Chapter 2066: Waves Rise Again

The fish were terrified by Mu Guo's reply, and they returned to the Flashing Gold Plains with great joy.

This diplomatic mission was very successful, and even Du Shan praised him repeatedly.

His diplomatic report was quickly sent to the front lines, reaching He Lingchuan's hands.

He glanced at it once, then slapped the table three times, saying "good" three times in a row!

The tactics for defending the western front of Flashing Gold against Ya Guo's invasion were personally devised by him. Those life-and-death matters, those karmic ties, were all his karmic retribution.

He monitored the western front's situation every day, and every day he lost sleep and appetite over the sacrifices there.

He and the western front's army alike longed for the war there to end one day sooner.

Mu Guo's ready agreement truly surprised He Lingchuan, and he also let out a long sigh of relief. It seemed those eight hundred Punishing Dragon Pillars had indeed received the Mu Emperor's attention.

Although immortals do not need nightmare energy, this thing is nevertheless the first-rate hard currency of the demon realm, something Between Between Between Beijia sought but could not obtain.

Since both sides want it, the Punishing Dragon Pillars naturally have value.

He Lingchuan knows, however, that Lingshan and the Heavenly Demons maintain contact, and are not eternally estranged.

So how those eight hundred Punishing Dragon Pillars are played with depends on the Mu Emperor's ability.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror saw him frowning without opening it, and couldn't help but remark strangely: "This is a great blessing, why aren't you happy?"

"I originally thought Mu Guo would seize the opportunity to raise further conditions." The great stone in He Lingchuan's heart had not yet been fully set down, "But there were none."

"Not having conditions is still not good?" The Soul-Capturing Mirror secretly despised him. If it were five years ago, it would surely have said, "You are being too humble."

"I heard the current Mu Emperor is a very shrewd person." He Lingchuan shook his head, his tone tinged with mockery: "Heh, actually every one seems quite shrewd; the Mu Guo emperors have never produced a dim-witted ruler."

For nearly two hundred years, every Mu Emperor has been diligent and conscientious, with no foolish ones among them—this is truly unreasonable.

"So what?"

"I and the Dragon God Army are both stretched thin; now is the best time to seize me, so how could the Mu Emperor easily let me go? This is not his style."

The Soul-Capturing Mirror laughed: "Perhaps he wants to sell you a favor. You yourself said before, favors are priceless and hardest to repay."

"Perhaps." He Lingchuan said slowly, "But with a force like mine newly appearing behind Mu Guo, the Mu Emperor should be very wary."

How can others sleep soundly beside a couch? For the Flashing Gold's newly risen "Dragon God," even if everyone flies the banner of opposing the Heavenly Gods and Between Between Between Beijia, Mu Guo's reaction to it will certainly be vigilant wariness rather than welcome.

"If I were the Mu Emperor, facing the rise of a new force, my strategy would mostly be 'observe and probe.'" He Lingchuan's eyes flashed with sharp light, "Probing itself is part of testing strength."

Only after clarifying strength can one know how to get along and interact thereafter.

Great nations have never stood equal with small ones.

Having heard him say that, the mirror also began to worry: "Then what should we do now?"

"First wait for Ya Guo to withdraw its troops." Sending out those eight hundred Punishing Dragon Pillars in one go is not just playing at throwing them away.

"Then——"

……

In late spring, Mu Guo suddenly borrowed a path through Bailie, with seventy thousand troops pressing against Ya Guo's border, beginning drills.

The surrounding great powers came with ill intent; Ya Guo immediately reacted, sending troops to the border to confront on one side, and writing to the Mu Emperor to inquire on the other, the gist being: for no reason at all, why are you bluffing me?

Mu Guo's intention is clear and unambiguous:

Immediately withdraw troops from Flashing Gold, or else we fight.

Ya Guo then found itself in a difficult position.

It usually flirts with Bailie and Qing Guo, Mu Guo's little followers, stirring up autumn winds to earn some money, but at this moment it does not want to clash head-on with Mu Guo. Because in the past two years, large numbers of Xian Sect and demons have joined Mu Guo, half of them from the Flashing Gold Plains—the tumultuous Dragon God War drove them from the Flashing Gold Plains, forcing them to migrate.

Added to the recent repeated major eruptions of imperial flow elixir, Mu Guo's troops are now strong and vigorous, with cultivators gathering like clouds, and it is said many great powers are about to emerge from seclusion; Ya Guo does not want to provoke it.

The Ya King held several consecutive meetings, with ministers urgently discussing, all feeling that continuing to invade or reinforce troops on the Flashing Gold Plains posed greater risk than reward, and was no longer worthwhile.

The Ge brothers were ordered to drive stakes into the Flashing Gold Plains, but after striking for a month they could not drive them in, as the Flashing Gold people resisted like madmen.

Facing such stubborn military and civilian will, unless Ya Guo dispatches a large army to overwhelm with force, it is hard to achieve any military gain.

With hatred driven to such a pitch, even if they took the place afterward, it would give the Ya King a headache, because regional management costs would be extremely high.

Ya Guo was originally an opportunist; responding to Between Between Between Beijia's request to send troops to Flashing Gold, it only wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, never imagining it would have to risk life and limb to fight Flashing Gold and Mu Guo to the bitter end.

Not worthwhile, not worthwhile.

After much consideration, Ya Guo finally withdrew its troops from the Flashing Gold border. The Ge brothers, unable to save face, led their army to raid a small state before returning to court.

The crisis on Flashing Gold's western border was thus lifted.

The invaders were driven back! The western part of Flashing Gold rejoiced, with townsfolk lining the roads to welcome the triumphant return of the Dragon God Army.

Qiu Hu and Wan Qi Liang watched the people's faces glowing with smiles, then looked back on the past month or more of life-and-death struggle, thinking of so many who had gone forward one after another, brave and fearless warriors, and their throats involuntarily tightened.

One inch of land and rivers, one inch of blood.

Flashing Gold's territory is guarded by Flashing Gold people with their lives.

The western towns and countryside celebrated for three days.

At this time, no one noticed that a troop had quietly mobilized south of Mu Guo, moving all the way southward.

￥￥￥￥￥

Blade-Edge Port, Maritime Trade Office.

After a morning of rain, when the skies cleared, Wu Ti Ju hummed a little tune as he strolled into the Maritime Trade Office.

The spring palm harvest season was drawing to a close, and his mood was excellent. Thanks to the imperial flow elixir, this year's palm oil yield and quality were clearly far higher than in previous years. Palm oil can be used not only in food cooking and processing, but also in beauty and skincare recipes; in recent years Mu Guo has even developed insecticides made from palm oil.

From the first batch of oil pressed out, Blade-Edge Port and the Yang Shan Islands were filled with oil-collecting fleets; in just over a month, the Maritime Trade Office's tax revenue had also been filled to the brim, leaving only some daily trifles now.

Since the rise of the Yang Shan Islands, Blade-Edge Port's presence has become very weak, with all the limelight taken by the opposite shore.

Of course, this is not to say Blade-Edge Port cannot make money; on the contrary, after Yang Shan strengthened the golden sea route, the vigorous flow of goods and people naturally overflowed to Blade-Edge Port, and Blade-Edge Port's local products also sold well in tandem.

Just by riding on their heat, the tax revenue collected by the Maritime Trade Office is already more than five times what it was five or six years ago.

Wu Ti Ju, in his official post, has thus become increasingly at ease.

Just then, suddenly the sound of horse hooves came from outside, and before anyone could understand what had happened, the Maritime Trade Office was surrounded by a large force of troops, brave and fierce generals charging in, all the way to Wu Ti Ju's desk.