“Great Leader Xiao Rong, if you guys don’t come out now, then the people who saved you will be taken away by some bad people. I don’t think refusing to repay a boon is Great Leader Xiao Rong’s personal style!” Yu Xiaocao raised her voice.
“Ha ha ha——” A bout of clear and resounding laughter could be heard. The expression on Lei Tengfeng’s face immediately changed. He had never expected that the ancient saying, ‘the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’, would actually apply to him today!
Suddenly, a group of several hundred warriors seemed to appear from out of nowhere. In the blink of an eye, this group had easily surrounded Lei Tengfeng’s group of men and Xiaocao’s group. After looking more closely, one would discover that these men had all been disguised with mats woven from fresh grass. When a person laid down on the ground with the mat on top, they blended seamlessly into the grass prairie. It was truly a good disguise.
“Miss Yu, how did you know that my men and I were in the vicinity?” A fine looking steed trotted forward from the dust, stopping not far from her. The person sitting on top of that horse was the current leader of the Tuha'erhanbu tribe, Xiao Rong.
“Chief Xiao, I trust you have been well since we last met?” Yu Xiaocao had a bit of admiration in her heart for Xiao Rong. He was decisive and confident in his actions while being brave and intelligent. In the period of short months, he had managed to not only quell his tribe’s inner turmoil but also swallow up a few small tribes in their vicinity. If he had been born in the Great Ming Empire, he would absolutely become a wise and great general there. Having such a man as an enemy would not be an easy thing to deal with!
Lei Tengfeng interrupted the greetings between the two people as he coldly huffed, “Chief Xiao, I, Lei Tengfeng, have long admired you for being a true man. Who would have thought that a mighty chief would become the mere dog of the Great Ming Empire! Such an utter waste of your talents ah!”
“Esteemed Heavenly Teacher, Xiao Rong has also heard that you are a person of the Central Plains. A citizen of the Great Ming Empire is asking for my help because of a grievance between you two. Esteemed Heavenly Teacher, are you in any position to criticize me at this point?” Xiao Rong easily dismissed the other man’s attempts at sowing dissension between them.
“Absolutely true! Does someone who has betrayed their own country have any qualifications to criticize other people? That being said, the Great Ming Empire and the Tuha'erhanbu tribe are in a mutually beneficial diplomatic relationship with each other. How is this one country commanding another then?” When Yu Xiaocao learned that Lei Tengfeng was a traitor from the Medicine King Valley Sect, she felt even more disdain towards the other man.
“Since the Tuha'erhanbu tribe is not being commanded by the Great Ming Empire, then it’s best, Xiao Rong, if you don’t butt into today’s matters. That way you can avoid rousing the ire of all of the other outer tribes!” Lei Tengfeng noticed that the other man had almost the same number of men as he did. When added onto the bodyguards that Yu Xiaocao brought along, that would make victory uncertain for him if Xiao Rong decided to interfere.
Xiao Rong smiled slightly and leisurely replied, “At that time, when I was at my lowest and severely injured, Miss Yu had helped me out. If it weren’t for her help, then this world would no longer have me anymore. The warriors from the Tuha'erhanbu Tribe always return a boon for a boon and an eye for an eye. We are honorable warriors. Today, I will consider this as returning the favor that Miss Yu had shown when she had nursed me back to health!”
Yu Xiaocao slightly bowed towards him and said, “Chief Xiao is too kind. As a student of the medicinal arts, I’m not like some practitioners who only know how to rely on my skills to harm others. I was only doing my duty when I had helped you out!”
A particular practitioner's expression changed before he managed to wrest his face back under control. Lei Tengfeng spoke to Xiao Rong, “If Chief Xiao doesn’t interfere today, then I, surnamed Lei, will be willing to supply a year’s worth of medicines to the Tuha'erhanbu Tribe for free!”
