After Ian Song left, General Victor Zhao teamed up with his two deputy generals and the high-ranking officers enslaved by Ian to carry out a massive purge within the army. Anyone who was fiercely loyal to the Zhao Kingdom, or harbored ulterior motives, was executed without mercy.
After eliminating these people, Victor Zhao broke camp the next day and quickly marched his army toward Lingshui Prefecture in Zhao territory.
Communication in this era was so backward that, even if there were still spies left in the army, they couldn’t get word out about the dramatic changes happening within.
Two days later, Victor Zhao led his troops to Lingshui Prefecture. Thanks to his royal bloodline, the city lord Wuyi didn’t dare stop him, letting the army enter freely. In the end, they seized Lingshui Prefecture without a fight and raised the Qi Kingdom’s flag over the city.
After capturing Lingshui, Victor didn’t stop. He split his forces into three columns and, in just three days, took all three county seats under Lingshui’s jurisdiction, absorbing eight thousand more troops and boosting his army to over twenty-five thousand men.
Ever since Ian Song left Edgehaven, Bruce Meng and Sean Song had been anxiously waiting for news in a small courtyard.
If Ian managed to assassinate Victor Zhao, the Zhao army would be thrown into chaos for a while, and Edgehaven could scrape by a little longer. But if the assassination failed, Edgehaven was doomed to fall.
But Bruce and Sean had it all wrong. Ian hadn’t gone to kill Victor—he had a much bigger plan in mind.
“Mr. Song, do you think Young Master Ian can really pull this off?” Bruce Meng paced around the room, asking anxiously.
“Don’t worry, General Meng. Young Master Ian is the disciple of an immortal and has learned divine arts—he’ll definitely succeed!” Sean Song said confidently, though to be honest, he wasn’t all that sure himself. After all, Ian had snuck alone into an army camp of twenty thousand men to assassinate the commander; if he got caught, even an immortal might not escape.
“Let’s hope so.”
Waiting was pure torture.
Finally.
At five in the morning, Ian’s figure flashed and appeared in the courtyard.
Bruce Meng and Sean Song rushed over. “Young Master Ian, you’re back!”
“General Meng, why are you still awake at this hour?” Ian smiled at Bruce Meng, whose face was full of anxious anticipation.
“Oh, Young Master Ian, please don’t tease me. I couldn’t sleep a wink until you returned.” Bruce Meng smiled bitterly. Ever since Ian revealed he was an immortal’s disciple, Bruce’s respect and awe for him had grown even deeper—he even started referring to himself as ‘your humble subordinate’ in front of Ian.
“It’s done.” Ian said softly.
“Victor Zhao is dead? That’s fantastic!”
Bruce Meng couldn’t help but cheer, but Sean Song’s eyes dimmed at the news—after all, he’d once been Victor Zhao’s advisor.
Ian picked up the now-cold teapot and poured himself a cup, speaking slowly: “Victor Zhao isn’t dead.”
“What?” Bruce Meng froze. “So the assassination failed?”
Ian glanced at Bruce, a little speechless. “Who said I went there to assassinate Victor Zhao?”
“Didn’t you sneak into the Zhao army camp at night to kill Victor Zhao?” Bruce Meng was confused, staring at Ian and waiting for the mystery to be explained.
“Assassination is way too low-level for me. I wouldn’t bother. Right now, Victor Zhao is leading his entire army to defect to our Qi Kingdom!”
That statement was like a thunderbolt out of nowhere.
“How is that possible?”
“No way!”
“Why not?” Ian sipped his cold tea and continued, “Not only has Victor Zhao defected to Qi, but his two deputy generals and seventeen senior officers have as well. Before I left, I ordered them to break camp tomorrow and attack Lingshui Prefecture.”
Listening to Ian, Bruce felt like he was hearing a fairy tale. Then a light flashed in his mind: Young Master Ian is an immortal’s disciple—things ordinary people can’t do, he just might pull off.
Thinking about that, Bruce Meng grew extremely excited. With Victor Zhao defecting to Qi, they’d gained twenty thousand troops overnight. If Victor could take Lingshui Prefecture, Qi would finally have a real banner to rally around, and loyalists would flock to their side.
“Alright, it’s late. I’m heading back to rest!”
Ian let out a yawn and walked toward his room.
Bruce Meng and Sean Song quickly called out, “Respectfully seeing Young Master Ian off.”
But as Ian neared his room, he realized someone was inside.
He pushed open the door and saw two cute young girls dressed as maids in coarse linen clothes, dozing at the table.
The sound of the door startled them awake. Seeing Ian staring at them, the girls panicked and dropped to their knees. “We’re guilty, Young Master! Please punish us.”
Seeing the frightened expressions on these two young girls, Ian was a bit speechless. "What crime have you committed?"
When Ian asked, the girls’ faces turned ghostly pale. The one on the left trembled as she spoke: “We were sent by the city lord to serve you, Young Master. Since you didn’t return for so long, we fell asleep. Please punish us!”
In this world, there’s no such thing as gender equality. Unless a woman is born into nobility, she is regarded as property by men—bought, sold, and disposed of at will. Their status is extremely low, and they live in constant fear of offending those in power.
And Young Master Ian was someone whom even the city lord had to curry favor with, which made the girls even more terrified of displeasing him.
“Alright, get up. I’m not blaming you.”
“Thank you, Young Master!” The girls quickly thanked him, finally able to breathe a little easier.
“I’m going to rest now. You can leave.” Ian said again.
But instead, the girls stepped forward and whispered, “We’ll help you change, Young Master.”
Ian waved a hand. “No need for that. You can go now—if I need you, I’ll call.”
He knew that even if he wanted the girls tonight, they wouldn’t dare refuse. Although he sometimes thought of the people in this world as background characters, he still had his own principles and wouldn’t take advantage of them.
But when they heard that, the girls’ expressions changed again, and they dropped to their knees once more. “Please don’t, Young Master! We were ordered to serve you. If you kick us out, the city lord will punish us harshly. Please, have mercy and let us stay.”
“If you want to stay, then stay. By the way, where do you plan to sleep?” Ian glanced around—there was only one bed in the room.
“We don’t need to sleep. But if you want, Young Master, we can… we can…”
At that, both girls blushed, unable to say the rest out loud.
Ian understood what they meant and smiled. “How about this—you two go sleep on the bed. I’m not tired yet, so I’ll read for a while.”
“How could we possibly…!”
The girls waved their hands in protest.
“So you’ll obey the city lord’s orders, but not mine?” Ian’s face suddenly darkened.
“We wouldn’t dare! We wouldn’t dare!” The girls looked terrified again.
“If you wouldn’t dare, then go to sleep. Otherwise, I’ll kick you out.”
“Yes, Young Master! As you command!”
The girls agreed in unison and shyly walked to the bed. Ian ignored them, pulled out a novel he’d brought from the real world, and started reading with interest.