Dragon Tamer - Chapter 316
Chapter 316: Chapter 318: Beast of War
Zhu Minglang looked at Yao Junshi in surprise.
How could their secret have been exposed right after he left?
Although his return journey had also taken close to a day.
The State Duke’s Daughter was actually not a fool, the reason she had dared to tell Zhu Minglang directly about her lover was that she had been lying from the start. Even if Zhu Minglang and Zhi Rou were to spread the news, there would be no evidence, not even a person to match the description.
Moreover, the State Duke’s Daughter’s reputation had always been rather poor.
“It is said that it was the butler who confessed in person, and the envoy caught them red-handed,” Yao Junshi said with a face full of shame.
Even for a small and inconspicuous country, she was still the daughter of the State Duke, and yet she had done such a scandalous act while being engaged to another country’s royal court.
It seemed that this time, Yao Country was going to experience a heavy trampling by war.
“Young Master, the flower cat you caught may not be a Sinful Beast,” Li Xinghua spoke up, her bright eyes fixed on the flower cat.
“If it’s not a Sinful Beast, then what is it?” Zhu Minglang asked.
“A Beast of War, one of the Omen Beasts that represent an omen of war and rebellion,” Li Xinghua extended her hand and touched the flower cat’s forehead.
The flower cat looked calm, but its ghostly green eyes exhibited a degree of fear, and it did not dare to move a muscle.
Zhu Minglang looked at the flower cat…
Then he glanced at Mr. Jinli, who had made the previous judgment.
Mr. Jinli was drifting around, his large fish eyes staring at the clouds floating in the sky, as if he had forgotten the words he had spoken earlier.
“It has instigated the outbreak of this war,” Li Xinghua withdrew her fingers from the cat’s forehead and let out a gentle sigh.
Piecing together the fragmented Dream World she had seen before and searching for some omen traces on the flower cat, Li Xinghua was now able to make a very precise judgment.
“But when we went there, it was merely disrupting the State Duke’s Daughter’s sleep after nightfall without causing her any substantial harm,” Zhi Rou said, completely puzzled and failing to see how this war could be related to the flower cat.
“Many things in this world tend to be stable, like a very loving couple, who will grow old together, even if the wife actually had an indiscreet experience, but this matter would never be known to others. If in this matter, a black bird symbolizing the breakdown of the family intrudes, it’s possible that the woman’s lover, drunk, might divulge that wonderful experience just as the woman’s husband overhears, causing the relationship to be destroyed instantly,” Li Xinghua explained.
“That strange?” Zhu Minglang said.
“Similarly, the matter with the State Duke’s Daughter is such; the presence of the Beast of War meant that her actions were certain to be discovered and would implicate the dignity of both countries,” Li Xinghua said.
Li Xinghua had sent Zhu Minglang, not to stop anything.
Rather, it was to find this Omen Beast so that it would not cause more wars.
Some wars are simply soldiers fighting against soldiers.
But some wars can bring disaster to the people, a desolation of life; there’s a huge difference!
The existence of a Beast of War could make the tendency of war lean more towards the latter, with the people slaughtered, cities burned, countries in chaos, and rivers running with blood!
Clearly, although the flower cat had only used some minor Sorcery to cause nightmares for the State Duke’s Daughter at night, it made the sleep-deprived lady meet with the butler again, caught red-handed, ultimately provoking this battle that greatly humiliated the royal power of Slaughter Country…
Of course, Slaughter Country might have been planning to invade the doomed Yao Country from the very beginning, and all that was missing was just a suitable excuse!
Li Xinghua sealed the apocalyptic power of this tabby cat and then set it free.
Without the power of the omen, the Beast of War was just an ordinary tabby cat, even lucky for some cat lovers.
After listening to his prophet sister-in-law’s explanation of the Omen Beast, Zhu Minglang’s gaze involuntarily fell upon Mr. Jinli, who was still gazing dreamily at the sky.
All along, Zhu Gate had regarded Mr. Jinli as a harbinger of good fortune.
Could it be that Mr. Jinli also possessed the divine skills of an omen, after all, if ill omens existed in this world, so should auspicious ones, right?
Swimming along, Mr. Jinli appeared perfectly content, as if in the comfort of a pond, aloof from the world’s troubles as if they had nothing to do with him…
“Alright, I’m thinking too much,” Zhu Minglang shook his head, dismissing this preposterous thought.
Instead of believing in the seven-second memory of Jinli, it’s better to trust the guidance of the prophet sister-in-law on the pinnacle of his life.
As night fell, the leader of the Azure Wolf Cavalry, Gao Yujie, returned riding the Azure Wolf Dragon, and his subordinates also bore some injuries.
Gao Yujie strode into the City Lord Mansion, made his way to the Parliament Tower, and as the others returned one by one, he shared the situations they had encountered with everyone.
“We kept looking for traces of the Greedy Dragon and indeed slaughtered a few, but the situation in Shuizhuang has gotten out of control. The farmers there refuse to pay the grain taxes to the soldiers. They’ve banded together and killed a squad of soldiers who were committing atrocities. Now the soldiers from Shuizhuang are rallying to subdue these rebellious farmers,” Gao Yujie said with a sigh.
The situation had become irreversible, and Gao Yujie couldn’t understand why the normally compliant farmers of Shuizhuang suddenly rose up in rebellion and even killed the tax-collecting soldiers, which amounted to a peasant uprising.
The ruler of Shuizhuang would surely send troops to suppress them, and no matter how the farmers united, how could they withstand the soldiers? In the end, it would be a bloody disaster.
“The Greedy Beast…” Li Xinghua murmured to himself.
The omen beast that incites greed; if this greed is minor, it leads to neighborhood disputes, but if it’s severe, it results in class antagonism!
The officials grow greedy, wanting to take more from the people’s labor.
And the people grow greedy, wishing to snatch more land from the officials.
Thus class antagonism leads to a bloodbath.
The next day, the men from the Copper Knife Army came back as well, and Chao Ruijin shared his observations and experiences of these days in full.
“The ice disaster is quite serious, with mountains’ rivers and lakes frozen over, forcing wildlife to search for water and food in the plains. Consequently, demon beast spirits dwelling in the mountains followed suit, descending to affect many villages and towns. Livestock were eaten, and even a good number of humans…” Chao Ruijin from the Copper Knife Army said.
They, the Copper Knife Army, had rid the people of some Cannibal Monsters.
But the Cannibal Monsters were cunning, knowing that the army was protecting villages and towns, and so they chose to strike in more remote areas.
“An ice disaster leading to a monster calamity… another great omen.”
