fynovel Chapter 22 Mountain King's Flag
Chapter 22 Mountain King's Flag
After doing all this, Qin Lie still didn't stop. Instead, he took out a black flag from behind his back.
With toes touching the ground, the flag tip pointing downwards, the waist arches and straightens, and the upper arm throws.
The tiger-headed flag, fluttering in the wind, was thrust into the side of the central carriage with a whoosh, piercing through it and standing firmly.
The fluttering black flags moved swiftly without wind, attracting considerable attention.
Despite being hurled and pierced by the force, the carriage only trembled slightly, and the half-closed curtain remained unopened, revealing Qin Lie's remarkable control over his strength.
"This is……."
Fu Que initially didn't care much when he looked over; it was just a flag, something he'd seen plenty of in the lion's den.
Suddenly, when his gaze fell on the flag, his true vision unfolded uncontrollably.
In the world of simple black and white line drawings, a lifelike black tiger stands out starkly in the child's doodle-like world.
A strong smell of blood entered Fu Que's nose.
In a daze, Fu Que seemed to see the black tiger come to life, its fierce eyes glaring as it pounced on him.
A fierce wind cuts your face.
Fu Que subconsciously raised his wrist to block, only to find a gray scroll that had appeared in his hand at some point.
[Throw it over.]
A familiar voice rang in my ears.
He took a deep breath and threw the scroll into the tiger's gaping, bloody maw.
A distorted black vortex appeared.
"roar!"
The tiger roared painfully to the sky, as if the latte art in a coffee cup had been disturbed by a spoon, its entire body spinning and collapsing inward from the point where the scroll fell.
[Warning: Without ownership of the artifact and complete possession of the basic scroll, the alternate artist cannot compile the background layer.]
[Warning: The Scroll of the Otherworldly Painter is not equipped with special effects components and cannot store elemental power.]
Two consecutive mental shock warnings caused Fu Que to be immediately pulled out of his real-world view.
A throbbing pain shot through his temples, and he let out a soft groan, involuntarily taking a step back.
"What's wrong?"
One of the guards noticed Fu Que's unusual behavior and asked him with concern.
"It's nothing."
Fu Que smiled, concealing the unusual situation, while memorizing the information he had just obtained.
He wasn't sure if the other guards had also suffered a mental shock, so to be on the safe side, he decided not to reveal his own abnormality.
After a while, when Fu Que looked over again, the fluttering flags showed no signs of abnormality.
A black flag fluttered on the carriage; it was a black tiger-head flag with its beard and hair fully exposed, its teeth and claws menacing, and a line of white characters written on the corner.
We will thoroughly prepare for war and forever uphold the spirit of our army.
The Zhu family's Imperial Guards, under the black banner of the Great Zhao.
"This is a military flag ritual object crafted by the Hangzhou Prefectural Crafts Bureau using rare materials and incorporating the aura of national destiny."
Within a radius of one hundred horse lengths of the flag-planted area, up to fifty allied troops designated by the artifact wielders can receive the blessing of a whirlwind, increasing their speed and gaining the Mountain Lord's approval, allowing them to traverse the mountains and forests as if on flat ground.
Qin Lie said calmly, "There are no roads in the mountains. Without the protection of this Mountain Lord Banner, the mountain roads would be rugged and difficult to travel, and cutting down trees would waste a lot of time and energy."
As Qin Lie spoke, Fu Que also felt something surging around him, invisible and intangible, yet undeniably present.
He tried moving around a bit and found that he was indeed a bit more agile than usual, about half a percent faster.
Don't underestimate this half-finished speed. With Fu Que's current state as the Scroll Swordsman, his physique is already comparable to that of a martial artist at the peak of the Blood Gate.
This half-rate speed boost is a real improvement, not to mention it can boost fifty friendly units at once.
Apart from Fu Que being slightly surprised by the effect of this military flag artifact, the other guards present remained calm, clearly indicating that this was not the first time they had seen this so-called military flag artifact.
Therefore, it is self-evident who Qin Lie is explaining to.
"I know this isn't your first time on an escort route, but I still want to say a few more words: don't let your guard down."
In the deep forest, danger isn't limited to ferocious wild beasts and monsters; venomous insects and snakes are even more dangerous. Although the convoy carries antidotes, anyone bitten by a highly venomous creature is on their own.
Qin Lie looked around and said in a serious tone, "Those who were called earlier, guard the way; the rest of you, escort the carriage. Let's go."
The caravan set off again, but this time it was much quieter. The guards who had been chatting idly along the way were now serious and no longer talked. The only sound was occasionally the snorting of the horses.
At this moment, Fu Que finally understood what the so-called protection of the mountain lord meant.
As the convoy moved forward, the dense bushes would spontaneously part to make way for them.
When encountering fallen trees or naturally formed puddles or pits, vines or aerial roots of trees will hang down to form bridges.
No wonder Fu Que couldn't find a passable road even though the medicinal fields were developed deep in the mountains and forests. With this Mountain Lord Flag, wherever you go in the deep forest is a road. Why bother spending manpower and resources to develop and maintain mountain roads?
However, such conveniences were only prepared for officials or martial arts masters; ordinary people could not even dream of them. Since the Mountain King Flag was a magical weapon, it was destined not to be widely used.
They barely eat meat a few times a year, yet they want to use magical artifacts to clear the way when they go into the mountains. What are they thinking?
Fu Que now roughly understood why the Great Zhao Kingdom, despite its abundant martial virtue and vast territory, did not have many suitable places to live.
It's not that Emperor Zhao didn't need it, but that the Wu family didn't need it.
For example, people going into the mountains need this mountain path, but people like Fu Que who have magical artifacts don't.
Things that officials don't need generally won't appear, unless there's a change.
Although there were no hints, Fu Que vaguely sensed a familiar feeling from the Mountain Lord Banner.
It was a kind of authority represented by the gods of the Heavenly Court, which shared the same origin as the national fortune of the previous dynasty and was formed from the fortune of all living beings.
Of course, there was no reason for this feeling; it was just his intuition.
But with the mental impact of seeing a tiger pounce in the real world before him, Fu Que was 90% certain that his guess was correct.
"Indeed, heroes are as numerous as carp crossing a river. The previous dynasty was destroyed, yet the Heavenly Court, which was used to establish its rule over the world, was still able to be replicated and controlled by the Great Zhao. I just don't know to what extent it was utilized."
No wonder that handing over the remnants of the golden statues of deities from the previous dynasty could be exchanged for treasures in the Imperial Guard's armory; there was another reason behind it all.
Fu Que pondered silently.
At this time, in addition to trying to find a magic artifact to test whether it would help the painter, his belief in the nine-character development strategy of "build high walls, store up grain, and delay declaring himself king" deepened.
There are so many outstanding people in this world, the artist must be able to withstand it!
Fu Que, who had killed the Blood Gate Warrior and obtained the sketches of the sword technique and the Crane Cry Fist, was already feeling quite smug. However, the appearance of the Mountain Lord Banner instantly brought him back to his senses.