The Lord's Empire - Chapter 29 – Skeleton Cavalry

As Zhao Fu’s soldiers walked along the dark passageway, they soon encountered a group of Skeletons. There were 11 of them, and 5 of them were Skeleton Shieldbearers and 6 of them were Skeleton Infantry. After coming to life, they quickly ran at Zhao Fu’s forces.

At this moment, the 10 Goblin Warriors, who were wearing plate armor and holding shields that were 2 meters tall, 1.2 meters wide, and 10 centimeters thick, stepped forwards, forming a shield wall. Because the passageway was only 10 meters wide while the shield wall would be 12 meters long, one of the Goblin Warriors stepped back. However, the shield wall was able to completely stop the Skeleton soldiers.

No matter how the Skeleton Shieldbearers pushed and shoved, the Goblin Warriors were like immovable mountains.

Zhao Fu felt quite pleased when he saw this. He then ordered for a gap to be opened to allow some Skeleton soldiers in.

The 2 Goblin Warriors in the center obeyed, slightly shifting their shields. At that moment, a few of the Skeletons pushed, expecting to meet resistance, but they then fell through the gap. Quickly, the gap was closed off again.

What they faced were 10 big men wearing plate armor and holding large iron hammers.

When the iron hammers descended, the Skeleton was knocked to the ground, and after a few strikes, it was reduced to a pile of bones. Compared to sharp sabers and swords, blunt weapons were more effective against Skeletons, and Zhao Fu’s soldiers quickly used this method to kill the rest of the Skeletons.

From this group of Skeletons, they had obtained 11 Blue grade weapons and 9 Refined Martial Souls, 3 of which were useful for Shieldbearers. As such, Zhao Fu immediately gave them to the Goblin Warriors.

This was Zhao Fu’s special plan: he had equipped Goblin Warriors with large shields and large-sized plate armor. Now that the Goblin Warriors had learned Shieldbearer skills, with their immense strength, they would be excellent Shieldbearers.

Everyone in the team, no matter if it was the Goblin Warriors, Infantry, or Archers, had been given a Refined Martial Soul at some point.

Before, Zhao Fu didn’t want to use the Refined Martial Souls. After all, they were all quite special, and most of them could unlock skills that were C- grade or above. As such, he had thought that it would be a waste to give them to people who were E grade or F grade.

However, he realized that he would have to make some sacrifices to obtain even more equipment and Refined Martial Souls.

Three of the Goblin Warriors now had the C- grade skill Enhanced Shieldbearing, the 10 Infantrymen had the C grade skill Enhanced Impact, and the Archers all had the Rock Crushing Arrow skill that Zhao Fu had.

Li Wen and Liu Mei had also used Refined Martial Souls. Li Wen used an Archer Refined Martial Soul and Liu Mei used an Infantry Refined Martial Soul, so after receiving their skills, they were immediately proficient at using them.

Because Old Logue was quite old, he could not engage in close-range battles. Therefore, Old Logue did not use a Refined Martial Soul.

It was clear right now that Zhao Fu’s soldiers were quite powerful, and they could destroy Skeletons effortlessly. They now advanced two times faster than before because they could suppress the Skeletons much easier now. The Goblin Warriors formed an impenetrable iron wall, and the 10 Infantrymen used their iron hammers to smash the Skeletons, which was much more effective than cutting or slashing them.

Onwards!

Blue tongues of fire lit up in the darkness, and 17 Skeletons came to life. 6 of them were Skeleton Shieldbearers, 6 of them were Skeleton Infantrymen, and 5 of them were Skeleton Archers.

Facing so many Skeletons, Zhao Fu’s soldiers did not look afraid at all. They continued to advance in an orderly manner, and the Archers pierced the heads of 3 of the Skeleton Infantrymen in the first wave of arrows. The Goblin Warriors raised their shields and used the same method as before to deal with the Skeletons.

The equipment and items dropped were the same as always, but Zhao Fu was ecstatic to find that there was also a Soldier Soul. The drop rate for Soldier Souls was quite low, and only Skeleton Captains seemed to have a 100% chance of dropping one.

The next wave of Skeletons consisted of a Skeleton Captain and 10 or so Skeleton soldiers, and they charged towards Zhao Fu. This time, the Skeleton Captain was a Skeleton Archer who had incredibly proficient archery skills, and quite a few of Zhao Fu’s soldiers were almost injured.

However, the Skeleton Captain was quickly killed by Bai Qi and the others, and it dropped a Soldier Soul and its Silver grade bow.

 [Flowing Cloud Bow]: Grade: Silver, Stats: Strength +3, Constitution +1, Agility +2, Description: An exquisite Gold grade weapon that has become rusty due to the passage of time, becoming an ordinary Silver grade weapon.

Zhao Fu kept the Flowing Cloud Bow for now because he used his bow often. After advancing, they killed another three waves of Skeletons and obtained three Soldier Souls. The passage seemed to go on forever, and it was completely dark in front of them, making it impossible for them to see what was ahead.

Clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop…

The sound of horse hooves seemed to come from ahead. Zhao Fu thought of something, and it seemed that everyone else had as well.

As expected, Skeleton Cavalry soon appeared in front of everyone. These Skeleton Cavalrymen were riding on Skeleton horses, and it seemed that they had kept their horses and equipment after they had died. While their equipment seemed to be White grade, their weapons seemed to be Blue grade.

When the 5 Skeleton Cavalrymen appeared, they drew their long swords and brandished them as they rushed towards Zhao Fu’s soldiers.

Zhao Fu immediately called out, “Shields!”

