Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Ren Baqian thought that the empress would immediately send someone to find the crow general, but she didn’t.
Instead, the winged cavalry warriors were separately deployed outside as Ren Baqian and the empress rested in the biggest house in the village. The environment was very crude, but there was nothing to complain about.
The empress wouldn’t normally neglect herself, but she wouldn’t nitpick when it concerned the good intentions of her people. She rested there for the night.
The next day, the empress brought Ren Baqian, Gong Zheng, and some old villagers to the rear of the village where stones were densely piled together.
Seeing their shapes, Ren Baqian immediately guessed that these were tombs.
The village had only a few hundred people, but there were thousands of stone piles.
Some of the piles were slightly bigger, comprising of about ten percent. They were scattered among the tombs.
Most of the stone piles were basically made by stacking up a dozen fist-sized stones together.
First, someone brought over a basin of water.
Then, the empress said solemnly in front of the graves, “I’m the monarch of Dayao and the monarch of the aboriginals. I have a question for you today. Will the souls of our ancestors bless Dayao?”
There was no ceremony, and the empress simply stood there to ask a question.
Following these words, a gust of wind arrived.
An old villager put a twig in the basin, and it stood firmly in the water as if it had taken root.
The empress step forward, cupped her fists, and said, “Well, thank you! As long as I’m the monarch, I will seek a better life for my people. Please bless Dayao and the aboriginals.”
Gong Zheng and the old villagers also stepped forward and cupped their fists in appreciation.
Seeing their actions, Ren Baqian also did likewise.
Everyone then turned to leave.
There was no offering of three animals or other sacrifices.
There was simply a question asked, a twig taking root, and an answer given.
After returning to the village, Ren Baqian inquired, “Your Majesty, what happened just now?”
“I haven’t been here before, so I have to pay my respects since I’m here now!” the empress said casually.
“Are those souls still around?” Ren Baqian asked softly.
The empress gave him a strange look and countered, “Why do you ask? Didn’t they reply?”
“It’s a bit hard to believe!” Ren Baqian thought about the twig standing firmly in the water and felt that this was rather incredible.
Although he knew that this world possessed many mysteries and had heard from many aboriginals that the souls of the soldiers who died in battle would follow their skulls to the Sixty Thousand Mountains to bless and protect the aboriginals, he was still amazed by what he saw.
“Is there a need to offer sacrifices to the souls?” Ren Baqian added.
“Of course! Gong Zheng and three of the village elders will send some freshly killed animals.” The empress nodded.
“It feels a little strange—people usually offer the sacrifice first when seeking a blessing, but with Your Majesty, this is reversed. You send the offerings after you have received the answer.” Ren Baqian felt like laughing and asked, “If they didn’t agree, would you go and tear down their houses?’
“How could that be? I’m not an imbecile country wrecker, so how can they refuse? Isn’t it natural for the ancestors to bless and protect their descendants?” The empress felt that it was Ren Baqian’s thinking that was strange.
“Send the blood-offerings later. Even if I were to offer it personally, they aren’t fit to accept it!” the empress declared.
“Aren’t the descendants expected to offer sacrifices to their ancestors? Why would it be inappropriate?” Ren Baqian retorted.
“These are the words of the late emperor! He must have his reasons for saying this!” the empress rebutted.
The late emperor that she mentioned was Dayao’s first emperor, not her father.
As Ren Baqian turned to look at the mountain behind them, a thought flashed into his mind. Would the soul of the empress remain here after a few centuries? What about himself?
This matter was worthy of further consideration.
When he arrived at this thought, he posed the question.
The empress stopped in her tracks, pondered, and said with an unhappy look, “You are married to me, so you are an aboriginal. If they do not accept you, I will beat them up until they agree!”
There was nothing that couldn’t be resolved by thrashing them.
If there were such a case, then thrash them once more.
When they returned to the village, someone whispered to Gong Zheng who then reported to the empress.
At this point, Ren Baqian realized that although she didn’t say anything, she had arranged for the winged cavalry warriors to look for the crow general. The results were quickly relayed back.
