Chapter 676

As Meng Ying and the Princess boarded their flying ship to return, large numbers of flying ships converged over the eastern region of the Eternal Night Empire.

Among these flying ships were numerous flying beasts!

"Hurry, increase speed—we can't let the Duke of York's people get there first."

"My lord, this is already the maximum speed; if we go faster, we won't have enough energy to return."

"So what if we run out of energy? As long as we seize the cargo, won't we find a way back?"

On one flying ship, this conversation unfolded.

Immediately after, that flying ship shot forward like an arrow.

"Fuck, he's cheating—push us to max speed, don't care about energy consumption!"

On another flying ship, a descendant of a duke said.

That flying ship also surged forward in pursuit.

Seeing this, the other flying ships cursed and, regardless of energy drain, desperately chased after them.

In the sky, this unusual race was underway.

Everyone wanted to reach Flame Empire as quickly as possible to seize its cargo.

"Fly faster! I'll feed you chicken legs every day when we get back!"

Flying ships could ignore energy consumption and accelerate furiously.

But how could flying beasts accelerate?

Threats were useless.

Beating them like horses with a whip was also useless.

Would you dare strike a flying beast in midair?

Do you even want to live?

So only bribery would work!

"Ooooh!"

Chicken legs worked—immediately, the flying beast flapped its wings rapidly, speeding up dramatically.

"What's so great about chicken legs? If you overtake them, I'll have hens come keep you company every day…"

Another noble descendant, seeing this, unleashed his ultimate tactic!

The flying beast he rode instantly exploded into motion!

It surged forward like a cannonball, fueled by adrenaline and several kilograms of stimulants, overtaking every flying beast and flying ship in mere moments.

"Holy shit, you can do that? Hurry and catch up—I'll get you a hen too…"

Just as the noble descendant was about to say "hen," he suddenly realized—he was riding a hen.

Hens could motivate roosters.

But roosters couldn't motivate hens.

"I'll go find you phoenix feathers!"

The noble descendant finally thought of a solution.

The hen, upon hearing this, instantly brightened her eyes and shot upward, flapping her wings.

Seeing this, other noble descendants each employed their own methods, making all sorts of promises to motivate their flying beasts.

Flying beasts generally had a good understanding of human speech, though they could rarely speak themselves.

Usually, only Sixth Rank flying beasts possessed sufficient higher intelligence to utter simple words.

As they drew nearer to Flame Empire's border, this unusual aerial race grew increasingly intense.

"Look! So many flying ships and flying beasts!"

On the ground, caravans departing from Flame Empire looked up toward the sky.

Each flying ship and flying beast shot forward like cannonballs, racing desperately toward Flame Empire's border.

"Holy shit, what are they doing? Planning to attack us?"

One man from the caravan said.

"Bullshit—do you think this many people can attack us? You have no idea how strong our aerial forces are."

Another man said.

"Then why are these people flying like lunatics? No one's chasing them!"

One man asked, baffled.

"Who knows? Probably water in their brains."

In the sky, the flying ships and flying beasts—deemed brain-addled—continued racing furiously toward Flame Empire's border.

Sometimes one man pulled ahead slightly.

But immediately, another would catch up.

One flying ship, having flown too fast for too long, saw its sail's magical runes overload and catch fire.

"Hahahaha! You pushed too hard—now your flying ship's half-dead, feel good now?"

Those who hadn't won laughed loudly behind.

On the flying ship, the noble descendant was furious.

But no matter how angry he was, he had to put out the fire quickly.

If even a small part of the sail survived, they could limp home slowly; if it burned completely, they'd have to beg someone to tow them.

Fortunately, the hull was intact.

A flying ship's hull carried magical runes that allowed it to float, but its speed depended entirely on the sail.

This flying race lasted over an hour.

Finally, a flying ship pulled far ahead of all the others and flying beasts.

In his field of vision, a city appeared.

That city was the one the Flame Empire had built on its border, specifically for trade!

"Hahaha, I won! I won! This time I made a fortune!"

The noble heir laughed heartily.

But before he finished laughing, he saw a large number of flying ships suddenly emerge from Bai Yun ahead in the sky.

There were dozens of these flying ships—fully a dozen or more—each loaded with massive crossbows!

In addition, countless winged warrior soldiers rained down from above, arrows in hand.

"Stop! This is the airspace of the Flame Empire!"

One winged warrior said.

The noble heir immediately slowed and halted in fear.

"Brother, I am the second son of Duke Walker of the Eternal Night Empire. I am here to purchase our silk and porcelain—this is permitted by your Empress!"

The noble heir hurriedly said.

He had barely managed to come in first—don't let it be snuffed out now.

"Enter. Your movement is restricted to within that city."

The winged warrior said.

"Alright!"

The noble heir piloted his flying ship down to land.

The city was not even finished—only one wall had been built, and it faced the Eternal Night Empire.

But inside the city, there were already many buildings and numerous stalls.

In this city, all goods were supplied by the Flame Empire's official channels.

They were then transported here uniformly by magic carts.

The Flame Empire's nobles, besides their own lands' produce, also spent money buying large quantities of goods from civilians.

Right now, goods were in high demand and short supply, so purchase prices were not low.

This also helped raise the overall economic level of the Flame Empire's commoners.

By directly supplying the Eternal Night Empire's nobles with official goods from Yan Province, the Flame Empire avoided flooding its own market and thus protected civilian market prices.

Meng Ying had considered everything thoroughly.

Hiding wealth among the people is the key to a nation's prosperity!

Many matters, skillfully regulated through economic means, yield excellent results and make the Flame Empire even more prosperous.

The city had many open spaces; after landing, the noble heir immediately sent people out to make massive purchases.