Chapter 1127: Three-Pronged Approach to Conquer the World (Part 1) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
Although it's called a holiday, we're not really idle.
Having a rare opportunity to personally experience the Southeast Continent, she naturally wanted to seize the chance to understand the situation there, for only by knowing oneself and one's enemy can one be victorious in every battle. With this in mind, Shen Tang felt the invisible burden weighing on her shoulders suddenly disappear, giving her a long-lost sense of ease.
When Shen Tang was in a good mood, everything became easier to say.
With a wave of his hand, he released the prisoners.
"While the household registration system is still in disarray, let's find a way to start a new life on our own. It's much better to live under an assumed name than to lose our lives." Shen Tang was new to the area and didn't want to keep these unknown prisoners around. How would they survive without her?
That's outside her jurisdiction.
They let everyone go, except for that young man.
Judging from the young man's demeanor, he was literate and could act as her guide; she didn't want to waste three days getting lost. She had considered keeping the little girl and her grandmother as well, since this grandmother and granddaughter were special among the prisoners—an old woman and a young girl relying on each other, struggling to make a living in this world. However, the old woman politely declined her offer, saying they could rely on relatives.
The relatives live not far from here.
Shen Tang nodded and said, "In that case, take care."
The young man watched helplessly as the other prisoners received a day's rations from Shen Tang, thanked him profusely, and ran off, while he had to stay behind to face this lonely ghost from the north. His face darkened considerably, but he had no choice but to put on a brave face and deal with Shen Tang.
How could Shen Tang not know what he was thinking?
She loved watching others' expressions of frustration at being unable to defeat her but having to endure it; it was so satisfying! No wonder thugs and bullies enjoyed harassing men and women! With Qi Yuanliang, that Tang Sanzang, not around, and no one she knew nearby, she could indulge her true nature. Swinging on vines and tumbling over rocks, she weaved through the woods, occasionally stopping to urge the young man to catch up, her face beaming with unrestrained laughter.
In the jungle, one can occasionally hear tunes that have changed their tune.
The melody of this piece is strange, and the content is even stranger.
"Want to be one?"
"Let's be cool~ right~"
"While freeloading..."
"And it can even knock off their big~sinus~"
"Want to be one?"
"Let's be awake~ then~"
The young man suppressed the urge to run away, forcing himself to follow like a walking corpse. A few years ago, he would have rather died than approach such an evil spirit. The creature was indeed a mountain ghost, weaving, climbing, and leaping through the woods like a monkey possessed.
Could this mountain spirit be a monkey spirit from the north?
Lost in thought, the young man was suddenly struck by a dark shadow descending before him, accompanied by a strange buzzing sound in the air, like the whistling of a sharp weapon. Startled, he recoiled, and Shen Tang, her legs hooked around the tree trunk, deftly flipped down. Only then did the young man notice the delicate feathered arrow clutched in her right hand. A wave of fear washed over him; had his vigilance dropped so drastically? He hadn't even noticed a stray arrow so close? The young man tentatively asked, "Could it be pursuers?"
Shen Tang looked down at the inscription on the end of the arrow.
The handwriting is childish, but you can vaguely make out that it is the character "翟".
According to the young man, the surname Zhai is not common in the southeastern continent, mostly inhabited by people living in the southern coastal areas, numbering only a few hundred thousand. This surname is rarely seen in the now-defunct Sun Kingdom! At the time when the Sun Kingdom was destroyed by the Qu Kingdom, if you encountered someone with the surname Zhai within its borders, nine times out of ten they were from the Qu Kingdom. The keywords Qu Kingdom and the surname Zhai reminded Shen Tang of an old friend from many years ago.
"They shouldn't be pursuers."
Shen Tang put the feathered arrow away.
His gaze fell in the direction from which the arrow had come, waiting for something.
"Oops, I shot the wrong one—"
A slightly childish voice drifted from afar. The young man looked in the direction of the sound and saw about twenty heavily armed soldiers following a girl who appeared to be just over ten years old. The girl wore a crimson, round-necked robe with long, narrow sleeves, adorned with several feathered ornaments at her waist. A tiger-striped animal skin was draped diagonally over her shoulder. She held a bow in her left hand and carried an exquisitely crafted quiver inlaid with gold and jade on her back. The arrows in the quiver were identical to those that Shen Tang had intercepted, clearly indicating that this arrow was made by the girl in the red robe.
The girl's expression tightened when she saw the arrow in Shen Tang's hand.
"Did either of you see the prey pass by?"
The soldiers appeared unfazed, but in reality, they were all on high alert. Shen Tang had no doubt that if she made any move that could be misinterpreted, these soldiers would attack her vitals.
Shen Tang: "There's no prey."
He glanced at the young man and said, "There are only the two of us here."
