The fluting was a great help. With it, soldiers in black armor wielded their weapons to strike back. At this time, monkeys that had shown their true colors were like lambs to the slaughter and quickly killed by swift “butchers”.

Leng Changxi kept staring at the woman who played the flute on the distant hillside. In a piece of light purple clothes, she had a delicate and small face and a pair of fair hands which she used to hold the flute.

It was Nuan.

After Qin Yunuan’s arrival, the stalemate that had lasted for a day came to an end in just one hour. When cleaning up the mess, Leng Wu caught many wild monkeys. They had to admit that these monkeys were very smart. After being caught, they mimicked crying children or weeping women to make soldiers who escorted them feel pity for them.

“Everyone, put these into your ears.” Leng Wu helped soldiers escorting monkeys to put into ears the cotton balls which were the size of people’s ear hole.

On the less frequently walked hillside, however, Leng Changxi in armor who originally looked serious suddenly smiled, when seeing Qin Yunuan who pouted out of anger.

“Nu…” Before Leng Changxi finished calling her name, she already walked fast to him. She first slapped him hard, leaving a loud sound, and then threw herself into his arms while keeping beating his hard armor with her fist.

“You idiot! B*ast*rd! You should leave me alone. See, without me, you might be trapped here for longer. You have read so many books on military strategies, but it’s of no use.” Although she was scolding Leng Changxi, the latter knew she said this just out of anger and actually was expressing her worries and care.

Leng Changxi held Qin Yunuan’s hand and said, “Don’t beat the armor. It’s made of black iron and impenetrable. Don’t hurt yourself.”

Qin Yunuan took the chance to pinch Leng Changxi’s unmasked face. On the march, he didn’t wear his mask. His handsome face turned twisted because of this. While pinching his face, Qin Yunuan asked sulkily, “No armor protects your face, so I can pinch it, right?”

Leng Changxi didn’t stop her but just shrugged and pouted at her, hinting that she should turn her head. He said, “Look at them. Can you be as tender as Maner?”

Qin Yunuan took a look and saw Leng Wu, who was just free of trivial work, dragged Maner away and held her tight in his arms under an old pine tree.

Qin Yunuan pouted and said, “If Leng Wu drugs Maner someday, Maner will definitely punish him and not be as tender and caring as now.”

Leng Changxi knew she still held the grudge for he drugged her, so he lowered his head and apologized, “Nuan, I’m sorry.”

Simply an apology placated Qin Yunuan at once. In Leng Changxi’s arms, she answered in a low voice, “Alright, I forgive you. But you have to promise not to abandon me again regardless of any reason. You are not me, so you don’t know that I feel most secured and happiest only when staying together with you. I can’t live a peaceful or good life without you.”

Leng Changxi held her tighter and nodded. “I promise.”

Then, Qin Yunuan told him that she actually learned to defeat monkeys with a flute from an ancient book. The flute should be the one made of the specially selected natural jade and should have been played every day for over a decade. Because only by doing so would the flute and the player become a united entity. It was not easy for Qin Yunuan to find one of such flutes. She pleased Bai Shishi to buy one at a high price from an old eunuch in the palace. The old eunuch had cried for long after selling his flute. But he had no choice, because it was the Crown Princess who wanted it.

Suddenly, they heard a noise from the other side. Holding Qin Yunuan’s hand, Leng Changxi led her to where the sound came from. They found some soldiers in black armor tied up a bunch of wild monkeys with cowhide ropes. These screaming monkeys hadn’t learned how to mimic human cries, so they were just ordinary monkeys.

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“What’s wrong?” Leng Changxi asked Tuoba Wuyu, the chief of soldiers in black armor. He was a distant relative of the empress, so he could be regarded as a royal family member. He managed to become the chief in charge of 200,000 soldiers in black armor after winning various competitions including martial arts ones. He was unwilling to take orders from a Qi General out of nowhere. Besides, he was taller than Leng Changxi and very strong with one arm thicker than Qin Yunuan’s leg. Therefore, he didn’t treat Leng Changxi politely.

“General Leng, you are so smart. I don’t have to tell you the answer, and you can guess it, right?” Tuoba Wuyu was rude.

Qin Yunuan became slightly worried. As she expected, some soldiers were already unwilling to obey Leng Changxi because of his impetuous decision of walking into the valley.

