Hearing Ashi Liren’s question, Princess Zhiyan was silent for a moment, then said, “Huai Bingyi makes me feel as if bathed in spring breeze, my body and mind at ease. Suo Lun makes my heart race and my pulse leap.”
“Stimulating…” Ashi Liren said.
“Yes, stimulating!” Zhiyan said. “By Suo Lun’s side, one never knows what will happen in the next moment.”
Ashi Liren said, “Then by Huai Bingyi’s side one feels secure and pleasant, as if not sensing the passage of time.”
Zhiyan thought for a moment, then nodded, “I suppose so.”
Ashi Liren said, “Both of these men are the most outstanding in the world. In terms of bearing and status, Huai Bingyi is somewhat higher.”
Princess Zhiyan smiled and said, “Sister Liren, I know what you are worried about. Rest assured, it will never happen.”
Ashi Liren said, “That would be best! Remember, I will always stand on Suo Lun’s side.”
Princess Zhiyan smiled and said, “So will I!”
…
The next day, Ashi Liren was to return to Rouran City and bid farewell to Suo Lun.
The great war in Rouran City had just been settled, and as City Lord she actually could not leave. In order to publicly declare her stance and give Suo Lun an explanation, Liren willfully left Rouran City. After staying one day, everything had been settled, so naturally she needed to return immediately.
“Suo Lun, I must return today,” Liren said. She was accustomed to standing with her back to Suo Lun.
This way, although Suo Lun could not see her icy, absolutely beautiful face, he could see her incomparably enchanting waist and hip curves, still breathtaking.
“Why do you no longer wear your mask?” Suo Lun finally asked this question.
Ashi Liren said, “Because I have found a man who moves my heart.”
Her words were direct and bold, but if Suo Lun dared to step forward and touch a single finger of hers now, he would certainly have his hands and feet broken.
Suo Lun said, “Does your family have enough money?”
Ashi Liren said, “Enough. Among all vassals in the world, my family is also among the wealthiest. Recruiting soldiers and buying horses is no problem. How many troops do you wish to recruit?”
Suo Lun said, “One hundred fifty thousand, the more cavalry the better!”
Ashi Liren thought for a moment, then nodded, “Then the money is still enough. But if they are to be absolutely elite troops, there is not enough time to forge weapons and armour. They must be bought.”
Suo Lun said, “If money is insufficient, ask me for it.”
Currently, Suo Lun’s Chaos Rock Island salt field’s output had multiplied who knew how many times, bringing in nearly twenty thousand gold coins each month.
Added to that, several months ago, the Magic Mirror had officially begun flowing into the market.
As Suo Lun had predicted, within just a few short months, the Magic Mirror had instantly swept through the entire human kingdom.
Currently, it was still in hunger marketing, with only several hundred pieces flowing onto the market each month. It was completely a top-tier luxury item, with only the top noble families of the human kingdom possessing one.
Moreover, the price of each piece had been driven sky high, completely transcending reason and market norms.
So, the monthly profits brought by the Magic Mirror had already begun to exceed those of the Chaos Rock Island salt field.
Possessing these two heaven-defying sources of wealth, Tianshui City’s monthly income exceeded fifty thousand gold coins, already far surpassing all vassals in the world.
These past few months, under the stewardship of Princess Zhiyan, Yan Naier, and Yan Yan, Tianshui City had been recruiting soldiers and buying horses every single day, offering generous conditions that people could completely not refuse.
So, mercenaries and wandering warriors from the human kingdom continuously entered Tianshui City.
He believed that within several months, Tianshui City would possess over fifty thousand troops, and within a year could have one hundred thousand troops.
But the problem he faced was the same as Rouran City’s: insufficient weapons, armour, and war horses.
The entire human kingdom had scarce mineral resources, so weapons and armour had always been very tight. In the barbarian territories, minerals were abundant, but no one dared to mine them.
Moreover, even if one forged weapons oneself, it was difficult to surpass Ba Zhou.
A large portion of Suo Lun’s secret base laboratory had been invested in metal smelting, with several thousand gold coins invested each month. And he had dispatched large numbers of people everywhere to prospect for minerals.
But currently, the harvest was not great.
The iron ore most needed for manufacturing weapons was very scarce throughout the entire human kingdom.
Not to mention the secret gold ore needed for manufacturing high-grade weapons and armour.
He truly did not know where Ba Zhou had found so many mineral resources. It controlled the metal and secret gold production of the entire human kingdom, controlling all armour and weapons of the entire human kingdom. As long as Ba Zhou was willing to sell, countless weapons and armour would continuously appear.
So, as long as one obtained Ba Zhou’s support, one could equip however many troops one wished.
“This farewell, I know not when we shall meet again,” Ashi Liren turned her head and said. “Suo Lun, previously in Rouran City every word you spoke was to tease me. Now you are so proper. Before leaving, say something roguish for me to hear.”
Suo Lun’s gaze fell upon Liren’s perfect, peerless buttocks and he said, “You are the most beautiful, roundest, largest, pertiest, whitest, smoothest I have ever seen. It is a pity that day my mind was completely blank, with only a fleeting glimpse. I did not see the even more wonderful places.”