Realizing she had almost accidentally injured someone, the girl clasped her hands in apology, her beautiful, moist peach blossom eyes sparkling as she said in a clear voice, "...I'm sorry, it's my poor archery skills that startled you both. I heard strange monkey sounds coming from afar in the forest and mistook them for man-eating monkeys that had disturbed the village at the foot of the mountain. Were you both frightened? If you don't mind, consider this a small token of my apology."
Shen Tang: "..."
youth:"……"
If the girl hadn't said anything, it would have been fine, but her explanation made the young man burst out laughing. Shen Tang's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and he forced a smile: "What strange ape-like sound?"
The girl thought carefully: "What...?"
Shen Tang: "..."
The young man, who had barely managed to hold back his laughter, broke down again.
"Pfft—"
Shen Tang glared at him, furious and embarrassed: "If you make another 'puff' sound, I'll cut off your tongue and feed it to the monkeys!"
The girl was initially puzzled, but after a moment of stunned silence, she belatedly realized—had she mistaken the loud singing of a person for the strange cries of a monkey? This made her feel both embarrassed and uncomfortable.
I had to bite the bullet and apologize awkwardly.
Shen Tang waved his hand and placed the arrow on the ground.
He said goodbye and left, saying, "It was just a misunderstanding, it's nothing."
Shen Tang didn't want to have much interaction with these people, and being interrupted like this, she lost her interest in letting loose and focused on descending the mountain. When they reached the halfway point, the young man suddenly asked, "Do you know the true identity of that lady from earlier?"
"I don't know, and I'm not interested."
The girl's eyes, however, held a hint of familiarity.
Shen Tang wasn't interested, but the young man was eager to share: "All of her attendants are martial arts masters, some even possessing an aura that lingers and doesn't dissipate, and the lowest-ranking are at least fourth-class novices. Ordinary noblemen going hunting in the mountains wouldn't need such a entourage. Even members of the Sun Kingdom's royal family wouldn't be able to afford it... This queen..."
What's wrong with her?
The young man then changed the subject and started talking about other things.
"I've heard that there are women in the Qu Kingdom who can cultivate! Although it's limited to just one country and their numbers are few, that female ruler's aura is pure and clear, and her radiance is restrained, clearly indicating that she is a martial artist."
The fact that women in the Qu Kingdom could cultivate was something that the Sun Kingdom had only vaguely heard about, and most of the powerful families didn't care. Even if it were true, they wouldn't believe it without seeing it for themselves. It wasn't until the Qu Kingdom launched a large-scale invasion that the rumors were proven true.
Not only does the Kingdom of Qu have women capable of cultivation, but it is also said that shortly after the King of Qu ascended the throne, he overruled objections and pressured the court to appoint his second daughter as Crown Princess! This Crown Princess appointment was not merely a formality; she was given not only a title but also real power, officially granted the authority to establish her own residence, the Crown Princess's Palace! The arrows used by this queen are inscribed with the character "翟" (Zhai), indicating her cultivation abilities, and she is heavily guarded. Even if she is not a noblewoman from the royal family of Qu, she must be a woman from another prominent family with the surname Zhai…
Or perhaps—
This female ruler is none other than the Crown Princess.
When the young man voiced his conjecture, Shen Tang, who was walking ahead of him, had a moment of realization: "The appearance of an old friend, the son of an old friend."
When she saw those peach blossom eyes, she thought of her old friend from many years ago. It would be a lie to say she didn't want to see him, but the thought of her rare opportunity to sing and showcase her voice, only to be slandered by her old friend's son, who called her a "monkey-like wailing," made her even more conflicted.
Do you think she can still see Zhai Xiaofang?
Let's bury this dark history for now.
The young man heard her words clearly, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
"It was quite a coincidence."
The young man was surprised to hear Shen Tang say this.
Just as he was wondering what she meant by coincidence, he saw Shen Tang transform into a gust of wind, raise her hand, and send the wild boar that was trying to ambush them rolling on the ground with a palm strike. The young man thought she was going to eat the wild boar, but to his surprise, she straddled its back and sat down steadily.
As a wild animal, the wild boar possesses an extremely keen sense of smell and could clearly detect the terrifying aura emanating from Shen Tang. Faced with this intimidating aura, it chose to be docile and obedient. Shen Tang effortlessly acquired a temporary mode of transportation for himself.
youth:"……"
The wild boar smelled strong, so he silently kept his distance.
Although the mountains don't appear to rise and fall much, they are connected one after another, winding and turning, making it easy to get lost deep in the mountains if you don't have a good sense of direction. At the foot of the mountains, flags flutter, indicating that some people have set up camp.
There were not many tents in the village.
A large flag adorned with various bells was erected in the center.
The flag is embroidered with the conspicuous character "翟".
Near the foot of the mountain, the road splits into two. One leads to the main camp; the road surface is flat and wide, and the weeds and gravel on both sides have been carefully cleared away. The other road is relatively narrow and in poor condition. Shen Tang felt her scalp tingling and decided to choose the second road.
The young man said, "Don't choose that one."
The camp at the foot of the mountain had outposts that could see what was happening here.
