"Father, where are we going?"
On the boat, the young Ghost Child, unusually, showed a look of worry. He hugged his lotus-root-like arms, his cute face scrunched up like a bun, and glared fiercely at the living corpses following below the boat.
"We're looking for someone, just asking about something," Chen Qing reassured the Ghost Child, smiling as he said, "Besides, didn't you always complain that your father abandoned you? Isn't it good that he brought you out now?"
The Ghost Child lowered his head, unsure of what to say for a moment. Actually, lately, he felt that staying in Liuzhou was quite nice.
"Hmm, you seem pretty reluctant," Chen Qing said, squinting at the other person. "What? You can't bear to part with that big-breasted lady from Liuzhou?"
"What nonsense are you talking about, Father?!" The Ghost Child's face turned red instantly, and he bared his teeth at Chen Qing for the first time in anger.
But the image of a woman with dark brown skin and a perpetually languid demeanor kept appearing in my mind.
"Oh, what an adorable little baby! Come here, let me give you a hug."
"Wow, you're so young, but your thing down there is quite big! What did you eat to grow it like that? Don't be shy, come here, let me touch it for you. Oh, it's even perked up!"
That shameless woman!
The Ghost Child huffed, "I don't like it at all!!"
"Really?" Chen Qing found it somewhat amusing to look at the Ghost Child's angry expression.
After that temporary imperial decree, Ghost Child's condition remained poor, often half-asleep and half-awake. Murong Yunji had caught him and teased him several times. If it were an ordinary person, Ghost Child would have already turned on them. So why does he only dare to curse her behind her back now?
Chen Qing found it amusing; men, sometimes, don't mean what they say.
"Father, I've heard that Murong Yunji was particularly fond of that imposing young general in white robes in Liuzhou City that day. She's been thinking about him day and night, searching for him in Liuzhou for many days."
"Really?" The Ghost Child, her ears perked up, whispered, "Coco, I see her often going to chat with Xu Hu. She even said that Xu Hu is very manly."
"Hahaha!" Chen Qing burst into laughter. "Young women like muscular men, that's perfectly normal."
"A muscular man?" Ghost Child stared blankly at Chen Qing: "Is someone like Xu Hu a muscular man? Do women all like that kind of skinny guy?"
Chen Qing nodded, looking ahead. "Nine out of ten women like that kind of look."
"I see," the Ghost Child said thoughtfully.
"They're here!" Chen Qing looked ahead, and the Ghost Child was stunned for a moment, then tensed up and looked ahead warily.
He had rarely encountered such a situation since he came from the human world, a situation that could send chills down his spine!
It was a large warship. If Murong Yunji and the others were there, they would definitely recognize it as Yuchi Feihong's ship, but it looked quite different now.
At this moment, the warship was covered with blood streaks and a layer of black bone armor. Upon closer inspection, the bone armor was still wriggling. Following the source, one could see hundreds of black zombies on the ship's roof, their bodies completely deformed, ready to merge into the bone armor at any moment, crawling inside, looking extremely eerie.
Upon witnessing this scene, Chen Qing's mind processed the data rapidly.
The Seventh Corpse Form, Black Tide!
It was her!!
You shouldn't have come.
A deep, heavy voice came from inside the ship; it was almost inhuman, but you could still faintly make out the tone of the once arrogant man.
" General Yuchi." Chen Qing smiled and bowed respectfully.
There was silence on the other side. From the black mist, a tall figure emerged. At this moment, Yuchi Feihong's appearance had changed drastically. The ulcerated muscles on his face had disappeared, and a bronze-colored flesh had grown in, clinging to his face and giving him a cold, metallic feel.
Its entire body was covered in the same black liquid-like substance found on ships, forming a kind of armor-like shape, but its occasional wriggling still gave it a sense of life. This armor was alive!
"How could I not come?" Chen Qing said with a smile, "I have to thank you for your involvement, General, otherwise the situation in Jiangnan wouldn't be so good."
In fact, Chen Qing had sensed it many days ago that the frequency of releasing living corpses in the Nine Heavens Mirror Valley had decreased significantly. This was because his Tiger Guard Army had already reached the vicinity of Whitewater County to rescue the countryside. They had rescued more than eight counties along the way, and the number of people rescued was now approaching 100,000. However, during the rescues, no matter how much they tried to avoid the living corpses, they could not avoid killing.
At least 100,000 zombies have been killed, yet no new zombies have come ashore, which is contrary to the rules of Nine Heavens Mirror Valley.
Chen Qing immediately guessed that there was an internal reason, and if there was any anomaly inside the Nine Heavens Mirror Valley, the most suspicious one was Yuchi Feihong, who was not controlled by the poisonous insects!
Yuchi Feihong stared coldly at Chen Qing, his eyes filled with complex emotions unique to humans. Chen Qing saw this and immediately smiled. Sure enough, this guy had someone he liked from the very beginning!
He said that it was too much of a coincidence that he was able to escape from the West Sea, withstand the poisonous insects for so long, and then specifically target Shen Laojiu.
"You know quite a lot!" Yuchi Feihong said quietly, "Did you already know my background all along?"
"Not really," Chen Qing honestly shook his head. "Before the general bit the Laojiu, I didn't know anything about the general's situation. It was only recently, with a series of unusual events, that I realized that the general had sided with something within this magic array!"
"Are you surprised?" Yuchi Feihong sneered.
