CHAPTER 289: CHAPTER 9: THE LORDLESS COUNTY

Lord! Erwang’s face was smeared with snow and ice, his mouth wide open, staring dumbfounded at the young lord who appeared out of nowhere.

The young man behind him wore an amber-green mask on his right face. He was about 1.7 meters tall, scantily clad in a thin leather armor despite the bitterly freezing weather, his figure slender and fitting, lying somewhere between a boy and an adult man.

The exposed half of his left face shone brightly in one’s eyes, his eyebrows brimming with heroic spirit, his nose bridge tall and straight, his smile with a touch of wickedness and a hint of noble elegance, on his shoulders lazily lay a black Dark Beast resembling a house cat.

Seeing the young lord’s appearance, the domineering young man who was about to curse loudly felt his arrogance diminish somewhat.

The hierarchy in the Dragon War Empire was clear-cut; the dignity of Imperial Nobles was not to be violated by commoners, and even among nobles, a Duke, second only to a Prince in the ranks, remained sacred and inviolable, even in bankruptcy.

Considering the disparity in their identities, the domineering youth immediately changed his tone: "You, you are Yue Minzhi."

"Is the name Yue Minzhi something you are worthy to utter?" Yue Jinghua, now dressed as a man, hooked her foot and flipped the domineering youth weighing over 150 pounds onto his back. Once he clumsily rolled over, she stepped on his ribs and ground her foot down hard, causing the domineering young man to cry out in pain.

After more than half a month of continuous travel, Yue Jinghua and the people from Yunhu Commerce finally entered Fengdan County in the early morning. Considering that her Yin Yang Face was too conspicuous, Yue Jinghua simply changed into male clothing, tied her long hair into a man’s bun, had Hong Yao alter her hair color, dyed her skin wheat-colored with Tongyou Tea Seeds, and placed a pair of light brown Peacock Cicada’s wings in her eyes. (Demon Princess Mini-Classroom, the role of the Peacock Cicada has been mentioned earlier by Fu Zi. It is a rare Dark Insect that sheds several pairs of wings in its lifetime, each time changing color. Hong Yao’s sister discovered that the wings could be worn in the eyes to change the pupil color, creating an exceptional physical disguise and potential illusion technique defense.)

As for the mask on her face, it was the assassin mask of Xie San that she reforged with Chaos Green Lotus Fire and slightly altered the style, concealing the demonic patterns on the right half, making him now appear to be nothing more than a dashing seventeen-year-old boy.

With Yue Jinghua’s current disguise, even if she impersonated her brother Yue Min, it wouldn’t invite criticism.

As the northernmost territory on the Dragon War Empire’s map, Fengdan County has been referred to by the Empire’s nobility as unclaimed land ever since the bankruptcy of the Duke Mansion three years ago. The consequence of being unclaimed meant that Fengdan County had no guarded army.

Desolation, boundless desolation – compared to the densely populated and building-filled Shang Kingdom, Fengdan County resembled an empty snow desert.

As Yue Jinghua and others traveled along the road, they found that almost all of Fengdan County’s crops were buried under heavy snow, and the houses along the way had either collapsed or were uninhabited. Fengdan, with an original population of one hundred thousand, was utterly desolate and not a single living person was seen after half a morning of traveling.

Fengdan County, as it is now, reminded Yue Xiaoqi of the Siberian Ice Field she visited in her early years, scarcely inhabited. She began to wonder just how much the Emperor of the Dragon War Empire hated the territory, to bestow such an almost desolate ice field to the meritorious Blood Cherry Duke Mansion.

Besides Yue Jinghua, there was another person who was also shocked by the current situation – that was Hongling.

Hongling’s father, Hong Shan, was the housekeeper at the Duke Mansion; after the bankruptcy, he was assigned to Fengdan County. During these three years, father and daughter had occasional correspondence, and regarding the situation in Fengdan, Hong Shan simply stated that all was as usual. According to Imperial custom, as long as the feudal territory paid its grain taxes in full each year, the territory would be retained.

In the past two years, thanks to Hong Shan’s efforts, the grain taxes had been ample. Logically, Fengdan County should not have been in the state that it currently was, which raised the question: had something unexpected happened to Fengdan County this year?

"No, Yue Minzhi is in the Wohua Imperial City, he’s bankrupt. How could he end up in such a godforsaken place?" the domineering youth, after being doused with a few mouthfuls of ice water, had a moment of clarity despite a brain not much better than a pig’s. The bankrupt Yue Minzhi would not be able to leave the Imperial City on a whim.

"Why do you let the Dark Beasts rampage through Fengdan County, even causing the death of that old man?" Yue Jinghua pressed down on the domineering youth’s shoulder with a palm, and instantly the youth’s left shoulder was completely dislocated, emitting a miserable scream.

"How dare you do this to me, the County Guard Army of Bailu County will not let you off! My father is the deputy commander of the County Guard Army, Wang Wen Chang," the domineering youth yelled, thinking that as long as the person in front of him wasn’t Yue Minzhi, just dropping his father’s name would be enough to scare the other party away.

The few accompanying young men and women upon seeing this let out a series of sharp, ear-piercing cries. Already stimulated by the smell of blood, the foolish beasts drooled stinky saliva and stepped ever closer to Yue Jinghua.

Just as the beasts were about to pounce, the black cat-like Dark Beast perched on Yue Jinghua’s shoulder stretched leisurely, and from its amber pupils, shot out intimidating cold light.

The leopard horde, each half the height of a person, seemed to sense some dangerous aura, trembling on their limbs, and all lay prostrate on the ground, not daring to move.

Inside Mo Xi’s Sea of Consciousness, the Gold Eater Worm spat out, "Little Shanshan, acting cool may attract lightning strikes."

The Sixth-level Flash Cloud Leopard facing a group of low-level Dark Beasts, that was the absolute suppression of superiors over inferiors. The leopard horde shuddered so much that the youths from Bailu County immediately fell silent.

They were all family members of the Bailu County Guard Army, with only average cultivation. Today, taking advantage of the stopped snow, they brought their Dark Beasts out for play, not expecting to come across Master Erwang and his grandson, and on a whim, commanded their beasts to kill for fun.

"You think this is the era of comparing fathers? Nowadays, it’s the fist that counts," with a thump from a kick, the domineering youth’s abdomen caved in, the protective armor on his body looking like crumpled paper in Yue Jinghua’s eyes.

The domineering youth was kicked to the brink of death, vomiting a few mouthfuls of blood. His companions dared not speak more, and immediately picked up the injured youth to leave.

"Come back, a life for a life, you owe him an explanation," Yue Jinghua said coldly.

"What do you want us to do?" The youths from Bailu County looked at each other.

"Leave all your possessions behind, strip and get out of Fengdan County. In the future, if anyone dares to step into Fengdan County again, the outcome..." Yue Jinghua raised his hand, and the black Diao Bao on his shoulder turned into a bolt of lightning, its sharp claws instantly severing the throats of the two Spiritual Leopards that had attacked earlier.

The heads of the Spiritual Leopards rolled on the ground. Such a bloody and brutal scene terrified the youths, who hastily took off their clothing and armor, placed all their belongings aside, and crawled away with urine running down their legs.

Erwang sat on the ground in a daze, mouth agape, "Are you really our Lord?"