Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lianqing felt that he had been deceived. The Dragon King had referred to the following as a little ‘burden’: nearly a hundred prestigious ladies of the Western Regions with an entourage of at least seven hundred people, and a thousand female soldiers of the Land of Fragrance. The monk had to escort the largest group of women in the Norland and cross the prairie.
Xiao Fengchai felt that she had been fooled. It turned out that the Dragon King had been preparing to send all the women back to the Western Regions, and that she had never needed to make such pretentious pleadings.
The ladies also felt slighted. It was a good thing to set foot on the road home, but their escorts were only a group of female soldiers and their safety did not feel guaranteed. In their eyes, at least ten thousand horsemen were needed to satisfy their status.
The Second Consort felt that she had been wrong about the Dragon King yet again. He had always been cautious in the Norland, but this move was a bit reckless. If the ladies got robbed on their way back, the Dragon King would be under great pressure in the Western Regions, and she would also lose an important hostage.
Queen Ju, on the other hand, felt that she had been defeated again by the Dragon King. She had just found a foothold in the Prairie, but was now being forced to return to the Stone Kingdom of the Xiaoyao Lake right away.
Only the military counselor had given her some solace. Fang Wenshi had passed on an order to treat her with reverence and awe on behalf of the Dragon King, who behaved honestly and not only treated her as a real queen, but also as the most dignified queen in the world. “The situation in the Xiaoyao Lake is unstable. Prime Minister Zhong Heng and Left General Dugu Xian are foreigners, so it’s difficult for them to win popular support of the people. The Dragon King needs a reliable native person to help him and this person can only be you, Your Highness. You have the ability to win the support of the five countries and establish Xiaoyao Lake as the most stable foundation of the Dragon King’s.”
Queen Ju understood that as Princess of the Stone Kingdom, Xiaoyao Lake was the place where she could most show off her power. What made her uncomfortable, though, was another woman. The Dragon King had taken the ‘queen’ and left camp at night, seemingly not wanting to send her off to the Prairie.
She did not mention it in front of Fang Wenshi. Although the counselor revered her, he was even more loyal to the Dragon King. She accepted the Dragon King’s trust in a suitable manner and promised that she wouldn’t disappoint him.
Fang Wenshi forcibly suppressed his emotions to prevent his sorrow from showing. He did not understand why the noble and beautiful queen couldn’t gain the Dragon King’s favor.
He gave Queen Ju a letter, through which she would be entitled to participate managing part of Xiaoyao Lake.
Under Fang Wenshi’s coordination, the team that was planned to withdraw from the Norland finally took shape in the early hours of the morning. Although many complaints had come up due to the lack of time, the provisions were sufficient and nothing important was lacking.
It was already dawn now, but the team couldn’t set off yet. The Dragon King had not yet returned, and the most important thing was that the Court Attendants Army had come again and were openly challenging them about three miles away from the camp. Many people believed that it was impossible to set out today.
In the face of the Court Attendants Army’s threat, a small group of people had started complaining to each other.
Shangguan Fei couldn’t remember how many times Old Man Mu had poked him. He was so scared that he hid behind a dozen or so people, but wasn’t able to avoid the other side’s curses. “Little brat, how dare you act on your own without my permission? Why did you write those words? Now we are truly in trouble. When the Dragon King comes back, he’ll hand you over to the Court Attendants Army. And the problem will be solved after you get dismembered.”
Shangguan Fei’s face paled. He didn’t expect that the rumor would grow into such a huge deal. The action, which was supposed to be a stealthy one, had been completely seen through by the enemy. He argued for himself in a low voice as if the Dragon King were standing in front of him with a stern look, “I was just following my orders. Who would have known that I was at the small battalion if you guys hadn’t killed anyone and set fire to it?”
Old Man Mu was still cursing and didn’t hear him. Han Wuxian, who was standing besides Shangguan Fei, held her long hair and pointed at him with the tip of the hair, saying, “Aren’t you glad that I killed two disciples of the Waning Moon Hall? They came late at night to assassinate the generals of the Court Attendants Army, though they unluckily bumped into me.”
