Chapter 85

The army began to move; they were ready to set out on expedition.

Seeing the troops fully equipped and ready to depart, this not only made Yang Xin feel shocked.

The army stood neatly in front of the prince's palace; the prince felt somewhat proud, he arrogantly looked at the army, feeling that he still completely surpassed that worthless king who held a box atop the Wanggong hall; he began to think this way, and at the same time his doubts grew more numerous, after all his father the king was old in age yet still sat on the throne, refusing to relinquish power, he had always felt puzzled, and from this moment the prince understood.

The prince stood on that hall, looking down nine steps at the mighty army, he felt supreme power, and at the same time had a strange feeling, this feeling was indescribably wonderful, yet precisely because of this feeling, those who hold ultimate power are unwilling to let go.

The prince gazed at the army beneath the hall, raised his wine cup, and shouted: "Brave soldiers of my country, now is the time to establish honor for our nation and our great cause! You will be the most magnificent chapter in our nation's history, an epic saga; your parents and descendants will know of your heroic deeds on the battlefield, your story will be told throughout the land, so soldiers, for honor! for wealth! for your own great achievements, advance!"

The prince's impassioned speech inspired the soldiers, they responded in unison, their voices loud and grand, full of vigor.

After the prince signaled to stop, the soldiers calmed down, and he began to say the final matter: he took out the potion of the Red-clothed Devil previously, and distributed it one by one; the soldiers looked at this red potion, for a moment unable to comprehend, and at that moment the prince said: "This is your secret weapon, it can boost your combat power at critical moments; earlier it could not be mass-produced, so I did not give it to you, but now things are different!"

The soldiers understood what this meant; their Prince had again given them the elixir of victory!

The soldiers' morale was high; the prince, seeing this, was also very pleased. He summoned a servant, had them bring a large stack of bowls, then took out his cherished liquor, filled each bowl one by one, and then had the servant give them to the soldiers.

The prince raised his bowl and shouted to all the officers: "Today I will fulfill this for you all; I wish you a triumphant return!"

Having said that, he raised the bowl, drank the wine in it in one gulp, then fiercely smashed it to the ground, producing a cracking sound.

Seeing the prince finish his drink, the soldiers together toasted him, and after drinking they directly smashed their bowls to the ground.

In an instant, the ground was littered with bowl shards.

Actually hearing the bowls shatter with a clatter on the ground, the prince felt heartbroken, but there was nothing he could do; he could only use this method to fulfill his pledge to the soldiers, perhaps it had some special meaning—may the shards bring peace?

The prince thought so, then watched the army depart slowly following the general's steps. Seeing the mess all over the ground, the prince lowered his head to look at the bowl fragments, his heart bleeding. Those were his own bowls; although he didn't use them often, they were still bought with money.

"I always feel it's a loss; next time I'll switch to a wine barrel, so it won't break." The prince muttered to himself.

The bounty hunters had not received orders; they relied on gambling in their own territory to pass the time, feeling deeply bored, yet they understood that as bounty hunters they could not actively seek out employers, only wait for business to come to them.

"I say, how come there's still no business?" a gambler could not hold back and began to complain.

Another echoed him, then kept looking at a teenager in the corner, and asked: "You don't play?"

"Not playing, it's boring." The teenager coldly replied to the questioner, turned his head, turned around, and went back to his own room.

"What a weirdo!" The earlier bounty hunter looked at his back, spat, and said.

"What's wrong with him?" the fellow table gambler asked.

That gambler told him about the previous person; that boy had once accepted a mission from the prince, but he messed it up, and only later learned that the prince had ordered him to assassinate the adventurer mentioned in the legends, and then he added embellishments, claiming that the teenager had been frightened out of his wits.

Just then, the table gambler hearing this felt admiration instead, which surprised him; upon further questioning, he learned one thing.

Of the bounty hunters previously sent out on assassination missions, half of them had been compromised.

"You mean—that adventurer from the rumors?" The entire region instantly exploded in an uproar.

