(MC POV)
"Can't believe I'm here again after leaving it not so long ago," I muttered, looking down at the Dong's palace.
My robes shifted slightly, "Master can always just send me in… I can just sneak in there with the pill and slip it into the King's mouth without anyone else being the wiser."
I chuckled, "Oh, Xun Guan, whoever said I was going to do this stealthily? This is also the perfect opportunity for me to further Queen Guiying's request of me."
"Understood, Master. Please use me as a shield if needed."
I patted my chest, "Oh you worry too much Xun Guan. Everything will be fine."
"Apologies Master… But after being with you for all this time… I don't think things will go that smoothly…"
I scoffed, "It can't be that bad now, could it?"
"Two countries are at war for you… Master…"
"... Point taken. I'll be careful this time."
"That would be for the best Master. Please rely on me whenever you need to."
I guess it's a good thing I have Xun Guan with me here just in case I do something stupid, she's turning out to be quite reliable.
I flew over the ruined buildings of the Dong's capital city, landing in front of the front gates where there were still surprisingly two guards guarding it there. Sure they were just sitting down on top of some debris that was scattered at the entrance, but they were definitely watching it closely.
Either they managed to gain some control over the situation in the capital already, or these two are just really dedicated to their jobs since the majority of their colleagues were just moping around feeling sorry for themselves.
They stood up the moment they saw me land a distance away from them.
"Stop! We told your Sect already that the court will decide on a proper compensation after the King has healed! Please return to your--"
The other guard pulled his friend back while also drawing his sword, "You! You're that Beiyang envoy! I knew there was something wrong with you! Not a Practitioner my ass!"
Yeah, I made them think I was a non-Practitioner envoy when I first came here. Not like they bothered to check since they trusted their barrier a little too much.
And at that time I didn't even know they had a barrier until I tried to summon water in my room. Took me about a minute to adjust myself to use Techniques within the barrier then.
I thought it wasn't even that big of a deal since even Xun Guan stayed silent about it. It was only after I asked her because of Brendan's outburst that she told me she was so surprised that she didn't even know how to ask me about it.
Was it that hard?
The first guard also unsheathed his weapon, "So you're here to finish the job… You're going to need to kill us first before you can kill our King!"
They tried to charge me with their weapons but I merely waved my hand at them, causing them to float helplessly into the air.
"What?! The anti-Quark barrier is not working?!" One of them gasped while flailing their arms around.
His friend cursed, "No… It's working fine! Why is he able to use Techniques within the barrier?!"
I coughed to get their attention, "Ahem. If you two would give me the opportunity to talk, I'm actually here to heal your King."
"Bullshit!" The second guard immediately blurted out. "You were thrown into the Prison Fortress! How did you even get out in the first place?!"
I smiled, "I simply walked out through the front doors, my friend. The guards even watched me leave."
It's not a lie, right? Just conveniently forgot about the giant meteor I left behind as a present for them.
"Why would you even be let out of that place? I've never heard of anyone being released from the Prison Fortress before."
"Good behavior, probably," I shrugged before pulling out a bottle from my sleeve. "Point is, I got the thing to save your King right here in this pill bottle, you want your king to die or live?"
"Ha! Like we'll trust a Beiyang dog like you! Those could be poison for all we know!"
Mmm… I could just leave them here and walk straight in but if I can get them to escort me in, I can avoid more confrontations and get more witnesses to watch me save their king.
Since a 'Beiyang dog' was willing to go out of the way to save their monarch, that should make them push for a peace treaty, right?
I took out one of the pills from the bottle while materialising my sword in my other hand, "Well if you would just take a look at this…"
I swung my sword down and cut off the first guard's arm cleanly at the elbow.
Both of them stared at the stump that was spewing out blood for a second before simultaneously screaming.
I immediately threw the pill into his mouth and he was so surprised that he swallowed it.
The bleeding stopped a moment later before his arm regenerated back as good as new.
He flexed his fingers a few times to make sure before turning to stare at me in wonder.
"Yeah, no side effects, works instantly too," I assured him, lifting up my sword once more.
I chopped down on my own arm, watching the appendage fly off dispassionately before popping in a pill to regenerate it back.
"Convinced?" I asked. "Besides, if I really wanted to kill your king, I wouldn't have showed up in broad daylight at your front door. And as evidenced from this, it's not like you guys can stop me anyway."
They nodded quickly.
"Right, then take me to your king. I only have a limited amount of these."
I released them from the Technique and they floated back down to the ground, both of them sheathing their weapons though they still looked at me warily.
Well, I didn't actually cut off my arm even though the pills were most definitely real.
The arm was actually just Xun Guan morphing a part of her to match my arm and I cut that part off since she insisted I did not hurt myself in any way, even if I could be healed immediately. Something about her pride or something.
The two guards dusted themselves off before facing me, still being careful.
"We have our eyes on you, Beiyang dog…" The second guard warned.
I raised an eyebrow at the guard, "You know… I can always just take this away and leave your king to die. Let the war continue on and more people dying on your side. Heck, I could just kill everyone here and now if that works for you?"
To emphasize my point, I let a few streaks of lightning course around me, even causing a few of the debris to rise up into the air.
"No, no, no! I apologize on my friend's behalf! Please, I will guide you to our king! This way please!" The first guard quickly covered for him.
I nodded at his words and followed him into the palace, hopefully this would go as smoothly as I imagined it to be.