Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The empress felt an acute pain in her body as soon as she woke up. Every cell in her body was groaning and filled with immense pain.
If someone else were in her shoes, he or she would have immediately yelled out.
The empress merely opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling before turning her head to look at Hong Wu, who was staying at the bedside.
“Your Majesty…” Seeing that the empress had awoken, he was at a lost for words.
The empress would never have thought that she had actually chased Lu Qi all the way from Liao City to here, not even in her dreams. Risking the danger of sustaining serious injuries, grabbing on to Lu Qi, and bashing through the Great Xia barracks to get to the city.
If Hong Wu hadn’t stopped her, she probably would have rampaged all the way to Great Xia.
“Is Lu Qi dead?” the empress asked immediately. Her voice was cold, not expressing a single sign of the pain from her body.
However, how could Hong Wu, who had ignited his essence blood not too long ago, not be aware of it?
“Even though he isn’t dead yet, he will be soon. I have detained him,” Hong Wu replied.
“Kill him!” One word from the empress had decided the fate of Lu Qi, Lu Pinghai. No matter how strong she was, she would never have the thought of respecting the wise and being reduce to acting submissive.
If I intend to kill you, I will.
“Your Majesty, this is a very dangerous move!” Hong Wu said in a low voice, “Your Majesty is the monarch of a nation, how can you do such a thing? Not to mention one Lu Qi, even seven Lu Qis can’t be compared to you. If anything happens to you, what will become of Dayao? What will become of the countless commoners?”
“I won’t die!” the empress replied subtly. She had still been clear-headed when she was in Great Xia’s camp, but she had indeed been at her limits at that time as she bashed toward the city gates with her blood essence ignited. Eventually, she lost consciousness after passing through the gates.
How else would she have headed toward the city so accurately?
“Even so, you need not do it by yourself. Given Your Majesty’s status, how can you take such risks!”
Hong Wu was full of bitterness.
He had seen the empress grow from a kid to who she was today, and their relationship was more intimate than his relationship with his own child. Now that she had landed in such a plight, how could he be unconcerned?
“Lu Qi is too dangerous! Besides, I said I will kill him on my own!” the empress replied faintly.
Unless the empress and Hong Wu were both present, no matter which army Lu Qi was in, he would still be too dangerous.
Although the empress didn’t know how Great Xia managed to make Lu Qi work for them, she could not leave such an expert in Great Xia’s arsenal. The aboriginal soldiers weren’t numerous to begin with, and they could only rely on their individual strengths. The thing that they were most fearful of was a super expert like Lu Qi.
It would still be fine if the other party was an ordinary Spirit Wheel expert, but Lu Qi was a super expert. Unless Hong Wu and the empress were to deal with him personally, nobody else would be able to stand against him.
Lu Qi had previously tried to kill Hong Wu and had now appeared with a Great Xia army. This proved something. With such a super expert in the Great Xia forces, it was simply too dangerous. Now that the empress had crossed paths with him, she would never let him slip away.
Needless to say, there were also other grievances that gave the empress more reason not to let him off.
“Could Your Majesty be seeking revenge for me? If that’s the case then I ought to die from putting you in such danger,” Hong Wu suddenly said to the empress in a very humbling tone that got her directly.
“You are thinking too much. I will kill you if you continue talking,” the empress replied coldly. If not for her being in so much pain that it was difficult to move about, she would have given this old man a good kick.
“Whatever it is, Your Majesty must never do this again.” Hong Wu sighed deeply.
“I won’t die,” the empress replied with a dull tone. “I want to see Lu Qi’s head. That will make me feel better.”
The moment Hong Wu stepped out from the door, he felt so moved that tears streamed down his face.
Your Majesty, did you do this for me?
Helping me seek revenge?
If not, then why are you doing this?
Your Majesty is willing to brave such danger for me.
All these years of painstaking efforts have not been in vain.
That little girl from back then has grown to be so strong now!
At the thought of this, another person appeared in his mind.
Damn it, we’re not going to let that bastard have it easy!
At present, even though that guy was indeed quite useful, Hong Wu detested Ren Baqian to the core.
For instance, the radio station, the drone, the walkie-talkie, the binoculars, and he heard that Ren Baqian had recently produced salt as well…
However, usefulness and hatred were two different things.
I will definitely not let this brat off!
After a while, Hong Wu brought in a head that as swollen as a meat bun.
“This is Lu Qi?” The empress was lying in her bed and felt suspicious. This person didn’t look like Lu Qi.
“Yes, Your Majesty, this is definitely Lu Qi!”
Hong Wu didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. This Lu Qi must have been so unlucky to be used as the empress’s shield while she rampaged over here. Even the 45 centimeter thick city gate had been wrecked. They had also created a large hole through Hong Wu’s residence and stone walls. It was very fortunate for Lu Qi to still be alive after all of this.
Of course, Lu Qi was already severely injured and had reached his limits or else he wouldn’t have ended up in this state.
For a Spirit Wheel expert, especially someone of Lu Qi’s standards, their physical strength wasn’t measurable by an ordinary martial arts practitioner.
However, even though Lu Qi managed to survive back then, he died an even more horrible death,
What a pity for a top grade expert to have died in such a fashion.
“Oh!” The empress nodded. Since Hong Wu said that this person was Lu Qi, then he must be Lu Qi.
