Chapter 1026: Huh? Where Did My Pearl Go?

Hmm? Why did they run away?

It was at this moment Du Nanhai noticed something strange. Instead of taking advantage of his weakness and mounting a greater assault, his ambusher had run off to the distance. It made no sense. There was no way they waited so long just to give him a scare, right?

Wait. Where’s my Calm Mind Pearl?

Suddenly, Du Nanhai discovered that his Calm Mind Pearl was nowhere to be found.

The Calm Mind Pearl! That is what he was aiming for! He took my Calm Mind Pearl!

Du Nanhai’s eyes widened like saucers when realization struck him like a lightning bolt.

The reason he did not notice the theft immediately was because of two reasons. One, his mind was a little sluggish after his yang god took a serious blow just now. Two, he had nurtured the Calm Mind Pearl for many years and so had formed a connection with it. Logically speaking, he should have sensed the theft as soon as it happened, but strangely, he couldn’t feel the Calm Mind Pearl’s presence from the thief’s person. That was why he did not notice until the thief was already far away.

“Bastard! Stop, thief!”

Du Nanhai wasted no more time thinking. He gave chase while attempting to contact the Calm Mind Pearl with his thought and retrieve it.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Unfortunately, it was as if the spiritual connection between himself and the Calm Mind Pearl was severed. No matter how hard he tried, he just could not perceive its presence.

Worse, the Xun Armor and the Zhen Armor blocked his path as soon as he made a move.

Du Nanhai roared his fury again and again, but he just could not break free fromthe Xun Armor and the Zhen Armor no matter what he tried. He could only watch as the thief slipped further and further away.

“General, we have come to assist you!”

It was only now Tijian, Podao, Chenglang, and Wufeng finally showed up.

“Useless! The four of you couldn’t even keep one Zhen Armor at bay?!” Du Nanhai couldn’t stop himself from yelling at his subordinates.

It wasn’t completely unreasonable. If the Zhen Armor hadn’t appeared out of nowhere and caught him by surprise, there was no way the thief could have stolen his Calm Mind Pearl.

“We apologize for our failure,” the four subordinates hurriedly apologized. They did not know why they were being yelled at, but arguing against the general at this time could only be pure folly.

To be honest, they didn’t know why the Zhen Armor had suddenly appeared here either. Up until a moment ago, they were fighting against Zhen Armor at a disadvantage. In fact, they had been at a disadvantage throughout the fight. In fact, the Zhen Armor could have killed at least two of them during their final clash. Instead, it disappeared in a flash of lightning.

At the time they did not understand why the Zhen Armor had let go of such a golden opportunity, but now they realized it was because of Zhen Nanhai.

“I leave them to you. Keep them busy no matter the cost.”

Now that four Truemen had joined the battle, Du Nanhai’s pressure immediately decreased drastically. After issuing the order, he immediately extracted himself from the battlefield before chasing after Ye Qing.

The four Trueman still did not know why Du Nanhai was reacting like this. They also knew very well that they could not handle even one Divine Armor, much less two of them. Du Nanhai was basically asking them to die for him. Still, they were soldiers, so they did not hesitate for even a moment to attack the Xun Armor and the Zhen Armor and buy time.

“Where did they go?!”

At first, Du Nanhai could still perceive Ye Qing’s presence. However, after chasing after Ye Qing for a couple kilometers or so, the trail came to an abrupt end, and Du Nanhai found that he could no longer sense Ye Qing anywhere.

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!”

After searching for a long time and failing to find Ye Qing, Du Nanhai finally let out an earthshaking roar and unleashed a terrifying flood of astral qi. It swept everything within three hundred meters of him, breaking trees like twigs and shattering mountains into pieces.

After venting for a bit, Du Nanhai turned around and flew back to his army. The Xun Armor and Zhen Armor were still around, and there was no way Tijian, Podao, Chenglang and Wufeng could hold their own against them. If the Xun Armor and the Zhen Armor attacked the rest of his army during this time, then the Wildland Suppression Army would be even more devastated than it already was. He had already lost the Calm Mind Pearl, it would be a complete loss if his army took massive damage as well.

That was why he had to go back no matter how reluctant he felt.

It took Du Nanhai only a dozen or so breaths to make it back to the Wildland Suppression Army. The first thing he saw after his return was Tijian and Chengfeng’s body. Polang and Wufeng were grievously wounded as well.

