Chapter 651 Heavenly Fire! It's Heavenly Punishment!
“Girl, if we pass through that small town ahead and walk for another day, we will reach the border.”
"Tomorrow, we can return to Mando City! Then we'll wait for that guy, Broken Wind, to come and greet us!"
Zhuiyu finally smiled.
The journey back from Hara was neither particularly difficult nor smooth.
Passing through the yellow sand.
They had experienced the life of bandits.
They also experienced the biting wind that forced them all into a cave, where they were unable to move for three days.
Even when more than thirty people were starving and their stomachs were growling, they all unanimously saved all the food they could and gave it to the women.
Along the way, everyone slowed down because they were worried about Li Qingluo's increasingly large belly.
It has been almost two months since we finally reached the border.
Li Qingluo got off the carriage.
Que'er and Granny Zheng quickly stepped forward and supported her on both sides, saying, "Miss, please take it easy."
Even her robes couldn't conceal Li Qingluo's already protruding belly.
Although Li Qinglu felt that he was still agile and that it would not be a problem for him to mount his horse and fight the enemy again.
However, ever since everyone learned the truth, she has never even touched her longbow again, let alone lifted a sword.
She is clearly the one in charge.
But now they've all taken charge of her.
Even the "Kill" group, led by Sha Yi, has grown up with their own opinions and dares to ignore her demands!
Just like Kill Twenty-Seven, who was the weakest and youngest among the Killers, he used to look at Li Qingluo with bright, expectant eyes, hoping that her orders would also fall on his head.
But when Li Qingluo secretly asked him to steal the bow, he suddenly became deaf.
He walked past Li Qingluo without looking to the side.
Li Qingluo: ……
She also secretly recruited the other assassins several times. Not to mention the deaf ones, there were even some who had clearly made eye contact with her but suddenly went blind.
Li Qingluo: ……
Forget it, they all have their own brains now, and they've grown up and independent.
She could no longer force them.
It was thanks to Que'er and Granny Zheng's thoughtfulness that Li Qingluo's little weapons weren't confiscated, and she was allowed to touch and play with them. Otherwise, Li Qingluo was afraid that her hands would get moldy and rusty.
When I can wield a sword again someday, I'll have forgotten all the moves.
Finally, she made it to the border after a long and arduous journey.
Now she's not even allowed to ride a horse; she can only sit in a carriage and sway back and forth. These past two months have been like a prison ordeal for her.
These days are finally coming to an end.
After admiring the vast frontier scenery for a while, Li Qingluo felt a sense of confusion: she wondered how long this peace could last.
"Let's go, let's find lodging in town before dark. After a night's rest, we'll continue our journey tomorrow."
Just as the group was about to turn back down the mountain, Cang Xuan, who was still looking out, suddenly sensed something was wrong.
"etc!"
"Look, what's that?"
Countless black dots moved from afar towards the horizon, looking like a swarm of ants from a distance, but everyone knew they were not ants at all.
Rather, it was an endless, countless army, an expeditionary force from the Western Regions...
Everyone's expression changed drastically.
Sparrow: "Miss, we haven't heard anything along the way. How come they suddenly gathered so many troops?"
"They...they're here to attack Manto City?"
Li Qingluo narrowed his eyes slightly: "The Western Regions were jointly built by thirteen small countries and the imperial court, and the troops were also jointly assembled by the thirteen small countries."
"Of the cities that Great Chu lost before, we don't know how many Your Highness has actually recovered."
"But they must have suffered a defeat in the Western Regions."
"Otherwise, there would be no sudden increase in troop strength."
"And the fact that they arrived so quickly means that the troops must have come from the nearest small country."
"Kill One, take a few men and find out which country sent troops."
“Chase Rain, send a message to Mantuo City and tell Broken Wind about this.”
"The rest of you, we must travel through the night and bypass the city gate."
Everyone tensed up and became serious, immediately bowing their heads and focusing on their work. Soon, the group set off again.
Originally planning to stay overnight in the town, they headed straight for the border, not daring to linger any longer.
Even though they were tired, the group simply lit a fire by the roadside and rested for a while.
By the time Sha Yi returned, the sky was already glowing red.
"Young lady, I've inquired, it is..."
When the general announced the names of several small countries, Li Qingluo was surprised to hear a familiar name.
"The Eagle Kingdom? Is the Eagle Kingdom's Queen Mother so eager to prove her loyalty to the Royal Court?"
"The internal troubles have only been over for a short time, yet they still dare to send troops at this time."
"But as I expected, these are all small countries that are relatively close to the Central Plains, except for the Eagle Kingdom."
"The Eagle Kingdom's help in overthrowing General Baza was indeed quite impressive... but we've been to the Eagle Kingdom, so we know a bit about their background."
Li Qingluo lay on the soft cushions laid out on the carriage, repeatedly considering in her mind how she could subtly intimidate these Western Region soldiers.
"Chasing Rain, has Mantuo City sent a reply?"
At such a close distance, the message should have been transmitted very quickly.
However, Zhuiyu frowned and shook her head: "Miss, there has been no reply."
