The Attack of the Wastrel

Gu Lingzhi’s face paled as she involuntarily retreated several steps.

“I wasn’t the one who wanted them to find someone to spend the night with me. You should be questioning Pan Wen instead.”

“So? But aren’t you supposed to be him now?” Or am I supposed to enter the Inheritance Space and wait on Pan Wen?” Rong Yuan raised his brow and snickered. He reached out and lifted Gu Lingzhi’s chin again, then leaned forward and kissed her. “You dare to think of pushing me off to someone else? You need to be punished!”

He was obviously just using that as an excuse, yet he still spoke so imposingly. Gu Lingzhi glared at Rong Yuan, then relaxed and sunk into his embrace.

Rong Yuan kissed Gu Lingzhi for a while and was very satisfied with her cooperation. He held her tightly in his arms and headed towards the bed.

Not long later, soft moans could be heard.

Three days passed by in a flash.

During this period of time, Rong Yuan had interacted with the Empire disguised as Bian Cheng. They were delighted with his efficient ‘handling’ of the Minglan Kingdom and promised to reward him with a middle grade Black-Level spiritual treasure. They then requested him to proceed with the next step of the plan.

Rong Yuan had long gotten the details of the next time from Bian Cheng. Hence, all he needed was to follow the plan and annex the target.

Except, the target this time was considerably big. It was the Muji Kingdom that Zhong Xiru was from.

Over the past few years, the Muji Kingdom had developed from a mid-sized country into a large-sized country like the Xia Kingdom. Grandmaster Zhong Xiru was highly respected and loved by the citizens and had ascended to become a Demigod thirty years ago. Hence, it was impossible to rely solely on the Qi Kingdom to take down the Muji Kingdom. This was the reason why Pan Wen had brought 20,000 elite soldiers for support.

The Empire had played their moves well. First, they had gotten rid of the 30,000 soldiers under the Minglan Kingdom before replacing them with the Empire’s elite soldiers. Then, they had included the 30,000 soldiers from the Qi Kingdom. There was also the Sangna Kingdom and the several tens of thousands of elite soldiers from the Empire who were stationed there. Once they entered the Qi Kingdom, it would be the end for the Muji Kingdom regardless of how many soldiers they sent.

The Empire was full of confidence for this battle.

Today was the day that the Muji Kingdom had planned to enter the Qi Kingdom after receiving their plea for help.

Early in the morning, Rong Yuan washed up with Gu Lingzhi before he left the room under the shocked gazes of Zhang Jun and Liu Yu. They only returned to their senses after Rong Yuan was out of their sight and exchanged a glance with each other. They marvelled out loud, “I never thought the youth who resembled the Xia Kingdom’s Third Prince so much would actually be able to come out alive after three days. He doesn’t look like he suffered any injuries too. Perhaps His Highness has changed?”

“I don’t think so.” Zhang Jun pursed his mouth, “Who knows, perhaps His Highness didn’t want to break him so quickly and do it slowly instead? Didn’t you see that his movement when walking earlier seemed a little unnatural?”

“Now that you have mentioned it, that does seem to be the case.” Liu Yu agreed.

Gu Lingzhi, who had been standing by the door for awhile and had heard their exchange, was deeply afraid of what else they could possibly say and could not help but coughed out, “The two of you look very free. If you have nothing to do, then go and take a look at the army barracks. We have to face the Muji Kingdom soon, they won’t be as easy to fool as the Minglan Kingdom.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Zhang Jun responded subconsciously, then he continued, “Your Highness, our duty is to protect you, but managing the soldiers…” is your responsibility.

With Pan Wen’s unpredictable personality, Zhang Jun did not dare to finish his sentence. Gu Lingzhi purposefully put on a cold expression and Zhang Jun immediately fled to the army barracks. Liu Yu was thus left behind. He took the initiative to speak before Gu Lingzhi could open her mouth, “Your Highness’s life is priceless, someone has to stay behind to protect you.”

Gu Lingzhi did not refute him as she knew that it would raise suspicion if she suddenly sent away both of her bodyguards. She then entered the army barracks with Rong Yuan, who had already changed into Bian Cheng. While they walked, she secretly observed Rong Yuan’s attitude and felt relieved as she discovered nothing abnormal.

She did not know if it was because he changed into the form of his youth, or if there was something else. However, the past few days, Rong Yuan seemed to have changed into a completely different person. He felt neither fatigue nor shame, constantly teased her and even rolled around on the floor to pester her and make a din. Gu Lingzhi was so annoyed that she woke up to kick him down the bed.

However, it seemed like she had kicked him too lightly. Otherwise, why would Rong Yuan still wink at her now?

Gu Lingzhi silently turned away. She had decided to ignore him tonight regardless of what antics he pulled.

Rong Yuan’s mouth curved upwards as he noticed her action. In his heart, what he had thought of was completely opposite of Gu Lingzhi’s thoughts.

