The Empress’s Gigolo

Despite having done his preparations the night before, Ren Baqian didn’t have a good sleep and woke up annoyed.

Anyone who was woken up every two hours would definitely not sleep well.

Ren Baqian came yawning out of the tent and asked the guard, “How was it last night?”

“The enemy harassed us three times and left behind 400 dead bodies. The people from the Rearguard Commandery have checked the corpses. 11 of the dead are Earth Wheel experts and the rest are Man Wheel experts,” the guard answered loudly.

Ren Baqian didn’t expect the other party to present them with so many heads before the aboriginals even started the attack.

Initially, he was worried that the other party had too many practitioners, but almost half of their 1,000 Man Wheel experts were lost as a result of the raids from last night.

Did they have any insiders planted among the top levels of the rebel forces?

Ren Baqian called for Zuo Cheng and asked doubtfully, “Among those sects that were sent to the south to persuade the rebels to surrender, did some of them manage to infiltrate the rebel forces?”

Zuo Cheng didn’t know why Ren Baqian asked such a question and replied truthfully, “Sir, I’m not clear about this. No one left behind any written notes, so there is no way to know the internal situation over there.”

“Oh, in that case, you can leave.” Ren Baqian went to see the empress after Zuo Cheng had left.

After breakfast. Xi Wanya dispatched soldiers from the Protectorate of the South to the dense forest to clear it up. The aim was to at least double the width of the mountain path and also to create an empty area.

Throughout the day, the crashing sounds of giant trees falling could be heard. Rolls of vines were brought back to be woven into ropes.

This vine-woven rope was as thick as an arm, very tough, and could sustain a load of 500 kilograms without breaking. The only problem was that it was too heavy.

All in all, these weren’t dried straw, but vines full of water. As a result, 100 meters of rope weighed at least 150 kilograms. After clearing more than 100 meters of gentle slope, they were faced with a mountain wall that was at least 300 meters high and hard to climb. A sufficiently long rope would weigh more than 500 kilograms.

The winged cavalry could carry this rope while running as fast as they could sprint.

However, only Cardinal experts like Xi Wanya and Zong Shen could carry this rope up the sheer face of the mountain wall without hampering their movements.

Early on the third morning, the army set out again and went through the forest until they reached the base of the two peaks.

With his binoculars, Ren Baqian looked up at the mountainside of the 400 to 500 meter tall mountain and noted that it was full of stones and logs. Some other people were viewing the landscape below.

“Your Majesty, your subject is asking for permission to drive away the enemies.” Xi Wanya cupped his hands as he addressed the empress.

“Permission granted!” the empress replied.

“General Xi, please wait a moment.” Ren Baqian spoke out to stop him.

“Sir Ren, do you have any more requests?” Xi Wanya turned to look at him.

“I have some things to distribute to the winged cavalry.” Ren Baqian got someone to pull out the grenades as he spoke and also told Gong Zheng to allocate them.

Gong Zheng saw the familiar objects and said happily. “Sir Ren, these things are very useful. This battle will make those bandits on the mountain wish that they each had two more legs.”

Ren Baqian pondered for a while before giving more than ten skunk bombs to Gong Zheng.

Ren Baqian explained, “This weapon is very powerful and harmful to both sides, so try not to use it if possible. Only use it when the situation is unfavorable.”

Gong Zheng looked at the skunk bombs in his hands. They didn’t look like the hand grenades, and he didn’t know how much power there was in such a small gadget.

“Let’s set out!” Xi Wanya saw Ren Baqian giving some stuff to Gong Zheng, but didn’t ask further and subsequently gave the order to set out.

Ren Baqian ordered someone to get Lin Qiaole to join him and followed Xi Wanya in moving forward.

Xi Wanya, Zong Shen, and Qing Ping were in front, followed by some elite soldiers. Next, came the winged cavalry with the ordinary soldiers far behind to the rear.

As everyone was moving forward, the three of them had to watch every step they took.

“Shoot!” Just when everyone had reached the gentle slope, a dark cloud appeared in midair as countless arrows rained directly on the people below.

“Give me the rope! All of you retreat!” Xi Wanya shouted as he lifted the coiled rope that was as big as a house.

“Lin Qiaole! Time to take action.” Ren Baqian reached out with his hand and poked Lin Qiaole on the waist.

Lin Qiaole jumped a few times before arriving at the steep slope. Her body started to transform, and in a few flashes, she was halfway up the mountain.

