Provoking a Female Tyrannosaur

Provoking a Female Tyrannosaur

After Wang Yushi was escorted to the Imperial Capital, the imperial family, mindful that she came from a family of merit, did not sentence her to death. They merely consigned her to the Northern Border Army's Death Camp.

Everyone in the Death Camp bore criminal guilt and needed nine turns of military merit to earn absolution. Even the merit of being first to scale the walls during a siege counted for only three turns. Unless one was exceptionally formidable, one would never escape the Death Camp in a lifetime, only fighting until death. Yet Wang Yushi, as a Mysterious Realm cultivator, repeatedly distinguished herself by slaying generals and seizing banners, quickly accumulating enough military merit to clear her name. But she did not leave the Death Camp. She kept killing, as though only endless slaughter on the battlefield could dissolve the violence in her heart.

The year Wang Yushi entered the Death Camp, Qin Han, then Crown Prince, happened to lead troops to guard the border for the first time. When he saw this girl with a story, the old cliché began. Qin Han fell in love with Wang Yushi at first sight and immediately decided to marry her as his Crown Princess.

Crown Prince Qin Han's decision was ruthlessly vetoed by his imperial father, for a very sufficient reason—bearing heirs would be difficult.

Whether cultivators of Great Xia or powerful figures of other races, their reproductive ability stood in inverse proportion to their own strength. The stronger their combat power, the lower their fertility. There had never been an exception. Wang Yushi had reached the Mysterious Realm at such a young age. If she became Crown Princess, then with the imperial family's deep foundation, reaching the Earth Realm would be as certain as a nail driven into a board.

Cultivators above the Earth Realm were publicly known to have exceedingly low fertility. If they were men, they could still remedy it by taking more wives and concubines. But Wang Yushi was a woman. Even if she drained Qin Han dry, she might not produce an heir. And for the principal empress to have no children... that was far more serious than mere unrest within the household.

Qin Han was deeply disappointed and dejected. He and Wang Yushi were both sacrifices who could not control their own fates within great clans and the imperial family. Wang Yushi showed no dissatisfaction at Qin Han breaking his word. She merely asked him for the latter half of the Breaker Manual.

The Breaker Manual came from an ancient ruin. Its first half had been made available by the Great Xia Imperial Clan as an item exchangeable for military merit, open to all soldiers. But the latter half had always been hidden in the imperial palace. Only individuals or families who had rendered tremendous service to Great Xia could receive a copied version of the latter half of the Breaker Manual. Great Xia's aristocratic clans had all received this highest-tier reward. It was said that the latter half of the Breaker Manual was already badly damaged; each copying damaged it a little further. Moreover, advancing through the Breaker Manual was extremely perilous, so almost no one had ever cultivated it completely.

Qin Han had once advised Wang Yushi to stop cultivating the Breaker Manual and switch to another technique. It was true that the Breaker Manual allowed astonishingly fast cultivation, but its method of refining elemental energy was simple and brutal, carrying enormous side effects for a cultivator's body. Thus, every family would improve upon the Breaker Manual, slowing cultivation speed in exchange for purifying elemental energy and increasing the purity of elemental liquid.

But Wang Yushi insisted on continuing to cultivate the Breaker Manual. Qin Han understood her feelings. Only overwhelming strength could protect her and her younger sister. As for the harm to her body and the risks during advancement, she simply ignored them.

Qin Han fulfilled Wang Yushi's wish, and Wang Yushi's talent was monstrous as well. Half a year later, she broke through the Mysterious Realm and entered the Rain Realm, cementing her reputation as Great Xia's foremost cultivation genius of the age.

In the spring of the second year after Qin Han and Wang Yushi met, Qin Han was suddenly ambushed while entering Orc Tribe territory to "hunt." By the time reinforcements arrived, every one of Crown Prince Qin Han's guards had died. Only the grievously wounded Qin Han remained on the battlefield.

Qin Han was rushed back to the Imperial Capital overnight. Great Xia Empire... for the first time, its army entered Orc Tribe-occupied territory on a large scale for retaliatory military operations, directly creating a no-man's, no-beast's land stretching nearly a hundred li.

Just as all the border troops waited in trembling fear for punishment from the Imperial Capital, the imperial family issued no decree of accountability. They only sent an edict summoning Wang Yushi into the palace to meet the emperor.

Later, an imperial proclamation was issued: Crown Prince Qin Han would take Wang Yushi, eldest legitimate daughter of Duke Wuwei, as his principal consort. The Wang sisters had finally endured until their day came, becoming Great Xia's hottest newly risen noble family. No matter what Wang Yushi's relationship with the Wang Family was, it could not change her status as the Wang Family's legitimate daughter. In this world, where clans held immense influence, Wang Yushi could not sever herself from her clan because of past grievances. Thus, after becoming the family of the empress, the Wang Family's prestige rose another level, and it had faintly gained the title of the foremost great clan outside the imperial family.

