C25

Every year, there would be rewards for leading the charge, but he did not care about it. The reward for being awarded to the disciples of the martial general or to the nobles was considered a great kindness to the emperor, various princes had accepted it, but it was a pity that Xuanyuan Qingtian always liked to fight for power, he could not see through the true essence of the matter.

On the way, he saw a few deer, but they were too young for him to handle. If they were to shoot all the rabbits at the same time, if they did not buy another one in the next year, then the deer in the hunting grounds would probably be extinct.

Xuanyuan Zhan tried his best to walk along the outskirts because he wanted to avoid Xuanyuan Qingtian. Unfortunately, Xuanyuan Qingtian did not want to let him go, so he pretended to walk around, but in reality, he had already sent people to follow him.

"Prince Zhan, what a coincidence."

Xuanyuan Qingtian raised the corner of his mouth and spoke indifferently. Xuanyuan Zhan looked at him with an expressionless face and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, what a coincidence."

From that night onwards, Xuanyuan Qingtian no longer called him "A Zhan." It was unknown if it was because Xuanyuan Qingtian didn't want to bring up the past with this intimate term, or because he felt that this form of address was useless. He wasn't even willing to call him Third Brother.

Xuanyuan Qingtian hid the darkness in his eyes, smiled and said to Xuanyuan Zhan: "Since we've met, why don't we go together, us two brothers can easily compete, and see who can get royal father's praise in the end."

Originally, he didn't want to fight for it, but when he thought back to that night when he ruthlessly gave the order to shoot the arrows, he nodded his head.

The two of them rode on, one behind the other. Their guards followed behind them from a distance. On the surface, they didn't want to disturb their fight, but in reality, they were watching each other.

A fox walked past quickly. Xuanyuan Qingtian's eyes lit up, he immediately took out his bow and nocked it with an arrow and shot it out, immediately piercing through the fox's retreat. The fox cried out in pain and ran away with its arrow, Xuanyuan Qingtian frowned, the people behind him immediately surrounded the fox to block its retreat.

The injured fox screamed in fear, but Xuanyuan Qingtian's face was full of satisfaction. He quickly nocked another arrow and a guard immediately pulled out an arrow.

"Prince Zhan, take a look at my results."

Xuanyuan Qingtian turned around to show off, only to see Xuanyuan Zhan shooting two foxes at the same time with an arrow, his face stiff on the spot.

"Your Highness, what did you say?"

Xuanyuan Zhan slowly received the two dead foxes from the guard and turned his head to pretend that he did not hear what the guard said. Xuanyuan Qingtian angrily threw the fox in his hands away, "Nothing!" He pulled the reins, and the horse's hooves trampled over the fox's corpse, trampling this lifeless body to a pulp.

Xuanyuan Qingtian walked for a while with a cold face. He met a male deer and raised his eyebrows.

It was rumored that there was a tiger in the hunting grounds, but it had not been there for several years. Xuanyuan Mo also felt that the disciples of the Xiao Kingdom were afraid of the tiger, so they did not let anyone find it.

Everyone, including Xuanyuan Qingtian, let out terrified cries. When Xuanyuan Zhan heard the sound and rode over, he immediately narrowed his eyes when he saw the tiger and went forward to protect Xuanyuan Qingtian behind him.

"Your Highness, please retreat!"

He did not do so out of consideration for his brotherly feelings. If they did not save him now, it would be easy for him to fall back on his words, saying that he had intentionally made the crown prince want this position. This was the only thing Xuanyuan Zhan could do.

Who knew that this action would anger Xuanyuan Qingtian, he pushed Xuanyuan Zhan away and almost pushed him off the horse.

"Does Prince Zhan feel that I cannot handle this beast?"

Xuanyuan Qingtian forced himself to pull the bow and shoot, the arrow striking the tiger's eye, his mouth had a pleased smile, but it was not for long. The intense pain only made the tiger even angrier, it roared and pounced towards Xuanyuan Qingtian.

Xuanyuan Qingtian pulled on the reins in fear and retreated. The horses below him were already screaming and trying to turn around to escape, but Xuanyuan Zhan frowned and blocked in front of him again. He shot another arrow at the tiger's head.

It was just that this tiger was unexpectedly tenacious. Even though it was injured to such an extent, it still nimbly pounced towards them. Xuanyuan Zhan was helpless as he pulled out his sword.

"All of you, hurry up and leave with the crown prince. This King is here to delay things for a while."

When Xuanyuan Qingtian's guards heard this, they were secretly happy. They wanted to leave this dangerous place as soon as possible, so they gathered around Xuanyuan Qingtian to help him move away. Xuanyuan Zhan and his guards surrounded the tiger, restricting its movement range.

Xuanyuan Qingtian turned his head and looked at Xuanyuan Zhan unwillingly. Seeing that there was not a trace of fear on his face, he was so calm that it seemed as if he was not facing a ferocious beast, but an ordinary prey.

Xuanyuan Zhan brandished the black sword in his hand, the sword tip accurately piercing towards the tiger, forcing the tiger to jump around in the circle due to the arrows shot by his bodyguards, no matter who they were, an arrow would definitely shoot out from the other direction in the next moment, provoking it to roar in anger. In a short moment, ten arrows had pierced into its body, from afar, it looked like a hedgehog.

