Xuanjing Tian and Miaocheng Tian, Who Obeyed Every Word!

Upon returning to Bian Prefecture, Zhu Youning first met with Zhu Wen to report on the handling and arrangements regarding Wang Shifan.

However, Zhu Wen seemed to have little interest in the matter, obsessed only with wine and women. He merely asked Zhu Youning to offer up more of those potent aphrodisiacs before dismissing him.

Zhu Youning said nothing more, presented a bottle of "Great Buddha Stick," and obediently withdrew.

After exiting the imperial city, Zhu Youning did not immediately return to his residence. Instead, he took Wu Yi to visit the families of the fallen soldiers, offering his condolences door to door.

In this era, human life is truly worthless.

Whether they are generals, nobles, or wandering heroes, no one cares much about the lives of commoners. For instance, some martial artists who claim to be loyal subjects of the Great Tang do not even blink when slaughtering Liang soldiers. They pride themselves on acting for the greater good, unaware that everyone is cut from the same cloth.

They would argue that the Liang soldiers are accomplices to a tyrant and traitors to the Great Tang, but if people had a decent life, who would choose to be a traitor?

Thinking of this, Zhu Youning could not help but recall a plot from a television drama he had seen in his past life: commoners, forced into rebellion out of desperation, were asked by Zhu Yuanzhang why they didn't report to the authorities, to which the commoners retorted by asking why Zhu Yuanzhang didn't report to the authorities when he started his own rebellion...

If reporting to the authorities were useful, who would ever rebel?

Under the rule of the Tang, there was no good life to be had—sometimes no life at all—with human lives as cheap as grass, which is why the Great Tang perished.

Of course, the people of the Liang State are not exactly living in bliss right now, but at the very least, they can survive.

The overturned cart ahead serves as a warning to the carts behind.

Zhu Youning believes that to stabilize the Great Liang dynasty, the first thing to grasp is the hearts of the people. However, the hearts of the people are not something he can touch right now; to do so would be an overreach, so Zhu Youning must first secure the loyalty of the army.

The reason Zhu Youning went door to door to console the families of the fallen was to ensure his men would willingly lay down their lives for him.

By the time Zhu Youning finished handling the condolences and compensation for the fallen soldiers, two days had already passed.

During this time, Zhu Youning did not even return to his own residence, staying in the military camp at night, which left the Longxiang Army soldiers both astonished and moved.

Upon returning to his residence, Zhu Youning immediately sent men to major pharmacies to purchase tonics, while he himself decided to focus on cultivation and slowly familiarize himself with his martial arts.

But clearly, Zhu Youning could not settle his mind at all.

Because there were two beautiful, water-spirited beauties still in his residence.

Miaocheng Tian and Xuanjing Tian!

He had actually forgotten about these two!

Zhu Youning immediately slapped his forehead.

These two, among the Nine Heavens Holy Concubines of the Huan Yin Workshop, had followed the army back to Bian Prefecture. They had now become Zhu Youning's personal maids, though they were not exactly willing.

Thus, Zhu Youning called Miaocheng Tian and Xuanjing Tian into his room.

"Your Highness, what would you have us do?"

Zhu Youning glanced at them, half-sitting and half-reclining in his chair, and said, "Come over and massage my shoulders and legs."

Zhu Youning was indeed exhausted from the past two days, so relaxing a bit was perfectly reasonable.

However, his primary reason for doing this was to test Xuanjing Tian and Miaocheng Tian.

Xuanjing Tian and Miaocheng Tian exchanged a subtle, sidelong glance before walking to Zhu Youning's side, using their soft, boneless hands to gently massage his shoulders and press his legs.

Zhu Youning closed his eyes to rest, fully enjoying this decadent and corrupt service.

In truth, Zhu Youning was no longer afraid of Xuanjing Tian and Miaocheng Tian launching a sneak attack on him.

Over the past twelve days, he had already completely converted the vast amount of internal energy he had absorbed from Li Cunxiao into Northern Dark True Qi.

The current Zhu Youning is a genuine Great Heavenly Rank expert!

Moreover, possessing the Northern Dark Divine Art, Zhu Youning also has his Northern Dark True Qi to automatically protect his body.

Once a palm or punch filled with internal energy strikes Zhu Youning, his Northern Dark True Qi will cling to the attacker like a vengeful ghost, tracing their meridians all the way to their dantian and absorbing every bit of their internal energy.

In other words, if Xuanjing Tian or Miaocheng Tian harbored ill intentions and dared to strike, their entire cultivation would be devoured by Zhu Youning.

Yet, after long observation, Zhu Youning found that these two did not seem to intend to attack him.

He had intentionally revealed openings several times, even closing his eyes, but they never took the opportunity to strike, simply focusing on massaging his shoulders and pounding his thighs.

What exactly are these two planning?

Zhu Youning looked at Miaocheng Tian, who was pounding his legs, and pondered incessantly.

"Your Highness, what is it? Is the pressure comfortable?"

"The pressure is fine," Zhu Youning evaluated truthfully, but then shook his head and said, "but your posture is wrong."

"What is wrong with my posture?" Miaocheng Tian asked, puzzled.

"Kneeling like that is bad for your knee joints; you should lie sideways instead."

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness." Miaocheng Tian feigned shyness and lowered her head, though a flash of anger crossed her eyes.

She had been kneeling to massage his legs; if she were to lie sideways, her fair, crystalline thighs would be fully exposed.

This Zhu Youning is a lecher through and through!

Although Miaocheng Tian slandered him in her heart, considering the Empress's orders, she dared not do anything to Zhu Youning, so she had no choice but to lie sideways as he requested and continue massaging his legs.

This left Zhu Youning feeling very strange.

Miaocheng Tian was one of the Nine Heavens Holy Concubines of the Huan Yin Workshop; what could possibly be the reason for her to be so obedient to his every word?

After pondering for a moment, a vague guess began to form in Zhu Youning's mind.

If his expectations were correct, the goal of Miaocheng Tian and Xuanjing Tian was likely to go undercover by his side and seize the opportunity to steal the secrets of the Liang State.

As the Prince An of the Liang State and one of the figures who held actual power within the nation, he was in a position to access a great deal of military and political intelligence.

And these were precisely the secrets that the Qi State desired.

However, if they wanted to obtain secrets from him, Zhu Youning, they would have to pay a price.

As for what that price might be, wasn't that for Zhu Youning himself to decide?

Just as Zhu Youning was preparing to make his move, Wu Yi requested an audience from outside.

"Commander, this subordinate has already dispatched men to ride at full speed to purchase medicine in the prefectures of Xu, Wei, Huai, Cao, Ru, Meng, and Song. They should begin returning to Bian Prefecture in about half a month."

"Very well, you may go." Zhu Youning deliberately put on an impatient air, not even glancing at Wu Yi as he waved his hand.

Wu Yi remained expressionless, cupped his fists, and withdrew.

After Wu Yi had left, Miaocheng Tian asked in a soft voice, "Your Highness, I wonder what kind of medicine you are looking to purchase?"

Zhu Youning opened his eyes, took one look at Miaocheng Tian, who was massaging his legs, and said, "Why? Why do you ask?"

Miaocheng Tian thought quickly and replied, "It has been this servant's wish since childhood to practice medicine and save the people, which is why I have some interest in pharmacology."

"I never expected Miao'er to have such a benevolent heart of a healer."

Zhu Youning looked Miaocheng Tian up and down, then suddenly pulled her into his arms.

Miaocheng Tian had not expected Zhu Youning to make such a sudden move, and by the time she reacted, she was already being held in his embrace.