Chapter 1344

Because ever since her Empress Mother died, she had lost her last support. In the vast imperial palace, without any backing power behind her, how could those consorts who did have such backing tolerate the existence of a princess born of a concubine?

Her very survival was a thorn in their eyes and a splinter in their flesh. If only she could be a little foolish, a pretty vase of a person, those people would not have schemed so relentlessly—but An'an was very clever, with no ordinary eye for things, knowing what she wanted and what she did not.

A sense of the big picture was extremely important; if she did not leave herself a way out, one day she might simply be killed off by someone.

The act of draping a coat over her that night let her once again experience a warmth long absent—that warmth, like the Empress Mother holding her as a child, warm and safe and comfortable.

She could not help but long for that warmth once more.

On the battlefield, with Lord Xuan Wuji and Lei Yi's full counterattack, the remnants of the Holy Kingdom collapsed like chickens and pottery dogs. Seeing this, the Holy Kingdom's commander-in-chief immediately led the Holy Son and their most important mage corps and personal guard away.

Their reinforcements were behind them; only by reorganizing a great army would they have the capital to contest the Imperial army.

Those war engines—whether the enormously powerful catapults or the blade chariots—were their nightmare. Only magic-crystal cannons could blast through the Imperial army in one breath, and when that time came, all those weapons and equipment would belong to the Holy Kingdom.

With such a sharp weapon in hand, why worry about truly unifying the entire Western Regions kingdoms!

An hour later, the Eternal Night Legion and the Thunder Shadow Legion returned one after another. The Holy Kingdom's vanguard had nearly been routed by them; the few who escaped were not much of a problem—a pity the enemy's commander was too cowardly. Before they even met face to face, he had already run off.

The temporary council tent.

The Third Imperial Prince was the first to put forward his suggestion, his face full of killing intent and kingly dominance, showing quite the decisive, imperial bearing of one who could take life and death in hand.

"I think we should counterattack. While our morale is high and with these sharp weapons, we can wipe out the Holy Kingdom's follow-up allied forces in one stroke. Only when we truly hurt them will they understand that the Empire of a hundred years ago was not something they could imagine, and it still is not."

Lei Yi felt it was feasible.

"This proposal is not bad. With our current numbers, plus the Divine Might Army secretly aided by the Empire, and those war engines, we may yet be able to launch a counter-strike."

"The Chilperi Kingdom needs time to recover. If we do not thoroughly hurt the Western Regions kingdoms, they will still reach for the Chilperi Kingdom."

Lord Xuan Wuji also seemed lost in thought. After wiping out the Holy Kingdom's vanguard, Yan Liu's revenge could only be half-avenged; the remaining half naturally could not be given up.

"Agreed. We still have ten truly mobile magic-crystal cannons; they can even duel the enemy's magic-crystal cannons. Whether in engines or in fighting strength, we hold the advantage!"

"The only thing to worry about is the enemy's air force—they are very likely to raid our rear catapult camp."

"Indeed."

Lei Yi and the Third Imperial Prince nodded in turn.

The last time they routed the allied forces of Lei Dun and Taji, failing to destroy the enemy's air force was indeed their oversight.

At the same time, the enemy was too cunning—knowing they could not win head-on, they used magic and boulders from high in the sky, turning a perfectly good wyvern into a boulder-throwing dragon.

"Lay out the strategy and defense well; if we get the chance, take out those wyverns first, and then we'll be steady." Speaking of which, wyverns were not true dragons; though protected by scales, their defenses were quite limited.

If they could unleash a volley of ten thousand arrows at once, then it would be the wyvern corps doing the worrying. However, their current supply of arrows was limited—sincerely willing but lacking the means.......

"General, Master Lin Cheng requests an audience. He says if there is nothing else, he will return to Boulder Fortress to continue his research."

At Boulder Fortress, inside the forging room of Lin Cheng's smithy, as a golden magic array on the ground gradually expanded, two figures swiftly materialized at the center of the array.

They were none other than Lin Cheng and Li Changan, who had withdrawn from the battlefield of the Chilperi Kingdom.

The moment they opened their eyes, they found themselves inside the smithy's forging room. Although he had known in advance it was teleportation magic, Li Changan was still quite astonished that Lin Cheng alone could teleport someone back from such a distant place—this was not something an ordinary spatial mage could do.

He must have already reached the level of a seventh-tier spatial mage.

Li Changan's clever mind quickly understood, and he immediately, somewhat angrily, stomped on Lin Cheng's foot.

"What are you doing?" Lin Cheng winced in pain.

Li Changan said, none too pleased.

"And you still say the system only taught you forging knowledge—doesn't it also grant you abilities?"

A forger who possessed spatial teleportation ability no inferior to a seventh-tier spatial mage—no matter how you thought about it, it seemed impossible, unless...

Lin Cheng, not much bothered, blinked. Abilities were secondary; knowledge was what mattered.

"Oh, you mean the skill? It's probably a bonus from the system, I suppose. If I didn't have some strength, given my current position, I would have long since been grabbed and locked in some dark little room to slowly forge equipment."

"True enough!"

Li Changan's face quickly reddened, a little embarrassed.

To have climbed to the position of an eighth-tier forger, and with no decent faction behind him—if Lin Cheng really were an ordinary commoner, how could he have achieved what he has today? Most likely, before he became famous, he would have been secretly snatched away.