“Drop!” Rocks bigger than the size of a human as well as rolling logs careened down toward Lin Qiaole.

Rocks bigger than a person were pushed from a few hundred meters high. The weight combined with the acceleration due to gravity generated great force as these stones hurtled toward the climbing aboriginals. The noises caused by this tremendous force sounded like a landslide and could be heard from far away.

However, Lin Qiaole was more agile than a monkey. She was able to effortlessly move up the mountain wall and passed through the gaps of the falling rocks and logs.

The huge rocks that were tumbling down gave Xi Wanya and the others some problems.

The three men dodged the big rocks, put the rope on the ground, and leaped high with one hand holding one end of the rope as they landed on the footholds they had found earlier. They then jumped in another direction and repeated this time after time.

If Lin Qiaole was considered as agile as a cat, then these three men were like gorillas. Every time they landed, the rock would crack at their footholds, but they would continue bouncing up with bountiful energy.

Lin Qiaole landed on a mountainside platform and immediately created a bloody shower among the ordinary soldiers.

A throat was slashed almost every second, and the spurting blood was accompanied by the sound of air leaking out from the windpipe.

A loud whistle was heard at this moment, followed by the sound of heavy objects rubbing together behind the mountain platform.

Lin Qiaole clawed the head of one man, turned in midair to momentarily land on the back of another man, then jumped high with both legs to aim at yet a third man. Her whole body was perspiring, and her body hair stood on end as she hovered in midair.

This was because she saw an unusually large animal.

It was a huge python!

It was as thick as two water barrels and black and yellow in color. When it slithered on the ground, the soldiers were knocked down on both sides with the sounds of fractured bones ringing out.

“Yikes!” Lin Qiaole’s pupils dilated as she crouched on the ground. She totally ignored the soldiers who were running away and directed her full attention at the huge python on the ground in front of her.

At the sight of this huge snake, she felt as if she was seeing the thing she hated the most.

The giant snake stopped in front of Lin Qiaole and raised its head. Its pair of yellow eyes displayed coldness and cruelty.

As Xi Wanya and the other two took this opportunity to arrive at the mountainside platform, the first thing they saw was this huge snake.

The three of them ignored it and split up to look for places to tie their ropes.

However, a reddish-brown figure flashed toward Xi Wanya like a lightning bolt. It waved its hand and struck out at Xi Wanya.

Boom. As Xi Wanya traded a punch with the other side, both were instantly forced to retreat a few steps.

Upon looking closely, Xi Wanya saw a monkey grinning at him that was about the size of a man and covered with reddish brown fur.

Xi Wanya could exert more than 25,000 newtons of force, and it was shocking that this monkey could match his strength. Furthermore, the monkey was very fast and actually faster than Xi Wanya.

He had been stationed in the south for more than 20 years and didn’t know that there was such an unusual creature in Tianjing Basin.

At this very moment, Zong Shen and Qing Ping were surrounded by six Spirit Wheel experts that they had met before on Mount Wu.

At the foot of the mountain, the empress suddenly raised her head and said coldly, “They have encountered some experts!”

Before her voice had faded, the empress was already 100 meters away.

Ren Baqian saw a red shadow flashing in the distance. Then, it disappeared.

Soon after, there was a loud growling sound accompanied by a roar as well as the hissing of a giant snake.

Ren Baqian sighed. No matter how well he had prepared, it wasn’t as good as the empress taking matters into her own hands.

In such a world, there were times when he felt helpless.

After exactly two hours, the empress came back from the mountain top.

“Your Majesty is invincible and will rule the world soon!” Ren Baqian shouted loudly. However, when he noticed that the empress’s expression wasn’t quite right, he asked,”Your Majesty? What did you encounter up on the mountain?”

“A few unusual creatures that ran away!” The empress was somewhat unhappy and resentful about the enemy escaping and slipping through her own hands.

“Unusual creatures?” Ren Baqian was surprised. They were called unusual creatures and were even able to escape from the empress. Were they like the kirin in the palace?

“One monkey, one snake, and also a crow general!”

Following these words, Lin Qiaole appeared nearby and threw two pieces of stuff at Ren Baqian. She said in a hateful tone,”I want to roast and eat them!”

Ren Baqian stretched out his hands and caught something that felt smooth. He lowered his head and saw two strips of tender white meat with scales on top that were the size of two palms.

Ren Baqian had nothing to say.