Book 12: Chapter 24: Do Not Forget My Identity
Organized and numerous iron hoof noises sounded in Rudong City. Seven hundred black-armored soldiers whose bodies gave off an iron-blooded aura that could only be obtained from experiencing countless battles advanced through the city’s main street with grave and stern expressions.
At the center of the troop were more than ten large and heavy carriages.
This troop of Gu Yunjing who completely had the power to kill a State Master level cultivator head-on, after crossing the detour that took a larger half of a day, finally arrived at Rudong City when it became dusk.
Since the battle situations in the front lines were tense, the amount of troops that came and went through Rudong City was quite great. That was why when Yunqin’s civilians saw this troop whose auras seemed to be rather extraordinary, they only released exclaims of admiration. None of them knew that the one who was within a carriage in the center of this fleet was precisely the Young Sir Lin who all of them admired greatly.
There were some officials who understood clearly that this army was for escorting Lin Xi here. However, because of various reasons, these officials all pretended like they didn’t know, thus making this troop’s advance seem a bit inharmonious and cold.
“Let’s all relax a bit.”
As the carriage moved up and down, Lin Xi sized up Rudong City’s buildings and scenery through the gap between the curtains. When he saw that Yuan Tianyu and the others were still on alert around his carriage, he revealed a faint smile and said this.
If it was any other esteemed guest who spoke these types of words, Yuan Tianyu would instead feel the opposite. It was because for an officer like him who was already extremely experienced, the degree of danger from the sides of the alleys was the same as mountain cliffs next to a valley path. However, the one who spoke was Lin Xi, so after Yuan Tianyu’s brows furrowed slightly, his body really did relax, actually giving the soldiers around him a military order, “Alright, there aren’t any problems… everyone can relax a bit.”
While this Yunqin troop escorting Lin Xi headed straight toward the city’s military division, in the distant Tangcang Ancient Country, a Tancang fleet advanced through a half sand covered wasteland surrounded by black trees, and then entered a valley filled with many ancient towers.
This valley was where Tangcang’s most powerful Divine Elephant Army was stationed. There should be extremely massive bodies everywhere.
The mysterious and powerful Divine Elephant Army was an extremely special troop in Tangcang. It was rumored that it was originally established by some ascetic monks to protect the country. Even after all these years, the earlier traditions were still kept. The white divine elephants’ nurturing and training methods weren’t leaked out, all of the war elephants purely raised and trained by the Divine Elephant Army themselves. Apart from the Divine Elephant Army, no other places in Tangcang had these White Divine Elephants who weren’t scared of flames and possessed great power that exceeded ordinary fiend beasts, their thick skin something not even arrows could penetrate.
Moreover, the Divine Elephant Army’s unique White Divine Elephants, compared to Tangcang’s other species of elephants, their most distinguished feature was that they possessed great endurance. They could chew through many types of thistles and thorns like plants to replenish water. They wouldn’t experience organ failure and die even if they didn’t drink water for a long time.
The Divine Elephant Army’s soldiers were chosen by the Divine Elephant Army, and then granted titles by Tangcang’s Imperial Palace.
The original Divine Elephant Army was like an independent Imperial Court consecrated army.
However, there were no things that never changed. This generation of Divine Elephant Army, for some reason, chose to remain loyal to Tangcang’s imperial uncle Xiao Xiang. Moreover, after Tangcang’s imperial uncle Xiao Xiang was killed by Gu Xinyin and Yun Hai, they still continued to remain outside of Tangcang Imperial Palace’s jurisdiction. When faced with Emperor Feng Xuan’s repeated summoning, they still maintained an uncommunicative stance.
Even though the country didn’t wish to give up on this type of extremely powerful army, didn’t wish to completely expunge it in the river of history, because of their strength that was enough to threaten the entire empire,Tangcang’s Imperial Palace’s patience also already reached their limit. Right now, this Tangcang Troop that was headed towards the Divine Elephant Army was precisely acting under Emperor Feng Xuan’s will, to deliver the Divine Elephant Army the final diplomatic note.