A few dozen miles away, there was a vast expanse of damaged trees. The crow general had gone berserk and wrecked the forest, creating a circular clearing over there.
Someone speculated that the giant bird was chasing after something.
However, it was known for its speed and there were very few things in this world that a Cardinal Heaven level crow general couldn’t catch. After knowing its general location, the empress personally led a group to try and capture the giant bird.
Her idea, however, was different from that of Ren Baqian.
Ren Baqian wanted to use the crow general as a mount, but the empress had heard that the bird tasted good, especially its wings, which were tender and uniquely delicious.
It was a pity that they were scarce and never heard of in the vicinity of Lan City. As a result, she had never had a chance to taste it. Furthermore, it was at the Cardinal Heaven level.
It managed to escape last time and shouldn’t be allowed to escape this time.
…
The bichi finally understood the meaning of being pissed off. It was in that situation now.
When it saw the size of that creature, it knew that the other party was very strong, but it thought it could rely on its speed to frolic around the opponent.
As a result, the bichi was chased by that creature for a full day. Its tongue was hanging out, but that creature didn’t relax and refused to let go until it had caught the bichi.
Every lap was now a big lap because that creature had created a huge circular clearing by destroying the trees. If that creature wasn’t nearby, the bichi would have run deep into the forest much earlier.
It wondered whether it should run into the forest first before finding an opportunity to come back.
Just when its mind was whirling as it mulled over this decision, it discovered that the path in front was blocked.
However, it was overjoyed by this better than expected outcome as it rushed toward the red shadow in the crowd… At the same time, it scratched the face of the b*stard beside her.
The giant bird didn’t stop when it saw these people. Instead, its eyes were bloodshot as it charged at the empress who was dressed in red.
The color red acted like a trigger for the giant bird,
It made it excited as if it was injected with chicken blood!
The impulse was to tear that damn thing apart!
Halfway through charging, it recognized the lady in red.
After all, it was a Cardinal Heaven level beast, so its intelligence wasn’t that low compared to a human.
Even a dog has the intelligence of an eight year old kid, not to mention a Cardinal Heaven level beast.
At that time, the entire Six Doors had been exterminated by a group led by that lady in red.
The mangshan and red monkey, who were roughly at the crow general’s level, were killed in the battle.
Only the crow general had been able to escape.
Of course it remembered what had happened!
“Run!”
The group saw the four meter tall bird charging at them as if it was on drugs. They thought that it recognized them and was going to take revenge, but it suddenly slammed on the brakes and turned to flee.
They immediately realized that it was the same one that they saw in Tianjing Basin the year before.
This was confirmed when everyone saw its body.
As soon as it turned its head, a figure passed by and scratched at the bird’s neck feathers with sharp, two inch long nails protruding her fingers. Like metal scraping against metal, sparks flew and screeching sounds were heard. Lin Qiaole appeared!
Like the wind, she flitted past the giant bird and felt her heartache as she looked at her fingernails. This creature was really hard.
She went on the attack again and focused on the extraordinarily large eyes of the crow general.
The crow general fought desperately as it tried to flee. It fanned its pair of metallic wings at Lin Qiaole, generating a strong gust of wind that lifted even the weeds off of the ground.
It hopped up and snatched at Lin Qiaole with its metallic talons. If these talons landed, a hole would appear even if her body was made of iron.
“Where do you want to run now?” The empress sneered as she stepped forward and rushed with great vigor toward the crow general like a mountain.
She took another step, landed behind the creature, and launched a punch at the crow general.
The crow general turned and sent its metallic wing colliding with the empress. Even Ren Baqian and the rest, who were far away, could feel the shock waves. At the center of impact, the shock waves rippled in all directions like a stone being thrown into a pond.
The upper body of the empress was swaying, but the crow general was staggering.
The feathers of the crow general were comparable to steel. It was a fast and powerful beast that had few natural enemies. Furthermore, it was a Cardinal Heaven level beast.
Yet, faced with the empress who didn’t even exert her full strength, it ended up the loser.
Purple veins appeared on the face of the empress as her breathing rose!
Ren Baqian seemed to be seeing a mountain that was steadily rising.