His face darkening, Du Nanhai paid no attention to the two men on the ground and hurried toward the direction of the Wildland Suppression Army.

The good news was that when he arrived, he discovered that the Xun Armor and Zhen Armor weren’t laying havoc to his army. The Wildland Suppression Army had safely evacuated from the river valley as well.

He could not sense the Xun Armor or Zhen Armor anywhere. They had clearly left.

“General!”

Du Yicheng hurried over to his father’s side after seeing him.

“Give me a casualty report,” Du Nanhai ordered.

“Our dead number seven hundred and eighty or so, and our injured two thousand and five hundred...” Du Yicheng reported with a heavy heart.

It might look like they had only lost three thousand people or so, but this was a huge loss for the Wildland Suppression Army. He hadn’t even accounted for the Black Winds they were forced to leave behind in the river valley yet.

Du Nanhai did not say anything, though the twitching vein on his forehead and his clenched fists showed just how angry he really was.

“Chaoying, command the men to set up camp and take care of the wounded and the Black Winds...”

“At once!”

“Yicheng, reorganize the troops.”

“At once!”

After he was done issuing orders, Du Nanhai glared in the direction of the Nanjiang Royal Court with great anger and even greater doubt.

It was clear that the Meng Clan remnants had dispatched the Divine Armors not to defeat the Wildland Suppression Army, but to delay them. But why? What on earth were they plotting?

Suddenly, Du Nanhai recalled the Nanjiang Royal Court’s unique power. Specifically, he was recalling the fact that the Nanjiang Royal Court could shift away during a full moon.

Are they planning to escape using the Nanjiang Royal Court?!

Du Nanhai blanched when he realized this. He immediately issued new orders, “Chaoying, select a hundred men to stay behind and take care of the wounded and the Black Winds.”

“Yicheng, round up everyone else. There is no time to lose. We’re departing for the Nanjiang Royal Court as soon as possible!”

“Did something happen, general?” Du Yicheng asked with puzzlement.

“Less talking, more action!” Du Nanhai barked.

“At once!”

Du Yicheng stopped talking and transmitted the orders. A dozen or so breaths later, their remaining seventy thousand troops immediately departed for the Nanjiang Royal Court post haste.

Du Nanhai wasn’t the only intelligent man in the army. Kui Pingshan and Jin Wujiu had arrived at the same conclusion as well. Once they had recovered their wits, they all rushed toward the Nanjiang Royal Court post haste.

......

“You’re back, Joyless.”

On the Nanjiang Royal Court’s city gate tower, Feng Qingyou greeted the returned Ye Qing with a blooming smile on her face.

“Mm. I’m back!” Ye Qing too cracked a smile when he saw that Feng Qingyou was safe and sound.

For a time, neither of them said a word. They simply watched each other quietly.

“You’re back.” “I’m back.” And all was well in this world.

A while later, Feng Qingyou finally broke the silence. “So, what took you so long?”

“Ah. It’s to steal something precious.” Ye Qing lifted an eyebrow and answered with a slightly boastful tone.

“Is it the Calm Mind Pearl?” Feng Qingyou asked.

“Yep!” Ye Qing grinned widely.

“That’s so you, Joyless!” Feng Qingyou shook her head smilingly.

“It’s ripe for the taking, so why not?”

Ye Qing shrugged. “Besides, Du Nanhai destroyed the Gen Armor. I think it’s reasonable for him to compensate my loss with his Calm Mind Pearl.”

“Speaking of which, how many Divine Armors did you lose, Qingyou?”

“Two. The Li Armor and the Dui Armor!”

Feng Qingyou answered. “They were destroyed by the King Slayer Saber.”

“Right. I felt its killing intent. It was quite terrifying.” Ye Qing instinctively shivered when he recalled the terrifying killing intent from earlier.

“How can it not? The Innate Unbounded Killing Intent can kill anything and everything.” Feng Qingyou also sighed wistfully.

“We’ve lost three of the Eight Divine Armors, and the three armies should’ve realized at this point that we’re just buying time. They’re going to show up very soon. What do we do now?” Ye Qing asked.

“Nothing. All you need to do now is to sit tight and watch.”

Feng Qingyou replied enigmatically, “You have my word that it’ll be a good show.”