Chapter 903, (2): Fiend Races’ Invasion

Moon Restaurant was one of the most famous restaurants in the capital. It was rumored that in the past, when the emperor mingled with the people incognito, he would even be pleased when he dined there. It was easy to imagine how high the level of the food inside was.

Of course, the price was similarly high. But for the heir of the Chu clan, the grandson the Qin clan doted on, it wasn’t a big deal at all.

Such an event was something that should have been celebrated at home, but there was no female host there. That made the atmosphere a bit too cheerless, and there weren’t enough preparations. As for the Qin clan, they couldn’t even think of that. If they brought Zu An over, the Qin clan might just chase him straight out.

Zu An had no objections at all to dining with two young beauties. He was even wondering if they’d run into ignorant young master villains who would tease the two young ladies, upon which he’d come out to save them as their hero.

Unfortunately, nothing unexpected happened at all. He saw the two back home after they finished their meal.

“Those web novels are all bullsh*t after all,” Zu An cursed as he sat down back home. But after thinking for a bit, he chuckled and felt that he was probably just not as much of an eyesore as those protagonists, not that much of an enmity magnet.

Out of boredom, he took out the Tiger Talismans he had pulled previously. Together with the ones he hadn’t used yet, there were six in total.

“Who am I going for this time? Xi Shi[1] or Diaochan[2]? Hm, I wouldn’t complain if I got someone like Xiaoqiao[3] either…” Zu An let his fantasies run wild as he began to pull.

He felt his soul fly out into the cosmos. Then, he saw flickering lights in the distant starry skies. He released his spirit and focused on communicating with them.

There was soon a response, and a speck of light quickly flew over.

“Xi Shi please, Xi Shi…” Zu An clenched his fists.

But when the light appeared in front of him, he was stunned. It was a freaking green hat!

Damn it! Zu An cursed. Then, he continued to pull. He didn’t dare to put on airs or go for someone on the level of Xi Shi. All he hoped for was that he might get something useful.

…

After pulling six times, Zu An’s eyes twitched. He was about to go insane from the six green hats in front of him.

Can you not play with me like this, please? The emperor gave me the title Green Hat Viscount, and now I pulled all green hats?! And they’re all so ordinary, without any special functions…

F*ck, I have to get rid of this title as soon as possible, or else people will start introducing me as the Lord of Green Hats Zu An or something! I’d rather die than have that happen!

Zu An decided to just use his phoenix fire and burn the glaring green hats to ashes.

I’m going to make everyone else wear these goddamn green hats! Zu An got more and more angry the more he thought about it. Unfortunately, it was already the dead of night and there was no one for him to talk to.

Helpless to do anything else, he could only summon Daji and talk to her about his woes. Unfortunately, Daji only stared at him with her large, beautiful eyes during the entire process. She didn’t show even the slightest response.

“I forgot you didn’t have a soul.” Zu An sighed. He thought of something and took out the Ki Fruits he had gotten earlier, feeding them to her.

She was already at the sixth rank. To reach the seventh rank from the sixth, she needed 800 Ki Fruits. She had already eaten 360 of them, so she was already close to the fifth step of the sixth rank. Her ‘Fox Charm’ skill scaled proportionately with her cultivation, so the higher rank she became, the higher the rank of the target she could control.

For the sake of controlling the imperial physician, Zu An had tried all sorts of different methods to raise the ‘Fox Charm’ skill. He had used a special pill furnace and prepared all sorts of precious materials just to improve the skill’s rank, allowing it to control someone of the same cultivation rank.

Raising the skill rank really hadn’t helped much, however. It was a much better deal to just raise her cultivation.

Zu An did a rough calculation. Raising Daji’s cultivation was easier at first, but would become much harder later on. After all, judging from the looks of things, Daji’s cultivation seemed as if it could only reach the ninth rank at most. Raising ‘Fox Charm’ might be more valuable at that point.

“Another 440 Ki fruits and you can reach the seventh rank, hm?” Zu An was looking over the description of her cultivation when he suddenly noticed something else. As her cultivation rose, more information became available.

Once Valkyries reached the sixth rank, Ki Fruits alone wouldn’t be enough for them to break through to the next major rank. They also needed some special materials to help them break through.

For example, for Daji to rise from sixth to seventh rank, she needed five pieces of Wuyang Jade, ten Grey Wolf King Fangs, thirty Blue Earthflowers, and twenty Nine-Headed Pheasant Feathers.

Those were all names that Zu An had never heard of before. He quickly looked up their corresponding information. Daji was part of the Bluefield Nine-tailed Fox Race, and her hometown was Bluefield Mountain. That was a place that had both the jade and the earthflowers.

Wuyang Jade was likely a type of fire element jade, while Blue Earthflowers were probably a type of cold yin plant.

The greatest enemy of the Bluefield Nine-Tailed Fox clan was the Grey Wolf clan. When the nine-tailed foxes were still young, they would often be hunted and devoured by the Grey Wolves. That was why, if the nine-tailed foxes wanted to grow up, they had to hunt down the Grey Wolf Kings to prove themselves to their clansmen.