The Goblin Warriors raised their massive shields with both hands, forming an iron wall. They braced themselves for impact as Zhao Fu also ordered the Archers to attack.

Arrows started to fly through the air, and most of them were dodged by the Skeleton Cavalrymen. A few of them hit the Skeleton Cavalrymen, but they did not deal much damage. At most, the arrows could cause the Skeleton Cavalrymen to pause, but the arrows did not slow them down at all because they were riding on Skeleton horses.

When the Skeleton Cavalrymen were right in front of Zhao Fu’s soldiers, 4 Fireballs and 1 Wind Blade shot towards them.

Bang, bang, bang, bang…

A chain of explosions sounded out, and as these skills all exploded together, the front two Skeleton Cavalrymen were blasted off their horses, but the 3 Skeleton Cavalrymen beside and behind them were not affected much and continued onwards with the same momentum and ferocious aura.

However, they were unable to do anything to the Goblin Warriors’ shield wall, nor could they jump over it. After being hoisted up by the Goblin Warriors, the 2-meter-tall shields reached up to 2.3 meters high, a height that couldn’t be scaled by normal horses.

The Skeleton Cavalrymen could only spur their horses onwards to break through the shield wall.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three heavy sounds sounded out as the Skeleton horses slammed into the massive shields. The Goblin Warriors gritted their teeth and pushed forwards, stopping the charge of the horses.

Zhao Fu ordered the Archers to kill the 2 Skeleton Cavalrymen that had fallen off their horses before telling the Goblin Warriors to open a gap to bring in 2 Skeleton Cavalrymen.

Just as the 2 Skeleton Cavalrymen rushed in, the 10 Infantrymen split into 2 groups, raising their iron hammers and slamming them towards the Skeleton horses’ legs, bringing them to the ground.

Following this, the Infantrymen gathered around the Skeleton Cavalry and repeatedly slammed their hammers down on them, smashing them to bits before surrounding the final Skeleton Cavalryman.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 28 – Hundred School of Thought, School of Vertical and Horizontal

After returning to the real world, Zhao Fu made a bowl of instant noodles and turned on his computer as usual. He ate his instant noodles while looking through the Heaven Awaken World forum to see if there was anything new or interesting.

It turned out that there were indeed some new additions to the Heaven Awaken World forum. There was now a ‘Hero Rankings.’

Currently, there were not any actual rankings in the Hero Rankings; right now, it was just a collection of descendants of the major heroes in history.

There were figures like the descendant of the Three Kingdom’s Lü Bu, Lü Zhan, who could take on 10 bandits with his halberd; the descendant of the Tang Dynasty’s Cheng Yaojin, Cheng Daman, who wielded his massive hatchet with great prowess; and the descendant of the Song Dynasty’s Bao Qingtian, Bao Xiaoduan, who had godly deduction skills.

After these people entered the Heaven Awaken World, they received legacies and the professions of famed generals and officials. However, it was not clear if they were willing to serve the empires that their ancestors served. They were all great talents and most likely thought highly of themselves; how could they not want to establish themselves in the Heaven Awaken World?

There was also some news that Zhuge Gui, the descendant of Zhuge Liang from the Three Kingdoms, had boldly stated that he would not serve his ancestor’s master because he wanted to prove himself to be greater than his ancestor. There was also the descendant of the Ming Dynasty’s Li Shanchang, Li Jun, who had sworn to face against Great Ming…

Apart from these, what also interested Zhao Fu was that some of the ancient Schools of Thought had started to make a comeback.

There were the Legalists, who used law to rule a country, the School of the Military, which specialised in war tactics, the Taoists, who followed the rhythm of the natural world and the Dao, the Confucianists, who sought to enlighten the world, the School of Yin Yang, which synthesised the concepts of yin yang and the five elements, the Logicians, who were skilled in debating, the Mohists, who advocated pacifism and defence, the Agriculturalists, who believed that people should live off the land, and the School of Miscellany, which tried to integrate the merits of various schools, such as Confucianists, Mohists, Legalists, while avoiding their perceived flaws…

There truly were a ‘Hundred Schools of Thought’ all battling for supremacy. The Heaven Awaken World was becoming more and more interesting, and Zhao Fu lightly laughed before his expression became grim.

“The common people live in suffering, and flames of war fill the world.

The schools of thought number one hundred, but only I travel vertically and horizontally unhindered.

The sky contains the stars and the moon, and the earth contains the Ghost Valley.

One vertical and one horizontal, unable to be comprehended for hundreds of years.”

“The School of Vertical and Horizontal!” Zhao Fu looked at this School seriously. He had to take this School seriously because it was much too dangerous.

The Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period and the Seven Powerful States during the Warring States period – behind each of their rises and falls was a single name: The Ghost Valley’s School of Vertical and Horizontal.

Pang Juan joined the state of Wei, and his bravery and martial might surpassed everyone else’s. He was an invincible force that gained victories over Han, Zhao, Chu, and Qi, causing the once-weak state of Wei to sweep away everything in the world and to dominate the central plains. Sun Bin joined the state of Qi, and with his matchless intellect, he reduced Zhao, Wei, Han, and Chu’s might, causing the state of Qi to once again gain dominance. After he died, his books on military strategy were passed on for countless generations.

Afterwards, strategist Su Qin advocated the ‘Vertical Alliance’ system, rallying the six states to ally against Qin, while Zhang Yi advocated the ‘Horizontal Alliance’ system, which supported alliances with the state of Qin to destroy the six states. The two people saw the entire world as a chess board and the countless lives as chess pieces.

