Lu Lingqi held onto the mirror that she took from the closet and sat on the ground in disbelief. All these years of being ridiculed, laughed at and pitied would be no more. Now that her appearance had been healed no one would look down on her anymore.
“People will actually wish to befriend me now.” She thought. However, moments later she slapped herself as hard as she could.
A bright red handprint appeared on her smooth snowy skin. After slapping herself she began to laugh. She laughed at the fact that she still cared about other people befriending her. She laughed that she dreamt that her appearance would magically be fixed and a charming prince would come swoop her off her feet.
A fool’s dream was what she used to think of it. However now that the fool’s dream came true she mocked herself.
“Why should I care about those people who ignored me because of how I looked? She thought to herself.
From the looks people gave her while she was disfigured Lu Lingqi started to fear going outside. She feared how people would judge her because of her appearance. She was afraid that someone would see her and call her an abomination.
But now everything is different. With her appearance fixed she no longer wanted other people to accept her. She had come to this realization after meeting Zhang. She had realized that there are people out there who would be kind to you and befriend you despite your looks or status. And these people were the only people who was worth befriending.
Instead of wasting her time with those superficial fools who would not be around if her appearance reverted back to how it was hours ago. She should try to reach for those people who would accept her regardless of her appearance.
For now, only one image appeared in her mind. She saw a young man who would smile at her and talk to her even if she was extremely ugly. This young man would treat her how he treated everyone else. If she was pretty he would treat her the same, if she was ugly he would treat her the same.
Thus Lu Lingqi decided that in this world she only needed one friend, one person to acknowledge her because he was the person who shone a light into her lonely world and reached his hand out.
The next day Lu Lingqi for the first time in a long while left her herbal garden. She headed toward the guest rooms in the hopes of meeting Zhang once more. Although she rarely left the herbal garden Lu Lingqi knew the lay out of the lord’s mansion like the back of her hand.
A short while later she stood in front of the guest room. She was contemplating on what to say to Zhang when she met him. Many things swelled up in her heart and she wished to spill it all out in front of him. A mass of feelings, dreams, and wants had filled her mind.
Inside the corner of her mind a hint of fear also loomed about. She was afraid that this entire time her impression of him was but a misunderstanding. “What if he isn’t the type of person I think he is?” She thought to herself.
But after a while of contemplating she decided to knock on the door.
-Knock Knock-
However, there was no reply from the inside of the room. After a short while a maid passed by.
“What happened to the young man that stayed here last night.” Lu Lingqi asked.
“Who are you? I’ve never seen you before and I’ve been working in the mansion for five years.” The maid asked somewhat afraid. Although afraid she was stunned by this young woman’s beauty.
The city lord’s mansion was not a place for random people to wonder about. With hundreds of guards patrolling the ground it meant that random people who are able to wander around on the grounds were very powerful in terms of cultivation to be able to avoid all the guards.
Since the maid did not recognize this young lady standing in front of her and the mansion has only had on guest since yesterday the maid became somewhat afraid. As for the women living in the mansion whether as maids or residents she knew all of them and no one was as beautiful as this.
“Ha you don’t recognize me?” Lu Lingqi broke out into a hysterical laugh. To become a stranger at her own home, how funny would that be?
“Wh-who are you tell me quickly or I’ll scream! There are lots of guards patrolling the mansion they’ll come right away.” The maid yelled. She had fallen into a complete confused state of mind. She did not know whether or not alerting the guards would be a wise decision. As a commoner she had very low cultivation and if the person in front of her of a higher level she would be a goner.
“Do you see this?” Lu Lingqi said as she pulled out a medallion made of green jade.
“Milady?” The maid recognized this medallion as the command badge that the lord had given to his eldest daughter when she was a child. This badge allowed her word to carry this authority everyone under the influence of Green Clover city would have to listen to her command as they were listening to the city lord’s.
“Now tell me what happened to the young man in this room.” Lu Lingqi impatiently said. Although she did not care for the opinions of others anymore it still felt awkward talking to other people for too long.