As the name implied, the Grey Wolf Kings’ fangs were their teeth. Furthermore, it had to be their two sharpest canines. A single pack of wolves would only have a single wolf king, and only two of the fangs could be obtained from that wolf king.

Zu An was full of regrets. He had encountered a pack of Grey Wolves in the dungeon. If he had known about this earlier, he would have thrown a bunch into his spatial storage!

He continued reading. The Nine-Headed Pheasant Feathers referred to the single unique feather under the pheasants’ wings. Once the feather was lost, a Nine-Headed Pheasant would lose its ability to fly.

As for why Daji needed those feathers for her breakthrough, the introduction said that the Nine-Tailed Fox clan loved to eat chickens, and that the Nine-Headed Pheasants were one of the most delicious birds.

Zu An looked at the ridiculously beautiful white-clothed woman in front of him after reading the introduction. He wondered if he should just roast some chickens and put them in front of her, to see if she would eat them.

But he soon realized that raising her cultivation might not be as easy as he imagined. The special materials were a huge restriction.

The Grey Wolf Kings’ fangs were still doable; he would pull out a few the next time he had a chance. There were Nine-Tailed Pheasants in the Shop feature he had unlocked earlier. Even though the Rage points needed to purchase them were a bit ridiculous, at least there was hope.

As for Wuyang Jade and Blue Earthflower, he had never even heard of them before. Even the Shop system didn’t have them.

“I’ll ask the Imperial Hospital about them tomorrow.” Zu An unknowingly fell asleep after thinking about the problem for a while. Meanwhile, the white-clothed Daji continued to look at him silently.

…

The next morning, when Zu An got up, there was someone next to him. He jumped in fright. Then, when he saw that it was Daji, he couldn’t help but exclaim with a smile, “So it was you! Sorry, I forgot to put you away. You must’ve been really bored staying out here all night.”

Daji only continued to stare blankly at him.

Zu An became a little sad, musing, “How can we bring back your soul? Otherwise, this is just too great of a pity…”

Daji blinked as if she had sensed something. But she seemed stunned when she heard what Zu An said. “Once you get your soul back, the first thing I’m going to do is hold you while I sleep.”

Daji was at a loss.

Zu An went to the imperial palace after washing up. He wanted to ask the Imperial Hospital about Wuyang Jade and Blue Earthflower, and he also wanted to meet Bi Linglong to exchange some affection.

But when he arrived at the imperial palace, he suddenly sensed a heavy atmosphere. He quickly pulled over some guards to ask about what had happened. They knew that he was a rising star and didn’t hide anything from him, quickly explaining.

“There was an emergency situation last night from the north. The fiend races that have remained dormant for many years suddenly sent their troops south and took out our defensive perimeter. They slaughtered and plundered everything in their path, and they even took a city!”

“Those damned fiend races, I just knew that all non-humans were evil! If we knew this was going to happen, his majesty should’ve just wiped them all out.”

“Do you think it’s that easy? The fiend races are still strong. They hid in the extreme north after they were defeated, and we couldn’t do anything to them.”

“Do you think his majesty will personally lead troops into battle?”

“No way; it’s probably the State Duke of Triumph who will lead the army.”

“I think so too. With his prestige in the military, I don’t think anyone else is better for this role.”

…

Zu An was surprised when he heard their discussion. The State Duke of Triumph was Qin Zheng. Sang Qien had told him earlier that the emperor’s first target would definitely be the Qin clan, and now, Qin Zheng was about to be transferred to the border. Was all of this deliberate, or was it purely a coincidence?

He continued to the hospital. Unfortunately, no one knew about the two materials he needed even after he asked several physicians.

But one of the physicians suggested, “I don’t know about Blue Earthflowers, but I know someone who might know about Wuyang Jade. The Yu clan works with all kinds of jade around the world, and Madam Yu Yanluo is even more so an expert on the jade business. If anyone in this world knows about this Wuyang Jade, it’ll be her.”

Zu An was moved. That devastatingly beautiful figure appeared in his head, and he couldn’t help but smile. This woman and I are tied together by fate after all!

Now that there had been some progress, Zu An felt much more at ease. He continued toward the Eastern Palace.

Bi Linglong’s eyes lit up when she saw Zu An, but she quickly calmed down and said indifferently, “Sir Zu has been injured so badly and should be resting. Why did you come to the Eastern Palace so soon?”

Zu An said with a smile, “My skin is thick; those wounds aren’t a big deal at all. On the contrary, when I think about how the crown princess has suffered damage to her vitality because of my inadequacy, my wish for the crown princess to be treated properly keeps me up at night.”

Bi Linglong blushed. She obviously knew what kind of ‘treatment’ he was talking about. This rascal is teasing me in front of so many people!

1. Xi Shi was, according to legends, one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China. She was said to have lived during the end of the Spring and Autumn period in Zhuji, the capital of the ancient State of Yue. ☜

2. Diaochan was one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. She is best known for her role in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. ☜

3. Xiaoqiao is the younger of the Two Qiaos. The Two Qiaos of Jiangdong were two sisters of the Qiao family who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. ☜