Chapter 182: Ling Ji’s Medical Skills

"Your Majesty... *whimper*... I can’t bear to leave you."

Xie Liuzheng was returning to the Capital City, but Xiao Yang wasn’t going back just yet. Xie Liuzheng clung to her, unwilling to part.

Xiao Yang was speechless. "We’ve already come ten li. If you don’t leave now, I might as well escort you all the way back myself."

As much as Xie Liuzheng wanted that, she wasn’t one to cause a scene. She could only sigh. "Then I will wait for Your Majesty in the Capital City."

Xie Liuzheng boarded her carriage. Xiao Yang had arranged for three hundred guards, led by Xiao Cheng, to escort her back.

Only after Xie Liuzheng’s carriage had traveled some distance did Xiao Yang leisurely mount her horse.

It wasn’t far from here to Luoyan City. She had only a hundred guards with her, along with Xiao Lan and Ling Ji.

She turned her horse around, about to head back, when a surprise contingent of soldiers suddenly charged out from a valley.

Judging by their uniforms, they were Da Wei soldiers. But their leader, a man with sharp, hawk-like eyes and deep-set features, was none other than Jin Zeyu.

The Beimeng King had appeared south of Luoyan City, well within Da Wei’s borders.

Jin Zeyu had about a hundred men with him, but then another two hundred or so appeared from behind, completely surrounding Xiao Yang’s party of one hundred.

Confident that Xiao Yang had no way to escape, Jin Zeyu slowly took two steps forward, his gaze locked on her.

Today, Xiao Yang was dressed in red, but unlike the ethereal, gentle styles women usually favored, her attire was made of cloud brocade with Kesi silk dragon patterns. It was magnificent and regal.

It made her look both beautiful and alluring.

"Empress, we meet again."

Jin Zeyu’s gaze was locked on Xiao Yang, a hint of cruel amusement in his cold eyes, like a predator watching prey caught in a trap.

In contrast to his keen interest, Xiao Yang felt as disgusted as if she had just swallowed a fly.

It was because of his gaze—the kind driven by pure lust, the gaze of a beast.

She saw him as an enemy, a rival, but he seemed to see her as nothing more than a woman to be conquered.

Her eyes swept over their uniforms. "The Beimeng King, dressed in the clothes of my Da Wei... are you here to bow and declare yourself my subject?"

Jin Zeyu laughed, a wicked and roguish sound. "I only serve as one kind of subject: a subject to a beautiful woman’s skirt."

"You have nowhere to run now. If you surrender obediently, Empress, I will be sure to treat you gently."

The soldiers behind him broke into boisterous laughter. Their gazes fell upon Xiao Yang not with the reverence due to the monarch of an enemy nation, but with lewd appraisal.

Xiao Lan’s face was livid with rage. He gripped his reins so tightly his knuckles were white, barely restraining the urge to charge forward and slaughter the man.

Xiao Yang showed little reaction. ’Just a dog barking,’ she thought, looking at him coolly. "You’ve only been the Beimeng King for a few days. Aren’t you afraid your nation will be destroyed at your hands?"

Jin Zeyu sneered. "After I marry the Empress, we can even change Beimeng’s name to something you like. It wouldn’t be out of the question."

’The moment he opens his mouth, he spouts the absurdities of a fatuous ruler.’

Xiao Yang raised an eyebrow. "So, you came all this way just for me, not for Da Wei?"

Jin Zeyu said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Once I marry you, won’t Da Wei be mine for the taking?"

Hearing this, Xiao Yang lifted her chin and clicked her tongue. "Tsk. To this day, you’re the first person who’s dared to think such a thing, let alone say it. I admire your courage."

She regarded him with cold, thin eyes, paying his provocation no mind, with the detached calm of someone watching a dead man’s final dance. "Before I left today, I made a bet with Mu Yunlian. I’ve won. And you... you are my prize."

The moment Xiao Yang finished speaking, iron plates shot up from the dusty ground, sectioning them off from Jin Zeyu’s forces in front and behind. Then... BOOM!

An explosion like the thunder of armageddon rocked the very earth with a violent tremor.

The violent blast was deafening. Fortunately, her side had been prepared and had plugged their ears, but the Beimeng people weren’t so lucky.

After the explosion, the air filled with an unending chorus of blood-curdling screams.

