Chapter 161: Good Things Come In Pairs

The brilliant moon hung high in the night sky, but what was illuminated under its pale moonlight was not a tranquil landscape but a brutal massacre.

“How long have we been running for?” the Lizard Queen asked hoarsely.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and her lips had turned white. Her throat was also hurting from constantly blowing her bone flute to command her sand monitors.

This was a fun hunting game for Shu Yichao but a death game for the Lizard Queen, who was desperately doing everything she could to escape. The terracotta soldiers just kept attacking nonstop, knowing not of fatigue.

The Lizard Queen felt as if she was trapped inside a narrow alley, and the walls were slowly closing in on her. She struggled with all her might but it wasn’t making a difference. If anything, any misstep might cause the walls to close faster on her.

All she could do was to desperately run forward.

Her famous army, which had evoked respect and fear from nobles, was slowly being picked off. They were either zapped to death by lightning or buried by the terracotta soldiers. She only had a third of her army left now.

Most of her servants and maids had died by now.

Yet, Shu Yichao’s undead army relentlessly pursued them. It didn’t look like the undead army had thinned at all.

The walls were getting so close that she started to feel claustrophobic. Despair began swirling in her heart.

Can we get away?

“...” The Lizard Queen’s only surviving maid looked back at the Lizard Queen with a pale, tearful face, not daring to answer.

“We’re reaching!” the Antlion Whisperer shouted with a hint of relief. “My servants have reported that the river is right ahead of us. Khotan is on the other side of the river! We’re saved!”

“...Is that true?” The Lizard Queen raised her head to look in the distance.

Ahead of her, not too far away, was a glistening river.

“...We have finally escaped!” The Lizard Queen cried tears of joy.

The last few hours had felt as long as eons. With each passing second, she saw Death creeping closer to her. Fortunately, they had pulled it through.

Their troops, be it the antlions or the sand monitors, were adept swimmers, whereas the terracotta soldiers...

Everything will be fine once we cross the river.

The Lizard Queen quickly tallied her casualties and nearly blacked out. To her horror, she only had thirty sand monitors left. That was as good as an annilhilation!

“That darned necromancer!” the Lizard Queen spat through gritted teeth. “I’ll have my eyes on you now! Just you wait! Cross the river!”

The sand monitors and antlions looked no different from ravenous dogs that had been starved for days. They charged forward with reddened eyes while howling in excitement.

Psh! Psh!

The sensation of the icy-cold river water against her cheeks made the Lizard Queen tear up. The rush of relief from having survived the ordeal made her want to put down her pride and cry her eyes out.

Noises could be heard from the opposite shore. Khotan’s garrison troops appeared to have discovered them.

“We are the Antlion Whisperer and the Lizard Queen,” the Antlion Whisperer shouted aloud. “Report our presence to your king and have him welcome us, or else...”

“FIRE!!!”

Who could have expected that Khotan’s garrison troops would warmly welcome the two mages with their arrows?

The enchanted arrows gleamed coldly as they flew across the sky and rained down on the swimming sand monitors and antlions.

“You bastards! What are you doing?” The Lizard Queen was infuriated.

They must be out of their minds! It’s one thing for the Tang army to challenge me, but how dare these little Khotan soldiers pull their weights before me?!

“How dare you?!” the Antlion Whisperer roared. “Even your king wouldn’t dare to pull his weight in front of me, yet you dare to...”

“Isn’t it beneath mages like you to vent your anger on a couple of soldiers?” a middle-aged man’s voice echoed from the opposite shore. “I am right here.”

“You...”

Both the Lizard Queen and the Antlion Whisperer were stunned.RêAd lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only

Standing on the opposite side of the shore was a man emanating a faint glow, who was accompanied by a huge entourage. Who else could it be other than the Khotan king?

It didn’t take long for the Lizard Queen and Antlion Whisperer to realize what was going on.

“How dare you betray the Tibetan Empire?” the Lizard Queen roared.

“Hah!” The Khotan king looked at them as if they were fools.

You must be joking with me!

Khotan’s Viśa' royal family has always been loyal citizens of Great Tang! We only chose to lie low for the time being because we aren’t able to beat you.

As long as Khotan didn’t outright rebel against them, they would close an eye about them.

“Unyielding loyalty even amidst danger!” Shu Yichao remarked.

The Khotan king’s face glowed in delight as if it was a huge honor to receive Shu Yichao’s compliment.

He watched as Shu Yichao handed the governance seal and records to a ghost horseman behind him, and somehow, the ghost hroseman looked familiar...

“...” Miazova was at a loss for words.

This grandson of mine, is he not interested in governance at all?

With Khotan defecting to Great Tang, the Lizard Queen and Antlion Whisperer fell in dire straits.

If they fled eastward, they would be faced with a bombardment of arrows and cannonballs. Westward, an endless army of terracotta soldiers was awaiting them. So, they ended up staying inside the water, watching in despair as the enemies closed in on them.

Just then, Shu Yichao appeared by the rapidly flowing river with lightning crackling in his hand. Clearly, they would soon experience the joys of being electrofishing.

“...”

“...”

“We surrender!”

No one knew who succumbed first, but both the Lizard Queen and Antlion Whisperer raised white flags.

“Heavenly soldiers of Great Tang, please spare us! We surrender!”

The Lizard Queen and the Antlion Whisperer knew that the enemy wouldn’t hesitate to chop them down if they obstinately fought back.

“I bet you never expected such a day,” the Khotan king gloated.

After being extorted by them mages countless times, it filled him with glee to see these two arrogant mages lowering themselves and humbly surrendering.

“Bring her up first!” Shu Yichao ordered.

The Lizard Queen breathed a sigh of relief.

All right. My luck is still not bad. I did achieve my goal even though it is different from how I imagined it to be.

She feebly lay on her sand monitor as it transported her to shore, looking completely fatigued. She weakly raised her hand and pitifully murmured, “Lord Protectorate General, I...”

A blast of wind gushed at the Lizard Queen. She watched in confusion as Shu Yichao charged at her with a blinding silver light crackling from his modao.

Bzt!

His modao pierced through her.

“...”

Staring at the modao lodged in her body, the Lizard Queen’s mind went blank.

She couldn’t understand why Shu Yichao was doing this. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Powerful mages like her were usually captured alive because of how valuable they were. The only times when they were killed were when it was too difficult to capture them alive.

I have surrendered. I followed your orders and obediently came to shore... Why are you still slicing me down?! A tyrannical person who doesn’t hold his promise... who will dare surrender to you in the future?!

And I am a top-notch beauty! I thought you were moved by my looks. You even ordered your men to capture me alive!

Why would you...

In her daze, the Lizard Queen noticed Shu Yichao’s eyes. There was no sympathy in them. It was as if her sand monitor mount was even more important than her.

“Hah...” The Lizard Queen laughed in self-mockery. “I am a fool.”

Boom!

Lightning gushed into the Lizard Queen, blasting her into bits.

“AHHHH!!!” the Antlion Whisperer screamed in despair.

He had thought that the Lizard Queen would at least survive this ordeal, considering how she was not just a powerful mage but a gorgeous woman too. Someone like her shouldn’t have died in such a ridiculous manner.

Yet...

If Great Tang’s Protectorate General wouldn’t spare even the Lizard Queen, there’s no way he would spare me.

As if a self-fulfilling prophecy, he heard a cold declaration right after.

“Kill them all. Those who dare defy Great Tang’s authority don’t deserve to live.”