Translator: Law Editor: Hitesh
Hmm?
Po, who was sitting on the chariot and had been having a heated discussion with Yu Mu regarding which kind of highly poisonous snake was the most delicious, let out a slight hum. He narrowed his eyes, glancing at those human warriors surrounding the chariot, then smiled and shook his head, closing his eyes and remaining silent.
Man Man leaped up angrily, standing on the top of the chariot, pointing her finger at those warriors and yelled,
Who did you call ‘spoiled brat’?
Man Man was angry, simply because someone had just insulted Ji Hao with their languages, so was Taisi, who too hadn’t really realized how serious the current situation was. He said,
That’s right, it is not good to insult someone like that!
In the meanwhile, Shaosi stood up expressionlessly, looking at the crowd of warriors with a pair of dagger-sharp eyes. No one knew what she and Taisi had learned from Candle Dragon Gui. At this moment, Shaosi’s gaze was like two touchable sharp daggers made from ten-thousand years old black ice, piercing directly into the hearts of those warriors. Those warriors dared not to make eye-contact with her. Instead, they turned their heads around one after another, and even their looks turned a bit unnatural.
Yu Mu and Feng Xing stood up as well. Both of their faces were deeply darkened.
Man Man and Taisi didn’t quite understand what had been happening exactly. However, they had cultivated themselves in Magi Palace for a rather long while, and now they at least could feel that things were a bit complicated than they looked like. These heavily armored warriors were under Ji Hao’s command, which meant, they were all supposed to listen to Ji Hao’s orders. But just now, they had actually insulted Ji Hao. This was not right.
Who said that, get the hell out!
Ji Hao held his hands in behind his body and growled while great, swooshing fire suddenly rose from his Gold Crow fire cloak along with ear-piercing-loud Gold Crow caws. His pair of eyes released zhang-long streams of flame while he looked at those warriors, who were standing in the crowd and had just insulted him.
Those warriors instantly sensed a bone-piercing coldness from inside their hearts, but soon, they all felt a strong sense of shame. They were all warriors who crawled out of the ocean of blood and mountain of corpses in Chi Ban Mountain area, how could they possibly be intimidated by Ji Hao, a teenage little one?
I said that!
That warrior belched, pulling out his long sword hung around his waist, fiercely wielded towards Ji Hao and said,
Ji Hao, you little kid, you get to lead us to escort these bloody lowly things back to Pu Ban city only because Si Wen Ming likes you. You’re not an elder of our Ink Ape Clan, and neither our clan leader. You’re nowhere near a big warrior of our Ink Ape Clan, why the hell you can tell us what to do?
We, our brothers, we earned our credits in Chi Ban Mountain with our swords and blades! Look at these armors and weapons worn by us, we earned these by risking our lives!
Another heavily armored warrior leaped up, pointing his finger at Ji Hao. He laughed wildly and yelled, his mind, like that of others, already burned by alcohol.
After letting out a burp, this warrior pointed at Ji Hao again, laughed and continued,
You bunch of little kids, I assume, you haven’t even laid your eyes on real blood, have you? Ha, why do you think you can trample on us and tell us what to do?
While speaking, he threw a heavy kick on a wheel of the chariot, turned around and grinned to the other warriors from his clan, said,
Look, we have been mounting on our beasts and tossing all the way while they sit on this chariot cozily. Aren’t they getting too comfortable?! Why the hell can they sit on a chariot? Why can they command us?!
The other warrior, who had just killed a huge number of slaves and slave warriors, walked back, bringing back a strong scent of blood. He stood in front of Ji Hao with his chest puffed out and head held high, carelessly swinging his sword to get rid of the blood attached to it.
Ji Hao, boy, in terms of age, we’re all old enough to be your Abba. You kids are young, and you don’t yet understand many things. For these lowly damned things, do not show any mercy to them. If they want to make any trouble, just kill them.
This warrior held his head high and looked down at Ji Hao, sneered and said,
As for you, you will earn your credit as long as you return to Pi Ban city safely…For what will happen during our way back, you don’t understand, so you shall stay out of it!
