Chapter 15: Clan Dugu’s Forces Retreat
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“My lady, what are you doing?”
Li Mu found the scene peculiar but at the same time somewhat familiar.
It looked like the final moments of a woman who had decided to take her own life for love back in the television dramas he’d watched in his last life.
He didn’t continue following that train of thought but jumped right inside the bedchamber.
“Xiaolizi, what are you still doing here?” Concubine Jing seemed stunned when she asked him.
“My lady, it’s safe out there now. The bad people who were attacking the royal palace have all been killed,” Li Mu explained immediately.
He was surprised that although he hadn’t left Shouning Palace for very long, the concubine was actually ready to commit suicide.
He thought it extremely lucky that he’d chosen to return as quickly as he’d been able instead of hanging around outside.
“You’re lying to me. It’s chaos out there right now. Go hide yourself somewhere safe,” Concubine Jing berated him.
“Umm…”
Li Mu was at a loss for words.
Noises could be heard all over the royal palace at the moment.
The footsteps of guards running about, as well as the metallic clangs from the clashes between weapons and armor, could be heard all the way back at the Shouning Palace.
Those who were not in the know would have thought that the palace was lost.
“My lady, please do not think about committing suicide. The noise out there is actually the warriors apprehending the remaining bad people.”
She badly misunderstood the situation, and he explained it as he saw it.
“You just told me before that all the bad people had been killed, and now you’re telling me that people are still hunting down the remaining bad people. Xiaolizi, since when did you learn how to lie?”
It was apparent that the concubine hadn’t bought what he’d said.
A eunuch like him was thought to know next to nothing after all.
She’d begun countering him and finding fault with his words.
“I’m not lying! Just after I went outside, I saw a mysterious warrior chop off the heads of the invaders with a single swing of his sword. All the other invaders ran away in panic. I’ve returned to tell you about it out of excitement.”
“Those warriors come and go like specters. How could it be possible for a eunuch like you to be able to tell what their battles look like? You really need to work on your lies.”
“I…”
Li Mu was completely tongue-tied now.
And he was feeling very anxious, seeing her lifting the knife in her hand.
Stupid mouth of mine!
Just why am I so bad at putting people at ease?
And since when did this woman get such a high IQ?
“Get out and never return to the palace. If you come back again, I’ll…I’ll gut myself with this knife,” the concubine said as she raised the knife high above her head.
“My lady, how about we leave together then? There is so much chaos out there after all.”
He’d had an idea.
He would be able to get her to believe him as soon as she got out there and saw for herself.
“Don’t try to talk me out of it, Xiaolizi. What could I possibly do out there? You could probably survive for a few years out there on your own, yet you’ll end up dead if you stay here.”
“It’s a complicated world out there, and I still think that it’s just safer staying here in the palace,” Li Mu told her how he really thought about it.
“Just how obstinate can you be? Just get out!”
Concubine Jing was furious now.
He looked up at her and considered for a bit.
“Sh*t, what should I do?”
“The girl is d*mn p.i.s.sed off right now. How should I calm her down?”
“My lady, listen. It’s becoming quiet outside.”
“Don’t try to lie to me again.”
“I mean it, my lady. Try to listen yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“Get out!”
Li Mu procrastinated some more.
“Why won’t you just listen?”
Both of them stayed in this standoff for quite some time.
The deadlock lasted until the concubine got sleepy and couldn’t help but yawn.
Li Mu took this chance to jab her sleep acupuncture points.
…
Things outside the city had been turned upside down while Li Mu was facing off against Concubine Jing.
The stunning sword will that had been demonstrated that day had been absolutely stunning.
Countless warriors both inside and outside of the city had seen what had happened.
Especially in the city…
A great many warriors had been in hiding, and they had been very close to the royal palace.
They noticed when the eight warriors at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm had showed up.
Then they saw something that would shock them for the rest of their lives.
“Is the grand ancestor still alive?”
“Best not speculate just how many cards those in the royal palace have up their sleeves.”
“Seems like it’s not yet time for a regime change.”
“Clan Dugu is done for.”
……
The hidden warriors from the clans sighed.
