The Northern Border and the Imperial Capital
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"Your Majesty."
"Your Majesty!"
When the Barbarian Tribe Alien King appeared in the human camp, the area had already been completely occupied by the Barbarian Tribe. One by one, the tall and mighty barbarians put down their spoils and knelt down to perform Barbarian Tribe rituals before him.
They continued forward until the Barbarian Tribe Alien King finally stopped in front of the main tent in the center of the camp.
Here gathered three hundred surrendered soldiers from the five thousand elite Imperial Guards, all kneeling on the ground with their collarbones pierced. Among them, a valiant middle-aged man, stripped of his armor, sat cross-legged in the center.
The surrounding area was filled with flickering firelight, and the Barbarian Tribe elites stood like iron towers, fully armed and holding weapons.
As if sensing something, the middle-aged man in the center slowly opened his eyes and looked at the Barbarian Tribe who was walking through the snow.
Supported by his bodyguards, the middle-aged man stepped out of the crowd and calmly stared at the Barbarian Tribe Alien King.
Amidst the crackling of the campfire,
The Barbarian Tribe Alien King stopped two meters in front of the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man was very robust, but he still appeared somewhat short compared to the Barbarian Tribe Alien King's towering figure.
The middle-aged man stood very straight.
"You are that Barbarian King?"
"Yes, I remember you."
The Barbarian Tribe Alien King stared at the other, and slowly uttered a rather awkward sentence in the Great Yan language from his hoarse voice:
"A subordinate general who served Wu Yuan on Dali Mountain."
The middle-aged man grinned upon hearing this:
"My Barbarian King, I am truly humbled and honored. However, I did not see you at Dali Mountain Barbarian King, for you always hid behind the camp and never came out."
The Barbarian Tribe Alien King was not angry; he calmly said:
"I believe your surrender is not a ploy to seek death."
The middle-aged man nodded and uttered a sentence:
"The Barbarian King; I surrender for two reasons."
The Barbarian Tribe Alien King stared at the middle-aged man and nodded.
"After you finish speaking, I might grant you some decency."
The middle-aged man clasped his hands in a fist salute:
"Then I thank you in advance, Barbarian King Majesty. The first thing I need to do is to convey a message from my Barbarian King to you."
Upon hearing this, the Barbarian Tribe Alien King's keratinized lips seemed to smile, a smile that held a deeper meaning:
"It has been two months since we parted at Dali Mountain. I thought I would be able to see Wu Yuan at Yunshun Mountain, but the noble lady has already left. What does she want to say to me?"
The middle-aged man stared at the Barbarian Tribe Alien King, neither humble nor arrogant, and said in a deep voice:
"The princess asked me to tell the Barbarian King..."
"Time waits for no one. We shall return this horn artifact to the Alien King for now, and retrieve it along with your head in the future."
As he spoke,
The middle-aged man took out half of a horn weapon from his robes and handed it to the tall Barbarian King before him.
The Barbarian Tribe Alien King accepted it with a calm expression; it was the bone spur that Wu Yuan had severed from him at Dali Mountain.
"Very well, I can wait for her."
"What's next?"
"."
The middle-aged man did not speak immediately. Under the watchful eyes of the Barbarian Tribe, he knelt down and bowed deeply to the south.
Then, he stood up, glanced back at the three hundred surrendered soldiers kneeling on the ground, and laughed:
"Our Thousand Thorns Camp wishes to present a grand gift to the Barbarian King on behalf of the princess."
As soon as he finished speaking, the situation suddenly changed. A murderous glint flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes, and without warning, he turned his fist into a palm and thrust it towards his own chest.
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The Barbarian Tribe Alien King saw this, but remained calm and showed no intention of stopping him.
Because half of the three hundred surrendered soldiers behind the middle-aged man did the same thing.
Source Crystal.
These humans directly swallowed the Source Crystal containing violent Source Qi from the warehouses.
