Chapter 187: Anyone Who Impersonates the Goddess Must Die

A forest path under the night sky.

An army like a long dragon is moving forward.

On a golden carriage within the army, Zhou Yanli sits upright on a rush cushion, legs crossed, his white robes as clean as feathers.

The bright moonlight shrouds his handsome face, coating his entire body in a soft glow.

Yuan Canghai rides his horse, barking orders with a gloomy expression.

"Everyone, speed up! You must reach Shiya City before noon tomorrow and wipe out Xiao Moting and the Beijiang Army."

"Yes!"

The messenger relays the order one after another.

"By order of General Yuan, the entire army is to march with haste; reach Shiya City before noon tomorrow, no delays allowed."

Suddenly!

Zhou Yanli, sitting on the carriage, opens his eyes; a flash of murderous intent flickers in his peach-blossom eyes.

Yuan Canghai hurriedly rides over and asks obsequiously, "Zhou, have you foreseen something again?"

Zhou Yanli lowers his head, his long, jade-like fingers lightly calculating.

"... Strange, why has an anomaly appeared on Xiao Moting's side?"

"I clearly foresaw that after the Beijiang Army breached Shiya City, the scorching weather would cause a large number of soldiers to die from severe injuries."

"But why has the aura of death within the Beijiang Army suddenly vanished?"

"Who cured them?"

Zhou Yanli's melodious voice spills through his teeth, suddenly turning cold and heartless.

Yuan Canghai thinks for a moment and says with a fawning smile.

"Zhou, your visions surely cannot be wrong."

"The Beijiang Army is attacking Shiya City; the charcoal poured from the city walls will scald a large number of his soldiers. These people's wounds will become infected, and they will certainly die. The plan is foolproof; it absolutely cannot be wrong."

He is all smiles, flattering him incessantly.

But Zhou Yanli's expression remains cold and arrogant; he does not even blink, his ink-black brows tightly furrowed.

Yuan Canghai is already used to Zhou Yanli's arrogance and pays it no mind, grinning from ear to ear.

As long as he can become emperor in the future, let alone being servile, even carrying Zhou Yanli's shoes would be no problem.

Xiao Moting's power is expanding too quickly, and the soldiers under his command are all formidable; he is the greatest rival to his future usurpation and ascension to the throne.

Therefore, he and Zhou Yanli formulated a plan to deplete the Beijiang Army.

Zhou Yanli can foresee the future and calculated that Xiao Moting would attack Shiya City, so he let him lead his troops to attack.

The purpose of doing this is to consume the Beijiang Army.

Because the defenders of Shiya City will pour down charcoal, scalding a large number of the attacking Beijiang Army soldiers.

It is a drought outside the city; the scalded soldiers cannot find clean water to wash their wounds, and with the hot weather, their wounds will soon become infected, leading to their deaths.

The large number of dead soldiers, in the hot weather, will attract flies and mosquitoes, spreading disease within the army.

By then, an epidemic will break out within the Beijiang Army.

In this way, the Beijiang Army will suffer heavy losses and lose its edge.

Yuan Canghai rides his horse with a look of schadenfreude.

"I only lost one city, but Xiao Moting will lose seventy or eighty thousand soldiers; what a brilliant plan!"

"As long as I attack when his troops are exhausted and weak."

"I can wipe out Xiao Moting and his troops in one fell swoop and reap the rewards; haha, hahahaha..."

In his joy, Yuan Canghai cannot help but look up and laugh wildly, as if he sees himself killing Xiao Moting with his own hands, absorbing the remaining Beijiang Army, and then leading his great army into the imperial capital to slaughter the old emperor and ascend the throne himself...

Suddenly, Zhou Yanli lets out a cold hum.

"Yuan Canghai, where have you used the Talisman Water I gave you?"

Yuan Canghai's laughter stops abruptly, a flash of panic crossing his face.

"Ah, this..."

Zhou Yanli's voice is icy.

"I told you to feed the Talisman Water to wild beasts, not to living people. Aren't you afraid of being condemned by historians for creating one inhuman madman after another?!"

Yuan Canghai chuckles dryly.

"Zhou, the wild beasts on the mountain have sharp teeth and claws; they are hard to catch!"

"The commoners are much easier to deal with. These people are poor and hungry; as long as you lie to them and say the army is distributing disaster relief grain, you can lure in a large number of them."

"Wild beasts won't obediently drink Talisman Water; it's too much trouble to force-feed them, and if you're not careful, you'll get bitten."

"But it's much easier to make commoners drink Talisman Water; for just half a steamed bun, they will fight to drink it."

A look of intense loathing flashes across the depths of Zhou Yanli's eyes.

He lowers his long eyelashes, hiding the disgust in his eyes, his voice indifferent.

"Fine, those who die are just your own Yannan commoners; it has nothing to do with me."

"But that woman who is helping Xiao Moting, the one the Beijiang people call the Goddess, must die."

Yuan Canghai hurriedly agrees.

"Yes, yes, I have already arranged a team of assassins to go ahead and scout for information; as soon as that Goddess is found, she will be executed."

Zhou Yanli speaks coldly.

"Enough, just investigate her whereabouts and report to me; as for killing her, I will do it myself."

After speaking, he closes his eyes, returning to his aloof and arrogant state, ignoring him further.

Yuan Canghai's tense body finally relaxes, and he secretly lets out a breath.

Zhou Yanli is skilled at making poisons; he was given some Talisman Water and told to feed it to wild beasts to train an army of beasts to deal with Xiao Moting.

But Yuan Canghai did not want to go catch wild beasts.

Because wild beasts are in the mountains, hard to catch, and they bite people.

He simply took the Talisman Water and gave it to the commoners to drink.

They were just a bunch of commoners of low status anyway; rather than waiting for these commoners to starve to the point of rioting, it was better to turn them into a "madman army" and let them go to the front lines to kill the enemy.

A ray of sunlight shone onto Bai Wei's face.

She opened her eyes groggily and subconsciously reached toward the side of the pillow, wanting to touch her phone.

"... What time is it now?"

She did not touch her phone!

Instead, it felt like she had grabbed someone else's hand.

It seemed to be a man's; the palm was large, the fingers were long and slender, and there were thin calluses on the pads of his fingers...

Bai Wei was startled, half of her sleepiness scared away, and she immediately flipped over and sat up.

"Who, who ran into my room? Get out quickly, or I'm calling the police..."

As soon as the word "police" was spoken, Bai Wei froze.

She was actually in a tent, still lying on Xiao Moting's bed.

Xiao Moting sat stiffly by the bedside, his right hand being held by her, his well-defined, handsome face flushed crimson.

"Bai, Bai, you're awake?"

Bai Wei looked down and saw that her hand was firmly gripping his, their fingers even interlaced.

This ambiguous posture instantly made her cheeks burn, and she quickly pulled her hand back.

"Xiao Moting, I, I didn't mean to take advantage of you."

"It, it is no matter."

Xiao Moting appeared calm, but his voice revealed a hint of stiffness.

"As for taking advantage of me, Bai, you may do so as you please; I have no problem with it."

The two had just met and were not yet very familiar with each other, so both sides were very nervous.