Even though this School had very few people, it commanded both the respect and fear of all people. People respected the School of Vertical and Horizontal because gaining the loyalty of someone from the School of Vertical and Horizontal would be even greater than obtaining millions of experts. They were terrifying because they had the power to destroy an entire nation.

Zhao Fu paid some mind to this School, and he felt a strange sense of heaviness in his heart. In the end, he could only sigh and continue reading.

After this, the biggest matter pertained to the Ying family. The Ying family was looking for anyone with their family’s bloodline and claimed that they would treat him or her generously. The Ying Family also asked the person who obtained their ancestor’s legacy to quickly go to their main branch – no matter if it was wealth, power, or beauty, the Ying family would satisfy that person completely, and it would allow that person to become the inheritor of the next generation of the Ying family.

Zhao Fu thought about it for a moment, but because he didn't want to join the Ying family, he didn't give much thought to the matter.

However, this matter caught the attention of all of the other powerful families. In terms of strength and foundation, Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han were the 5 most powerful overlords. After Han, China descended into chaos, and no dynasty could rival those first 5.

In this world, who didn’t have ambition or want to conquer the world? Normal families could only look up to the families with the legacies of kingdoms and nations, while those families could only look up to families with the legacies of empires with their own dynasties. Those who had the legacies of empires could only look up to those 5 families.

This was truly a new warring states period, and after finishing his instant noodles, Zhao Fu drank the noodle soup and entered the Heaven Awaken World.

……………………………………………..

After entering the Heaven Awaken World, Li Si walked over to Zhao Fu, gave him a bottle of medicinal pills, and said that they were the Little Spirit Pills that they had successfully refined. Zhao Fu took off the cap and a fragrant and refreshing aroma came out from the bottle.

Zhao Fu nodded and returned to his room to try out the effects. He took one of the medicinal pills, which was a faint red color and about the size of a soybean, and consumed it before starting to cultivate.

A few hours later, a look of joy appeared on Zhao Fu’s face – his cultivation had risen.

Name: Zhao Fu

Title: None

Profession: Demon Priest

Achievement Points: Citizen (213/500)

Race: Human

Age: 21 (100)

Stats: Strength: 9, Intelligence: 12, Constitution: 8, Agility: 10

Special Power: [Weak – Demon’s Power]

Cultivation: Stage 0-2

Cultivation Technique: Great Qin Mantra

Skills: Hell Fireball, Basic Sword Technique…

Equipment: Iron Sword…

The Little Spirit Pill greatly increased his cultivation speed. After trying out its effects himself, Zhao Fu immediately ordered some people to carefully grow the Little Spirit Grass. Following this, he took his forces into the Forest of Horrors again to look for horses this time.

This time, Zhao Fu specifically brought the Grey Wolf King. Its wounds had not fully healed, but Zhao Fu was not going to make it fight. Rather, he wanted to use its keen sense of smell to find other beasts. At the same time, he changed its name to Little Grey. [TLN: Little Grey in Chinese would be ‘Xiao Hui’]

After bringing Little Grey with him, they encountered wild beasts much faster than before. This time, they found 3 Violet Flame Rabbits, one of which dropped an elemental orb, and Zhao Fu planned to give the elemental orb to Li Wen. Li Wen was one of the Great Qin Village’s rare A grade villagers and was also Li Youcai’s son, so Zhao Fu decided to start developing him.

In the next two days, they killed a few Wind Foxes, obtained a Wind Blade elemental orb, and tamed a few wild beasts. However, they did not find a single horse before returning.

The special equipment he had asked Wang Dawu to make had been completed, so Zhao Fu decided to continue exploring the bottom of the crack.

“I want to go too!” Liu Mei ran over and said as she looked at Zhao Fu.

Zhao Fu turned to look at he and said, “Your whip won’t be able to deal much damage to the Skeletons; just stay up here!”

“Don’t you have a Wind Blade elemental orb? Let me learn it and see how strong those Skeletons are!” Liu Mei said discourteously without any respect at all. Zhao Fu glared at her when he heard this.

Deep down, Liu Mei still feared Zhao Fu greatly, and she instantly became docile, awkwardly saluting him as she said sadly, “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

Only then did Zhao Fu give her the Wind Blade skill, causing Liu Mei to be quite surprised and overjoyed. She immediately used the azure orb of light, and following this, Zhao Fu brought Bai Qi, Li Wen, Old Logue, Liu Mei, 10 Goblin Warriors, the 10 strongest Infantrymen, and 10 Archers into the passage at the bottom of the large crack.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 27 – Little Spirit Grass

The Grey Wolf King was incredibly fast, and it arrived before the Shieldbearers in the blink of an eye. It ferociously snarled as it leaped towards the Shieldbearers.

However, at this moment, 2 blood-colored fireballs flew towards it. Old Logue, who had done nothing this entire time, finally acted. The Grey Wolf King was quite surprised and twisted its body, narrowly avoiding the fireballs. Just as it landed on the ground, it was savagely hit by a whip – Liu Mei had also acted.

Even though the whip didn’t deal much damage to it, it still hurt quite a lot. After taking this hit, the Grey Wolf King turned and bared its fangs at Liu Mei, roaring as it rushed towards her.

However, before it could take a few steps, a figure suddenly arrived by its side.

Puchi!

A sword light flashed and blood flew out as Bai Qi, who had been long-prepared, also attacked. The Grey Wolf King cried out in pain and turned its head, biting towards Bai Qi.

Bai Qi was expecting this and quickly darted backwards.

Puchi!

An arrow pierced through one of the Grey Wolf King’s front legs. Zhao Fu had an arrow nocked this entire time, and he had finally found an opportunity.