The two spoke with flying brows and dancing expressions, while Qin Mo listened with a chill in his heart. From the meaning between their words, they actually revered the current empress. Although Great Xia was not an absolute world of male superiority and female inferiority, for a woman to inspire reverence in two imperial clansmen who held their heads high in pride showed just how overbearing Wang Yushi was.

Qin Mo lamented inwardly. A beautiful woman truly brought disaster. Qin Mo had merely been a tiny bit handsome, yet he had suffered such an unprovoked calamity, provoking such an enormous female tyrannosaur.

Qin Mo muttered, "Could it be that I have to go to the Wang Family and propose marriage now?" The moment the thought arose, he immediately rejected it. Never mind where he would put his pride—there were probably already lines of suitors stretching dozens of li. Was he looking to be beaten up by the crowd ahead of him in line? Forget it. Let her do as she pleased. Once he dealt with this conscription in the north, he would head overseas and carve out his own dominion. Who cared who she was?

"Do your two families have enough warhorses? I heard Uncle Wu say that all three of our families have been targeted?"

"It could not really be called targeting. The prices were merely a little higher, and there were merely fewer good horses," Qin Yuanze said this time.

Qin Yumu unexpectedly did not refute Qin Yuanze's words. It seemed that while great clans would not go so far as to crush one another outright, throwing stumbling blocks in each other's paths was commonplace.

"Tomorrow, I plan to visit the West Market Mule-and-Horse Market. Buying a few more warhorses would still be good. Those families cannot possibly have bought up every horse trader, can they?"

"Let's go together, let's go together. Tomorrow, the three of us will turn the heavens and earth upside down and teach those profiteers a lesson." Qin Yumu cursed loudly at the large merchants hoarding horses, utterly forgetting that he was about to become a profiteer engaged in sea trade himself.

Hu Ba stood in the mule-and-horse market west of the Great Xia Imperial Capital, watching the crowds come and go. His eyes were hollow, devoid of the slightest spark, filled only with despair.

"Elder Sister, in a few days, let's go back. I'll divide my cattle and sheep among our people. I won't let them suffer even the slightest loss," Hu Ba quietly said to his elder sister, Hu Qi.

"Hu Ba, a young eagle must not only learn how to fly, but also learn how to endure and lower its head. We can sell the horses to..."

"No, absolutely not. I would rather become a wanderer on the grasslands than let those despicable nobles have their way." Hu Ba's filthy face was filled with determination and madness, utterly mismatched with his short frame. Hu Qi seemed to see her stubborn old father again.

Hu Ba and Hu Qi's old father had been the chieftain of the Tatar Tribe. Last winter, he had returned to the embrace of Eternal Life. According to his final wishes, his youngest son, Hu Ba, was to inherit the greater part of his estate. After all, Hu Ba's other brothers had long possessed their own pastures and herdsmen. Hu Ba had always remained by his father's side, and the grasslands also had a tradition of sons staying home to guard the hearth.

But after the old chieftain died, undercurrents surged through the tribe. Hu Ba's brothers each began making moves, constantly drawing the herdsmen who had originally belonged to Hu Ba beneath their own tents.

At the critical moment, Hu Ba's elder sister Hu Qi and brother-in-law Hu'er firmly stood at Hu Ba's side, angrily condemning the despicable acts of his elder brothers. Only then did Hu Ba barely secure his position as the new chieftain.

In early autumn this year, tribes and traveling merchants with connections across the grasslands had brought their warhorses south to sell for good prices in the Imperial Capital. Young and hot-blooded, Hu Ba selected three thousand fine horses from the tribe and prepared to bring them to the Great Xia Imperial Capital. His elder sister Hu Qi voiced her concerns. She believed they should bring fewer horses south, settle prices with their major clients from previous years, and deliver the horses on the grasslands instead. After all, the Tatar Tribe's traditional grazing grounds were not far from the route taken by the Great Xia Army heading north. Furthermore, many of those three thousand fine horses had been collected from the homes of herdsmen. If they failed to sell for a good price, it would be difficult to account for it.

But Hu Ba could not withstand the goading and provocation of several brothers. Greed also rose within his young heart, and he stubbornly set off for the Imperial Capital with the great herd of warhorses. After all, prices were very low when delivering on the grasslands, while selling to noble families in the Imperial Capital would bring at least twice the profit.

Hu Qi could not persuade her younger brother otherwise, so she could only come with him to the Great Xia Imperial Capital. The flourishing Imperial Capital shocked Hu Ba and Hu Qi to their cores, and they marveled at Great Xia's wealth and power. But at the same time, cruel reality taught them a solid, unforgettable lesson.