Volume 1: Dragon Gate Inn

  Volume 2: The Country of Women

  Chapter 16: The Sword God's Anti-Counterfeit Label

  The plan went smoothly, and Geng Ling sent Yu Manli and several others with long legs to pretend to escape in a hurry at the mountain pass. At this time, it was already daylight, and the female soldiers thought that the timing of the general attack had matured. Three cavalrymen attacked together, and when they avoided the rugged mountain road and arrived at the halfway point, they found that the road had been blocked by large logs.

  As regular troops in the extermination of a small mountain stronghold, such a situation is a natural and desperate struggle in their eyes. The female riders were swift and fierce, dismounting together to continue the pursuit. Next, they would face a group of men with raging flames, nearly 300 of whom were swordsmen of high level.

  The battle lasted for over an hour, but it was no different from our robbery of the Su family's horse gang. This war was Geng Lian's debut, and for a long time afterwards, it was considered a classic by the Federal Continent. In fact, there's nothing classic about it - it's just common military sense: when cavalry becomes infantry, and archers become ordinary soldiers, they lose all their advantages. These three female soldiers were no different from three miscellaneous horsemen. Those escaped prisoners who had practiced sword energy and were even stronger than ordinary male soldiers could easily take down three of them, just like a greedy fat man devouring three Wangzi small buns.

  No one died in this battle, only Xiao Yan was beaten by a dozen female soldiers with bows and arrows when he was caught off guard, and got a big bump on his head.

  They were fighting in the dense forest when Geng Ling suddenly changed his mind about not using Mei Li Hong's troops. He sent a group of female bandits to steal all the horses from those female knights.

  I didn't think this victory was anything to brag about, just like when I used to fight with girls when I was a kid and win without gloating. I also didn't make things difficult for the female soldiers, politely sending them down the mountain. Amidst the curses of the girls, I learned that the trouble indeed originated from robbing the military supplies transported by the Su family, which triggered the current empress's outrage, severely scolding the county magistrate of Ye City and the general in charge of the troops in Ye City. Therefore, General Sir hastily sent people to suppress the bandits.

  The impact of this matter is very far-reaching. First, the escaped prisoners' confidence was unprecedentedly boosted, and they all stood up straight in Shenfeng Village with their chests out and heads held high. However, due to deep-rooted traditional ideas, they still kept a distance from the female bandits who secretly sent them cabbage in autumn, maintaining the reserve of men living among women. Sometimes I think: With such a team that lives with young ladies day and night without any scandalous news, what's there to worry about winning battles?

  The second impact was something I never expected. The men who were deeply oppressed and bullied in the nearby areas began to gather after hearing about Shenfeng Village, and within just 5 days, our numbers grew to over 40. Some of them were persuaded to leave by me, but most of them stayed with determination. I think this is just the nature of men - yearning for independence, yearning to become stronger. It's strange to me how they endured for so long before this. It seems that the spark of prairie fire is also very important. The strongest proof is the Women's Federation - didn't countless wives who were wronged unite and hold up half the sky?

  After Geng Ling and others came to discuss the action plan with me, Geng Ling tucked his left sleeve into his waist, with a thin and long knife inserted on his belt. His expression was somewhat special, as if he had not yet adapted from an escaped prisoner to a respected leader, so there was still some confusion. He slowly opened his mouth and said: "Xiao Long, do you know how many people we have now?"

  Due to the sudden increase in personnel and tight supplies, Shenfeng Village could no longer support so many people. With no other choice, everyone had to open up the plundered military supplies of the Feifeng Army, so now they are all wearing the Feifeng Army's uniforms, looking a bit incongruous.

  I said: "Is there a 5?" I was somewhat absent-minded, having been in the country of daughters for more than half a month, and hadn't found any clues to return, so I didn't care much about these things either.

  Geng Lingdao said: "In three days' time, we've taken in five more people. Now our total number is almost..."

  "I was shocked: 'So many?'"

  Yu Manli excitedly said: "As soon as I heard that we have food and drink here, and women don't bully us, hundreds of thousands of people come running every day."

  I said to Geng Ling: "Well, congratulations, you've been directly promoted from battalion commander to regimental commander."

  Geng Ling said, "This may not necessarily be a good thing for us. Originally, I wanted to take my brothers to join the army, but now the situation is different. With over 10,000 people, no matter where we go, we can't avoid arousing suspicion. Relying on others' charity is also not a long-term plan. Whether it's joining the army or staying in this Shén Fēng Village, besides, this place is close to the imperial city, how could the court tolerate us becoming powerful?"

  I said: "Then what's your idea?"

  "Now we have only two ways to go, first, disperse the people who came to us and we will leave as planned; second, find another place to settle down and make further plans."

  I smiled and looked at him: "You should have made up your mind already, right?"

  Geng Ling also smiled and said, "I remember you often say that since we are all men, we should help each other, especially in a country of women. Although we are not relatives or friends, the fact that these brothers have come to rely on us shows that they trust us. It's easy for me to run away by myself, but I couldn't do such a thing."

  I said: "So where do you want to go?"

  "This is a difficult problem, this place must be far away from the city, and it must be spacious enough for us to settle down. We have a large expense for food, clothing and other necessities for both humans and horses. If the place is too small, we won't need others to attack us, we will starve to death ourselves."

