"Kill!" Seeing that his whereabouts had been exposed, the assassin stopped hiding and charged out with a shout.
Qin Mu then noticed that these assassins had all rushed out from behind the temple. He immediately understood that there was a tunnel leading out of the city behind the temple.
Although I don't understand why it wasn't found during the search, I can't worry about that now; I need to defeat the assassin in front of me first.
"Pass on my order: the entire city is on high alert!" Li Shenfu shouted.
"Uncle, be careful!" Seeing an assassin approaching, Qin Mu handed Li Shenfu a horizontal sword, then stepped forward and shielded Li Shenfu behind him.
With a thought, he could move at will—how powerful! Qin Mu pointed a finger and uttered a low shout: "Condense!" Instantly, many soldiers appeared out of thin air within the temple, silently charging towards the assassin.
In the firelight, it was clear that the assassins were all monkeys, and many of them were highly skilled; they defeated the illusory soldiers in a single encounter.
However, it doesn't matter. These conjured soldiers were only meant to test and obstruct, and with Qin Mu's current strength, he could easily maintain a continuous stream of them.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!!" First came a burst of crossbow fire, then the troops advanced in an orderly fashion, demonstrating the well-trained style and combat skills of the Tang soldiers.
"Roar!" The monkey clan experts roared and rushed towards Qin Mu and his group without regard for their lives. Since Qin Mu and Li Shenfu had just given orders, they were naturally regarded as the leaders.
It was impossible for Qin Mu and his companion to be without guards. Even while they were drinking and enjoying the moon on the rooftop, they still had more than a dozen guards around them. Now, Hengdao stood in front of them, blocking their path.
Qin Mu wouldn't forget to bless them either; for him now, blessing dozens of people was truly a piece of cake.
The Golden Platform appeared, conjured by Qin Mu's own righteous energy. It was much more solid than before, and the guards were the same. This was the difference; his own righteous energy was much more refined than that of the void.
A monkey clan expert, under the cover of his subordinates, rushed towards Qin Mu. With a thought, Qin Mu erected a barrier of righteous energy in front of him and began to fight him with his sword.
With a palm strike and a sword strike, he kept the monkey clan experts completely at bay.
Shortly after the battle began, reinforcements from the Tang Dynasty arrived, and Han Chen and his men charged in. The increasing number of soldiers completely suppressed the assassins' movement.
"Bang!" The assassin leader clashed palms with Qin Mu and staggered back a few steps. Only then did he realize that most of his men were dead. Only a few experts were still holding on, but they were all injured. Meanwhile, a dense crowd was watching them intently from all around.
"Kill!" Knowing that he could not escape today, the monkey clan leader's expression changed, his eyes narrowed, and he shouted loudly as he charged towards Qin Mu with his sword.
"Hmph!" The Bu brothers snorted coldly, leaped up, and stood in front of Qin Mu.
Xi Junmai, Liu Renshi, and Fang Yi'ai also charged forward with their weapons.
Han Chen narrowed his eyes, flicked his finger, and a flash of silver light sent the silver needle flying.
The monkeys were quickly surrounded and killed on the spot. The tunnel through which they had entered was also discovered; it was located next to a rockery in the backyard. Qin Mu and his team only searched the inner chambers, so they didn't find it. Fortunately, it was discovered early; only a few monkeys had emerged when Qin Mu spotted them, preventing major losses.
"Hmph! I didn't expect you to have this trick up your sleeve. Luckily, Huai Dao, you discovered it early." Li Shenfu said, a flash of anger in his eyes. He secretly rejoiced; if Qin Mu hadn't been there, he might have been assassinated today.
The loss of over three hundred skilled monkey warriors in this assassination attempt must be considerable. It's not surprising that the monkeys only sent this small number; after all, besides the White-Eyed Wolf Clan, there are many scouts outside the city, and a larger force would certainly not escape their notice.
"This also shows that they have no other choice but to resort to such despicable means as a last-ditch effort," Qin Mu said thoughtfully.
"Hmm, that makes sense. It seems we need to seriously consider getting these guys more compensation."
"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, Uncle. Apart from gold, silver, and gems, the monkey clan doesn't have anything else of value," Qin Mu said with a smile.
“No problem! Gold and silver are fine too. I’m going back to the capital to report on my duties, so it would be perfect to bring some jewelry with His Majesty!” Li Shenfu said.
"Yes! Men! Hang all these assassins up to the city wall!" Qin Mu ordered with a smile. He understood Li Shenfu's meaning: I only want the jewels; you can handle the rest.
……………
"What to do? What to do?" In Wanxiang City, upstream of the Mei River, the Monkey King spoke in a panic, pacing back and forth in the house.
Below, a group of monkeys stood with their heads bowed and eyes lowered, all remaining silent.
"Your Majesty! Why don't we surrender?" an elderly monkey said tremblingly.
"Will the Tang people accept our surrender? We just attacked them last year and assassinated them. We don't even know if any of their high-ranking officials were harmed," the king asked hesitantly.
"It's better than doing nothing, right? There's no harm in trying," the old monkey said with a wry smile. He knew he had offended the Tang Dynasty badly. This was retaliation for last year's incident, and yet they still went to assassinate him. It was a case of old grudges not being settled, and new grudges being added.
"How about we just leave it at that and evacuate the neighboring tribes? They've been there for a month already, so they shouldn't be making any big moves. We also don't have any manpower coming from Lingnan," the king said, swallowing hard.
The monkey tribe also knew that the last great battle must have caused the Tang Dynasty a lot of losses, which is why they have been stationed in Wufen City.
"No, no, although the Tang Dynasty hasn't moved, those short, wolf-like tribes are still frantically searching for our tribe. What if they regroup and then attack again? What will we do then? We might as well surrender and see how the Tang people react," the old monkey advised.
The monkey tribe also captured some members of the White-Eyed Wolf tribe. From them, they learned that the White-Eyed Wolf tribe was a vassal army of the Tang Dynasty.
"Well, the Prime Minister is right. Let's send an envoy to see what the Tang people want." After thinking for a moment, the king finally agreed.
"Your Majesty is wise!"
"Tell the Tang people that as long as they withdraw their troops, their demands are not too unreasonable, and we can grant them whatever they ask for," the king said to the chosen envoy.
"Your Majesty, what if the Tang people are unwilling to withdraw their troops?" the envoy asked hesitantly.
"Let's try our best! Let's test the waters first, and then we'll discuss it further," the king said weakly, waving his hand dismissively.
"Here you go!"
…………………
In Lingnan winters, even ordinary people rarely wear two layers of clothing. Unless it's raining or windy, a single layer is enough.
The monkey tribe traditionally wears leather skirts and a half-length blouse woven from leaves and feathers; both men and women go shirtless. The chimpanzee tribe, on the other hand, has no concept of clothing. It was only in Lingnan that women were forced to wear a piece of hemp cloth around their chests.
Sometimes even Qin Mu blushed at the sight, let alone his soldiers. So Qin Mu issued an order that any unmarried soldier would be assigned a monkey woman as a concubine upon returning home.
This order was met with applause from everyone. Although Qin Mu considered the monkey women to be dark-skinned, short, and dirty, the soldiers didn't care. Many of them couldn't afford a wife back home. They'd probably take a sow for themselves, let alone a woman.
Li Shentong also agreed with this approach, since concubines had no status in the Tang Dynasty and were essentially treated as household slaves.
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