"Very well, since things have come to this, you should write this down for now. Once we are out of danger, send someone to find their families and tell them that he was killed by the assassin while protecting me, and that they must take good care of their families."
After saying that, the young man turned to Li Ling and said, "Young Master Yi, time is of the essence, let's set off quickly!"
“Okay!” Li Ling nodded, not complaining for the hunter. He wasn’t some clueless newbie.
Having watched numerous TV dramas about court intrigues in modern society, how could anyone not understand these things? He had probably unwittingly been drawn into a political vortex.
Although the hunter was innocent, he had seen the three of them. If the assassins found them and found out their whereabouts, their lives could be in danger.
Given the young man's noble status, it's not surprising that Liu Feng, as the head of the guards, would kill him to silence him.
Before jumping off the cliff, Liu Feng had suffered internal injuries, but fortunately they were not too serious. Now, they could continue their journey without any problem, and the three of them traveled away without stopping at all.
On the way, Li Ling finally learned the young man's identity. He was actually the only son of the current Song Dynasty emperor, the crown prince—Crown Prince Deyi.
When the Crown Prince encounters an assassin, it is a very serious matter. Moreover, the assassin is well-prepared and equipped with the Divine Arm Crossbow of the Song Army. This matter involves a great deal of people, and at least some powerful figures in the court must be involved. Therefore, Crown Prince Deyi asked Li Ling to escort him back to Lin'an.
Fortunately, this place is just outside Lin'an, only thirty or forty miles away from Lin'an city, so we can get there quickly.
However, they soon discovered that there were a large number of spies around them. Once these spies spotted the three of them, they rushed towards them without hesitation.
After killing two more groups of assassins who came to ambush them, the three had no choice but to hide in a house in the nearest town.
In Li Ling's words, it's like "the truly great hermit lives in the court, the lesser hermit lives in the city." The other party would never have imagined that they would dare to linger in such a town.
"His Highness the Crown Prince is blessed by Heaven. Last year, His Highness fell seriously ill, and even the imperial physicians thought he was beyond saving. But unexpectedly, a shooting star fell from the sky that day, and His Highness's health improved day by day..."
At this moment, Liu Feng was telling Li Ling about the extraordinary deeds of Crown Prince Deyi, such as his gentleness and kindness, and the celestial phenomena. However, Li Ling saw through his true intentions: to recruit him.
However, this was like casting a flirtatious glance at a blind man—a completely pointless expression.
If Li Ling were still Yi Jifeng from the original story, he would naturally not let go of such a good opportunity to revitalize his family. With the strong support of the Crown Prince, why would he worry that his family could not be revitalized?
But if it were Li Ling, he wouldn't want to have too much involvement with this crown prince. You see, most of the emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty were good-for-nothings who only knew how to indulge in romance and pleasure, and were more likely to cause trouble than accomplish anything.
If Li Ling hadn't already revealed his identity and feared that the other party might take their anger out on Mingjian Manor after escaping, he would have turned and left long ago, unwilling to get involved in the political struggles of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Perhaps sensing Li Ling's perfunctory attitude, after a while, the Crown Prince Deyi stopped Liu Feng from praising his own 'brilliance and martial prowess' and instead spoke directly to Li Ling:
"Young Master Yi comes from the Famous Sword Manor, so the current head of the manor should be Yi Yun. You should also have an uncle, Yi Tianxing, right?"
By the way, you should also know Zhang Sanfeng, right? Have you ever seen him practice Tai Chi?
Li Ling paused slightly upon hearing this.
"At this time, Zhang Sanfeng should still be called Zhang Junbao, and he was still an unknown nobody. How could he know about the name Zhang Sanfeng, which would only appear in the future?"
Thinking of this, and recalling what Liu Feng had mentioned about the strange phenomenon from the sky, Li Ling suddenly said, "You've heard the joke about China being number one in football in the world, right?"
