To travel from the Lu Kingdom to the capital of Great Yan Dynasty, Ji City, one would have to cross seven kingdoms. They were the Gao Ling Kingdom, Wen Kingdom, Li Shan Kingdom, Gao Kingdom, Hu Kingdom, Zhi Le Kingdom and San Song Kingdom. Among these seven kingdoms, Gao Ling Kingdom and Lu Kingdom were rivals. Every couple of years, there would be a war of either a minor or major scale erupting between them. The rest of the six kingdoms had different relationships with Lu Kingdom, either friendly or hostile, and there wasn't any special relationship between them.
For fear of Lu Chengfeng's true identity being noticed by anyone from the kingdoms they were crossing, after they left the border of Lu Kingdom and entered the land of Gao Ling Kingdom, the parade that escorted Lu Chengfeng had changed their attire. They removed the finely made military grade armor and replaced it with ordinary armor used by rich civilian merchants. All their mounts and weapons had been replaced as well. Even the badges on all twelve flying coaches were changed to the symbol of a wealthy family in Lu Kingdom: the 'Tao' family, who specialized in the trade of iron instruments.
Under the disguise of pursuing study in Ji City, Lu Chengfeng and the escort of over four thousand men pressed on their journey towards the capital using the quickest possible speed.
At present, all kingdoms under the ruling of Great Yan Dynasty were in a state of endless conflict among each other, and peace wasn't a common thing even in their own land. However, it was still rather exaggerated for a young master from a wealthy family to travel along with four thousand guards and hanger-ons. Nevertheless, if there were a couple dozens of coaches bearing gold, jades and expensive jewelry in the convoy, everything would become well-reasoned. The massive parade continued their journey through the night, and in spite of wind and rain, they drew themselves closer to Ji City.
Gao Ling Kingdom, Wen Kingdom, Li Shan Kingdom, they crossed one kingdom after another and left them behind. Except for being blackmailed by some government officials when they journeyed through Gao Ling Kingdom, where they were asked to pay some money to leave the kingdom, the parade didn't face any trouble when they crossed other kingdoms.
Seven months later, when the mounts rode by the escorting cavalrymen became skinnier, and the once masculine body of these animals became so thin they could even be used as fuel for the fire, the convoy had finally left San Song Kingdom and stepped into the land ruled directly by Great Yan Dynasty. Using the official road found here, they would journey past thirteen provinces, three hundred and seventy-eight cities, and a total distance of thirty-three thousand and five hundred miles to finally arrive at the capital of Great Yan Dynasty, Ji City.
After dwelling in the coach for seven whole months, the boredom of the journey had made Wu Qi feel like all his internal organs were smoking and flaming, and nearly had flame jets bursting out from his seven apertures. He was now sitting on top of the flying coach, staring blankly into the vast open field that stretched as far as his eyes could see.
This was the territory of Great Yan Dynasty, the territory established by Crown Prince Dan [1] together with Jing Ke, Gao Jianli, Qin Wuyang and a group of hanger-ons! Wu Qi had no idea whether or not this Crown Prince Dan was the same person that he knew, and had no clue whether that Jing Ke, Gao Jianli, and Qin Wuyang were the same persons he had read from the history books. However, as the world was a large place, how could there be such a coincidence?
Great Yan Dynasty, a mighty empire that was founded over two thousand years ago and was still standing strong today! The name of its emperor was Yan Dan, and it had a group of famous vassals - Jing Ke, Gao Jianli, and Qin Wuyang!
With the current speed of the convoy, they would just have to travel day and night for another twenty days before arriving at Ji City. If not because the speed was slowed down by those coaches bearing expensive treasures, they could have even arrived a few days earlier.
Wu Qi stood up and overlooked the vast open field in front. A thread of water vapor slowly shot out from his mouth and reached to a distance of thirty feet. The fist-sized Innate Water Serpent pearl hovered up from in front of his dantian, then obediently returned to his magical storage bag.
After traveling day and night, and arduously cultivating for seven months, while staying in Respiration tier of Xiantian realm, Wu Qi had used his innate water energy and strengthened his meridians 108 times. As a result, he finally made the breakthrough and advanced into Meridian Cultivating tier of Xiantian realm. Although his meridians were currently larger and tougher compared to other cultivators of Physical Strengthening tier, that didn't stop him from tempering all his meridians once again when he was at the Meridian Cultivating tier.
