Unruly Phoenix Xiaoyao

The wolf pack retreated after dawn, leaving countless corpses on the field. More than half of the cattle from the hunting ground were either hurt or dead. The wolves also dragged the cattle away after killing them. The hunting ground was drenched in human, wolf and cattle blood. 

The women and children of the Northern Hu came out of hiding and burst into tears when they saw the scene that greeted them. When the women started crying, the children started to bawl too.

“What are you crying for?” the manager scolded, “Isn’t everyone still alive?!” The women stopped crying and hurriedly covered their children’s mouths when they got scolded by the manager.

“That Yongning slave is dead and his corpse had been dragged away by a wolf,” the manager gravely announced. There was no reaction when people in the vicinity heard this news. Aside from the manager of the hunting grounds, nobody knew the true identity of the Yongning slave. After such a disaster, who would care about the life and death of an insignificant Yongning slave?

The manager said all this for a reason, he was afraid that Modou wouldn’t believe his words in the future. Thus, he commanded everyone to keep the corpses of the wolves. It didn’t matter if they were damaged. Everything had to be salvaged, even the wolves’ skin.

Everyone in the hunting ground worked day and night. After working tirelessly for seven days, they finally managed to finish rebuilding the fences of the hunting ground. Standing next to the fences, the manager looked towards it and sighed. It has been seven day, yet it’s still snowing. Although the snow was far worse seven days ago, at the current rate, the starving wolves will be back. 

Suddenly, a platoon of troops rode into the hunting grounds. The leader of the soldiers sat on his horse and shouted, “Where is the manager?”

The manager saw the outfits of these soldiers and knew that they were the Wolf King’s personal guards. Frantically, he ran towards the general and affirmed, “This lowly one is the manager.”

“Where is the Yongning slave? Take him out. The Wolf King has ordered for the slave to be brought away.” The general raised his hand and lightly threw Modou’s command letter into the manager’s bosom. The manager received the order and skimmed over the report. In his heart, he had a bad premonition.

“Where is the slave?” the general asked the manager again. “This official has come at an unfortunate time,” the manager bowed and muttered, “The slave had died seven days ago due to illness. On that night, we were ambushed by wolves and the slave’s body had been devoured by the wolves.”

After the general heard the manager’s words, he sat on his horse for a few minutes with no response. He then mercilessly whipped the manager in the face. In an instant, the manager fell to the ground, covered in blood and died. The general dismounted his horse and seized the manager’s follower by his collar. “Bring me to the area where the slave was held!” he screeched.

The petrified follower led the general and his men to the underground prison, not daring to look at his master. The general went into the underground prison. After coming back up, he ordered his men to tie up the manager and furiously roared, “You’ve ruined the Wolf King’s matters!”

The manager was tied onto the horse’s back and taken away, leaving the people in the hunting grounds to stare dazedly in shock. From the beginning to the end, none of the people in the hunting ground understood what had happened.

Meanwhile, Ning Xiaoyao just finished wrapping her face with a scarf. With only her eyes revealed, she said to Wei, “We have to leave now. Big Boss Wei, thank you for your hospitality these past few days.”

“No worries, you have also saved many of my underlings.” Lowering her head to look at Little White Fatty who was holding onto her leg tightly, Ning Xiaoyao wanted to say something but found it difficult to open her mouth.

“Little White Fatty,” Wei called his youngest son. Little White Fatty heard Wei calling him and his body trembled. Little White Fatty had lost some weight these past few days.

“Let me ask you,” Wei smacked Little White Fatty off Ning Xiaoyao’s leg and barked, “Do you want to leave the wolf pack and follow Xiaoyao?” 

“Mhm!” Little White Fatty nodded his head furiously with tears in his eyes. “Fine then,” Wei raised his paw and patted Little White Fatty’s head.

“Eh?” Ning Xiaoyao was startled, “Little White Fatty can leave ah?” “This is Little White Fatty’s decision,” Wei looked at Ning Xiaoyao, “Xiaoyao, Little White Fatty will protect you.”

