Everyone present had forgotten about fighting, standing dazed with their weapons raised, fingers clenched tight, watching those “people” who raised their heads like vipers then lowered their bodies, surrounding the Queen on the shore in a semicircle. In the next instant, they would make a “swoosh” sound on the mud, sliding out long trails to pounce on the Queen.
“Swoosh——”
The sound of all the boneless people sliding along the ground was so synchronized that when it reached everyone’s ears, it merged into one loud and powerful sound.
Hearing such a sound, one would know how much force these monsters had exerted, and the subsequent pounce would inevitably be fierce and formidable, beyond human ability to resist.
“Swoosh!”
After that sound, those slender black arms had reached the swamp’s edge, with the nearest ones’ slender fingertips almost touching Jing Hengbo’s toes.
Jing Hengbo still hadn’t moved at all, a faint smile slowly spreading across half her lips.
The next moment, those things indeed sprang up, letting out a violent shriek.
These monsters had always had thin voices, as if their windpipes were also compressed, but now their screams were uniform and tragic. Their slender necks raised high toward the sky, with mud from their heads dripping down steadily.
Their bodies had already risen up, but they didn’t continue pouncing forward. They stopped at a finger’s distance from Jing Hengbo.
Something came rolling out with a clattering sound.
Eyes from all directions converged, letting out shocked gasps and shouts.
“Their bellies—” someone cried out in alarm.
Everyone saw it—those risen boneless people’s upper bodies had somehow developed enormous wounds. The wounds were thin but extremely long, nearly traversing their entire chest and abdomen, causing all the internal parts to roll out along with fresh blood.
Everyone stared dazedly at that scene—hundreds of strange people rising above the muddy swamp, suddenly all bursting with identical enormous wounds in the same location, like countless bloody eyes suddenly opening, staring in shock at all the sudden changes in this world. Such a horrifying and shocking scene left minds completely blank, even forgetting to feel nauseated.
Many more boneless people couldn’t even lift themselves up, collapsing directly on the mud surface, slowly dragging deep red trails behind them. From a distance, it looked like crimson rouge smoke being painted across a black mud-gold fan surface—a strange yet magnificent beauty.
The Queen still stood on the shore in the same position, casually lowering her head to look at the slender finger resting an inch before her toes, and kicked at it.
The finger was kicked back into the swamp powerlessly, with a series of splashing sounds as those raised bodies fell heavily.
It wouldn’t be long before these corpses would slowly sink into the swamp’s depths, becoming white bones.
After a long silence:
“Long live the Queen!”
The erupting cheers almost overturned the swamp’s mud.
Some boneless people in the distance who hadn’t had time to pounce over didn’t dare approach anymore. The mud churned with their grayish-black lower limbs, and on the swamp surface, trails of marks silently retreated into the distance.
Jing Hengbo didn’t pursue them. These monsters called “grass people” were naturally cultivated for swamps. Their usefulness on actual battlefields would be limited, so she didn’t need to risk venturing further into terrain favorable to the enemy.
One demonstration of power was enough.
Excited soldiers rushed over, chattering as they asked: “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, how did you do it!”
“Need you ask? Naturally it was Her Majesty’s divine skill, using external qi to disembowel all these creatures!”
“The Queen’s divine powers are truly legendary!”
Jing Hengbo curved her lips upward.
With a gesture of her finger, hundreds of long needles dripping with muddy water and blood flew up from the swamp, hovering in the air and arranging themselves like an iron fan.
Everyone gasped with an “Ah.”
“It’s just that simple.” Jing Hengbo smiled as she turned around. “I stood here as a target, so they could only attack this direction. I had already buried hundreds of long needles beforehand. When they came over and bent down to prepare for their final sliding strike, I pulled up the long needles. As they slid right over the needles, so…”
She smiled.
The greater the force used, the more vicious the disembowelment. They brought destruction upon themselves.
The soldiers suddenly understood, yet still had unclear points—how had the Queen buried the long needles without anyone noticing? And how had she grasped the timing to simultaneously pull up hundreds of needles in that instant?
This simply wasn’t something ordinary people could accomplish.
Jing Hengbo smiled without answering, gestured with her hand, tossed the collected needles into the weapon pile, and ordered the soldiers to clean up the battlefield.
Appropriately maintaining an air of mystery and power would be very beneficial for morale.
Indeed, the soldiers were very enthusiastic about cleaning the battlefield. After counting afterward, most of the beast-men had been lured into the swamp by Feifei, all twenty ballista carts were captured, about half the sword-people were killed or wounded by the ballista carts, another third died from being surrounded and attacked, with the remainder being those who had consistently stayed grouped together—untouchable by anyone, they escaped into the jungle. Half the boneless people were cunningly killed by Jing Hengbo at the swamp’s edge, with another half escaping into the swamp. Regardless, this strange army had been crippled. More importantly, even if such armies still existed, the Horizontal Halberd Army had now mastered their characteristics and weaknesses, so in future close combat, they wouldn’t be passively beaten again.
This counted as brilliant battle results. Jing Hengbo was in a good mood as she headed forward, where Yu Ming had already been rescued, and Yu Wuse along with the soldier carrying Ying Bai had also come down from the tree. Yu Wuse kept looking back as he walked. This fellow was quite disheveled now—half his hair burned away, hanging with many withered leaves and charred branches in a grayish mess, his face covered with mottled black and gray marks. Only his pair of eyes could still be seen clearly, but even his eyeballs were red.
