Emperor Xiling stood up and looked at Zhan You, "Wizard Zhan, follow me to the Imperial Study. I have something to tell you."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhan You stood up and nodded.

After Emperor Xiling left, all the ministers stood up and walked out of the audience hall.

Prime minister Fan and General Chen turned back to glance at Zhan You and then turned to walk out.

When others left, Zhan You also went out and then walked to the Imperial Study.

Prime minister Fan and General Chen walked together. When they walked to the gate of the palace, Prime minister Fan stopped and said to General Chen, "Now it has been decided. I hope you can occupy the frontier fortress, General Chen."

"Don't worry, Prime minister Fan. I will try my best." General Chen said to him.

Prime minister Fan nodded, patted General Chen's shoulder, and then turned to get on the carriage.

General Chen sighed and mounted the horse to the barracks.

Tomorrow he needed to go to the frontier fortress, so he should go back to make preparations as soon as possible.

In the Imperial Study

Emperor Xiling asked the servant to prepare the tea and let all the other people go out of the Imperial Study.

He sat on one side, waiting for Zhan You.

When Zhan You arrived at the gate of the Imperial Study, Yan Ze, the guard of Emperor Xiling, said to Zhan You, "Wizard Zhan, His Majesty is waiting for you inside. Go in, please."

"OK." Zhan You nodded and opened the door to walk in.

Then he closed the door, walked to the front of Emperor Xiling, and said with his hands cupped, "Your Majesty."

"Don't be too polite, Wizard Zhan." Emperor Xiling Lan Kuo said to him with a smile.

Zhan You nodded, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Meanwhile, Zhan You sat down facing Lan Kuo.

After Zhan You sat down, Lan Kuo looked at Zhan You and asked, "Have those men with the nightmare worm been arranged well?"

"Don't worry, Emperor Xiling. They have been arranged well. Tomorrow morning they can go to the frontier with General Chen."

"Excellent!" Hearing this, Lan Kuo couldn't help smiling and nodded to say.

At this time, Zhan You suddenly coughed.

Hearing this, Lan Kuo frowned and asked with nervousness, "Haven't you recovered, Wizard Zhan?"

"It's OK. I have almost recovered. I was just blown by the wind, so… " Zhan You waved his hand and said to Lan Kuo.

Before Zhan You finished, Lan Kuo interrupted him, "OK. These days you should pay more attention to your health. The frontier needs to be occupied by those men with the nightmare worm controlled by you."

"Don't worry, Emperor Xiling. My health will not affect our attack to the frontier." Zhan You smiled and said.

He knew Emperor Xiling just wanted to take advantage of him rather than really care about his health. Emperor Xiling was just afraid that his health would affect his control of men with the nightmare worm, and the frontier wouldn't be occupied as soon as possible.

However, he didn't care about it. As long as Emperor Xiling helped him control the Witchcraft Mountain, it was OK even if half of his life would be lost.

Then Emperor Xiling Lan Kuo asked Zhan You about the situation when men with the nightmare worm attacked the frontier last time.

Hearing what Zhan You said, Lan Kuo laughed, pounded the table, and shouted, "Great. I will go there personally in this battle. I want to see how the frontier will be attacked by our Xiling!"

"It will be dangerous in the battle, and inevitably there will be some accidents. For your safety, I think you had better…" Hearing this, Zhan You frowned and wanted to discourage Emperor Xiling.

Before he finished, Lan Kuo continued, "Men with the nightmare worm controlled by you are very strong. General Cheng is said to have very strong martial skills, but surprisingly he was hurt by you. I must go to see how we will occupy the frontier!"

Meanwhile, Emperor Xiling's eyes were filled with greed!

No matter who was the Emperor, he could control the whole world if he owned these men with the nightmare worm.

The lure was too large. None of the emperors was willing to give in and kneel in front of the other emperors. If there was a chance, they would want to unify the world.

Hearing this, Zhan You stopped to discourage Lan Kuo because he knew Lan Kuo had made up his mind. He continued then, "If you must go there, you need to observe it secretly. After all, you are the Emperor of the country. If there is…"

"OK. OK. OK. I will observe it secretly then." Lan Kuo replied with impatience.

Zhan You nodded, stood up, and said with his hands cupped, "If there is nothing else, I will go back to make some preparations."

"Go ahead." Lan Kuo waved his hand and said.

Then Zhan You cupped his hands and walked out of the Imperial Study.

After Zhan You walked out, he turned back to glance at Imperial Study and left.

Just now he persuaded Lan Kuo not to go to the frontier not because he felt worried about Emperor Xiling. Once the war began, it was very dangerous. If Emperor Xiling was hurt, his effort these years would be wasted.