Ning Xiaoyao’s mouth twitched. Alright then, in any case Little White Fatty is still a wolf.  “We’ll meet again if it’s meant to be.” Wei said goodbye to Ning Xiaoyao.

Ning Xiaoyao looked at Peach. After a few days of interaction, she realised that the hierarchy in the wolf pack was incredibly strict. When Wei was speaking, even Peach had to stay silent.

“Bye Xiaoyao,” Peach said. Little White Fatty rushed forward and tightly hugged Ning Xiaoyao’s thigh. Let’s quickly leave this scary place!

Ning Xiaoyao helped Lou Jing get on Bujing. Then she turned around one last time before telling her horse, “Bujing, let’s go.” Bujing neighed and ran forward. After seeing Ning Xiaoyao’s group depart, howls sounded from the wolves’ den again.

“Wei and the others are saying bye to us,” Ning Xiaoyao translated to Shadowgale and the others. Shadowgale and the others could only remain silent. They don’t understand beast tongue!

“Bye bye!” Ning Xiaoyao shouted. “Ao——,” Little White Fatty also howled, saying goodbye to his family and all the wolves.

For the past few days, Lou Jing stopped feeling like he was living a life worse than death. Despite being in a coma, First Young Master Lou could still feel that he was riding on a horse with his savior. However, he didn’t have enough energy to get up and look at her. 

“From here to the mountain pass is really far. Do you think he can make it?” Concerned, Shadowgale rode beside Ning Xiaoyao and asked. Ning Xiaoyao confidently replied, “No problem, as long as I’m here, everything will be alright. If I weren’t pregnant, I would have healed Big Bro Lou ages ago.”

“Big bro!” The troops fell into a frenzy as Shadowgale fell off his battle horse. Ning Xiaoyao was so shocked that she immediately stopped Bujing. What’s going on?! (Author: What do you think?!)

Shadowgale didn’t let anyone help him up. After he stood up on his own, he looked at Ning Xiaoyao and exclaimed, “What did you just say?!”

“I said I would have healed Big Bro Lou ages ago.”

“You said you’re pregnant?” Shadowgale strained his voice and asked Ning Xiaoyao. “What?!!!??!?” yelled all the Dragon Guards.

“Yes ah,” Ning Xiaoyao patted her tummy, “I’ve been pregnant for a long time ah. You didn’t know?”

The Dragon Guards: … How the hell would they know?! 

“Are you for real?” Shadowgale asked. “Would I lie about this?” Ning Xiaoyao smiled till her eyes became crescents, “We have to reach the mountain pass soon. I want to look for a place with delicious food and give birth to my baby.”

“Whose child is it?” Shadowgale was in no mood to think of a place with yummy food and for Xiaoyao to give birth. He lifted his pale face and stared at her.

Ning Xiaoyao opened and closed her mouth. Shadowgale thought about it before asking, “It’s Lou Zigui’s?” The Dragon Guards exploded into an uproar. No one knew how to face His Majesty anymore.

“When did you guys become so sharp?” Ning Xiaoyao started to feel a bit embarrassed. Shadowgale felt faint. He wanted to shout but didn’t know who to shout at. He wanted to hit someone but didn’t know who he could hit. If Supreme Commander Lou was present, Shadowgale would definitely cut his corpse to a thousand pieces. 

“But you have to keep it a secret ah,” Ning Xiaoyao remained on her horse and whispered, “Supreme Commander dumped me ah.”

When Shadowgale heard this, he tasted a disgustingly sweet taste in his mouth. If he didn’t hold it in, he might have vomited blood. “He’s an asshole!” Shadowthunder furiously shouted, “Your Majesty, we’ll go find him!”

Ning Xiaoyao shrugged her shoulders. “By the time we’re back in the country, three months would have passed. Who knows, maybe Supreme Commander would have already become the emperor. Second Thunder, are we going to kill the emperor?”

“Even if he’s the emperor, I’m still going to slaughter him!” Shadowthunder heatedly hollered. The Dragon Guard all nodded. They are not just going to let this go.