The Grey Wolf King was completely enraged by this chain of attacks, and it roared as it sprang towards Zhao Fu.

Zhao Fu didn’t look afraid at all when he saw the Grey Wolf King coming towards him. Zhao Fu did not move, and he instead calmly raised a hand as he sent a fireball towards it. The Grey Wolf King twisted and dodged it, but 2 blood-colored fireballs shot at it right after. The Grey Wolf King barely dodged one but was hit by the other one.

Bang!

A massive explosion sounded out as the Grey Wolf King was blasted backwards, scorching its fur. Just as it landed on the ground again, Bai Qi appeared by its side and slashed the Grey Wolf King, adding another injury to the Grey Wolf King’s body and causing it to madly rush at him.

In the next instant, a whip tangled around its legs. Liu Mei gripped her whip with both hands, loudly laughing as the Grey Wolf King lost its balance and crashed to the ground.

This was the effect of a group of people coordinating together perfectly. Because they outnumbered the Grey Wolf King, it was barely able to counterattack at all. Since they had the Grey Wolf King under control, Zhao Fu turned his attention to commanding his soldiers to eliminate the rest of the Grey Wolves.

10 minutes later, all of the Grey Wolves had been killed, dropping countless copper coins. Only a few of the soldiers had been bitten, and their injuries were not too serious.

Zhao Fu turned his attention back to the Grey Wolf King. By now, its body was riddled with injuries, and it looked extremely pitiful. Zhao Fu thought about it and decided not to kill the Grey Wolf King – the benefits of taming it far exceeded the benefits from killing it, so he ordered people to use ropes to tie it up.

The Grey Wolf King no longer had any strength left, and with the cooperation of Bai Qi and the others, it was soon trussed up.

Zhao Fu lightly smiled. As everyone else cleared the battlefield, he walked over to the Grey Wolf King and looked at it.

The Grey Wolf King savagely glared at Zhao Fu, and it wanted to kill him and eat him in one gulp. However, Zhao Fu did not mind, and he placed his hand on the Grey Wolf King’s head. Because its mouth was tightly bound as well, he didn’t have to be afraid of being bitten.

Zhao Fu tried using Taming, and a light came out from his hand, covering the Grey Wolf King’s entire body. However, the Grey Wolf King struggled against it, causing it to fail.

Zhao Fu’s gaze became serious, and he pressed his hand down on the Grey Wolf King’s head with even more strength and used Taming again. However, the Grey Wolf King desperately struggled, and it escaped from the light again. A system announcement told Zhao Fu that his Taming had failed, and he was even knocked to the ground because the Grey Wolf King started flailing.

Seeing this, Bai Qi’s eyes glinted as he walked over and said, “Your Majesty, wolves are a very proud type of animal, and they are very difficult to tame. It would be better to just kill it!”

“That’s right! I’ve never eaten the meat of a Wolf King, and I really want to try it!” Liu Mei said as she ran over and looked at the Grey Wolf King. As she became closer with the Great Qin Village’s people, she gradually stopped being reserved, and she did not worry about Zhao Fu killing her anymore.

Zhao Fu shook his head, refusing to take their advice. He decided to try again. When he came before the Grey Wolf King, he said calmly, “You must be furious because I killed your clan. However, in this world, the strong prey on the weak. If you submit to me, one day, I’ll make you the most respected existence in the Wolf Clan, and your Den will soon return to what it was like before. If you don’t agree, I’ll just kill you and wait for the next Wolf King to appear. A conflicted look appeared in the Grey Wolf King’s eyes before it chose to submit.

“System announcement! You have obtained the loyalty of a Chief class creature, the Grey Wolf King.”

“System announcement! You have obtained 50 Achievement Points for subduing a Chief class creature.”

Zhao Fu was quite surprised and pleased to find out that he had received Achievement Points too. He used some basic healing on the Grey Wolf King, and Bai Qi and Old Logue continuously congratulated him. On the other hand, Liu Mei pouted unhappily because she would not be able to try Wolf King meat.

Following this, Zhao Fu looked at the Grey Wolf King’s stats.

[Grey Wolf King] (Chief)

Level: Stage 0-5

Grade: S

Stats: Strength: 15, Intelligence: 9, Agility: 17, Constitution: 11

Skills: Wolf King’s Might (strikes fear into ordinary wolves and makes them submit), Bloodthirsty Bite (madly bites the enemy until the enemy is dead)

Zhao Fu was quite surprised to find that beasts had grades as well. Given that its level was in Stages just like a person’s cultivation, the Grey Wolf King was most likely not just a wild beast but also a magic beast.

Zhao Fu left Bai Qi to clean up the battlefield, and Zhao Fu went to the Den and touched his hand to the statue of the wolf, receiving some information.

[Den – Grey Wolf]: (Primary 1800/5000), Grade: White, Description: The Den of Grey Wolves, spawns 2-5 Grey Wolves per day.

The Den’s stats were quite similar to those of a Normal Village’s. Zhao Fu chose to conquer it, and he received a system announcement notifying him that he had received 50 Achievement Points. This place was quite far from the Great Qin Village, so he chose to [Relocate] it. The Great Qin Village received 180 EXP, and the wolf-shaped statute shrank and fell into Zhao Fu’s hand.

