Chapter 873

Their gazes were scorching and direct—Zhao Chi could feel it.

Those gazes seemed even hotter than the sunlight.

But Zhao Chi could only pretend not to notice.

Only after Su Qin finished speaking did the women beside her wake as from a dream, turning back step by reluctant step to rejoin their own family's ranks.

Yet they kept glancing over without pause.

Zhao Chi understood them perfectly.

After all, it was a 10-point appearance.

Gu Qing, with her 8-point appearance, was already that beautiful.

If a woman with a 10-point appearance appeared, Zhao Chi too would be hard-pressed not to take a good look.

But now was not the time to think about such things.

The entire Xiliu Village contingent had already taken formation.

Xiao Ning pointed ahead and said: "Alright, we set out now—kill those bandits and rescue Nanlin Village!"

Xiao Ning raised her arm in a rallying cry, but no one responded.

"Dammit, move out!" Xiao Ning took the lead and advanced.

A few hundred meters ahead was the west gate of Nanlin Village.

The entire village was surrounded by wooden fences.

To the south was a large stretch of woodland, all sturdy poplars with lush green leaves and a great many bird nests in them.

There were sentries and patrols at the west gate.

Standing on their watch posts, they had spotted the Xiliu Village people almost the moment they teleported over.

The loud clanging of gongs spread swiftly through all of Nanlin Village.

Before long, a group of people came charging out.

Their numbers were more than double those of Xiliu Village.

The person right in the middle was clearly their leader.

In his thirties, male, short hair.

Ordinary build, unremarkable looks.

But his gaze was exceedingly sharp.

Staring at the approaching Xiliu Village crowd, he showed no fear whatsoever.

Even upon seeing Xiao Ning and those alien-race lords, he merely frowned.

Xiao Ning led the Xiliu Village people up to the front.

She called out to the person at the head of the opposing side: "You're Li Xun?"

The man nodded: "Yes, I'm Li Xun. May I ask how to address you, Lady?"

"Master Mu Chang Ning!"

"Master Mu Chang… don't know her."

Xiao Ning said with a cold smile: "Of course not. Someone like you, a country bumpkin bandit—how could you possibly know our Holy Race's people? Surrender."

Li Xun said with a smile: "Our Heavenly King Army and you aliens are allies of a sort, aren't we? Your nobles haven't been fully dealt with yet, so why have you started attacking your allies?"

Xiao Ning dismissed it with contempt: "Allies? We've never had allies, nor have we ever said we wanted to be allies with you. Besides, I simply can't stand the way you bandits behave—I've come to save the villagers."

"Hahahaha."

Li Xun shook his head and laughed uproariously.

"Holy shit… save the villagers? You people? Hahahaha—did I not wake up, to actually hear aliens say they're going to save our villagers? You can't just spout nonsense like that."

"Hahahahaha."

All the people around Li Xun burst out laughing.

"How dare you! Are you looking to die?" Yan Ping drew his blade.

But Li Xun didn't take it seriously at all.

"Yo yo yo, look at that ungrateful wretch drawing his blade. When your human granddaddies invented the blade, you lot were still scrounging the ground for shit to eat. And now you're getting cocky. Forgotten who you learned it from?"

Yan Ping sneered and nodded: "Heh, a state-level lord after all—arrogant indeed. But in a moment, with ten of our Holy Race lords surrounding you, we'll make you kneel down and have a real taste of shit."

"Oh my, you can even speak human tongue now—can you write the characters you're saying?"

"Enough, Li Xun?" Xiao Ning cut him off.

"Enough what? Wasn't it you who came to invade first? Don't dare listen to me speak? Then get the hell back!"

Xiao Ning smiled: "Li Xun, you only have one person, and at most nine commandery-level lords. But look at us."

Xiao Ning turned her head, pointing at the alien-race lords beside her, then at the several families behind.

"You see? You call yourselves the Heavenly King Army, but everyone knows you're just bandits who live by robbery, kidnapping, swindling, and trickery. What do you have that lets you compare with our Holy Race?"

"Try it then." Li Xun's momentum didn't diminish: "We have more people. If your eyes aren't blind, you should be able to see that too, right?"

Li Xun also pointed at the people behind him.

By lord count, Li Xun's side did indeed have somewhat more.

Xiao Ning and Li Xun kept trading taunts, each trying to crush the other's morale.

But unfortunately, neither side had any intention of surrendering.

Zhao Chi stood silently within the ranks, adjusting his angle to look at the opposing lords.

He had already spotted his classmate.

After this battle, he wondered whether that person would still be alive.

Before long, the mutual taunts between the two sides turned into negotiations.

Xiao Ning had called over the clan heads of all four families.

Across from them, Li Xun had also called the three lords of Nanlin Village to the front.

Adding in each side's trusted confidants, a little over ten people in total began the negotiations.

"I really hope the talks go well. Best if we don't have to fight."

Su Qin beside him murmured softly.

Zhao Chi understood her thinking, yet he was immensely irritated, hoping the battle would start as soon as possible.

"What's wrong, Zhao Chi? Why are you frowning? Are you feeling unwell?"

Su Qin's gaze had also been drifting over Zhao Chi's face, and she quickly caught the change in his expression.

Zhao Chi shook his head: "I'm fine. Maybe I'm just a little worried about the war."

"Me too." Su Qin nodded in empathy: "But you don't need to worry too much. After all, the other side only has three families, and we have four."

Zhao Chi said: "That number doesn't mean much. Their three families might even be stronger than our four."

Su Qin laughed: "How could that be? Zhao Chi, you don't go out much — you probably don't know Nanlin Village very well, right?"

"Do you?"

"Of course. My sister and I often go shopping together. Every time we go to town, we stop by Nanlin Village to pick up our classmate and go together. Too bad… that classmate didn't make it a few days ago."

Su Qin's expression turned a little sorrowful.

Zhao Chi wasn't good at comforting people; he just gently patted her shoulder.

Su Qin's expression quickly shifted from sorrow to shyness and delight??

Su Qin went on: "So I actually know Nanlin Village pretty well. See that big-bearded man on Li Xun's left?"

"Mm, I see him. A face full of fleshy jowls — his personality must be pretty hot-tempered, right?"

"I don't know about that, actually. But he's the Kong family clan head, Kong Mushan. His strength should be about the same as our eldest uncle's."

"That's really impressive."

"Yeah. Look at the white-haired old man on Li Xun's right — he's the Lin family clan head, Lin Wujiu. Very strong, probably the strongest in their village. I'd guess he's about on par with our clan-head grandfather."

Zhao Chi nodded again.

An old lord's personal combat strength might decline.

But a territory, accumulated over many years, might have many soldiers and capable generals, and could win by relying on subordinates.

Usually, no one dares look down on an old lord.

"Look at the auntie speaking right now — she's the Jin family clan head, Jin Qianliu. I heard the beastfolk genes in her territory have already been fully improved, and all of them have been strengthened — their combat strength is extremely high."

Fully improving genes isn't hard.

After all, every racial bloodline decomposition yields 1–3 strands.

The hard part is getting good genes.