Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Mianbao
Edited by RED
The young commander from Li Clan was furious. He didn’t even summon his dragon and grabbed the sword of a general at his side, directly hacking at Yang Xiu’s head!
Yang Xiu sat there, not making an attempt to dodge. The corner of his lips curled up with extreme disdain and mockery.
At that moment, a woman’s voice rang out. “Stand down, Li Pinghai!”
Li Pinghai felt even more angry. Why would someone stop him even now? This person was pretty much stepping over their Li Clan’s head and defecating on them!
“Stand down!” Suddenly, that woman’s voice rang out again, this time much stricter.
Li Pinghai halted, his whole body trembling for unknown reasons, so much so that he couldn’t hold the sword properly.
The sword fell to the floor, and Li Pinghai looked over in shock. A woman was standing at the side entrance of the hall, unnoticed by anyone. She stood tall and straight, her temperament extraordinary.
The curse-like, irresistible order from earlier also came from her.
“Li Yunzi?” Li Pinghai couldn’t believe it. How could this woman make him tremble all over with just a sentence…
“Keep him alive. I need him to help me pass on a few words to Ling Luotian,” Li Yunzi said.
Li Yunzi walked into the palace hall under everyone’s gazes.
She was wearing light armor. It fit close to her body, accentuating her figure and even displayed hints of heroic spirit.
With her black hair tied up, her eyebrows sharp, her eyes shining, and not wearing too much makeup, she walked into the solemn palace hall, like a warlord about to head into the battlefield, greatly contrasting the festive appearance of everyone in the hall, as well as the vermillion guards of honor!
In fact, Li Yunzi used to make her appearances in the Affairs Office in similar outfits when she appeared as the Crown Princess. However, her status was no longer that, and today was the day the Lingxiao City had come to receive her as a bride.
“Your Highness the Crown Princess, Yang Xiu pays his respects!” Yang Xiu stood up from his seat and saluted her.
Upon greeting her, Yang Xiu paid no more heed to the young commander. He observed Li Yunzi, saying, “Indeed, you’re still the Crown Princess I’m familiar with. If you prefer getting on the carriage with this appearance, I think our city lord will like it even better! Oh, I forgot to mention, we won’t back down on the condition regarding the four cities. The Crown Princess will also have to come to our Lingxiao City’s Ling Family as planned, or the truce is off!”
After saying all that, Mister Yang Xiu let out a strange laugh. His laughter contained very strong hints of mockery, as well as indecency.
Li Yunzi didn’t take a seat. Instead, she just stood there and said, “Mister Yang Xiu, I have a present here. Why don’t you accept this on behalf of your city lord first?”
“Whatever charming game Your Highness has, it’s better if you leave it for your consummation night with our city lord. This lowly one doesn’t dare accept on his behalf,” Yang Xiu rejected her, bowing.
Li Yunzi didn’t mind his teasing words and sent a gaze toward Commander-in-Chief Cheng.
Commander-in-Chief Cheng nodded, raising his hand and clapping heavily.
The noise spread, and immediately a dozen or so soldiers came forth, carrying objects covered in black cloth. They walked up to Yang Xiu in an orderly manner and placed those objects covered in black cloth at his feet.
Lined up horizontally, Yang Xiu couldn’t tell what was contained in them. He was confused, not understanding what Li Yunzi meant by this.
“Open them up and take a look. Is there a familiar face among them?” Li Yunzi asked evenly.
Yang Xiu immediately ordered the two attendants beside him to open them. When they unwrapped the first black cloth and saw messy hair attached to a head, and blood stains dried to the color of tea, Yang Xiu’s complexion went pale.
“Continue opening them!” Yang Xiu sucked in a breath of air. As if the two attendants were unwrapping too slowly, Yang Xiu began unwrapping them himself!
The objects wrapped inside the black cloth were all decapitated heads!
The smell from immediately spread through the hall. Some of the young misses who hadn’t seen war before turned pale with fright, and were just shy of shrieking and running out the hall.
Yang Xiu continued unwrapping the black cloth, but his hands were already trembling nonstop.
He recognized every one of those heads!
He had had a drink with every one of them before he came to Ancestral Dragon City State with the team. At that time, their heads were still connected to their bodies, but now, they were wrapped up in dirty black cloths, some even rolling if unsupported by hand.
Yang Xiu could not be any more familiar with those faces. Shouldn’t they have gone through the gorge in the west and slaughtered their way into the four cities in the west!?
Why were they all here, with only their heads!?
Yang Xiu’s hands were covered in blood. When he looked at Li Yunzi again, his gaze was no longer frivolous, but terrified!
She had killed everyone! Everyone!!
This devil had killed every Lingxiao City’s commander who had gone to ambush the four cities in the west, and even chopped off their heads and brought them back here…
What about raising the condition according to the circumstances, what about showing hostility at the last second…
If he hadn’t had full confidence, Yang Xiu wouldn’t have dared to act so brazenly in Ancestral Dragon City State’s Affairs Office!
In truth, Lingxiao City’s troops had entered Ancestral Dragon City State’s territory along the gorge on the same day the bridal party had set off!
Counting the days, the Lingxiao City State’s ambush team would strike at the same time he was about to sign the agreement, working together with the army at the frontlines and taking down the four cities of Ancestral Dragon City State in the west in one go!