Ji Hao turned around, glanced at the north. It had been three to five days since they left the Chi Ban Mountain area. These warriors probably felt that they had already left the scope of Si Wen Ming’s influence, and therefore, they exposed those thoughts that had been hidden deeply in their hearts.
Looking at these warriors, whose faces were all glowing red, Ji Hao said in an ice-cold voice,
Since you all have risked your lives and fought for the humankind in Chi Ban Mountain as well…I just want to warn you, these slaves and slave warriors are trophies that belong to everyone. You can punish them appropriately, but do not push it too far.
Obviously, that group of warriors didn’t take Ji Hao’s words seriously. They burst with a loud wave of laughter, then left Ji Hao and the chariot he was sitting on, mounted on their beasts and went away in a scattered fashion.
Ji Hao was speechless. He sat back into his seat, grinned bitterly to his teammates and friends, and said,
Our journey back will not be peaceful. Shaosi, how many are those slaves and slave warriors that we’re now escorting?
Shaosi frowned, took out a piece of leather, glanced quickly at it and began writing something on it with a charcoal pencil.
After blowing away the charcoal powder left by the pencil, Shaosi said in a cold voice,
Eight-thousand, four hundred and thirty-two slave warriors. The number of wives and children of these slave warriors who had been sent over by the non-humankind is thirty-four thousand, five hundred and ninety-three; fifty-three thousand, two hundred and seventy-eight slaves, with thirty-one thousand, four hundred and seventy-seven wives and children. Just now, seventeen slave warriors were killed and five were injured, while five hundred and forty-seven slaves were killed.
Shaosi then glanced at those warriors who had turned around and left while swinging their wineskins, and said in a voice that had turned strangely cold and bland,
Just simply kill a couple of them to display your strength and earn respect. These people won’t have the hearts of awe and veneration, not without suffering.
Man Man looked at Ji Hao while wielding her pair of hammers. By now, she finally figured something out. She realized that these warriors seemed to have great discontentment and malevolence towards Ji Hao and the rest of them. Therefore, she would love to teach those warriors a lesson with her hammers!
Ji Hao remained silent for a while. He leaped up to the thill of the chariot, grabbed the rein and whip, driving the chariot to keep moving forward.
All those warriors, including the wheeler who had been driving this chariot, had left. Therefore, by now Ji Hao could only drive the chariot himself. Fortunately, driving a chariot was not difficult at all.
After driving the chariot forward for a while, Ji Hao said in a bland tone,
Don’t make a move unless we have to. They are human warriors after all, and this time, uncle Wen Ming and the other ministers already have enough problems to deal with. Let’s not make any more for them to worry about. Things will be fine as long as we can get back to Pu Ban city safely.
The troop moved towards the south along the broad path that was paved with flagstones by magics, for a rather long time. After dark, the troop encamped by the roadside.
With a single glance, one could see countless bonfires burning by the side of this straight path which led right to Pu Ban City. Numerous human warriors who were responsible for escorting slave warriors and slaves had been delightfully dancing, drinking and going on the binge. Their yells and laughs were mixed with hysterically howls and curses made by those slaves.
Ji Hao carried a huge ax and patrolled around the campsite. When he was ready to go back to his own tent and have some dinner, a series of mad curses and fighting noises abruptly came from where a group of captives was gathered in. Next, the clear sound of a sharp weapon piercing into a flesh body could be heard.
In the meanwhile, a voice that sounded a bit crazy was cursing loudly,
Damn it! This black-skinned animal is quite tough, nearly bit my finger off! I just wanted to have some fun with this girl, what’s wrong with it? Is this girl his daughter? Ha, he does have some balls, still breathing? Good, I’m doing it right in front of his face!
Waves of guffaw started. Large groups of slave warriors leaped up, charging at those human warriors standing around bonfires.
Dazzling sword lights flashed across the air, and at the same time, the noise of flesh bodies being chopped into pieces lingered in the air. Blood spurted into the dark sky, looking like black fountains from a distance away.
Ji Hao didn’t say anything, only carried that huge ax and rushed over at his highest speed. His silhouette flashed through the air swiftly.