It turns out that early in the morning Zhang went to say his goodbyes toe Lu Gong and lead his forces through the Dragon’s Maw. After saying his farewells Zhang mounted his Inferno Wind Walker and headed for the city gates.
Upon hearing this Lu Lingqi dashed away in the direction of the mansion’s horse stables.
“What happened to the young lady…..” The maid was left in a daze. How could someone who was said to be horribly disfigured be so pretty.
Lu Lingqi dashed out the front gate of the mansion. As her horse sped through the streets her clothes fluttered and she caught the attention of many pedestrians. Many men stared at her without blinking an eye.
“That horse has the emblem of the city lord on the side of its saddle.” A man said.
“The city lord’s mansion? When did someone like that live there.” Another man added.
Soon discussions about her identity of the beautiful young lady broke out all around the city. Later on in the day they would find out from a rumor that had spread from within the lord’s mansion. The rumor goes on as “the lord’s eldest daughter was pitied by the heaven’s and was granted a new face.”
Once this rumor and many others had spread out throughout the city lines of men lined up before the lord’s mansion asking to meet the eldest lady of the house.
But all of them instead of meeting Lu Lingqi would meet her two half-sisters and be scared off.
Zhang had left the city lord’s mansion a bit ago and was speeding toward the gate. He needed to have his troops prepare to move and the sooner the better. It would take them three months to pass through the Dragon’s Maw maybe a bit longer due to the narrowness of the passage.
After passing through the city gate something caught Zhang’s attention.
He looked back and saw that Lu Lingqi was high up in the city gates. Once he saw her he stopped his horse to see what she wanted.
“Until next time we meet!!” She yelled while grasping a magical voice amplifier.
Upon hearing this Zhang smiled and waved at her. “Until next time we meet!” He yelled back and began riding once more. As he began riding away from the city he could hear singing.
Lu Lingqi’s angelic voice thanks to the magical voice amplifier, projected over a large area of the city. Her voice made everyone stop what they were doing and simply listen. People stood on the streets, sat up from their beds, and stopped doing this and that to listen.
The singers voice seeped into their soul. If she sang a sad song everyone would weep, if she sang a happy song then everyone would be happy. Lu Lingqi’s voice alone was able to mesmerize everyone who was able to hear it. If they could listen to it for hours on end, then they would forsake everything they had to do to listen to her.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Lu Lingqi watched as Zhang rode away into the distance. The further away he got the louder she would sing. Soon he was so far away that he looked like a speck of dust but she still continued to sing. She sang until she could sing no more. By the time she stopped a huge crowd had formed by the city walls. They all wanted to know who was the owner of such an angelic voice.
The crowd had become so large that it caused the city’s guards to come and disperse them. Using her green medallion Lu Lingqi commanded a group of soldiers to escort her back home. Once back home she went directly to her herbal garden.
Zhang felt quite happy with what he had done. He gave that girl who had suffered so much a new chance and it seemed like she took hold of it.
As he his mount galloped at full speed the camp that his soldiers had set up was in view. Overnight a mini fort was erected by the soldiers and when Zhang got closer the soldiers guarding the gate greeted him and opened the gate.
Once inside he went directly to Lu Xun’s tent. Although they have the same surname Lu Xun and Lu Gong have no relation one being from Aurora and the other being from Green Clover city.
“Commander.” Lu Xun said when Zhang walked into his tent.
“We got permission to pass have everyone get ready to move.” Zhang said.
“Right away.”
After a short conversation between the two Zhang left and headed to where he was told two certain beauties had set up their tent. He found out that Yuying and Ai’s tent was located in the middle of the camp.it was extremely easy to find their tent because a small mini fort had been erected around it.
“Good morning!” Zhang yelled as he walked into the tent.
“Ge-get out!” Two voices sounded out.
When Zhang looked around the tent he could see two almost naked women trying their best to cover themselves with pieces of clothing. Turns out the two of them were changing clothes and Zhang happened to walk in at the best time possible well for him at least.
Zhang stood guard in front of the tent keeping everyone else away after he was kicked out.
