Di Lirong adjusted the angle of her finger pointing at Shang Xiye, fixing it directly on Ji Fengyao's face: "Unless, he has a woman stronger than us by his side, making us back down."

Then, she changed the subject and turned her attention to Ji Fengyao: "What makes you think you can hold onto the Ninth Prince? If you only have your looks and figure, I can slash your face, break your hands and legs, and see what you have left to match the Ninth Prince."

Shang Xiche: "..."

The ministers and their wives: "..."

As expected, the King of Di did not plant spies in the capital or gather intelligence; otherwise, why would he send such a fool who had the audacity to provoke that bandit?!

Shang Beiyu: "..."

Meng Qi was indeed single-mindedly focused on doing evil, and raised such a stupid idiot!

A flash of anger crossed Shang Xiye's eyes, and he was about to reprimand her.

Ji Fengyao pressed his hand down, slowly stood up, and said with a grin, "Are you going to break my hands and legs?"

“Yes!” Dili Ronghe strode forward, hands on hips, exuding arrogance.

"I'll beat your second uncle! Who do you think you are? You dare to touch my young lady? I'll beat you to death first!" Xi Que cracked her whip and charged forward angrily.

Ji Fengyao quickly grabbed Xique with one hand and said casually, "Xique, calm down. She is, after all, a princess of an enemy country. Before her country is destroyed, we should still give her some face. If she wants to hit me, then let her do it."

"You! How dare you! We came here for the sake of friendship between our two countries, and you dare to curse us to ruin and destruction!" Dili Junyi slammed his fist on the table and stood up, his face dark and gloomy: "Is this how you, Dazhao, treat your guests, and what your sincerity is?!"

"Please forgive me for being an uncultured bandit. In our bandit understanding, enemy countries are meant to be destroyed. Our Emperor and esteemed officials of the Great Zhao are already incredibly generous to personally sit with us with smiles, even selling their daughters to perform dances and their sons for marriage. What more hospitality and sincerity do you need? Do you expect us to surrender directly?"

The Emperor and the other officials need to be mindful of diplomatic etiquette and have to smile obsequiously at you.

My lord is a war god! I have no reason to dishonor his spirit or fawn over you. If you want to fight, then fight! Who's afraid of who?

Shang Xiche, who sold his son, and the officials who sold their daughters: "..."

That bandit!

Why doesn't the Ninth Prince do anything about it? Can't he teach her how to speak properly?

Dili Junyi's bronze face instantly darkened completely:

Di... an enemy state?

These ignorant and utterly despicable bandits are even less cultured than they are!

How can you possibly reason with her?!

"I challenged you for the sake of the Ninth Prince. You ignorant woman, don't bring this up to the diplomatic relations between our two countries. Since you agree to fight, then let's fight!" Di Lirong was also quite angered by Ji Fengyao's barbed words, and arrogantly said, "However, since your Great Zhao is known as a land of civilization and etiquette, and women are not good at martial arts, I will not deceive you in horseback riding and archery. Let's compete in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting..."

"No, no, no, we can compete. I'll do my best to compete in anything you can think of. If you can defeat me in any way, then you win." Ji Fengyao walked off the table with her hands behind her back and a swaggering gait.

Arriving at the center of the banquet hall, he faced Di Lirong from afar.

Di Lirong looked at Ji Fengyao and saw that she had a harmless little chubby face, fair skin, and slender fingers.

This is clearly a delicate flower, kept hidden away in a secluded chamber and protected to the extreme.

"Since you've chosen to suffer, don't complain that I, the princess, will make you lose too badly," Di Lirong said with a victor's smile. "Then let's have a competition of horseback riding, archery, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, one by one. You decide the rules!"

Ji Fengyao raised her right index finger and shook it lightly, her smile innocent and naive: "No, no, no, you decide, I'll do whatever I want; otherwise you'll say my rules are unreasonable and play dirty tricks on me later."

Dili Rong was slightly surprised: "Aren't you afraid that the rules I set are unreasonable and that you simply can't follow them?"

"As long as you can meet the standard yourself," Ji Fengyao said idly, scratching her neck. "But you have to hurry. Even though it's early spring, the sun is still quite strong. I don't want to end up like you, tanned darker than charcoal."

Dili Ronghe: "..."

Even if you're going to humiliate yourself, there's a limit. What kind of riddle is this woman trying to play?

Looking down at her sunburnt, brown skin, and then at Ji Fengyao's delicate, porcelain-like face, Di Lirong felt a surge of resentment.

She knew that the men of the Great Zhao liked fair-skinned and beautiful women, but the children of the Di Kingdom grew up on horseback, galloping through the grasslands and forests from childhood. How could they, like the women of the Great Zhao, stay indoors all year round and develop such good skin?

I must thoroughly humiliate her!

Let the Ninth Prince and all the men of the Great Zhao know that this skin of mine is my greatest pride!

Dili Ronghe quickly established the rules for the competition:

Horse riding: Two people ride horses from the banquet venue to the edge of a distant mountain forest and each retrieves a small flag. The first to return wins.

Archery: The target is set at 300 meters, with five rings as the standard. The archer with the highest total score of three arrows wins.

The live target consists of ten wine jars randomly thrown into the air by the guards; the player who breaks the most jars wins.

In the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, the one who convinces the opponent without relying on others' opinions wins.

First, let's compare horseback riding.

Di Lironghe's horse is the best iron-hoofed horse in the Di Kingdom. Its coat is completely black, and it is nearly half the size of an ordinary horse. It looks like a small tank and can be called the king of horses.

When the waiter led the horse out, everyone present was astonished.

The Great Zhao Dynasty did not have such horses!

This bandit has already lost before he even begins!

Just then, a deafening roar came from the entrance of the venue:

"Roar!"

However, Ghost Face walked in slowly on his own, without anyone leading him.

It stood at the entrance of the venue, proudly shaking its even blacker and shinier fur. With its head held high, it strode with an arrogant and domineering air, slowly walking to Ji Fengyao's side, lowering its head, and haughtily asking to be petted.

The people present: "..."

Dili Ronghe: "???"

Although Shang Xiche did not want the Ninth Prince to marry Di Lironghe, Ji Fengyao's decision to bring out the Ninth Prince's warhorse for a competition would likely damage the reputation of the Great Zhao Dynasty. Therefore, he kindly reminded Di Lironghe, "Princess Ronghe, these are the Ninth Prince's warhorses."

Dili Rong and Yuan Li originally disliked the Ghost Face because it looked like a strange creature and was extremely ugly.

Upon hearing that it was Shang Xiye's war cavalry, they immediately changed their attitude.

But Dili Ronghe remained confident, saying, "So it's His Highness the Ninth Prince's war cavalry. They are indeed majestic and extraordinary."

However, neither the eagles in the sky nor the wolves in the mountains can outrun our iron-hoofed steeds. In this battle, even His Highness the Ninth Prince's cavalry would pale in comparison to our iron hooves.