352 Set Ou (1/2)
Chapter 352: Set Out
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
The sentry at the border of the Stone Kingdom brought back bad news: The allied forces of the four kingdoms led by the Kang Kingdom were headed toward the capital with a total of 2000 troops.
The residents of Stone Kingdom had not yet recovered from the coup and were now made to live in fear of their kingdom's demise. The capital was never big to begin with, and it quickly became crowded with residents from the outer cities moving in.
The situation was very serious as Stone Kingdom only had less than 500 men in its standing army, some of them were even hired from Golden Roc Fort. Moreover, many of them deserted after Dragon King was announced as the prince consort, leaving less than 400 men in the army.
The bandits who had been subdued by Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus in the desert, along with a few others who had rushed over upon hearing the news, amounted to less than 200 men.
Taking into account the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain and the guards from the royal palace, the number of soldiers that Stone Kingdom could use barely reached 600 men.
The King was even more terrified than his own people and had completely lost all will to resist. All he ever did was to kneel in front of the ancestors' tablets, repenting from day to night, complaining about his bad luck and pushing all blame to others.
Zhong Heng personally took the royal seal from the King and began issuing orders to prepare the kingdom's defenses.
Gu Shenwei gathered the three members of the Shangguan family and told them what he thought, ”I am returning to Jade City to save the Great Snowmountain troops. At the same time, I want to prove that the children of Supreme King did not die in my hands.”
All of them remained impassive. Gu Shenwei paused before continuing, ”You have two choices. One, stay at Stone Kingdom and wait for the news to leak, the killers will come knocking at your the door. Or two, come with me.”
Shangguan Ru was the first to speak. She had been lukewarm towards him ever since they had met again. Her tone was businesslike and impersonal as if it was a formal negotiation. ”You are going to use us to disgrace Supreme King and make Golden Roc Fort lose moral support.”
She referred to him as ”Supreme King” rather than ”father”. This was a good sign for Gu Shenwei, so he admitted frankly, ”That's right. That is why I won't kill you. You are still of use here.”
Shangguan Ru did not utter another word and kept her gaze down as if everything was insignificant to her.
Shangguan Fei secretly sighed with relief. He was safe as long as he could still be useful to others. He said, ”I will come with you. However, you need to protect... us.”
He had thought it through and realized that Stone Kingdom's capital was currently in peril, therefore it was better to go with Dragon King rather than stay here.
hangguan Hong did not think for very long as he was only preoccupied with one thing, ”I can come with you but... the two of them need to promise that they will not assassinate me.”
”I won't.” Shangguan Fei said, gritting his teeth.
Shangguan Hong immediately realized that there was a loophole in his words, so he added, ”You cannot kill me in the open either, and you have to promise that you won't try to kill me in any way.”
”I promise.” Shangguan Fei squeezed out these words from his throat, but his gaze was void of tolerance.
Shangguan Hong was more than familiar with the credibility of these ”promises” made by the Shangguan family, but it was all he could ask for. Either way, he made up his mind to stay with Dragon King at all times from now on.
Everyone's eyes rested on Shangguan Ru as she still had not made a clear decision.
”I will leave the Stone Kingdom with you, but not necessarily back to Jade City.”
She did not know where she really wanted to go. Stone Castle was no longer her home, and Jade City disgusted her, but Stone Kingdom was a foreign land to her, she had nowhere else to go.
It was settled then.
Gu Shenwei decided to leave that night. Lin Xiaoshan and over 20 swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain would remain in the Stone Kingdom and act as Prime Minister Zhong Heng's bodyguards. The 200 bandits who had been forced into submission were also handed over to him. In this way, he would possess an independent army and this could help drive Stone Kingdom's troops to fight.
Xu Yanwei, Guan Shang and Jiang remained with the Princess at the royal palace.
Gu Shenwei brought along Maid Lotus, the three Shangguan siblings and five bandits including He Sancai. He put together 10 people and prepared 20 steeds.
Xu Yanwei came to send them off. Seeing Miss Ru and Dragon King together again made her very happy. At the same time, she did not forget about the Princess in the palace. To her, it was normal for Dragon King to have many wives and concubines.
”You should visit the Princess before you leave, Dragon King. You are the prince consort now, but you haven't even met her once.”
”We'll talk about it when I'm back.” Gu Shenwei replied. He was not in the mood to see the Princess and had in fact, almost forgotten about her.
Xu Yanwei sighed silently. She felt that the women who were involved with Dragon King would never be happy, and she was fortunate that she had not slept with him at that time.
At dusk, Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus went to Nengjue Temple to pay respects to Master Fayan as promised.
The monks from the Four Truths Temple were all packed up and ready to leave the kingdom the next morning. They would return by the original route since they would not have to worry about traps.
Fayan promised that he would explain the truth to the chief of the Four Truths Temple. ”Old monk is grateful that Dragon King did not start a killing frenzy in the Stone Kingdom. Please accept my humble gift.”
Each of them received a small package wrapped in cloth. Once they left the temple, they unwrapped the cloth to find a booklet inside.