Chapter 137: Entering Great Li

Chen Mo rode his horse, walking at the very front of the diplomatic mission.

On his left and right sides were several hundred fully armed heavy cavalrymen acting as guards.

These men were all Personal Soldiers of the General of the North, now escorting the mission toward the border pass of Great Li.

Lying horizontally before them was a border city; the city walls were over ten zhang high, stretching for hundreds of miles, with no end in sight.

On the city walls were countless marks from blades and axes, and many gaps were even stained dark red by blood.

Even the ground beneath Chen Mo's feet had been stained dark red by blood soaked in over the years.

The two nations had slaughtered each other at this border pass countless times, yet the number of times they had truly crossed the border was very few.

After riding for another few miles, smoke and dust suddenly billowed ahead, and hundreds of iron-clad heavy cavalry galloped toward them.

These cavalrymen who appeared were not only armored themselves, but their horses were also armored; they were true elite heavy cavalry, no less than the Personal Soldiers of the General of the North.

The two teams of cavalry met in the center of this battlefield.

With the two armies facing off, swords were drawn and bows were bent for a moment, and an atmosphere of grim slaughter permeated the air; if there were the slightest sign of trouble, both sides would engage without hesitation.

The reason was simple: when two nations go to war, it ultimately comes down to the soldiers stationed at the border slaughtering each other.

Between the Personal Soldiers of both sides, there was already a blood feud; either you killed my own brother, or I beheaded your own nephew.

Enemies naturally see red when they meet; that they did not start fighting immediately was already a sign of being well-trained and quite restrained.

"I am an Attendant of the Ministry of Rites of Great Gan, sent by the personal order of the Emperor of my dynasty to visit Great Li."

Chen Mo rode his horse forward and spoke in a loud voice.

In his words, he gave Great Li plenty of face; one must know that between the two nations, whether in private or in public,

Great Gan had always called Great Li "Beili" (Northern Li), while Great Li had always called Great Gan "Nangan" (Southern Gan).

As for someone like Chen Mo, who in his capacity as an official directly acknowledged the state name of Great Li, he was the first.

In fact, for this diplomatic mission, even the state letter submitted to Great Li originally referred to it as Beili.

But Chen Mo insisted on changing it to Great Li; since they wanted to negotiate peace, they had to adopt the posture of peace negotiations.

Acknowledging that Great Li was a country equal to Great Gan—no matter what happened in the future, for now, they would strive for peace negotiations.

Let the Great Li imperial clan and the small and medium-sized noble families understand that Great Gan was very sincere about this peace negotiation, and hope they could promote it as much as possible.

"I am an Attendant of the Ministry of Rites of Great Li, sent by the order of the Emperor to come here to welcome the Great Gan diplomatic mission."

The Attendant of the Ministry of Rites of Great Li was a clever man; borrowing the face Chen Mo gave him, he stepped down the slope, decisively changing the originally prepared "Nangan" to "Great Gan."

He naturally understood that Chen Mo speaking first was giving his side face; if he refused to accept the gesture, then some accidents might occur.

With his status, he could not withstand such accidents; furthermore, that he could be sent by the Emperor to welcome the mission was enough to prove that he himself was also part of the peace faction.

The contact between the two Attendants of the Ministry of Rites finally broke the stifling atmosphere.

"Everyone, follow me into the territory of Great Li!" Chen Mo rode his horse forward.

The Great Li Ministry of Rites official immediately came up to meet them, taking the mission away together to go to the capital to have an audience with the Emperor of Dali.

The General of the North of Great Gan watched the mission leave, but felt a sense of relief in his heart.

He naturally knew that for the mission to facilitate peace negotiations was a good thing, but too many people did not want to see peace negotiations, and Alien Races and the Demonic Path could attack at any time.

During the few days the mission was in the border city, he had spent every day repeatedly strengthening the defenses, just for fear that something would happen to the mission while under his watch.

Now that this hot potato had finally been sent away safely, he could also breathe a sigh of relief.

Chen Mo led the members of the mission, under the protection of the Great Li heavy cavalry, and headed into the territory of Great Li.

These iron-clad heavy cavalrymen all glared at the members of the mission, making no effort to hide their killing intent.

Chen Mo's expression remained calm; he had killed more people than he could count, so he would naturally not be frightened by this.

