Chapter 227: Vanquished Foe! Severed Arm Punishment
Chapter 227: Chapter 227: Vanquished Foe! Severed Arm Punishment
Everyone held their breath.
To everyone’s surprise, Wolf Three feinted, then wheeled around and bit down on the Black Panther’s foreleg. The Black Panther howled in pain.
Seizing the opening, Wolf Three successfully escaped.
Then, it turned the tables!
It locked its eyes on the Black Panther’s throat and lunged, sinking its teeth in!
Fresh blood sprayed out. The Black Panther shrieked and struggled desperately, but Wolf Three was already lost in a frenzied bloodlust.
It clamped down even harder, refusing to let go no matter how the Black Panther rolled around on the platform in agony.
The crowd in the stands felt a surge of exhilaration, shouting, "Yes! Go, Wolf Three! That’s the way!"
Matsuboto grew frantic. "Black Panther! Get up!"
But instead, the crowd heard the sound of flesh gradually tearing, and the Black Panther’s cries turned into mournful wails.
Wolf Three was actually trying to rip its hide off.
Seeing the situation turning sour, a sinister glint flashed in Matsuboto’s eyes. He blew a sharp whistle.
Suddenly, the shriek of an eagle echoed from above. Shen Ningning looked up to see a large bird circling in the sky before diving straight for Wolf Three.
’He’s trying another sneak attack!’
Suddenly, a massive black shadow flashed past. Just as the eagle’s sharp talons were about to touch Wolf Three, the shadow snatched it out of the air in its jaws.
At that same moment, the Black Panther stopped struggling and collapsed, dead in a pool of its own blood.
Like father, like son on the battlefield. The eagle wanted to launch a sneak attack, but the Black Wolf King gave it no such chance.
The entire field fell deathly silent.
In the daylight, amidst the heavy snow, they watched as the Black Wolf King killed the eagle in a few quick bites, then spat its remains onto the ground.
Wolf Three, its muzzle dripping with blood, raised its undefeated head against the north wind. Its fur was dark and glossy, its presence overpowering.
The crowd snapped back to their senses and rose to their feet in a thunderous ovation. "Bravo! Fantastic! That was so satisfying!"
Wolf Three proudly straightened its body, basking in the crowd’s enthusiastic praise.
Matsuboto’s face was ashen. He never imagined that his Black Panther, undefeated in Changliu Country, would be taken down by a mere wild wolf.
The servant behind him stepped forward, his eyes shifty, and whispered a few words in his ear.
Matsuboto came to his senses and was about to make a quiet retreat.
But unexpectedly, Shen Ningning slammed her small hand on the table and shouted, "Halt! You, the vanquished! Fulfill your promise at once!"
Matsuboto froze in his tracks.
Mo Lingwei raised a hand and ordered his trusted aide, "Seize him. As the Commandery Princess commanded, sever his right arm and cripple his martial arts."
Chen Shaobei had already settled Jiang Zhi down. He now strode over, his gaze dark and heavy.
"Your Highness, please allow this subject to wield the blade himself," he said, clasping his hands.
Mo Lingwei granted his permission.
Matsuboto was forced to his knees in the middle of the field.
He struggled relentlessly. A moment ago, he had been full of righteous bravado; now, he was nothing but a coward desperate to flee from danger!
Shen Ningning’s voice was soft and sweet, but her round eyes were ice-cold.
"You brought this upon yourself. You lost to Second Uncle back then, and you couldn’t win now, either."
"It’s not that your martial arts are poor. It’s that before you learned to fight, you never learned how to be a decent human being."
Matsuboto babbled and screeched, spouting a string of words no one could understand.
But with a swift fall of Chen Shaobei’s blade, the sounds from Matsuboto’s mouth turned into a bloodcurdling scream.
In that instant, Mo Lingwei threw his arm out, blocking Shen Ningning’s eyes.
He had seen the little one watching with rapt attention when Wolf Three was tearing at the Black Panther, so he hadn’t stopped her.
But this was simply too gruesome, and he didn’t want her to see it.
Shen Ningning quietly looked toward him, her voice sweet and soft. "Brother, you’re so good to me."
Mo Lingwei, however, pretended not to hear. As if still angry, he let out a soft, cold huff.
When he lowered his hand, the Black Panther’s corpse was gone from the field. Only Matsuboto remained, clutching his bloody wound.
His face was deathly pale as he stared intently at Shen Ningning, his eyes filled with unwillingness to concede.
"Losing today doesn’t mean I will lose in the future. Princess Funing, we will certainly meet again. I hope you still have such a formidable wolf pack protecting you then."