Leng Changxi didn’t say anything. At this time, Leng Wu, who pried into information, came back and reported, “General, these soldiers followed remaining monkeys, after killing most, to their nest, and brought some young monkeys back. How should we deal with these monkeys?”

“Kill them all, of course.” Tuoba Wuyu sounded undoubted. “These monsters are neither animals nor humans. Who knows whether they will hurt other people later? Killing them is actually helping residents.”

“Don’t make hasty decisions,” Qin Yunuan cut in. Then, she explained slowly, “All species exist for some reasons. The number of these wild monkeys has soared these years, and I assume some people have helped with this. Maybe someone deliberately helps monkeys to reproduce and train them to prevent us from going to Qi through the valley. But I’m afraid that directly killing all monkeys will do no good to others or us.”

“Ho, who’re you? An official His Majesty newly appointed? But I haven’t heard about that West Xia has a female official.” Tuoba Wuyu looked down on Leng Changxi and even more disdained Qin Yunuan, a thin and weak woman who suddenly expressed her opinions.

Leng Changxi cupped his hands and said, “She’s my wife. Sorry for her interruption, but what she said makes sense. Take a look at those thorns and trees that were cut down. When we just went into this valley, we saw monkeys planted trees, right? So I think, without these animals which help the ecological balance in the valley, it wouldn’t be as beautiful as now. Moreover, these monkeys are young and don’t know how to cheat humans. Why should we…”

“Soldiers, kill them!” Tuoba Wuyu was not convinced by Leng Changxi at all and directly ordered his men to kill monkeys.

Soldiers in black armor acted swiftly. Soon, many monkeys were killed. Leng Changxi exchanged glances with Leng Wu and Leng Shuang. The latter two stepped forward at once and wielded their weapons to stop machetes that were aimed at monkeys. So did Yuanyang, who whipped away the spear of one soldier.

“General Leng, what do you mean?” Tuoba Wuyu put the stress on “you”. He sounded respectful but, in fact, was questioning Leng Changxi.

“We can leave the valley safely now, so we don’t need to waste energy on such a trivial thing. We’ve already wasted much time here, and we’d better speed up now.”

Hearing Leng Changxi’s explanation and advice, Tuoba Wuyu just kept his chin up and simply answered, “I just love to waste time. So what? General Leng, His Majesty grants you a title just because he feels pity for you, an underdog from Qi. I don’t believe in any legend that praises you as an invincible God of War in Qi. Besides, as Mrs. Leng mentioned, someone may deliberately train these monsters to prevent us from going to Qi. So who would do so? That prince who usurps Qi, of course. To conclude, this is a fight between you and him, both Qi people. So why do you drag us into it to take sufferings? I don’t like these monsters, and I just want to kill them. So what? You hate this? Well, if so, let’s have a fight. If you win, I will listen to you afterwards.”

Speaking of this, Tuoba Wuyu tilted his head proudly and looked around. Seeing all people listened to him carefully, he felt more confident. “But if I win, it’s up to me how to march or fight. Besides, when I lead my soldiers to break into Qi’s capital, you have to induce defenders there to surrender and open the gate to welcome me. Deal?”

That was undoubtedly humiliating for a country. No matter how close West Xia and Qi were, neither of them would like to open their capital gate to welcome people from another country. Leng Changxi turned around a bit and said to Tuoba Wuyu, “Deal. But I’m afraid…”

“Afraid?” Tuoba Wuyu was an outstanding martial artist among soldiers in black armor, so he always talked to others and also acted in an arrogant way. “See, he is the so-called God of War in Qi. He should feel afraid before fighting.”

“I don’t mean that,” Leng Changxi sounded cold. “I’m afraid you will feel embarrassed after your fiasco.”

This irritated Tuoba Wuyu immediately. He aggressively wielded his two axes, each one of which weighed 50 kilograms and was very sharp. He shouted at Leng Changxi impolitely, “If I don’t cut you into pieces, I’ll change my surname to Leng.”

Leng Changxi pushed Qin Yunuan away. West Xia respected skilled and strong people. So defeating Tuoba Wuyu might be the best way to earn these soldiers’ trust.

“Leng Wuyu? It sounds not good.” Leng Changxi kept provoking Tuoba Wuyu. The latter was so angry that he wielded and aimed his axes at Leng Changxi.