Loxor continued:
"I told him how to bypass the royal secretaries' arrangements and sneak into the palace, but he asked me if I had anything else besides poison."
"Of course not, because I came here specifically for the poison."
"After listening, he was greatly disappointed."
"Puff."
[The Great Wei Boxing Champion] simply couldn't resist.
The fact that [Da Wei Boxing King] secretly listened to Nuowa's dark history behind his back gave [Great Wei Boxing Champion] a strange feeling.
The feeling was like two palace guards secretly discussing whether the emperor might be an illegitimate child—thrilling and exciting.
Loxor's story continues:
Seeing how disappointed he was, I took him into the palace again.
"We stole a lot of good stuff this time, and he became my first human friend."
"After traveling together for a while, we went our separate ways."
"Later, the kingdoms of the Southern Continent were in turmoil, and many people seized the opportunity to rise up and plan some big things."
"Stral then located my position through stargazing and invited me to join his camp."
"Human wars are boring and tedious, but I still learned a lot from them and applied it a thousand years later."
Later, Stral unified the Southern Continent and established his own empire.
"I have no interest in human politics, so I commissioned Stral to erase all traces of me from the history of the empire's founding."
"Stral knew I would leave, so he gave me two things—"
"A vast, uninhabited forest in the southern part of the empire, and a Duke Protector of the State Medal, a symbol of honor."
That was the last time we met.
Loxor sighed:
"Every one or two hundred years thereafter, I would sneak into the imperial palace to see his descendants, and I only felt that each generation was worse than the last."
"But more than a hundred years ago, when I last infiltrated the imperial court, I was recognized by a young prince."
"There is no trace of me in the history of the Empire, but there is in Stral's private notes."
"And that child was the only person in a whole thousand years who could understand that notebook."
"Although he is not yet ten years old, he does look very much like his ancestor."
"As a reward for seeing through the disguise, I gave him the Duke Protector of the State Medal."
Not long after, the emperor died, and a new emperor ascended the throne, his hands stained with the blood of his own people.
"The young prince's name is also on the list of the dead. The story ends here."
Loxor then concluded his narration.
"Oh, you didn't do anything at the time?"
[The Great Wei Boxing Champion] was somewhat astonished:
"During those palace coups."
The Green Dragon shook its head:
"As long as the emperor is still a descendant of Stral, there is no need for me to get involved."
"Besides, I have been away from the heart of the empire for a thousand years. Unless it is a matter of life and death, it would be unwise for me to interfere in the conflicts of humanity."
[The Great Wei Boxing Champion] nodded in understanding, and after a moment's thought, finally realized:
"So you've become the Imperial Marshal now, as a human, because the Empire is about to collapse?"
Loxor nodded and remarked:
"Yes, the empire is doomed."
"If it weren't for me, the empire would have collapsed three times already:"
"The current emperor is in poor health and has no children. If he dies one day, the empire will collapse in an instant. That's why I was originally a court physician."
"After curing his illness to near perfection, and since there were some rebels who needed to be eliminated, I served as the Grand Seal Keeper for a period of time."
"Then suddenly there was a possibility of recovering the territory, and I became the Grand Marshal again..."
"If Stral were still alive, he would probably come and hug my legs, wiping away his tears, thanking me for protecting his last bloodline."
"Of course, if I had known that kid wasn't dead at all, none of this would have happened."
[The Great Wei Boxing Champion] thought for a moment and suddenly asked:
"What if Nuowa were to challenge the current emperor for the throne in the future...?"
"So, after all that trouble, this is what you wanted to ask?"
Loxor gave him a knowing smile:
"To tell you the truth, after this battle, I'll have repaid all the favors I owe Stral."
"Even if they beat their brains out, it's none of my business, as long as one of them survives."
[The Great Wei Boxing Champion] was surprised that the Green Dragon in front of him was so frank about this.
But it's probably better not to get involved. There should be a "Xuanwu Gate" level side quest with Nuowa later on that we can explore.
The situation is likely to become more interesting if the Green Dragons remain neutral.
"So, is there anything else you'd like to ask?"
Having finished his story, Loxor lost interest and looked at the Soul Returner before him.
Thank you for your answer, I have no further questions.
[The Great Wei Boxing Champion] left the command tent with his screen recording, completely satisfied.
Once again, military orders were issued, and the war machine that the empire had painstakingly built began to slowly turn.
Skipping over useless time, more than half a month has already passed in the blink of an eye.
During this time, everything proceeded smoothly according to the plans of the Soul Returners.
Although "Fang Soldiers" and "One Heart Society" belong to the Empire and the Alliance factions respectively, they are highly consistent in their approach to fixing matches and writing scripts.
Led by [Ginseng Rooster], the Fang Soldiers successfully isolated the inside from the outside, ensuring that all the information Colin could obtain came from the Soul Returners and a few controlled military police.
Colin, engrossed in commanding battles and engaging in combat, had little energy to discern whether the intelligence he received was being concealed.
The entire rebel camp has successfully moved to northern Sand Capital and joined forces with the remnants of the [Whale Tail] Legion. They are currently launching a fierce attack on the weak points of Sand Capital's outer walls near the coast.
On the Empire's side, after Nuowa did them a great favor, Marshal Luokenuosuos i also made significant concessions.
After determining that the Skeleton Alliance was highly unlikely to survive this wave, he even treated the remaining battles as part of his training.
He granted many of his 10,000-strong units the authority to act independently, allowing them to hunt down the routed soldiers of the Skeleton Alliance throughout the desert, except for the northern part of Sand Capital.
The majority of the remaining troops were mobilized by Luokenuosuos i to the south of Sand Capital, where they took turns launching practice attacks on Sand Capital daily.
After reaching some kind of understanding with the Soul Returners, Alfonso Lange's 10,000-strong army was even separated and made independent by Luokenuosuos i.
When the rebels from the north attacked, the One Heart Society, led by [Practice More If You're Bad], would start to support them, beating drums and gongs loudly, but they didn't necessarily send troops, causing the Skeleton Man on the city walls to complain bitterly.
As everyone knows, the only reason you get bullied if you don't have a gas canister is because you're out of gas.
Although Sand Capital is not short of manpower for the time being, it is severely lacking in superior forces.
Even though [Thousand Faces] has split himself into several parts to put out fires everywhere, he is still somewhat overwhelmed.
Every time he looked at the sealed-off Crystal Cluster Palace, he felt that his decision to join the Skeleton Alliance was somewhat ill-advised.
But since things had come to this, he gritted his teeth and persevered, even feeling that his ability to manipulate his body in multiple ways was much stronger than before.
Finally, on the last day of December in the year 909 of the Royal Calendar, [Thousand Faces] received a summons from the Crystal Cluster Palace.