Chapter 128
Lu Hanzhi felt a wave of relief in her chest and said, “That’s more like it! A man should act like a man. That cross-dressing voice just now was unbearable.”
As someone with obsessive tendencies, he truly wanted to teach him how to speak properly.
Zhangsun Mei glanced at Lu Hanzhi, probably puzzled why a mere attendant could speak so freely in front of his master.
By now, all the dancers had withdrawn, and a few burly men came forward to tie up the five envoys.
They had already been rendered unconscious and were dragged to the wall like dead dogs.
Lu Xuzhi approached Lu Hanzhi and Yuwen Min. From the moment he noticed the wine was suspicious, he had guessed Zhangsun Mei was not someone to be trifled with.
Lu Hanzhi stepped forward and asked, “Finally, the main act has begun. So, the one collaborating with Yuwen Mingji… was actually your Western Fan Kingdom?”
By this time, the king of the Western Fan Kingdom had been untied.
Due to the harsh environment in the West, the people there grew tall and strong.
Probably to withstand the sandstorms, winds under level ten could hardly knock anyone over.
The Western Fan king looked at them, completely shedding the defeated air of a fallen monarch he had carried before.
Zhangsun Mei stepped before him, bowed, and said, “The warriors in the courtyard have assembled.”
The king nodded and asked, “You didn’t expect this either, right?”
The other two were quiet, and Lu Hanzhi, being talkative, said, “Actually, we did.”
The Western Fan king frowned at Lu Hanzhi. He explained, “From the moment we discovered your wine was suspicious, we had an inkling. Didn’t you notice we hadn’t touched a drop?”
The king was also surprised. He hadn’t expected them to detect poison so acutely.
But he only showed mild surprise and said, “So what? You think just the three of you can escape from my iron-clad Three-Gate Inn?”
Lu Hanzhi didn’t feel rushed; a plot had to unfold step by step.
They said villains often die from talking too much, but sometimes it wasn’t the villain’s fault; sometimes the protagonists were just annoyingly persistent.
For example, Lu Hanzhi was the type to be annoyingly persistent, asking questions he didn’t need to.
He smiled and said, “We’re already trapped anyway. Might as well understand the danger fully. I’m curious—what did Yuwen Mingji promise you?”
The Western Fan king, like many villains, was arrogant and confident.
He glanced at the three of them and said, “Simple. The Western Fan Kingdom gains two other territories from Great Zhao and can encroach upon surrounding smaller states freely. No interference from Great Zhao.”
Ah.
Lu Hanzhi noted that the king’s appetite was enormous.
He smiled and asked, “From what I know, the Western Fan Kingdom is the smallest of the six Western kingdoms. How can you be confident enough to take so much territory?”
The king snorted coldly and pointed at the sprawled envoys. “Because the other kingdoms are incompetent!”
Lu Hanzhi understood: a simple sentence, yet perfectly backed by comparison.
Indeed, the harsh Western environment and poor social cohesion made governance far weaker than Great Zhao—it was a loose collection of sand.
The national flower of the Western Fan Kingdom was the Western Lotus. They followed the Western Lotus faith, a small offshoot derived from Buddhism.
Compared to other small states, the Western Fan Kingdom’s cohesion and ambition were indeed superior.
But there’s a saying: the heart of man is never satisfied. This tiny country reminded Lu Hanzhi of Japan’s invasion of China in the past.
He laughed. “Yuwen Mingji is building his throne by giving away land—how could he possibly sit comfortably?”
The Western Fan king said, “Those who achieve greatness don’t worry about small matters. Great Zhao has vast fertile lands; two barren regions in the West are trivial.”
Despite these words, Lu Hanzhi knew better.
Although Yuwen Mingji was giving up only two barren areas, he had forgotten that these contained the natural barrier of the Xilian Mountains.
Xilian Mountains were easy to defend, hard to attack. As long as one held the Xiling Pass, the Western territories couldn’t advance far.
Yet Yuwen Mingji had ceded the Xiling Pass to the Western Fan Kingdom. Beyond it, there was no natural barrier.
When the Western army later wanted to invade eastward, opening Xiling Pass would allow them to charge directly in.
The Western Fan Kingdom likely planned this, which is why it so eagerly collaborated with Yuwen Mingji.
Yuwen Min, however, thought differently. “Do you really think Yuwen Mingji would happily hand over Xiling Pass? Hand you Great Zhao’s throat?”
The king laughed. “The old fox Yuwen Mingji wouldn’t do that. But… I have my own plans and calculations. That’s not for you to worry about.”
Lu Hanzhi felt the king’s words weren’t over and continued his mischievous smile. “Ah, let me guess… your real partner in this wasn’t Yuwen Mingji?”
Zhangsun Mei’s face immediately darkened. He stepped forward. “Venerable Lord, stop wasting words with him! Kill this little soldier first!”
Lu Hanzhi said, “Oh? So I hit the mark? Why are you getting so worked up? Tell me—what did Su Wan’ning promise you? The entire western frontier, or a night of shared pleasure with her? Su Wan’ning’s sense of propriety really had no bottom line at all. Then again, she could even sneak off with Yuwen Mingji for a wild tryst in the woods—why would she care about climbing into bed with this so-called Venerable Lord?”
Everyone present: “……”
What the hell kind of feral, outrageous words were those?
However, upon hearing Lu Hanzhi’s words, the Western Fan King flew into a rage. He glared fiercely at Lu Hanzhi and shouted, “Shut your mouth! Wan’er endured humiliation and bore heavy burdens precisely to set Great Zhao right again! Demons and evils ran rampant in this world and should have been eradicated long ago! Wan’er was the holy maiden of this mortal realm—I will not allow you to insult her!”
