Chapter 37 - Conspiracy
Early the following day, Ouyang Zhong packed his traveling clothes and was ready to leave Beiwang City to escort his father back to the capital city. He looked around at the small border town he had been guarding for several months, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings. Ouyang Zhong had to recognize one fact: he had failed once and for all. He didn't lose to the Dingling Clan and Yu Sun, his love rival Xuan Mo, or even to Linghu Xian, who was better than him in every way. He lost to himself his willful arrogance, pretentiousness, and self-righteousness in taking all causes and effects for granted.
In terms of the education that Ouyang Zhong had received from a young age and the concepts he had been instilled with, he was of noble birth, and the Ouyang family was prestigious in the entire Zhongming Kingdom. He was indeed, in the view of his peers, really talented. Rituals, archery, imperial examinations, and counting (idiom) refer to Confucian canonical texts, and all the six arts were proficient, and his horsemanship and music theory were especially outstanding.
He had originally been a model exemplar in the limelight since his childhood. Whether it was his stance of being an outstanding person or his lineage as a son of a family, if he wanted something, it would be easy and easy to get it.
However, ever since he was ordered to become the Left Guard General and traveled day and night with tens of thousands of troops to North Hope City, preparing to kill the enemy on the battlefield, his mentality, ideology, and once-adhered-to principles of conduct and outlook on things were subverted and conflicted over and over again.
He had wanted nothing more than a Linghu Xian since the beginning. He thought that he was able to arrange things correctly, that he was able to hide her from the imperial family of the capital as well as from his own Ouyang family, thinking that as long as he could be in the army and away from the Zongcheng city, he would be able to be with his beloved girl for a long time and that as long as he made a real relationship, and even had children, the Ouyang family wouldn't be able to do anything about Linghu Xian, and that Joyful Sun County Lord, who was neither emotionally attached nor substantively married, the Can also find a way to petition and leave, really can't take with you Linghu Xian together, after the war on the fresh clothes and horse sword to the end of the world, from now on to do a pair of dead lovebirds is not a beautiful thing.
However, he is too naive; nothing can be as he wishes. Moreover, no one interested party can easily spare him.
He wanted to be able to build a career in the army to realize his ambitions. Of course, he even wants to show his outstanding talent and the arrogance of an honors student; however, whether it is Linghu Xian or the army, several experienced vice generals, lieutenants, ability, martial arts, and military literacy are far above him. Occasionally, he felt his self-confidence undermined and wondered what he had learned. Why didn't it all work?
He had grown and practiced a lot during these months of guarding the border, and even though he had shed a lot of his once-pampered young Master's habits and had become more robust and more composed, it was still not enough. Many decisions and implementations repeatedly appeared to deviate; he wanted the results, and the natural end is always a world of difference. This made him even more broken and helpless, and he even fell into a deep drop of self-blame and self-doubt.
Only a few people came to see him when he left North Hope City. Nothing else was inside and outside the city gates except for the generals on guard duty and patrolling that day. Ouyang Ming settled adequately in a carriage, and the servants who accompanied him were only coachmen and nothing else. After all, it is secretly out of the vertical city to find Ouyang Zhong, even if it is the hall of the first-grade supervisor, which can only be such low-key behavior.
The night before, Ouyang Zhong took the initiative, and Wei General did not come to see him off; he did not have the face to see his fellow soldiers, but he looked to see Linghu Xian.
Ouyang Zhong is clad in a gorgeous warm fur cloak, the surface of the cover is made of cloud brocade with a thousand gold a foot, wearing a jade crown symbolizing that royalty is only qualified to wear more set off his handsome appearance, good a jade tree in the wind and a good gentleman. He stood alone with his hands in the blankets of snow and ice, absolutely an unparalleled beauty. Unfortunately, the excellent son, Ouyang Zhong, looks sad and listless, waiting for the subordinates to organize the traveling clothes, ready to leave.
Suddenly, a boy ran over to him angrily and said, "Reporting to the extra horse harnessed by the side of a team, your horse ... it refuses to go."
