Chapter 333: Accused from the opposite direction!

"Halt!"

The moment this voice reverberated across the night sky, everyone raised their head with shock before they stopped moving.

"Patriarch Shen!"

Tap! Tap!

With no exception, they kneeled on the ground, showing their utmost respect and veneration towards the owner of this voice!

Patriarch Shen, the de facto leader of the great Shen Clan. No one really knows his real age, but some suggests that he was already more than 300 years old since becoming the Patriarch of the clan back then!

Furthermore, those who became the Patriarch will only be called by their first name, with their last name being slowly forgotten into the annals of time.

"Let him in." the voice from Patriarch Shen said.

"Yes, Patriarch!" the elders immediately replied with an affirmative nod, and no one dared to question this decision of his.

Such was the influence of the Patriarch of a Great clan. Their commands will be treated as if the holy decree from the heavens itself!

Duan Li was then escorted into the Shen's residence, treated like the guest of honor as if the previous incident never happened. He was then asked to wait inside a certain room.

...

Far outside the capital of the Nine Lotuses City of the Jiu Empire, within a certain cave underneath an ancient mountain, an altar could be seen with numerous inscription around it.

In the center of this altar, at an elevated position, an elderly figure with beards long enough that it almost covered his entire topless body while seated in a cross-legged position could be seen cultivating as still as the boulders.

His body was rough, and there were numerous deep scars dotting around his impenetrable and pulsating muscles, symbolising the contradiction of the world itself.

His white beard and long hair that reached down to his back was unkempt, and his entire disposition was like that of a sage. However, if one gets close enough, then one would realize that this old man was like the incarnation of the legendary beast itself - the Dragon!

He was Patriarch Shen!

"This intruder.. he is that Imperial Overseer that you speak so highly of?" asked Patriarch Shen to a figure in front of him.

"Yes. His name is Duan Li... And that was not even his full strength!" Shen Long replied.

This grandfather of Shen Murong was the current leader of the Shen clan besides being a senior teacher at the Jixue Knights Academy. Although this was so, according to traditions, he was still required to report any major information to the Patriarch in order to keep the latter updated on the current situation of the mundane world.

Normally, the Patriarch would only listen passively and never acted, as he was someone that had long cut himselves away from the troubles of the world, like many before him, as well as those like him.

They were considered to be recluse of the past era, and only during great crisis in their clan will they make a move. Otherwise, they would have to remain within the center of the altar, so that their lifeforce could be prolonged.

The only side-effect to this, was that Patriarch Shen will slowly undergo a mutation to his body.

The life force of a mythical creature like the dragon was boundless and near immortal, and these traits was even passed onto the humans as bloodlines.

The altar served to exploit these advantages in order to prolong Patriarch Shen's lifespan. In return, the more the bloodlines gets activated, Patriarch Shen's body will slowly turn into that of a reptile, specifically, a dragon!

Right now, there were already two horns jutting out from his temples, his knuckles changed into that of a dragon's, his body had scales and there was a tail behind him too.

This form was similar to the bloodline release ability of the Shen clan, with the only difference was that this one was a permanent form and cannot be reverted!

"Is that so.. interesting." Patriarch Shen gradually opened his eyes, and the vertical iris of a dragon shone out from him.

After pondering a bit, he then decided.

"If what you said is true, then I might need some preparation to adjust my body back into a battle state.. send them a notice that they should delay him until tomorrow morning for me."

Shen Long nodded and replied politely, "It shall be done, Patriarch."

...

"What? I need to wait until tomorrow morning?" Duan Li, still in his disguise furrowed under his mask.

"Yes.. it appears that the teleportation portal will require some time before it could be activated." an elder from the Shen clan said.

"Is that so?" Duan Li thought for a moment, "Why don't you just tell me the location? I'll head there personally!" he said.

The elder shook his head, "That's an impossible request... the ancestral mountain of our Shen clan, no one knows its exact location. Our clan leader, Shen Long is the only person that knows of it, and right now, he seems to be in that place as well."

Hearing this, Duan Li gave out a helpless sigh. "Fine, I'll stay here until tomorrow morning."

The elder nodded before exiting Duan Li's room.

"Well.. I guess I don't have too much of a choice.."

Let's just have a good night sleep!

...

The next day...

"Hey! Are you guys done yet?!" said a soldier with a panicked expression. He also seems to be in so much pain, as if suppressing something from leaking out.