Zhao Fu was about to take the statue away and leave when he suddenly noticed large patches of jade-green, crystal-like grass. It looked quite extraordinary, and he couldn’t help but take a closer look at it:

[Little Spirit Grass]: Grade: Stage 1 Medicinal Grass, Description: A type of spirit grass that can be used to make medicinal pills. Zhao Fu couldn’t help but smile when he saw this. Before, Zhao Fu had obtained the pill recipe for Little Spirit Pill, but he could not make any due to the lack of ingredients. However, he had never expected to find the ingredients so easily.

There were thousands of blades of Little Spirit Grass here, and Zhao Fu immediately ordered his soldiers to start collecting them. He planned to use some to refine into pills, while the rest would be re-planted at the Great Qin Village. After all, the Great Qin Village reduced the amount of time it took to grow things, so Zhao Fu planned to plant Little Spirit Grass in mass amounts at the Great Qin Village.

Finally, after this, everyone returned to the Great Qin Village. They had obtained great gains today, and everyone looked quite delighted.

After returning to the Great Qin Village, Zhao Fu separated a plot of land for the Den. Wolves have a very acute sense of smell, so they could be used for hunting. Moreover, the materials from their bodies could be used for creating equipment, and the Den would spawn new Grey Wolves every day, which meant that there would be no need to breed them. Zhao Fu felt that he hadn't left the Heaven Awaken World in quite some time, so after he checked the make sure there weren’t any pressing matters that needed to be attended to, he exited to the real world.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 26 – Grey Wolf King

Zhao Fu sent two people to take the Azure Oxen back to the Great Qin Village while the rest of the party continued onwards. At this moment, some rustling could be heard from the grass nearby, causing everyone to stop. A Violent Flame Rabbit jumped out – this Violet Flame Rabbit was smaller than the one they had encountered some time ago.

Violent Flame Rabbits have extremely explosive temperaments, and it dared to attack Zhao Fu’s massive group of people, a fireball flying towards them.

A Shieldbearer raised his shield and stepped forwards, blocking the fireball easily. The force behind the fireball only caused him to take a single step back, and he barely took any damage at all.

At this moment, Zhao Fu ordered his Archers to attack. Facing so many arrows, the Violent Flame Rabbit tried to dodge as quickly as it could, but it ended up just being shot to death. However, after the Violent Flame Rabbit died, it did not drop a red orb, making Zhao Fu feel quite disappointed.

They continued forwards and encountered 30 or so Black Mountain Sheep. They used traps to once again capture and tame them, and this happened quite a few times over the next few days before they returned.

In the end, they tamed quite a few wild beasts: 36 wild boars, 85 Azure Oxen, and 215 Black Mountain Sheep.

They did not obtain a single Magic skill or find any horses. Over these few days, Wang Dawu had done a simple repair on all of the weapons they had obtained at the bottom of the crack and on the plate armor.

After changing their equipment, out of the 30 people that Zhao Fu had brought with him, most of the Archers and Shieldbearers had Blue grade weapons, while almost every Infantryman had Blue grade weapons.

After Wang Dawu completed these, Zhao Fu ordered him to create some special equipment. This equipment was designed by Zhao Fu, Bai Qi, and Li Si to deal specifically with the Skeletons.

Zhao Fu continued taking people to the Forest of Horrors in hopes of encountering some magic beasts or horses.

At this moment, Zhao Fu was passing by a mountain valley when a few Grey Wolves suddenly rushed at them. They were quickly killed by the Archers, but this piqued Zhao Fu’s curiosity, so he decided to explore the valley.

Who would have thought that he would find a Den within the valley? Zhao Fu and his soldiers hid on a mountain slope nearby, scoping out the area.

Below them was the mountain valley, and there was a flat piece of land around 3,000 meters in length. There were wild grasses growing around it, but there was a round stage made of brick at the center, and it looked very much like the [Origin] of a village. However, there was a statue of a wolf floating above the round stage.

There were many Grey Wolves around the round stage who were playing and fighting. There seemed to be around 400 to 500 of them, and there was even a Wolf King among them. It was as big as a tiger and had soft-looking grey fur. Its gaze was sharp, and the fur on its head was silver.

Even though they had not discovered any magic beasts or horses, Zhao Fu was quite happy to have made such a discovery.

Zhao Fu immediately returned to the Great Qin Village, gathered his forces, and headed back to the Grey Wolf valley with 326 soldiers.

Of course, Zhao Fu did not launch a direct attack. Unless he held an overwhelming advantage, he would never do such a thing, so they first hid for a while. He then ordered his soldiers to start creating traps to lure the wolves out. It was quite simple: they would use fresh meat and blood to attract them. The traps didn’t even have to be too close to the wolves because wolves have an excellent sense of smell. Luring over 10 or so wolves would be enough.

Zhao Fu caught and killed a few wild deer, cutting up their corpses and pouring their blood on the ground to ensure the success of the traps. Those who were ordered to hide nearby rolled around in the mud for a while and used bits of chili and garlic to cover their scent.

The plan went quite successfully. Soon, 10 or so Grey Wolves were attracted by the scent of blood and guts. The Grey Wolves were still quite alert and did not immediately leap onto the deer meat. Instead, they used their sense of smell from a distance, and after not discovering any danger, they slowly approached.

Following this, the Grey Wolves went beside the deer meat but did not immediately start eating. They lowered their heads and smelled it – it would have been impossible for Zhao Fu to use poison – and after confirming that the deer meat was fine, they started to eat when…

Swish! Swish! Swish…

Arrows shot out of the forest towards the Grey Wolves. They were greatly startled and turned to run away, but many of them were still killed. A few of them were able to escape from the rain of arrows but were immediately cornered by Zhao Fu’s hidden soldiers.