Li Qingluo slowly sat up. "No reply? Are you sure you sent it?"
Zhuiyu: "I'm certain it will be delivered to Pofeng."
"Moreover, given Po Feng's personality, there's absolutely no way he wouldn't respond unless something unexpected happened that prevented him from doing so."
Since receiving Duan Rongshi's letter last time, Li Qingluo has not received any other letters from home.
Therefore, she was not clear about the current situation in the Central Plains.
Now even Pofeng isn't replying to my letters. Could something have really happened?
Li Qingluo felt a little uneasy.
She remained silent.
Fearing she might overthink things, Zhuiyu quickly added, "Miss, Pofeng has always been calm and composed, and with His Highness behind him, I think we don't need to rush."
"We'll know what really happened when we get back tomorrow."
Li Qingluo: "No rush to go back."
Zhuiyu: "What did you say?"
Li Qingluo looked at Nanping, who was fast asleep beside her, and said softly, "The northwest wind is blowing tonight."
"In the dead of winter, the year is drawing to a close."
"No matter what happened in Mantuo City that prevented Pofeng from replying, we must stall these Western Region soldiers for now!"
Zhuiyu couldn't help but turn her head to look at Shayi beside her.
After exchanging a glance, Zhuiyu asked, "What do you want to do?"
Li Qingluo: "Use the wind to burn the mountain!"
The wind at the border is as sharp as a knife.
The mountains on the border are all earthen slopes.
Let alone burning the mountain, even if we wanted to burn it, there was nothing to burn at all.
The bare rocks and soil had even had the grass scraped clean by the people.
The killers and the rain chasers looked at each other, completely bewildered as to what Li Qingluo was about to do.
Li Qingluo offered no further explanation, but simply sat cross-legged and uttered a single word: "Wait."
As the army, which had clearly been outmaneuvered, approached.
When the sun reaches noon.
Just as everyone's patience was about to completely run out, Li Qingluo looked up at the sun in the sky.
She once used rain to summon thunder.
Today, she used the sun to set the mountain.
As the Western Regions army drew closer to the border of the Central Plains, a cry of terror suddenly erupted from the crowd.
"Fire...fire!"
"The mountain is on fire! It's on fire!"
"But how could there be a fire? Look, those mountains are completely barren, so what is the fire burning?"
The fear among the crowd grew louder and louder, and many people were so frightened that their legs went weak and they fell to the ground.
Before them stretched a continuous hillside, engulfed in raging fire.
The red flames seemed to dance, leaping higher and higher until they formed a high wall, completely blocking the path of the Western Regions army.
They originally needed to cross these mountains to reach the border of the Central Plains.
We'll reach Mando City in another hundred miles!
But now that mountain has become a mountain of knives and a sea of fire.
Everyone stared in horror at this incredibly bizarre scene.
"Yes, there's nothing on the mountain to burn, so what exactly is this fire burning?"
"It's heavenly fire! It's heavenly fire!"
"No, this is clearly divine punishment, it is divine punishment!"
"Allah does not allow us to wage war or invade other countries, so this is a warning to us and a divine punishment!"
“Let’s go back. Allah has warned us that we are not allowed to go any further.”
"Yes, let's go back."
No one is born liking war.
Even the bravest warrior.
So when they saw the strange sight before them, the soldiers, who had just been put on the march, began to have second thoughts.
They launched campaigns against the Central Plains year after year.
Their country was already exhausted from war, and its population had dwindled.
They could neither conquer the Central Plains nor let go of this obsession.
The original ambitions of the thirteen-nation alliance had long since crumbled due to the passage of time and the failures of several generations, and they had even gradually lost confidence.
Now, another strange phenomenon has appeared in the sky. What else could this be but a warning from Allah?
The crowd became restless.
Everyone believed this explanation.
They believed this was a warning from Allah, forbidding them from invading the Central Plains any further.
However, among the generals leading the army, the general from the Eagle Kingdom was the leader, and he did not believe this.
"Someone must be up to no good behind this!"
Their Eagle Kingdom had only just broken free from the bazaar's control over the people and escaped that damned curse of Shatuo Buddha.
Don't even think about fooling him with this mere fire!
"go!"
"You guys go ahead and investigate."
"This damned heavenly fire must just be a mirage, or some villain's trick behind the scenes."
"Our Eagle Kingdom will never fall for this kind of trick again!"
"Today we will expose this lie and show everyone what Allah's true message really is—"
"Soldiers! We are going to conquer the Central Plains."
"We must enable the people to live a better life."
"The Central Plains are fertile and vast, the people are prosperous, and the mountains and rivers are beautiful. Only when our people occupy the Central Plains and kill them all can we live a truly good life!"
"We want to make them slaves."
"We must make them submit."
"Let them make the Central Plains a blessed land for our descendants, a land where our Western Regions can also flourish—"
The general, mounted on horseback, rekindled the morale of his troops.
Seeing the soldiers' faces regain their desire and confidence, the soldiers who went to scout had successfully reached the front of the sea of fire.
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