The Empress’s Gigolo

In actual fact, a crow general was a type of bird.

It was a large bird, entirely black in color, and had a crown of long feathers.

This kind of bird was generally between three to four meters tall, as fast as lightning, extremely powerful, had feathers like steel, and its two claws could rip metal apart.

Its weakness was its inability to fly due to its weight; it could only run and jump on the ground like a mountain-gazing bird.

It was said that there weren’t many of these strange beasts and that they were generally as powerful as an Earth Wheel expert. Only a handful of them were able to reach the level of a Spirit Wheel expert.

However, the bird that the empress encountered up in the mountain was stronger than a normal Spirit Wheel expert and relatively rare. It was especially fast, so fast that even the empress couldn’t catch up when it carried the huge snake away.

Ren Baqian listened with amazement as the empress briefly narrated the incident above and imagined the crow general as a jet-black mountain-gazing bird.

Where did these strange animals come from? When he was at Mount Wu previously, all the experts of Tianjing Basin seemed to have already appeared. Never had he expected to see three creatures at this time that weren’t human.

Lin Qiaole vehemently corrected the empress, “That wasn’t a huge snake, it was a Mangshang.” [1. Mangshan: a venomous pit viper species endemic to the provinces of Hunan and Guangdong in China]

“You know this?” Ren Baqian was even more amazed.

It was no exaggeration to say that Lin Qiaole would sleep after eating and eat after waking up.

After being picked up, she had stayed in the palace. Aside from following him on some trips, she had basically no contact with the outside world. It was really surprising for her to know about such a strange creature.

“Why is it called Mangshan? Is it because its head is as hard as iron ¹ ?” Ren Baqian felt that the name was rather interesting.

“Regardless, that is what it is called. The head is also hard and looks disgusting,” Lin Qiaole muttered. She didn’t know much more than this.

After seeing this huge snake, its name just popped into her mind.

“Roast it for a slightly longer period of time and add some wine or it will taste sour,” Lin Qiaole added.

Ren Baqian put the snake meat aside and called for Zuo Cheng and Qingyun Sword.

“At your service, Your Majesty!” The two cupped their hands to greet the empress and then nodded at Ren Baqian. “Sir Ren, what can we do for you?”

“Do the both of you know what happened on the mountainside a moment ago?” Ren Baqian asked.

“Some experts were fighting.” The two turned their eyes back to the empress.

“Do the two of you know of the crow general, the Mangshan, and the monkey with long reddish brown hair?” Ren Baqian asked. “General Xi and others encountered three strange creatures on the mountainside just now. They are stronger than ordinary Spirit Wheel experts and they shouldn’t be unheard of in Tianjing Basin.”

“Are there such things?” The two were surprised to learn that there were such strange creatures in Tianjing Basin.

“Sir Ren, please give us the details!”

As Ren Baqian described what the empress had told him about the three strange creatures, the two fell into deep thought.

“Have you two thought of anything?” Ren Baqian asked after seeing their expressions.

“That huge snake…”

“It isn’t a huge snake, it is a Mangshan!” Lin Qiaole groaned.

“Oh, that Mangshan should be a strange creature that they worship at the Six Doors. As for the other two creatures, I have never heard of them, but they should be related to the Six Doors too,” Qingyun Sword said calmly.

“What’s the background of the Six Doors?” This was the first time Ren Baqian had heard of this sect.

“With regard to its experts and martial arts, this sect isn’t exceptional—it has existed in the remote south all this time and seldomly interacts with outsiders. It’s rumored that the founder of the Six Doors received an unusual snake that has since been kept there after the founder died.”

“Although the Six Doors isn’t exceptional, they are very good at communicating with animals. It’s known as the Six Doors, but it should really be called the Six Beasts instead.

What people are concerned about are the elephant, monkey, and insect soldiers. Though they aren’t very powerful, they are hard to deal with, especially the poisonous insect soldiers which can kill their victims instantly.

The Protectorate of the South did try to absorb them initially, but was rejected.”

“Did the empress see anyone wearing clothes with a colorful crest?” Zuo Cheng asked.

The empress kept silent and acted as if she hadn’t heard anything.

When Ren Baqian saw her reaction, he knew that she had definitely been distracted at the time and hadn’t noticed such a person.

Otherwise, with her super retentive memory… well, he couldn’t speculate any further.

“Did you see such a person?” Ren Baqian asked Lin Qiaole.

“I only saw the Mangshan.” Lin Qiaole mumbled and then yawned, “I will get some sleep first. Call for me when the meat is cooked.”

She found a tent after she finished speaking and went inside to sleep.

Although Lin Qiaole and the empress didn’t see a person with a colorful crest as described by Zuo Cheng, Ren Baqian still believed that these creatures were related to the Six Doors.

There should be no other explanation for the monkey soldier with long, reddish brown hair and the Mangshan.

“Where is this sect located? What’s the estimated number of disciples and what else do you two know?”

“The sect is in the southwest, close to a steep mountain cliff. Little else is known because this sect is very low key and never interacts with outsiders. However, according to what I heard, they offer living people as sacred sacrifices. I once thought of getting rid of these evildoers for the sake of the people, but later gave up because of various reasons.

Living people are fed to the animals as sacrifice, especially to the huge snake! It must have eaten an innumerable amount of people after so many years,” Qingyun Sword said.

Ren Baqian was thinking that it was fortunate that Qingyun Sword hadn’t gone. Otherwise, he would have ended up in the stomach of the snake! It could be concluded from the accounts of the empress and Lin Qiaole that these strange creatures were pretty powerful and that Qingyun Sword was no match for any of them.

With bleary eyes, Lin Qiaole looked out from the tent and shouted, “It’s not a huge snake, it’s a Mangshan!”

“We know!” Ren Baqian waved his hands.

“Many thanks to the two of you for the information.” Ren Baqian gestured to convey his gratitude.

“No problem. We will take our leave.” The two cupped their hands and left.

After the two had left, the empress said, “These people that you retained are rather useful.”

Although she said it indifferently, Ren Baqian could hear a trace of approval in her words.

Even though it was just a glimmer of approval, it was already considered a significant improvement.

After the fight between the empress and many experts, the practitioners and soldiers had fled to another part of the mountainside. There was no one obstructing the winged cavalry warriors as they climbed up and threw away the pre-arranged rocks and logs of the other party.

The road was only four meters wide, and they could directly throw these things down by using slightly more strength without worrying about destroying the road.

Ren Baqian also sent a few baihu from the Rearguard Commandery to the mountainside to investigate.

In the evening, most of the winged cavalry warriors returned, while only a small portion of the baihu were left to guard the mountainside.

Over there, they had a clear view of the entire area, so there was no need to worry about a sneak attack.