At this moment, one of the Grey Wolves stopped and raised its head. Zhao Fu realised that it was about to howl to attract over other Grey Wolves – this would cause his plan to fail, so he quickly drew his bow and shot an arrow at it.

The arrow drew an arc through the air, glinting with a cold light.

Puchi!

The arrow stabbed into the Grey Wolf’s neck, causing it to fall to the ground and rasp quietly. After twitching a few times, it died on the spot. Zhao Fu gave the order for the other Grey Wolves to be quickly killed so that they wouldn’t have an opportunity to call the other wolves.

Zhao Fu’s people quickly acted, disposing of the remaining Grey Wolves. After this, they continuously used the same method to lure over Grey Wolves but became much more careful.

In this way, they killed 213 Grey Wolves. After so many wolves died, the Grey Wolf King in the mountain valley detected something and stood up, walked to a large rock, and raised its head.

“Awoooo~~~”

A massive howl echoed throughout the valley, and the wolves that had been playing or eating all stopped what they were doing and howled in response.

“Awoooo! Awooo! Awooo…”

Wolves from all over the valley howled, giving off a fearsome aura and causing countless birds to fly away from the mountain valley.

By now, Zhao Fu and his soldiers had returned to the valley and gotten into formation. They marched with heavy footsteps, giving off the airs of a grand army as they entered the valley.

The Grey Wolf King on the large rock immediately saw Zhao Fu and his soldiers and furiously howled. The Grey Wolves started to rush at Zhao Fu’s soldiers without regard for their lives, and soon, 300 Grey Wolves were rushing at them like a grey flood.

“Assume positions!” Zhao Fu loudly roared.

The Spear and Shield Soldiers took three steps forwards, pointing their spears at the Grey Wolves. The Archers also drew their bows as the Gnomes readied their crossbows.

“Fire!” Zhao Fu loudly called out when the Grey Wolves entered their attack range.

Swish! Swish! Swish…

The sound of the air being torn continuously sounded out as arrows and crossbow bolts streaked through the air, raining down on the Grey Wolves.

Chi! Chi! Chi…

As the rain of arrows and crossbow bolts descended, the Grey Wolves fell one after another, but there were still ones that continued running.

“Fire!” Zhao Fu once again roared.

Arrows and crossbow bolts once again filled the sky, covering the pack of Grey Wolves and killing many of them.

By now, the surviving Grey Wolves had reached Zhao Fu’s forces, and they sprang towards them. However, the Shieldbearers at the front stabbed out with their spears.

Chi! Chi! Chi…

Blood splattered everywhere as multiple Grey Wolves were pierced by the spears. Wolves were not very strong by themselves and were only powerful in packs. After going through two waves of arrows and crossbow bolts, there were only 150 or so Grey Wolves remaining from the 300 Grey Wolves. Even though there were still many of them, Zhao Fu’s forces had double their numbers and were in perfect formation, creating an unbreakable wall. The battle was completely in Zhao Fu’s favor.

The Grey Wolf King could not watch on anymore, its body turning into a black blur as it rushed towards Zhao Fu’s soldiers.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 25 – Den

Zhao Fu was happy that the Great Qin Village had finally leveled up. After returning to the Great Qin Village, he brought Deng Li and 36 pieces of plate armor to Wang Dawu and asked him to do some repairs on the plate armor.

Right now, the Smithy and Tailor Shop greatly lacked people. The weapons they had obtained from the bottom of the crack had still not been repaired, and now, there was also plate armor that needed to be repaired. As such, Zhao Fu had to add some more people to help them.

Afterwards, Zhao Fu re-established the Ferocious Tiger Village west of the Great Qin Village and sent a few people to manage it. Finally, he went to the Great Qin Village’s Village Hall and looked at its new stats:

Village Name: Great Qin Village (Legendary)

Level: Intermediate (24/30,000)

Village Area: 5 square kilometers.

Village Territory: 250 square kilometres.

Residents: 465/6000

Military: 216/2400

Popular Support: 80

Village Special Stats: Territory Crop Output +40%, Territory Crop Growing Time -40%, Population Limit +20%, Residents’ stats can randomly +2, Soldiers’ stats +2%, Population Attraction +30%, chances of attracting higher grade population +30%

Subsidiary Village Limit: 8

Subordinate Villages: Logue Village, Jean Village, Dorun Village, Li Family Village, Wild Wolf Village, Ferocious Tiger Village

In terms of stats, Zhao Fu was not too surprised that the village’s stats had increased by 10%. However, he was shocked to see that he could now have 8 Subsidiary Villages.

However, the population of the village was always a problem: he only had 465 residents, while the limit was 6000. Apart from the Great Qin Village, even the other villages had not been filled up. This was especially so for the Wild Wolf Village and the Ferocious Tiger Village – altogether, Zhao Fu had sent less than 20 people to those villages.

Before, the Li Family Village had been quite populated, but Zhao Fu took two-thirds of the population with him to the Great Qin Village, so the Li Family Village was also lacking people.

This made Zhao Fu sigh. However, he couldn’t expect to fill all of them in just a few days or even weeks: the development of villages took months, if not years, and they would only gradually become powerful over time. Right now, with all of the villages combined and the Great Qin Village’s special stats, he could summon 40 villagers every day.

As for the bottom of the large crack, Zhao Fu did not plan on exploring it for the time being. He decided that he would create two special teams to explore the bottom of the crack in the future.

Right now, Zhao Fu wanted to create a Mage group. Magic skills were quite rare, but they were incredibly powerful. As such, Zhao Fu planned to take some soldiers to kill magic beasts. He also wanted to tame some large beasts, such as cows, pigs, and horses. Because of their lack of horses, Zhao Fu had not been able to create a Cavalry team.