Shangguan Fei raised his hand to cheer. “Everything that comes around goes around. It stands to reason that the traitors should die in the Hall Leader’s hands. How could I not be happy?”
Tu Pianpian’s acupoint was finally unsealed, but in the Dragon Army camp, she too had to behave herself and dared not act rashly. She could only glare at Old Man Mu and Dog Butcher, wondering which one she should retaliate against first when the opportunity came.
Dog Butcher did not dare to raise his head, but Old Man Mu did not seem to care. While cursing Shangguan Fei, he winked at Tu Pianpian and stretched out his hand to compare his height with hers from time to time. And he was very happy to find that the old woman wasn’t much taller than him.
Nie Zeng and Tie Linglong were also glaring at each other like deadly foes, and occasionally one would challenge the other verbally. If they had not been separated by Chu Nanping, they would have already drawn their sabers to fight against each other.
Only Shangguan Yun behaved as if there was no one else present. But when he looked at the group ready to leave, he kept shaking his head, muttering, “What is the Dragon King thinking? Why does he want to send all the golden roc killers back to the Western Regions? No, I’ll have to ask him myself later.”
There were still many tasks waiting for the Dragon King to deal with them. Just when the crowd was starting to get entangled in endless quarrels, news came from the front line that said that the Court Attendants Army would not attack for the time being. However, they also demanded the Dragon King to show up immediately.
“Where the hell is the Dragon King?” Old Man Mu used his hand to cover the sun over his brows to look into the distance but was only able to see a bunch of legs. So he jumped onto a horse and looked out again. “That’s not right. How could the Dragon King have stayed out all night with the good girl? He’s going too far. And that Silver Condor or Mo Lin, I don’t believe him at all. Alas, I’m afraid that the Dragon King has been plotted against. Fortunately, he had the good girl with him and it was not a bad ending for him. But now we are all miserable…”
Old Man Mu continued to babble as he looked around, but the first to find the returning members was not him. Red Bat pointed to the camp gate and cried out, “The instructor is back!”
Shangguan Ru wasn’t alone. There were more than two hundred horsemen following behind her all dressed in different garments from different groups. Instead of an army, it seemed more like a rabble. And the Dragon King was not among them.
The fighting spirit of the deserters and the civilians had all been stirred up, and they had given up escaping and instead volunteered to follow the Dragon King.
Shangguan Ru glanced at the crowd and gave an order to Red Bat. “Get ready to go.”
“Will the instructor come with us?” Red Bat asked in pleasant surprise.
Shangguan Ru nodded.
The order aroused a great deal of discontent and indignation. Some feared the Court Attendants Army outside, while others worried about the long journey ahead, and finally some even suddenly remembered that they had not packed all their belongings.
Queen Ju was the first to board the carriage with Xu Yanwei’s help. The ranting finally ended. Everything thought the same thing: The Dragon King must have a plan and he would not let his queen take such risks.
“Good girl… So we’re just going like this?” Old Man Mu was stupefied. He always thought that the Dragon King would let Shangguan Ru stay.
“You don’t have to go with me. Stay with the Dragon King and protect him for me.”
“Seriously?” Old Man Mu found that he was showing his happiness too obviously, so he quickly put on a look of hesitation and said, “I’m a bit worried about the good girl traveling alone.”
“Who says I’ll be alone? I have two thousand people with me.”
Old Man Mu immediately put on a serious look. “I know what the good girl means. As long as you ask me to stay, I’ll stay and I won’t even let the Dragon King lose a hair… Uh, I won’t let the Dragon King lose his life and I promise to bring him back to you intact.” It suddenly occurred to him that the Dragon King was often injured and that his assurance should not be too strict.
“Where’s the Dragon King?” Xu Yanwei asked. Even if the sky was about to fall, the first thing she would always think of was that the Dragon King should see her women off in person.
