Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 348 Queen Stone Guanyin, Chasing Chu Liuxiang

A magnificent tent, like a blooming flower, took root in the desert.

Wu Hua, holding the letter delivered by the Eastern Depot's strange blood carrier pigeon, entered the tent.

Inside the tent, the stone Guanyin leaned against the throne, seemingly asleep.

The midday sun shone through the tent and fell on the stone Guanyin.

Her skin was like precious jade, white and smooth, with a faint glow.

Even though both her children are adults, she looks younger than an unmarried girl.

The dragon robe he wore was mainly in the style of the Central Plains, but was decorated with a lot of Western Region decorations, including pearl embellishments and gold and silver ornaments.

In this world, most clothes that look luxurious are often extremely uncomfortable to wear, and many even have accessories that are purely decorative but hinder human movement.

The garment draped over the stone Guanyin at this moment can be considered a typical example of this type of clothing.

But it must be admitted that such luxurious clothes complemented her perfectly, making her look truly beautiful and splendid.

Wuhua cautiously approached and whispered, "Mother..."

"Ok?"

Shi Guanyin suddenly opened her eyes and looked at Wuhua.

Those eyes could be described as the result of a skilled craftsman's meticulous work, or as a natural masterpiece, resembling a pair of black pearls.

Looking into those eyes, even a highly virtuous monk would likely be captivated.

But a sense of fear surfaced in Wuhua's heart.

"What should you call me?"

Wu Hua quickly corrected himself: "Your Majesty!"

"Hmm." Shi Guanyin nodded, then sat up. "What is it?"

Wu Hua breathed a sigh of relief before reporting the contents of the message.

Although they were mother and son in name, only Wuhua knew in his heart how cruel and heartless his mother was.

Decades ago, she married Tenfu Shiro in order to gain the power to take revenge, but after obtaining that power, she abandoned her child and husband without hesitation.

Despite this, Wuhua always held his mother in high esteem.

They believed that although she was far away in the Western Regions, she had always cared about them and their younger brother.

However, this is merely a case of distance creating beauty.

The distance of thousands of miles between the Central Plains and the Western Regions meant that the two sides could only communicate through letters and had no real close contact. Naturally, Wu Hua's image of his mother was mostly based on his own imagination.

After her plan failed, she faked her suicide and fled to the Western Regions to seek refuge with her mother. Wu Hua gradually realized that the mother she imagined and the real Shi Guanyin were not the same person at all.

Even so, Shi Guanyin was, after all, Wuhua's mother, and he still held her in high esteem.

Until Chu Liuxiang reappears!
Shi Guanyin concealed her identity and became the queen of the King of Guizi, while Chu Liuxiang was recruited by the king after arriving in the desert.

During this brief period of contact, Shi Guanyin and Chu Liuxiang actually developed feelings for each other!
It's hard for outsiders to understand what Wuhua was feeling at that time.

But Wuhua knew that the image of her mother in her heart had completely collapsed.

The arrival of the Eastern Depot made Wuhua, who had previously held her in high esteem, realize that her mother was, in essence, a ruthless person who pursued power and had an extremely strong desire for control.

The Eastern Depot and Shi Guanyin reached an agreement, but at a great cost.

The Eastern Depot's power was mainly concentrated in the Central Plains, so many of the costs it was willing to pay could only be incurred in the Central Plains.

Shi Guanyin agreed.

After all, there were very few things in the Western Regions that she couldn't accomplish herself.

But in the Central Plains, she had almost no power or foundation.

There's also the Huashan Sect, an enemy.

Therefore, when Shi Guanyin was discussing the agreement, she must have wanted to do something in the Central Plains.

At that moment, Wu Hua thought his chance to return to the Central Plains had come. After all, besides him, who else under Shi Guanyin was familiar with the Central Plains?

However, this was not the case; Shi Guanyin did not seem to want him to return to the Central Plains.

Wu Hua initially thought it was because her previous plan had failed, leading to a lack of trust.

But it was later discovered that this was not the case. The reason why Shi Guanyin did not allow it was simply because he was being somewhat disobedient.

Instantly, Wuhua transformed back into her former self, one who held her mother in the highest esteem.

But did such actions deceive Shi Guanyin?

Wu Hua didn't know either.

"So that's why that guy didn't come to test me today; turns out he's already run away." After hearing the report, Shi Guanyin couldn't help but smile enchantingly.

"Your Majesty, may I lead troops to capture him?"

"You? You can't even handle Chu Liuxiang alone, yet you think you can deal with him and Li Xunhuan working together?"

Wu Hua fell silent.

