508 Unearthed (2/2)

Once he had recovered his physical strength, the old man started to rant. Sometimes, the guards got sick of hearing it and walked far away. He continued speaking confidently anyway, saying, ”Chew the grass roots, eat the worms, and hide in the dark. Ah, I understand it now. I understand the real mystery.”

When Shangguan Ru heard the watch guards' reports, she felt remorseful. Not killing him, but letting him suffer a fate worse than death, seemed more cruel.

She decided to visit Old Man Mu.

Old Man Mu appeared changed. He looked smaller, like a wrinkled baby. His expression seemed clearer. He did not look proud of his martial arts skills, nor as if he had lost them. He looked like someone who had been through a lot and had finally achieved enlightenment.

”Good girl, I'm very happy to see you again,” he said, not seeming to be bothered by these ten days of imprisonment. He sounded calm and smiled faintly.

”Sorry I've hurt you, but I can't let you kill anyone,” said Shangguan Ru.

”I know. I kill people in your name. It's unreasonable, and it is self-deception. Every single drop of blood and every life that I've taken contributes to my own sin, and I will not pin that on anyone else,” he replied.

Shangguan Ru had seen Old Man Mu's skills of deception before. Hence, she would not believe his words now. ”This place is your home. I will not kill you. I will let people deliver food to you, but I won't free you from here,” she explained.

”I would like to stay here, good girl, as a form of repentance for my past actions,” Old Man Mu agreed.

Shangguan Ru left, still not believing his words.

The rumor of the Flower God died down after awhile, and few knew that Old Man Mu was alive again.

Shangguan Ru went to visit Old Man Mu occasionally. This was done in order to safeguard the secret and also to have conversations with him. She had no friends here -- the soldiers and slaves treated her like a high-ranking ruler and did not speak to her. Meanwhile, the nobility watched her carefully.

Old Man Mu was as talkative as before. Even if it was to put on show, he was a good performer, and they got along well. He even advised Shangguan Ru to teach some kung fu skills to the female slaves as the first step to building an army.

”The problem of the Land of Fragrance is that the slaves do not want to resist. It has been the culture of the slaves for the past hundred years, so it is deep-seated. But if we were to try to counter it by teaching them kung fu skills and giving them a sense of their own strength, we could stir defiance in them -- as long as they didn't train too hard and get off-track,” he said.

Shangguan Ru smiled but did not agree. However, two things that happened later caused her to consider Old Man Mu's proposal seriously.

The first thing involved a fight between two slave women. They grabbed, punched and kicked each other, fighting almost to the point of death.

The cause of the fight made Shangguan Ru blush -- they had actually been jealous of each other over a soldier.

The soldier was initially a swordsman under Tuo Nengya. Because he was old and his body frail, he stayed behind in the Land of Fragrance. Here, he became a ”ladies' man” and got into relationships with ten different women. However, he was not the only one, as most of the other soldiers also enjoyed the attention of the women.

Shangguan Ru was not a child anymore, but she could not understand such a thing. Old Man Mu had a wealth of life experience and could immediately diagnose the problem: ”Men need women, and women need men. It's natural. The people in the Land of Fragrance have too much free time, so this kind of thing is common here.”

Indeed, the Land of Fragrance was rich from its trade and the population was sparse. Most crops did not require too much attention, and the primary job of the slaves was to tend to the flowers and grasses. These were the goods that the country traded with the outside world, and they did not require much attention to care for.

Learning martial skills to kill time seemed like a good idea.

Then, a more pressing thing happened.

The Dragon King had brought hundreds of savages out of the big forest on the northwest side of the Land of Fragrance. Some of them had continued to follow him into the Western Region, while others had returned to the forest. Those who had returned home described the Land of Fragrance to be like a kingdom in heaven, encouraging the barbarian villagers to invade.

The nobility of the Land of Fragrance had once relied on playing tricks to keep barbarians from invading. This time, this strategy did not seem to be working.

Fortunately, the number of barbarians was low. The villages had very little contact with each other, as well. Dozens of these people came and targeted the food, lifestock and women as their plunder.

Relying only on a few hundred soldiers obviously could not stave off the savages in the forest. Shangguan Ru therefore decided to establish a women's army.

After all, women had a disadvantage in terms of their physical ability, and the Land of Fragrance did not have many troops or weapons. Shangguan Ru remembered the story of ”Liuhua the Silencer”. Bows and arrows seemed to be the best weapon for these physically weak female soldiers.

Shangguan Ru maintained correspondence with the Dragon King. Their exchanges were basically official, and even after the Dragon King's grand wedding, their connection had remained. Sometimes, it was just a word or a schedule, informing him that the supplies had arrived. The Dragon King's replies indicated that they had been received.

Naturally, the establishment of the women's army was communicated to the Dragon King in a letter.

Like the reactions of most of the people, Gu Shenwei did not value this army very much at first. He saw them as a plaything of Shangguan Ru, feeling that she just wanted to recover her status as the Tenth Young Master.

However, a month later, Gu Shenwei finally changed his attitude. He began encouraging Shangguan Ru to expand the women's army, even sending fifty savage guard troops skilled at the longbow to serve as instructors.

At that time, Gu Shenwei had not thought about a surprise attack on the seaside slope. He only thought that as long as he had a hidden reserve force (no matter how weak it was), it would come in handy sooner or later.

Shangguan Yun went to the Land of Fragrance to persuade his sister and found out this secret.