The shadows, of course, were the shadow guards and spies of the emissaries from the Shi and Zhao kingdoms.
Ever since their cooperative partner, the Empress Dowager, had unexpectedly and suspiciously departed from this world, the emissaries felt wary. Thus, they did not allow their daughters to leave their temporary residences and sent out spies to gather information on the current Emperor of Hua's plans and intentions for the future.
When they received the news that the arrogant young Emperor wanted to conquer and unite all of the kingdoms under the Heavens, they were furious at the sheer audacity of Hua! At the same time, they couldn't help but feel apprehensive. After all, if it were just the new regime of the Hua kingdom, the two kingdoms would still be able to cope with the situation quite easily.
However, that very same Emperor had recently taken in the princess of Li as his Empress! This meant that the militaristic Hua kingdom was not the only one they had to defend against! If anything, both Hua and Li had more than enough power to destroy the trade and art-oriented kingdoms in no time!
This was the conclusion that both the Navy commander from Zhao, Lu Jun and Shi's prime minister, Fen Ming, had come to after receiving the message from their respective forces.
After sending their respective messengers back to their home kingdoms to warn their rulers, the two ambassadors had tacitly agreed to meet up in order to discuss countermeasures for the oncoming war of conquest. As their residences were arranged to be relatively near the other, it didn't take much effort to gather in Lu Jun's manor. After all, Lu Jun was a Navy commander, so his room had a standard map of the continent that was distributed to the Zhao kingdom's army.
Since their talks would be over countermeasures, then a map was a necessary visual. If they could, both of the men would have preferred to have returned along with their daughters to their kingdoms to personally alert their people. However, it didn't take a genius to know that their every movement were being watched. In fact, they weren't even confident that their messengers would be able to finish the job.
Their uncertainties were within reason. Hua Shen and Li Feifei were not fools nor were they planning to draw out this main mission of theirs. The moment the ambassadors' messengers stepped foot outside of the gates of Hua, they were immediately disposed of and replaced by Hua Shen's men.
They were instructed to mislead the two kingdoms by telling them that Hua would be sending important persons as ambassadors to the Zhao kingdom, while Li would send some to Shi in order to express their "equity" since the former two had already extended their hands to Hua.
At the same time, Li Feifei was responsible for sending one of her maidservants back to Li to let Li Yun take care of their side's part of the scheme. Truthfully, Li Yun did not have to send anyone, since Long Zheng had taken up the role of Li's important ambassador at the enthusiastic recommendation by Hua Shen.
Hua Shen had even offered the aid of his three generals, as he and his baby were enough to take care of a measly Zhao kingdom. The only things they had to be careful of were possible hosts that had transmigrated into the other two kingdoms.
As this world was a Level 3 World, only veterans or exceptional hosts would be roaming these lands alongside them, if any. Therefore, it was too risky to rely on the original residents to conquer the kingdoms, even if those kingdoms were not battle-oriented. That was the power of hosts—the power to reverse the tides at any moment they could.
Of course, there was a higher chance that Li Feifei and Hua Shen were the only hosts in this world since the total number of remaining hosts in the competition was only a little over seventy. However, it was always better to minimize losses, so both of them wanted to be prepared to strike both countries with no room for retreat and struggle.
That was why they entrusted Zero to take care of Shi alongside the four generals.
Hua Shen did not give Zero any room for argument, "If you can't even do this much, then you aren't worthy of being the current number one system."
In fact, that Zero was able to rise to the top was entirely due to Hua Shen's own ability, so Hua Shen's mocking remark was not wrong.
Zero wanted to cry but had no tears. It was just that his host was too powerful, overshadowing his greatness! He also wanted to be the light bulb during his host and sister-in-law's honeymoon, but he didn't want to be looked down on by his host for being incompetent ah! If only he could split his body into two...
As for other solutions to ensure victory, even if Li Feifei and Hua Shen were unbridled and unscrupulous, they didn't plan to baby the Li and Hua kingdoms by introducing futuristic inventions. That not only required too much work and explanation but also tended to never end well.
The only people Li Feifei was concerned about were the Li family since her side mission called for their survival. Other than that, no matter what came their way, she didn't think it would be very hard to deal with Zhao and Shi.
Regarding Long Zheng...Li Feifei was honestly at a loss. It was clear that the man himself had no romantic bone in his body so the feat of making him fall in love, in general, was already proving to be extremely irritating, much less making him fall in love with herself! There was also the big stumbling block known as Hua Shen, that devil.
Clearly, he wanted to separate Long Zheng and herself as much as possible. She reckoned that even if he knew that courting that young general was one of her side tasks, he wouldn't budge from his stance. Instead, he'd probably try his best to compensate her in any other way whilst begging her to let those 1500 points go down the drain.