The nickname "Little Li Flying Dagger" is well-deserved.

Now that Li Xunhuan has reached the Grandmaster level, even a Second Flower Grandmaster could perish under his flying daggers.

"I... shall handle this myself!"

Shi Guanyin stood up, her smile growing even brighter: "I'd like to see how long this little thief can keep running!"

When Wuhua caught a glimpse of that smile, a bad premonition suddenly welled up in her heart.

Recalling how Shi Guanyin and Chu Liuxiang had developed feelings for each other in just a few days, he couldn't help but grit his teeth: "You're going to hunt them down? You're really going to hunt them down?"

But clearly, Shi Guanyin wouldn't allow him to refute her.

He then mobilized his troops and prepared to depart. At the same time, he ordered Wuhua to lead the army of Guizi Kingdom to break camp immediately and go to Tianxiang Kingdom to hunt down the king and all his subjects.

"The desert at midday is truly ruthless!"

Eight horses were moving through the desert, each one seemingly exhausted.

Immediately, Su Rongrong gritted her teeth and persevered.

The temperature in the desert at midday was indeed extremely high.

But there was nothing they could do; that's what they did when they received the news.
We set off immediately, naturally meaning we would proceed under the blazing midday sun.

If we wait until night, we'll probably have already missed the opportunity.

Fortunately, the Desert King's men were already waiting at the agreed location. Upon seeing the group, they quickly rode over, bringing with them spare horses.

"Where is Chu Liuxiang?" Black Pearl asked, not seeing Chu Liuxiang among the crowd.

The subordinate said, "After delivering the message, that hero left on his own."

"All right……"

After everyone changed horses and were about to leave, they saw a white line suddenly appear on the ground in the distance.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed a group of cavalry.

"They actually caught up with us!"

Black Pearl immediately looked at her subordinates: "Is the ambush I asked you to set up ready?"

"It's all set, it's just fifteen miles ahead!"

"Alright, lead them there!"

The group immediately spurred their horses and galloped away.

The cavalry chasing from behind were naturally the eight hundred cavalrymen of the Guizi Kingdom led by Shi Guanyin.

Under the scorching sun, they galloped here, and the horses they rode were exhausted. In contrast, the horses that Lu Xiaofeng and his group rode had been waiting here for a long time, and while their strength might not be at its peak, it could be said to be at about 80% of its maximum.

Once they started running, their speed naturally surpassed that of the Kucha cavalry.

As they chased each other, the distance between them seemed to be widening.

At this moment, if Shi Guanyin were to abandon her horse and use her lightness skill, she could probably catch up at an even faster speed.

However, considering that Chu Liuxiang might be among those people, Shi Guanyin gave up on the idea.

The reason is simple: Chu Liuxiang, the master thief, possesses unparalleled lightness skills. In a head-on fight, she is confident that she can capture him within a few dozen moves.

However, in terms of lightness skill, she might not be able to catch up with Chu Liuxiang, who was focused on escaping.

If she were to use her lightness skill at this moment, she would stand out from the crowd of cavalry.

Chu Liuxiang would surely flee if he saw that she was the one who had taken action.

Even if we did that, we still wouldn't be able to catch Chu Liuxiang.

Therefore, Shi Guanyin temporarily suppressed her thoughts and hid herself among the many cavalrymen, making herself impossible to spot.

The two sides, one in front and one behind, one fleeing and one chasing, quickly crossed a distance of fifteen miles and arrived at the ambush site.

The ambush site was not located in a mountain.

After all, this is the Western Regions. Finding a mountain here, especially one that happens to be near the Kingdom of Tianxiang, to serve as an ambush site, is no easy feat.

The actual ambush site was the ruins of a city, which had been abandoned for countless years.

A corner of the city wall still stands strong.

The Desert King's army lay in ambush on and around the city walls, waiting for the enemy to arrive.

The group swept past the city wall and disappeared around the corner.

Meanwhile, the Kucha cavalry arrived closely behind.

"Hmm? The presence of many people..."

Shi Guanyin was indeed extraordinary; as soon as she approached the city wall, she sensed that a large number of soldiers were hiding behind it.

However, by the time she realized this, the Guzi cavalry had already crashed into the enemy's firing range.

Dozens or even hundreds of figures immediately appeared on the city wall, each holding a bow, and in an instant, arrows rained down upon them.

At this moment, if Shi Guanyin were to take action, she would still have the ability to reverse the situation.

However, Shi Guanyin's eyes flickered slightly.

But they did nothing.

The reason, as before, was the fear of alerting the enemy and scaring Chu Liuxiang away.