However, Emperor Xiling agreed that he would not appear directly. Accidents should not happen.

Later, Zhan You walked towards his residence.

At this time, Zheng Qiu and other men carried potatoes to the frontier. It took two days to ride quickly from Jiandu to the frontier.

Because of the potatoes, their journey was naturally slower.

Near the frontier

Zheng Qiu stopped and said to Su Tong and Zhao Po, "In front is the frontier. The frontier suffered from the war before, so it will not be safe nearby. We go in two groups for safety."

"Why two groups?" Su Tong frowned and asked.

Zheng Qiu was about to explain to Su Tong. Zhao Po on one side said first, "We are too obvious. Now Xiling declares war on the frontier. There must be a lot of scouts from Xiling on the frontier. If a large procession passes by, it will be noticed by them and invite disputes."

"What Mr. Zhao said is right. We should be divided into two groups and pretend to be transient merchants." Zheng Qiu nodded and said.

Hearing this, Su Tong understood, "OK. I agree with you. How do we divide the procession?"

"You will be with Mr. Zhao. We will lead several carriages respectively. There are only six to seven miles away from the barracks on the frontier. If we go there quickly, we will arrive there in just half of a day." Zheng Qiu continued.

Zhao Po and Su Tong nodded, "Mr. Zheng, you go first, and we will follow you."

"OK." Zheng Qiu replied and walked to ask several carriages to follow him.

Then they entered the frontier.

Just a while after they entered the border, Zheng Qiu saw someone looking at them from time to time.

Zheng Qiu smiled and thought what he guessed was right. Since it was so, he decided to take the initiative.

Then he saw a teahouse on one side of the road.

Zheng Qiu stopped and shouted to his followers, "You are tired. Right? In front is a teahouse. Let's go there to take a break."

"OK." His followers replied.

Then they left the carriages on the roadside and walked to the teahouse to sit down.

Zheng Qiu said to the shopkeeper of the teahouse, "Please give us some bowls of tea."

"OK. Wait for a minute." The shopkeeper, wearing a set of cotton clothes with some patches, was a middle-aged man in his early forties, but he seemed to be sophisticated.

Just after a while, the shopkeeper took the tea here and said with a smile, "Here is your tea. It is at the proper temperature. Enjoy it, please."

"OK." Zheng Qiu nodded and picked up the bowl to drink it.

The shopkeeper stood in front of Zheng Qiu, saw the carriages stop aside, and asked, "Where are you going?"

"We come here to make a business." Zheng Qiu saw two men sit in front of the table aside and look at them from time to time, so he intentionally said in a high voice.

Hearing this, the shopkeeper frowned and couldn't help persuading him, "Young Master, the two countries are at war now. Why do you come here to make a business?"

"At the war, the price is skyrocketing. Someone here orders our goods, from which we could earn lots of money this time. So, our family could lead a good life. But for money, we wouldn't come here. We will not do it again." Zheng Qiu said and looked at the two men sitting on one side.

The shopkeeper nodded and asked, "What kind of business do you make?"

"So do you want to join us?" Zheng Qiu smiled and said.

The shopkeeper waved his hands to Zheng Qiu, "Don't make jokes to me, Young Master. I am satisfied with my business at the teahouse. Recently the two troops are at war. I will close my teahouse and go back home."

The shopkeeper shook his hand, smiled, and asked, "One more bowl of tea, Young Master?"

"No. We need to continue our journey as soon as possible. As you said, we can go back home earlier as soon as we send the goods there. We also miss our wives and children." Meanwhile, Zheng Qiu stood up.

Then he asked the shopkeeper, "How much?"

"One copper coin for one bowl. Eight bowls. Give me eight copper coins please." The shopkeeper smiled and said.

Zheng Qiu took out the money and handed it to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper held out to take the money, "Thank you, Young Master. Thank you, Young Master."

"Have you finished? Let's go if you’ve done." Zheng Qiu said to his followers.

They all stood up and walked to the front of the carriage. Zheng Qiu mounted the horse and they continued to walk forward.

The shopkeeper shouted from the back, "Young Master, wish you have a good journey."

When Zheng Qiu left for a while, the shopkeeper walked to the front of those two men and said with a smile, "Sir, the man is truly a merchant. He comes here to send goods."

"Good job. Here you are." One of them stood up to pat the shopkeeper's shoulder and gave some money to him.

The shopkeeper saw the money, took it quickly, and said with a flattering smile, "Thank you. Thank you."

"If strange and suspicious people appear, you need to notice them for us. You will be rewarded." The man said to the shopkeeper again.

The shopkeeper smiled to nod his head and said, "Sure. Sure."

The two men disappeared in the passerby and hid themselves.