"Holy crap!" Crown Prince Deyi was stunned upon hearing this, pointing at Li Ling with an incredulous expression: "You...you?!"
Seeing the other person's surprised expression, Li Ling suddenly laughed and said, "Although there are rumors that the country attaches great importance to football, the national football team has probably never lived up to expectations, right? How long have you been in this world?"
"Holy crap! Holy crap!"
Crown Prince Deyi suddenly became excited, staring at Li Ling and shouting, "Brother, I didn't expect you to have transmigrated here too, and even transmigrated into the number one male supporting character! That's really something! I've been here for more than half a year now, when did you transmigrate?"
"Your Highness, what's going on?" Liu Feng, standing to the side, was completely bewildered, unable to understand what Li Ling and the Crown Prince were talking about, such as "time travel" and "Chinese football".
Furthermore, why is His Highness the Crown Prince calling this roughneck a brother? This is against all propriety!
Liu Feng was completely bewildered and couldn't understand why the Crown Prince had suddenly become so strange. The Crown Prince used to be calm and dignified; when had he ever lost his composure like this?
Just as Liu Feng was about to remind the Crown Prince to be mindful of his manners, the Crown Prince dismissed him and had a private conversation with Li Ling.
Once only Li Ling and Crown Prince Deyi remained in the room, Li Ling smiled and said, "You are a transmigrator, I am a reborn one. My name is Li Ling, and I have been in this world for twenty years."
As Li Ling answered, he also felt the wonder of the world. He had been reincarnated into this world by the system, and he never expected to meet fellow transmigrators. The world is truly vast and full of wonders.
"Damn, you're much better than me!" Crown Prince Deyi exclaimed with envy. "I spent a lot of effort to familiarize myself with my previous memories."
"By the way, I just overheard Liu Feng telling me in private that your martial arts skills are even slightly better than his. You've certainly not been working hard all these years. You should know that Liu Feng is my bodyguard commander."
"According to him, there are only a handful of people in the martial arts world who can surpass him. You're quite something. Why don't you teach me a few moves? I've been training with Liu Feng for more than half a year, and I've only developed a little bit of internal strength. At most, I can only deal with a few ordinary people."
Li Ling curled his lips and said, "There are no shortcuts to martial arts training. Although you are practicing top-notch secret manuals and constantly taking various tonics, you are too old to start practicing martial arts."
Haven't you seen the Legend of the Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty? Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling missed their prime for martial arts training. If they hadn't cultivated the extraordinary martial arts manual, the "Longevity Manual," and hadn't fortuitously absorbed the energy of the He Shi Bi jade to develop their bodies, they would never have achieved anything later on.
"Once a person is over twelve years old, their bones and meridians will be fully formed, and practicing martial arts will be much less effective. So even if you practice diligently every day for the rest of your life, you will only be a second-rate master."
Besides, you are currently the Crown Prince, burdened with countless affairs; where would you find the time to cultivate martial arts? Therefore, you should abandon your ambition to become a martial arts master and instead focus on being a good emperor.”
"Besides, what's wrong with being an emperor? It's only the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty. Even if you become a tyrant, your country won't be destroyed in your lifetime. You can still enjoy everything that ordinary people can never enjoy."
Li Ling ruthlessly shattered the dream of his fellow transmigrator. (The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the previous sentence.)
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Chapter 161 With a Shot in Hand, I Rule the World
"What is it that you're in such a hurry?" Li Ling asked, his brows furrowing slightly.
He had intended to take advantage of this breakthrough to comprehend all seven realms to the second level in one fell swoop, but he didn't expect something to happen so soon. It seems he can only wait until another time to break through the realm.
Yi Yun explained: "This matter concerns the life of Marshal Yue Fei and the fate of our Great Song Dynasty. Since the Jurchens betrayed the alliance and started fighting against our Great Song Dynasty, our Great Song Dynasty has suffered repeated defeats."