After all, the Scroll of Stealing was a cultivation skill that was completely different from those orthodox teachings!
A melodious falcon cry was suddenly heard coming from the sky above. A tiny, white falcon was seen piercing through the cloud, turning into a white trail of light that shot into Tie Yuewu's coach. After some time, Tie Yuewu suddenly came out from the coach while laughing out loud, and with just one step, she came to Lu Chengfeng's coach.
She bowed her head and entered the coach. With a joyful mood, Tie Yuewu smiled and said, "Chengfeng, among all your competitors, only three are left now. The rest of them were killed without many obstacles. As for now, those three are still on the journey half a month away from the territory of Great Yan Dynasty. Without any accident, all those things left behind by your father will be yours."
Tie Yuewu's laugh was fully filled with an indescribable pleasure.
According to the law of Great Yan Dynasty, once Lu Chengfeng inherited Yan Buji's legacy, she would also be conferred by the dynasty. Although she had married to someone else, that wouldn't be an obstacle for her to become a true ultimate noble lady of Great Yan Dynasty. Her son was the Duke of Great Yan Dynasty, then the noble title of ladyship she would be conferred would never be lower than a Duke. Perhaps, she could even be conferred the title similar to a Prince.
The title of lady conferred by Great Yan Dynasty, that was a title at least ten thousand times more prestigious than the Maidan Rongyang title conferred by the monarch of Lu Kingdom! Rongyang city was merely a small city of Lu Kingdom that housed less than fifty thousand people. Yet, with the ultimate title of the lady of Great Yan Dynasty, she would be given a couple dozens of big cities as her fief.
Without the need of entering the coach, Wu Qi could already feel a crazy air emanating from Tie Yuewu; it was an air of wild ambition. Perhaps, when Lu Chengfeng inherited everything left behind by Yan Buji, it would also be the time to finally establish a new Lu kingdom under Lu Chengfeng.
The cold voice of Lu Chengfeng came out from inside the coach. He and Tie Yuewu had started to discuss how he could obtain everything left behind by Yan Buji without facing any problem. Although the Court of Imperial Family had decided that the first child of Yan Buji who arrived at Ji City would inherit all his legacy, who knew if there would be any changes in between? The fief of two provinces was something really attractive for many people in the Great Yan Dynasty after all.
Under their breath, the mother and son discussed and predicted every possible change they might face. Wu Qi had no interest in this kind of deliberation. He sprung up from the top of the coach, and with a few leaps, came to the last coach in this long convoy.
With a flick, he entered the coach, took out a flint and lit a white candle placed on a candle holder.
The window of this coach was covered by a thick sheet of blanket. It was so dark that Wu Qi couldn't even see his hand in front of him. As the dimmed light of the candle shone through the coach, two men lying inside of it suddenly let out a faint snort. Their bodies moved awkwardly, their eyes agitated by the light as they kept blinking continuously. Wu Qi waved his hand in the air and cleared his throat with a low voice.
A few burly men of Meng Village were seen sitting in a corner of the coach. They gave Wu Qi a smile while nodding their head, rose up and left the coach. They then brought themselves to the back of the coachman.
Wu Qi came in front of two men and sat down with his legs folded. Then, he helped both men up and leaned them against a soft cushion.
Both men had their beard grown into a messy state. Their faces looked worn-out and skinny, and their eyes were protruding, making them look big and bright. Luo Kedi and Ma Liang stared straight at Wu Qi's face. With a hoarse voice, Luo Kedi laughed and said, "Wu Qi, are you here to persuade us again? Hehe, we'll never betray our Marquis. Even if you kill us, we'll never submit to Lu Chengfeng. Trying to make us into his hanger-ons? Impossible!"
These two men were none other than Luo Kedi and Ma Liang.
Seven months ago, under the order of Tie Yuewu, the Cuirasses Cavalry had annihilated their army completely. Four Xiantian Sinecures of Lu family besieged and severely wounded them, and they were captured alive. Requested by Wu Qi, both men had their dantian and innate energy sealed up, and were kept captive in this coach, following the convoy and traveling along for seven months.