"Aaaah... what happened?"

"My ears! My eyes...!"

"My leg! Where’s my leg?"

"The King! Where is the King?"

Xiao Lan was the first to lead his men out, killing on sight and finishing off any who had survived the blast.

’How dare you harass Her Majesty! Die, all of you!’

After some time, the iron plates slowly lowered, revealing a dozen large, deep craters. The ground was littered with severed limbs, the soil soaked and mixed with blood.

’Explosions are an art form, but clearly, my artistic talent isn’t up to much.’

’The improved gunpowder was astonishingly powerful. It had wiped out five thousand Xirong soldiers in an instant. With Jin Zeyu only bringing three hundred men, killing him should have been a piece of cake.’

But Jin Zeyu, it seemed, had some luck on his side after all.

He and his horse had been thrown by the blast, but he was only knocked unconscious. Perhaps because he’d been at the very front, he hadn’t even lost an arm or a leg.

’Bad review!’

Xiao Yang glanced at Ling Ji. "Is there a way to make him mute?"

Jin Zeyu might have to live for a while longer, but Xiao Yang had no desire to ever hear him speak again.

Ling Ji’s gaze was resolute. "There is."

Xiao Yang knew Ling Ji had some medical skills. ’Maybe she’ll do that thing you see in plays,’ she wondered, ’and use acupuncture needles to make him mute? Or maybe some kind of poison?’

She watched Ling Ji’s movements with curiosity. Ling Ji walked over to Jin Zeyu, bent down, grabbed his jaw, and forced his mouth open.

’Looks like she’s going to feed him the poison... Huh?!’

Xiao Yang’s breath caught. Ling Ji had taken out a dagger, and with a swift slice, used the tip of the blade to pry out a piece of flesh.

She expressionlessly flicked the piece of flesh onto the ground, then picked up a vial of medicine and poured the contents directly into the wound.

The sheer agony jolted Jin Zeyu awake, and he began to thrash desperately on the ground.

Jin Zeyu was bound, so he could only writhe in agony for a few moments before passing out again. Ling Ji stared at him, then, while she was at it, severed the tendons in his wrists before applying medicine and bandages.

Xiao Yang, who had watched the entire process: "..."

’Suddenly, I feel like a beacon of kindness.’

Xiao Yang: ’...Well, at least Ling Ji’s medical skills finally came in handy.’

Xiao Lan finished checking the area. After confirming there were no survivors and that no one had escaped, he returned to Xiao Yang’s side.

Xiao Yang pointed at Jin Zeyu on the ground. "Take him back to Li Wei. Don’t let him die."

"Yes."

After acknowledging the order, Xiao Lan went to take a look. He had wanted to teach Jin Zeyu a lesson himself, but seeing his current state, he was afraid he might kill him by accident.

"This is what you get for lusting after Her Majesty! This is what you get for running your mouth! Serves you right!"

Jin Zeyu had been quiet in Wumu City for a while, making Xiao Yang suspect he was either brewing some conspiracy or had already infiltrated Da Wei.

He certainly couldn’t have entered through Fengxue Pass, but Fengxue Pass wasn’t the only place where Beimeng and Da Wei shared a border. Further north was the province of Liangzhou.

The journey was long, but if Jin Zeyu took a detour through Liangzhou, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to get in. The route just wouldn’t be an easy one.

Mu Yunlian agreed with her theory, but the two of them had different ideas about who would actually make the trip.

Mu Yunlian believed Jin Zeyu would surely send a trusted subordinate. He had even analyzed the few he was familiar with, trying to deduce who Jin Zeyu was most likely to dispatch.

Xiao Yang, on the other hand, thought Jin Zeyu might come himself. After all, from Jin Zeyu’s perspective, Mu Yunlian was a traitor, and he might want to come and deal with the turncoat personally.

As they discussed it, they casually made a bet on whether Jin Zeyu would send someone or come himself.

Xiao Yang really was seeing Xie Liuzheng off, but she was also genuinely fishing for a much larger catch.

In a ten-li radius around Luoyan City, she had her people lay traps and plant explosives in every location suitable for an ambush.

They were originally meant to prevent a sneak attack from Marquis Wucheng, but she never expected to catch a big fish like Jin Zeyu instead.