Chapter 638 - Change

The charred Li Huowang stared deeply at You Zixiong, listening to the latter's recount.

It turned out You Zixiong was from the military of Si Qi, and he became like floating duckweed after Si Qi's destruction. He had nowhere to go, so he decided to settle down in the Liang Kingdom.

As for his relationship with the Benevolent Nunnery...

Li Huowang asked, and You Zixiong replied that he met the nuns from the Benevolent Nunnery halfway through his journey to the Liang Kingdom.

The front liners needed their salary, so You Zixiong used his own sword as collateral to exchange for silver from the nuns.

The silver that the Nuns were transporting at the time was the same silver that Li Huowang had looted from the water bandits in the reed field.

Back then, he had used that money to exchange for a method to deal with Dan Yangzi from Abbess Jingxin.

The Abbess then used the silver to exchange for You Zixiong’s sword before gifting it to Li Huowang as a present so that he could defend himself.

With that, the loop was closed as if fate itself had willed it.

As Li Huowang listened to You Zixiong’s explanation, a distant memory surfaced in his mind. He felt a complicated feeling bubbling from the depths of his heart.

After a while, Li Huowang stared at the silent You Zixiong and asked, “Then... do you know how the nuns died?”

You Zixiong shook his head and replied, “After exchanging the Tai’a Sword for silver, I returned to camp, and I couldn't get out for a long time. I have no idea what happened afterward. After the Natural Disaster, we fought again with Hou Shu, and then...”

You Zixiong's expression distorted in agony as he said, “Si Qi perished... I wanted to die and drag a few more enemies down with me, but the Chief of the Surveillance Bureau said that it’s better for us to retreat and reclaim the nation back day. He took us and several other survivors to the Liang Kingdom.”

“Hou Shu's army is that strong? I didn't expect them to capture Si Qi.”

“Bullshit!” You Zixiong was furious. “It's the fault of those corrupted officials! They embezzled everything! They gave us no food and money! They're a bunch of useless leeches! We had nothing to fight against the barbarians from Hou Shu! And they even dared to work with the eunuchs from the palace to sell off the entire nation to the Dharma Sect!”

“What?!” Li Huowang’s pupil shrank at the remark. “What did you just say? The Dharma Sect is the reason behind the Si Qi Kingdom's fall?”

“Of course! Do you really think that Hou Shu’s army can breach our borders? Even without food and money, they'd never be able to enter the kingdom as long as a member of the You Family is still alive!” You Zixiong roared. Then, he took a deep breath and sighed deeply. “If Hou Shu actually had the power to capture Si Qi, then we would have been more than happy to admit defeat. However, I cannot accept the fact that the Dharma Sect has reaped all the profits from behind the scenes while we were busy fighting at the border!”

The jingling of chains echoed as You Zixiong’s modaos flew up high in the air. The four modaos descended and chopped the corpse of a Dharma Sect member into pieces.

“Wait, give me a moment to think.” Li Huowang pondered seriously over something before asking, “I need to confirm something. Did Si Qi really lose to the Dharma Sect? Does that mean they control the entire Si Qi now?”

“Of course. If it’s just a regular takeover by another nation, the Chief wouldn’t have to bring us all the way to the Liang Kingdom.”

Li Huowang was shocked to learn that the Dharma Sect was an even bigger issue than he thought.

Gao Zhijian had become the Emperor of the Great Liang, so Li Huowang could ask for the military and the Surveillance Bureau's help to eradicate the Dharma Sect.

With that in mind, he believed that the Dharma Sect's destruction was just a matter of time and that it wouldn't escalate into an all-out war.

However, the news of how Si Qi was taken down by the Dharma Sect shocked Li Huowang.

They were talking about the Dharma Sect here—the sect capable of transforming regular people into an army of fearless zealots!

The citizens of Si Qi were definitely members of the Dharma Sect by now.

The scenes that Li Huowang had seen in the Qi Kingdom made him realize that the Dharma Sect was indeed a formidable sect.

Li Huowang felt like a heavy boulder was on his shoulder.

Since the Dharma Sect had already taken over Si Qi, it was only a matter of time before they expanded their territory.

Afterward, they would definitely attack Hou Shu next. Then, Qing Qiu would come afterward.

Once the Dharma Sect had taken over Qing Qiu, then the Liang Kingdom would have to face a terrifying foe.

Li Huowang didn’t bother chasing after the Xu Nian and simply left the cave instead.

The large-framed bearded man turned to You Zixiong and said, “You should have been a bit more humble. That man has a nasty personality.”

“You think I fear death? You know that I should have died at the border!” You Zixiong exclaimed. He felt defeated as he walked out of the cave. “Si Qi has fallen. Why am I still alive? I'm living like a rat just so I can slaughter Dharma Sect!”

***

A wheel covered in steel slowly rolled down the road. Yang Xiaohai looked around the numerous footprints on the ground.

“My goodness. Why are there so many soldiers running here and there? Are they going to war?”

“Husband, what are you talking about? Why would we go to war for no reason?”

Yang Xiaohai ignored the footprints and focused on driving the carriage at the response from the inside. From time to time, he'd take out a map to confirm their current location.

“Xiumei, how much food do we have left? We're almost at Qing Qiu. There are very few people around there, so it would be hard for us to buy rations,” Yang Xiaohai asked his wife.

“We still have a few hundred taels of food left. It should be enough to last us weeks. Wait, what are we eating later?”

Zhao Xiumei felt that she had made the right decision by marrying a chef. They were camping outside, but Yang Xiaohai could still cook a variety of dishes for them to eat.

“I wonder what we're going to eat...” Yang Xiaohai pondered, and that was when he saw a food stall in the form of a tent in the distance. He read the sign and answered, “Let’s eat some spicy wontons.”

Yang Xiaohai stopped the carriage and entered the tent. The majority of the seats were occupied, so he quickly pulled his wife to one of the few remaining seats and said, “Boss, give us a serving of spicy wontons, but split the serving into two bowls.”

“All right! Go ahead and take a seat. Your food will be served soon!”

It was a good thing that they were still quite near to civilization.

Yang Xiaohai looked around and saw some peddlers, a scholar, and a monkey trainer with three monkeys.

The three chained monkeys were licking the spicy red oil on the ground.

The customers ate voraciously as the fragrant scent of spicy oil filled the tent.

Yang Xiaohai and Zhao Xiumei gulped as they were starting to get hungry.