Li Feifei was not resigned to her fate! She would definitely find a way to court that man no matter what! She did not care about Hua Shen's hindering actions. What concerned her more was Long Zheng's mindset...
Thankfully, before Long Zheng had departed for Shi, he didn't forget to stop by to bid his farewell to her. Hua Shen was supervising this visit, of course. But what could he do against his wife's unfiltered mouth and enrapturing beauty?
When Long Zheng was about to leave the palace hall after having been glared at for the entire day, Hua Shen couldn't even stop Li Feifei before she already smiled so brightly that he could swear he'd seen sparkles and blooming roses.
With her silky voice, she sincerely wished Long Zheng luck with a hint of playful provocation, "Come back victorious. Let's meet again in the—mmmphh..."
Hua Shen begrudgingly pulled Li Feifei onto his body on the large golden dragon throne and smashed his lips onto her own naughty pair to stop her from giving that man ideas he shouldn't have. He bit down on her flesh as he threw his tantrum but soon felt apologetic since he knew he was being unreasonable.
But! How could he just sit back and watch his wife seduce another man right in front of his face! More importantly, she almost never smiled at him like that! And that sultry voice! Hua Shen only felt wronged at the difference in treatment.
It was even worse because her efforts were falling on deaf ears and blind eyes, and Hua Shen knew it very well. He knew that Long Zheng had OD'd on their dog food and sparring matches and no longer considered them as on the same level. How could Li Feifei be so blind?
But she was cute, so Hua Shen couldn't bear to enlighten her. At the same time, he could only bite a handkerchief helplessly since she continued trying to woo the man as a result of his not wanting to tell her ah...
Long Zheng had long gotten used to this couple's antics after so much exposure. He found the sly and playful Li Feifei endearing and amusing, and the Li Feifei who disregarded the overbearing Hua Shen even more so.
He knew that he could never beat Hua Shen in this lifetime, so if Hua Shen couldn't tame Li Feifei, how could he hope to do so? At first, Li Feifei seemed to be the perfect trophy; she was powerful, cunning, beautiful, and unbridled. Furthermore and embarrassingly, he was no match for her swordsmanship.
The past week in Hua had only shown him that Li Feifei was unattainable to himself. In fact, Hua Shen and Li Feifei were in a realm of their own, and it was extremely hard to get in between them. Even if Hua Shen did not exist, Long Zheng did not think he would be able to get close to Li Feifei as a lover.
Perhaps, no, he knew that a future with Li Feifei was impossible. She wasn't meant to be caged up and domesticated, and Long Zheng as an ancient man and stalwart general knew of no other way to treat a woman. However, when he thought of fighting alongside such a woman, he didn't feel that it was a bad idea.
It would be great if they could meet on the battlefield, fighting on the same side and attaining victory together as comrades.
With those feelings, Long Zheng left the flirting couple with an anticipative smile on his handsome face.
Li Feifei was completely unaware that her valiant figure was simply too blinding to the mortals of this world...fortunately, the side task was eventually completed since she became the most important woman in Long Zheng's heart. She also set his standards for his future wife. Her efforts were not in vain!
But that was a story for another day...
Anyway, despite the officials and generals' protests toward the Imperial Couple departing on their own for the naval Zhao kingdom, they sneakily left in the middle of the night like two thieves running away after a great heist.
The loud thumping hooves of Hua Shen's large black steed echoed throughout the empty streets of Hua under the moonlight and countless stars. Not a soul could be seen, as Hua Tishen's efforts to keep the economy at an all-time boom seemed to be paying off with the lack of beggars and orphans on the streets.
Li Feifei sat in front of Hua Shen as always, enjoying the view and the cool night breeze.
"Shen," she suddenly called out.
"Mm?" Hua Shen lowered his head so that his chin rested atop her head full of long, flowing black hair.
"I miss our little darling."
Sometimes, Li Feifei even hoped that they could prolong the upcoming war between the four kingdoms so that she could pass the time more quickly. But, she knew that even if they did so, her mind would still drift back to her baby. Furthermore, the longest it'd take them to complete the main mission even if they wanted to draw it out would only add up to half a year at most. Three years had never felt so long for her.
Tightening his arms around his wife's body, Hua Shen slowed his stallion down to a slow trot as they were already a distance from the gates of Hua.
He brought his thin lips to kiss the side of her head, consoling her lowly, "I'm here for you."
I will make sure you won't have the mind to think about that brat.
Hua Shen had three years with his wife to himself, why wouldn't he be happy? During these three years, he'd make sure she would never feel bored or wronged. Most importantly, he'd show his sincerity in his desire to spend eternity and beyond with her.
With Hua Shen's reassurance, Li Feifei's heart could finally rest easy. After all, was he not the most reliable person to turn to if one wanted to run from boredom? Li Feifei shelved her worries and relaxed her back onto her devil's solid chest, a contented smile gracing her lips.