Ouyang Zhong came to the stables and saw several horse riders and boys pulling and tugging on Red Flame to bring it back to Zongcheng. It was Ouyang Zhong's favorite BMW love horse, both mount and property and now it said nothing but refused to follow and leave. The subordinates didn't dare to whip it for fear of making General Ouyang angry, but they couldn't drag it, so they were so anxious that they had to ask Ouyang Zhong to come personally.
Ouyang Zhong gently stroked Red Flame's head and neck as he whispered, "You won't come with me either. You're going to abandon me too?" Tears flowed down Red Flame's face, and he knelt for Ouyang Zhong. The usually highly proud and majestic Red Flame now hung his head, shedding tears, and saluted Ouyang Zhong, fearing that this would be the last time they would see each other again.
Ouyang Zhong's heart was severely pumped. I know you all blame me; this is not your fault. He picked up Red Flame and hugged her, then said softly, ''Red Flame, you are her friend, right? When you go to the battlefield, protect her well for me, okay? I'm leaving."
Ouyang Zhong left Red Flame behind and followed the still-unconscious Ouyang Ming in the same carriage. A group of people quietly left Beiwang City like this, traveling toward the capital. When going to the city gates, Ouyang Zhong didn't dare to look back and see this place where he had put in quite a bit of effort and grown up so thoroughly. He was in the car biting his fists, unable to contain but trying his best to suppress the emotions inside, only to have the tears still come rushing out like a flood. From now on, he would have to walk on his own, alone.
On the city wall, Linghu Xian's face was haggard and miserable; she watched as Ouyang Zhong's carriage gradually drove away; she didn't shed any tears; she just felt like a human being again. She was no longer enslaved or anyone's vassal and was no longer called Linghu Xian. Xuan Mo stood behind her, put a cotton coat on her, and then asked, "You parted from him like this? What are your plans for the future?"
Linghu Xian smiled bitterly and said, "First, change this name. Didn't my teacher say I was called Hu Cangcang in my last life? Well, reed reed Cangcang white dew for frost. That's quite good. Then, I will still be called Hu Cangcang in the future! I will stay in Northwatch City and wait for the enemy to make another move and fight them. Since the teacher is tasked with cutting down the demons and removing the devils, I will do my best to assist the teacher in capturing Yu Sun." There seemed to be an invisible fire flickering in Xuan Mo's eyes as he nodded in acquiescence.
This time, Ouyang's return to the capital city was more complex. Compared to his own cowardly and fearful old man, Ouyang Ming, Ouyang Zhong's character was more like that of Great General Wei Kongji. Neither of them were powerful masters who let others bully them into being greedy and fearful of death. This time, the Nanling Princess will be an army; Wei Kongji and Ouyang Zhong, two people in the belly of the fire, were prairie high. They were both people who were well-versed in military books and strategies. The night before Ouyang Zhong left the barracks, the two of them in the general's tent alone discussed for a long time: one was to clean up this Princess, to extinguish her arrogance, to consolidate the Wei family and Ouyang's two families in the dynasty; the other is to guard against her counterattack, after all, the lives of the two clan members and the future of the critical points to be taken into account, the best thing is to let the emperor personally hand down the disposal of her so that it can be a fire from the other side of the river; the third is to put the military camp and even the conniving family in the military base. It is to catch the Dingling spies in the barracks or the vertical city. General Wei has already sensed that outsiders are mixing in under his own hands, and he is worried that the Dingling clan has also planted the dynasty with eye-catching spies.
Ouyang Zhong left the front line not to leave the battlefield; another battle on that night gradually opened the curtain.
On the night of the Spider Army night attack, Tuoba Cheng, in the firelight, sees a fleeing sheep herding a little girl. That girl was no longer dirty and demented with the appearance of a bit of mute but changed into a military outfit and tied her hair into the style of a man in the Middle Kingdom of Ming. Leaping down from the city wall, she dodged left and right and rushed straight in front of Yu Sun. Her short sword danced with a dragon's flight and heroic vigor. If it wasn't for the fact that Yu Sun spread her hair down during the fight, Tuoba Cheng couldn't relate to that dumb, timid, and frightened little shepherdess from before. At this moment, she was different from what she was in the tent. Moreover, she even dared to fight a thousand-year-old spider spirit like Yu Sun alone, which surprised him. An intense curiosity and desire to conquer grew wildly from Tuoba Cheng's heart.
