Book 3: Chapter 1: Rudong Chaos
Book 3: Chapter 1: Rudong Chaos
The carriage still didn’t move. The young lady at the front of the carriage didn’t show much nervousness either. Meanwhile, a calm, yet ridiculing voice transmitted out from inside the carriage. “Li Qilong, as a city supervisor, you naturally know that any attempts of assassination directed at me are a crime deserving of execution of all your relatives. You do not care about your own fate, but could it be that you wish for all of your family members to accompany you in death too?”
Li Qilong smiled gently. “There is no need for your majesty to worry, this humble one’s family members have already been properly tended to.”
“Is it the southern Great Mang Dynasty? It seems like the one who incited you to do something like this gave you some kind of a promise. Perhaps you were promised an even better position down south?” The voice from within the carriage was filled with even more ridicule. “Indeed, if you succeed here, you still have a chance of fleeing south from here. However, if this type of thing took place within Yunqin Empire’s borders, how much resentment and anger do you think you’ll have to shoulder? Forget about my Yunqin Empire’s great army’s suppression, even the so-called Great Mang Dynasty might disappear overnight… do not forget, if we want to kill, it doesn’t necessarily have to be within Yunqin Empire’s territory. You are merely a defected city supervisor, how many elite experts do you think Great Mang Dynasty will dispatch to escort you and your loved ones every day? Will they be able to stop my Yunqin Empire’s powerful assassins? Were you born stupid, or are you just unwilling to confront these key points?”
Li Qilong’s round face twitched, forcefully calming himself down. “From today forth, Li Qilong has already died. Regardless of whether he was killed by you in retaliation after being found guilty of conspiring assassination, or whether he was killed by assassins while protecting you, from today forth, he has already died on this road, no one will know that he is still alive. Not even the most powerful assassin will chase after someone already dead.”
The carriage remained silent for a moment, and then a voice sounded again. “You really are still too lacking in the end, your official rank too low, the people you’ve come into contact with limited. This is why you all are being toyed with like chess pieces in this game of politics. It’s not something you are able to understand at all.”
Her tone was extremely flat, but these calm words instead carried a disdain that made Li Qilong feel completely inferior, it was as if he was but a chicken before a proud peacock, moreover one who was standing in mud, stomach sticking out a bit, a chicken that had half its body drenched.
Normally, he might not even feel the slightest bit of dissatisfaction, yet today, his round face twitched involuntarily again, his chubby finger’s joints releasing cracking noises. He stared at the carriage, a nasty grin on his face as he said in a strange pitch, “Born in the Imperial City, dragon blood flowing through your veins, so what? My social status is too low, so what? Aren’t you still going to die under my hands today?! My name is Li Qilong, but today, I am going to rename myself to Dragonrider Li, going to ride your body!”[1]
No voice of response sounded again from the carriage. The rain poured down with increased ferocity, water splashing everywhere as the raindrops struck the carriage, water splattering on Li Qilong’s face. His completely soaked right hand was shaking slightly.
“Kill her!”
Suddenly, he released a fierce shout!
Following this fierce shout that was like that of defending a city, several hundred armor-plated masked swordsmen silently closed in on this carriage from all directions.
However, the first ones to reach the carriage weren’t these black cloth-masked, cold bladed swordsmen, but rather the black arrows fired from the forest.
Following the sounds of bow strings vibrating, densely packed black arrows shattered countless bamboo leaves, carrying air shattering screaming noises as they pierced through the rain, instantly descending upon the carriage’s surroundings.
The two short footed horses and the carriage itself immediately became porcupines, bloody streams moving along the mud and rainwater. The young lady previously at the front of the carriage was nowhere to be seen; before the arrows rained down, she had already swiftly opened the carriage door, making her way inside.
The power of these black arrows were all above those fired by Lin Xi, yet even though these arrows that impaled the horses covered the carriage, not a single one could penetrate through.
Under a creak noise, the entrance of the carriage, now a bit crooked from the death of the horses, opened up again. A white-clothed woman with thick, beautiful hair coiled up walked out.
This white-clothed woman had a bit of a tired expression on her face, some wrinkles also appearing at the corners of her eyes. She wasn’t extremely slim, her chest also not especially large, her features normal. However, this woman who wasn’t all that stunning, the moment she appeared, all of these swordsmen who were used to seeing bloodshed, as well as the several dozen cold-blooded and ruthless archers hidden in the forest’s movements became a bit sluggish.
It wasn’t because of this white-clothed woman’s appearance, nor was it because she was a cultivator, but rather because of her status!
Just from this Li Qilong’s assassination attempt on her alone, one could see that Yunqin Empire faced troubles both domestic and abroad, powerful enemies nibbling away at them outside, constant acts of aggression internally. However, even with all of these internal and outside turmoil, Yunqin Empire was still this world’s most powerful empire. In other words, Yunqin Empire was single-handedly resisting Tangcang Country from the west, repelling Great Mang Dynasty to the south, and blocked the cave barbarians to the east, preventing them from making much progress. Meanwhile, this woman was precisely the little sister of Yunqin Empire’s current emperor, the one with the greatest authority in this world!
