Shooting Himself in the Foot

Lin Ran wanted to see what was going on with Liu Hongshan’s arm. If the herbal ashes were really poisonous, there would definitely be a strange sign on his arm.

As his sleeve was cut open, Liu Hongshan suddenly retracted his hand with a start. However, even though he was extremely fast, Lin Ran still saw it clearly.

The smart Lin Ran reacted almost instantly.

Liu Hongshan was not attacked at all. The wound on his arm was probably self-inflicted to deceive Lin Ran.

As for Liu Hongshan’s goal, it was very simple. If he wanted to get information from Lin Ran to find a way out, he had to tie the two of them together. Danger was the best reason.

!!

However, Liu Hongshan did not expect the herbs here to be poisonous and cause him to fall into an illusion.

“Lin Ran! I was just attacked!”

Liu Hongshan shouted in a low voice with a vigilant expression. He did not know that Lin Ran had seen through his trick. “That thing is very fast. Even my eyes can’t catch its traces!”

“Is that so? Then you have to be careful!”

Lin Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Although he was a little angry at being deceived by Liu Hongshan, he really couldn’t flare up when he saw him like this.

After a pause, Lin Ran said, “Look at that palace. Something seems to have entered just now.”

Liu Hongshan nodded and turned to look, but Lin Ran realized that he was not looking in the direction of the palace at all.

In other words, Lin Ran was indeed not hallucinating. The palace was real, and Liu Hongshan only fell into the illusion after they saw the palace.

At the same time, Lin Ran also noticed that there was only a small amount of herbal ash stuck to the wound on Liu Hongshan’s arm.

“It seems that he’s not deeply poisoned. He’ll probably wake up soon.”

Lin Ran thought to himself. After looking around and underestimating that there was no danger, he sat on the ground and waited quietly.

…

As soon as the sky turned dark, the palace was brightly lit.

In the imperial study, the empress frowned and paced back and forth with her hands behind her back.

Li Tianyi watched from the side with a worried expression. After hesitating for a moment, he couldn’t help but say, “Your Majesty, you haven’t rested for a day and a night. You should rest for a while. Your health is more important!”

“The soldiers at the front line are still fighting a bloody battle. How can I only care about myself?”

The empress waved her hand and replied coldly.

As soon as she finished speaking, a white figure flashed into the imperial study and landed on the ground.

“Your Majesty!”

Before Huo Qiyun could stand firm, he hurriedly shouted with an unconcealable joy on his face, “Good news! The front line has reported that after those martial artists joined the battlefield, the first round of the Great Yong Dynasty’s attack has already been repelled!”

“That’s great!”

Li Tianyi cheered and quickly went to the empress’s side. “Your Majesty, the front line is safe. You can rest for a while now!”

The empress ignored Li Tianyi and looked at Huo Qiyun. “How are the casualties on our side?”

“Thirty thousand soldiers were killed, more than seventy thousand were injured, two deputy generals were killed, and General Guo Fuzhen was seriously injured…”

Huo Qiyun’s expression darkened as he replied softly, but he quickly added, “But the Great Yong Dynasty didn’t get the upper hand either. More than half of the 300,000 people who attacked in the first round were killed, and more than 20,000 people were captured. The Dao Seeking Sect disciples even captured the enemy’s commander!”

In terms of casualty ratio, the Heavenly Saint Dynasty could be said to have obtained a complete victory, but the sadness on the empress’s face did not decrease at all.

“30,000 died in battle and 70,000 were injured…”

The empress repeated, and her eyes became even more solemn. “In other words, even with the 100,000 reinforcements from the West Garrison, there are less than 200,000 soldiers in the north.”

Huo Qiyun bit his lip and didn’t say anything. He knew what the empress was worried about.

The Heavenly Saint Dynasty had less than 200,000 soldiers in the north, and not only did the Great Yong Dynasty have 100,000 crippled soldiers, but they also had 200,000 reinforcements sent in the second round.

Most importantly, the Great Yong Dynasty had secretly developed a drug that could temporarily increase one’s cultivation and had already distributed it in the army.

However, in today’s battle, the Great Yong army did not use the secret drug. This made people suspect that they had a bigger plan.

historical Thinking of this, Huo Qiyun couldn’t be happy anymore. He sighed and said helplessly, “If only Lin Ran was here. He would be able to think of a way.”

At the mention of Lin Ran, the empress suddenly looked at Huo Qiyun and asked, “Do you still have the token Lin Ran gave you?”

“Yes, I do.”

Huo Qiyun agreed and quickly took out a small jade sword. “He gave me a total of six, but this is the only one left.”

“One is enough.”

The empress took the jade sword and returned to the desk. After searching for a moment, she took out a green jade hairpin from a brocade box.

The material of the hairpin was not very good, and there was no exquisite carving. There was only an iris carved on the end of the hairpin.

Huo Qiyun’s expression changed. “Your Majesty, this is…”

“You guys can leave first.”

The empress interrupted. Huo Qiyun and Li Tianyi looked at each other and left the imperial study in silence.

As soon as the door was closed, Huo Qiyun immediately asked in a low voice, “Eunuch Li, you’re by His Majesty’s side every day. Do you know where that hairpin came from?”

Li Tianyi shook his head in confusion. “I didn’t notice it either… Do you know that hairpin?”

“I don’t know. I was just asking.”

Huo Qiyun shook his head with a smile. Then, he looked at the closed door of the imperial study with worry in his eyes.

In imperial study.

After the empress dismissed the two of them, she sat down in front of the desk. Then, she pricked her finger with the small jade sword, squeezed out a drop of blood, and applied it to the green jade hairpin.

After making the preparations, the empress pressed her palms together and held the small jade sword in her palm. Her lips moved slightly as if she was chanting something.

As the empress chanted silently, the blood on the green jade hairpin slowly seeped into the hairpin. Then, the entire hairpin began to glow with a faint green light…

In the secret place of the Hundred Fragrance Palace.

The whiteness in Liu Hongshan’s eyes had faded a lot, which meant that he was waking up from the illusion.

Lin Ran heaved a sigh of relief. Just as he closed his eyes and was about to rest for a while, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in his mind. “Lin Ran, can you hear me?”

“Your Majesty?!”

Lin Ran suddenly opened his eyes and realized that there was still only him and Liu Hongshan on the empty wasteland. However, he was very sure that he had really heard the empress’s voice!