  Liu Jing suddenly said: "I actually have a place, I don't know if you're interested or not?"

  "Oh."

  "Jiǔ Mù Yuán."

  Geng Lingdao said: "You're referring to the southernmost border of Women's Country?"

  Liu Jing nodded.

  I said: "How did you think of going there?"

  Liu Jing paused for a moment before saying: "Because my mother was the county magistrate there."

  Wu Yin Qi said: "Your mother is actually an official? Then why are you still helping us escape from prison?"

  Xiao Yan also said: "Yes, when you were the prison officer before, you actually treated us quite well. We even thought that at least you came from a poor family."

  Liu Jing bitterly smiled and said: "What's a mere county magistrate? My mother used to be the Vice Minister of Justice."

  Everyone was shocked, and Liu Jing said: "I was originally not a prison officer, but a middle-ranking general of the fourth rank. My mother was straightforward and suffered from being ostracized, so she was demoted to Jiuyuan as a minor county magistrate."

  Xiao Yan said: "No wonder the male prison guards and even the prison warden are a little afraid of you."

  Liu Jingdao said: "I'm afraid to return, I'm still an outcast in their eyes. The prison warden is also a spy for some of the powerful officials in the imperial court. In that place, my title was Prison Warden, but actually it's almost the same as being a prisoner."

  Geng Ling said: "Jiuyuan is just a county, can it accommodate so many of us?"

  Liu Jingdao said, "You don't know this, but Jiuyuan is a county with an area of arable land that's even larger than an ordinary prefecture. It's just because it's located in a remote and sparsely populated border region, and also because there are various barbarian tribes frequently invading and the people don't want to go there to be officials, which is almost the same as being exiled. However, a county magistrate is still a county magistrate after all, if you go there, you'll still have a foothold."

  "What do you think?" Geng Ling asked, looking at everyone.

  "It doesn't matter, as long as we don't get caught, anywhere will do."

  Geng Lingdao said, "Then we can't delay, the capital will send troops to Shenfeng Village, it's what they call ' depart in the morning and arrive in the evening'. If the situation wasn't unstable now, the Feifeng Army would have blocked us on the mountain long ago. So we need to act fast, I'll give everyone three more days to prepare dry rations and manufacture weapons, then we'll head to Jiupu Plain."

  Watching them one by one clenching their fists and rubbing their palms, I hesitated and said: "Brothers, I'm afraid I won't be able to go with you.

  Several people exclaimed in surprise: "Why?"

  "I frowned and said, 'You only know that I come from a country of men, but you don't know that my country of men is in another world. To return, it must rely on the order of your female emperor to help, mobilize the national magicians and a very special stone.'"

  Wu Ying Zhang opened his big mouth and said: "Dragon brother, you can't really be the Sword God, right?"

  I said irritably: "At this time, why would I cheat you?"

  Wu Ying suddenly grabbed my wrist and I said: "What are you doing?"

  Wu Yin furrowed her brow and didn't speak, taking my pulse like an old Chinese doctor. Geng Ling smiled and said, "Wu Yin is now at the Sword Birth level, so in theory she should be able to see what stage someone's internal energy has reached."

  I suddenly looked at him with new eyes and said, "Alright, you little brat, have you figured out what level I'm at?" Xiang Sheng, this is actually the highest-level person I've met since coming to the Country of Women.

  Wu Yin touched east and west for a long time, her face turned red and she said in a low voice: "Dragon brother, I'm telling the truth, don't hit me. From the pulse condition, you really are nothing."

  "You" glared at me, and Wu Ying hastily jumped back, repeatedly saying "It's also possible that I was wrong." Then asked Geng Ling, "Geng Ge, will the Sword God's way of breaking through be different from ours?"

  Geng Ling suddenly said, "You're right, I remember now that Su Jian Shen's secret book mentioned it." Geng Ling opened his clothes and took out the secret book from his inner pocket. As he flipped through the pages, he suddenly exclaimed with joy, "This indeed has a method to identify the opponent's sword energy level! From Sword Infant to Sword Saint, they are all similar. It's not difficult for those who have just started practicing Qi in the Sword Infant stage and those who have entered the Sword Saint stage to recognize each other."

  "What about the Sword God?"

  "By the sacred entering the divine, its energy returns to simplicity and truth, its realm is empty and receptive like a valley, its color is similar to that of ordinary people..."

  I went up and said: "Isn't that just like ordinary people? What about the back, did you say how to identify it?"

  Geng Ling continued: "To comprehend the realm of the sword god, one must be a high-level saint."

  "What does this mean?"

  Geng Ling said cautiously: "That is to say... people who enter the Sword God realm look no different from ordinary people, and ordinary cultivators can't tell. Only... only a Sword Saint-level expert can distinguish between true and false."

  "Wu Yin was shocked and exclaimed: 'Sword Saint level, those are legendary figures, there aren't even 20 of them on the entire continent.'"

  "I stared blankly and said: 'Then where can I find these people?'"

  Division

  Let's warm up with this chapter first, and there will be more updates in the next chapter. Also: The person I mentioned who knew Dragon Sheep is not that Shu girl, keep guessing.