If the Divine Elephant Army still continued to hold onto their previous attitude, then Tangcang Imperial Palace would give the Divine Elephant Army two choices. One was to hand over all of the divine elephants, and then all of the soldiers would remove their armor and return to a civilian life. The other choice was complete extermination, for this Divine Elephant Army to be thus erased from Tangcang.
The massive Yunqin Empire, while under Changsun Jinse’s rule, was always a great threat against Tangcang. Emperor Feng Xuan and Tangcang Imperial Court’s wise subjects didn’t feel that with Tangcang Imperial Palace, Sanskrit Temple and Green Luan Academy cooperating, everything would be fine.
That was why only when Yunqin Empire and Great Mang began a great war, had no time to tend to Tangcang, was it the best time to deal with the Divine Elephant Army.
However, the expressions of these Tangcang soldiers who came carrying Tangcang Emperor’s decree all changed.
It was because this valley was completely empty.
The mysterious and powerful Divine Elephant Army seemed to have evaporated like dewdrops in the early morning without Tangcang military noticing it, disappearing without a trace, unknown where they went.
Only the large piles of dried wood paste-like dry elephant excrement next to the giant wooden elephant barns along some rivers made them sure that they didn’t go to the wrong place, that this was indeed where large amounts of White Divine Elephants roamed.
…
Qiu Mochi who was dressed in a Military Prison uniform stood in front of the doorway steps, watching as Lin Xi walked over along the green tiled road together with six or seven other officials.
While looking at Lin Xi who was dressed in ordinary green clothes, but just happened to match the clean green bricks on the ground well, his brows slowly furrowed. His ice-cold gaze also became even more complicated.
He understood that before Lin Xi appeared in his line of sight, he had already been arranged to meet with Mo Xunhua and the others. Meanwhile, Mo Xunhua and those six Petty Officers were precisely following behind Lin Xi. This meant that Lin Xi already clearly knew what happened, and he should have already seen all of these criminal watching guards that he specially arranged to be here today.
However, what he didn’t expect was that this Lin Xi who was even younger than himself was extremely calm, his gaze clear and deep, impossible for him to see through.
What made him feel the most complicated inside, producing a type of vague unhappiness, was that all in of the people following Lin Xi, Mo Xunhua and the others, some leading officials and even the guards he specially arranged to be here, the expressions with which they looked at Lin Xi with was full of respect that couldn’t be hidden.
The unhappiness he felt inside came from Lin Xi’s pressure of being high up above, from the jealousy he felt inside.
It was because he knew that he might not be able to win those people’s looks of admiration for his entire life, that was why at this moment… it already had nothing to do with the rules of climbing in the royal court, it was because of his own emotions that he already hoped that those achievements of Lin Xi’s were fake.
Lin Xi’s eyes met Qiu Mochi’s.
The people of this world would always use their own imagination principles to guess at his thoughts and feelings.
Only, all of the people who viewed him as their enemy in this world didn’t know how he viewed this world. The so-called life outlook, worldview and system of values were entirely different. Even before he became Deerwood Town’s Lin Xi, he already lost an entire life, and then obtained another one. His attitude was previously just that of a tourist, wishing to see and experience this world’s scenes. After he experienced Jadefall City’s events and experienced pain that couldn’t be described with words, becoming a Sacred Expert and killing Wenren Cangyue became far more important than these random disputes… Meanwhile, after leaving Thousand Sunset Mountain together with Gao Yanan, having her at his side and easing his anxiety, his mentality became calm again. He knew that even if he felt impatient, he still couldn’t change life, that impatience was useless. Since he could even calmly wait out this powerful hatred, some normal stimulations, for him, really weren’t much. Even if he was angry, his mood would still remain absolutely calm.
The more it was like this, the more he could carefully sense some emotions hidden within the depths of the other party’s eyes.
Cough… cough…
Qiu Mochi looked at Lin Xi who walked up to him, quietly releasing two coughs. Then, he smiled, preparing to speak.