Some were excited, while others were dejected.
Scouts from the clans that had been lurking all over the city sent word out through pigeons all at the same time.
That ma.s.sive tent of the army outside the city received word from their bird as well.
“What? A saint-level warrior in the city and the eight warriors at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm who we sent have all been killed!”
Dugu Xin read the letter and exclaimed in fright.
“Let me have a look!”
An elder of the clan s.n.a.t.c.hed the letter from his hands. He began to tremble.
“There is actually a saint-level warrior among the royal family. Has their grand ancestor returned?”
“What is there to be scared of? They’re not the only ones with saint-level warriors in their midst. Clan Dugu does too. Even if the operation is a failure, our lands will still stay safe,” an elder of the clan said.
“My heart aches for our loss! Had we known that there was actually a saint-level being in their midst, we wouldn’t have sent the eight to their deaths… It’s all my fault for not getting the intelligence right.”
“Chief! It had always been our intention to test the royal family to see if there were saint-level warriors in their midst when we sent the eight in there. Those eight were also meant to keep the warriors of the royal family busy. We just never expected that the eight would fail,” an elder comforted the chief.
“Just how did they fail?”
The word that had been sent to them had been lacking in detail.
There was nothing that ill.u.s.trated the process, as only the results had been written.
“It must have definitely been that old fart in the royal palace sneaking up on them. Just think about it. We’ve been busy attacking the city the whole day long, and yet their saint-level warrior never bothered showing up.”
“The saint of the royal family has been hiding for so many years, and I think it was in preparation for this day. It’s good that we managed to get their trump card revealed tonight,” Dugu Xin elaborated.
What he said reinforced the chief elder’s speculations as well.
All eight of their warriors had definitely been set up by that saint-level warrior from the royal family.
“There are at least two at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm in the royal palace. With those two serving as distractions, it was all too easy for that saint to kill the eight of them.”
“That saint-level warrior has been hiding from the public. I wonder if there are other warriors at the Spirit Manipulation Realm around also.”
“Would it matter if there are? Eunuch Huang is on our side now. Me, the second, third, and fifth elders are all at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm. With the grand elder joining us, is there a possibility of us failing when conquering the country?” Dugu Xin continued.
No one had antic.i.p.ated that the grand chancellor who was very active at court was actually someone at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm.
“In that case, we shall inform the grand elder at once. We shall strike at the royal palace again tomorrow night, and we shall catch them by surprise.”
“Indeed. No one will expect that we would strike again.”
“Pull the army about 15 miles away from the city tomorrow morning to avoid the royal family from blowing our cover.”
…
The sun slowly rose the next day.
Most people both inside and outside the city had not been sleeping for the whole night.
Lights were still seen lit in many houses.
“Clan Dugu lost eight who were at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm. Clan Dugu definitely won’t be able to fight this war any longer.”
“Where’s our army by the way?”
Yet more news was sent into the city very early in the morning.
The army of Clan Dugu had retreated.
They just kept retreating.
Another piece of news was delivered at noon.
Clan Dugu’s forces had pulled back about 15 miles away, and they were setting up camp there.
The formations had been neat when they retreated.
The army garrisoning the city followed behind them and saw no openings for attack.
“Ha, ha, ha! Clan Dugu, you really thought that you could just bully the royal family, eh? Come on, hang the bodies of the eight at the city gates, and the other dozen ones at the Spirit Manipulation Realm on the city walls as well,” the emperor ordered.
His face had gotten very red.
He had been tolerating their nonsense for years, and this was the first time he’d felt so vindicated.
His servants did as they were told right away.
The emperor’s reputation and might had become far greater than they had been the day before.
“Your Majesty, many eunuchs and court ladies had been packing up last night in order to leave the palace amid the chaos. What should we do about them?” the purple-robed eunuch who was by his side asked.
“Forget it! Spare them! However, we’re done putting all these eunuchs and court ladies in important positions. I don’t care what rank they had been in before. Demote all of them to menial labor eunuchs. Those who were doing well last night, promote them to blue robes and get them to fill the void.”
The emperor had pondered the situation carefully, and he gave his order.