Chapter 142

So being a man is still quite tiring, especially when one has to guarantee a happy life; Shen Tianxing deeply feels this—there's no problem with his stamina, but he is truly mentally exhausted.

Imagine any man facing a gorgeous beauty with a hundred charms; the mental stimulation is far above everything. Sometimes Shen Tianxing doesn't understand why, for the same thing, a man is so much more tired than a woman—it's unfair.

Shen Tianxing enjoys the good life, but others are not so happy—first among them is Lei Wufeng, who got the news first.

Knowing his Lei Family Army had lost twenty thousand, Lei Wufeng almost went crazy; if he hadn't secretly trained an extra twenty thousand Lei Family Army earlier, they'd probably have only thirty thousand left.

"Father, as of now, we simply cannot be a match for Shen Tianxing; the governors of the other few cities in Wuzhou are unwilling to unite, and that bunch of idiots would never obey your orders."

"The speaker is Lei Wufeng's daughter Lei Ting; she isn't particularly beautiful, but she has a heroic and spirited demeanor, and her strength at Eight Pin First Layer is far greater than Yang Hongyue's, also being Lei Wufeng's lifelong pride."

"\"If we're not a match, what then? Should I send you to the capital to be a concubine for that young brat? Or do you want to marry Shen Tianxing like Yue Yunyang's daughter did, to exchange for our family's safety? If so, I'd rather die. \""

Lei Wufeng is also a real stubborn man; even if he dies standing, he won't kneel to live, let alone marry off his daughter for family peace.

"\"Father, you're overthinking. Someone like Shen Tianxing—how could a daughter possibly devote herself to him? She plans to lure Shen Tianxing to Wuzhou and then kill him. \""

"\"That way we would have rendered great service, and the Regent King would know our intentions and would no longer force the daughter to marry that little emperor; then our whole family would be safe, right? \""

Lei Wufeng's eyes lit up at the words, but then he frowned with worry.

"\"That said, Shen Tianxing is no saint either; how could we easily trick him? \""

"\"Father, that's wrong—Shen Tianxing isn't fond of women? Father could send someone to propose, saying the daughter is willing to marry him, but to marry her he must come to Wuzhou to fetch the bride. Once he comes, he won't be able to leave. \""

Lei Ting spoke her plan with full confidence; Lei Wufeng slapped his forehead, thinking it quite reasonable, yet he kept shaking his head.

"\"No, this is too risky; if something goes wrong and you let him take her away, wouldn't that be a loss outweighing the gain? And even if we tried to guard against it, we couldn't go to war with him—we'd only end up surrendering. \""

"\"Even if we really trick him into coming, if he brings a large army to fetch the bride, that would be a major battle; as father, I have no confidence we could defeat him. \""

"\"What father has thought, daughter has naturally considered too; to have him bring only a few people for the wedding, it depends on Second Uncle's ability—if Second Uncle is willing to believe, with his silver tongue that never fails, it's enough to make Shen Tianxing believe. \""

"\"If Shen Tianxing brings only a few people, we can then hire two experts; together we'll surround him, and even if he had wings he couldn't fly—he'd only be able to die in Wuzhou City. \""

The Second Uncle Lei Ting spoke of is none other than Lei Wufeng's younger brother Lei Wudi, a Ninth Grade First Layer expert, and also a silver‑tongued trickster; once he opens his mouth, there's nobody he can't deceive.

"\"Sending Wudi isn't out of the question—tricking Shen Tianxing in is no problem; the only question is where we'd find more experts to deal with him. \""

"\"Father, don't worry; I'll go back to the mountain right now to find my master and senior brother—with their help, killing Shen Tianxing would be as easy as taking something from a pocket. \""

"\"Good! That's decided—I'll go find your Second Uncle right away and hand this over to him; you also hurry up the mountain. \""

"\"Yes, Father! \""

After the father and daughter had settled their plan and each went off busy, on the other side was Dawu's Lin Feiyun, who in his whole life had never fought such a baffling battle.

Earlier the imperial court had clearly planned a ceasefire, but for some reason the Dawu Emperor suddenly sent him to attack Humen Pass, the reason being that the newly enthroned little emperor of the Great Zhou was under the control of Regent King Sun Zhongquan, and the Great Zhou was in internal turmoil.

Attacking now would surely let them seize the Great Zhou's half of the country, even swallow the whole Great Zhou; but as soon as they reached Humen Pass, before gaining any useful results, two Grand Masters appeared and wiped out over twenty thousand of them.

"\"Marshal, do you think His Majesty will go find Grand Masters? Although our Dawu also has Grand Masters, we might not be able to summon them, and even if there were Grand Masters with bad habits, we've never had that before. \""

Originally Ding Chunlong had suggested sending the news back to the imperial court so the Emperor could summon Grand Masters to deal with it, but now he himself is the one who's worried.

"\"A century ago there indeed were Grand Masters who took part in the war between the two states, after which several Grand Masters surrounded and slaughtered them, dying with hatred on the spot; that rule existed back then. \""

But it's been over a hundred years since a grandmaster last took action, and it's uncertain whether any grandmaster will come to join the war between the two nations; however, Humen Pass can no longer be held.

I have already reported to the Emperor to withdraw troops first; otherwise, if a grandmaster attacks, we will suffer heavy losses, because a grandmaster only needs to strike and then flee, we can't catch up, and after a few back-and-forths, our entire army will be wiped out.

Lin Feiyun was very depressed, but also calm; he clearly understood that they couldn't stay long at the border pass and needed to hurry back.

But he also worried that if they left, the Great Zhou side would send troops to attack them, and with two grandmasters, who could stop them without a grandmaster of their own?

Marshal, that makes sense; otherwise we should withdraw troops first, since even if the Emperor summons a grandmaster, it won't happen quickly; staying here is too dangerous, we'd better retreat and wait for the grandmaster to arrive before heading together to Humen Pass.

Ding Chunlong played the opportunist very successfully, making Lin Feiyun feel like kicking him.

I think you're crazy; without the Emperor's nod, how can we withdraw? Don't forget that if we withdraw, what will we do when those two grandmasters bring their troops to attack?

The best course now is to find out exactly who commands the garrison at Humen Pass; before the grandmasters arrive, we must find a way to steady them, lest those two grandmasters lead troops to attack our Great Wu border, or we'll all die.

Ding Chunlong nodded, then after a moment of thought, said:

It should be the Yang Family Army, but according to the information I've received, Sun Zhongquan had already detained all members of the Yang Family before he became Regent King; later it seems they were all rescued, and now they should be in Leizhou.

Leizhou is now territory of a person surnamed Shen; it seems Yang Hongyue is still his wife. If we want to negotiate properly, we should go to Leizhou to find that Shen, but it's too far—unless he has already reached Beizhou, there's no way to contact him.

While Ding Chunlong was saying this, he didn't notice that Lin Feiyun was already about to draw his sword—such important news, and yet they hadn't mentioned it to him before the attack on Humen Pass.

"How do you know this information?"

Lin Feiyun's icy voice rang out, his long sword already across Ding Chunlong's neck; Ding Chunlong trembled all over, realizing he had misspoken, and hastily knelt, saying:

"Marshal, I only heard some rumors; I don't know if they're true. Please spare my life—don't kill me."