What about the truce?… They had no intention of negotiating for peace from the start!
After they took down the four cities in the west, Li Ying would have to give up even the Lady of the House if they asked, let alone Li Yunzi, whose reputation was tarnished!
However, Yang Xiu could never imagine the severed heads of all the commanders of the ambush team would make an appearance in this palace hall with only their heads!
“Commander-in-Chief Cheng, this is…” Li Ying asked, confused. He didn’t recognize these heads.
“Patriarch, these elite troops of Lingxiao City crept into our lands while we were focused on negotiating for a truce, planning on breaching our defensive lines at the borders, but were captured by our guards by ambush,” Commander-in-Chief Cheng reported.
“What guards?” Li Ying asked.
“It was the Crown Princess’ former subordinates. I transferred them out from various battalions and searched for possible routes enemies could sneak in from, according to Li Yunzi’s instructions… Afterwards, we discovered this ambush team from Lingxiao City and shot all of them down in the gorge,” Commander-in-Chief Cheng reported.
“The Queen’s Guard!” Yang Xiu exclaimed. It was like he was struck by lightning and fell on his ass on the floor.
Everyone from Li Clan in the hall was drenched in cold sweat from the shock.
Lingxiao City State’s troops invaded us?
While they decorated the streets with lights, thinking that Lingxiao City State was sincerely forming a marital truce with them, they sent out troops to occupy the four cities in the west?
What about ceding the four cities as a condition…
If Li Yunzi’s old subordinates hadn’t seen through their tricks, they would have occupied the four cities by now!
The blood on those heads had been dry for a long time!
“You… you’ll all die a gruesome death! Li Yunzi, you vicious woman, you’ll surely descend into hell!” Yang Xiu roared crazily.
“Stop acting crazy. I’m keeping you alive,” Li Yunzi said coldly and calmly.
After hearing that, Yang Xiu’s face immediately changed. He crawled toward Li Yunzi in an incredibly humble manner and kowtowed nonstop, “I’ve always heard about Your Highness keeping your word. Many thanks to Your Highness for your mercy. Many thanks to Your Highness for your mercy.”
This Yang Xiu was really laughable. Sometimes courteous, sometimes arrogant, sometimes crazy, and sometimes humble as a dog.
“You don’t see the face you care about the most among these heads, do you?” Li Yunzi asked condescendingly.
“Yes… yes…” Yang Xiu felt like all his thoughts were seen through by this woman, not daring to show any hints of disrespect to her.
“Your Ling Family’s Young Master is still alive. This is the message I want you to pass on to Ling Luotian,” Li Yunzi said.
Yang Xiu slowly raised his head, somewhat in disbelief at what she had said.
He’s still alive? The Ling Family’s Eldest Young Master is still alive?
No matter how many commanders were combined, they couldn’t be compared in the same breath to the value of the Ling Family’s Eldest Young Master. He was the successor to Lingxiao City State, and the Ling Family’s patriarch had always cared about his eldest son greatly. In order to let him build a name for himself, he had even let him lead the ambush team, all for the sake of making him the hero who had conquered the Ancestral Dragon City State!
This should have been a foolproof operation, allowing him to build his fame and spread his name far and wide. Who would’ve expected things to end up like this…
“This lowly one will sign the agreement now. I’ll sign it now. No conditions are needed. Naturally, we won’t dare to tease Your Highness again!” Yang Xiu began looking for the agreement on the floor. When he finally found it and looked up, he discovered Li Yunzi was looking at him coldly.
Truce?
With her around, it was impossible for Ancestral Dragon City State and Lingxiao City State to come to a truce!
“Sit down, and use your literary talent to conceive a letter to redeem your young master’s life… But before that, eat up everything on the floor,” Li Yunzi said.
The seeds, skin, the fruit he had spat out, and some phlegm… Yang Xiu looked at the disgusting mess on the floor, suddenly feeling the urge to slap himself.
Li Yunzi turned around, no longer paying any heed to Yang Xiu while he cleaned up the floor.
“Yunzi, you’ve achieved great merits for us!” an elder of the clan exclaimed.
“As expected of the Crown Princess. You’re a blessing for our Ancestral Dragon City State,” someone immediately praised in agreement.
“She should have her status reinstated. Li Yunzi has suffered many grievances recently.”
Li Yunzi didn’t care about what her clansmen said. She walked straight into the hall, toward Concubine Kong Tong.
Concubine Kong Tong managed a smile, looking at Li Yunzi, unaware of what she was going to do.
Li Yunzi took the thick marriage book in Concubine Kong Tong’s hand, then crossed her name out in front of everyone.
Kong Tong’s expression changed, but she didn’t dare to make a sound at that moment.
After erasing the words “Li Yunzi”, she threw the brush in her hand away, toward Li Kongxi, Mu Qing, and the other Li Clan young misses, and it landed on the table in front of them.
The ink on the tip of the brush spattered, staining their delicate, made-up faces…
“About the matter of selling bodies to negotiate for peace, it’s better to leave it to them. If I can’t win on the battlefield, they’ll all be excellent quality goods for the enemy city,” Li Yunzi smiled.
Her smile frightened Li Kongxi, Mu Qing, and all those so-called young misses of Li Clan who kept to their roles, so much so that their blood drained from their faces!