“He .. he’s still at the front line.”
Gu Shenwei had gone straight to the front line with Mo Lin. He had already learned everything from Shulitu and others. Shangguan Fei and Old Man Mu were more efficient than he thought, but it didn’t matter. With a group of deserters and civilians, he had killed more than fifty soldiers of the Court Attendants Army last night and the remaining survivors had all fled. He had been recognized as soon as he made a move, and such an open challenge would definitely provoke a retaliation.
“The black horse will perish.” These words had finally spread far and were in a brewing stage; the final result was very difficult to predict.
The soldiers in the front line were whispering while on horseback. When Gu Shenwei walked through the procession, he found that he was receiving more attention than usual.
There was both doubt and awe in their eyes.
“The Devil Bird has appeared,” Shulitu quietly said. The officers around him were a bit nervous but he himself appeared quite calm. “It attacked a small battalion of the Court Attendants Army.”
Gu Shenwei looked up at the sky, clear and cloudless. The sunlight was dazzling but there was no black spot soaring through the sky. More and more rumors about the Devil Bird were coming out, but he still wasn’t sure if it really was the red-crowned roc.
The messenger of the Court Attendants Army came again, and this time he asked directly to speak with the Dragon King. “The Great Shaman invites the Dragon King to come out and have a talk.”
“Okay,” Gu Shenwei agreed. When the messenger left, he said to Shulitu, “I want to say a few words.”
Shulitu nodded and rode a few paces forward side by side with the Dragon King before he turned around and faced the tens of thousands of nervous soldiers.
Now was the time when rumors abounded. The words ‘The black horse will perish’ had already spread far and wide. Some believed that this was a revelation of the Khan while others believed that it was a part of the Dragon King’s plot. The Devil Bird that had attacked the camp at night had also aroused fear, dislike, worship and many other feelings.
A slip of the tongue might let out some sparks and ignite a mass of dry grass and lead to devastating consequences.
Gu Shenwei looked first at Azheba and his fellow officers who supported him with firmness and didn’t really believe in ghosts. Then his eyes turned to the large number of soldiers. These people had no definite views of their own, and they habitually obeyed the orders of their superiors. They respected Shulitu because of his bloodline, but vacillated between denial and acceptance of the Dragon King.
Foreigner, killer, conspiracy, Devil Bird ownder, and a lord that protected his subordinates. The Devil Bird was shrouded in a layer of mystery which made the soldiers feel like they were at a loss for what to do.
Gu Shenwei drew his own saber and sword, held them high above his head, and crossed the two. Then he exerted his internal energy to make his voice spread further. Even the Court Attendants Army on the other side could vaguely hear him say, “I am the Chief of the Dragons and Leader of the Five Peaks. The red-crowned roc is my guardian. It’s not a devil bird, and nor does it perform evil deeds. The Great Shaman is acting against Heaven and is falsely preaching the will of the Khan. I, the Dragon King, will enforce justice on behalf of Heaven. ”
Gu Shenwei put down his arms, raised his head, and whistled. It was a peculiar whistle, not quite the like the shrieking whistling of the Norland Cavalry, and neither was it like the heavy humming sound that often came from the chests of the swordsman of Big Snow Mountain, but rather something between the two. It was more rhythmical like a battle song, a call, or a prayer.
The thirty thousand horsemen were all terrified, and even the officers were filled with apprehension.
At the Dragon King’s side, Shulitu’s horse nervously raised its forelegs and almost shook off its master. Shulitu grew afraid for the first time. The Dragon King was risking his life, and his words were very likely to trigger a major mutiny.
On the other side, the flags of the Court Attendants Army swayed violently like a gust of wind had swept across the prairie. The shamans, who had ridden forwards a dozen or so paces, all halted their horses and looked up at the sky in trepidation.
In fact, everyone was looking up.
But there was still no black spot in the sky.