Ashi Liren smiled and said, “Wish to see?”
Suo Lun nodded.
“Slap…” Liren struck Suo Lun’s face, not painful, not like hitting someone, more like flirtation.
Then, Ashi Liren said, “When my love for you becomes irresistible, then I shall let you see. Or, when your martial arts surpass mine, then not only seeing, but whatever you wish to do will be permitted.”
Suo Lun smiled and said, “Liren, I have been teased by you.”
Ashi Liren’s beautiful eyes stared at Suo Lun. Suddenly her face grew stern, and she said in an icy voice, “Stand properly, hands at your sides, do not move.”
Suo Lun stood like a middle school student before calisthenics, legs together, hands vertical, completely motionless.
Liren’s absolutely beautiful body stepped forward, lightly embracing Suo Lun’s body, soft, elastic, fragrant and enchanting. Then, she slightly pursed her petal-like, translucent fragrant lips and kissed Suo Lun on the mouth.
A kiss like jelly, cool and enchanting.
“Be careful, little man. Do not die before the war between us two has been decided,” Liren said gently.
Her voice, her gaze were unprecedentedly gentle.
Facing such a Liren, Suo Lun was truly somewhat dazed and infatuated.
Her little mouth truly was like a petal, cool, fragrant, sweet.
Suo Lun instinctively leaned forward, wanting another taste.
“Not permitted!” Liren said. “I said, I will not let you touch me. Otherwise I will break your three legs.”
Suo Lun was once again teased.
Then, although Liren was pure and chaste, having never touched any man, she actually understood everything.
When a woman of absolutely beautiful countenance, icy as frost, and incomparably domineering bearing spoke roguish, teasing words in a very serious tone, it was truly enchanting, truly heart-racing.
Then, Liren said with faint sarcasm, “Is it not just teasing? Is it not just roguish words? Who cannot do that? Your lowly tactics in Rouran City to win me over were nothing remarkable. Do not put on the appearance of a romantic saint.”
Thus, Suo Lun became the one being teased.
“Little man, I am leaving. Be careful, be careful of all people,” Liren said. Then she moved her jade steps and walked out of the Princess’s residence.
After she bade farewell to Suo Lun alone, she would not allow him to see her off.
Yesterday, when Ashi Liren entered the royal capital, all nobles and vassals turned out in full force, the spectacle unprecedented.
And today when Ashi Liren left the royal capital, only Princess Zhiyan and Duke Zhi Ting came to see her off. Clearly Zhi Li would not come to invite further humiliation.
…
After Ashi Liren departed.
Suo Lun came to see Princess Zhiyan and spoke of the matter of weapons and armour.
Princess Zhiyan pondered for a moment, then said, “I shall resolve it.”
Suo Lun was startled. This was weapons and armour for over a hundred thousand troops, something only Ba Zhou in the world could provide, yet Zhiyan directly said she would resolve it.
However, since she had spoken it, she would certainly be able to accomplish it.
Suo Lun said, “I have been away from home for a long time, and must return to Tianshui City immediately. Will you come with me?”
At this moment, Suo Lun’s heart was completely set on returning home!
Princess Zhiyan pondered again, then shook her head, “I still have matters in the royal capital, so I shall not return with you yet. I shall go to Tianshui City after some time.”
“Very well,” Suo Lun said.
Zhiyan smiled and said, “Qinqin is very cute. Every day she thinks of you and longs for your return.”
Suo Lun thought of Qinqin’s little face and little gaze, and his heart instantly softened, wishing he could fly back.
“Then I shall leave. Goodbye,” Suo Lun rose to depart.
“Yes!” Zhiyan rose to see him off.
In their conversation, Suo Lun did not ask about Huai Bingyi, and Princess Zhiyan did not mention him either.
Outside the Princess’s residence, over ten Shadow Pavilion experts and over a hundred cavalry were already waiting.
Suo Lun mounted his horse, and these experts and cavalry immediately protected him in the centre.
Waving his hand, Suo Lun, under the protection of over a hundred people, left the Princess’s residence, left the royal capital, and headed towards Tianshui City.
It was not that he did not wish to ride a griffin back, but because griffins were strategic resources and could not be deployed except in times of utmost urgency.
Watching Suo Lun’s departing figure, Duke Zhi Ting suddenly said, “You ought to have followed him back to Tianshui City. Now Zhi Li regards him completely as a thorn in his eye and will use any means necessary. You ought to stay by his side to protect him.”
Zhiyan said, “Yesterday Sister Liren publicly declared her stance. I worry that Zhi Li will act in desperate straits and strike at Father King, and there seem to already be some unusual movements on his side. Moreover, I still need to resolve the weapons and armour for over a hundred thousand troops, so I must remain in the royal capital for several days.”
“Oh,” Duke Zhi Ting said. “I see.”
Zhiyan said, “There are ten Dragon Warriors and over a hundred elite warriors protecting him. Suo Lun’s spiritual power is very strong and he can sense danger from very far away, so there will be no problem.”