He believed that Gu Lingzhi was weak to his youthful appearance and always gave in after some time. Should he try something new tonight? Or should he change into a youth every night from now on? He would do it if it meant that he could keep on kissing her like that.

With such dirty thoughts in his mind, Rong Yuan naturally had a huge smile on his face. By the side, Liu Yu’s eyes twitched. Damn it! This Bian Cheng looks tough with a tall and large physique, but this was completely incompatible with His Highness’s usual preference for pretty boys. No matter how many times he winks at His Highness or how big he smiles, His Highness would not be interested. Just save your effort and find a few more pretty boys for His Highness instead!

Hence, all three of them had different thoughts as they headed towards the army barracks. They had just sat down in the conference room when a messenger informed them that the Muji Kingdom’s reinforcements had arrived.

Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan looked at each other and calmly commanded the messenger to bring the Muji Kingdom’s commander over. Gu Lingzhi and the two Martial Sage bodyguards hid inside the conference room to listen in.

The reinforcement soldiers brought by the Muji Kingdom totalled 50,000. The commander was one of Zhong Xiru’s disciples, Mo Han.

In these few years, after Zhong Xiru had ascended to become a Demigod, his disciples had been placed in important positions in the Muji Kingdom. This time, the mission to provide support for the Qi Kingdom was one with a lot of merits. Naturally, one of his disciples had been dispatched.

Even though Mo Han had heard from other students of the Royal School previously that Pan Wen and Bian Cheng were actually imposters, when he saw “Bian Cheng” for the first time, he still felt shocked. The person in front of him was exactly like Bian Cheng, both in terms of appearance as well as aura.

Mo Han attempted to use his divine senses to examine Bian Cheng and was further shocked to find that even Rong Yuan’s spiritual energy felt exactly identical to the real Bian Cheng. Was this really an imposter?

Mo Han felt himself trembling, and he felt extremely thankful that the one who possessed such terrifying disguise arts was on their side. If the Empire also had such talents and used them to infiltrate the alliance, would they have any way of detecting it? All their secrets would be exposed!

“General Mo…? General, are you alright? You must be weary from rushing here, would you like to take a rest first?” Rong Yuan, who was disguised as Bian Cheng, offered, looking at Mo Han worriedly.

“No, no, I’m fine. I just need something to drink,” Mo Han replied, before downing the cup of tea he was served in one go. After calming himself down, he looked at “Bian Cheng” and moved on to talk about serious matters.

“Marshal Bian, you said that the Empire is a menacing foe that we would have trouble facing even with the help of the Minglan Kingdom? Why is that?”

“It’s a long story,” Rong Yuan sighed. Waving away the attending soldiers, he said in an aggrieved voice, “We aren’t sure why the Empire is launching such a fierce offensive this time. Initially, I wanted to request aid from the Sangna Kingdom, but it seems like their situation isn’t looking too great either. My guess is that they can just barely hold their own fronts, and they will probably request aid from the headquarters in a few days as well. It’s because of this that I thought of requesting for help from the Minglan Kingdom. Who knew though…sigh!”

Rong Yuan’s words were extremely animated, but his expression was completely still, a stark contrast to his words. Rather, as he spoke, he dipped his finger into his cup of tea and began rapidly tracing words on the tabletop. Indicating that they were being monitored, he continued to say, “Because we knew you were coming today, Brother Lin En had me stay back to brief you on the situation while he went ahead to the front lines. When he returns tonight, we can gather and talk more about it. Anyway, let’s let the men fill their bellies first. I hope General Mo won’t find our army rations too subpar.”

“Of course not, Marshal Bian,” Mo Han immediately responded, but he consciously looked down towards the table, studying what Rong Yuan had written, before nodding and following Rong Yuan’s instructions.

What followed was the exact same scene which had occurred previously with the Minglan Kingdom. The Muji Kingdom army rapidly consumed the food they were served, before collapsing on the ground. Then, they were captured and locked into a big prison.

The next day, the Sangna Kingdom issued a request for assistance to the Alliance headquarters, saying that the eastern side of the Endless Sea Realm was going to fall to the enemy and that they needed reinforcements.

Once he received the news, Rong Yuan immediately gave the order for troops at the western side of the Endless Sea Realm to begin the attack.

His men were long eager to see some action and upon receiving Rong Yuan’s order, they charged onto the Empire’s territory without heed. They did not even care that it was approaching nightfall, the time when their opponents were returning to their camp.

When the Empire’s army first noticed the approaching army, they assumed that it was merely a pre-emptive scouting party and did not take them seriously. However, when the fighting dragged late into the night without showing any signs of abating, the Empire’s troops finally realized that something was not right. However, it was too late.

Conquering a tiny defence line with the combined strength of multiple surrounding armies was as easy as flipping over a palm. In no time at all, this small piece of land owned by the Empire on the western side of the Boundless Sea Realm had changed hands.

Yuan Hang knew that the opportunity could not be wasted, and his mission was to take as much land as he could in one go. Therefore, after reorganizing his men quickly, he resumed the offensive.