C72

Under the escort of the Ninth Tiger King's and the Tenth Tiger King's forces, the Fire Phoenix Expeditionary Army ran for three consecutive days. In a single breath, they arrived at the southernmost area of the Ninth Tiger King's territory before stopping.

This place was already within the boundaries of the Wulian Mountain Range. Large and small hills densely covered this place, and some of them even became small mountains that stretched all the way to the Wulian Mountain Range.

On a gentle slope, thirty or so unattended food carts were parked, and beside them, twenty sheep were leisurely grazing. Although there were no words left behind, it was not hard to guess whose territory this was and who had arrived here first.

The Xiu'er smiled slightly, gently ruffling the hair that had fallen in front of her forehead, and said: "It's getting late, let's set up camp and rest here, we will officially enter the Demonic King Valley tomorrow!"

While the soldiers were in their tents, Chen Chu, Qu Feizhi, along with the Fat Cui, went to Xiu'er's side. Ever since the Xiu'er came back, the army had been marching day and night, and had not had the time to inquire about the experiences of those few days with the Xiu'er. Now that they finally had half a day's worth of free time, the few officers naturally wanted to take care of their Commander.

Xiu'er called for the few of them to sit down as she lightly flipped the roasted sheep on the shelf. From time to time, she sprinkled some seasonings onto the roasted sheep. She had roasted fish on the boat with her parents a few years ago, and then had wandered out on her own afterwards. The art of barbeque had become her unique skill. Chen Chu and the other three were currently gathered. Whether they were concerned about the greater proportion of officers, or took the opportunity to eat more, it was really hard to say.

Xiu'er casually sprinkled some seasoning on the roasted lamb, and the meat immediately began to emit sizzling sounds. A rich fragrance suddenly arose, and followed the smoke that ignited into the air to float away. Without waiting for the four of them to speak, Xiu'er asked, "Do you want to eat first or talk first?"

"Eat first!" Chen Chu, Qu Feizhi, and strong man's attitudes were very resolute. Only the Fat Cui who didn't know the method could not help but say, "Why don't we chat first?"

What happened next made Fat Cui regret so much that he wanted to die. The three Fire Phoenix Army senior officer s thanked him at the same time, and then, they tore off a lamb leg for themselves. Qu Feizhi considerately tore off one of his front legs and passed it to Xiu'er, leaving behind Fat Cui who looked like a naked roasted lamb and wanted to cry but had no tears to shed. ~ Qu Feizhi indicated to Fat Cui, "Let's eat and chat first, you chat first, we only have our mouths shut, we can still hear you."

Xiu'er smiled as she handed the lamb leg in her hand over to the red-faced Fat Cui. Then, she stretched out her slender hand and slowly tore strips of meat from the sheep's body and placed it in her mouth. Fat Cui was embarrassed at first, but seeing how the three of them were looking at the lamb leg in his hands with ill intent, and thinking that the three of them could fight better than him, he did not care about being inferior to them, and started to eat in a bored manner with his head down. He originally wanted to be a little more reserved, but after taking the first bite, he just couldn't stop. He ate up the entire lamb leg in one breath, and finally had time to pick up the jug of wine that someone had put down and gulp down a big mouthful.

Seeing that the group was almost done eating, Xiu'er also began her narration. Not to mention that she was being extremely cautious, she only mentioned that she had gone to Lord Messenger of God to negotiate some conditions with him and promised him some "unequal treaties". For example, she would release some of the Black Cove captives after returning to their country and would give them some gold and silver as compensation. This was in exchange for the result of letting his brothers leave.

Seeing the four of them with their faces full of doubt, the Xiu'er was helpless in her heart, what could she say? To tell them the truth, the imperial family of the Fire Phoenix Empire is actually the bloodline of a foreign Demonic Beast, and you have always been ruled by them. I have the blood of the Beast God in my veins. Everyone, resist the Fire Phoenix Empire with me and help Mo Qiu unify the continent!

If they did not believe him, they would not treat him as a lunatic. Even until now, Xiu'er herself still believed him half-way. When he had fallen into the Beast God's tomb, the divine beast Taotieh had indeed saved him and helped him increase his own strength by quite a bit. However, this could only prove that the Beast God existed and it could not prove that the Fire Phoenix Empire royal family was of the fire phoenix bloodline, nor that the fire phoenix was from a different realm. Furthermore, this Lord Messenger of God was hostile to him in the first place. Whether or not he wanted to use him to subvert the Fire Phoenix Empire from the inside was unknown. Since there were so many uncertainties, the Xiu'er would naturally not tell everyone what Chen Tianming had said from the beginning.

Seeing the Xiu'er's attitude, the few of them did not say anything more. After sitting for a while, they bade farewell and left. As the Acting Marshal, Chen Chu naturally had some matters to attend to with the Xiu'er, so he left a little too late. After the two of them finished talking about their work, Chen Chu turned and left. Suddenly, he whispered two words into Xiu'er's ears: "Qiong Qi?"

