By the time Ren Baqian reached the foot of the mountain, the winged cavalry warriors that went to chase after the fleeing Great Xia soldiers had returned. Severed limbs were strewn all over the ground, and there were no survivors.

The air was pervaded with the stench of blood, causing Ren Baqian's nose to feel uncomfortable. He tried his best not to cover his nose.

These winged cavalry warriors risked their lives to search for the empress in Great Xia and engaged in a fierce battle with Great Xia soldiers. Ren Baqian would come off as insensitive if he covered his nose now.

The empress was just standing there observing the scene. Ren Baqian actually knew the captain standing beside the empress. It was Teng Ji. However, when Teng Ji saw Ren Baqian, he gave him a disdainful look.

After all, the empress had placed herself in such a precarious situation for him. He should count himself lucky that they did not hack him to pieces when they saw him.

Ren Baqian understood this, and he, therefore, did not mind Teng Ji giving him that look. He merely felt helpless.

Previously, he had not thought of this issue as he had been solely with the empress this whole time. Now that he encountered this issue, he couldn't do much about it either.

Soon after Ren Baqian reached the foot of the mountain, the winged cavalry warriors returned. All of their bodies were covered in bloodstains. They were not the only ones. The empress's body was covered in many bloodstains too. All of the warriors wore an innocent smile on their faces, but their bodies gave off the stench of blood, making one realize the callousness of this world.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Everyone kneeled down on one knee in front of the empress.

"You may stand," the empress replied. Her voice was imposing but not cold.

After all, no one would have his or her face darkened upon seeing such subordinates.

"Why are you here?" the empress asked.

"The winged cavalry has vowed our lives to follow Your Majesty!" everyone yelled in unison.

A feeling of warmth flashed upon the empress's face. Following which, her face turned austere again. "Where are the rest?"

"Your Majesty, we have split up into ten units. The rest are searching through other routes. There should be two units that are nearby," Teng Ji raised his head and said.

"Stand up," the empress said again. Actually, the winged cavalry was a burden to her at this point in time. However, she did not voice it out.

After all, the speed of the winged cavalry's mounts paled in comparison to Qi Shui's. Furthermore, the winged cavalry was huge in number, hence making them a larger target.

"Yes." Everyone stood up.

"How many casualties did we have?" the empress asked once more.

Teng Ji turned around and yelled, "Form up!"

The more than one hundred men quickly lined up in four columns. After carefully counting the number of men he had, Teng Ji said, "Where are the remaining two? Search for them."

Everyone clearly knew it was impossible that the two warriors ran so far away when chasing the fleeing Great Xia soldiers that they lost their way. They were definitely among the corpses lying on the ground.

There were at least seven hundred corpses on the ground. In the brief battle just now, more than seven hundred of Great Xia's elite soldiers were slaughtered. Including the fleeing soldiers that were killed, they had lost more than one thousand and five hundred men. All of them were dead.

On the contrary, this winged cavalry unit had lost only two men. If the empress had not killed the commander of the Great Xia army, this winged cavalry unit would have suffered more casualties.

After a while, the empress saw two corpses being carried over. She said, "Bring them back and give them an elaborate funeral."

Everyone knew it was impossible to bring back the corpses as they would rot halfway through the journey. However, they could still bring their heads back and bury their bodies here without setting up gravestones for them. Now, they had to find a safe place to handle their bodies first.

The bodies of aboriginal warriors that were killed in foreign lands were usually handled like this. Afterwards, their souls and heads would be brought back to Sixty Thousand Mountains. This was done so that their souls could protect the living aboriginals.

Previously, the bodies of the warriors that died during the mission of killing Seventh Prince were handled this way too.

"Inform the other two nearby units to meet up at a location that will take one day to reach. Tell the rest to return to Dayao separately," the empress instructed.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Should we inform General Hong Wu as well?" Teng Ji asked.

"Arrange it," the empress waved her hand and ordered.

Immediately, Teng Ji instructed some men to notify the other units. At the same time, the winged cavalry warriors returned to their mounts. Most of them took a glance at Ren Baqian before they left. They wanted to see which b.a.s.t.a.r.d had made the empress take such a risk.