They could not do without Cavalry, the most powerful type of soldier in an era where cold weapons reigned supreme. Moreover, with horses, they wouldn’t have to run to places themselves.

Zhao Fu spent some money to obtain the Taming skill without changing professions and brought Bai Qi, Old Logue, 10 Spear and Shield soldiers, 10 Sabermen, and 10 Archers with him. Finally, after much pleading from Liu Mei, Zhao Fu could only agree to take her as well.

The Great Qin Village was in the outer region of the Forest of Horrors, and the further one went into the forest, the more magic beasts there would be. As such, Zhao Fu took his soldiers and headed west.

On their journey, the trees became larger and larger, and they seemed to pierce through the clouds. The lighting became quite dim, and the trees’ appearances were all quite strange. They would occasionally see some wild rabbits run past and make some noise.

Zhao Fu did not pay these things much mind, and he led his people onwards. Soon, he found a sow and 8 piglets looking for food.

Wild boars were animals that lived by themselves when they became mature, and unlike other animals that were usually caught in large numbers, they were quite hard to catch. If they could find a Den, that would be ideal.

Dens were like villages for animals, and they were places where wild animals would spawn. However, there were very few Dens, and they were protected by at least hundreds of wild beasts up to even tens of thousands.

They were now quite far away from the Great Qin Village, so it was impossible for them to go back just to bring the sow and piglets back, so they ended up sparing them.

Onwards!

Zhao Fu suddenly stopped as he discovered 10 or so Azure Oxen beside a small creek. Their fur was a light azure color, and they had 2 horns that gave off a metallic luster.

If they could capture these Azure Oxen, they could use them to plow the land as well as deliver iron ore, saving them a lot of manpower. As such, Zhao Fu immediately turned his attention to the herd of Azure Oxen.

However, these large wild beasts were not easy to catch. If Zhao Fu and his people rushed up to the Azure Oxen and caused them to go wild and charge at Zhao Fu and his people, things could go badly. His 10 Shieldbearers definitely wouldn’t be able to stop these 10 or so Azure Oxen.

Moreover, he couldn’t rely on Archers either. It would be fine to shoot a few arrows at them, but if the arrows hit their vitals, the Azure Oxen would immediately run away. How could someone chase after an ox that had been stimulated by pain? Moreover, if the other oxen became scared and rushed off, they would not be able to do anything about it either.

Perhaps the Archers could aim at the Azure Oxen’s legs, making it so that they couldn’t run. However, there was a chance of permanently crippling the Azure Oxen. Using crippled Azure Oxen to plow the land or to deliver iron ore wouldn’t be very efficient.

As such, using traps was their best course of action. Zhao Fu turned and told his idea to Bai Qi and the others, and they all nodded in agreement and started to set traps north of the Azure Oxen.

Zhao Fu split the soldiers into three teams, and Zhao Fu, Bai Qi, and Liu Mei took leadership of one team each. Because Old Logue was fairly old and was a Goblin, he couldn’t run very fast, so he would stay where he was and use his fireballs to make sure that the Azure Oxen ran into the traps.

Following this, they set their plan into action. Zhao Fu, Bai Qi, and Liu Mei’s teams came from the east, south, and west, moving towards the Azure Oxen. As they drew closer, the Azure Oxen sensed danger, stopped eating grass, and started to look around them.

At this moment, the three teams rushed at them but did not attack. They only loudly shouted or hit their swords and sabers against their shields, making it seem like they had a massive force. This caused the Azure Oxen to run away in fear.

The most cheerful of them all was Liu Mei, and she laughed loudly as she brandished her whip. As the soldiers clamored and rushed at the Azure Oxen from the east, south, and west, the oxen could only run north.

The three teams gradually joined together and chased after the Azure Oxen. If the Azure Oxen strayed off the path leading to the traps, Zhao Fu’s Archers used their arrows to herd them in the right direction.

Soon, the Azure Oxen rushed into the traps and their legs were tightly bound.

Bang, bang, bang, bang…

The Azure Oxen crashed to the ground, causing muffled sounds and dust to fill the air. The Azure Oxen quickly got up and tried to run, but they could not get rid of the ropes around their legs.

These ropes were two finger widths thick, and they were wrapped around trees that were at least 1 meter thick. As such, no matter how much the Azure Oxen struggled, they could not break free.

When they had used up all of their strength, Zhao Fu’s people went up to them and started to use Taming, easily netting them 16 Azure Oxen.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 24 – Intermediate Village

In order to get food, this bandit village most likely did what the Outlander villages did: split into groups to hunt. As expected, four groups of around 10 people each soon departed from the village in different directions.

When Zhao Fu saw this, he also split his forces into four groups. He led one team and followed after them. He hid in the tall grass as he looked at the bandits swaggering along while holding their sabers. He called Bai Qi over and told him his tactic.

Bai Qi looked quite awkward, saying, “Your Majesty, unfortunately… I don’t think I can do it.”

Hearing this, Zhao Fu turned to look at Liu Mei beside him.

“What do you want?” Liu Mei immediately asked. When Liu Mei saw Zhao Fu looking at her, she couldn’t help but tremble and have a bad feeling about it.

After Zhao Fu gave Liu Mei a simple explanation, she looked quite cheerful. She brought along Bai Qi and three other people and openly walked towards the group of bandits.

“Oi! Stop right there!” Liu Mei called out in a loud voice as she and the other four walked up to the bandits.