When Xiu'er heard this, her body trembled, she could no longer conceal the surprise in her eyes. Let alone the fact that she herself had never said the word Qiong Qi, even among the Moqiu State people who knew about Divine Beast Qiong Qi, very few were. Everyone only knew the Beast God and her, and didn't even know their names, not to mention that the Beast God actually had two or should have said something like the four of them being from the Primordial Era. But how did Chen Chu, a citizen of the Fire Phoenix, know about it? Could it be that this layer of identity gave him other sources of information? Was there really an information source that could reach Chen Tianming's side? Could it be one of the Tiger King s?

Seeing the change in Xiu'er's expression, Chen Chu suddenly laughed, and bowed to him in an extremely gentlemanly manner: "Lord Xiu, can you give me your face and let me take a walk with you?"

Xiu'er nodded her head in agreement, she casually picked up her cloak and followed Chen Chu out of the tent.

They had set up camp early, and at this time, the sun had just set in the west. Under the contrast of the dark green Wulian Mountain Range, the red setting sun looked especially soft and beautiful. Chen Chu picked a patch of grass and took off his jacket with great care, spreading it on the ground. Only then did he invite Xiu'er to sit.

After settling down, Chen Chu turned his head slightly to look at Xiu'er, and asked: "Lord Xiu, do you remember why I was once called the current Her Majesty's fiancé?"

Xiu'er was stunned for a moment before replying, "I remember it. Back then, didn't they say that you grew up together with the previous Prince and were now childhood friends?"

Chen Chu smiled bitterly, "The first half of my words are true, the second half is merely the habitual thought of a normal person. In fact, the reason the first Prince adopted me was because he had a guilty conscience. Furthermore, after adopting me, he didn't live with the current Her Majesty for too long, but instead trained me everyday to accomplish the things he dreamed of doing in his heart. "

Chen Chu's surname was Luo, and he was the descendant of one of the three great clans of the Empire's Luo Family. Amongst the Empire's three great clans, the Shu Family possessed the courage to show their strength, and the Zhan Family possessed the martial veins. Their Luo Family, however, had always been unknown, and they did not usually participate in the Empire's affairs. In addition to the fact that there were very few people in this family, in the eyes of outsiders, Luo Family had already slowly declined. In fact, only those in the upper echelons of the empire would know that Luo Family had never declined. They were a part of the empire's true strength, because Luo Family was in charge of the empire's intelligence network.

There was a strict rule within the Luo Family family that other than the eldest son and eldest grandson, the rest of the descendants were not allowed to use the surname Luo. These people with another surname were called "Tang" within the Luo Family. Those with the surname Li were the Li Family Hall, those with the surname Zhang were the Zhang Family Hall, and those with the surname Chen were naturally the Chen Family Hall. The clan heads of each surname cannot be called clan heads, they can only be called hall masters.

These halls with different surnames were actually the true core of the Luo Family. The enormous intelligence network they had constructed covered all walks of life of the entire Fire Phoenix Empire, and there were even Luo Family s, Wulian Border Army s, and Fire Phoenix Army s. There might be a very unremarkable peddler, coachman, and Lady Boss who are also from the Luo Family. Furthermore, this information network was connected to the bloodline, and was many times more stable than other information networks built with benefits.

It was also because of the existence of this huge and dense intelligence network that any major decisions and decisions made by the Emperor of the Fire Phoenix Empire, from the initial consideration, to the supervision during execution, to the later evaluation, had all been supported by Luo Family. In the Empire's core circle, not only were their Luo Family not inferior to the Shu Family and the Zhan Family, they were even half a head above them. However, in the eyes of outsiders who were unaware, Luo Family was indeed inferior to the flourishing and flourishing branches and leaves of the two other families. The Shu Family and the Zhan Family wielded absolute authority in the empire's martial arts system. If anyone had any presumptuous thoughts about Luo Family, they would be hanged within minutes.

This system was set up by the emperor of the empire of Fire Phoenix Empire. Not only did he reward the meritorious officials, he also used the three families' different advantages to restrict them. It could be said to be a perfect system. If they followed this system and Luo, Shu, and Zhan were to continue on, Fire Phoenix Empire could at least ensure that there would be no internal problems.

However, this balance was broken by the young and vigorous previous Prince more than twenty years ago.

Prince Huo Hongwu of the deceased prince is a publically acknowledged genius. He has displayed exceptional talent since young, being able to fight with a poem at such a young age, and was even able to ride a horse. Ever since Prince displayed his abilities, the palace never had any doubts or thoughts about the matter of him taking over the throne. Some people even secretly hoped that the old emperor would take the initiative to give him the throne, because almost everyone knew that Prince Hong Wu was much stronger than his father.

