Chapter 1310 – Defeating Huang Song, Uniting Dongqing (Part 52)
“Look at you, so scared! I won’t bully you anymore.” Jiang Pengji chuckled, “You all fell victim to someone’s schemes, yet here I am, lively and kicking.”
She didn’t need her spiritual energy to deal with ordinary folks, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t use it for her own benefit.
As long as anyone stepped into her spiritual field, she would know; her warning range extended a full ten miles, and that was her deliberately restrained distance.
Who can shoot a hidden arrow that far?
Hidden arrows injuring people? Not a chance.
Qin Gong wiped the virtual sweat from his forehead and said seriously, “My lord, my father used to say that there are spirits three feet above one’s head, and some words shouldn’t be spoken lightly; they can easily come true. My lord will surely live to a hundred, but we must be wary of any dark forces lurking to cause trouble.”
Jiang Pengji teased, “You actually believe in that, Qin Gong?”
Qin Gong replied honestly, “Better to believe they exist than not.”
Jiang Pengji didn’t comment further, but she knew that these little nobles had timid hearts, so she wouldn’t scare them anymore.
In her spiritual field, no creature could hide; hunting was naturally a sure hit.
She completely forgot her earlier promise to everyone—not to touch wild boars, bears, or wolves—and specially targeted these ferocious big beasts instead. Just wild boars alone, she took down four litters, ensuring the whole family was neatly arranged, with both wild boars and piglets all accepted.
Qin Gong was stunned, unsure whether to praise his lord’s archery skills or say she was just extremely lucky. The other guards could only trail behind Jiang Pengji, acting as porters of her game. Looking at her enthusiastic expression, it seemed she wanted to clear the entire mountain.
Jiang Pengji hunted two big bugs, the fierce-eyed white-striped monsters!
One male and one female, they had just filled their bellies and were dozing off beside the carcass of their prey, startled awake by the commotion.
Qin Gong was about to warn her about the danger of the bugs when his lord pointed at their fur.
“This fur is quite decent; if we skin it, I can make a cloak. I won’t need rabbit fur for this winter.”
Qin Gong didn’t know that when Jiang Pengji was in Langya County, others saw her as brave and ferocious, not hesitating to hunt big bugs, comparing her to a fierce general from the previous dynasty, and giving her the nickname “Tiger Chaser over the Gorge.” If she came across a fierce-eyed white-striped tiger, it wouldn’t be her who ran.
Animals’ senses are sharper than humans; they stared at Jiang Pengji, and soon enough, they lost their resolve.
Qin Gong stood blankly, watching the two fierce-eyed white-striped bugs turn tail and run, and his lord without hesitation chased after them.
Qin Gong: “…”
He was absolutely sure that the strategists should be worried not about their lord, but about the animals in the mountains.
After a while, before Qin Gong and the others could catch up, they heard the chilling screams of the two bugs, which soon fell silent.
Everyone watched as Jiang Pengji single-handedly carried one big bug, its long tail and half its body trailing on the ground.
Jiang Pengji called out nonchalantly, “Come here, lend me a hand. Don’t ruin that beautiful tiger skin; I want to gift it to someone.”
Qin Gong: “…”
Ever since Qin Gong could pull back a half-stone short bow around the age of seven or eight, his father and two brothers would often take him hunting.
Both his father and brothers were hunting enthusiasts, and Qin Gong had seen various hunting techniques, but he’d never seen his lord hunt like this.
He glanced at the state of the two bugs and immediately understood how they had died; they had been crushed to death by his lord’s bare hands!
Seeing him dazed, Jiang Pengji teased, “Do you want the tiger whip?”
Qin Gong replied absentmindedly, “No thanks, my lord should keep that for herself.”
Jiang Pengji couldn’t hold back anymore; she said, “That’s something for boosting vitality! What use would it be for me?”
Qin Gong blinked in confusion, and after a moment, it hit him that his lord was a woman.
Why could she say “Do you want the tiger whip?” so naturally? For a moment, he thought it was like a joke between close friends of the same sex!
Jiang Pengji was carrying the whole party, with almost all of the game she caught, while Qin Gong’s spoils were just a pitiful deer and a rabbit.
If Qin Gong was this pitiful, the other guards were even worse off.
The group returned to the military camp loaded with game, as if they had just looted a forest.
“Today we’re having all meaty dishes; skin those two big bugs, and the bones and meat will be sent to the kitchen to make soup for the soldiers.”
The weight of the two big bugs was considerable; the common soldiers could have some soup and a taste of fresh meat.
Jiang Pengji had so much game that she kept only a part and generously gave the majority to the soldiers, with a portion for the little nobles to have extra meals.
“What about Zixiao and the others?”
Jiang Pengji asked casually, and a vice general replied, “Reporting to my lord, the envoy from Nan Sheng has arrived, and the strategist is attending to them.”
An envoy from Nan Sheng?
She smirked, not holding back her sarcasm, “Isn’t Nan Sheng long gone? What envoy could possibly come?”
The vice general explained, “It is said to be an envoy under Nan Sheng’s An Huan.”
Not long after Jiang Pengji left to hunt, the patrolling scouts discovered a group of suspicious individuals and intercepted them.
They presented proper documentation for their mission, and the scouts, not daring to delay, led them back and reported the situation to Wei Ci and the others.
“An Huan? That sounds familiar. What was the name of the envoy, and what was their purpose?”
The vice general shook his head; they didn’t have that information yet.
Jiang Pengji decided to spread her subdued spiritual field, which allowed her to detect a peculiar cluster of spiritual energy.
In her spiritual field, everyone transformed into spiritual energy clusters; she could roughly gauge their mental states through this energy.
Typically, individuals’ energy would be full and smooth, but that one was different—its mental state was extremely active and unstable, hinting at a tendency towards fragmentation.
Jiang Pengji thought quickly and immediately guessed the identity of the envoy, laughing as she said, “Hua Yuan has schemed against Huang Song and isn’t returning to An Huan’s den to hide but is boldly flaunting himself in public. Is he overconfident in himself or just seeking death?”
Her guess was right—the envoy wasn’t anyone else but Hua Yuan, the strategist under An Huan, the man who had outwitted Chenzhou’s grain reserves without a fight.
When Wei Ci heard that Hua Yuan was visiting, he was surprised too.
Because the people and events in this lifetime were different from the last, Wei Ci quickly realized that he needed to prepare to receive the envoy Hua Yuan brought, while also probing the purpose of the visit. Surely, this guy wouldn’t have schemed against Huang Song only to come and plot against his lord, right?
Wei Ci thought he would never see Hua Yuan again, but unexpectedly, they would meet again under such circumstances.
After all, they had been colleagues in the last life; Wei Ci was familiar with Hua Yuan’s various personalities and could tell which was present just by looking at his appearance. The Hua Yuan before him dressed very neatly, appearing several years younger than his actual age, his black hair elegantly tied with a pretty crown, with a faint pleasant fragrance wafting from him—subtle yet not overwhelming—with well-made clothing that was both elegant and meticulous.
If Yuan Xin had come back from the dead and saw this Hua Yuan, he would probably not recognize him at first glance.