Duke Zhi Ting said, “Suo Lun is our only hope. If anything untoward happens to him, we will have completely wasted all our previous efforts.”
Just at this moment, a female warrior’s report sounded from outside.
“Your Highness the Princess, a young gentleman named Huai Bingyi has come requesting an audience.”
Zhiyan nodded and said, “Oh, let him enter.”
Then she said to Zhi Ting, “Uncle, come with me to meet him.”
…
Suo Lun, leading the Shadow Pavilion’s expert warriors, galloped all the way back to Tianshui City.
Along the way, Suo Lun travelled day and night, constantly changing horses, without sleep or rest.
Nine hours later, they had already ridden over nine hundred li.
At this time, they were in a valley. It was late spring, with a hundred flowers in bloom, green grass lush, and dawn breaking.
The scenery was incomparably beautiful.
Suo Lun’s party, over a hundred people and two hundred horses, broke the valley’s silence.
On the grass, countless butterflies and bees were startled into flight.
The originally carpet-like green grass was also trampled into disorder by several hundred horses, truly making one’s heart ache.
Then Suo Lun felt that the grass in this valley seemed too vividly green. The flowers here also bloomed too seductively.
Moreover, it seemed all the butterflies and bees had gathered here.
This valley was truly seductively and beautifully unusual!
Suddenly, Suo Lun’s heart leaped with alarm as he caught the scent of killing intent!
“Charge out at full speed…” Suo Lun loudly ordered.
But…
The grass covering the ground suddenly transformed into terrible hellish grasping hands.
The knee-high green grass instantly rotted, turning into green, terrifying mire.
The ground for several hundred metres around also suddenly rotted and collapsed, turning into a mass of extremely viscous mire pit, like a dark vortex of hell opening wide.
Countless horses screamed as they were swallowed by this enormous swirling mire pit.
Several tens of thousands of square metres of green grassland instantly turned into a hellish swamp.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
All the Shadow Pavilion warriors leaped up, wanting to stand before Suo Lun.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
At the same time, from all directions of the valley came countless terrifying dark arrows.
These arrows were black ice arrows!
The Shadow Pavilion experts threw themselves forward one after another, using their bodies to protect Suo Lun tightly in the centre, their weapons waving and chopping at these incoming dark ice arrows.
“Bang bang bang…”
Countless dark ice arrows instantly shattered, turning into countless dark dense mists.
These dark dense mists sprayed onto the Shadow Pavilion experts’ body surfaces.
Then…
A terrifying scene occurred!
The bodies of these Shadow Pavilion experts began to rapidly rot and corrode…
Skin, muscle, all rotted away, turning into foul pus and mire, revealing the stark white bones within.
But immediately after, these bones also began to rot.
“Ah… ah… ah…”
Countless Shadow Pavilion experts let out shrill, mournful cries.
One after another, the Shadow Pavilion warriors’ bodies rotted, turning into a mass of mire.
But all the Shadow Pavilion experts still threw themselves forward one after another, desperately charging towards Suo Lun, using their bodies as shields to protect him in the centre.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
But, under this terrifying dark poisonous dense mist.
These Shadow Pavilion experts were like snow melting in boiling water, all dying within a short time, turning into a pool of mire, completely dissolving into the valley’s devilish mire pit.
Pitifully, among them were ten Dragon Warriors, in this situation completely unable to display their martial arts.
These over a hundred Shadow Pavilion warriors died completely cleanly without even seeing the enemy.
Finally, all the dense mist enveloped Suo Lun’s body.
But his body did not corrode or rot.
Only his lower half was sunk into this terrifying mire pit.
This scene made Suo Lun recall the game Warcraft on Earth. Wherever the undead race built their base, there death and darkness would envelop a hellish swamp.
“My lord, are you Count Suo Lun?” From beyond the dense mist came a woman’s voice.
Enchanting to the extreme, seductive to the extreme, making one unable to help but feel mentally confused upon hearing it.
Suo Lun had never heard such a soul-stirring, captivating voice.
He had to mobilise powerful spiritual power to resist this enchanting voice’s invasion of his mind.
“I am Suo Lun. Which person of the Demon Continent are you?” Suo Lun said.
“Demon Continent Princess, Wanyan!” the enchanting voice sounded.
Suo Lun’s heart leaped violently!
Demon Continent Princess?
The Demon Continent was the most mysterious and terrifying of the four great powers, elusive as the dragon’s head and tail, governing all sorcerers in the world.
The owner of this enchanting voice was actually the Demon Continent Princess, her status so high?
With such status, why would she personally come to assassinate a vassal of a human secular kingdom?
“Princess Wanyan, what do you seek from me?” Suo Lun asked.
Wanyan said, “Ashi Luo indirectly died by your hand. Of course it is to kill you to pay with your life!”
“Whoosh…” A bewitching fragrant wind.
Instantly, an extremely seductive and enchanting figure arrived before Suo Lun.
A demon blade pressed against his neck.
Princess Wanyan’s soul-stirring, captivating voice sounded again, “Count Suo Lun, any last words? Only one sentence, oh!”