Chapter 80: 80. The Person Who Does Not Know the Times

The Qingzhu Tribe has a population of less than four hundred, and their usual defensive force is at best around twenty people.

Among these people, aside from the three Professional Knights led by Wili, the rest are ordinary people who are guards when they pick up weapons and farmers when they put them down; they do not even have formal training, let alone the ability to contend with Professional Knights—even the guards Luoning brought from Wushan Castle are stronger than them.

This battle had actually already ended long before Luoning and his party arrived at the outskirts of the Qingzhu Tribe unimpeded.

Not only did no decent resistance form here, but there was not even anyone to send word out; the two teams of Zhuweite and Ximu that Luoning had deployed on those two roads out of caution had absolutely no use.

Looking for the reason, he still had not expected things to progress so smoothly.

Facing Luoning's recruitment, Wili was very tempted. He had followed his elders into hiding in this Shanlin, carrying the identity of a remnant of the resistance; even when going out to purchase supplies, he could only find small merchants, and even then, he had to be extremely careful not to have his identity discovered.

Once people outside knew his identity, they would absolutely report him to the nobles of Wushan Territory, just for the sake of those few gold coins in bounty.

The Wili of the past, under the influence of his elders, had his heart set on restoring the former glory of his family, but after experiencing the torment of these years, especially the rise of the Heiling Tribe in recent years, he increasingly hoped to escape this forest land.

Now, the young Baron before his eyes seemed capable of bringing him everything he wanted.

"Lord Luoning, I am very tempted by your proposal!"

Wili's tone softened slightly, "But you know, even if humans want to subdue a Magic Beast, the first thing they must do is defeat it. If you want me to submit, you should also first demonstrate your own strength."

Luoning was stunned; how else was he supposed to demonstrate his strength?

The Qingzhu Tribe had already been surrounded by him; how else was he supposed to demonstrate it?

"Knight Wili, could it be that you still haven't figured out your current situation? The Qingzhu Tribe has already been surrounded by me, and you have become my captive without any power to resist; this is enough to prove my strength, at least that I am stronger than you."

"No, no, no."

Wili hurriedly shook his head, "You have only trapped my people, not me. If I want to break through the encirclement, you might not necessarily be able to stop me."

His tone was very confident, "If you want me to submit to you, you should defeat me one-on-one from the front!"

"I admire your courage, Knight Wili."

The corners of Luoning's mouth curled up, "But at the same time, I also admire your ignorance."

Hearing this, Wili's expression turned cold, "Lord Luoning, please mind your attitude. I have not offended you, yet you are disparaging me; this is not a quality a noble should have!"

The quality of a noble—is it to maintain humility and respect at all times and politely praise everyone?

"I have no interest in dueling with you."

Luoning shook his head, "Now you have one minute to consider: either submit to me, or be killed."

In such a crushing situation, what qualifications did the other party have to negotiate with him?

A tense atmosphere spread. Wili glanced at the people around him; at this moment, he was already surrounded. Don't look at how confidently he spoke; if he really wanted to break out, he didn't have 100% certainty.

Moreover, he did not want to abandon his status as the leader of the tribe to humble himself under someone else, with no one to serve him.

What he wanted was the same as Luoning: to have people serve him the moment he opened his eyes, to do whatever he wanted, and to have the freedom of not having to take orders from anyone.

The two knights beside Wili were very nervous. The momentum of the group opposite them was too strong; they were only Primary Knights, and if the negotiations fell through, it would be impossible to escape.

The minute passed quickly. Wili's heart went through round after round of intense struggle, and finally, he relented.

"My Lord, I can submit to you."

Wili spoke again, "But I hope you can let me continue to be the leader of the Qingzhu Tribe and manage these people."

Luoning was stunned by this request from the other party, and then he actually started to laugh.

He slowly raised his hand, and the Wind Blade Technique spell pattern, already familiar to his heart, was drawn in his palm. With the surging of the Wind Element, a hazy cyan wind blade quietly formed in his palm.

"Luoning, you!"

Wili's expression changed drastically. He had originally thought that even if this condition didn't work, he could still bargain a bit, but he hadn't expected the other party to strike directly.

Luoning couldn't be bothered to say more. Under the guidance of his Mental Power, the wind blade left his hand, cutting toward the other party's neck with a high-pitched sound of piercing the air.

"Hah!"

Wili, an Intermediate Knight, erupted with Battle Qi all over his body. He raised the longsword in his hand, condensing a Flame Slash to block the attack of the Wind Blade Technique.

But whether it was because the quality of his longsword was too poor or because the Flame Slash had not fully condensed, the wind blade directly severed the sword body and then left a blood line on the other party's throat.

"You..."

Wili only felt his body rapidly turning cold, as if his soul were gradually being pulled away, and then his whole body collapsed to the ground.

"What qualifications does a defeated person have to set so many conditions?"

Luoning sneered, "If you don't even have this bit of discernment, you don't need to be my subordinate either."

Actually, if the other party had made some other requests, such as asking Luoning for some gold coins or something, he would have been relatively willing.

After all, having an Intermediate Knight at his disposal was a beneficial thing for Luoning.

It was just a pity that this Wili wanted too much, actually wanting to continue being the leader of the Qingzhu Tribe. Wasn't that equivalent to Luoning conferring a knighthood on the other party and then assigning him a manor?

Maiken, who had followed him the longest, and Ruidar, who had made great contributions, had not been conferred titles; where did a defeated remnant leader get the qualifications?

Lord Wili... just died like this?

The two knights who had originally been standing beside Wili had not expected such a situation at all; the strongest person in the Qingzhu Tribe could not even withstand one move from the other party.

At this moment, it was as if the sound of the wind blade piercing the air was still echoing in their ears; that was truly the sound emitted by a ghost from hell.

Those farmers who had stood up ready to resist with Wili saw this and collapsed to the ground as if they had lost their parents, no longer having the courage to resist.

"Those who kneel and surrender will not be killed!" Luoning said indifferently.

Ruidar and Maiken pointed their longswords to the sky and shouted loudly, "Those who kneel and surrender will not be killed!"

After this battle, even the two Professional Knights under Wili were so scared that they knelt down to beg for mercy; how could anyone else dare to resist?

One by one, they all knelt on the ground, shivering, praying for forgiveness from the noble.

Fortunately, before the expedition, Luoning had let Ruidar and Maiken do a lot of ideological work with the guards, ultimately imprinting the rule of strictly forbidding the indiscriminate killing of prisoners onto the hearts of the guards.

Even when facing those who surrendered, the soldiers were at most a bit rough, but they did not kill a single person indiscriminately, nor did they have any actions of maiming people.

It was still very necessary to train a team that followed orders and prohibited actions.

"Dawei, Tangmu, take people and gather everyone from the Qingzhu Tribe for me."

Luoning emphasized, "Remember to search carefully, regardless of men, women, old, or young; do not miss a single person!"

Thanks to the two gentlemen, Gete Wan Buxing Zhanshi and Qinghe Sanren, for their tips, and to more than ten gentlemen including Baidu Dangxia, Suiyue De Canliu Henji, Zhanli Wu De Zhazha, Meiguihua Buhao Yang, tyy Fengye, Xuan Ba, Book Friend 20230405183521956, Dongfei Zounai, Mingti Zhongjie, and others for their votes~ The recent flu is quite severe, the author has already been struck down, everyone please pay attention to personal protection.

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(End of this chapter)