Chapter 1185

His face darkened: "Full speed through the ruins, no lingering!" The Ying people who had just sat down received the order and had no choice but to get up, a few of them moving particularly slowly. The clan chief's gaze was sharp as he glanced at them, about to speak, when suddenly urgent horse hooves sounded from behind.

A lone rider came galloping, very fast.

"It's Axun."

"Axun is here!"

Although the Ying people didn't know where Axun had gone after leaving Chigu recently, he was after all the clan chief's biological son. If he spoke kindly to stop him, the clan chief probably, maybe, perhaps wouldn't also cut him down with one sword?

Axun hurried, his fine steed running until exhausted, finally arriving before the Ying people passed through the Gu Mountain ruins, and he too let out a long breath of relief.

He finally grasped that sliver of turning point. This time, heaven finally wasn't playing a joke on him.

Seeing his son come flying over, the clan chief's face was grim and devoid of joy, and even after Axun dismounted, he slapped him across the face: "You still know how to come back?"

His father's gaze was icy, tone unfamiliar, and this slap held nothing back.

Axun was struck and staggered, just as he stood up, his cheek swollen.

Though he knew his father was completely controlled by the Luo Sheng Armor, his heart still couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow.

He already knew that those who wore the Luo Sheng Armor behaved differently, but their obsessions were all amplified without exception. His father's madness showed he had originally been infected by the demonic miasma, and under the armor's acceleration, a single thought turned him demonic.

But after sorrow came greater resolve.

"Father, I was wrong, I shouldn't have left!" he said, covering his face, "From now on, I will firmly follow in your footsteps!"

The clan chief's expression turned suspicious: "What were you doing before?"

When Axun spoke to him now, he always felt he was talking to a cold suit of armor: "I went to survey the territory of the Zini people, gathering intelligence for you! Since this battle is unavoidable, we must make thorough preparations!"

The clan chief was somewhat surprised: "Oh? What intelligence did you gather?"

Axun was drenched in sweat, ignoring his own panting, he grabbed a branch and drew circles in the mud: "The attack timing you chose is especially good; right now the Zini people's busy farming season is about to end, granaries are full, farmers are still working in the fields, and military manpower is greatly reduced."

Manpower is especially precious in small places; most Zini people usually farm, only becoming soldiers during idle times or when they have no food. Maintaining a large army in peacetime consumes too much, and a small state simply cannot bear it.

The Zini standing army is only six thousand, and they only conscript temporarily for major wars.

"Even better, this year they built a new public granary in Liushu Town, and grain from all around is stored here." The branch moved on the makeshift map, "We can descend the mountain and strike straight at Liushu Town; as long as we take these few granaries, we'll have grain behind us, we can stand firm in Zini, step by step pressing—Liushu Town isn't far from several major towns either, so when the time comes we'll split our forces, launch a surprise attack, and easily take it. Then with grain and town, taking the Zini people's old nest won't be difficult either."

He spoke with reason and evidence, the clan chief's expression greatly softened, even the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"This is my good son!"

But the other Ying people were deeply disappointed.

They had hoped Axun could properly persuade his father to change his mind, but instead he joined in the corruption.

Tsk, truly like father, like son.

Axun pretended not to see their looks, and with a thump knelt before the clan chief: "Before, I was willful, disappointing my father's painstaking efforts."

Others hearing this movement worried about his knees.

Usually when he did this, the clan chief would instinctively help him up.

But not this time.

The clan chief not only didn't reach out, but instinctively stepped back: "Enough, get up. In a few more hours, we'll let the Zini people see how formidable we father and son are!"

Besides that earlier slap being involuntary, the father didn't want to touch him—why? Was he guarding against him? Axun already had a guess in his heart.

Father and son united, the Ying people continued advancing toward Zini.

Gu Mountain's flora was deep and secluded, with common vine-hanging stone carvings and inscribed cliffside writings, all buried in a scene of desolation. Axun also wondered how glorious the Flash Gold Empire once was to build such a luxurious palace? But why did it finally collapse? Was it truly just because of one Luo Sheng Armor?

Father and son walked side by side; from this angle, he saw his father had lost a large girth in just over a month, cheekbones protruding, eyes filled with bloodshot, yet cheeks had an abnormal flush.

How exactly did that evil armor erode his father, making him so frenzied? Axun had visited the Gu Mountain ruins twice before, knew the party was nearing the treasury, and so softly called: "Father."

The clan chief buried his head and hurried, grunting in acknowledgment.

"Your grandson will be born in a few months; have you thought of a name for him?"

He suddenly brought up this topic, unrelated to war, and the clan chief couldn't help but startle, his brain's frenzied warlust suddenly interrupted, a fresh name leaping into his mind.

Grandson?

Yes, his daughter-in-law is already five months pregnant, and in a few months will give birth. This will be his eldest grandson, perhaps even the new leader of the Ying people decades later.

This is a new life, and also the continuation of his bloodline.

"Ah……" The clan chief hesitated, shaking his head, "Not yet, too early?"

His hesitation made Axun's heart leap with joy. The father's wavering was human nature showing, proving this aspect hadn't been monopolized by the evil armor.

"You can first give him a small name; you are the person I and Xiao Luo respect and are closest to." Axun hoped to awaken the humanity in his father's heart.

No matter what, a grandfather's love for his grandson is innate.

He added fuel: "I heard the elders say, before my elder brother and I were born, you had already thought of a name?"

The clan chief's stern face finally broke into a hint of a smile, like ice cracking to reveal the first spiderweb of fissures: "Really not easy—I thought of dozens of names, none satisfactory, until after your elder brother was born, I personally grabbed a paper slip, and that's how I got his name."

Walking through the ruins of the former dynasty's empire, hearing crows cry and looking at withered grass, father and son chatted about past old times, though they chattered on, the father's gaze also gradually softened.

Seeing the atmosphere was still okay, Axun couldn't help but ask: "Father, have you ever thought of leading the clan to leave the Flash Gold Plains?"

"What do you mean?"

"The world beyond the Flash Gold Plains is still very vast, more fertile, more prosperous, and also without the Yaoguo." Axun had always hoped to resolve the current trouble without bloodshed, "We aren't many; from Jilu Port we could take a ship away, go west to start anew, wouldn't that also be a way out?"

"Naive! Do you know what you're saying?" The clan chief frowned, "We are descendants of Flash Gold, true royal bloodline! This land originally belongs to us!"

(End of chapter)