Yu Xiaocao sneered and said, “Do you think you’re the only one who knows how to make medicine? As a medicinal practitioner, for your own benefit, you even dared to set poison down at the stud farm. Who would dare to use medicine made by such an immoral person? What if you decided to add something a little extra to your pills…”
Lei Tengfeng had seen that his words had somewhat tempted Xiao Rong. Thus, when he heard Yu Xiaocao’s rebuttal, his face immediately darkened and he raged furiously, “Shut up! I, surnamed Lei, am willing to use my reputation as a guarantee…”
“Psh! Does someone who has betrayed his own masters, who have taught him everything, have a reputation left?” Yu Xiaocao pressed on her advantage and wasn’t giving the other person an opportunity to maneuver! He Wanning would have never expected that Younger Sister Xiaocao, who had been born in a peasant farmer’s family, could have such an imposing manner and not back off when against a formidable enemy. The admiration and worship in her heart towards the other girl increased until it almost overflowed. She regarded the younger girl with stars in her eyes.
“Chief Xiao,” Yu Xiaocao wasn’t going to give Lei Tengfeng a chance to speak. She looked at Xiao Rong head on and addressed him solemnly, “Once the problem at the stud farm has been resolved, this princess will immediately send a request up to the emperor once I get back to capital to ask him to allow the addition of the Yu’s Medicine Stall to the mutual marketplace between our two countries. This stall will sell some commonly used medications and will sell to the Tuha'erhanbu Tribe alone. However, it will only contain the common types of medications. That’s the most I can guarantee at this point!”
Xiao Rong was immensely delighted by her promise and nodded his head repeatedly, “Many thanks, Miss Yu! I am extremely grateful for this!” One had to realize that the weather in the lands north of the border was cruel and bitter. It wasn’t an easy land to live in. Every year, many of the tribe’s old and weak would end up perishing from some common illnesses as they weren’t able to get enough medications for treatment. Xiao Rong had long known of the efficacy and might of the Yu’s Pharmaceuticals.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a branch of ‘Tongren Medicine Hall’ outside of the borders. Thus, one could only buy the Yu’s Pharmaceutical’s products within the border. Furthermore, these products were extremely popular and as soon as they were restocked on the shelves they were sold out. Xiao Rong had sent a few of his subordinates to the nearby Zhou Prefecture. They had waited for over half a month before they were finally lucky enough to buy two bottles of the Yu’s cough and cold medicines. These medicines were now regarded by the tribe as heavenly cures.
Last winter, these medications were a saving grace for Xiao Rong. His stupid younger brother’s die-hard supporter, one of the highest ranking generals of the tribe, only had one son. That son had gotten heavily ill from the cold and was at death’s door. It was only after taking some of the Yu’s medications that he survived. Because of that, that general had switched allegiances to Xiao Rong out of immense gratitude, making his victory over the internal turmoil of the tribe that much easier!
If they could truly open a medicine stall at the mutual marketplace, a stall that actually sold medicines from the Yu Family, then the commoners of the tribe would regard him even more highly. Thus, his position within the tribe would become even more stable and assured! Furthermore, he had already been planning on returning the favor to her, so even without this benefit he wouldn’t just stand aside and watch her land into hot water. Xiao Rong immediately ignored the words Heavenly Teacher Lei had said and didn’t fall into temptation.
“Warriors, for the sake of the miracle medicines, for the sake of preventing sickness from taking our wives and children away from us, protect the royal princess!” Xiao Rong forcefully waved his arm as he trumpeted loudly. All of the men beneath him enthusiastically shouted, “Yes!”
The hundred of valiant warriors from the Tuha’erhanbu gathered around Yu Xiaocao’s group, protecting them tightly within the middle. They brandished their weapons towards the troops from the foreign tribes that were under Heavenly Teacher Lei. An immense battle was about to begin!
Lei Tengfeng was so angry that he almost broke a tooth from clenching his jaw so hard. He silently cursed the eighteen generations of Chief Xiao Rong’s family. If that man hadn’t suddenly appeared, Royal Princess Jinan would already be safely ensconced away in his hands.
With her on hand, then the secret behind the special horse fodder at the stud farm would be easily found out. Once he investigated the secret within the fodder, then extracted what he needed to make sure that it wouldn’t harm humans, he was absolutely certain he’d find an ingredient to prolonging life. Perhaps, once he understood this ingredient’s properties, he would truly be able to make the legendary immortality elixir!
