Great Qian's Number One Beauty

To prevent the Tamu Tribe and the Blazing Fire Tribe from sending men after them,

Wei Yun led the remaining men of the Mighty Camp on the long journey back to Changgu Town.

"Liu Neng, count the men."

As soon as he dismounted, Wei Yun called out to Squad Leader Liu.

"Yes, sir."

Squad Leader Liu, also known as Liu Neng, turned and began counting the men.

An incense stick's worth of time later, the count was complete.

He came before Wei Yun and cupped his fist. "Reporting to the Grand Commander: eight hundred men departed on this mission. Five hundred and thirty-six remain."

Wei Yun sighed. "We lost over two hundred brothers?"

Liu Neng lowered his head. "Yes. And that was only thanks to Nine Five Two Seven. If he hadn't killed that half-step innate martial artist from the Blazing Fire Tribe, we might not even have completed the mission."

Wei Yun nodded. "Compile a list of our fallen brothers. Double the death benefits and deliver them to their families."

"Yes, sir."

After handling these matters, Wei Yun rose and walked over to Li Dao, saying solemnly, "Thank you."

Without Li Dao, things might have turned out exactly as Liu Neng had said. Their Mighty Camp would have suffered disastrous losses, and they might not even have completed the mission.

Li Dao shook his head. "We each got what we needed."

Wei Yun continued, "But I still owe you my thanks."

Then he glanced at the Black Iron Saber in Li Dao's hand. "The saber handles well, doesn't it?"

"It certainly does."

"It's yours. No need to return it."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. That saber of yours helped save quite a few of my brothers."

Hearing this, Li Dao rubbed the Black Iron Saber's hilt. This weapon had also helped him rack up plenty of stats.

"Report!"

Just then, a sudden burst of hurried hoofbeats sounded nearby.

Everyone turned to look. A Great Qian soldier ran briskly up to Wei Yun and dropped to one knee.

"Reporting to the Grand Commander: an urgent mission has arrived from the rear."

With that, the soldier took a letter from inside his clothing and presented it to Wei Yun.

An urgent mission?

Wei Yun frowned, took the letter, and opened it to read.

After reading for a moment, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he could not help shouting, "How dare they!"

His shout startled everyone around him. They wondered what could have made their Grand Commander so angry.

Wei Yun drew a deep breath and looked up at Li Dao and the other four. "Everyone else, return to your posts. Nine Five Two Seven, you five come with me to the Main Tent."

A short while later, inside the Main Tent.

Wei Yun sat in the seat of honor, his face dark. "Gentlemen, I may have to assign your third mission ahead of schedule."

Hearing this, Shen San immediately grew excited. This was good news for them. Once they completed this mission, they would be free.

Li Dao asked, "Commander Wei, I take it the mission has something to do with that letter in your hand?"

"The letter?"

Shen San and the others also looked at Wei Yun's hand.

Wei Yun made no attempt to hide it and nodded. "It does indeed."

Li Dao nodded. "Then tell us straight. What's the mission this time?"

Wei Yun tightened his grip on the letter and said gravely, "While we were ambushing the arrow shipment escorted by the Tamu Tribe, their king sent a delegation to our dynasty."

"According to our scouts' intelligence, this delegation is led by the Eldest Prince of the Tamu Tribe."

"And they have only one purpose: to discuss a marriage alliance with our Great Qian Dynasty."

A marriage alliance?

Looking puzzled, Shen San asked, "What's there to worry about with a marriage alliance? With Great Qian's current strength, couldn't we just refuse? What does that have to do with our mission?"

Wei Yun shook his head. "You may not know certain things going on within the Imperial Court. Previously, the Imperial House would never have agreed to a marriage alliance. But this time is different."

Shen San curled his lip. "What's different?"

Wei Yun looked around, making sure no one else was present, before continuing. "Just over a month ago, a scandal occurred within the Imperial Court."

At this, Li Dao's eyelid twitched uncontrollably, and an inexplicable sense of foreboding rose within him.

"A scandal?"

Shen San immediately became interested. Almost everyone loved gossip.

Wei Yun coughed. "Don't spread this around after I tell you."

"Don't worry."

Shen San thumped his chest. "In the martial world, they call me the Honest and Trustworthy Young Gentleman. My tight lips are famous."

Only then did Wei Yun continue. "Rumor has it that during a Palace Banquet held by the Imperial House just over a month ago, someone with gall enough to defy heaven broke into the Imperial Palace and took a princess's chastity."

Crack!

Suddenly, the sound of something breaking rang out inside the tent.

Wei Yun and the others turned to look and saw fragments of a wine cup clinging to Li Dao's hand.

Li Dao shook the fragments off, his expression calm. "Go on."

At that moment, his feelings were extraordinarily complicated. The moment the story began, he knew who it was about. He had never imagined that even out here on this remote frontier, the gossip he enjoyed would turn out to be about himself.