“So you are Qiu Mochi?” However, what made his expression sluggish was that Lin Xi instead cut in front of him, directly speaking.
Qiu Mochi looked at Lin Xi for a breath of time. He put away his smile, calmly nodding. “Precisely.”
“I’ve never been fond of wasting words, I like to be a bit more direct.” Lin Xi instead laughed, saying, “There are so many officials here. Apart from you, who else is there who suspects these hundred and fourteen Yunqin soldiers?”
The expression of that round faced official at Qiu Mochi’s side changed slightly.
With only this single sentence, Lin Xi’s level could already be seen. This wasn’t only a muscle brain who only possessed brute force, definitely not someone who only knew how to play small tricks… This sentence wasn’t a question at all, but rather severe criticism.
“How about we continue the discussion inside?” Qiu Mochi calmly and respectfully made an inviting gesture.
“Those who are usually sitting, I fear cannot understand how those standing do things.” Lin Xi said with a smile. “I think we will all remain a bit more clear-headed if we chat while standing.”
Qiu Mochi’s brows furrowed slightly. That round faced official at his side instead couldn’t hold himself back, coldly saying, “Lin Xi, you are not an official. Having this type of attitude in this type of place, don’t you think you are being a bit too disrespectful?!”
Lin Xi released a chuckle. He turned around to look at Mo Xunhua, Yuan Tianyu and the others behind him, indicating for them not to get mad. Then, in a manner that wasn’t too fast or too slow, he turned to look at the round faced official, putting away his smile and saying, “I believe you’ve made an extremely great mistake.”
The round faced official stared blankly, and then said with an overcast voice, “I do not know what your words are implying.”
Lin Xi shook his head and said, “Since you all know who I am, you should know that even though I don’t hold a post in the military, from when I left the border army until now, no one has ever said that my military rank was stripped. This means that by saying I am already no longer an official, are you making this decision in the emperor’s place?”
The round faced official’s expression immediately turned snow-white, knowing that he indeed made an extremely great mistake. His forehead began to pour out cold sweat, but he was at a loss for words, completely speechless.
Qiu Mochi raised his head slightly, saying, “Sir Lin might have misunderstood a bit, we are only…”
“Is that so?” Before he even finished speaking, he was calmly and ruthlessly cut off by Lin Xi.
Qiu Mochi’s brows furrowed deeply, the arms in his sleeves trembling slightly in anger.
“You want proof?” Lin Xi laughed while looking at Gao Yanan at his side, not even looking at him. “Everyone who was at the scene of that event is here. Sir Qiu, do you still need proof?”
Qiu Mochi’s expression became ice-cold. He originally precisely wanted to deal with Lin Xi. Now that Lin Xi was so overbearing, he naturally didn’t want to step back even more. He didn’t look at Lin Xi, raising his head towards the sky and coldly saying, “The events they have narrated are too bizarre, so of course I need proof.”
“In that case, then should we give it a try?” Lin Xi gave him a calm look. “You can remain in a Yunqin army of twenty thousand, stay in a central military tent, and I will try to infiltrate and assassinate you. If I succeed, then that means that it was true, if I fail, then we’ll consider it fake. What do you think?”
Qiu Mochi’s body suddenly went rigid.
The round faced official’s expression changed again, crying out in alarm. “How can this type of method be used to prove this matter? It truly is absurd!”
“Since you all even feel this is absurd,” Lin Xi laughed, “then how it is that even with all of these Yunqin soldiers speaking, together with us, it still isn’t enough proof?”
Qiu Mochi suddenly laughed, because he felt like his own anger was completely unnecessary. On this matter, he felt like he was simply in an invincible position. “Of course, because all of you belong to those who benefit from merit, it only makes sense that they will give similar stories. Sir Lin, you might not know, but each year, our Yunqin’s Military Prison reviews over a hundred similar cases, most of those people also front line soldiers.”
When Qiu Mochi spoke these words, Yuan Tianyu and the others’ expressions all became completely dark. However, Lin Xi instead shook his head. “Are you doubting the characters of both me and these soldiers? Do not forget what kind of status I have.”