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Embarrassed.

The six defeated guards had expected to lose to Princess Shan Yu, but to be defeated by a fellow ’guard’...

In such a domineering fashion...

They simply could not accept it.

More importantly, they could tell that this ’guard’ was still in his teens.

Who was this?

Who had entered the room with Princess Shan Yu?

Fang Zhengzhi did not answer any of the questions, neither did he have the mood to entertain their questions.

He had expected to see a heated battle upon entering the room. However, he was shocked to see what was happening...

"Should I just leave quietly?"

The Southern Region Throne Room was not like the Great Xia’s. After all, the Great Xia’s had been constantly improved and refurbished with valuable gems.

However, it was still extremely grand and adorned with precious gems.

Other than the gems, the pillars and walls were engraved with pictures of beasts and ancient scriptures.

Most importantly, next to the pictures and the scriptures...

There were skeletons of slain beasts.

The skeletons and thick pillars embodied the animalistic, ruthless, and powerful character of the Southern Region.

Fang Zhengzhi could tell from a glance that those beasts were incredibly powerful...

As such...

The beasts represented the achievements of the best in the region.

Then, Fang Zhengzhi was shocked by the blood on the floor.

It was a stain from someone crawling away. At the head of the trail was an old man who laid prone on the ground.

He was in his 50s and was visibly terrified. He was pale, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. The blood trail had originated from a wound in his chest.

Blood continued to trickle from the open wound, forming a puddle in front of him.

There was a group of scantily dressed ladies holding instruments in their hands by the side.

There were drummers, flutists,...

Their instruments may have been different, but their expressions were all the same.

Shock. The same shock that Fang Zhengzhi was feeling.

However, Fang Zhengzhi was shocked because of a different reason. He had spotted the Minister of Rites.

Most importantly...

The Minister had stretched a hand out towards him.

"Save... save... save me..."

Fang Zhengzhi wanted to leave because of that. He would much rather act as if he had not heard the Minister’s pleas.

"Sister?!"

A voice interrupted the pleas of the Minister of Rites. In fact, this person had completely ignored the Minister from the start.

A man walked towards Princess Shan Yu and Fang Zhengzhi. He held a blood-stained blade in his hand.

He looked to be in his 30s and he wore an exquisite silver leather armor. His shoes were embroidered with gold thread and there were two five-colored feathers on his head.

There was a bright sapphire in between the feathers.

"Brother, what is going on?" Princess Shan Yu tightened her grip on her daggers as she glanced towards the Minister of Law.

Fang Zhengzhi could guess that this man was the Crown Prince, Shan Ling.

"Haha... you shouldn’t be asking me this question. You should be asking Father!" Shan Ling chuckled as he looked at Princess Shan Yu affectionately.

"Father?" Princess Shan Yu looked at the elderly man seated on the throne.

He was over two meters in height, well built but with silver hair. He wore purple leather.

If not for his wrinkles, one would not be able to guess his age.

The King of the Southern Region!

Was this him?

Fang Zhengzhi looked at the King. He could see the pain in the eyes of the King, a pain that only the elderly felt.

"Rebel!" The King did not seem to want to explain. He directed his anger towards Shan Ling, but did not seem to want to save the Minister of Law.

"Sister, you don’t have to care about this. Since you are here, you should already have fought the Demons outside?" Shan Ling shook his head. He had no intention of debating with the King. He looked at Princess Shan Yu with anticipation.

"Brother, what the hell is going on here?" Princess Shan Yu looked at the King and Shan Ling with a steely determination in her eyes.

"What’s going on? What else could be going on! Our soldiers have laid down their lives and spilled their blood on the battlefield! How many men did we lose at the Icy Monkey Settlement? Do you know? 8,000! 8,000! And what is Father doing? Negotiating for peace! He is negotiating with the Great Xia after 8,000 of our men lost their lives! Sister... what do you think I’m doing?!"

Shan Ling was fuming after being interrogated by Princess Shan Yu. He tried to suppress his anger, but his tone had changed significantly.

"I don’t care what father did. He is still our father, the one who raised us!" Princess Shan Yu’s eyes glimmered and she clenched her fists.

"Yes, he is our father, but he is also the father of his citizens! Are our soldiers not his children? Have you seen a father who would make merry and negotiate with the enemy right after losing 8,000 children?!"

"Brother, are you still dreaming about being an Emperor? Do you not see what is happening?" Princess Shan Yu’s expression changed.

"Situation? Haha... let me tell you what is happening. This is happening!" Shan Ling retrieved an exquisite piece of leather with a fresh red stamp.

Princess Shan Yu looked at it.

Fang Zhengzhi looked at it. However, the King and the Minister of Law did not even take a look at it.

"Your Highness, the agreement you hold in your hand is just a ploy. They want to break up the Southern Region and the Great Xia. Even if you kill me, they will still conquer your capital and you will not have a chance to recover. We are now giving you the option of drawing back from the Stable Mountain Gate and releasing our soldiers in exchange for our support. We can join forces..." The Minister of Law knew what was written within that piece of leather.

"Shut up!" Shan Ling’s voice was icy. He kept the leather, "What do you know? The Demons may go back on their word, but they will not do so if they swore in the name of their gods. The agreement states that I will have three days if I kill you. We can break the Icy Monkey Settlement in three days! By that time, their 50,000 soldiers..."

"It also says that if you kill me, the Demons will pull back from the Sagely Mountain City and help you to the throne. Isn’t that even better for you?" The Southern Region King’s voice interrupted the Crown Prince.

