Chapter 317
Chapter 317
"Fairy, please come in. I've had a bold idea."
At Shen Lang's words, Shen Thirteen and Huang Feng instinctively put some distance between themselves and the carriage, giving Big Dummy a knowing look. Huang Feng had, on two occasions, witnessed the scumbag Shen Lang openly sleeping with the goddess Jin Mulan in the carriage. Last time it was the goddess Mulan; she couldn't believe this time it would be the Divine Maiden Xue Yin. If Shen Lang knew what she was thinking, he would surely force her to wear a special pair of underpants made of thousand-year-old cold iron, condemning her to die a spinster.
* * *
As Xue Yin entered the carriage, the air instantly filled with an elegant and captivating fragrance. It wasn't the intoxicatingly rich scent of before, but it was enough to make one feel relaxed and refreshed.
"Fairy, have there been any changes to your martial arts since you were poisoned by the parasitic venom of Mount Fudao?"
Divine Maiden Xue Yin nodded.
"There have been. My internal energy and sword energy now paralyze my opponents."
Not only that, but just by being near her and smelling her fragrance, Shen Lang felt his head grow fuzzy as if he were drunk.
"In a way, this parasitic venom in your body has actually increased your combat prowess. It was entirely unexpected."
Divine Maiden Xue Yin nodded.
"In fact, that's not all. It has also preserved my youth for the past twenty years."
"Your aging stopped?"
"I entered the sect earlier than Zhong Chuke, so although I am younger than him, I became his senior sister. But even so, I am not young. Yet, since I was poisoned by the Gu venom of Mount Fudao seventeen years ago, my appearance has not changed."
Shen Lang couldn't help but lift the bottle containing hundreds of millions of the parasites.
"Look at this. This bottle is filled with your blood. It was originally all red, but now it has turned gold. What does this signify?"
"It means the parasites have devoured the essence of the Golden Bloodline, then modified and secreted it."
"My guess is that the reason your body was frozen is that these creatures continuously secrete some kind of neurotoxin. However, the parasites don't produce the neurotoxin on their own; they ingest something, digest it within their bodies, and then convert it into a neurotoxin to be secreted."
Shen Lang's theory was too bold and complex. Divine Maiden Xue Yin couldn't venture an opinion. Soon, Shen Lang proposed a very daring hypothesis. This bottle originally contained only a single drop of the Golden Bloodline's essence, but after hundreds of millions of parasites entered and modified it, all the crimson blood in the bottle turned gold—albeit a paler gold than the essence extracted from Big Dummy's blood.
Could it be that the parasites desperately consumed the essence of the Golden Bloodline and then secreted a larger quantity of a lower-grade bloodline essence? If so, could Shen Lang eliminate the neurotoxins from these parasites and use them to alter a person's innate bloodline? Even if he couldn't turn that person into someone with a Golden Bloodline, could he perhaps create someone with a slightly lower-grade bloodline?
This world was incredibly cruel when it came to martial arts. Without an innate bloodline, one could practice for a lifetime and never become a true master. Of course, Shen Lang's hypothesis sounded utterly insane, completely subverting all existing conventional wisdom. It was like the birth of Dolly, the first cloned sheep, on modern Earth.
*To think that a person's innate bloodline could be modified? Is he mad?*
For Shen Lang, this was a process of studying chemistry and biology. For now, however, it was merely imagination. There was still a long way to go before Shen Lang's idea could succeed. At the very least, he still didn't know for certain what these parasites were, nor did he understand their principles. But one thing was clear: these creatures had had some effect while inside Divine Maiden Xue Yin's body.
"Shen Lang, your idea is so bold and astonishing that I would never have dared to imagine it. I believe all things are determined by heaven and can never be changed by human strength. But perhaps, thinking this way is what makes you who you are. The wise use their minds, they say, to make all men their servants."
Shen Lang imagined how incredible it would be if his plan succeeded. The innate bloodline grades of the people around him would soar. The innate talent of the Jedi in *Star Wars* depended entirely on the number of microorganisms called midichlorians in their blood. However, the day Shen Lang's plan might succeed still seemed far off.
"Fairy, is there any martial art that someone with no foundation like me could learn? For example, something like the Wave-Walking Steps, the ultimate lightness skill from *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils*, or the Hundred Transformations Divine Walk from *The Deer and the Cauldron*?"
"You mean a lightness skill?"
Shen Lang blushed with embarrassment.
"The Fairy is indeed wise."
"Such skills exist, but they, too, require long years of training to accumulate internal energy. Without internal energy, learning a lightness skill is of little use; it would be no different from simply running and jumping around."
Shen Lang was a little displeased by Divine Maiden Xue Yin's assertion.
*Why not? If a scoundrel like Wei Xiaobao—the protagonist of Jin Yong's novel, *The Deer and the Cauldron*—could learn it, why can't I?*
Divine Maiden Xue Yin comforted him in a gentle voice.
"A wise person uses their mind, not their body..."
*That's enough. You can stop with that line, Fairy.*
The first time he heard it, Shen Lang had even felt proud. But after hearing it several times, it started to sound like, "You're very handsome, but you have no skills, so you can't come work at our company." Just then, the fine hairs on Xue Yin's snow-white body suddenly stood on end, and a powerful surge of internal energy erupted from her, enveloping Shen Lang. Huang Feng and Shen Thirteen quickly rushed to stand guard on Shen Lang's left.
*Feng, since you at least have a conscience, I won't have those iron panties made for you.*
Shen Thirteen shouted urgently.