"Not surprised," Chen Qing shook his head. "Many people who have witnessed its power would be subdued; it's instinct. The general's choice is only natural!"
Yuchi Feihong was taken aback, clearly not expecting Chen Qing to say that.
Do you know its power?
"I know some."
"Then you should know that it's impossible for a human to win!" Yuchi Feihong said, panting heavily.
"So the general chose to compromise," Chen Qing said quietly. "If I'm not mistaken, the one who gave you power promised to treat humanity well, right?"
Yuchi Feihong remained silent.
You believe that?
"What can I do if I don't believe you?" Yuchi Feihong smiled bitterly. "Do I have a choice?"
"Of course there's a choice. Otherwise, General Yuchi wouldn't have come to me without telling it, would he?"
"How do you know I'm hiding it from it?" Yuchi Feihong asked, frowning.
Chen Qing looked at the sky, which seemed to be perpetually bright, and said, "This Nine Heavens Mirror Valley has nine layers, inner and outer. The more you go into each layer, the more dangerous the sealed things become. In the innermost layer, the most dangerous nine insects are sealed. These nine insects cannot easily leave the formation, otherwise they will be targeted. The one you are loyal to corresponds to the Mysterious Water Mirror in the formation. It must hibernate once every seven days. During this hibernation period, you must protect it. This is the reason it chose you."
Yuchi Feihong: "."
"The fact that you chose this time to meet me means you don't want it to know about our conversation."
Yuchi Feihong stared at Chen Qing for a long time before taking a deep breath and saying, "You really do know a lot. It seems that putting Shen Laojiu under your wing was the right choice."
Chen Qing's face twitched slightly, feeling somewhat embarrassed. If the other party knew that Shen Laojiu had lost control, he wondered if they would still think so highly of him.
"Speak, what brings you here?"
I need your cover!
"Cover?"
"Yes!" Chen Qing nodded. " Liuzhou is on track, but the other prefectures and counties are not. In the Jiangnan region, apart from Nanming Prefecture and Nanyang, the other prefectures still have no ability to resist. I must hold the key places in those prefectures before the situation becomes completely hopeless!"
"Holding those places is a pretense; their real intention is to seize them, isn't it?" Yuchi Feihong sneered, but then asked doubtfully, "You can leave Liuzhou?"
"Yes," Chen Qing nodded, "But we'll need the general's cover!"
"I'll cover for you?" Yuchi Feihong was taken aback, then immediately understood. "You mean..."
"Ah, thank you for your introduction, General!" Chen Qing bowed and said, "I wish to speak with the person behind the scenes!"
--
Meanwhile, Wang Ye, carrying the token, arrived in Nanyang City on time at noon the following day.
Having received the news earlier, the Shen Family had been waiting at the dock. Apart from Shen Laojiu, Shen Lao'er, and Shen Ministry of War Shen Laoliu, who were away, everyone else was present.
Wang Ye gazed at the few people on the dock from afar, then saw the mountain of living corpses Nanyang City, and nodded to himself.
The Shen Family has been famous for a thousand years. Even the Xiao Household, which once unified the country, did not dare to easily use force to oppress them. It was Liu Yu who stepped in to mediate and bring Jiangnan under their control. They are indeed something special.
The number of undead outside the city that were wiped out was far more than a million.
With just their magic arrays, they can defend against a million enemies; they truly deserve to be called a family of sorcerers with a thousand-year history!
"Is that Lord Wang Ye, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review?" A ruddy-faced old man roared from afar, his voice full of vigor; one could easily believe he was a martial artist.
Wang Ye had met the other party before; it was none other than Shen Yixin, the current head of the Shen Family!
"Junior Wang Ye greets esteemed seniors of the Shen Family!"
"You're too kind, Vice Minister Wang!" Shen Yixin stepped forward warmly and helped Wang Ye up. Wang Ye also sensed the hidden spiritual power in the other party's eyes.
Shen Yinian said that all Shen Family recognize his token, but as long as the token is on him, the first person to sense it will definitely be Shen Yixin. If he is the first to come up and use his spiritual power to contact you, it means that the current Laoliu is still the Laoliu as before.
"Fifth Brother... gave you the token?" Shen Yixin's words echoed in Wang Ye's mind.
The Spirit Speech Technique!
Wang Ye's pupils contracted. This Sixth Master of the Shen Family was indeed extraordinary to become the head of the Shen Family. He was able to construct spiritual language in his spiritual sea without his consent. Did that also mean that he could spy on his emotions at any time?
"Yes," Wang Ye replied without changing his expression, but secretly responded to the other party's words using the fluctuations in his spiritual sea.
"Calm down, do not move." Shen Yixin's spiritual power fluctuated slightly on the token at Wang Ye's waist, and Wang Ye clearly felt that some information had been intercepted from the token by this Sixth Master Shen.
"I see. Second Brother actually got into trouble in Liuzhou. Did Fifth Brother send you to me to investigate the matter of the Ancestor?"
Wang Ye: "."
It seems I underestimated that Ministry of War. Indeed, how could he possibly trust me completely to deliver messages?
However, this was the first time he had ever seen a technique that could transmit information directly through tokens. The Shen Family was indeed extraordinary.
"Fifth Brother is right, Laojiu couldn't possibly be the Ancestor!"
"Why?" Wang Ye stirred, and he quickly asked using his Spirit Speech.
"This all started with the death of the Laoda!"
Wang Ye: "."