Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 251 The Apocalypse King's Army Advances East

After the Chu family's letter of annulment was published in the newspaper, the news of the annulment quickly spread throughout the Northern Kingdom. However, people's focus was not on Chu Yuqin, the victim of the family's arranged marriage, but rather on the Chu family's severing of ties with the Wang family.

Of course, it's also a good thing for Lu Chen that people's attention isn't on Chu Yuqin. The fewer people discuss it now, the fewer rumors there will be when Chu Yuqin marries into the royal family. At that time, people will only remember that Chu Yuqin was just a sacrifice used by the Chu family for a political marriage.

It was another warm, breezy morning when Lu Chen awoke from the soft, fragrant embrace of Yelü Nanyan and glanced at the beautiful woman he had been holding all night.

During this period, Lu Chen focused his energy mainly on Yelü Nanyan and the other women with martial arts skills. Mu Zixuan and the other two ordinary people had given birth to two children for him and deserved a rest.

However, it's true that it's incredibly difficult for martial artists to conceive. Despite Yelü Nanyan's cooperation and his attempts to try various methods, she simply couldn't get pregnant.

Of course, this is not just a problem for Yelü Nanyan alone; all the women in the Prince's mansion who possess internal energy are in the same situation.

Lu Chen had some doubts. He wondered if women's physical structure changed after practicing martial arts, which made it difficult for them to get pregnant. However, he had used the Rejuvenation Hand to examine Yelü Nanyan and the others. Their bodies seemed to be no different from ordinary women. Apart from their well-developed meridians and internal strength, their physical structure did not seem to have changed much.

Seeing that Lu Chen had woken up, Yelü Nanyan, her face flushed, said, "Your Highness, there's no small court assembly today, why don't you sleep a little longer?"

Seeing the blinding white expanse before him, Lu Chen really wanted to sleep a little longer, but then he remembered that he still needed to go to the new city today to check on its construction progress.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen smiled and said, "Nan Yan, things should be done in moderation; you can't be too greedy for pleasure."

As he said this, Lu Chen's claws gently slid over Yelü Nanyan's soft body.

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Yelü Nanyan's cheeks became even redder.

She knew, of course, that Lu Chen was teasing her, but the thought of what had happened that night still made her heart tremble.

Just then, the voices of maids could be heard outside Chun Sheng Courtyard: "Commander Bai, is the Prince in Chun Sheng Courtyard? Commander Qin has important business with him."

"The prince is still sleeping, please ask him to wait a while."

"I can tell that Commander Qin is in a hurry; it must be something important."

"Alright, I'll call the prince for you."

Then Bai Qingqing, who was standing at the courtyard gate, came to Yelü Nanyan's bedroom. "Your Highness, Commander Qin has something to discuss with you."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen immediately said, "Have Commander Qin wait for me in the study. I will be there shortly."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Lu Chen then got out of bed. Seeing Lu Chen get up, Yelü Nanyan also quickly got up and dressed Lu Chen.

The clothes of this era were all long robes that required wrapping around the waist and fastening with a belt. For someone like Lu Chen, who had someone to serve him, getting dressed was relatively easy, but for ordinary people, it would take some time.

Watching Yelü Nanyan fastening her belt, Lu Chen thought to himself that he needed to find a way to guide the clothing style of the people in the North.

There's nothing wrong with wearing ancient-style clothes like this to Lu Chen. Women wearing these long dresses look ethereal and beautiful. However, Lu Chen feels that wearing clothes from this era would take up too much time in certain situations, such as in the military camp.

Lu Chen thought to himself that he should find an opportunity to talk to Mu Zixuan and ask her to set up a clothing factory so that all the soldiers' clothes in the military camp could be replaced with the kind that can be put on quickly.

After Yelü Nanyan helped Lu Chen fasten his belt, she noticed that Lu Chen was in a daze. Yelü Nanyan asked in confusion, "Your Highness, what's wrong?"

Hearing Yelü Nanyan's voice, Lu Chen came back to his senses and said with a smile, "It's nothing, I just suddenly thought of something."

At this point, Lu Chen held Yelü Nanyan's cheek, lowered his head, and gave her a deep kiss.

Lu Chen has this habit. He often kisses the woman he slept with the night before after waking up in the morning. Although no one knows where Lu Chen got this habit from, his women are very cooperative with him.

After Lu Chen finished kissing her, he smiled and said, "I'm going to get back to work now. You should get some rest."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Chen turned and left. Yelü Nanyan immediately said, "Your Highness, please take care."

A short while later, Lu Chen appeared in the study. As soon as he arrived at the courtyard where the academy was located, he saw Qin Yushan fiddling with a bow and several arrows.

