Chapter 683
Chapter 683
Mulan quickly made her decision.
“My apologies, King of Great Nan. My skills were lacking, and I fell into your trap, but I will not surrender!”
King Jun's expression turned pained.
“You won't surrender? Does that mean you won't be taken prisoner either?”
“That is correct.”
King Jun spoke with even greater anguish.
“If I harm you, Shen Lang will not rest until one of us is dead!”
“I will neither surrender nor be taken prisoner.”
King Jun took a deep breath.
“Then I understand. I respect your choice! I do not wish to become Shen Lang's mortal enemy, but if heaven wills it so, then I have no choice.”
He was reluctant to make an enemy of Shen Lang, but he was not afraid to do so.
“Sister-in-law, I will ensure this ends in a way that best preserves your dignity. Charge!”
At King Jun's command, three large forces charged forward frenziedly. The eight thousand soldiers under King Jun were the slowest, while the Hyena Legion was the fastest, darting out like lightning. Mulan quickly issued her own command.
“Second Nirvana Army, about-face! Break through the encirclement to the south at full speed!”
Hearing this, King Jun and Queen Saman were slightly taken aback. They couldn't understand her decision.
‘Why break through to the south? That's where the thousands of hyenas are—the most vicious and formidable of our forces.’
The hyenas were not large, but they were fast, making it difficult for even the Second Nirvana Army to shoot them all down. Moreover, if the pack of hyenas swarmed them, even soldiers in chainmail would surely die the moment their necks were bitten. A hyena's jaw strength was enough to snap a soldier's cervical spine.
Following Mulan's order, each soldier of the Second Nirvana Army, carrying two quivers on their backs, sprinted madly to the south. It was an act that required immense courage. Confronting a pack of hyenas head-on was no different from courting death. But this was the Second Nirvana Army. They obeyed any command and knew no fear. Once an order was given, they would not hesitate to climb a mountain of knives or plunge into a sea of fire.
“Kuaaah!”
Nearly three thousand soldiers of the Second Nirvana Army closed in on the thousands of hyenas. The hyenas' eyes grew increasingly savage; they drooled profusely, baring their saw-like teeth. They intended to slaughter the enemies before them for a meal of flesh. The distance between the two sides shrank rapidly. King Jun narrowed his eyes, waiting for the incomparably bloody scene to unfold.
‘What a waste. For Shen Lang's elite Second Nirvana Army to die by the teeth of those hyenas.’
Soon, the Nirvana Army and the hyena pack were about to clash violently. Just then, Jin Mulan suddenly let out a clear, sonorous cry. It sounded like a mystical syllable, as if she were chanting a primeval melody. Mulan's beautiful eyes shone with unparalleled brightness, and a strange aura emanated from her graceful body.
*Boom!*
The aura of an ancient human burst from her body, sweeping across the surroundings. In that instant, the hyena pack seemed to sense a familiar, primeval aura—one that inspired unparalleled awe and fear. It awakened memories etched into the deepest recesses of their genes. Instantly, the pack of hyenas split apart, fleeing frantically to either side as if desperately trying to avoid Mulan's aura and the Nirvana Army behind her. It was a completely unexpected turn of events. A hundred shamans of the Saman tribe desperately tried to control them, even striking the alpha hyenas of their respective packs.
“Kuaaak!”
An alpha hyena went berserk, struggling frantically to break free from its leash. It opened its mouth and bit down hard with its sharp teeth, instantly severing the Saman shaman's neck. The alpha hyena had killed its master. This tribe was the Saman, who had been taming and commanding hyenas for hundreds of years. They would take the strongest hyena pups, raise them with the finest meat, herbs, and everything else, then force them to fight and kill each other until only one in ten survived. Then, the shamans would punish, beat, and control the hyenas with drugs. Once that hyena became the strongest, it would be used to command the rest of the wild hyena packs.
Of course, this was just a brief explanation; the training process was far more mystical and detailed. An alpha hyena raised this way would never kill its master. Their limited intelligence still understood that their masters were fearsome and inviolable, a memory carved into their very bones through constant punishment and reward from pup to adulthood.
Yet, to escape Mulan's terrifying aura, an alpha hyena had killed its master in a single bite. This alone showed that the hyenas' fear of Mulan far surpassed their fear of their masters. And so, thousands of hyenas scattered in all directions, like a wave crashing against a reef.
“Halt!”
At King Jun's command, the eight-thousand-strong army to the east stopped in its tracks, and the several hundred soldiers of the Elephant Corps to the west also halted. They had no choice but to stop. If the two armies continued to charge while the hyenas were in a frenzy, they risked colliding with the packs and creating a situation where their own forces would kill each other. In the blink of an eye, Mulan led the Second Nirvana Army into the southern jungle and vanished without a trace, fleeing at lightning speed without a moment's pause. King Jun and Queen Saman were both stunned by the sight.
‘How could this happen! Is Jin Mulan that incredible? To be able to repel thousands of hyenas? We had her completely surrounded, yet in the blink of an eye, she escaped with her life.’
* * *
Inside the royal residence of the Southern Border Capital.
“How did this happen?”
In response to King Jun's question, the Saman shaman who trained the alpha hyenas replied.
“A moment ago, Jin Mulan emanated an incredibly mystical and powerful aura from her body. It was similar to the aura of an ancient human.”
“I've heard that Wu Daozi of Mount Fudao possesses a mystical ability to control countless venomous snakes and butterflies. Does Jin Mulan have a similar power?”
The shaman answered.