"My lord, we have enemies!"
Shen Lang had also sensed the intruders.
*Thump, thump, thump.*
The thunderous sound of horse hooves seemed to shake the very heavens and earth. Their path, both ahead and behind, was completely blocked. The hills on both sides were also filled with the sound of hooves. They were surrounded from all directions. Shen Lang opened the carriage window and saw that the entire mountain valley was teeming with mounted bandits as far as the eye could see. There were so many that they looked like a black mass, impossible to count.
This area was beyond the Su Clan's territory, already within the borders of Baiye Prefecture in Tianxi Province. But for so many mounted bandits to appear here? Three thousand? Five thousand? And every single one of them was on horseback? The combined forces of the army stationed in Baiye Prefecture wouldn't even amount to this number. Even all the cavalry in the Tianxi Provincial Commandery probably didn't exceed five thousand.
Most of the cavalry in the western part of the State of Yue was concentrated in the Grand Protectorate of Zhenxi, making Tianxi Province, in some ways, more important than Tiannan Province. However, the highest-ranking officer in Tianxi Province was not a Grand Protector but a Central Protector, a rank higher than the Junior Protector of Yanzhou. Although provincial protectors were all called protectors regardless of their rank—senior, central, or junior—the Protector of Tianxi and Zhu Rong, the Protector of Tiannan, could not be mentioned in the same breath. This was because the true Grand Protector of the entire Tianxi Province was one man: the Marquis of Zhenxi, Zhong Yao, stationed at the Grand Protectorate of Zhenxi.
Bian Wu, the Duke of Weiwu, held the position of Grand Guardian to the Crown Prince. The Marquis of Zhenxi, Zhong Yao, was originally supposed to be appointed Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, but because he supported the Third Prince, he was given the title of Grand Marshal instead. It was a truly awkward appointment for the King. The title of Grand Marshal had been defunct for many years, yet it was brought back into use. Since Bian Wu was the Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs, Zhong Yao did not enter the Bureau, instead having his younger brother, Zhong E, enter as Deputy Commissioner. In any case, wherever these two men, Bian Wu and Zhong Yao, went, they were always conscious of and compared to each other.
But back to the matter at hand! There were two major powers in the entire Tianxi Province: the Marquis of Zhenxi, Zhong Yao, and the Marquis Zhenyuan, Su Nan. Because of these two, the authority of the Tianxi Protector was naturally weakened. And it was this complex situation that allowed such a large band of mounted bandits to appear in this area. Ha, but mounted bandits? Who would believe they were mere bandits? The largest bandit group in the eastern State of Yue, led by Gou Duhuan, didn't even number a thousand men, even at their peak. But this Three-Eyed Crow commanded a force of four or five thousand cavalrymen. Who would believe such a ridiculous story?
Atop a nearby mountain peak was a cliff, sheer as if carved by a knife. A man on horseback stood at the very edge, looking as if he might leap off at any moment. With one hand on the reins, he reared his steed, bringing it to a halt right at the precipice. The man wore golden armor and a black iron helmet, upon which a third eye was painted on the forehead. This must be the great bandit, Three-Eyed Crow. Shen Lang extended a hand and waved.
"Hello there?"
Of course, given the distance between them, it was unlikely that Three-Eyed Crow heard him.
"Hah, hah, wooo!"
The thousands of mounted bandits began to roar, a sound that could chill one to the bone. They had completely surrounded Shen Lang's small delegation of just a hundred men. The man before Shen Lang was the one who had captured citizens of Yue and sold them as slaves to the State of Qiang. Of course, his business likely didn't end with the slave trade. Su Nan was said to nominally possess a fief of three thousand square kilometers and five thousand private soldiers? That was all a lie.
"What are you stopping for? Keep moving forward!"
At Shen Lang's command, his hundred warriors, though trembling, advanced. On the cliff, Three-Eyed Crow stared intently at Shen Lang. With a single order, he could have all of Shen Lang's men slaughtered. The very air around them seemed to freeze solid. But he made no move, and Shen Lang's delegation passed through the mountain valley.
Just then, Three-Eyed Crow suddenly pointed at Shen Lang and made a throat-slitting gesture. It would be impolite not to return a gift, so Shen Lang stepped out of the carriage, faced the thousands of mounted bandits, and made a crotch-thrusting gesture. Its meaning was clear: *I'll sleep with every one of your mothers.* At that moment, all of Shen Lang's warriors averted their eyes. It was truly a sight they couldn't bear to watch.
Three-Eyed Crow stared at Shen Lang with a cold gaze and gave his men a wave of his hand. In an instant, the vast horde of mounted bandits retreated like a receding tide, vanishing without a trace in a matter of moments.
* * *
Shen Lang's party passed through Baiye Prefecture and entered Manshan Prefecture, where they decided to stay at the official post station. However, there were no officials at the station to greet them; even the station manager seemed to have disappeared. This reality served as a constant reminder to Shen Lang that this was Su Nan's base of operations, thoroughly managed by the Su Clan for a long time. Most of the slaves from Yue who had been in the State of Qiang had been captured in Manshan Prefecture. It was likely that nearly all the officials in Manshan Prefecture were corrupt.
Shen Lang's delegation surrounded the entire post station. Since no servants had accompanied them, and Huang Feng was the only woman under his command, Shen Lang had no choice but to accept her service, much to his displeasure. The two truly couldn't stand the sight of each other. Shen Lang disliked her because she was unattractive and did nothing to please his eyes or his heart, while Huang Feng disliked him for being a scumbag.