"No more alcohol!" As another guy tilted the bottle, only a drop of alcohol dripped out.

"It should have lasted us a few days." Three of the winged cavalry warriors looked at the other three people in front of them.

The alcohol was originally enough to last a couple of days for three people, but it was immediately finished now that there were six of them.

"Did you bring money?"

The three of them searched their pockets and fished out a bunch of silver.

"Can these be used?"

"People here seem to be using another type of currency. I have seen them take it out before."

"What should we do?"

"Go do some hunting in the mountains behind us to trade for alcohol?"

"There isn't any big things in the mountains here. I have already taken a walk." One of the winged cavalry warrior who had arrived earlier was looking pretty gloomy.

All six of them looked at one other helplessly for a long while.

"Let's find someone to borrow money from and pay them back when our salaries are paid."

The next day was a Wednesday. Ding Jie didn't have cla.s.ses in the afternoon, so he went to the villa again. He was surrounded by the six of them as soon as he entered the house.

"What are you guys up to?" asked a trembling Ding Jie as he looked upon the six bear-men who were surrounding him with ominous glints in their eyes.

"There's no more alcohol…"

"I don't have any alcohol either…" Just as Ding Jie finished speaking, he felt the surrounding atmosphere grow a little colder.

"I'll go buy some…!" Ding Jie replied sullenly.

"We'll pay you back when our salaries are paid out," the six men replied. After all, it wasn't nice of them to rob this bean sprout of his money. Doing so would give off the feeling that they were stealing candy from a baby.

After some time…

"Let's drink!"

"I can't drink… Okay, I'll drink…!" Scowling miserably, Ding Jie drank one third of a cup in one go. He suddenly felt as if a knife was cutting through his throat. After that, his entire stomach was aflame as his face immediately became flushed.

"Little bee!"

"How does the game go?"

"Like this…" The six men whispered among one another for some time before s.h.i.+fting their attention back to Ding Jie.

"I don't know how to play… You guys go ahead. I really don't know how to play… Okay, my bad, I'll play…"

Still scowling miserably, Ding Jie wondered what sin he had committed?

I'm a private tutor, I'm a private tutor, I'm a private tutor! I'm not here to buy alcohol and drink with you guys! Didn't we agree not to threaten the tutor?

"Two little bees… Flying among the flowers… Fly! Fly! Fly! Pow!"

A person suddenly flew away, smas.h.i.+ng violently into the wall.

Thump!

The entire house shook.

Ding Jie's face immediately turned pale at this sight. He was already beginning to sober up from the dizziness in his head. Trembling, he asked, "Can I stop playing…?"

One of the winged cavalry warrior comforted him and said, "Don't worry! You are so fragile that we will be much gentler!"

What's the difference between an intact corpse and dying without an intact corpse? Are you guys simply trying to kill me?

Ding Jie thought to himself.

"You are a man! Why are you so timid?!" Another one of the winged cavalry warrior grinned widely. The scar on his face looked even more sinister.

"But I'm really afraid… I'm not like you guys…"

"Two little bees… Flying in the flowers… Fly… Fly… Fly… Pow!"

Thump!

Ding Jie's entire body shook uncontrollably like a quail.

By the time the sky was turning dark, all six of the winged cavalry warriors had faces that were swollen like pig heads. Meanwhile, Ding Jie was miraculously untouched!

"Awesome, kid!" One of the winged cavalry warriors burst into laughter as he tapped on Ding Jie's shoulders and almost smacked him into the ground.

"Not bad, not bad. Since we drank your alcohol today, we are not going to take advantage of you. Tomorrow, I will teach you a set of fighting techniques that are used to defend our village. It's the best technique within a 3,000 steps of our village."

Ding Jie was still a little dizzy when he left the villa. He got even dizzier when the wind blew past. However, he still felt extremely glad, and it was as if he had been given a new lease on life.

Okay, someone is teaching me how to fight?

He was looking forward to it greatly and was unsure of whether he could become as powerful as those people.

Still stumbling along the way, Ding Jie arrived at the bottom of the hill. Two people came out of a black off-road vehicle by the roadside and kidnapped him into their car. He then fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke up, he found himself in a room, and the decor were considered pretty good by his standards… even though it was simply a guesthouse with basic room furnis.h.i.+ng in the eyes of others.

Ding Jie turned his head and saw a man and a woman, both in their forties, sitting to the side.

"Awake?"

"You guys are?'

"We are from the Ministry of State Security. Please a.s.sist us with our investigation."

Hearing that they were from the Ministry of State Security Department, Ding Jie felt as if he had been struck by lightning. A sense of fear gripped his heart, rendering him almost unable to think.

When the duo saw his expression, they were very certain that this kid would be easy to deal with.

"I have never done anything against the law…" Ding Jie replied with some difficulty.

"Whether or not you've committed a crime, we can only find out after interrogating you. First, let me ask you. Why were you in the villa at the top of the hill?"

After hearing this, Ding Jie was on the verge of tears. Indeed, it was because of that group of people on the hill.

That person with the surname Ren, wasn't he working for the nation? He probably didn't trick me with a fake ident.i.ty, did he?