Be sure to catch her again; be sure to make her submit herself! This idea flashed in Tuoba Cheng's mind countless times.
Even in Tuoba Cheng and his concubine's dry fire and fish and water pleasure, Linghu Xian's face again flashed in his mind, that angry, martial, capable face with a murderous aura. Tuoba Cheng's eyes were filled with lust and anger, and the force on his hands became heavier and heavier.
"Great Prince! What are you doing?" The concubine kept desperately struggling for mercy, "Great Prince! Don't! Don't-be-! Ah ah ah ah ..."
Tuoba Cheng was filled with thoughts of Linghu Xian, but the force on his body didn't decrease at all. While continuously releasing his desire, his fingers forcefully snapped the concubine's neck. The poor woman was lying crookedly on Tuoba Cheng's huge bearskin soft couch in a grotesque position. Tuoba Cheng, naked and numb, got up and called the guards outside to give this freshly gagged concubine to Fei Sun as an extra meal.
"Hurry up and hurry up, don't stop." An older guard urged, and the other two young guards carried the body head to tail with old blankets, generally scared like sifting chaff, "You two boys move more quickly! This is already the fourth one tortured to death in these two days; hey, let's hurry up! Don't be that old spider caught in together."
Casually draped in a fur robe, Tuoba Cheng's body is still as hot as fire, but his heart is as cold as the cold wind outside the tent. His eyes were filled with incomprehensible emotions as he looked at the flickering embers in the fireplace. He was like a hungry, dire wolf seeing a long-desired fat lamb; he wanted to catch this prey; she had to be his!
Since Yu Sun had a spider leg cut off by Linghu Linghu Xian, he needed to consume human essence, blood, skin, and flesh daily to heal his wounds and replenish his mana to reshape his new leg.
Once upon a time, Yu Sun was just a tiny spider living in a nameless valley. She gradually turned into a spider spirit because she felt the essence of heaven and earth nurturing her. Apart from occasionally catching one or two flies and small insects at the mouth of her cave, she could stand guard and wait for bigger prey to fill her hunger. At that time, she didn't have much to ask for; it was good to be able to fill her stomach and survive. Day and night, she gradually grew, and the spirit beads in her body steadily formed. After a year and a year, I do not know this little spider a few hundred years of big spider spirit, but after all, the cultivation is not refined. It can only maintain the original form of the state, still inhabiting this nameless valley cave.
Suddenly, one day, the lizard spirit Chu Tianming's appearance completely changed the fate of the Yu Sun. Chu Tianming needs to increase their demonic power; you must steal other spirit beads of spirit beasts and monsters. While he was going around catching prey, Yu Sun thought that he just needed to hide from him and not provoke him. It is a pity that the unseasoned Yu Sun, who has lived so long in vain, doesn't know that the insidious horrors of the world are even more complicated than her spider's web.
Chu Tianming turned this valley over and not only caught a few demonic beasts whose cultivation was not low but also caught Yu Sun together. Yu Sun begged for mercy, but Chu Tian Ming was indifferent. That's right, how can food get the sympathy of a hunter? Chu Tianming caught Yu Sun, simply happy. So big a spider spirit, it is bound to be a good cultivation.
Yu Sun was caught, first by Chu Tianming directly pulling out eight legs, in her pain, almost screaming, almost fainted, then by Chu Tianming, with long and sharp nails and lizard claws, once pulled out Yu Sun's body of the essence of spirit beads. Until Chu Tianming left, the spider Yu Sun was still not dead.
