The border town they arrived at was located along one of the two most convenient traveling routes between the Liugwei Kingdom and the Jurong Kingdom. Which was why it was also one of the two major points of the slave trade between these countries.
Within borders, it was handled by private businesses but between countries, the sole authority was the army at the behest of the royal family, so the army fort on the hill near the town was also one of the transfer points at the same time.
Wu Long arrived in the company of five otherworldly beauties, instantly attracting the attention of everyone in town. But since the cultivation levels of two of them were at the Foundation Building Realm, there were no people who tried their luck. Even Wu Long’s cultivation base of 7th level Qi Condensation Realm, which was the lowest in the group, was already high enough to ward off most of the trouble in the kingdoms.
As they went through the streets a commotion slowly rose all around. Smoke broke from the fort and a group of people could be seen engaged in battle with the kingdom army. The main fight seemed to be between a beautiful young woman with short black hair and hazel-colored eyes and a burly man in the kingdom army officer armor who were both in the Qi Manifestation Realm.
“Again?!”
“It is the seventh attack in recent half a year. The last one was not even a month ago!”
“They are becoming more frequent…”
The people around saw that scene and some were lamenting, some were surprised, and some were even annoyed. There were also a lot of people who looked in that direction with clear support in their eyes.
“Seems that people are finally fed up with the royal family…”
Wei Lan said looking at that. The Jurong Kingdom was also unstable as the situation in the country got worse year after year, and there were frequent riots that were quelled by the army all over. So this situation was familiar to her. The Clear River Pavilion was considered a righteous sect which was why they subtly exerted influence on the royal family to try and reverse the course they were taking, but at the same time, their hands were tied since they were a righteous sect.
Not to mention that the relationships between kingdoms and countries were always of mutual non-interference. The countries mostly ignored what the sects did inside their own territories while the sects did not interfere with the countries.
The closest a country and a sect would get was like the relationship between the Tingren Kingdom and the Supreme Master Pavilion, where one subtly influenced the other without any forceful measures. If any sect tried to overthrow a country other countries nearby would fear that setting a precedent and all launch a war against that sect, and the other sects would have to interfere.
Since no one wanted an all-out war between sects and countries, this implicit mutual agreement existed throughout history wherever sects and countries coexisted. So even if the Clear River Pavilion frowned upon the royal family’s behavior they could not simply forcefully change the rulers of the country or their policy.
The fight got heated and reinforcements for the army started to appear from the forests nearby. It seems this was a frequent point of attack, and the army finally got fed up, setting up a trap for the attackers.
“Retreat!”
The young woman leading the attack saw that the reinforcements were too much for them to handle, and swiftly gave orders to retreat, but her group could not so easily get untangled from the ones they were fighting, as the moment they turned to flee they would be hit from behind by their opponents.
“Do you want to help them?”
Wu Long asked as he looked at Wei Lan’s clenched fists.
“I want to but… then you will all be dragged along into all of this”
“I don’t mind, really, it’s not like I have never gone against a country”
“But…”
Wei Lan looked at the others but to her surprise, she did not see any objections, as none of them were afraid of repercussions. They were not fond of the slave trade either, but since they were not really on a mission to change political situations in countries but were traveling though they did not interfere before. However, it did not mean that they were completely indifferent toward it. Given a cause, they would be happy to help those who are actively struggling against it.
“I am just asking if you want to”
Wu Long reiterated his question. And after Wei Lan reluctantly nodded, he turned his feet in the direction of the army fort. Luo Mingyu stayed in place with Ye Ling by her side, while the others sped off and weapons appeared in their hands.
Shen Min’s chakrams and Hua Ziyan’s Spiritual Qi Fists started dancing around them as Wei Lan waved her staff and Wu Long was cutting through the kingdom soldiers with his sword. They quickly bore through the army to where the group that attacked the fort was encircled and then spread out to four sides, cleaning up any army soldiers that were charging forward.
The young woman leading the attack on the fort was now able to concentrate on her fight, but two people in similar armor to her opponent appeared around her.
“Haha! Finally, the little Pirate Princess is going to get caught today!”
“Dream on! I will kill you all!”
“You’ve made a mistake by attacking here and in Nichang so many times”
“Don’t hurt her, we have to thoroughly enjoy this beauty right?”
“Hah! That’s true, not to mention, if we get her alive, we can catch her mother later”
“You’re right! I heard that the Pirate Queen is one of the finest women in the Southern Sea”
“You filthy swines!”
“Hahaha!”
The army officers were encircling her. They were all in the Qi Manifestation Realm, so while she was fine, and even pressing one of them before, three was going to be a lot tougher to handle. They continued to try to make her slip up with their conversation as their remarks gradually turned obscene and she was getting a little agitated.
Wu Long quickly dispatched the portion of the army he was responsible for, and stepped in this beauty’s direction, turning into a blur that went past one of her new opponents.
“Haha! I will enjoy your juicy moth-…”
As his figure reappeared his sword was finishing a horizontal arc, and the head of the person he passed by flew into the air with an obscene smile frozen forever on his face.
“Hello! Need some help?”
He asked with a friendly smile as the other two army officers and the hazel-color-eyed beauty looked at him with astonishment.
“…! Y-yes, would be very grateful”
“Heh, don’t forget those words”
Wu Long chuckled as Wei Lan felt a tiny prick from this phrase.
“Who the hell-…”
One of the two remaining army officers started moving with his spear, but Wu Long made a circular motion that brought him into striking range while being too close for the man’s spear, so while the opponent was trying to adjust the sword proceeded to cut him in two from head to crotch along with his spear shaft in a fluid motion.
The beauty used the shock and horror of the other one to quickly slash her slightly lighter and thinner saber to cut his neck.
“Good strike!”
Wu Long said with a smile, as she accurately caught the moment he got distracted and ended the opponent that she was relatively even prior to Wu Long’s arrival. At this time the morale of the army that was supposed to have successfully trapped the attackers plummeted as their numbers were dwindling with the efforts of Wu Long’s companions and the soldiers began to flee in all directions as cheering resounded in the area.
“Thank you. We would have had a hard time without your help”
The young woman leading the attack said as her people started to deal with the aftermath.
“It is not me who wanted to interfere but her”
Wu Long said as Wei Lan, Shen Min, and Hua Ziyan have also come closer.
“Let me express my sincere gratitude then, my name is Cao Mei”
“I really only expressed my will, Wu Long was the one who ultimately came too your rescue”
Wei Lan shook her head.
“So, how are you going to thank us, Pirate Princess?”
Cao Mei made a slightly bitter face at her nickname, as she was not too fond of it. 𝒷𝓭ℴ𝓋𝓵.𝒸ℴ𝓶
“How about I treat you all to a good meal”
“A good meal?”
Wei Lan’s eyes glimmered with excitement at the prospect.
“Heh, I guess that’ll do”
Wu Long chuckled since he was not really expecting any big gratitude anyway.
“Let us change locations, and we first need to set free the people inside.
The biggest foreign buyer for female slaves, the Supreme Master Pavilion vanished a bit more than a month ago, so the ‘goods’ that had accumulated here in preparation for the next delivery became stuck.
We were trying to get them out with this attack, but it seems the fact that we frequently targeted this fort before made them alert and they set up an ambush”
Cao Mei nodded and explained as they went into the fort.