"Is there anyone else who wants to go back?" Mo Qi asked, looking around.
Everyone lowered their heads, silent!
Mo Qi looked at Zi Luo, Xiao Yi, and Sun Qian. "Wait for me here for a moment. I'll be right back."
With that, he took Huo Mo, Xiao Xue Ren, Xiao Bu Dian, and pulled Wan Yan Ting, heading towards the direction of the royal palace again.
As they neared the city gate, they saw crowds on the city walls from afar, heavily guarded, with a bloody head hanging from the battlements.
Upon closer inspection, it was Wan Yan Hong Liang!
Wan Yan Ting cried out and collapsed to the ground.
Mo Qi turned to leave. "I've brought you to your father. I've done all I can."
"Wait a moment." Wan Yan Ting stood up and shouted after Mo Qi's retreating back, "Help me retrieve my father's body, and I will... offer myself to you."
Mo Qi stopped and turned back, smiling. "You're too conceited. Do you think your offer of yourself is enough for me to risk my life?"
Wan Yan Ting was stunned, feeling immensely embarrassed. She was a princess, accustomed to endless praise and adoration. Today, she was being scorned!
"If you're not afraid of death, go and get it yourself. Your beauty can't buy anything. If it can, it's something dirty, and I don't want it," Mo Qi continued.
"I'm not afraid of death!" Wan Yan Ting, tears streaming down her face, stood up and walked towards the city gate.
Mo Qi shook his head and sat there, watching from a distance.
He wanted to see how she would die.
A moment later, Wan Yan Ting was speared to death by the soldiers at the city gate.
Mo Qi sighed, flicked his body, and suddenly appeared beside Wan Yan Ting. Before anyone could see clearly, Mo Qi grabbed Wan Yan Ting, threw out a leaf from the Qi Luck Tree, and a white mist enveloped them as they vanished.
Returning to the original dense forest, Mo Qi dropped the dying Wan Yan Ting to the ground.
The woman who had hit her earlier rushed over, tears flowing like rain, her voice hoarse. "Ting'er, why are you so foolish, so foolish? I told you not to go to your death, not to go to your death, but you wouldn't listen, you wouldn't listen..."
Wan Yan Ting's eyes were unfocused, with a hint of sadness, a trace of longing, and a touch of unwillingness.
Mo Qi lowered his head and asked softly, "Young lady, dying is easy, but living is too difficult. But I still have to ask you, do you want to die or live? Whatever you decide, I can fulfill it."
The concubine's eyes lit up. "Young master, do you have a way? If you save her life, I am willing to be your servant to repay your kindness."
Mo Qi shook his head. "It depends on her choice."
All eyes converged on Wan Yan Ting's face.
Wan Yan Ting's previously dim eyes gained a glimmer of light. "I want to live."
Mo Qi immediately took out a healing pill and, before she could breathe her last, placed it in her mouth.
Everyone shook their heads. Was it too late to save her now?
Sun Qian looked on with anticipation, about to witness the miracle of the pill again?
A moment later, Wan Yan Ting stood up. She was troubled; it turned out that wanting to live was also easy!
At this moment, she regretted why she had chosen to live when she was on the verge of death.
Wouldn't death have brought release?
Once she came back to life, she realized that the pain continued!
However, her mother, Consort Xian, was overjoyed, holding her head and weeping. "My daughter, you scared me to death."
Wan Yan Ting's tears also flowed like a river. "Mother Consort, Father King is dead!"
After a moment of dead silence, a wave of crying erupted in the hall.
They wept as if their hearts were broken, as if they were dying, not knowing if it was for the deceased king or for the lost power.
After a long while, Consort Xian patted Wan Yan Ting's head. "It's alright. He's dead, and that's the end of it. I barely see him a few times a year anyway."
Sun Qian also stepped forward to comfort a very young and beautiful girl who was crying particularly hard. "Please accept my condolences. Everyone dies. Just think of him as having gone to a faraway place and never returning."
The girl cried and cursed, "You know nothing. What we've lost is more than just a man! We've lost everything."
Mo Qi was surprised. Seeing the girl's young appearance, he thought she was Wan Yan Hong Liang's daughter, but he didn't expect her to be his concubine.
Mo Qi looked at her and said, "Not everything. If you die, then it's everything. Because now, you at least have a life."
"My life before adorned wealth, power, and respect. My life now is very thin, like a blade of grass. So, I have still lost," the girl said stubbornly.
Without money, she was like a walking corpse. Her theory was a bit extreme.
But Mo Qi didn't want to argue with her; it was meaningless. He then asked others who she was.
Then someone told him that she was the Queen.
Mo Qi was instantly petrified!
The Queen? Looking closely, she did have a queenly aura, and her words were fitting for a queen.
It's just that she was too young!
Shouldn't a queen be a mature woman?
At this moment, the women started arguing for some reason. Mo Qi waved his hand to stop them from talking and then said, "Let me state this first: I am going to a relatively isolated Black Stone Tribe. You can follow me all the way to the Black Stone Tribe. You can stop anywhere along the way and find a place to settle down, or you can come with me to settle in the Black Stone Tribe. If everyone agrees, we will set off now."
No one objected.
And so, a large group of people set off towards the distance. Because so many princesses and concubines had left, Kong Er Ren would definitely send troops to pursue them.
Therefore, they could not fly openly, especially during the day.
If they walked the entire way, when would they reach their destination?
Mo Qi's plan was to walk during the day and fly at night.
It was daytime now, and Mo Qi walked at the front. Sun Qian walked beside him and glanced at the beauties behind them. "With so many beauties, aren't you tempted?"
Mo Qi looked at her. "With you here, they all pale in comparison. I only see the most dazzling you."
Xiao Yi shivered. "So cheesy!"
Sun Qian's face blushed unconsciously. "You always say sweet words, but why did you let those eunuchs go and keep all the women?"
Mo Qi swallowed. "What are you thinking? The eunuchs leaving the palace won't be chased because they don't pose a threat to the new dynasty. These harem members, however, are always targets for the new dynasty to eliminate. Moreover, eunuchs have their own ways of survival. They can thrive in the palace, and they won't fare too badly outside. As for these women behind the king, they are used to a life of luxury, where everything is done for them. Once they leave the palace, how will they survive? They will have to depend on men. If they encounter bad people during this process, they will be doomed."
"How do you prove that you are a good person?"
"You prove it. Otherwise, why would you abandon your grandfather and elope with me?"
"I clearly told my grandfather. What elopement is that? Don't talk nonsense."
"Alright, it's not an elopement. But you are still leaving your homeland and are alone. If I weren't a reliable person, why would you follow me?"
"Didn't I say? I like adventure."
"You look so delicate, yet you like adventure. You'll get into trouble sooner or later."
"..."
At this moment, Zi Luo watched them arguing in front, with a hint of complexity in her eyes.