They didn't move or walk for more than half a year, lying inside this coach like dead men. Such cruel torture had made both Luo Kedi and Ma Liang feel they were no better than truly dead persons.
Wu Qi would come to them every seven days, asking them if they were willing to submit under Lu Chengfeng. Initially, they always gave out the same answer, cursing and scolding Wu Qi with all their strength, and never showed him a good face. Later on, as both men had their innate energy sealed up for too long, they had lost nearly all of their strength, and had become too lazy to even scold. Thus, whenever Wu Qi came visiting them again, they would just respond with a few listless snorts, and didn't give any sort of response to Wu Qi.
Sitting with both legs folded, Wu Qi looked at them and sighed.
He ignored the attitude shown by both men, and told them about Lu Chengfeng's origin and background in detail. In addition to that, he also told them openly that in this war of fighting for Yan Buji's legacy, Lu Chengfeng had dominated a superior position. If there were no accidents, Lu Chengfeng would become the Duke of Great Yan Dynasty, an ultimate noble of the Imperial family and the West Supervisor of Great Yan Dynasty who possessed a great power in his hand.
"So, our young master needs both of you to join us."
Wu Qi said bluntly, "With the current overall strength of our young master, it is insufficient to guarantee his future interest. If both of you are willing to submit to our young master, you won't be excluded from the wealth and rank that everyone else will be getting. But if you refuse to submit, I'll destroy all your cultivation right now, and when Lu family replaces the imperial family of Lu Kingdom, it will be inevitable that all your family members would be sentenced to death."
Luo Kedi and Ma Liang were greatly frightened by Wu Qi's words. Both of them kept looking at Wu Qi's face like they were looking at a ghost. For a very long time, they couldn't calm themselves back down.
While looking into their eyes, Wu Qi said with an indifferent voice, "Probably in just another twenty days, we'll arrive at Ji City. Before we arrive, you need at least half a month to circulate your innate energy and recover your cultivation. Today is your last chance. If you still refuse to submit, a few days later, you'll be useless to us."
Ma Liang stared back straight at Wu Qi. "No matter what, we're the grandmasters of Xiantian realm." He said with a deep voice.
Wu Qi shook his head. "So what? You're miserably defeated, and you have lost the right to consider the problem of your dignity."
Luo Kedi was also staring at Wu Qi's face. "What if we insist on not submitting?" He sneered.
Wu Qi thrust his palm and forcefully slapped onto Luo Kedi's dantian. The gentle yet shivering innate water energy penetrated into his body and nearly shattered his dantian. He burst out with a mouthful of blood, and his face turned deadly pale. Frightened and terrified, he looked at Wu Qi. The palm strike just now had almost destroyed all of his cultivation.
"Refuse to submit, and I'll destroy your cultivation. After that, I'll make sure you witness how all your family members are killed in front of your eyes."
With a mocking expression, Wu Qi looked at Luo Kedi and Ma Liang, who were having unsightly expressions right now. "To be honest, two Xiantian realm warriors don’t mean much for our young master. Both of you are not Xiantian realm cultivators, and I supposed you know very well the difference of value between a warrior and a cultivator."
A warrior was someone who didn’t have a Spirit Root, and the pinnacle of cultivation they could ever reach was Embryonic Breath tier of Xiantian realm.
A cultivator was someone who was born with a Spirit Root. When they gave birth to their Nascent Embryo, they would be able to break through the Embryonic Breath tier of Xiantian realm and form a Gold Core, eventually cultivating oneself into an Earth Immortal.
The difference between a warrior and a cultivator was like the difference between brass and gold; it was as distinguished as comparing an ordinary mortal and an immortal.
For Lu Chengfeng, who was about to inherit the legacy of Yan Buji, two Xiantian realm warriors really didn't mean anything of significance.
A gaze was exchanged between Luo Kedi and Ma Liang. The last bit of deceitfulness in their mind had vanished without a trace.
After a long pause, Ma Liang finally said with a dried voice, "If we're really going to submit under young master Lu and become his hanger-ons, are we just going to meet him with how we look right now?"
Wu Qi looked at both men from top to bottom, then finally smiled.
[1] Crown Prince Dan – He was the emperor of Great Yan Dynasty, and was a Crown Prince before he established the dynasty. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Prince_Dan)
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