"Father, do you not understand? I only have one aim, to buy us some time. Three days, three days is all I need! The Demons? I don’t need them! Father, don’t you want to be an Emperor? Do you want to be subservient to the Great Xia forever? What do they have? 400,000 of our soldiers would be able to go up against a million of theirs! Why should we obey them? Wake up, father!"

"You need to wake up, brother!" Princess Shan Yu’s body began to glow red.

"Me? Haha... I am very much awake. I have never been this awake before. Sister, I am the one who pampers you the most. You have not let me down! With the 80,000 soldiers you brought, the Demons would not be able to take the city in three days even if they wanted to!" Shan Ling chuckled.

"Brother, what if I told you I didn’t bring a single soldier?" Princess Shan Yu continued.

"This is not the time for jokes, sister! How could you not bring any soldiers? I gave you the best of the best. Furthermore, with the 3000 Silver Horned Wolves you have, they should have no problem getting past 50,000 Demons!" Shan Ling did not believe Princess Shan Yu.

"Yes, it is not difficult for 3000 Silver Horned Wolves to cut a path through the Demon army, but I didn’t bring any soldiers." Princess Shan Yu shook her head.

"You... sister, this is really not the time for joking. If you didn’t bring any soldiers, then what are you doing here?" Shan Ling’s expression changed as he tried to keep his tone calm.

"Negotiate!"

"For peace? With who?! The Great Xia?! Sister... have you lost your mind? This is the best chance we’ve had to be independent from the Great Xia! Why should we negotiate with them?" Shan Ling became agitated once again.

"Brother, we cannot possibly take on both the Great Xia and the Demons at the same time!"

"I know!" Shan Ling nodded. "But so what? Sister, do you think that I am an idiot? We don’t have the ability to fight them both at the same time. But, the Great Xia still hasn’t launched an attack! Even after we took the Stable Mountain Gate!"

Shan Ling paused.

"Taking the gate was just a test. The results have shown that the Great Xia doesn’t dare to attack us! They will not let us die even if we are not their vassal!"

"What is the Great Xia without us?"

"They will just be a prime target for the Demons! Without the Southern Region in the way, the Great Xia would not be able to prosper! Neither will they be able to fight the barbarians in the North!"

"Sister, tell me why the Southern Region cannot be independent! Tell me why we can’t be an empire!"

"Negotiate? Why should we negotiate?!"

"We have to give them a fortune every year, and that isn’t including the leather that we give them! What do they give us in return? Books! A few books! Books on architecture, policy, and economics! They tell us that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give a man a fish!"

"Don’t you see? The Great Xia treat us like fools! They send their Minister of Law and our King must receive him? We treat him with respect, entertain him, feed him, all whilst our men are dying on the battlefield!"

"Today, I will make sure that this Minister of Law opens his eyes and sees how powerful we are!"

Shan Ling looked at the Minister of Law with a posture that exuded confidence. The blade in his hand hummed.

Shan Ling was ready to kill.

The King looked at Shan Ling, wanting to say something, but he didn’t make a sound.

Fang Zhengzhi had wondered how he would feel when he met the King or the Crown Prince.

He had expected a rebellion, embarrassment, anger...

He had also prepared speeches for the various scenarios.

Fang Zhengzhi felt that the Southern Region was in immediate trouble because of the threat to their capital.

As such, it should not have been too difficult to convince them to ally themselves with the Great Xia.

However...

After listening to Shan Ling...

He had a whole new outlook on the situation.

Even though this was the most difficult moment for the Southern Region, the Great Xia did not dare to attack.

In other words, not only was the Great Xia not going to attack, they were doing everything they could to help the Southern Region tide through this situation.

Regardless of their attitude.

The Great Xia could never let the Southern Region fall, even if they wanted to be independent and form an empire.

As such...

How were they going to negotiate?

There was nothing to negotiate.

The Great Xia had watched on as the Southern Region took the Stable Mountain Gate and imprisoned thousands of their soldiers. They would also have to tolerate the Crown Prince killing any missionary they sent!

This was the situation the Great Xia was in.

As long as the Demons continued to threaten the Great Xia, they could not take action against the Southern Region.

His blade shone.

He raised it above the Minister of Law’s head. He could take the Minister’s head in the blink of an eye.

Sweat poured from the Minister’s forehead.

He wanted to say something, but he had nothing left to say. After hearing what Shan Ling said, he knew that there was no chance for a negotiation.

They had no bargaining chips.

Shan Ling had rejected everything that they had to offer.

As such, this negotiation could not continue, and he was destined to fail and die here.

Hopelessness!

The desperation could be seen in his eyes as the energy exited his body. The Emperor’s edict that had given him strength before now felt heavy.

"Dong!"

The golden edict felt into the pool of blood, the words plain for all to see.

Fang Zhengzhi looked at the edict.

With his current abilities, he could easily see the words written on the edict. He managed to understand it at a glance.

The gist of it was that the soldiers had to obey the orders of the Minister of Law.

It also contained Emperor Lin Mubai’s wish to make peace with the Southern Region.

After reading the edict...

Fang Zhengzhi finally understood why the Minister of Law would be here, and why the Great Xia soldiers would stay in the Icy Monkey Settlement.

If not for this edict, the soldiers of the Great Xia would have probably made it already!

With the Icy Monkey Settlement emptied, hundreds of thousands of Southern Region soldiers could march on the Sagely Mountain City.

Everything would have gone according to plan!

But...

F*cking Murphy’s Law!

Hang on, something is wrong!

The Emperor would never be so stupid!

The Emperor would know that he had no bargaining chips. He would not have destroyed his army’s best chance at victory! What was wrong?

Fang Zhengzhi frowned as he stared at the edict. For some reason, he had a feeling that...

The answer...

Must be in the edict!