At this point in time, Ren Baqian felt he was somewhat like Private Ryan from Saving Private Ryan. His feelings were slightly complicated.

.

The winged cavalry had a unique contact method in foreign territories. They had an animal that looked somewhat similar to a hummingbird, and it was called yiniao. Yiniao usually came in pairs, and they would remain faithful to their significant other until death. When they were separated, they would automatically return to each other, extremely magical. No one knew how they were able to locate each other.

Very soon, five pitch-black yiniao flew up into the sky and headed towards different directions.

Every unit of winged cavalry had a few yiniao from the other units. This enabled them to communicate with each other.

After a while, many winged cavalry warriors brought two enormous goats back. The bodies of the two dead warriors were tied to their backs.

Just now, when they had seen the Great Xia army, they got down from their mounts so as to let their mounts hide in safety. These goats were very smart as well. They did not run too far away, and they merely grazed on an open meadow nearby to wait for their masters.

The so-called winged cavalry resembled an ordinary cavalry. In reality, they were just an infantry riding on mounts. While riding on their mounts, they were severely limited and couldn't fully utilize their powers. Therefore, they would ride their mounts while travelling, and they would get down from their mounts when they wanted to slay their enemies.

"Set off, back to Dayao!" the empress said to everyone. Her voice resounded across the area. In a flash, she appeared behind Ren Baqian, sitting sideways on Qi Shui.

"Set off!" The roar of the winged cavalry sounded like an odd cry of the primitive wilderness. One by one, they followed behind Qi Shui.

The more than one hundred winged cavalry warriors went full speed ahead, causing the ground to tremble furiously. After all, the aboriginals were well-known for their immense weight.

　　...

A trade convoy was moving forward on a plain. More than ten carriages carried goods while the remaining carriages carried laborers and pract.i.tioners.

A forty-year-old, austere-looking pract.i.tioner seemed to sense something. Then, he instructed a man beside him, "Liu Er, can you hear if there's anything?"

Immediately, a young man jumped down from his horse and stuck his ear to the ground. Following which, he ran after his horse and jumped onto its back. "Boss, there are hors.e.m.e.n coming our way."

The middle-aged, austere-looking man nodded his head. This was the interior of Great Xia, and they would occasionally come across hors.e.m.e.n. There were no reports of bandits nearby either well. Therefore, there was no need for them to worry too much.

However, for the sake of safety, he leaned towards a particular carriage and knocked on its door. "Manager, there are hors.e.m.e.n heading our way."

A plump-faced man that resembled a wealthy landlord stuck his head of the carriage and yelled, "Stop first."

"Manager, should we get into our formation just in case something happens?" the middle-aged man asked again.

"No need, there aren't any bandits here. Everything will be fine after we wait here for a while," the manager waved his hand and replied.

He travelled this route every year, and he had never heard of bandits appearing here.

The city of Yucheng was just 25 kilometers away. Other than the experts in the army and government offices, there was the Qingyang Sect on the mountain outside the city as well. There were three Earth Wheel experts in the sect, therefore any bandits that dared to appear here were simply courting death.

The trade convoy came to a stop. Everyone could feel the ground beneath their feet trembling. They could also see dust and sand rising into the air in the distance.

"There are many of them," the middle-aged man thought to himself. It was impossible for a small number of hors.e.m.e.n to create such a powerful impact. He reckoned that there were at least five hundred hors.e.m.e.n coming their way.

"They might be soldiers from the army. Isn't that Qi Zixiao in the territory of Great Xia now? Maybe they are looking for her," the manager squinted his eyes and guessed.

"So, what if they found her?" the middle-aged man shook his head. The army of Great Xia was mostly made up of Earth Wheel pract.i.tioners. A Spirit Wheel pract.i.tioner was on a completely different level from an Earth Wheel pract.i.tioner. Even if they outnumbered her, they would not be able to capture her.

Even though he merely attained the level of Man Wheel, because of his family background, he heard many stories about the strength of Spirit Wheel experts.

Sitting on his horse, the middle-aged man looked in the direction of the incoming hors.e.m.e.n. After a while, he could see the appearance of some figures. Following which, his facial expression changed drastically.