Seeing Ying Bai coming down from the tree, Yu Ming wanted to rush over, but a figure flashed as Jing Hengbo had already blocked her path. With an arm motion, she took Ying Bai over, exclaiming dramatically: “Ah! Ying Bai! I arrived a step too late! Your wound…”
Yu Ming’s vision went black and she nearly fainted, barely being supported by someone. Yu Wuse let out an “Ah” sound, mouth agape in shock.
Jing Hengbo supported Ying Bai, blocking him with half her body, coldly glancing sideways at Yu Wuse: “Your father got like this saving you?”
Yu Wuse kept his mouth open, and after a long moment, nodded with great difficulty on his face. He stood on tiptoe trying to see Ying Bai, but Jing Hengbo turned around again.
“If you ask me, what’s the point of saving you.” Jing Hengbo said coldly. “Ungrateful little brat. Your father never intentionally abandoned you and your mother back then—that was all a misunderstanding. Yet you insist on whining like a resentful woman every day, stirring up trouble. Since he returned, tell me what decent things you’ve done? Your father would risk his life for you, yet you’re so pretentious that you won’t even call him father until now. Spoiled brat in need of a beating!”
The spoiled brat who would normally jump three feet high and argue when criticized even once now remained silent, scuffing the ground with his toes. Hearing Ying Bai’s complete lack of sound or movement, his eyeballs grew even redder.
After a long moment, he said in a low voice: “Let me take care of him… I’ll apologize to him… give him to me…” He reached out to receive him.
Jing Hengbo turned around again: “Take care of what! The man’s dead!”
Yu Ming had just stood straight when she heard this. She let out a sharp cry and tried to rush over, but Jing Hengbo ordered: “Hold her back!” Soldiers immediately restrained her firmly.
Yu Wuse was stunned for a long moment: “You’re lying!”
“That arrow was so thick—you saw it yourself.” Jing Hengbo said coldly. “You made me lose a great general, understand? While I haven’t changed my mind yet, get lost.”
Yu Wuse blocked with both hands: “Not leaving!”
“What for!” Jing Hengbo rolled her eyes. “Staying to be a filial son for your father? Do you have that kind of conscience?”
“Yes!” This shout from Yu Wuse made everyone’s eardrums buzz. His neck stiffened: “Why should he be buried by you!”
“He’s my general!”
“He’s my father!”
Silence fell all around. Yu Ming suddenly stopped struggling, looked at Jing Hengbo, then at Yu Wuse, then suddenly lowered her head and wept softly.
Her crying was thin and faint, drifting in the desolate wind, heart-gnawing to hear. Yu Wuse’s outstretched arms trembled slightly, yet he blocked Jing Hengbo’s path without yielding a step.
“Is he your father?” Jing Hengbo suddenly sneered coldly. “Have you ever called him that? Have you ever thanked him for his kindness? Have you ever acknowledged him? Now that he’s dead, you come crying and wailing, playing the filial son? Put away your hypocrisy. Let me tell you, all that posthumous honor is bullshit—it’s just for the living to save face and ease their conscience. If you really had a conscience, you’d treat him well while he was alive. Do you understand what it means when the child wants to provide but the parent is no longer there?”
“I understand now!” Yu Wuse’s voice was even louder than hers. “I understood long ago! I… I never said I wouldn’t acknowledge him! I just… I just… I just…”
“You were just being pretentious! I can’t be bothered with you. Move aside.”
“I can never provide for him again, but I will do everything I should do. All of Dahuang will know he is my father, my mother’s royal consort, and future Father of the Emerald Kingdom. In the Jade Palace, there will always be a palace for him. After Mother passes away in a hundred years, she will be buried with him and they will eternally enjoy offerings from descendants together. If Mother is willing, I can even arrange a wedding ceremony for them. This isn’t to repay the life-saving debt—this is because he is my father!”
“Momentary promises made under pressure?”
Yu Wuse suddenly drew his blade and cut off a piece of his clothing hem. The fabric fluttered to the ground, stained with blood and dust.
“If I violate this oath, let me be like this cloth!”
“Really not to repay the life-saving debt?”
“Don’t insult me!”
“Oh.” Jing Hengbo handed Ying Bai to the officer behind her. “Settled. Take the General to rest.”
“I want to…” Yu Wuse was about to continue eloquently when he suddenly hiccupped: “…Eh? What?”
“I didn’t finish speaking earlier,” Jing Hengbo wiped her hands, saying matter-of-factly, “What I was going to say was… his wound is fine.”
“Ah!” Yu Wuse’s nose was nearly crooked from shock.
Jing Hengbo clapped her hands, looking around casually with a sigh: “Some people think they’re clever but are actually half brain-dead… Since I arrived, how could I let Ying Bai die? Of course, if that arrow had truly hit along its original trajectory, he really would have had to die. But I moved my hand a little—the arrow was deflected slightly, only passing through an unimportant spot below his shoulder blade. To prevent him from being reluctant to speak because of you, I conveniently knocked him unconscious… Hey, kid, remember your earlier promises. I think the wedding can be held simply right now, then properly supplemented when we return to the palace. Our requirements aren’t high—just all the proper ceremonies. Remember to make that palace ceremony of yours lavish, or I won’t forgive you if it loses face. I had the recording official write down everything you said just now…”
She walked away while chattering, going to count the spoils of war. Of course, settling this family of three also counted as her spoils of war.
Left behind was Yu Wuse, standing dazedly in the morning’s chilly wind. After a long moment, he wiped the tearful black grime from his face and began crying with whimpering sounds.
“Damn it, why is it that ever since I got a father, I’m always the one getting tricked…”