"Qin Yushan, is that the Cloud Piercing Bow you're holding?"

Lu Chen had known about the Imperial Court's creation of the Cloud Piercing Bow for a long time. The Cloud Piercing Bow was a special weapon that the Ministry of Works had created under Lu Shuyun's leadership. It was said to be extremely powerful and could easily kill martial artists below the eighth rank.

Lu Chen had long ago ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to send several sets of Cloud Piercing Bows to the Northern Kingdom, but the Cloud Piercing Bow was a weapon with very strict control, and even a grandmaster like Liang Zong could not obtain it.

Upon seeing Lu Chen arrive, Qin Yushan immediately placed the bow on the desk and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness!"

Lu Chen nodded and said, "No need for formalities."

Qin Yushan continued, "Your Highness guessed correctly, these are the Cloud Piercing Bow and Cloud Piercing Arrow."

"Commander Liang sent word back that half a month ago, when the imperial army was fighting the rebels, both sides used the Cloud Piercing Bow and Cloud Piercing Arrow for the first time, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard seized the opportunity to get a set."

Upon hearing Qin Yushan's words, Lu Chen immediately went to the desk, picked up the Cloud Piercing Bow on the desk, and began to examine it carefully. He pulled the bowstring, and found that the bowstring was very elastic.

However, the power of an arrow depends not only on the quality of the bow, but also on the quality of the arrow. Lu Chen then picked up the Cloud Piercing Arrow on the table and scratched the arrowhead with his finger.

With just that scrape, Lu Chen's finger was actually scraped and the skin was broken.

Seeing this, Lu Chen frowned slightly.

What material is the arrowhead of this Cloud Piercing Arrow made of? How can it be so sharp? He is a Grandmaster, after all. Although he didn't use spiritual energy just now, with his Grandmaster physique, ordinary swords and knives would hardly be able to cut through his skin with a little force.

Lu Chen then asked the system in his mind, "System, can you identify what materials were used to make the Cloud Piercing Bow and Cloud Piercing Arrows?"

[The materials used to craft the Cloud Piercing Bow and Cloud Piercing Arrows have been detected to originate from outer space and do not belong to this world.]

Lu Chen was speechless. It was as if he hadn't said anything at all. He had already guessed that the materials used to make the Cloud Piercing Bow and Cloud Piercing Arrow were unlikely to be from this world.

At this moment, Lu Chen said to Qin Yushan, "Have you ever tried the power of the Cloud Piercing Bow?"

Qin Yushan replied, "After obtaining these two items, I rushed to the Northern Prince's residence immediately, but I haven't had time to test the power of the Cloud Piercing Bow yet."

Lu Chen then picked up the Cloud Piercing Bow and Cloud Piercing Arrow and said, "Let's go test it out in the backyard."

Next, they arrived at the training ground in the backyard of the Prince's Mansion. Lu Chen had his servants prepare several sets of armor worn by the Black Cavalry and line them up in a row.

Then Lu Chen drew his bow and shot an arrow. With the strength of a Grandmaster, Lu Chen easily drew the Cloud Piercing Bow. The moment Lu Chen released his grip, the Cloud Piercing Arrow flew out with a bang.

The next moment, all the armors lined up in a row were pierced by the Cloud Piercing Arrow. Fortunately, Lu Chen had just realized that the Cloud Piercing Arrow might be quite powerful, so he had someone put some steel plates behind the armor. Otherwise, the Cloud Piercing Arrow might have pierced through the courtyard wall and injured the people outside.

At this moment, Lu Chen's expression became somewhat serious. The moment the arrow was released, a sonic boom was actually generated. The rebound force of the bowstring of the Cloud Piercing Bow was even greater than the kinetic energy generated by the explosion of gunpowder.

Is it really that exaggerated?

Lu Chen thought that since he was a Grandmaster, even if a Grandmaster used an ordinary bow and arrow, the power would be enormous. So he handed the Cloud Piercing Bow in his hand to Qin Yushan, who was standing next to him, and said, "Commander Qin, why don't you try out the power of this Cloud Piercing Bow?"

Qin Yushan immediately understood Lu Chen's meaning. He took the bow and arrow, picked up a Cloud Piercing Arrow, and shot it at the armor in the distance.

Lu Chen noticed that Qin Yushan had not drawn the bowstring to its full extent. Even a grandmaster could not draw it to its full extent, so this bow was clearly not something an ordinary person could use.

To use this Cloud Piercing Bow, one would probably need the strength of at least a fifth-grade martial artist.