But His Highness himself didn't seem to be in a hurry. Instead, he was enjoying the days before he ascended to the throne, bringing his servants to wander around this province, this province, to walk around, and to have a very relaxed appearance. In fact, only the members of the three great families knew that His Highness was definitely not someone who liked to play around, but was pretending to play around to understand the information network of Luo Family.

Luo Family had naturally expressed support for Prince's actions during the past thousand years of loyalty, and they even felt somewhat happy about it. Most of the informants would be disgraced as well. They would not be able to interfere in the affairs of those countries. It would be extremely difficult for them to get any funds or policies, and they would not even be able to openly return to their families after their deaths. If the Prince was interested in this, it meant that he attached more importance to it and that he would treat the Luo Family a little better even after he ascended the throne.

But what Luo Family did not expect was that the Prince did value the information network of Luo Family. What he did not think of was how to treat Luo Family better, but how to make use of Luo Family to do greater things. For example, driving this information network deep into the Black Hills Guild.

It wasn't that no one had thought of Luo Family like this, but it was just too difficult. Apart from the scattered caravans, there was almost no civilian interaction between the two countries. Although the caravan could also send in spies, this matter was still an open secret. Both sides had extremely strict restrictions on each other's caravan. They would only set up an area that they could enter at will. They wouldn't be allowed to move around freely in their own country. While this provides security for the country, it also increases the difficulty of infiltration.

As for the others, although the Fire Phoenix and Mo Qiu were only separated by one Wulian Mountain Range, their accents and customs were vastly different. The cultivation of a spy through Luo Family was something that had been instilled with all kinds of knowledge and skills since young, and was only able to carry out missions after the age of sixteen. Furthermore, they were all related by blood, and losing a spy meant the loss of an uncle, uncle, nephew, nephew, father, and son at the same time. Therefore, after going through a period of probing and loss in Luo Family, he did not make such an attempt again.

But for the Prince to continue doing this, his talents were greater than his father's, and his ambitions far exceeded his father's. After a long time of roping in a better relationship with the Great Hall Master of the Chen Family, Chen Luoluo, from the Luo Family, Prince finally took the first crucial step.

At the beginning, Prince and Pavilion Master Chen used other channels to buy shares in a few merchant guilds, and then installed a few Chen Family spies into the caravan. This was done in public, but the identity of the two masterminds was not revealed. And even if the president of the merchant guild knew that the person who was being infiltrated was an Imperial spy, they wouldn't dare to easily refuse and expose him. Otherwise, if he were to be suppressed by the crime of "colluding with an enemy country", no matter how big the merchant guild was, they wouldn't be able to take it on.

Slowly, as the number of spies in the merchant guild increased, Prince started his second plan. The spies followed Prince's orders and seized the chance to bring him back from the Moqiu State. After capturing around ten to twenty people, they were locked up in a secret location. They were fed well and served well everyday. Other than not being able to go out, they met almost all of their demands.

The third step was to choose the teenagers, who were between ten and thirteen years old to enter the Chen Family Hall and eat and live with the people from Moqiu. They would specialize in learning the habits, accents, customs, and all kinds of knowledge of the people from Moqiu.

By acting like this, the Prince only used two to three years to personally nurture a dozen or so Chen Family youths. Aside from the fact that they did not have the suntanned skin that people from Moqiu had after living in the plains for a long time, these youths were like people from Moqiu in their every move and action. They were even well aware of the affairs between Beast God and herself.

To the Prince and the Chen family hall master, everything was already ready. They wanted to send this group of youths into the Moqiu State. Not only did they have to become qualified spies, they also had to integrate into the Moqiu State, becoming officers, officials, monks and other positions that could infiltrate inside, slowly eroding the system of Moqiu State. When this group of youths turned middle-aged, they would have successfully grasped Moqiu State, and at that time, it would be even more difficult for Moqiu State to resist them.

Not only that, the Prince and the Chen family hall master wanted to continue this task. They wanted to use this method to nurture the young spies, and send the young spies into Mo Qiu. The Prince even had an idea. He could sacrifice the lives of the Phoenix City Border Army soldiers to send military merits to the spies who infiltrated his Moqiu Army and speed up the promotion of these spies in Mo Qiu!

In order to express his loyalty to the Prince and his support for this plan, the Chen family's pavilion master, Chen Luoluo, had even decided to send his only son, Luo Chu, to the Prince, so that he could become a part of this genius' plan.

The Prince was naturally overjoyed. He placed a table of wine and personally invited the first batch of Chen Family Hall's young spies. At the banquet, Prince continuously raised his glass and toasted, wishing all the young spies a smooth sailing in the future of Moqiu State. All the executives had to do it, they had to ride fine horses, and when the Fire Phoenix Empire unified the continent in the future, it would be the time for all the young spies to become famous!

However, the proud and ambitious Prince did not expect that just because of this wine, his grand plan would be ruined in an ant's nest. The young spies had yet to complete their mission, but they had already become a group of wronged ghosts.