"How did the conversation go between His Majesty and Elder Xue?"
The Seventh Prince burst into laughter, "Fine. If I successfully marry the princess from the Central Plains, I will have to seek him out to trade in food and animal skins, and manage my own great tent. I even want to marry directly into their family by taking their daughter!"
"Unfortunately, they also have a granddaughter, but she is still too young, about the same age as my eldest daughter."
"I still prefer mature and plump women!"
Breaking Army laughed lightly, "After all, what you like is your current queen mother."
This queen mother was originally the reason Breaking Army survived under the Seventh Prince’s blade, but at this moment, the prince suddenly burst into laughter again, mounted his horse, raised his eyebrows and said, "No, sir, what I want now is no longer that queen mother."
"I think, the only beauty that can truly make me willingly give everything is my homeland, the grassland itself, she is the greatest beauty. I am willing to dedicate everything to her!"
"What I want are the vast horse pastures of the Western Regions, my own great tent, the sky blue, clouds white, heroes from all over the grasslands kneeling before me. Our horse head fiddles can spread across the world, people will speak my name, mentioning it alongside Tuyuhun and the greatest monarch of the Central Plains, the Red Emperor."
"You will all be part of epic legends!"
Behind him, flames flickered in the eyes of the Turkic warriors of the grassland.
They solemnly saluted.
Then, the Seventh Prince pulled the reins, leading these iron warriors of the grasslands away. Watching the prince, who now possessed a more powerful and truly heroic air than before, Breaking Army muttered to himself, "...Has he transformed?"
"Is it because he saw the heroic figures of this world, or because he saw the luxury of Emperor Chen, or perhaps both?"
"This chaotic age, it’s truly fascinating."
In his time, he had seen the powerful yet arrogant Divine General Yuwen Lie, the majestic yet calculating Emperor Chen, a transformed hero from the Turkic tribes, a carefree and spirited young Khan of the Tiele, and the hidden White Tiger Sect of the Xue Family in Jiangnan.
Sitting in the carriage, he suddenly thought of something and tapped on the wall of the carriage.
"Li Guanyi and I have made arrangements."
"Later, I need to see him again. Will His Majesty come?"
This time, the vigilance of the Seventh Prince greatly decreased, and he readily said, "The gentleman is always welcome; if I am free, I will also come. However, the grand sacrifice is just over ten days away, and there are many places to visit, so I might not be able to accompany the gentleman every time, please don’t blame me!"
Breaking Army smiled and nodded.
Old folks, this time, I found him.
Before Shaking Light got ahead.
And, we got along quite well, no, extremely well!
Although it was not love at first sight between monarch and servant.
I saw his elegance, he knew my ambition.
In the following two days, things at the Xue Family were calm. Li Guanyi spent every day traveling between the Xue Family and the Taoist Temple, studying the Four Symbols Sealing Spirit Formation and the Imperial Pole Worldly Scripture, having a splitting headache, but time passed quickly, and tomorrow was the day to report to the Imperial Guard.
It was late at night.
Li Guanyi, staring at two dark circles under his eyes, placed strong tea beside him, leafing through the classics and the "Imperial Pole Worldly Scripture", this young man commended by Breaking Army was putting in the effort as if cramming for the college entrance exams, crazily catching up on lessons.
There were still sixteen variations of the Formation Map, a pace even Zu Wenyuan marveled at.
But still, it wasn’t enough!
He wanted to exert all his strength, to make contact with the Qilin without affecting the Xue Family or involving his Aunt.
So mastering the formation maps was a must.
Sixteen formation maps.
A cup of tea, a lamp.
Hoping for a miracle.
Golden Muscle and Jade Bone, Dragon Veins and Tiger Marrow, Li Guanyi felt that staying up all night wasn’t a problem.
The youth took a sip of strong tea, and for the sake of achieving his goal, continued to work on the formation maps into the fourth hour, when suddenly, Li Guanyi heard footsteps. He paused slightly and, holding a scroll, paced out to lift his gaze.
He saw at the corner of the wall, a young girl standing firm against the wind.
Under the moonlight, dressed in simple clothes with a hood, her silver hair slightly lifted at the temples.
As if in the next second, she might leave with the wind and moonlight.
Li Guanyi said, "Shaking Light?"
She bent down, patted the dust that had clung to her knees from climbing the wall.
Then she reached out, took off her hood, her silver hair wafting in the wind, her expression and voice as tranquil as flowing water, quietly said, "The stars brought your message, the starlight told me, you seem to have encountered some difficulty."