By the report, the imperial edict had reached the Chongzhou garrison and they had moved against the Underworld Thieves' Sect at once.

The sect's men fled into the mountains.

The Chongzhou garrison went after them and rode into an ambush.

Twenty thousand well-drilled soldiers came pouring out of the hills, rolling down logs and stones, and the Chongzhou garrison was caught unprepared and cut to pieces.

"Zhang Chengji? Who is that?"

The question was out of Ning Chen's mouth before he could stop it.

The rebels had taken Chongzhou, the report said. The man leading them was called Zhang Chengji, and he had already raised the banner of rebellion, promising to restore the rightful line and bring back Prince Qi's realm.

The Xuan Emperor said grimly, "Prince Rui!"

It came to Ning Chen all at once. No wonder the name had sounded familiar. That old rogue Prince Rui.

Prince Rui had fled Xiangzhou for Nanyue back then, and after that there had been almost no news of him... Ning Chen had assumed Kang Luo squeezed him dry and killed him long ago. And here the old rogue was, still alive.

But how had that old rogue Prince Rui turned up in Chongzhou?

Is Kang Luo behind this?

Twenty thousand well-drilled soldiers appearing in Chongzhou out of nowhere — are they Nanyue troops?

Ning Chen thought it very likely.

Chongzhou lay in the south, right on the line of the southern frontier, a thousand li from Tong Yuanzhou's southern army. The ground was treacherous there, ringed with deep old forest that made a natural wall of itself, so no garrison was posted along that stretch.

It was entirely possible that Kang Luo had risked sending troops through the forest to slip into Chongzhou.

He had guessed before this that someone was standing behind the Underworld Thieves' Sect.

Now it looked as though the sect Prince Qi left behind had fallen into Prince Rui's hands.

This Prince Rui is no fool. The Moon-Shadow Army Prince Cheng left behind ended up his, and Prince Qi's Underworld Thieves' Sect answers to him too. Interesting!