She didn't understand that they didn't know each other or had any grudges. Just because of an accidental chance encounter, she was going to die on the spot. An extreme hatred and resentment in Yu Sun's chest quickly gathered; at the last moment, she closed her eyes and swallowed her breath; she made a poisonous oath: the next life would never be stepped on by other creatures; she wanted to become a god and devil that all people are afraid of! This poisonous oath transformed her body into a puff of black smoke that floated and wandered around.
When Chu Tianming wrapped Yu Sun's spirit bead in a dog's heart and put it into a vat full of dog's blood, Yusun's spirit bead summoned back the wandering black smoke, and her spirit bead turned into a demonic elixir. Yu Sun was revived by the black dog's blood and escaped from the chaos of the fight at the Moon Pavilion. After her resurrection, Yu Sun's magic is still weak, but she is still afraid all day long, lest she will reencounter something unfavorable.
One day, in spider form, Yu Sun hid under a cliff, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth alone. Suddenly, a miserable cry came from a woodcutter who accidentally fell from the cliff and landed on a boulder not far from Yu Sun. She didn't want to mess with humans at first, but she smelled the sweet scent of human blood and flesh, and she couldn't resist the long hunger and greed for "food" in her heart. Tempted, Yu Sun finally stepped out of the boundary from demon to devil. She ate the dying woodcutter.
The first time she ate human flesh and drank human blood, Yu Sun did not expect to feel a sudden increase in the physical strength of the whole body. From then on, eating people became Yu Sun's cultivation secret, which was uncontrollable. Every time she ate a person, she could feel her spells rapidly improving and her size getting bigger and bigger. She had defied the heavens and cultivated into a human form only a hundred years before.
In her last life, she had lived for hundreds and nearly a thousand years but was only an ordinary spider little demon. She had been captured by the lizard spirit Chu Tianming and dissected out the spirit bead. After more than a hundred years after the resurrection, she became a more powerful demon than Chu Tianming. Yes, she knew she had fallen into the demon's path, but so what? In Yu Sun's mind, she can only survive in this world with enough power, or she will always be a terrified, lowly creature hiding in the shadows.
Yu Sun, who had just finished eating human flesh, was slowly regulating the demon dan in his body to absorb the nutrients fully into his energy. Outside the cave, Grand Prince Tuoba Cheng respectfully greeted her, "Master, apprentice-brother has disturbed Master's cultivation, but apprentice-brother has a matter that I would like to discuss with you for a moment. Please move over."
She reverted to her beautiful human form and walked out of the cave. Looking at this nominal "disciple," we all knew in our hearts that it was just a mutual utilization. She Yu Sun used the Dingzuo tribe to provide sufficient food to help her cultivate. In contrast, the Dingzuo tribe needed her, a demon sorcerer, to help them expand their territory and complete their hegemony. Everyone was motivated by profit; it didn't matter who was human, a demon, or a devil.
Tuoba Cheng invited Yu Sun into his tent. He screened away the idle people and spoke out his request:
"Master, my disciple would like to ask the master to take advantage of Ouyang Zhong being poisoned and injured, use spells to control him, and take the opportunity to use his hand to get rid of their great general, as well as help me capture Linghu Xian."
Yu Sun smiled delicately, "My good disciple shares my mind. Don't worry. I planted the spell long ago when I poisoned Ouyang Zhong; once he wakes up, I will control him, and he will have to do whatever I tell him to kill obediently. He can't even tell anyone about this; he can't even think about it, or else the blood in his limbs will flow backward, and his internal organs will be in excruciating pain."
Tuoba Cheng grimly laughed evilly, "Master is truly brilliant! I wonder what you plan to do with that Linghu Xian?"
A cold light flashed in Yu Sun's eyes, and her voice suddenly lowered an octave as she said fiercely, "She is also a demon, and she even dared to make an enemy of me! And it hurt me so much. How can I easily spare her? That Ouyang Zhong rode alone to help her means that these two are very close. Moreover, Ouyang Zhong's poison can't be saved by ordinary humans unless this little goblin uses the spirit beads in her body to heal his injuries. Hahahahahaha, if that's the case, it's just right. My venom will erode her, the poison will taint the spirit bead, and she will become her original form again. A demon! I don't need to do anything. Those humans won't spare her, right? Just enjoy watching them kill each other!"
