The Attack of the Wastrel

It was not that Gu Lingzhi did not want to use the Soul Controlling Pill to control Bian Cheng, but the Soul Controlling Pill could only be used to control someone whose cultivation was lower than oneself. As Bian Cheng was of the same rank as her, a peak level Martial Sage, she could not use the Soul Controlling Pill against him.

Swallowing the Truth Serum, the internal struggle was apparent on Bian Cheng’s face. His face suddenly turned calm and took on a lifeless gaze.

“Tell me, what is your name?” Gu Lingzhi tested.

Bian Cheng was stupefied as he replied, “My name is Bian Cheng, Marshal of the Qi Kingdom.”

Gu Lingzhi nodded in satisfaction and continued to ask, “Why did you put poison in the food?”

“In order to capture all of the Minglan’s forces so that they would stay here.”

“What do you stand to gain if they were to stay here?”

“…”

Gu Lingzhi continued to ask several superficial questions and Bian Cheng’s expression remained unchanged. Knowing that he was completely under the influence of the drug, Gu Lingzhi gave Rong Yuan a look, indicating to him that he could ask his questions.

Although he had already known a bit from the Communication Conch, it was only the general idea. As for what really happened, he had to ask the person that was in-charge of planning the whole thing.

Rong Yuan gave her a quick peck on the cheek before turning to Bian Cheng. A string of prepared questions flew out of his mouth continuously.

When he had finally asked everything he wanted to, two hours had passed.

Afraid that someone would find them, Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi came out of the Inheritance Space as soon as they were done with their questions. They wore satisfied smiles on their faces.

It was no wonder Bian Cheng was the Marshal of a kingdom. Even though the Qi Kingdom’s power was just foundational among the other kingdoms, they knew just as much as the other kingdoms that were part of the Empire.

From him, the two of them had gotten a pleasant surprise – the next in line to the king of North Qiu Kingdom, Pan Wen, was here too! He was currently a guest in Sangna Kingdom. In two days, he was going to bring an army here to the Qi Kingdom.

Of course, they were not here to be guests. They were going to usurp the troops of the Minglan Kingdom for themselves!

Their strategy this time was to slowly nibble away at the Alliance. First, the Qi Kingdom was to entice the other small kingdoms around it to help. The Qi Kingdom’s troops would then be replaced. They would then go to the other kingdoms to beg for help. Slowly, they would snowball and replace all the troops of the Alliance. When all ten thousand over soldiers had successfully been switched, it would then be time for them to take action. At that time, even if the Alliance were to suspect something was wrong, it would be too late. The ten thousand over Alliance troops would be covered by troops from the Qi and Sangna Kingdom. They would be a formidable and frightening force. If they were to be successful, at least half of the territory that the Alliance has on the east side of the Endless Sea Realm would be stolen by the Empire!

“They are really scheming. Luckily, we have the Queen Communication Conch.” Gu Lingzhi said, slightly shaken.

In the past, the Communication Conches that Sangna Kingdom had bought at a high price were now all in the North Qiu Kingdom’s hands. They had then distributed it to a few important people in the Empire for long distance communication. All these years, who knew how many times the Communication Conch had been used to discuss important business. If they knew that the reason for the Empire plots failing every time was because of this Communication Conch, who knew what they would feel?

To Gu Lingzhi, who possessed the Queen Communication Conch, the people from the Empire were so dumb they were almost cute. After so many years, they still did not suspect the things they were using and had no one to blame for their failure.

“Wrong, we are lucky to have you. Other than you, no one else would have been able to obtain this Communication Conch.” Although everyone seems to be able to use the Communication Conch, it was actually a middle grade Earth-Level Spiritual Weapon. One had to reach the fifth level of the main palace in the Sacred Lands in order to get it. Other than Gu Lingzhi, there were only a few Martial Artists in this world that could reach it. Even if they were able to reach the fifth level of the main palace, it was unlikely they would have picked this as they would not be able to use it until they reached the appropriate cultivation level.

As the both of their eyes met, Rong Yuan extended his arm, pulling Gu Lingzhi into his embrace and sitting together in the chair. They started to discuss what to do next.

Since the Empire was attempting to slowly nibble at the army, they could do the exact same thing back to them and replace their army instead.

“If only we could pretend to be Pan Wen, we would get a lot more useful information!” Gu Lingzhi suddenly sighed as they ended their discussion.

Rong Yuan chucked lowly as he was playing with her hair, “Isn’t he going to come over in a few days? We should catch him and interrogate him.”

At the Sangna Kingdom’s Royal Palace, Pan Wen suddenly sneezed. He was in the midst of mistreating some beauty. His sneezing caused his hand to shake and the whip that was supposed to land on the lady’s back ended up on her face. She gave a pathetic cry as her beautiful face was mangled.

“Tsk, what a mood-killer,” Pan Wen rubbed her nose as he looked at the face he disfigured in disdain. Instructing his servants, “Throw it out.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Half a day passed. In this time, Rong Yuan had made Bian Cheng use the Communication Conch to inform Pan Wen that everything was going according to plan and that he could come over earlier.