“Forget it! Let’s talk about it after I give birth. Windy, are you ready?” Shadowgale didn’t say anything and just mounted his horse. This time, the Head Commander rode in front of Ning Xiaoyao, blocking the winter wind for her.

“Windy?” Ning Xiaoyao shouted. “It’s fine,” Shadowgale replied after a long time, “Even without Lou Zigui, Your Majesty can still live well.”

“That’s right ah!” Ning Xiaoyao hastily nodded. “Stop talking. Your Majesty, let’s hurry.” Shadowgale’s heart was heavy and he didn’t have the energy to continue conversing with Ning Xiaoyao.

“Your Majesty,” Shadowrain ran forward to ask, “What are we going to do with First Young Master Lou? Where are we sending him ah?”

“Send him back to the Black Frost City ah,” Ning Xiaoyao replied, “Isn’t the Lou estate at Black Frost City?” Shadowrain felt very sullen about this. Why did they have to save him? But he didn’t dare to bring it up.

The group continued to brave the weather and moved along the wasteland for another two months before they arrived at Black Frost City. By this point, Ning Xiaoyao’s baby bump was really obvious and Shadowgale was now the one responsible for Lou Jing.

“Xiaoyao, I’ve asked around. The Lou estate is just three streets away.” Shadowrain returned and reported to Xiaoyao. 

Ning Xiaoyao was ecstatic now that everyone had finally gotten accustomed to calling her by her name instead. Nodding her head cheerfully, she replied, “We’ll head to the Lou estate when Windy is back.”

After a short while, Shadowgale returned. “What happened, ah?” Shadowthunder hurriedly asked.

“The Northern Hu have been defeated,” Shadowgale relayed, “Lou Zigui’s Black Frost Calvary has conquered the capital. Qin Xuan of Jiangnan, the Zhou estate’s army and even the thirty-six barracks are now under his rule.”

“Well dang!” Ning Xiaoyao exclaimed, “It hasn’t even been half a year. Supreme Commander is already going to be the emperor ah.”

“Prince Fu has escaped,” Shadowgale continued, “People are saying that he’s bought a boat and is preparing to set sail.” Preparing to set sail. That means that Prince Fu is fine ah. Ning Xiaoyao was assured.

“Xiang Tiange has joined Lou Zigui. The Lord Protector’s estate as well,” Shadowgale looked at Ning Xiaoyao and continued.

Ning Xiaoyao looked as if she didn’t care. It was normal for people to go where the wind blows. Since Lou Zigui has the opportunity to become the emperor, it was normal for Young Lord Xiang and Second Young Master Pei to join Lou Zigui. They made the right choice.

“Then where can we go?” Shadowrain asked. After hearing all this news, the Third Commander of the Shadow Guards felt even more aggrieved.

“Let’s go to Lou estate first,” Ning Xiaoyao cut in, “We’ll pass Big Bro Lou to the Lou family before going to Jiangnan, ok?”

The winter was nearly over. This was a pretty good time to head down to Jiangnan where the grass was growing. All the Dragon Guards looked at Shadowgale. Could they go?

“We can go to Jiangnan as long as there is no war happening over there,” Shadowgale looked at Ning Xiaoyao. Although he didn’t smile, the tone of his voice was very gentle, “We’ll go to Jiangnan together.”

“Let’s stop by the capital,” Ning Xiaoyao added, “Let’s pick up Fifth Young Miss on the way.”

“What if we end up bumping into Lou Zigui?” Shadowbolt worriedly asked. “I’ll go alone,” Shadowgale said, “You guys accompany Xiaoyao to Jiangnan.”

“Actually it’s fine even if I see him. I’m not afraid of him,” Ning Xiaoyao calmly stated. Shadowgale shook his head, “Since you’ve already decided not to meet, you can’t give Lou Zigui the opportunity to see you.”

Shadowgale knew what imperial power could do. He had experiences with it for twenty plus months. Thus Shadowgale understood that it was best that they continued hiding after Lou Zigui becomes the emperor. Ideally, it would be best if they were to never meet again.