"Give me a gla.s.s of water first…" Ding Jie spoke softly. He felt a little better after drinking half a gla.s.s of water and went on to explain that he was a home tutor.

"What have they been telling you these days? Tell us what you know."

"Will you arrest them after I tell you?" Ding Jie asked cautiously.

"No, we won't, but we need to know the situation," the man replied.

"In that case, I can't say…" Ding Jie immediately shook his head.

His reaction left the duo looking stunned.

"Did he threaten you?"

Ding Jie nodded vigorously.

"We work for the nation—we can protect you."

He then shook his head.

"You think that the nation is incapable of protecting you?"

Ding Jie shook his head.

"Then what are you afraid of? You think that we can't protect you?"

Ding Jie nodded repeatedly.

The both of them were speechless.

Since you are so honest, are your parents aware of this?

"If you don't tell us, we can arrest you." The man gave a stern look. If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to do that. After all, he was hoping that Ding Jie could a.s.sist them. However, this fellow was too amusing…

Deep down, Ding Jie was s.h.i.+vering inside. However, after thinking about what that man said previously, he mustered up his courage and said, "He said his name is Ren Baqian. You can look for him if there's anything…"

He regretted it the moment he finished speaking. Growing up to such a ripe age, he had never expected himself to speak to the Ministry of State Security Department in this manner, let alone think that he would come into contact with them.

…

"Miss Qing Yuan, where is Her Majesty?" Ren Baqian went to the empress's room to greet her as soon as he returned to Dayao, but realized that she wasn't inside.

"The empress had a few drinks a while ago and said that she was bored, so she went out for a stroll," Qing Yuan replied while wiping the table in the room.

"How long has she been gone for?" Ren Baqian nodded and handed Qing Yuan a bag of White Rabbit Creamy Candy.

"Less than four hours." Qing Yuan grinned from ear to ear.

"Get someone to notify me once the empress is back." Ren Baqian smiled and left.

In the past, there were always television programs that broadcasted all kinds of emperors who wanted to leave their palaces along with many chancellors who tried to advise against this decision.

That didn't exist here in the empress's world.

It was all fine as long as she didn't run off to Great Xia's palace for a stroll.

Given the empress's strength, as long as she didn't run into enemies and get heavily surrounded, there was no one in Tianjing Basin who could deal with her.

In the minds of everyone else, the empress was simply bored and went for a stroll in the city or somewhere not too far away from the city.

However, the empress was currently standing beneath a range of hills in the distance and holding a bottle of alcohol. Ahead of her, there was a winding mountain road that wasn't precipitous. The road was paved over many years and was about three meters wide. After pa.s.sing through this winding mountain road, it suddenly opened up to a wide panorama of s.p.a.cious land. There were three streams of large turbulent rivers that resembled three large dragons sleeping soundly on the ground.

This was the origin of the name of the w.a.n.g Estuary.

Back then, when the Hao Nation was rich and powerful, there was no telling how many scholars and literati penned their works here.

The empress looked at the tall mountain ahead and took of gulp of alcohol. Her body fluttered in the wind like a deity.

Ren Baqian's actions were too slow. After staying in Tianjing Basin for quite some time, the empress felt like returning to the imperial palace.

She had heard that there were a couple of experts in the vicinity. If she were to go forth and kill them, then her forces would be able to advance much faster.

The empress's face was slightly flushed, and one could tell from her eyes that she was a little tipsy. She swirled the bottle around and found that it was still about half full. With a slight touch from her feet, the scenery on both sides s.h.i.+fted rapidly behind her.

There were a few sentries in the distant forest. They originally saw a lady in red standing quite a ways away and hesitated over whether or not to warn the others. After all, she was there alone, and they were afraid that they would make a big fuss over something minor.

In the blink of an eye, that lady disappeared.

Subsequently, a gust of wind flitted across the sentries.

An astonis.h.i.+ng aura rose from within the woods.

An elder sitting atop the mountain opened his eyes in an instant as a chilling glow flashed from his eyes.

"This aura… Is this a challenge? Hmm? This seems kind of familiar… Is it Qi Zixiao?" The elder's face turned pale. Sitting with the same posture, his body turned into a blur and reappeared on top of a huge rock that looked down upon the foot of the mountain.

"It's Qi Zixiao!" A shadow appeared beside him. "What should we do?"

"Retreat! The two of us aren't her match, but she won't do anything to those ordinary soldiers."

"Still, our sect disciples are there."

"She won't do anything to them either. Leave before it's too late."

Following their conversation, many people started lifting their heads and looking over from the mountains, only to see a red shadow in the forest that had an astonis.h.i.+ng aura. It leaped up and dashed toward the mountain peak.

"I'm a little fed up, so all of you better hurry down here to receive your death sentence!" Feeling a little tipsy, the empress blew a long whistle which jolted the surroundings. Immediately, all of the birds and animals on the mountains submitted to her.

With a light tap of her feet against a piece of rock at the peak, she welcomed the mountain wind and raised her eyes to look at the surroundings. Very quickly, she managed to locate the two small dots in the distance. First, she took a sip of alcohol. Next, she moved out and began to give chase.