"Young Master, wake up, it seems we are approaching the port of Lyuzhou...."

Wei Gongyan carefully called out to the unconscious Weichi Feihu, and seeing the other party waking up in a daze, he instantly breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly said, "That Wei Gongzhan really has no sense of measure—using so much of the Wind Serpent Poison anesthetic made by the Wei Family on the Young Master? If the Young Master is harmed, I won’t let him off the hook! "

From a distance, Wei Gongzhan, upon noticing that Wei Gongyan had immediately seen through his actions, displayed no concern.

Instead, he carefully observed the port of Lyuzhou.

He had no illusions left about being by the Young Master’s side any longer.

Whether or not he put on a fa?ade, his return would not be met with a good outcome, so he had no interest in explaining how the Young Master’s exceptionally strong constitution required a larger dose of the poison, otherwise, it wouldn’t affect him.

On the contrary, he preferred to focus his attention on the present environment.

The intelligence gathered on the river surface was exactly the same as what Minister Wang had brought from the military camp; within the Array, it was always sunny with clear skies, and the undead only dared to move in the deep riverbed.

Yet, near the port of Lyuzhou, dusk was approaching.

This short journey had two different skies—a clear indication that the current event was indeed out of the ordinary.

"What are you standing around for?" Wei Gongyan barked angrily, "Hurry up and contact the Minister of the Judicial Court to come and support the Young Master!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Gongzhan shook his head, "I think we should observe the situation in Lyuzhou before deciding whether to contact Lord Wang or not."

"Why?" Wei Gongyan was startled.

"Because even Lord Wang might not be trustworthy."

"What did you say?" Wei Gongyan suddenly burst into laughter out of anger, "Are you telling me now that Lord Wang might not be trustworthy?"

Wei Gongzhan couldn’t be bothered to look back at him, and indifferently said, "Compared to going to the West Sea, it’s more likely that Lord Wang can protect the Young Master, but it does not mean that he is absolutely trustworthy.

Now that even the Imperial Army can turn into the undead, to speak the truth, there’s no one left worth trusting. "

"You..." Wei Gongyan was so furious he was about to explode, and Weichi Feihu also had an ugly expression on his face.

Before the two could speak, Wei Gongzhan had already jumped to the bow of the ship, "Let’s just observe the situation first, being cautious is never a bad thing."

"Hmph, whether it’s east or west, you’re the one doing all the talking!

" Wei Gongyan grumbled dissatisfiedly, but didn’t say much else.

In his heart, he felt the same way; if the Imperial soldiers themselves could turn into an attacking hoard of undead, then there can certainly be no one absolutely worth trusting in this place.

"Young Master..." Just as Wei Gongyan was helping Weichi Feihu rise, Wei Gongzhan suddenly spoke up, "Young Master, that punch from you yesterday was meant to take my life, wasn’t it?"

Weichi Feihu was taken aback, then frowned, "I didn’t know it was you..."

"Yes..." Wei Gongzhan nodded with a smile, "So when the Young Master saw it was me, you pulled your punch right away. Even though I’d attacked you, upon seeing me, you still trusted that I wouldn’t really harm you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have held back."

"Hmph..." Upon hearing this, Weichi Feihu snorted coldly and turned his head away without speaking, clearly not wanting to look at the other man’s deeply indented face, which indeed looked terrible when he smiled.

I was still too heavy-handed... Should be able to recover, right?

"You’re lucky the Young Master spared your life!" Wei Gongyan gave him a glare, "Stop grinning, even if the Young Master lets you off, the Wei Family won’t, go back and take your punishment from the family!"

Weichi Feihu frowned, "He was trying to save me too..."

"Rules are rules, and insubordination is a serious taboo!" Wei Gongyan quickly said, "The Young Master cannot afford to be kind-hearted like a woman, otherwise later on, if everyone under you follows this example, what then?"

Weichi Feihu felt that there was merit in these words, but still said, "In any case, facing family discipline is a bit too much, don’t you say a word when we get back!"

"Young Master, this..."

"Enough!" Weichi Feihu raised his hand, "That’s that..." With these words, he stepped briskly towards the somewhat dazed Wei Gongzhan, "If you dare to do this again, I won’t wait for any family punishment, I’ll beat you to death myself!"

Wei Gongzhan, looking at the ferocity of the other, felt a pungent sourness surge in his heart and cracked a smile, "Alright!"

"’Alright’ my foot!" Weichi Feihu gave him a glare, "You smile so hideously, hurry up and catch up!"

Saying so, he was the first to leap from the bow, landing directly onto the dock of Lyuzhou. Wei Gongzhan promptly followed, and the last to act, Wei Gongyan, looked at Wei Gongzhan’s back and his face turned grim.

This Weichi Feihu appears domineering and fierce but is actually such a soft-hearted character. No wonder they say he will never make it big!

It seems I need to start correcting this soon...

-----------------------------

What’s this situation?

Upon arriving at the gate of Lyuzhou City and witnessing the scene before them, the trio, Weichi Feihu, felt as if they were hallucinating.

The docks were full of undead. They had fought their way through, but the closer they got to Lyuzhou City, the fewer undead there were. And then, outside Lyuzhou City, they actually saw a stream of people—quite a significant crowd!

On the broad road in front of the city gates, there was an immense procession of refugees, at least ten thousand strong, escorted into the city by a group of strapping soldiers who seemed to belong to the military.