Qin Yushan released his grip at this moment, and the Cloud Piercing Arrow flew out with a whoosh. However, this time the Cloud Piercing Arrow was obviously not as powerful as before. This time, the Cloud Piercing Arrow only pierced through six sets of armor.

Seeing this, Lu Chen thought for a moment, then said to the seventh-rank guard of the Prince's mansion standing beside him, "You give it a try."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The guard immediately took the Cloud Piercing Bow from Qin Yushan, picked up the last arrow, and aimed it at the armored figures.

At this moment, Lu Chen noticed that the seventh-rank guard was already having some difficulty drawing the bow. Just as he had thought, the Cloud Piercing Bow was a weapon made for martial artists, and ordinary people, or rather, low-ranking martial artists, could not use it.

As the guards of the Prince's Palace loosened their grip, the Cloud Piercing Arrow flew out again with a whoosh, this time piercing only three suits of armor.

Lu Chen thought to himself, if that force had bows and arrows of this power, they probably wouldn't have to fear heavy cavalry at all.

The heavy cavalry's armor was pierced instantly, and before the heavy cavalry could even get close, they were turned into hedgehogs.

Lu Chen felt somewhat fortunate. Fortunately, their Northern Kingdom had already entered the age of firearms. Even when facing such a cloud-piercing bow, they didn't need to be afraid. If they encountered a tough nut to crack in battle, they could completely cover it with firepower.

The nature of warfare will definitely change in the future, even if there are grandmasters in this world. No matter how powerful a grandmaster is, he can only deal with a portion of the population, and the power within a grandmaster's body will eventually be exhausted.

Faced with the relentless bombardment of cannons, even the most powerful Grandmaster would be unable to withstand it, unless they were experts at the Celestial Realm. However, at present, even Grandmasters in the major dynasties rarely show their faces, let alone experts at the Celestial Realm.

At this moment, Lu Chen asked, "Commander Qin, what is the current situation of the battle in Jiangnan?"

Qin Yushan replied, "Currently, the imperial army has the upper hand, and the Jiangnan rebels are suffering repeated defeats. This is why the Jiangnan rebels are using the Cloud Piercing Bow."

Lu Chen said, "I didn't expect that after the battle with Da Wu, the fighting power of the imperial army would still be so strong."

Qin Yushan said from the side, "Perhaps it's not because the imperial army is too strong, but because the Jiangnan rebels are too weak. The current Jiangnan rebels are all fighting on their own, and each family has its own territory. They are very unhappy when other families enter their territory. Under such circumstances, they have little fighting power."

Lu Chen said, "That's true. I overestimated those aristocratic families."

Just then, a guard from the Prince's residence entered the backyard and said, "Your Highness, Commander Wu of the Embroidered Uniform Guard requests an audience."

Lu Chen said, "Have him come directly to the backyard."

"Yes."

Soon, Wu Yuan appeared in the backyard. After glancing at Qin Yushan, he said to Lu Chen, "Greetings, Your Highness!"

Lu Chen asked, "What is it?"

Wu Yuan took out a paper intelligence report from his sleeve and said, "Just arrived news: people from the Jiangnan aristocratic families have appeared in Qi Kingdom. It seems that the Jiangnan rebels intend to win over the King of Qi and have him lead his troops south."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen took the intelligence report from Wu Yuan and asked, "How did Prince Qi treat those people?"

Wu Yuan replied, "Prince Qi arranged for them to stay at the best restaurant in Qi Kingdom and received them on several occasions. As for Prince Qi's attitude, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has not yet been able to find out."

Lu Chen opened the intelligence report in his hand and glanced at it briefly.

Lu Chen did not believe that Prince Qi would join the Jiangnan aristocratic families in rebellion. Although the vassal kings of Great Xia had long been dissatisfied with the royal family, their strength was now far less than before.

If we were to rebel rashly, not only would we lose our current wealth and status, but we might also lose our lives.

However, it's hard to say. Power is too tempting, and no one can be sure whether Prince Qi has any ambitions to become emperor.

However, if the King of Qi were to rebel, he would inevitably send envoys to the Northern Kingdom, which is right next to the Qi Kingdom and is now a force that the Qi Kingdom cannot ignore.

The Qi Kingdom's army is mostly stationed in the north, clearly guarding against the Northern Kingdom. If the Qi Kingdom were to mobilize troops to attack the capital from the south, then the King of Qi would have to consider the possibility of the Northern Kingdom coming south to defend the king.

Just as Lu Chen was about to return to his study, a guard from the Prince's Mansion led a soldier carrying a red flag into the mansion.

Upon seeing Lu Chen, the messenger in red silk immediately knelt down and handed over the letter containing intelligence. "Your Highness, the barbarian King Tianqi is leading an army of 400,000 eastward. Some of the vanguard cavalry have already reached the north, and they will arrive in the northern kingdom within half a month!"