Even if there were those in the mission who felt fear, they all feigned a calm expression at this time.

And the Innate Experts high in the sky still followed them, only this time there were two additional Innate Experts from the Great Li imperial clan.

Inside the Great Li border city, it was very solemn; numerous armored soldiers guarded both sides of the street, watching the mission pass by.

"Our Emperor was very happy to hear that the Great Gan mission was coming and had long ago ordered us to come here to wait and welcome you," the Attendant of the Ministry of Rites of Great Li said with a laugh.

They also very much needed peace negotiations; in Great Li, the power of those great noble families was a bit too large.

Not to mention ordinary commoners, even the path of advancement for many humble scholars and small and medium-sized noble families was blocked.

And in order to guard against an invasion by Great Gan, the Imperial Court had to rely on the power of those great noble families, which caused those noble families to grow even larger.

Peace negotiations were a necessary matter for many small and medium-sized forces and the imperial clan within Great Li.

Likewise, those great noble families would do everything in their power to stop the peace negotiations, but they would absolutely not kill Chen Mo.

Because even those great noble families did not want to truly continue the war with Great Gan, because fighting still meant people would die.

They only wanted to maintain the current state of confrontation, neither fighting nor making peace, which was most beneficial to them.

And if they really wanted to move to kill Chen Mo, the person who did it and the forces behind them would inevitably become the target of public criticism.

The imperial clan indeed could not resist the alliance of all the noble families, but concentrating power to solve one was not difficult.

Moreover, those great noble families were not of one mind, and no one wanted to be the first bird to stick its head out.

After all, no one could guarantee that if they stood up first, their allies would help them instead of stabbing them in the back.

Chen Mo and the other members of the mission were arranged to stay in the border city to rest for two days before continuing on their way.

The Great Li Imperial Court also sent a team of guards to the mission, totaling twelve people: three Post-Heaven Martial Artists and nine Martial Artists at Tongmai Perfection.

From this, it could be seen that the Great Li imperial clan truly attached great importance to this peace negotiation.

With the mission's current defensive strength, unless an Innate Expert arrived in person, there would be absolutely no danger.

This was just the overt defensive strength; in the shadows, there were still Innate Experts guarding them.

It was just that even if the experts of the Demonic Path and the Alien Races knew that the mission must have Innate Experts from both countries following and protecting them in secret,

they still had to take action; this was an open conspiracy, and they had no room to refuse.

"Chief Envoy Chen, if we walk another three hundred miles forward, there is a small city where we can rest," the Attendant of the Ministry of Rites of Great Li said with a smile as he walked to Chen Mo's side.

The mission delegation was led by them throughout the journey, and the maps within Great Li were held solely by this Attendant of the Ministry of Rites.

"Very well, then let us travel more slowly; do not spend the night in that city, and we shall enter it for rest tomorrow morning."

Chen Mo had his considerations and gave the order.

Once they entered a city, they would immediately be in much greater danger, for the reason was simple: those Innate Experts lurking in the shadows would kill the night watchmen the moment they seized an opportunity.

Then the problem would be grave.

Even if the delegation had specially arranged night watchmen, they would be completely unable to block a Mirage Sea in such a situation.

Even with the protection of Innate Experts, once one fell into a Mirage Sea, especially a large Mirage Sea of at least ten thousand people.

The danger was simply immeasurable; it was estimated that no one, from the entire delegation to all the commoners within the city, would be able to survive.

Even those Innate Experts protecting them from the shadows might lose their lives if they moved too slowly.

The process was not important; the result was what mattered most.

No matter what, as long as Chen Mo and his party died within the borders of North Li, the goals of the Demonic Path and the Alien Races would be considered achieved.

Therefore, for this diplomatic mission, except for the two Bian Cities which were guarded by countless Arrays, the delegation spent almost every other night in the wilderness.

On the rare occasions they did not, they were in small villages of at most two or three hundred people.

Even if the night watchmen in such places encountered problems, the delegation's own night watchmen, or even the Protective Talisman Chen Mo carried on his person, would be enough to disperse such a small Mirage Sea.

Chen Mo pulled the reins, letting the horses run more slowly.

He had long since put on the Beast-Faced Swallowing-Head Interlocking Armor, and he almost never took it off, day or night.