Tuoba Cheng knew that Yu Sun was a ruthless master. Ever since she came to the Dingling Clan and was worshipped by her father as a great sorcerer, she needed to take living human sacrifices every few days as rations for her cultivation. But also because of such a powerful Grand Sorceress, even if she did nothing, it was a considerable deterrent to the other tribes and communities. Yu Sun's human appearance was gorgeous, making her lustful father very covetous and obedient. However, for Tuoba Cheng, although respectfully called a master, it is more apparent that he is the Master, and Yu Sun must submit.
Tuoba Cheng thought momentarily and said, "The master is naturally brilliant and incomparable, but the disciple has another plan, but also ask the master to listen to one or two." Sun, petite and boneless, half lying on the vast bed couch, smiled and said, "Yes, I'm listening!"
Tuoba Cheng said, "The guards in Northwatch City, the powerful one, are just Hussar General Wei Kongji; the others are not enough to be a problem. And that Ouyang Zhong is said to be the overseer sent by their Zhongming king; he's not even old enough to be a weak crown; he's a yellow mouth. As long as you pack up Wei Kongji, the North Hope City group of dragons with a leader will naturally be intact. I don't need Master to do anything personally, but I can take a group of Dingling warriors and clean up Beiwang City. In a short time, my Dingling iron horseback riders can go south and attack Zongcheng City, ultimately conquering Zhongming country.
However, Linghu Xian interests me and can be utilized by me for a while. I don't know if Master will put this little goblin at my disciple's disposal. I will make her beg for life and death. Avenge this sword for Master." Tuoba Cheng walked into Yu Sun and bent down to whisper the scheme in his heart in her ear.
Yu Sun quite appreciated this human disciple; his heart was poisonous, and his methods were sinister enough to win her heart. She understands that Tuoba Cheng, this kid, looks at Linghu Xian and wants to make a ploy to personally capture her as a plaything, play tired of naturally will be handed over to the Master as a snack.
Yu Sun thought that she was a human demon; I'm afraid that her flesh and blood essence and the body of the spirit beads are suitable materials for cultivation and can not let her easily slip away. Since Tuoba Cheng also wants her, do a favor and let him do the work. Ultimately, he sat down to reap the benefits of fishing, not the best of both worlds. After Yu Sun heard Tuoba Cheng's plan, she agreed with a charming smile.
This is how the strange events that occurred one after another in Beiwang City came about. Ouyang Zhong was poisoned, Linghu Xian turned into a demon, spells controlled Ouyang Zhong and almost assassinated Wei Kongji, and this series was all thanks to Yu Sun. Although Yu Sun's seizures have been broken by Xuan Mo one by one, there is a bigger conspiracy brewing in the dark. Tuoba Cheng is more like a vicious and determined poisonous spider than Yu Sun. He let Yu Sun as an outpost, first provoked Ouyang Zhong and Linghu Xian, and the actual show is still behind.
The unhealed Yu Sun was in her cave every day to shut down and cultivate for more than a month, the bones spat out by her piled up into a small mountain outside the cave, which was sucked up by the remaining small number of tiny spiders in droves, and that scene was excessively frightening. Even the people of the Dingling Clan were scared to death, and no one dared to walk near that cave easily. In Tuoba Cheng's opinion, those who were sacrificed were either enslaved people or prisoners, so what a pity that he never cared too much about the matter of Yu Sun's cannibalism.
There was just one thing that Tuoba Cheng had begun to feel was not right vaguely. Yu Sun is nominally the Grand Sorcerer of the Dingling Clan, but in reality, she lacks any loyalty to the Dingling Clan. If the Dingling Clan can't satisfy her expanding appetite, she will undoubtedly be a major scourge in the future. To do this, Tuoba Cheng secretly sends a letter to his father. He wants to start planning to find another obedient great sorcerer. The candidate in his mind has gradually become apparent, and he not only wants to let that person become a sorcerer of the Dingzui tribe but also wants to be his woman to help him complete his ambitious career.