The second path is obviously untouched recently. They came from the mountain, and deliberately going that way would only arouse suspicion.
Shen Tang: "..."
Of course she knows!
Now all we can do is pray that Zhai Xiaofang isn't here.
Fate clearly didn't want her to have her way; what she feared most came to pass—dozens of martial artists dressed in hunting attire rode tall horses, intending to go hunting in the mountains. The leader, a man in tight-fitting clothes, had changed quite a bit in his features compared to her memory; his lines were more rugged, but his eyes remained unchanged. Those amorous peach blossom eyes softened his iron-blooded aura by a third, making him less of that cold, unapproachable aura.
The two sides walked towards each other.
Shen Tang stepped aside to let them pass first.
"What smells so bad?" Although martial artists are often covered in sweat and odor, their smell is still relatively mild compared to that of wild boars.
Shen Tang: "..."
The man in the tight-fitting clothes heard someone complaining and then noticed the source of the smell—two commoners leaning against the mountain wall, a young man in his early twenties and a thin girl with a sallow complexion.
The girl was riding a ferocious-looking wild boar.
The smell was coming from the wild boar.
Seemingly sensing his gaze, the girl riding the pig also looked over, but quickly looked away. The man in the tight-fitting clothes assumed she was just an ordinary person afraid of him. He lightly reprimanded the guard who had just said "stinky," saying, "Don't be rude. Go into the mountains first. If we go too late, there won't be any decent wild animals left."
Half an hour later.
When he found the girl in red robes who had gone into the mountains earlier, and learned from her that she had hunted a wild boar herself, he was stunned. The girl was displeased with his distraction: "...Father, what are you thinking about so intently?"
The man in the tight-fitting clothes came to his senses and smiled slightly: "I was just thinking that when I went up the mountain just now, I saw someone riding a pig."
The girl in the red robe asked in surprise, "Riding a pig?"
I've seen people ride horses, donkeys, and mules, but I've never seen anyone ride a pig.
"This thing stinks, how can you even ride it?"
The man in the tight-fitting clothes smiled again, as if he had just thought of something.
"Of course it is possible."
The girl in the red robe thought to herself, "This is strange."
Ever since she could remember, her father rarely smiled, and when angry, he would kill—many people. However, her mother told her that her father wasn't like this when he was a boy. He was not only very cheerful but also very talkative. As for whether he enjoyed killing, her mother didn't know. The girl in the red robe was very curious about why this was the case, but her mother avoided the topic.
When asked, the father himself did not answer.
Left with no other option, they had to ask the Grand Tutor.
Grand Tutor Yu said: "Because his brother died."
[Father's brother? That must be Uncle Wang?]
He was also the former king of the Qu Kingdom.
I had only heard of the girl in the red robe from my grandfather and the others.
Grand Tutor Yu: [Besides that reason, there's also the fact that he's old. When he was a teenager, he was talkative and cheerful; that was youthful chivalry and high spirits. Now, it's called "a young man inexperienced and unreliable."]
Why are you grinning like an idiot for no reason?
The girl in the red robe: [...]
Based on past experience, the girl in the red robe found it strange.
Is it funny to see someone riding a pig?
"It's even more interesting to think back to when I was young and rode one myself."
The man in the tight-fitting clothes recalled that it was something from many, many years ago, so long ago that he could only vaguely recall it. At that time, he was not yet the king, and his elder brother was still alive.
"You've ridden one before? Was it more fun than horseback riding?"
"It's not fun, but it's fun when you're with your friends."
The girl in the red robe asked softly, "With Uncle?"
The man in the tight-fitting clothes said, "No, it's a friend."
The girl in the red robe couldn't understand why anyone would like to ride an ugly and dirty pig; what a strange person. Speaking of strange people, the girl in the red robe also told the man in the tight-fitting clothes about the strange person she had met not long ago: "...His singing was so awful that my daughter misunderstood."
"You missed?"
He personally oversaw his daughter's martial arts training.
She knows best what level of archery skill she possesses. Let alone such a short distance, she could hit the bullseye every time, even across a mountain.
"It must have hit, but it was caught." The girl in the red robe lost her playful and innocent expression, and gained a composure that was beyond her years. "To catch it so easily, without even a scratch on her palm, her strength is unfathomable."
The girl in the red robe didn't suspect the thin, sallow-looking girl.
She suspected that the young man was hiding his true abilities.
"The daughter was worried that they were remnants of the Sun Kingdom, so she claimed that her archery skills were poor and that she mistook the strange singing for the cries of man-eating apes, thus deceiving and luring them away." If she were alone and captured by them, she would be doomed. "The two were also fugitives."
(ω)
I passed by a temporary store in the mall today and, without thinking, bought a bag of candy...
When I went to pay the bill, my heart died.
PS: There was a bug in this chapter, which has been corrected _(:з」∠)_ Zhai Le has two daughters, the one with the "proper bone" is the younger daughter, I remembered it wrong.
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