The distant undead hoard only dared to watch from afar, not daring to approach, completely different from the ones at the docks that pounced on them like mad dogs at the sight of a few living humans!

What’s more, these soldiers... so strong!

Even from a great distance, the trio could sense the immense vitality radiating from these escorting soldiers.

Based solely on physical strength, these soldiers were almost on par with the Wei Family’s Personal Soldiers. But wasn’t their number a bit exaggerated?

A glance revealed there were nearly a thousand men!

Thousands of descendants with such pure bloodlines, who is the general commanding these troops?

"Who are you?"

The three of them stood in an open area, and were naturally discovered quickly.

The burly leader roared in their direction, his voice like a bell and his presence startling. Weichi Feihu swallowed, feeling that these soldiers had an aura not much different from the personal soldiers trained by his own father!

Just as he was about to introduce himself, he saw Wei Gongzhan step forward and say, "Esteemed military officer, we are servants and master, three of us who escaped from Baishui County. Originally, we had over seventy in our family, now only the three of us remain..."

"Oh?" The burly man frowned as he looked at the trio. Weichi Feihu and his companions had removed their armor and were wearing tattered clothing beneath, truly resembling the look of refugees.

So he nodded and said, "It’s rare for two men to escort their master here all by themselves... " He then took note of their physique and couldn’t help but smile, "Good, have you served as soldiers?"

"Yes..." Wei Gongzhan quickly nodded. "We served in the north before, and after being discharged, our family head took us in as guards..."

"I see, Han from the north who have served as soldiers!" The burly man became even more amiable upon hearing this. Lyuzhou was martial, and the Guardian Army now preferred recruiting those who had previous military experience. These two looked promising and seemed to be good candidates as fighters.

"Join the queue, fall in line, do not wander. Rest assured, you are safe once you are in Lyuzhou City!"

Upon hearing these words, all three were stunned.

This burly man’s self-confidence seemed boundless. In the current situation, even places like Nanming Prefecture and West Sea City with heavy military presence had to seek external help, so what made Lyuzhou so special? How could the soldiers here make such bold claims?

This place... might not be as they had imagined!

-----------------------------------

"Young Master, something is off about Lyuzhou City, but it seems safe for now. Until we understand the situation better, we should not reveal our identities,"

After entering the city and blending in with the group of refugees, Wei Gongzhan cautiously observed his surroundings and advised with utmost care.

Before entering, they were scrutinized by a huge wolf’s head, and though the equipment was simple, the soldiers’ vigor and strength rivaled that of top clan warriors—he had never seen anything like it in Lyuzhou City.

"You want the Young Master to drink thin porridge with these refugees?" Wei Gongyan frowned deeply.

"Or should we invite the magistrate of Lyuzhou to welcome us?" Wei Gongzhan retorted ungraciously.

"You..." Wei Gongyan suddenly went silent, for he could not broach that subject. Of course, there were issues with Lyuzhou City, and he understood that they should not reveal themselves rashly. He just disliked it when the Young Master followed a mere lad’s advice.

"It smells so good!" Suddenly, Weichi Feihu, who was leading the way, sniffed: "Smells of meat, look ahead."

Upon hearing this, the other two looked and saw that the leading refugees were all receiving a big bowl of thick rice porridge along with a strangely shaped strip of meat.

With one bite, juice splattered everywhere, and the rich aroma of meat made the three of them, who were already starving, involuntarily swallow their saliva.

With their lineage, they almost instantly recognized the value of the meat—it seemed highly nourishing and might be comparable to some specially made demon beast meat.

"This..." Wei Gongyan uttered bewilderedly, "Lyuzhou City is distributing meat to refugees?"

And it was fresh meat!

The Imperial Army, with the full support of all major provincial government offices for food supplies, could only consume their families’ preserved dried meats daily, despite that effort.

And here was Lyuzhou, cut off for more than half a year, yet the citizens inside were still able to afford fresh meat?

"Line up in order, there’s enough for everyone, do not push. Anyone caught cutting in line will be expelled from the food queue and will not be allowed to receive a meal for a day. If the offense is repeated, the ban will last three days!"

Several fierce, watchful burly men in the front got the newly arrived refugees, especially some unruly women, to behave immediately. Wei Gongzhan, observing this, nodded internally. Ample supplies, strict order—Lyuzhou City was no ordinary place.

"General, shall we go line up?" Wei Gongyan could hardly stand it any longer.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Weichi Feihu couldn’t wait any longer. He was so hungry he felt dizzy, and at this moment couldn’t care less about appearances. If they were to be refugees, so be it.

Just as they were about to proceed, Wei Gongzhan suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking towards a spot ten meters away. Weichi Feihu frowned, "What are you looking at?"

"Suspecting ghostly shadows again?" Wei Gongyan said dissatisfiedly, "Didn’t you see the Young Master is starving?"

"Someone’s following us..." Wei Gongzhan said, frowning in the distance.

"Oh?" Weichi Feihu looked in the indicated direction and immediately saw a scholar-looking individual seemingly sneaking peeks at them from a distance.

The trio furrowed their brows—had they been exposed so soon after their arrival?

The scholar, noticing their hostile gaze, hesitated for a moment before taking the initiative to approach. He came before them and bowed.

"Could it be... General Weichi?"

"Who are you?" A frowning Weichi Feihu, who had been recognized, asked.

"I am Shen Yuan, formerly the magistrate of Baishui County. I have had the honor of meeting General Weichi!"

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