Xuanyuan Qingtian frowned, he looked at Xuanyuan Zhan who was standing in front of the tiger like a king, standing there with his back straightened and his imposing manner, and instantly felt that it was meaningless for him to be the crown prince.

No, it was obviously impossible to reveal the position of crown prince, especially for Xuanyuan Zhan.

Xuanyuan Qingtian's eyes became fierce, he slowly raised his bow and arrow, and shouted, "Prince Zhan, be careful!" With a flick of his finger, he shot the arrow towards the back of his heart.

Xuanyuan Zhan felt a strong wind coming from his back, and without even looking, he nimbly dodged the arrow. The arrow had brushed past his body and actually pierced into the other eye of the tiger, causing the tiger to completely throw aside all of its worries and directly pounce towards the direction of the arrow without caring about anything.

That was exactly the direction Xuanyuan Zhan was in.

Xuanyuan Zhan frowned slightly, he obviously knew Xuanyuan Qingtian's intentions. He pursed his lips, looking down on all these, and swung the black sword in his hand, allowing the tiger to leap, revealing the soft parts of its chest.

Xuanyuan Zhan's sword slashed across its abdomen, and when the tiger roared at the top of its head in pain, Xuanyuan Zhan's sword quickly stabbed into the tiger's neck and into its heart. In the end, he pulled out his sword and stabbed it into the tiger's head.

It let out a long wail, the sound reverberating in the forest, the entire hunting grounds seemed to be shaking, and then the tiger fell to the ground weakly, completely lifeless.

Xuanyuan Zhan flung the blood on his sword and kept it.

Not only did he not kill Xuanyuan Zhan, he even made him kill the Rainbow Tiger with a straight face. This way, he wouldn't have any face in front of Xuanyuan Mo.

Xuanyuan Zhan naturally knew what he was thinking, he turned and said to Xuanyuan Qingtian: "Today, your brother and I have jointly killed this tiger, so Royal Father will definitely be very happy. I wonder if this piece of tiger skin can be used as a blanket for Royal Father."

This sentence could completely redeem Xuanyuan Qingtian's prestige and face. It was just that he did not appreciate Xuanyuan Qingtian's kind words and felt that this was more like a charity.

"Prince Zhan must be joking, then let's present this tiger to royal father."

Xuanyuan Zhan nodded his head indifferently, and all the guards immediately lifted up their big tiger, and followed along with their prey towards the outskirts of the hunting grounds. After walking for a short while, Xuanyuan Qingtian suddenly reined in his reins, and raised his eyebrows.

"I think I saw a tiger too. Why don't we make a pair and offer it to father? It would be a good reward."

With that, he spurred his horse to the side and galloped, his guards following closely behind. Xuanyuan Zhan thought that he was trying to prove his strength in order to save face, so he was afraid that something might happen to him.

"Send this tiger out first. With how strong the smell is, it might attract something. Remember to say that this king and the crown prince hunted it together."

Xuanyuan Zhan ordered a guard as he nodded his head. Xuanyuan Zhan shook his reins, following the tracks left behind by Xuanyuan Qingtian's horse, who would have known that the trail would become more and more desolate, and actually come to a place with lush trees and extremely poor lighting.

Xuanyuan Zhan pulled on the reins, the horse's tracks were already broken, and there was no need to talk about tiger tracks. An extremely bad feeling arose in his heart, as if he had unknowingly walked into a big mouth.

It was a trap!

This thought flashed across his mind, and his body instantly tensed up. He quickly gave the guards a meaningful glance, and the guards also stood on guard. The air was frighteningly quiet, and the sounds of the insects and birds were deathly still.

There were people lurking around!

Xuanyuan Zhan laughed coldly, his gaze becoming sharper.

"If you want to assassinate This King, come at me. Hiding is useless." Xuanyuan Zhan sarcastically said, "If you guys still don't act, this king will make his move."

Just as his voice fell, the black longsword in Xuanyuan Zhan's hand shot out, piercing towards a tree trunk. When the sword tip was about to pierce into the tree trunk, Xuanyuan Zhan's wrist turned, changing direction, and the sword edge bypassed the tree to pierce behind the tree trunk.

A black masked man walked out from behind the tree trunk, his body slanted and he directly fell onto the ground. Xuanyuan Zhan's sword had hit his chest, and his lungs were completely penetrated.

The rest of the black masked men could no longer hide, holding onto their shiny swords and sabers, they jumped out, all of them looking at Xuanyuan Zhan with serious expressions.

Xuanyuan Zhan looked at them indifferently, and the corner of his mouth hooked up into a cold smile.

"Do you want to go up one by one, or do you want to go up together? This King recommends that all of you attack together. This way, This King can settle the matter once and for all, so there's no need to waste good hunting time. "

The sneer on Xuanyuan Zhan's face became even more obvious, he pulled back his sword and swung it again, the sword blade directly pierced through the head man's abdomen, killing him with a single strike, then quickly pulling it out, turning around and picking out a person on the other side, his movements smooth and calm.