Lu Hanzhi clicked his tongue and said, “I originally thought you were merely driven by benefits. At least that would have made you usable—after all, benefit is the best foundation for cooperation in this world. But now it seems you have long been deeply controlled by Su Wan’ning. You’re probably useless now.”
The Western Fan King said, “I have no idea what nonsense you’re spouting, but today your death was already assured! No matter how much you say, it will change nothing!”
“Is that so?” Lu Hanzhi replied with a wicked smile. “Then why don’t we try it and see?”
Then Lu Hanzhi added, “Let me give you a reminder: if someone ever talks this much nonsense before killing you, do yourself a favor and don’t listen. Villains always die from talking too much—how do they never learn?”
Lu Hanzhi flipped his hand and slapped two talismans onto Lu Xuzhi and Yuwen Min, then pasted a defensive armor talisman onto himself as well.
Fortunately, he had earned nearly two thousand exchange points from previous missions. Turning them all into protective layers like turtle shells meant that without thousands of soldiers, killing them would be extremely difficult.
Moreover, just moments earlier, Lu Hanzhi had heard the system notification that all fifth-stage mission had been completed.
Four treasure chests were in hand, exchange points were secured, and by sheer coincidence, he had also obtained two free exchange coupons.
The reason he had spent so long talking nonsense earlier was that he had been browsing the exchange shop for group defensive formations.
While flipping through the listings, he had come across a mid-tier formation.
It combined both defense and offense, but it was expensive—two thousand exchange points—and could not be redeemed with free coupons.
However, it could be used with a half-price voucher, reducing the cost to one thousand points.
Although it was pricey, under the current circumstances, Lu Hanzhi felt that even if their people outside coordinated with them from within, pure combat strength alone would still be insufficient to deal with the witchcraft and gu techniques of the Western Fan religion.
Most people in the Western Regions were devout believers, and witchcraft and gu techniques were widely practiced.
Against someone like Yuwen Min, who was nearly unbeatable in combat, brute force alone could never be the deciding factor.
The Western Fan King and Zhangsun Mei looked confused. Zhangsun Mei said, “Venerable Lord, don’t listen to him trying to mystify things! The time is almost up—it’s time to send them on their way!”
The Western Fan King nodded and immediately untied the jade gourd from his waist, hurling it forcefully toward them.
Lu Hanzhi thought to himself, Isn’t smashing jade as a signal a bit too wasteful? That stuff is money!
As his thoughts wandered, the shattered jade fragments suddenly fluttered up like butterflies, circling around the three of them and weaving a semi-transparent net.
Lu Hanzhi did not hesitate. He casually tossed the formation talisman he had just redeemed onto that semi-transparent net.
The formation did not immediately destroy the net, instead allowing it to fully form.
However, once completed, the net changed from semi-transparent to a pale golden color.
Lu Hanzhi remembered that the special effect color of his talisman skills was precisely pale gold.
So when the net turned pale gold, did that mean it was now under his control?
Yuwen Min tentatively reached out to touch the net and found that he could indeed move in and out of it freely.
Lu Hanzhi said, “Wang Ye, Second Brother, I’ll leave the fighting to you. But try not to stray more than ten feet from me—this net only covers a ten-foot area. If you leave it, you might fall under the influence of their witchcraft.”
Yuwen Min and Lu Xuzhi nodded, but they saw that the Western Fan King had already begun trying to control the net.
However, no matter how hard he tried, it was futile.
Zhangsun Mei frowned and said, “Venerable Lord, that little soldier knows demonic arts!”
Lu Hanzhi’s short temper flared, and he shouted back, “You’re the one who knows demonic arts—your whole family knows demonic arts! This is called talismanry! A mid-tier talisman formation! Using it on you is a waste!”
The other side clearly had not expected this move. Seeing that the net had failed to capture them, Zhangsun Mei immediately began forming a second net.
It was clear that Zhangsun Mei held a position similar to a guardian or protector beside the Venerable Lord.
He did not even need tools to weave the net—he simply reached out with his hands, grabbing semi-transparent threads from the air, and his net formed even faster.
Unfortunately for him, the moment his net touched Lu Hanzhi’s pale-golden formation, it was instantly absorbed.
Not only did it fail to have any effect, it was instead swallowed by the formation, making it even stronger than before.
Lu Hanzhi exclaimed in surprise, “So it really is a mid-tier formation—stronger against strength, gentler against weakness!”
The Western Fan King was stunned. He stepped forward and asked, “Who exactly are you?”
Lu Hanzhi smiled and said, “Why don’t you ask your holy maiden, Su Wan’ning? She should be able to give you a very good answer—if you manage to survive and return alive.”
As soon as Lu Hanzhi finished speaking, Yuwen Min and Lu Xuzhi moved into action.
The warriors charging toward them were formidable, and with such a limited range of movement, the two of them appeared somewhat constrained.
Fortunately, in terms of raw combat strength, there were very few people in this world who could defeat Yuwen Min and Lu Xuzhi.
Moreover, sounds of slaughter rose from outside the inn. The several thousand elite soldiers lying in ambush in the forest had likely already clashed with the soldiers of Western Fan Kingdom.
Lu Hanzhi lowered his voice and said into Yuwen Min’s and Lu Xuzhi’s ears, “The Western Fan King and Zhangsun Mei must be captured alive. I have questions for them.”
Yuwen Min responded, but immediately afterward, sharp whistling sounds tore through the air. From the sound alone, it was clear that at least a thousand-man mounted archer unit was charging toward them.
Judging by the shrill howl of the arrows, it was most likely the enemy.
Your favorite BL chaos wouldn’t be possible without coffee… lots of coffee….
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