This was indeed somewhat uncomfortable and inconvenient, but compared to his own safety, it was not worth mentioning.

They were now seven or eight days' journey from the capital of Great Li, which was to say, three or four thousand li.

If nothing unexpected happened, the final attack by the Demonic Path experts should occur within this period.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Several explosive sounds rang out; Innate Experts were charging over from the distance at full speed.

Chen Mo looked up to see five firelights of different colors appearing in the distant sky, each representing an Innate Expert.

Their target was very clear; they obviously knew the delegation must be escorted by Innate Experts, and thus had prepared for a surprise attack from the start.

Immediately after, four Innate Experts also appeared among the clouds above the delegation, flying rapidly toward the front of the delegation.

"Haha, well come!" Chu Tianxiu laughed loudly, his eyes filled with high fighting spirit, his whole body radiating a blood-colored aura, as if three heads and six arms were emerging from around him.

The target of those five Innate Experts was very clear: it was Chen Mo.

He had the greatest strength, the highest official rank, and was the chief envoy; the state credentials were also carried on him, and only if he died could the peace talks be truly sabotaged.

If he did not die, even if all the others in the delegation were killed, it would not have much effect.

"There are experts attacking, take the state gifts, retreat!" Chen Mo ordered without hesitation.

Innate Experts were not Post-Heaven Martial Artists; the others in the delegation had no ability to block them at all, and staying here would only be throwing their lives away.

Even he himself prepared to flee.

As his voice fell, the many delegation members who had reacted all fled for their lives.

The state gifts on the carriages were merely a decoy; the real state gifts were carried on his person in a prepared Storage Bag.

In the blink of an eye, those five Innate Experts had reached within a hundred zhang of the delegation.

Chen Mo released his Inner Qi around his body, condensing it into armor; he did not activate the Array on the Beast-Faced Swallowing-Head Interlocking Armor.

Its weight of over a thousand catties was something his current physical body could naturally withstand, but it would affect his subsequent flight.

However, he immediately discovered something was wrong; four Innate Experts from the two Imperial Courts arrived before the delegation.

He himself was restrained by a force, but this force held no malice.

"Young man, you are the chief envoy, go first." Li Xuanxin said with a smile, transmitting his voice directly into his mind.

As the voice fell, Chen Mo only felt the scenery before his eyes changing in a rush, and in an instant, he was thrown dozens of li away.

He hurriedly exerted his vision to observe the scene in the distance.

The nine Innate Experts had already begun to clash, the sounds of Wind and thunder shaking the heavens and the earth.

However, the officials of the two countries were being sent away one after another; even if there were injuries, they should not be very great.

It was only a pity for those horses; the aftermath of the Innate Experts' clash was clearly not something they could withstand.

Chen Mo stood in the distance, observing cautiously; the momentum of the Innate Experts' clash was immense, and within a radius of over ten li, dust and smoke danced across the sky.

Deep pits were shaken into the ground one after another, and the surrounding grass and trees had long since been completely shattered, turning into powder.

The scenes before his eyes were merely the aftermath of the clash.

Upon reaching the Innate Realm, a Martial Artist's control over their own power could be called absolute perfection; the power of every strike was extremely condensed and would not dissipate.

That the aftermath alone could cause such damage to the world showed that it was no exaggeration to say an Innate Expert was an army unto themselves.

Chen Mo did not flee rapidly, but remained lurking at a safe distance, watching the battle from afar.

He could not be certain that there were no other Innate Experts from the Demonic Path or Alien Races lurking nearby.

Fleeing blindly at this time was not as good as finding a relatively safe place to hide, as the probability of being discovered would be lower.

Having observed from afar for nearly an hour, although the number of Innate Experts from the Demonic Path and Alien Races was greater, the Innate Experts of the two Imperial Courts were clearly stronger, so they firmly held the upper hand.

Not to mention, two more Innate Experts from the Great Li Imperial Court had rushed over to support during the battle.

"Booming!"

The sky was filled with surging dust and sand, covering the desolate land for over ten li.

An Innate Expert of the Demonic Path seized this opportunity and flew at high speed toward Chen Mo's direction.

Of course, his target was not Chen Mo; he was simply severely injured and needed to escape.

(End of chapter)