At the most front of the charging hors.e.m.e.n, there was an unknown beast that carrying two persons. Behind that unknown beast, there were men riding on enormous goats, not horses. Those goats were commonly seen in Dayao.

Only aboriginals loved to ride on these goats.

When the middle-aged man thought of this, his facial expression changed. He yelled wildly, "They are not Great Xia hors.e.m.e.n! They are from Dayao! What are Dayao people doing here? Leave the goods here and run!"

Upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, the manager's facial expression changed drastically as well. "How can it be? What are Dayao people doing here? No, we can't leave the goods here!"

"All the ordinary aboriginal soldiers are at the level of Man Wheel. How can they be ordinary soldiers if they can make it all the way here? We can't stop them! Who cares about the goods? They are not going to take them anyway!"

As the middle-aged man yelled, he picked up the manager, turned his horse around and rode towards the direction of Yucheng.

Everyone else's facial expressions changed drastically, and they fled in all directions.

No one cared about the goods.

Like what the middle-aged man said, the aboriginals wouldn't want to take the goods.

At this point in time, everyone's top priority was to flee for their lives. Those laborers were hating their parents for not giving them two extra legs to run faster.

The middle-aged man whipped his horse furiously. Every now and then, he would turn around to take a look. Soon after, when he saw those Dayao people did not have the intention to chase them and headed straight for Mount Yuyang, he heaved a sigh of relief.

After the aboriginals disappeared into Mount Yuyang, he instructed someone, "Go and notify the authorities in Yucheng."

After a while, he rode back to the convoy.

　　...

Sitting on the back of Qi Shui, Ren Baqian could see those people fleeing in all directions.

However, even if they did not run away, the empress wouldn't care about them. After all, so many of the defeated Great Xia soldiers had escaped just now, the authorities should have already gotten wind of the empress's presence.

After entering Mount Yuyang, they began to head further towards its depths. Qi Shui and those enormous goats were specialized in traversing forests. The complicated terrain of the mountainous forest posed no obstruction to them. This way, the Great Xia army would have difficulty in hunting them down.

Every two hours, they would take a break. By night-time, they settled in for the night within the depths of Mount Yuyang.

Ren Baqian and the empress sat beside a campfire. Ren Baqian was roasting meat for the empress. Everyone else steered clear of them, but they could still smell the aroma from their campfire.

Even though all the campfires were the same, they felt that Ren Baqian's smelled exceptionally nice.

The next morning, they set off immediately after they woke up. After half a day had pa.s.sed, they stopped at the mountain ridge. This was where Teng Ji and the other two units had arranged to meet.

　　...

Qingyang Sect.

"Sect Leader, Liu Canjun sent someone to seek an audience with you," a huge man walked into the room and said.

"No, I'm not seeing him. Tell him that I have trained until the extent that I've gone crazy and I'm gravely injured now," the old man said without even opening his eyes. Had he not known the news, he would have gone out to see him. However, since he now knew what was going on, he would rather say these words to reject his audience. Doing so would save both parties' face.

"Sect Leader...I think it's better to meet him. We can listen to what he has to say first." The huge man had an odd look on his face. Qingyang Sect did not have any martial art that could make one go crazy. Furthermore, Qingyang Sect and the authorities of Yucheng always had a good relations.h.i.+p, why did Sect Leader have to be so cold?

"Yesterday a group of aboriginals entered Mount Yuyang," the old man casually told the huge man upon seeing that he still did not get what was going on.

"So what?" The huge man still did not know what was going on. Even though aboriginals were powerful, they were not so scary that they could make one flee in hear upon hearing they were coming.

When the old man saw how stupid the huge man was, he angrily shook his head. "They are the winged cavalry of Dayao. Their weakest warrior is at the level of Earth Wheel, same as you and me. Qi Zixiao is among them. Liu Canjun is courting death and he wants to drag Qingyang Sect down with him. If you want to experience the might of the winged cavalry and Qi Zixiao, you can go ahead. There's no need for you to inform me."

It was at this moment that the huge man's facial expression changed drastically. He couldn't believe that he did not know what was going on. Following which, he replied with rage, "I will go and chase him away now."