Shortly after Yuying and Ai both walked out fully dressed in armor. Soon the entire army was mobilized and mounted. The trio along with Lu Xun lead the rest of the army through two giant gates that opened up into the Dragon’s Maw.
“Hey would the two of you sing for me?” Zhang asked with a chuckle.
“Sing for you? Why should we sing for you?” Yuying teased.
“Yea you're acting funny brother did something happen in the city?” Ai asked.
“If you won’t sing for me would you get jealous if someone else did?” Zhang said jokingly.
“You go have someone else sing for you then.” Yuying teased back.
As the trio joked with each other something jumped at Zhang.
“Damn you Silky you almost made me fall!” Zhang yelled.
Yuying had named the Titanic Golden spider queen Silky. And it had doubled in size since it first hatched. It was still small enough to sit on top of Yuying’s head though but over time she became fairly attached to Zhang and Ai also.
“I wonder when the other eggs will hatch.” Zhang thought.
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Around two and a half months had passed since the beginning of the journey through the Dragon’s Maw. The army was able to reach the entrance to the underground passage way and had pitched camp by it.
Yuying released Silky into the passageway and had it order the colony of Titanic Golden spiders to not attack anyone from the army. After doing so Zhang ordered hundreds of men to go down the large pit that he had fallen into and bring up huge jars of water.
He eventually emptied the lake of water. This water was highly concentrated in essence and would be very useful so he wanted to get all that he could. Once the men dried up the lake Zhang stored away all of the jars of water into his interspatial ring.
After completing their task Zhang gave every soldier in the army three days of rest before continuing into the tunnel. Over the three days Zhang spent most of his time getting to know the soldiers better. Names, personalities, this and that. He felt as a leader the better he knew his men and the better they knew him then more trust could be built up and orders would be followed more precisely.
Once the three days passed all the trio led the army into the tunnels. This time no one would go missing like before.
“Brother are you excited? In a month or two you’ll be home.” Yuying asked as they rode through the tunnel.
“Very I’ve not seen anyone from my family for years now. Although they probably think I’m dead so I’m looking forward to seeing their reaction once I pop up. And father will be pleased once he meets you two.” Zhang said jokingly.
“Why would he be happy?” Ai asked.
“Because he’ll have two more future daughter in laws. Which means he will have more grandkids.” Zhang laughed.
“Who will marry you!?” Yuying yelled while blushing.
The trio continued to joke and play with each other whenever they had the chance throughout the trip. This continued on until they reached the exit of the tunnel.
Zhang directed the army to go to Xi Ning’s village. He wanted to meet up with Xi Ning and see if the tasks that he had left the man was completed. Zhang wondered if the project that he left Xi Ning was completed by now because it would play an essential part in his plan.
As the army rode through the night with Zhang, Yuying, Ai and Lu Xun in the front thousands of horsemen followed behind them under the moonlight. Everyone wore black armor while the trio sat on top of flaming horses.
Soon the path leading to the village was before them. However, this time something was different from before. Blocking the way up the pass was a large fortress made up of logs. This had not been here before when Zhang had gone to the village.
“Send a messenger up and see what’s going on.” Zhang commanded.
“Right away my lord.” Lu Xun as he ordered a lone rider to move out.
Shortly after the messenger got to the gate they opened and another person on top of a horse rode out. The messenger along with the person from the fortress rode toward Zhang. As the person got closer Zhang recognized him as Xi Ning.
“My lord your back!” Xi Ning said as he jumped off his horse and bent one of his knees.
“Are the things I tasked you with completed?” Zhang asked while looking down from his horse.
“Yes my lord over the last half a year we have expanded and doubled in size. We absorbed seven other bandit groups and increased our total number of troops to ten thousand. These man are all veterans of battle so little training is needed. Using the funds, you left me all of them are properly equipped also.
As for the other project it is near completion and has not been detected by anyone.
“Good, good you’ve done well.” Zhang praised Xi Ning he did not expect that so much progress would be made over only a few months.
“My lord please follow me and rest in the fortress for tonight.” Xi Ning said respectfully.
“No need we will be moving out now. Rally your men.” Zhang said.