Upon hearing this, the expressions of everyone in the courtyard instantly turned extremely serious. Lu Chen immediately took the letter tube from the red silk messenger, retrieved the intelligence from it, and said to Wu Yuan and Qin Yushan, "Commander Qin, Commander Wu, immediately send the military officers of Yancheng to the Council Hall."

The two replied in unison, "Yes, Your Highness!"

The two then immediately left the Northern King's Mansion, while Lu Chen stood still, carefully reading the battle report from the front.

After reading the intelligence sent from the North, Lu Chen suddenly remembered something.

This so-called Heavenly King seems to have attacked the Dayue Dynasty not long ago, but was defeated by the Empress of Dayue Dynasty.

Unexpectedly, after being defeated by the Dayue Dynasty, they did not settle down but instead came to the North, and may even attack the Northern Kingdom.

Lu Chen didn't believe that the 400,000-strong army that had come to the North was just a tourist. It was more likely that this King Tianqi felt ashamed of his defeat in the Dayue Dynasty and wanted to regain his confidence in the Great Xia.

Moreover, the barbarians have always liked to raid southwards. Since they didn't get much of what they needed from the Dayue Dynasty, they naturally went to raid other places. Lu Chen judged that the Tianqi King was most likely coming for the Northern Kingdom.

Some time ago, he learned from the intelligence collected by Wang Qingci that after the Dayue Dynasty defeated the barbarian coalition, it had been on guard against the eastward advance of the barbarians in the northwest. He didn't expect that they would actually come, and with an army of 400,000.

Their people were able to gather such accurate intelligence thanks to the barbarians living in the north. It seems that his initial approach of incorporating the northern barbarians into the northern kingdom was indeed very effective.

After reading the urgent intelligence in his hand, Lu Chen went to the council hall to wait for the arrival of the military officers.

Meanwhile, not far from the Northern Prince's Mansion, some people were staring at the entrance of the mansion.

These people are the Shadow Guards. Wang Jiantao has been looking for an opportunity to assassinate Bai Qingqing, but because he is wary of Zhuge Zhongguang, he has never dared to directly infiltrate the Northern Prince's Mansion.

Although he had cultivated a technique to conceal his presence, he was not confident that he could defeat Bai Qingqing without being detected by the Grandmaster Zhuge Chongguang.

If it were an ordinary Grandmaster, perhaps he could give it a try, as an ordinary Grandmaster might not be able to detect him entering stealth mode. However, Zhuge Chongguang is a Grandmaster who is about to break through to the Celestial Realm.

Killing Bai Qingqing is easy, but after killing Bai Qingqing, Wang Jiantao will probably have to stay in the Northern Prince's Mansion.

Wang Jiantao thought he was only there to eliminate the traitor, not to become a suicide bomber, so there was no need for him to risk his life to break into the Northern Prince's mansion to carry out an assassination.

Just as Wang Jiantao was staring blankly at the gate of the Northern Prince's Mansion, the shadow guard behind him whispered a reminder: "Commander, look quickly! Two Grandmasters have arrived at the gate of the Northern Prince's Mansion!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Jiantao's gaze instantly locked onto the two people at the entrance of the Northern Prince's Mansion.

The two men rode black horses and were covered in thick armor; their aura as grandmasters was clearly palpable.

Wang Jiantao frowned slightly. He sensed that the two grandmasters were extraordinary, even stronger than the grandmaster who had just left the palace. He felt a chill run down his spine when he saw them.

He himself was a scavenger who did dirty work for the emperor, and many people died at his hands. However, his murderous aura was nothing compared to those two. Those two were like people who had come out of the underworld, and their murderous aura was so strong that even from such a distance, they felt their hearts tremble.

At this moment, Xuan Yuanchen dismounted from his horse at the entrance of the Prince's Mansion, then turned his head to look in a certain direction, and did not enter the mansion for a long time.

Seeing this, Wenren Lie, who had already stepped into the gates of the Prince's mansion, asked, "What's wrong?"

Xuan Yuan Chen then turned his head and said, "I felt someone was watching us just now."

Wenren Lie said calmly, "That's normal. There are quite a few scoundrels keeping an eye on the Northern Prince's Mansion every day."

The Northern Kingdom is no longer the Northern Kingdom it once was, and the Northern King is no longer the Northern King he once was. Therefore, it is nothing new that many spies from other countries monitor the Northern King's every move.

As Xuan Yuan Chen walked towards the Prince's Mansion, he said, "That's right. We can leave those petty thieves to the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The important matter is more important."

(End of this chapter)