Hearing this voice, the bandits turned around and saw a beauty in a red dress with four other people. Seeing that the other side only had five people, while their side had 10 people, they did not need to feel scared at all. One of the bandits lewdly smiled as he said, “What does this big beauty want from us? Do you want to play with these big brothers?”

Liu Mei enchantingly smiled, and in the next second, she brandished her whip and cracked it towards the 10 men. Bai Qi and the others also rushed up, and the battle finished in an instant. Bai Qi killed four people alone, the other three people killed one person each, and Liu Mei left three people alive.

At this moment, Liu Mei lightly waved her whip and charmingly smiled as she said, “What were you saying just then?”

The three bandits immediately knelt to the ground and begged, “Female hero! We’re in the wrong, so please spare us.”

“Arghhh!”

Just as the bandit finished speaking, her whip lashed his body, and Liu Mei said with displeasure, “Who’s a female hero? I’m your granny!”

The bandits immediately nodded and said, “Yes, granny, granny…”

“That’s more like it! Who are you all?” Liu Mei asked while smiling.

The three bandits quickly started speaking and said, “We’re from the Ferocious Tiger Village, and our leader is Wang Meng. There are also 200 or so brothers inside the village.”

The three bandits mentioned the Ferocious Tiger Village, their leader, and their numbers in order to scare Liu Mei into releasing them.

However, her whip once again lashed their bodies, causing them to cry out in pain. Bloody streaks appeared on the three men’s bodies as Liu Mei coldly harrumphed and said, “So what about the Ferocious Tiger Village? That man, Wang Meng, sounds like quite a useless fellow!”

The three bandits quickly nodded and agreed.

Pa! Pa! Pa!Her whip once again landed on the three men’s bodies. Liu Mei coldly harrumphed in displeasure as she said, “What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”

The three bandits cried out in pain and quickly said in a loud voice, “Wang Meng’s a coward, and he’s completely useless.”

“Hahahaha!” Liu Mei laughed, her large breasts rippling as she once again whipped the 3 bandits, and said, “I still couldn’t hear you!”

The three bandits could only endure it and continue cursing Wang Meng.

However, Liu Mei continued to laugh while whipping the three bandits.

Zhao Fu, who was hiding by the side, found that Liu Mei might have some secret interests and hobbies. However, she was still complying with his orders, so he didn’t say anything.

“Alright! You can piss off back to your village. Tell Wang Meng to come here and lick the bottom of this granny’s shoes, or I’ll cripple him.”  Liu Mei said happily. After whipping these bandits for a long time, she felt quite cheerful.

When the three bloodied and bruised bandits heard that this female demon was going to spare them, they felt overjoyed. They quickly crawled away, and after they returned, they added their own words. They told Wang Meng that the woman wanted to skin Wang Meng, make him mate with a sow, and told him to crawl over there and lick the bottom of her shoes.

Hearing this, Wang Meng was completely infuriated and his face became red. After being told that there were only 5 of them, he roared, “Brothers, come with me!”

Following this, Wang Meng took 50 or so bandits, nearly half of the village’s forces, to where Liu Mei had appeared.

Soon, Wang Meng came to a sparse area and found Liu Mei, yelling, “So you’re that bitch! You wanted your elder to lick your shoes? Today, your elder and his brothers will all take turns screwing you!”

Liu Mei did not get angry, and she instead calmly smiled – after all, there was not much point in saying anything to someone who was about to die.

“Release the arrows!!”

As the order sounded out, arrows rained down on Wang Meng’s 50 or so bandits. They were completely unprepared, and many of them were instantly killed.

Zhao Fu’s soldiers had long since killed the other 3 teams that had left the Ferocious Tiger Village and joined up with the others. Wang Meng’s 50 or so bandits were facing 40 Gnome Crossbowmen and 60 Archers, and they had been completely unprepared. Without any shelter, how could they survive?

After a few rounds of attacks, Wang Meng and the 50 or so bandits all died.

At this moment, Zhao Fu and his soldiers, who had been hiding in the grass, appeared. He ordered them to clear the battlefield and went over to Wang Meng’s corpse. After searching it, he found a small bag with tens of silver coins and Wang Meng’s Blue grade large saber.

Following this, they headed to the Ferocious Tiger Village. Liu Mei smiled as she followed behind Zhao Fu, and Zhao Fu turned around and looked at her, saying softly, “You did well this time!”

Zhao Fu had wanted Bai Qi to provoke and curse at the bandits as badly as possible. However, Bai Qi was a General – how could he say such things? As such, Zhao Fu asked Liu Mei, a former bandit, to do this, and she had done it excellently.

Liu Mei lightly harrumphed and said in a pleased manner, “But of course, this granny’s not weak at all!”

Zhao Fu laughed when he heard this, but he did not say anything. They arrived at the Ferocious Tiger Village, which now only had 40 or so people, and it no longer posed a threat to them.

Zhao Fu motioned at Bai Qi, who walked up and loudly called out, “You all must have been notified that your leader and the others have died. If you surrender now, I promise that we won’t kill you all.”

Seeing that there were 300 or so enemies outside, after thinking about it for a while, the bandits decided not to fight to the death, and they instead obediently surrendered.

Zhao Fu found the Blacksmith who knew how to forge plate armor – it was a dark-skinned fellow called Deng Li.

Following this, Zhao Fu went to the Village Hall and conquered it, awarding him 50 Achievement Points. Because this village was quite far away from the Great Qin Village, Zhao Fu chose to [Relocate] it, granting the Great Qin Village 280 EXP.

At this moment, a system announcement sounded out:

“Congratulations! The Great Qin Village has levelled up into an Intermediate Village!”