Mo Lingwei spoke for Shen Ningning, his tone cold. "You are no longer worthy of seeing her again."
"Go back and tell your Great Sun King that as long as I, the Crown Prince, am alive, Cangyun Country will never make peace with Changliu."
"If he dares to send anyone to infiltrate our lands and act so brazenly again, it will be more than just a severed arm. I will have them flayed alive."
"Get out!" he roared, his voice like a clap of thunder.
Matsuboto’s face paled. Supported by his servant, he limped away.
As they made their wretched escape from the Horse Racing Field, Matsuboto’s servant lowered his voice and asked in the Changliu tongue—
"Lord Taizheng, what do we do now? Are we really going back to tell the Great Sun King that we lost and promised Cangyun Country ten years of vassalage and tribute?"
"If we don’t tell him, why should we honor the promise? No matter how powerful Cangyun Country is, they wouldn’t dare do anything to us."
Blood dripped from Matsuboto’s wound the entire way, his steps growing even more unsteady.
He lowered his voice. "Don’t forget, our true purpose for coming to Cangyun Country was never about the Xie family in the first place."
The servant nodded. "Yes..."
Suddenly, Xie Yuanjiu arrived in a hurry with her maid.
She had also intended to watch the martial arts tournament, but Second Madam Xie had stopped her, insisting on taking her to a Divine Woman for a fortune-telling session.
The Divine Woman said she had a destiny of unspeakable nobility, destined to dazzle the Nine Provinces.
However, someone was blocking her path. It would cost five thousand taels of silver to perform a ritual to remove this obstacle.
Second Madam Xie was a firm believer and wouldn’t let Xie Yuanjiu leave.
That’s why she was late.
Xie Yuanjiu was startled to see Matsuboto covered in blood.
She frowned and took several steps back.
As Matsuboto passed her, he raised his sinister eyes to size her up. The two locked gazes for a brief moment before Matsuboto lowered his head and was led away by his servant.
Xie Yuanjiu’s maid’s voice trembled with fear. "Miss, why was that man beaten so badly?"
"In a martial arts contest, blades and staffs have no eyes. Injuries are unavoidable. He was surely just less skilled," Xie Yuanjiu said, thinking nothing of it.
However, when she reached the field and heard about the recent commotion, especially how Shen Ningning had once again stolen the spotlight, she couldn’t even force a smile.
Shen Ningning was sitting beside Mo Lingwei, and her smile was so dazzling it was jarring.
Xie Yuanjiu was bewildered. She had clearly done her best to spread rumors at the National Academy.
She had also heard that the Crown Prince and Shen Ningning had argued and were on the verge of breaking off their friendship.
’Why is the Crown Prince still letting her sit next to him here?’
Although the tournament was over, the list of selected candidates had not yet been announced.
Shen Ningning stayed a little longer, listening as Chen Shaobei announced the thirty people selected for the household soldiers.
"First place, Jiang Zhi, selected for the first column of the household soldiers."
Hearing this, the little one clapped her hands happily.
But then she remembered that Jiang Zhi was injured, and the joyful expression on her fair, rosy face fell.
Mo Lingwei, watching from the side, leaned his chair in her direction.
He spoke in a nonchalant tone, "I just asked Chen Shaobei. Jiang Zhi’s injuries are minor, nothing serious. If you were planning to shed tears for him, I’d advise you to hold them back."
Shen Ningning rubbed her eyes with her small hands, her voice pitiful.
"Brother, I want to go see Brother Jiang..."
"If you want to go, then go. Why are you telling me?"
"I wanted to ask... are you still angry with me?" the little one asked pitifully, blinking her big eyes.
Her round, dark eyes revealed how much she valued and cared for their friendship.
Mo Lingwei pressed his lips together and gave a short, dry laugh. "What does one have to do with the other? Don’t tell me that if I said I was still angry, you’d immediately rush off to see Jiang Zhi?"
Shen Ningning quickly shook her head.
’That’s not what I meant!’
’It’s just that I finally got to see Mo Lingwei, so I wanted to ask.’
But Mo Lingwei said with a cold expression, "You can go. I still need to think about this matter."
Shen Ningning’s face fell. She pouted and said quietly, "Oh, okay... Langlang, let’s go. We’re going to see Jiang... Brother Jiang."
She had almost blurted out the three words "Sister Jiang Zhi."
Shen Ningning secretly stuck out her tongue and quickly scampered away.
Watching her hasty departure, Mo Lingwei let out a low, displeased sigh.
’This little thing is more trouble than the round, white porcelain fish tank outside my palace!’
’At least that stays put and lets me admire the view.’