Subsequently, the empress thought of something else. “Did he have anything else on his body?”
“He had this on him.” Hong Wu took out a wooden box.
“What’s that?” the empress asked.
“A Spirit Yuan Pill and the martial arts manuals that he had practiced as well a concise manual about his Thousand Thread Sleeves.” Hong Wu opened up the box, revealing several thin books. Beneath those books was a jade box which contained a Spirit Yuan Pill. On the pill were a few circles of veined patterns, and there wasn’t any scent from the pill, as if all of it was contained within the pill itself.
Hong Wu handed the Spirit Yuan Pill to the empress to let her have a look, covered up the box, and placed it beside her.
Following which, Hong Wu suddenly recalled something. “Your Majesty, you probably won’t be giving this Spirit Yuan Pill to that brat, will you? If that’s the case, I will kill him with a swat.”
Regardless of what it was, it was that brat’s fault!
“You are thinking too much again,” the empress faintly replied.
“Your Majesty has only known that brat for less than a year…” Hong Wu was dejected. It was true indeed that when a girl came of age, she would leave the family!
“I will kill you if you continue talking.” The empress was fuming mad as she gritted her teeth. Why hadn’t she realized how detestable this old man was?
At the same time she made a silent vow to herself to chase this old man out.
After sighing for some time, Hong Wu finally suppressed the thought of a girl leaving the family when she came of age and asked about the situation in Liao City. Previously, when the empress made her way over here, he had already asked about Liao City’s situation. However, he heard that they were under siege by Great Xia’s army. Those who lived in the city commander’s residence didn’t know much about the details, but now that the empress was awake, she would be the best person for him to get his answers from.
“Wu Shenghou is dead,” the empress replied enthusiastically. She then went on to roughly explain what had happened last night. There were many things that she was unsure about, so she left them out.
Hong Wu only understood that Ren Baqian made something and that this item was brought back to the Great Xia barracks by its soldiers. Thereafter, Wu Shenghou and many of the other captains and commanders lost their lives. Li Qianqiu’s soldiers, together with the winged cavalry, then attacked the Great Xia army, totally massacring them.
Upon hearing this, Hong Wu felt incessantly happy.
The southern invasion by Great Xia was entirely planned by Wu Shenghou. Now that he was dead, it wouldn’t be easy for them to find another person to replace him.
Tiesuo Pass and Shun City just had to suppress the Great Xia soldiers that were there. With Li Qianqiu’s soldiers, over 1,000 winged cavalry warriors, and the 3,500 defenders and reinforcements from the Protectorate of the South that were transferred over, they formed an army of 11,000 soldiers. Such a force would be sufficient to eliminate the Great Xia soldiers in the northern territory of Dayao. Tiesuo Pass and the siege of Shun City would then naturally be freed.
This time around, Great Xia could be said to have suffered a huge defeat and had ended up with nothing.
One must know that currently, Great Xia had already injected 700,000 soldiers into their army apart from another 180,000 soldiers outside Shun City and Tiesuo Pass. Originally, Wu Shenghou had 110,000 soldiers. Adding the other 140,000 soldiers within Dayao’s boundary, there was a total of 430,000 soldiers.
At present, Wu Shenghou was dead and the Great Xia army was being massacred. Even if they did manage to escape, only less than half of them would be able to make it.
In addition, after eliminating the two armies inside Dayao’s borders, Great Xia would only be left with over 200,000 soldiers in the south. They probably wouldn’t be able to handle the impending attack from the aboriginals.
After both parties had finished their conversation, Hong Wu left with the head and felt exultant. A while later, he sent the radio station to the empress’s room as per her request.
Ren Baqian was presently sitting atop the city wall. The winged cavalry were already starting their attack.
After intercepting the Great Xia reinforcements from both routes, 3,000 soldiers began attacking toward the north as well.
Nobody bothered with the few thousand guards in the Great Xia east barracks.
They would probably stealthily sneak away too.
The city had also dispatched some of the militia toward the north barracks to seize their rations.
However, Ren Baqian simply sat there, awaiting the empress’s return.
“It has already been eight hours right?” Ren Baqian checked the time. He had no idea where the empress had chased that Lu Qi to or why she hadn’t returned after so long.
Since the distance was too far away, the walkie-talkie was out of range. Thinking over it, however, given the empress’s strength, as long as she didn’t barge into the Great Xia army alone, she should probably be able to make it back in one piece.
“Sir Ren, the empress is at Tiesuo Pass!” someone suddenly ran up the city wall and reported.
“How did the empress end up there?” Ren Baqian was astonished.
“The empress is using the radio station to contact you. She’s waiting for you,” the soldier said.
Ren Baqian hurriedly returned to the city commander’s residence.
“Your Majesty? Why did you go to Tiesuo Pass?”
“Oh… Why bother about why I came here?” the empress rarely got angry.
My body is still hurting, and there you are, uttering such nonsense!
“Your Majesty, you’re the boss, you call the shots!” Ren Baqian immediately acknowledged his mistake.
“I will be here to keep watch for a few days. Come and fetch me once you have eliminated the enemy.” The empress reverted to speaking with her cold voice.
“Yes! When that happens I will ride the rainbow clouds to fetch you!”
“You will bear the consequences if I don’t see these rainbow clouds.”