This truly was a meeting bestowed by the heavens. If it wasn’t for her leaving the imperial city, forget about a city supervisor like Li Qilong, even if it was a provincial supervisor, they might not necessarily be able to see this woman many times in their lives.
That was why even if this woman wasn’t all that stunning in appearance, her thin lips even giving one a bit of ice-cold and fickle impression, it was precisely because of this woman’s status, her harsh words directed at Li Qilong just now that made this Li Qilong, who already didn’t have much passion left for female charms since several years ago, even when he was only staring at her thin lips, feel a wave of indescribable treacherous flame surge in his lower abdomen.
Nervousness, fear, and hatred filled his eyes as he stared at this white-clothed woman. His mind was only filled with thoughts of tearing her clothes to shreds, pressing her down and ravaging her while stabbing and cutting her snow-white body!
The black cloth-masked swordsmen were all extremely dauntless, moreover, their bodies presumably all had ambiguous passion blazing within. Even though this white-clothed woman was definitely a cultivator, these black cloth-masked swordsmen, after a moment of sluggishness, already reached the carriage’s surroundings, charging in a fanatical manner.
When a black masked swordsman fiercely stepped on the head of one of the collapsed horses, leaping high into the air, the black border army long blade hacking down towards this white-clothed woman, the white-clothed woman was still standing at the front of the carriage, nothing in her hands at all.
However, this black masked swordsman’s pupils suddenly contracted. The white-clothed woman’s right hand reached out, and then with a strange type of posture and speed, before his blade descended, it already landed on his wrist.
He clearly heard the arm bones below his own armor shatter, and then the black long blade already shifted into the white-clothed woman’s hands. This black long blade, while moving along the fine armor crack of his neck, removed his head… at the same time, the white-clothed woman’s left hand also already lightly tapped on his breastplate.
Boom!
This was just a light tap, yet the noise that was released was like that of a muffled, heavy explosion.
This black masked swordsman’s head moved upwards, but his body was instead like a kite with its string cut, flying backwards, a clear, fine fist imprint by his chest.
The blood that gushed out from the severed neck rained down on several black masked swordsmen’s bodies, covering their view, yet not a single drop landed on this white-clothed woman’s body.
The surroundings suddenly went cold, everyone’s line of sight following that headless corpse and rain of blood’s movements.
However, in that instant, the white-clothed woman already got off the carriage, two heads shooting into the sky with a swing of her blade. One of the headless corpses was also pushed out by a palm, making two black masked swordsmen fly outwards too.
Black masked swordsmen swarmed over from all side, but this white-clothed woman only walked slowly, as if she was incredibly relaxed. With each swing of her blade, if heads didn’t fly, then it was bone fragments that flew outwards.
No one was able to stop her at all. Three swordsmen swung their blades at the same time, yet with just a turn of her hand, the three blades were all sent smashing back into their own bodies, the three of them tumbling backwards in an incredibly miserable state.
She was just like a giant elephant moving through a flock of sheep, even if it was the most simple movement, even if her next move was predicted, it was still completely impossible to stop.
Underneath the oil paper umbrella, Li Qilong’s body was already shaking uncontrollably. He knew that this white-clothed woman was a cultivator, but he never expected her to be this strong!
In the forest, several dozen archers in bamboo hats stood coldly like boulders, the Black Stone Power Bows in their hands never leaving the white-clothed woman’s position.
Two individuals slowly approached from the bamboo forest behind these dozens of archers,.
One of them was a giant with a robust build, on his body a set of bronze heavy armor, even his face covered underneath, a horrifying dual bladed giant axe in his hand. He was a head taller than even the tallest archer, while the dual-bladed poleaxe in his hands was almost the same length as his height.
Regardless of whether it was the heavy armor covering his body or the poleaxe’s snow-white blades, they all had fine and orderly runes carved onto them, carrying a type of unique power, no raindrops stopping on them.
The other individual wore an ordinary set of gray-colored cotton robes, his face not covered. This was a middle-aged man who had an ordinary built, a grim expression on his face. He didn’t have any weapons in hand. His hair that was turning white at his temples was pinned together by three jet-black pins into three buns, definitely a bizarre hairstyle that left a deep impression.
While watching this scene of carnage, the heavily armored giant asked the grim-faced middle-aged man next to him, “Can we win?”
“Should be cultivation at the State Master level… we should be barely enough.” The grim-faced middle-aged man’s brows were furrowed tightly as he said this quietly.
“Then we should go.” The heavy armored giant was immediately eager to give it a try, the heavy armor and the giant axe in hand releasing a faint yellow radiance.
The middle-aged man’s robes were completely drenched, yet he didn’t seem concerned at all. He shook his head, saying, “There’s no rush, let’s wait a bit longer.”
1. The qi and long in his name can originally be directly translated as riding and gems respectively. Long is also the pronunciation for dragon