Chapter 1314: Chapter 1309: Conflict Triggered
Chapter 1314: Chapter 1309: Conflict Triggered
“After that… was it you who saved her?” Rong Sheng could roughly guess the reason why Xin Yi was so respectful and devoted to Chen Ruobai.
Chen Ruobai’s laughter contained a hint of cold scorn, “The men of Qiongzhou all thought Xin Yi was a woman, that it didn’t matter if she was defiled, worthless for anything significant. But this princess valued Xin Yi, took her back to our country to train her, and in just two years, she had conquered all the generals. I granted her the right to personally execute all her enemies from Qiongzhou, and she indeed lived up to expectations.”
“She killed the man who had defiled her back then?” Rong Sheng’s eyebrows knitted together slightly as if some thought had occurred to her.
“How could it be so easy?” Chen Ruobai stood up, looking towards Xin Yi, who was resting just beyond a window, and said in a low voice, “She bloodbathed the Imperial family, killed every single one of them, and also eradicated the elders of her clan, as well as… her father and brothers.”
Rong Sheng’s eyes immediately turned cold, “Even her own kin she didn’t spare.”
What difference was there between such a person and a beast?
“Kin?” Chen Ruobai turned around, the blood vessels in her eyes appearing, casting an enchantingly beautiful yet horrifying presence that was intimidating to behold.
Her voice began to tremble as if it had broken free from the reins, beyond control, “Treating her as a mere object to offer tributes, and not a shred of compassion as the Imperial family humiliated her, watching as she was sentenced to death, what kind of kin are those? They are nothing but… strangers with the same blood! What’s wrong with Xin Yi killing a bunch of cold-blooded strangers?”
Rong Sheng remained silent, knowing she did not need to argue these points with Chen Ruobai. However, Chen Ruobai pressed her as if demanding her agreement, “Tell me, with such a father and brothers, what use are they to her? They were still high-ranking generals of Qiongzhou! But how did they treat Xin Yi? Did she do anything wrong? It’s not easy at all for her as a woman to take revenge for herself, to carve out her own domain and declare sovereignty. Is that wrong?!”
Rong Sheng could not utter that it was not wrong, bound to obey Chen Ruobai, she could only slightly agree, her voice cold, “Not entirely wrong.”
“Ha!” Chen Ruobai let out a scoff laced with derision, “Women who have not lived through the same will never understand! But Rong Sheng, think about Chu Yifeng. He imprisoned you for years, don’t you want to kill him too? Don’t you hate that so-called mentor who brought you here, who failed to help you achieve your ambitions and instead used you as a tool?”
Rong Sheng’s heart quivered. She struggled to steady her emotions and when she couldn’t, she turned and left Chen Ruobai’s side.
Stepping outside the hall, she took a breath, feeling slightly relieved.
Such a person as Chen Ruobai was too oppressive to be around!
Even just a moment of listening to her talk about the women by her side could make one feel suffocated.
Fortunately, she wasn’t so easily influenced by Chen Ruobai.
She was only considering what the arrangements for tonight’s and tomorrow’s assault on Ruo Shui Pass would be.
Having been by Chen Ruobai’s side for so long without gaining her complete trust, she at least had earned her respect, which granted her freedom to move around Qiongzhou Prefecture.
After much thought, if the one attacking tonight was not Xin Yi, then it might well be…
“Gu Corpse.”
Rong Sheng remembered that when Chen Ruobai withdrew from the Xiao family, she left a batch of Gu Corpses for Xiao Muyan and took another batch of newly refined Gu Corpses with her.
This new batch was different from the previous ones; if used on the battlefield… Rong Sheng imagined such a scene and knew just how bloody it would be.
The defenders of Ruo Shui Pass, coming face-to-face with those crawling Gu Corpses, would likely be scared out of their wits.
These things, those who have not experienced them, find them difficult to deal with.
Rong Sheng had no choice but to seek out the place where the Gu corpses were stored.
Fortunately, she found the Blood Pool of Chen Ruobai in Qiongzhou Prefecture.
Here, the stench of blood reached to the skies, nearly drowning one’s sense of smell, and the Gu corpses became even more ferocious and terrifying, each one stretching out their hands, ready to snap a person’s neck at any moment.
Rong Sheng had studied Gu corpses and knew that only Chen Ruobai could control them. It was unrealistic for her to get rid of this large group of Gu corpses.
Moreover, she didn’t know through which entrance the Gu corpses might invade Ruo Shui Fortress, so she could only…
Rong Sheng took out a small glass bottle from her belt. Inside the bottle, there was a pale yellow liquid, which was perfume.
The glass was something she had taught Su Yingxue to make. After learning how, Su Yingxue gave the formula to the Thousand-Jiao Pavilion, allowing them to produce it and use it for jewelry and perfume, significantly increasing the Pavilion’s business.
This bottle of perfume was a gift she had received from Su Yingxue earlier and had always kept without using it.
As a physician, she never used perfume. She had kept it for convenience as an item to contact Su Yingxue, to let her know it was her. Now, it seemed it had another use.
Rong Sheng stood at the top of the stone steps and sprinkled the perfume downwards, drop by drop, all of it falling on a group of Gu corpses.
Amidst the overpowering smell of blood, the scent of the perfume now intermingled.
The scent of the perfume was long-lasting. As long as Su Yingxue could smell this perfume, she would likely be alerted and find the breach that Chen Ruobai had exploited at Ruo Shui Fortress.
After Rong Sheng had sprinkled all the perfume, she immediately left.
By night, groups of Gu corpses launched a surprise attack on Ruo Shui Fortress. Ye Mian, the commander of the fortress, was so frightened by the sight of these monstrous creatures that his old illness nearly recurred.
Luckily, Chu Yihan had already arrived at Ruo Shui Fortress. With Mo Qi’s help in commanding the battle, the Gu corpses were quickly annihilated.
Chu Yihan was spattered with a bit of the blood’s foul stench. He frowned in displeasure when he smelled it, but he still approached Ye Mian to ask, “General Ye, are you injured? The Gu corpses carry corpse poison.”
Ye Mian promptly knelt on one knee before Chu Yihan, “Reporting to the emperor, thanks to your great fortune, I am uninjured. This blood is not mine; it’s from the Gu corpses. It’s just that you… how do you recognize these as Gu corpses?”
Such things, he, who had been guarding Ruo Shui Fortress for many years, had seen many strange things, but he had never seen anything as fierce and frightening as this!
Chu Yihan signaled for him to rise and spoke indifferently, “I have been attacked before; these are the Gu corpses refined by the princess of Ji Yun Country, Chen Ruobai.”
“This… this…” Ye Mian was so shocked he couldn’t speak.
It was fortunate that Chu Yihan, who was so knowledgeable and accompanied by the Shadow Guards guarding Ruo Shui Fortress, was present. If it had been just him and his subordinates, they feared that tonight they would have been devoured by these Gu corpses, putting Ruo Shui Fortress in grave danger!
Mo Qi and the Shadow Guards rushed over, standing guard beside Chu Yihan. Mo Qi knelt on one knee, “Emperor, we do not know from which route these Gu corpses infiltrated Ruo Shui Fortress. If Ruo Shui Fortress has already been breached without our knowledge, it’s extremely dangerous.”
Tonight it was a batch of Gu corpses that entered. Tomorrow, it might be a vast army launching the attack. While Ruo Shui Fortress has ample soldiers, such a sudden assault could catch them off-guard, unable to mobilize troops and issue orders in time!