401: Chapter 401 The Three-Eyed Prince of Zhenbei

General Tong Yu sighed bitterly, "Eldest Miss, you know about the Moon Worship Cult, right?"

Leng Bingyan frowned. Why was it the Moon Worship Cult again?

"I know a little, but what does that have to do with my father?"

General Tong Yu immediately gestured for Leng Bingyan to sit down nearby and gave a rough account of what had happened over the past six months or so.

It turned out that ever since Western Shu fell, General Leng Duo knew the situation was hopeless, so he split the elite Black Dragon Cavalry into six groups.

Each of the Five Tiger Generals led one group, and General Leng Duo led one himself, hiding within the sprawling mountains of Du Province and Shun Prefecture.

For the first few months, the Black Dragon Cavalry relied on their familiarity with the terrain to launch several small, successful sneak attacks.

Prince of Nanling's army was left disoriented and suffered significant losses.

Relying on these initial successful battles, the Black Dragon Cavalry grew considerably. Many soldiers from Western Shu, feeling that the restoration of the nation was possible, came to join them.

But good times didn't last.

As the Nanling army gradually figured out the Black Dragon Cavalry's movements and found local hunters to guide them, it became increasingly difficult for the Black Dragon Cavalry to remain hidden.

Furthermore, as their numbers increased, supplies became a daunting problem.

Although the sixteen foreign nations secretly didn't want the Black Dragon Cavalry to be wiped out for the sake of their own interests, those small countries had limited capabilities after all.

After important allies like the Great Peacock Kingdom were restricted in trade by the Prince of Nanling and given warnings, supplies became extremely scarce.

The key point was that after staying in the mountains for so long, many ordinary soldiers could no longer bear the mental strain.

Not to mention the biting snakes, ants, and poisonous insects, the damp and dark environment was simply unfit for humans.

Not to mention the paranoia—they didn't dare sleep well at night and had to climb mountains and cross ridges during the day.

As time went on, some soldiers went insane and chose suicide.

Others risked death to become deserters, sneaking away in the middle of the night.

Even worse, some traitors appeared!

Because of betrayal, a few months ago, the main force led by General Leng Duo was almost caught by Zhou Guangfu, the commander of the Red Flame Iron Cavalry.

Fortunately, because of some urgent matter in the Capital Region, the Red Flame Iron Cavalry was recalled, so General Leng Duo narrowly escaped disaster.

Even so, they suffered heavy losses during that breakout.

This made many soldiers realize that they couldn't win this way; they were just suffering while waiting for death.

"Old Xu and Old Jiang were surrounded and killed by the Nanling army during that breakout..."

General Tong Yu's eyes welled with tears, "Of the Five Tiger Generals, only General Zhang Tao, General Ma Chuang, and I are still alive. General Ma Chuang even had to have his arm amputated after being bitten by a poisonous snake, and he nearly died in the mountains."

Leng Bingyan clenched her hands upon hearing this. She knew the Leng Family Army must be having a hard time, but the reality still exceeded her imagination.

Her father hadn't contacted her for so long probably because he didn't want her to suffer...

"After that battle, the General didn't sleep for three days and seemed to age a dozen years overnight. My hair turned white, too."

"It was right then that a martial arts expert from the Moon Worship Cult suddenly found us."

"He said the Leader of the Moon Worship Cult was interested in helping our Black Dragon Cavalry and wanted to invite the General for a talk."

"As it turned out, two days later, the General returned from the Moon Worship Cult with a huge amount of supplies and even said he was going to accept the Moon Worship Cult's baptism and worship the Moon God."

Leng Bingyan was stunned, "What? My father wants to join the Moon Worship Cult?!"

In her impression, her father only respected Heaven, Earth, the Emperor, his parents, and his teachers, and never believed in ghosts or gods.

Furthermore, the Moon Worship Cult was not a legitimate organization at all. Given that it only dared to operate in the shadows, its leaders and core members never revealed their true faces, and they only engaged in superstitious trickery, it looked more like a cult designed to deceive the ignorant masses.

Had her father been traumatized? Otherwise, how could he be so muddled?

Once they were associated with the Moon Worship Cult, let alone restoring the nation, the reputation accumulated by the Leng family over dozens of generations would be reduced to ashes!

"Eldest Miss, at the time, I felt the same as you and thought I had misheard."

General Tong Yu shook his head, "But the General said his mind was made up. If we were willing to follow him, we should join the Moon Worship Cult with him."

"If we were unwilling to join, we should leave the Leng Family Army and have no further ties with him."

"Eldest Miss, you should understand that once the General makes a decision, he cannot be persuaded otherwise."

"In the end, only I, along with over two hundred brothers, chose to part ways."

"General Zhang Tao and General Ma Chuang, along with the remaining three thousand or so men, all went with the General to the Moon Worship Cult's territory."

General Tong Yu said with a pained expression, "Eldest Miss, it's not that I don't want to follow the General. I'm not afraid of death, but I cannot sit by and watch the General's lifelong reputation be ruined!"

"In these two months, the brothers who followed me have died or left one by one. I have been persisting, hiding everywhere, and leaving traces, hoping to see you, or waiting for the General to have a change of heart and come find us."

"I just want to know why the General would join the Moon Worship Cult. Can the Moon Worship Cult really restore Western Shu and drive away the Nanling army?"

Leng Bingyan was silent for a long time, also unable to fathom it.

"Uncle Tong, based on my understanding of my father, there must be some hidden story behind this."

"The Moon Worship Cult has huge ambitions. Not long ago, they even tried to assassinate my husband."

"I suspect that my father joining the Moon Worship Cult must have some special purpose..."

General Tong Yu was shocked, "Husband? Eldest Miss, you... you are married!? Wait a moment, who is your husband, and why would the Moon Worship Cult want to assassinate him?"

Because they had been fighting guerrilla warfare in the mountains for a long time, they were cut off from news and knew nothing about many things happening outside.

Although shy, Leng Bingyan proudly and frankly said, "My husband is the current Prince of Zhenbei, Lin Xiao!"

"What!? —"

General Tong Yu and the group of Leng Family Army soldiers all exclaimed, losing all control of their expressions.

Even though they had been "savages" for a long time, they knew that the most popular and powerful figure in the world today was not the one in the imperial palace.

It was that young king of a different surname in the distant north, who had appeared out of nowhere, eliminated Prince Bai, restored order to the mountains and rivers, and trampled across the northern desert with the force of thunder!

From the nobles in the palace to the common people, the Prince of Zhenbei was a living "legend," even more legendary than the five Great Grandmasters combined!

After all, Great Grandmasters were common, but the achievements of the Prince of Zhenbei were unprecedented throughout history!

"Eldest Miss, did you really marry the Prince of Zhenbei?"

"I heard the Prince of Zhenbei has three eyes and four arms, is invulnerable to blades and spears on the battlefield, and can kill thousands with a single swing of his blade. Is that true?"

"Eldest Miss, is the Prince of Zhenbei going to march south to unify the world? Did you come to take us into the Zhenbei Army?"

The Leng Family Army soldiers were so excited that, forgetting about decorum, they all crowded around to ask questions.

Although Leng Bingyan knew her husband's name was widely known, she didn't expect the rumors to be so bizarre.

For a moment, she felt both proud and amused. What was all this? Three eyes and four arms? Was he a monster?

After quite a bit of explaining, she finally got the soldiers to calm down and realize that the Prince of Zhenbei was not that bizarre.

"Uncle Tong, do you know how to find my father and how to find the Moon Worship Cult's territory?" Leng Bingyan asked.