Seeing that nothing was wrong, Shen San could not resist saying, "Now that's bold! Daring to bed a princess right there in the imperial palace-truly a role model for men like us."

"Ahem."

Li Dao coughed.

"Boss, are you all right?"

Shen San asked with concern.

Li Dao waved a hand. "I'm fine. Carry on."

Shen San scratched his head. Seeing nothing amiss, he turned back and asked, "Commander Wei, do you know which princess had her chastity taken?"

Hearing this, Wei Yun lowered his voice as far as it would go and said cautiously, "Princess Mingyue."

"What?!"

Hearing that name, Shen San could not help crying out.

"Keep your voice down, you damned fatty."

Wei Yun hurriedly clapped a hand over Shen San's mouth, afraid he might shout something earth-shattering.

Shoving Wei Yun's hand away with all his strength, Shen San said, his eyes reddening, "Tell me who did it. I'll kill him."

Li Dao: ???

Wei Yun frowned. "Shen San, what does this have to do with you?"

"Everything!"

Shen San gritted his teeth. "That's Princess Mingyue! The woman famed as Great Qian's Number One Beauty, the woman of my dreams! How could her chastity have fallen into the hands of some shameless scoundrel?"

"Ahem."

Li Dao gave a dry cough and could not help asking, "How do you know he was a shameless scoundrel?"

Shen San replied without hesitation, "He defiled the imperial palace. Of course he was a shameless scoundrel."

Li Dao was speechless. There was nothing he could explain.

He could hardly say that he had only taken her chastity because of an accident.

Still, he had not expected Princess Mingyue to be hailed as Great Qian's Number One Beauty by the Great Qian Martial World.

At that thought, a figure of breathtaking beauty involuntarily resurfaced in his mind.

That assessment did seem accurate enough.

He admitted that Princess Mingyue was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

Yes, both outside and inside, she was the most beautiful.

But Li Dao soon noticed something else. Frowning, he asked, "Then, Commander Wei, what does this marriage alliance have to do with that incident?"

Wei Yun let out a long sigh. "Because the Eldest Prince of the Tamu Tribe is after Princess Mingyue."

At this, Li Dao's gaze sharpened, and his fists clenched instinctively.

Wei Yun continued, "Normally, given His Majesty's love for Princess Mingyue and her reputation among the people, the Great Qian Imperial House would never agree-even if the Eldest Prince of the Tamu Tribe became their king before coming to ask for her hand."

"But the trouble is that this scandal about Princess Mingyue has come out at precisely this time."

"Since something like this is a scandal within the Imperial House, there are naturally people in the Imperial Capital who want to suppress it. The Eldest Prince of the Tamu Tribe's arrival has given some of them a convenient way out."

"Marrying Princess Mingyue to the Eldest Prince of the Tamu Tribe would not only win over the Tamu Tribe, but also cover up the imperial scandal. In short, certain people dislike Princess Mingyue and harbor ill intentions. They see how deeply she is favored and want to marry her off."

"Nothing may be apparent now, but once the Eldest Prince of the Tamu Tribe actually reaches the Imperial Capital, someone might really make it happen."

Li Dao asked directly, "Then what is our mission?"

Wei Yun placed the letter on the table and said gravely, "Stop the Eldest Prince of the Tamu Tribe from crossing the Great Qian Border and prevent the marriage alliance."

Then he added quietly, "This message came from the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

The Embroidered Uniform Guard?

Hearing this, Li Dao understood at once.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was an official organization directly under the emperor. If the message came from them, this was most likely a secret mission assigned by the Great Qian Emperor.

That saying really did hold true: never provoke a man who doted on his daughter.

Merely hearing a single piece of news had made him immediately send men to strangle the matter in its cradle.

Normally, given Li Dao's terrible relationship with the Great Qian Emperor, it would have been generous of him not to sabotage a mission like this. He certainly would not have considered preventing the marriage.

But thinking of that breathtakingly beautiful figure, an inexplicable, different feeling rose in Li Dao's heart.

At that moment, he had only one thought: how could he let another man benefit from a woman he had slept with, especially a barbarian?

On this point, he and the Great Qian Emperor had reached a temporary accord.

Li Dao looked up and asked directly, "When do we set out?"

"Right! When do we set out?"

With reddened eyes, Shen San declared, "Even if Princess Mingyue has lost her chastity, she's still not someone a barbarian like him can lay his hands on."

Li Dao: "..."

Why did it feel as though Shen San cared about this more than he did?

Was this the allure of Great Qian's Number One Beauty?

He wondered what Shen San would think if he knew that Li Dao was the very man who had taken Princess Mingyue's chastity.

Wei Yun explained, "Because this mission is unusual, those of us whose faces are familiar on the frontier cannot act. That means only you five can go."