“No. The aura emanating from Jin Mulan is purely the power of her bloodline. Your Majesty has read the ancient records, so you must know that in ancient times, a very powerful people lived on this land. They built cities atop great trees, had long, slender limbs, and traversed jungles and mountains as if they were flat ground. Furthermore, they were natural-born marksmen, the absolute kings of the jungle. In the jungle, any venomous snake or ferocious beast would retreat and make way upon seeing them.”
King Jun nodded.
“Those hyenas still possess ancient memories, which is why they were so startled by Jin Mulan and retreated.”
Queen Saman continued.
“Shen Lang once helped Mount Fudao open an ancient ruin on the sea. He obtained Marrow Cleansing Essence there and used it on his wife.”
It seemed there were truly no secrets in this world.
“Then that must be it. The ancient ruin on Black Stone Island must belong to the Great Chi Empire. What a truly incredible stroke of fortune. Jin Mulan is truly remarkable…”
Before he could finish, King Jun quickly shut his mouth. Because his wife was giving him a very unfriendly look.
‘Praising another woman in front of me? Sa Gung, do you think I'm that magnanimous of a woman?’
King Jun frowned. Since Jin Mulan had broken through the encirclement with the Second Nirvana Army, his plan had failed. If he had captured Jin Mulan and the Second Nirvana Army, Shen Lang would have admitted defeat without a second thought. The man was a person of great principle; if faced with a choice between the State of Yue and his wife, he would choose his wife without a moment's hesitation.
Now things had become troublesome. After so much thought and effort, he had failed to capture the Second Nirvana Army. Moreover, the situation could now be considered even more dangerous. To think that the one leading the Second Nirvana Army to attack the Southern Border Capital was not Shen Lang, but Jin Mulan. What did this mean? It meant Shen Lang had gone somewhere else. He would never just defend Yangguo City while surrounded. The battle where he defeated Su Nan was merely to buy time. So where had Shen Lang gone?
King Jun walked over to the map and quickly searched for potential targets Shen Lang might attack. Besides the Southern Border Capital, what other target held strategic value? What was so valuable that it even surpassed strategic importance? Soon, King Jun's gaze fell upon a certain place, and he held his breath. The capital of the Great Nan Kingdom—the place where King Jun had ascended the throne, his homeland, his very lifeline. The current Southern Border Capital was only a temporary capital. The Great Nan Capital was his true base of power within the Saman territory.
‘It can't be, can it? Shen Lang wouldn't do something that insane, would he?’
King Jun's head throbbed. To reach the Great Nan Kingdom, one had to cross countless mountains and rivers, marching for thousands of miles. Furthermore, it was located deep within mountains and primeval jungles; one could not imagine how many mountains, rivers, and jungles had to be traversed to get there. Attacking the Southern Border Capital was already an astounding plan, but attacking the Great Nan Capital was utterly insane.
But King Jun was instantly certain that Shen Lang's target was the Great Nan Capital. King Jun's other wives and children, Su Nan's children, and the families of every important figure in the Great Nan Kingdom were all in the Great Nan Capital. The Great Nan Capital sounded imposing, but it was actually a very small city, with defenses inferior even to the Southern Border Capital.
If the Great Nan Capital fell, all the key figures of the Great Nan Kingdom would fall into Shen Lang's hands. Could King Jun remain ruthless to the end and let them all die? That was impossible. It wasn't worth going that far just for the State of Yue. This wasn't a time when the very survival of the Great Nan Kingdom was at stake, and Shen Lang's goal wasn't to destroy the Great Nan Kingdom, but only to save the State of Yue. If Shen Lang captured the Great Nan Capital, King Jun would be left with only one option: a truce with the State of Yue and a withdrawal of his forces.
“Shen Lang is truly a madman. A complete and utter madman. He's gone to attack our true homeland.”
Hearing this, Queen Saman was flustered and at a loss.
“Our children, our children are at home.”
“You can rest assured on that. I have a tacit agreement with him. Since I did not harm his wife, he will not harm our children. Besides, I have made preparations. However, I did so with a mind for preparedness, never expecting this man to be this insane. To actually go and attack our homeland.”
Queen Saman asked.
“Then what do we do now?”
“We wait. And then, we shall see just how ruthless Shen Lang truly is!”
* * *
Did Shen Lang really go to attack the Great Nan Capital as King Jun predicted? Yes. The madman was indeed heading there. The contest between Shen Lang and King Jun had begun even before the battle for the Southern Border Kingdom started. According to Shen Lang's plan, after the State of Yue was defeated in the Southern Border Kingdom, the Marquis of Xuanwu's Estate and Yangguo City would block King Jun's northbound army, buying him precious time. Then, he would lead the Second Nirvana Army across the sea to launch a surprise attack on the Southern Border Capital. That was Shen Lang's original plan, but he soon abandoned it. He had judged that King Jun would surely see through the plan and lay an inescapable net there.
Moreover, he had never even mentioned this plan to Mulan. He was afraid that if he spoke of it, Mulan would remember and lead the Second Nirvana Army to attack the Southern Border Capital herself. He sincerely wanted to save the State of Yue, but he would never let his wife take such a risk. And yet, even though he had never said a word, Mulan ended up acting exactly as Shen Lang had first intended. It was a good thing Shen Lang didn't know about this yet; if he did, he would be beside himself with extreme anxiety. He had underestimated his beloved wife. He thought she would obediently stay at home as he had told her, never imagining that Mulan would try to share his burdens for his sake.