After making secret investigations, he was certain that this special fodder was closely linked to the young maiden who was by that cold royal prince’s side. As expected, as soon as he set a devious poison at the stud farm, the imperial court immediately sent Royal Princess Jinan out to fix it.
However, he had miscalculated. The current emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty was a shrewd and clever one. He had sent out a fake royal princess out to draw away the vast majority of men under his command. Furthermore, the real princess had been disguised and had almost arrived at the stud farm. If it weren’t for the fact he had treated that bearded idiot’s gunshot wounds, he would have never realized the switcheroo.
However, from the way things looked now, if they decided to battle them head on, it was unlikely that he’d have an easy victory. Even if he managed to kidnap Royal Princess Jinan, he would have to pay a high price to do so. On the other hand, he really didn’t want to let this opportunity slip away! It was time to fight!
With one word from Lei Tengfeng, the battle began! Chunhua, Qiushi and the other four hidden guards had surrounded Xiaocao and her two good friends, keeping them safe within a tight circle. Xiao Rong also went into a protective stance by her side. Thus, the fighting spread like a wildfire while Xiaocao was in the safest area.
“Oh no! This sneaky fellow is actually using poison now!” Ning Donghuan had been ordered by his second older brother to not enter the battlefield but he was quite antsy at this moment. However, as soon as he saw the people on their side inexplicably fall over one by another, he remembered that Xiaocao had once mentioned that this despicable fellow knew how to make poison. He immediately became incensed and exclaimed his findings.
Xiao Rong watched as his men and horses slowly fell down to the ground. The stronger ones didn’t end up on the ground but they were still barely holding on. A shiver went through his body and he involuntarily clenched harder to the horse whip in his hands.
“Using poison? Who hasn’t used that before? Little Glutinous Dumpling, it’s up to you now! Let them experience what it means to ‘use one’s weapons against them’!” Yu Xiaocao obviously didn’t have any poison on hand. However, she had the little divine stone use its own spiritual power to cause a similar effect. The little divine stone’s cultivation level had improved again, so doing something like this was only a small appetizer for it.
Before Xiao Rong could figure out what this ‘Little Glutinous Dumpling’ was, a flash of golden light vaulted off his shoulder and went straight into the battlefield. As the tiny golden figure passed the enemy troops, it left them staggering and falling down to the ground.
When Yu Xiaocao found out that her opponent was highly skilled at making poisons, she had prepared special detoxifying pills to bring along. She nodded her head towards Chunhua and the maid took out a few bottles of pills. She hurriedly disseminated them to He Wanning’s bodyguards as well as the other men fighting in the field. In an instant, she had become a ‘white clothed angel’.
After taking a single detoxifying pill, the warriors from the Tuha’erhanbu Tribe, who had previously been rolling on the ground in pain, immediately calmed down. A breath later and these previously poisoned men were able to stand up again. Within a quarter of an hour, it was as if they had never been poisoned. They picked up their weapons again and began fiercely fighting against their foes.
Lei Tengfeng watched this all with jealous eyes. He was very well aware of the effects of the poison he had made. Those who were misfortunate enough to encounter the poisonous gas would start rotting from within. Even his own antidote wasn’t as effective as the detoxifying pill that the other person had. What did this mean? This meant that Royal Princess Jinan absolutely had a special recipe on her and it might even be a legendary method from the ancient times to concoct medicine! His desire to capture her and steal this method away had risen by another hundredfold.
“Heavenly Teacher! It is not safe here, so this subordinate will escort you to retreat now!” One of the brave warriors watched as the soldiers from his side fall over one by one from an unexplainable method. Slowly, the tide turned against them. If this continued, then it was likely it would end in their total defeat. The most important thing now was to escort the Heavenly Teacher away safely!
“No! No!! That stinky brat absolutely has a heavenly concocting method on her hands. If I’m able to capture her, then I’ll become an immortal and the world will become mine!!” Lei Tengfeng had fallen into a frenzy as he was obsessed with obtaining this method. He howled like a madman.