This event directly reached the upper echelons of the bounty hunters; they were also discussing whether they should join the force to suppress the dwarves. The lower ranks were unclear, but they knew full well that, as the king's highest prerogative, the bounty hunters, this civilian organization, had almost become the royal household's retained force, gradually distancing themselves from ordinary assassination missions, and this organization was also gradually becoming the royal house's retained force.

They were thinking, knowing that their subordinates had received a letter from the prince, they could not help but act.

That was a letter sent by the prince's messenger, which read: "Today the soldiers have already advanced to the Golden Paulownia Forest, awaiting orders; you shall assist the soldiers' operations, harass the dwarf troops, and if necessary may fight side by side with the soldiers."

Although they had expected such an order, they did not anticipate it coming so quickly; the leader sighed helplessly and ordered: "Make a copy of this letter and circulate it to all the bounty hunters."

The subordinates followed the leader's slight instruction, while the leader, looking at the bunch of people spacing out below, had a bad premonition.

These days Aoding had not shown himself, but hid among the clouds, quietly observing Feng Yan's actions; he revealed a smile, his single eye shining with the same light, then he said: "Adventurers from another world, what kind of story will you bring? This makes me very eager, but before that I cannot appear, after all my mortal enemy has also appeared; I don't know if it's the effect of your magic formation, but one thing is certain: the children cannot come out."

Aoding sighed, then looked toward Su Lu Te's direction, his eyes involuntarily filled with worry; although he had not yet found him, he wondered how to deal with him.

Su Lu Te was also actively seeking out Aoding, his purpose clear: to kill him!

Feng Yan and Chen Hao were startled; looking at the dwarves' troop, they had fully recovered their vigor, seeing their appearance they felt more confident in facing Li Guo's army, yet not knowing why, Feng Yan always felt that someone was missing.

"Forget it, we'll talk about it later." Feng Yan placed his hand on the back of his head, scratching as he muttered to himself.

The chief spoke passionately above, shouting; Feng Yan also felt worried, fearing the chief's body couldn't take it, given his advanced age, yet not knowing what factor, he still persisted.

"Finally, we invite the tribe's savior in speech, the adventurers, to say a few words, okay?" the chief asked everyone.

"Good!" a unanimous voice rose from below.

Feng Yan turned his head to look at Chen Hao; Chen Hao shook his head, indicating he didn't have such high prophetic talent; left with no choice, Feng Yan steeled himself, looking at the expectant eyes below and the fiery enthusiasm, he felt it impossible not to say such things, so Feng Yan asked: "Dwarves, what are you fighting for?"

"Freedom, human rights!" the dwarves answered in unison.

"Then how should we achieve it?" Feng Yan asked further.

"Destroy the enemy!"

Feng Yan didn't know what to say, but hearing these words he felt his blood rush to his head, he no longer cared about ridicule, he began to say: "Dwarves, all are fighting for freedom and human rights, this is something we adventurers should also pursue, resist those who disregard freedom and human rights, until success! Is that our result? No, no, we must safeguard the freedom we have hard-won, protect our human rights, we should not be exploited by those people, nor can we exploit them for those people, we all are people fighting for freedom, and you, you may also sacrifice your lives for this, but please remember, everything you do will become a fine tale, under the praise of your descendants, fragrant for a hundred generations!"

Feng Yan raised his arm and shouted: "We, we should do this, struggle for a lifetime!"

After Feng Yan finished speaking, he slowly walked down, the dwarves made way, and Feng Yan walked through the middle.

Chen Hao clapped, then said: "Not bad!"

Afterwards, thunderous applause rang out from the scene.

Although the dwarves didn't know what those actions meant, seeing Chen Hao do so they still followed and learned, when they clapped their hands together, accompanied by the sound from their hands, they began to feel they had hope of victory.

Just then, Jin Meng appeared before Feng Yan and the other, saying to them: "Their army has already begun to move!"