"Sh*t! Hurry up!"

"Ah! It came out!"

"F*ck! You guys smell!"

The entire camp was in a state of chaos as the man-made toilet was full to the brim. A few hours ago, it was just another normal morning for them; waking up in the morning with a big stretch, a little wash-up and some morning breakfast. Then, it quickly turned into hell.

BAM!

"Damn it! It seems that someone snuck into the camp where we put our rations at and poisoned them with laxatives last night!" Ling Shin smashed the table in front of him with his fist in a fit of anger.

"Those stupid, good for nothing soldiers! They should have checked the rations first before consuming! It was fortunate that our rations was stored separately. Otherwise..." Ruo Hen gnashed his teeth together, feeling extremely lucky that he was spared from the shame.

He then continued, "Princess, we should punish them to make an example-"

"Silence!" Princess Meixiu bellowed, cutting off Ruo Hen's sentence before he could finish.

A lot of things immediately came into her mind the moment this incident happened. She then turned to Ling Shin, "Ling Shin, it appears that this attack is not premeditated." she said.

"Princess, you mean?" Ling Shin's face turned grim.

"Think about it, if the enemy wants to harm us, wouldn't it be much more effective if it was a lethal poison instead of laxatives? It means that the enemy only planned to slow us down, and not wipe us out!" she explained.

"Princess is correct." an elderly woman entered the main camp with a smile.

"Elder Cheng Chao!" the Princess ran over to her to embrace the elderly woman. Although Elder Cheng Chao was her maid, the princess treated her like her grandmother instead. After all, she was taken care by her since she was young.

In addition, Elder Cheng Chao was not a normal palace maid, but more of her personal assistant, appointed directly by the Doulou's Emperor himself! It went without saying that her status was quite special, such that even Ling Shin and Ruo Hen did not dare to be impudent before her.

"Elder! I think that last night someone snooped on our conversation and overheard us! They must probably know about the legendary ultimate weapon of the Ten Commandments by now! We need to depart soon and find it before they do!" the Princess said in a panic. Since this was the reason why they even came all the way here, even if it was not the entire reason, she could not possibly let the enemy get away with it.

Elder Cheng Chao chuckled as she pat onto the Princess's head, "Princess, there is no need to hurry. I've deduced that the enemy was highly likely in small numbers only. Probably less than five people in total."

"Eh? Less than five? How can you tell Elder?" the Princess exclaimed in surprise when she heard this.

"Simple. Since they've put laxatives in one of the ration's tent, as you said, then they must've only planned to slow us down. Obviously, this unseen enemy has scouted out our camp to a certain extent, but they were only able to find out one of the three ration's tent, leaving the other two unharmed." Elder Cheng Chao explained.

The Princess pondered for a moment before her eyes widened in realization, "I get it now! It's because the enemy does not have enough people! Otherwise, they would've surely poisoned all the ration's tent too!"

Elder Cheng Chao nodded with a smile, "Correct. Furthermore, we have hidden sentries that disguised themselves as the locals to keep watch on any big movements heading to our direction a few kilometers from here. The fact that they hadn't reported on anything last night, but checked in with us this morning as usual, means that the enemy that snuck into our camp should only be a couple of people only!"

"I see! Elder is truly wise!" the Princess was overjoyed and sighed in relief when she heard this. "Elder, do you think that they are from the Wei or the Qin Empire? Ling Shin told me last night that they were also in the Jiu Empire for whatever reason they have..."

"You mean those two Princes?" Elder Cheng Chao thought for a moment before nodding. "That's highly likely to be the case. Especially since Zhang Liao, the reputable genius Strategist from the Wei Empire was also here. He must've calculated the fact that we had hidden sentries and drafted the plan to snuck in with small numbers in order to remain undetected."

The Princess then clenched her fists tight, "Zhang Liao and Lu Bu... to dare put laxatives on my soldiers, I'll teach them a lesson!"

...

Far away in a certain establishment, two person could be seen drinking the local rum early in the morning.

"Aachoo!!" Zhang Liao sneezed hard, almost spurting the rum onto Lu Bu's face in front of him.

"What's wrong with you? Caught a cold?" Lu Bu chuckled.

"Eh, its nothing.. probably the sun was too bright for my eyes..." Zhang Liao replied while feeling extremely bizarre.

The both of them continued drinking, not knowing that in the opposite direction, someone had just accused them for a despicable action done entirely by a completely different, unscrupulous party.

...