gave it a gusty shake.

Fine powder scattered and fell.

The guards didn't have time to look up; one after another they collapsed, as if asleep.

At the same moment.

Lu Qi, with several guards, had already slipped silently to the royal carriage and surged upward!

Wei Chi Guang cried in surprise: "You still have reinforcements?"

Bai Buluo stared at these completely unfamiliar faces: "…"

Where did these people come from? They're not my men!

Wei Chi Guang moved with lightning speed, leaping down from the carriage.

Gu Li Han grabbed his arm, and the two rolled and crawled away toward the distance.

Lu Qi kicked Jade Concubine in the lower back, sending her straight off the carriage; the Dagger strapped to Bai Buluo's neck clanged to the ground.

"Next!" he flipped the side blade into Bai Buluo's hand.

At the same time, a guard's fist struck the back of the Second Prince's chest fiercely.

"Ah—!"

The Second Prince let out a wail, his face down as he fell onto the carriage.

The Great Prince bent down and picked up the Dagger that had just been strapped to his own neck.

The situation reversed in an instant.

Things happened too quickly.

The pedestrians lining the street were stunned, unsure whether to cheer or keep hiding.

Tuan Tuan clapped her small hands, laughing with deep dimples: "We saved King Turtle!"

Kang An stared fixedly at the direction Gu Li Han fled, jaw clenched: "He ran."

Xiao Ningxun patted his back: "You can't escape, don't worry, Bai Buluo won't let him off."

Bai Buluo looked at Lu Qi and Xiao Er: "Who are you two?"

Xiao Er clasped his fists and said: "We are from..."

Before he could finish speaking, "dong, dong, dong..."

The sound of horse hooves came from far to near, neat as if made by a single person.

Bai Buluo cocked his ear to listen, frowned: "Heavenly Bow Camp?"

As his words fell, over a hundred archers galloped madly on horseback.

They lightly tapped their horsebacks, leapt up, and one after another jumped onto the roofs lining the street.

Bows drawn to full, arrowheads all pointed straight at Bai Buluo's carriage.

Yuchi Guang and Guli Han each mounted a horse and rode out.

Guli Han snorted coldly: "I said it, after being king for so many years, he must have a backup plan."

Yuchi Guang shouted: "Bai Buluo! Hand over the Second Prince! Otherwise, let you be pierced by ten thousand arrows!"

Xiao Ningxun and Xiao Ningyuan exchanged a glance, both feeling a sinking in their hearts.

The arrangements were really thorough.

Tuan Tuan hummed, his little hand just reaching into the embroidered pouch.

"Dong——!"

"Dong——!"

"Dong——!"

From the direction of the city gate came three deep, muffled booms, each louder than the last.

This time, the commoners reacted swiftly:

"Someone's attacking the city!"

"Run fast!"

Screams and footsteps mingled into a chaos, the crowd surging toward the inner city like a receding tide.

Yuchi Guang's face changed: "Bai Buluo! Where did you get those troops from?"

Bai Buluo: "..."

"How would I know! Could it be that enemies have invaded?"

He stared at the city gate, his eyes complex.

"Boom——!"

A tremendous, earth-shaking boom.

The heavy city gate, like an eggshell struck by a giant hammer, shattered with a boom!

Wood chips, iron sheets, and fragments of the door bolt scattered, striking the surrounding roofs with crackling sounds.

Amid the smoke and dust, a huge figure stepped onto the broken city gate, walking in step by step.

Everyone lifted their heads in unison.

Then, they all froze in place.

The archers on the roofs gaped, forgetting to keep their bowstrings taut.

Yuchi Guang's mouth hung open, and Guli Han's cold smile froze completely.

All that could be seen was a three-zhang-tall giant standing at the city gate.

Around his waist was wrapped thick felt, his body covered in dark yellow long hair, a pair of orange-yellow eyes searching something in the swirling smoke and dust.