Even if the other party hadn't shown up yet, as long as the distance between them exceeded ten zhang, Chu Liuxiang would have the ability to escape from him!
Therefore, Shi Guanyin made the decision not to intervene without any hesitation.

Then, arrows rained down.

The unprepared Guizi cavalry were suddenly bombarded by hundreds of arrows.

Hundreds of people died on the spot.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of horses' hooves thundered.

Five hundred cavalrymen suddenly appeared behind the Guizi cavalry, galloping wildly towards them.

Thus, arrows rained down from the front, while cavalry charged from behind.

Eight hundred Guizi cavalrymen were completely outnumbered by the enemy.

Moreover, because it was an ambush, the eight hundred cavalrymen were completely unprepared and were slaughtered in droves, suffering a crushing defeat and their numbers dwindling rapidly.

Even knowing that the Queen was hiding among the crowd.

However, these cavalrymen, who were originally loyal to the King of Kucha, then to a traitor, and now to Shi Guanyin, clearly have no concept of loyalty to the monarch.

Seeing that disaster was imminent, they all fled to the left and right in a heartbeat.

In this way, the stone Guanyin, who was hiding in the crowd, could no longer be concealed.

On the city wall, Lu Xiaofeng and Li Xunhuan saw a woman's figure suddenly appear in the crowd, and their expressions changed drastically.

"Oh no! It's the Stone Guanyin!"

"She actually took action herself!"

Just then, Shi Guanyin realized that she could no longer hide, so she immediately took to the air, her true energy bursting forth. The sword she wielded transformed into blades of energy that swept in all directions.

The strength of a Three-Flower Grandmaster is terrifying.

Dozens of people died instantly under her air blades!
Upon seeing this, Li Xunhuan immediately threw out a flying knife.

At the same time, Lu Xiaofeng also leaped into the air, and the Thunderclap Sword was drawn from its sheath.

Gripping the divine sword wreathed in lightning, Lu Xiaofeng instantly unleashed the move "Flying Immortal from Beyond the Heavens".

Stone Guanyin remained calm and composed, her true energy condensing into a powerful aura that extended several feet away from her body, demonstrating the depth of her skill.

Li Xunhuan's throwing knives, once properly prepared, might be able to kill a Second-Level Grandmaster, but against a Third-Level Grandmaster, they would still be no match.

Moreover, he acted hastily and without much preparation.

The flying knife seemed to transform into a streak of white light as it flew out, but in an instant it stopped a foot away from Shi Guanyin.

Shi Guanyin's eyes flickered: "Little Li Flying Dagger? Interesting..."

Her protective aura was several feet thick.

However, the opponent's throwing knife was able to penetrate to within a foot of her, which meant that the two or three feet of protective energy in front of her had actually been pierced by Little Li's throwing knife!

This demonstrates the sharpness of the throwing knife.

If he were only a second-level Grandmaster, he would probably have already broken through the protective energy barrier and had his throat pierced.

At the same time, Lu Xiaofeng's attack had already arrived.

A longsword, crackling with lightning and dazzlingly bright, like the wrath of a celestial being, was already thrusting diagonally towards them.

At this moment, Shi Guanyin felt a faint sense of threat.

She maintained her powerful protective aura, but then unleashed a palm strike aimed directly at Lu Xiaofeng.

The sharp palm wind directly shattered the lightning, turning it into streaks of dazzling light that scattered in all directions.

The divine sword in the middle pierced through the palm wind and pointed directly at Stone Guanyin.

However, after being weakened like this, the remaining power of the sword was not enough to pierce through the three-foot-long protective aura.

Upon seeing this, Lu Xiaofeng immediately dodged away, landing on the city wall with a solemn expression.

"Thunderbolt Sword, Celestial Immortal... So that's it, you're Lu Xiaofeng!"

Although Shi Guanyin was in the Western Regions, she paid close attention to intelligence from the Central Plains and naturally knew about this guy who had risen to fame in recent years.

She looked around and asked, "Where's Chu Liuxiang? Didn't he join the attack?"

"Chu Liuxiang?"

Lu Xiaofeng laughed: "So this beauty came to see Brother Chu. It's a pity that although Brother Chu met with us once before, he only informed us of the impending arrival of the Guizi Kingdom's army before leaving on his own."

A true lie is one that contains both truth and falsehood.

It's all a lie; it can't fool a smart person, and it also doesn't explain why the entire Tianxiang Kingdom would flee at this time.

"Not here?"

Although Shi Guanyin had already guessed a bit, her gaze still turned cold: "If that's the case, then you can all die!"

(End of this chapter)