Seeing how it was about time, Rong Yuan gave instructions to add more food for the troops that night as a reward for the troops. He then brought Gu Lingzhi back to Bian Cheng’s residence.

Or rather, he was guided by the troops back to Bian Cheng’s residence.

Due to their long-term posting, several high-ranking military officials decided to bring their families along and built their residences near the military camp. Bian Cheng was amongst one of them. His residence was about two kilometres away from the camp.

According to the speed at which Martial Artists moved, they reached in less than 15 minutes.

Bian Cheng’s residence was a simple courtyard house. A golden Marshal board was hung at the main door, making it easy to differentiate among the numerous other boards on other residences.

Just as the two of them stepped into the yard, a red figure pounced on Rong Yuan. In a sweet and dainty voice, “Marshal, you are finally back. Hong’er has missed you so much!”

Rong Yuan’s face fell. Just as Hong’er was about to hug him, he pulled Gu Lingzhi and stepped to the side. That dainty figure could not catch herself in time and fell to the ground.

“Marshal, how could you be so cruel…” Hong’er pulled herself up and complained as she looked at Rong Yuan with slightly red eyes.

“Tsk…Sister Hong’er, how can you be so careless? Marshal must be tired after handling official business for so many days. How can you not read the situation and throw yourself at him? You’re not thoughtful enough,” a lady in pink dress giggled from the side as she hid her face with a handkerchief.

This…did they just stumble across a love rivalry?

Gu Lingzhi stared blankly as Hong’er and the pink-dressed lady started to bicker.

Exchanging a glance with Rong Yuan, they both turned and walked away. After a few steps, Rong Yuan suddenly remembered that he was not familiar with this place. It would be troublesome if he accidentally entered some woman’s yard. He then slowed down as his gaze fell on a flower garden nearby. Pretending to appreciate the scenery, he said to his servant, “Today’s weather is not bad, I will have my dinner in this pavilion.”

“Yes Marshal.” The servant was slightly confused as to why the Marshal was in such a good mood today, but kept his questions to himself. He assumed it was because the Marshal had been successful in dealing with the Minglan Kingdom and went on with his work.

Taking this chance, Gu Lingzhi went into the Inheritance Space to ask Bian Cheng for a simple map of his residence. The two of them were then able to prevent looking like headless chickens as they stumbled around.

In a few moments, a female servant brought dishes up to them. Following the female servant, a group of ladies followed. They looked like they had dressed up for the occasion. As they saw Rong Yuan, electricity sparked in their eyes.

“Marshal, you are finally back. Has it been fun in the military camp? You did not come back in the last three days to see us.” A pleasant-looking purple lady dressed in purple said, her figure was extremely enticing.

“That’s right. If you still did not come back today, we would have gone to find you.” Another lady tittered wearing a brown dress.

Following that, the group of about ten ladies started to surround the pavilion, each one looking as if they had been wronged, asking Rong Yuan to compensate them. Gu Lingzhi suppressed her smile as she stood to the side. She communicated telepathically with Rong Yuan. “Aren’t you going to quickly appease your little swallows? Be careful or they will start crying.”

Rong Yuan gave her a look as he loved and hated her little tease, “They are definitely not my swallows, I don’t care if they start crying.” Turning to face the group of girls, his face turned serious, “Don’t you all have better things to do? What are you all whining for? If all of you have nothing to do you should go practice Alchemy or Weapon Forging. There are so many men in the army that are not able to get good armor, don’t you know how to make yourself useful?”

The chattering girls froze as they heard what Rong Yuan said, a look of disbelief appeared on their faces, “Marshal…are you joking?”

Worried that his behaviour was too different from Bian Cheng, he added on, “I am saying this for your sake. If you all don’t learn something, when we go to the Empire in the future, it won’t be as comfortable as life here.”

The group of girls nodded their heads in response but were confused as to what them learning Alchemy and Weapon Forging had got to do with going to the Empire. Although these backyard ladies were lacking in abilities, they were quick with getting information. In a few seconds, they came up with another excuse for him. It must be that some girl belonging to another Marshal had some talent and was being compared to them. Rubbing their hands together, they decided to go back and properly learn a skill so as to help improve the reputation of their own Marshal. If they could be favoured because of this, it would be even better.

Rong Yuan was completely oblivious as to what his sentence had caused them to think. However, seeing how they had stopped whining, he sent them off satisfied, “Since you all understand then you should go back. In half a month, I want to see some improvement.”

“Yes Marshal.” Exchanging glances, they confirmed their suspicions. With high fighting spirits, they left. It was only after they had walked a distance before they suddenly remembered – Didn’t they go to ask him to pamper them? How did they end up returning to practice Alchemy and Weapon Forging?

Turning around, they wanted to head back to find Rong Yuan only to realise that the pavilion was now surrounded by soldiers. They had no choice but to leave disappointed.