Immediately, a loud laugh echoed throughout the camp:
"Your Highness, this life is over. In the next life, I Kong Yanghao, still wish to be your servant!"
The next moment,
A sudden gust of wind arose, flames shot into the sky, and a massive mushroom cloud rose and billowed in the snowy night.
In the forty-fifth year of the Jiajing,
A blizzard struck the Northern Border, Wu Yuan was defeated and fled to Yunshun Mountain. All five thousand soldiers of the Thousand Thorns Camp perished.
Seven days later, Marquis of Martial Achievement suddenly appeared in Beifeng City and led the Beifeng Army into the northern Snow Plain.
Meanwhile, a rumor gradually spread throughout the bustling Di'an City.
Xu Sanshao of the Prime Minister's Estate has returned to the capital.
Compared to the ever-changing situation in the Northern Border, Xu Yuan's life in the Imperial Capital was quite peaceful.
The old man doesn't seem to be letting him take over the affairs right away; the nominal heir is still that arrogant old man.
As a result, his life was very leisurely.
Two days later, Xu Yinhe summoned him to his study, gave him a letter, and asked whether the letter was addressed to Zhou Chen or him.
The signature is that of Li Yunqing, Xu Yuan's recently acknowledged younger brother.
Upon reading the contents of the letter, Xu Yuan burst out laughing.
It was very restrained, without any flowery words, but the intention to flatter was immediately apparent.
Xu Yuan thought his father would ask him some questions, but Xu Yinhe only vaguely instructed him not to give himself away if he encountered the Third Prince in a brothel while traveling.
However, Xu Yuan has no intention of going to those places at the moment, because he needs to focus on his cultivation.
The Nine Origin Calming Art allows him to cultivate at any time, but the speed still cannot keep up with his own cultivation.
In this extraordinary world where martial arts are considered advanced, cultivation is not everything, but if you want to sit in your father's position, you absolutely cannot do without it.
Therefore, life in the Imperial Capital was similar to that in Jingjiang Prefecture, the only difference being that cultivation resources such as pills and Source Crystal could be supplied in unlimited quantities.
As the heart of the Great Yan Dynasty, Di'an City receives abundant resources from all over the country, Prime Minister's Estate's mansion's warehouses are no exception.
During this time, Xu Yuan finally understood what it meant to be rich and willful.
Eating various precious pills, each costing a hundred taels, like candy, can easily cost thousands of taels of silver a day.
Occasionally, he would even consume a top-grade elixir worth ten thousand taels of silver.
Compared to the expenses of cultivation, the money I used to spend on brothels was negligible.
Taking drugs, practicing cultivation, eating, taking drugs, practicing cultivation, taking a medicinal bath, sleeping.
The lives of the rich are so dull and boring.
However, Xu Changge, his older brother, would occasionally take time out of his busy schedule to come and visit him, bringing a little pain to his dull and tedious life.
They called it helping him improve his combat skills.
Practicing sword skills together.
As a gentleman's agreement, Xu Changge will only use sword skills and will not use Source Qi, while Xu Yuan can use the soul power of a saint.
With the instincts that had been ingrained in his body for over a decade in the illusion, Xu Yuan wasn't initially intimidated by his older brother.
However, after being hung up and beaten several times, Xu Yuan finally learned his lesson.
Yeah, just play dead and give up, don't fight at all.
Besides, what impressed Xu Yuan most about the Imperial Capital's Prime Minister's Estate was the abundance of high-level cultivators there, like cabbages everywhere.
Occasionally, after a meal, a stroll along the wetland lake would reveal five or six Grandmaster of the third rank coming to report on their work. Most of the guards were also at least of the fifth rank, and even the lowest-ranking maids and servants generally had a cultivation level of around the eighth rank.
About half a month after this period of living like this, news of Xu Yuan's return to the capital was deliberately spread.
Therefore,
His monotonous and dull life was now supplemented with listening to music in brothels.