Chapter 128 Stunning Female Slaves
“What’s happening?” inquired Li Muin in surprise.
Out of curiosity, Li Mu looked into the distance from the back of his horse.
He saw a flower parade marching towards his way.
White horses were hauling specially made white carriages with long shafts. Each canopy over the carriages was decorated with multicolored flowers and streamers, which was quite eye-catching. But what was more surprising was that the wagoners were all armored females, and on each of the carriages was a cage made of steel bars that were as thick as a finger. Looking through the bars, Li Mu could see there were five scantily dressed women on each carriage.
Those women were tall and slim. They had so luringly curvaceous that even Li Mu, who was viewing them with the standards of the Earth civilization, felt a shot of electric current coursed through his veins. They all had large breasts, and their body curves were perfect like those hot girls in the western countries on Earth. And to Li Mu’s startlement, they were all blond-haired as many white people on Earth.
“But they somehow look like slaves, don’t they?”
The crowd practically carried Li Mu and his horse to the flower parade.
Upon a closer look, he discovered that those blond hot girls with little clothes were all wearing a nearly transparent gauze cape, and only their private parts were covered with a small piece of black cloth. Such half-hearted covering actually made them more appealing.
Moreover, each of the girls was wearing delicately made shackles and handcuffs.
Glinting in the sun, those shackles and handcuffs looked like accessories from a distance. Only when they came closer did Li Mu notice that the fetters had tethered them to the bars, allowing them little space to move around. Thus, they had to let their arms be hung up to the top of the cages while standing on tiptoes. In that exaggerated posture, they revealed the full beauty of their bodies.
Most of those girls also had fine features. And their skin was fairly tan. For the Qin folks in Chang’an, their looks were quite exotic and tempting.
However, they all seemed rather ashamed and indignant.
Some of them even had a cloth stuffed in their mouth so they were unable to speak and had to let their drool wet the cloth. Obviously, it was a measure to prevent them from chewing off their own tongue so as to blood to death.
“They are female slaves captured from the prairie,” explained Zheng Cunjian, who was riding by Li Mu.
Hearing that, Li Mu went speechless for a second.
“Whoa, those are women from the pasture! They all have blond long hair and are so sexy, just a pair of blue eyes away from the white models on Earth.” Li Mu exclaimed in his head.
“There are constant wars between our empire and the nomadic people on the vast prairie. When our troops sweep through the prairie, they catch the local folks and make them slaves. Men are sent to work their fingers to the bone, while women, especially the good-looking ones, are selected to go through a series of training and become female slaves in the Musical House. This batch was just sent here from the frontline. And the Musical House is holding a flower parade to display them to all the citizens. The parade will last for three days, catching the attention of people from all walks of life. Before the auction day, the Musical House always makes the most spectacular show. And when the big day comes, the female slaves can be auctioned to the highest bidder like any other articles. If some are left up, they will continue to stay in the Musical House and do their usual business.”
Zheng Cunjian ardently introduced the background information to Li Mu.
Noticing that Li Mu’s eyes were locked on the flower parade, he thought the county magistrate was interested in those exotic women. Thus, he made such a remark on purpose.
He believed such interest was totally normal.
As far as Zheng Cunjian knew, Li Mu had not married yet. And he had no concubines or maids except the two little attendants following around him. In that case, he should still be a virgin. These years, the Western Qin Empire had been trying to encourage child-bearing, so the law set the age of marriage at twelve. If counting in the one-year pregnancy, this Second Young Master of the Li Family was already fifteen. Such a young man who was way over the legal age of marriage was in his prime of life, so it was no wonder that he was attracted by beautiful women.
If Li Mu truly favored that kind of stuff, it was good news for Zheng Cunjian, because he would have more leeway to manipulate his way out.
With Zheng Cunjian’s earnest explanation, Li Mu finally came to understand the event.
“This is a live advertisement for the auction!”
Intrigued, he started to take in the details of the parade. Surrounded by throngs of people, he passed by one carriage after another.
There were a total of ten carriages carrying forty-six female slaves from the prairie.
Every single slave was pretty and sexy, and could be said to be a real stunner.
But notably, one of the female slaves looked quite young and was caged separately. She had peerless beauty and extremely exquisite features. Unlike the other slaves, she was wrapped in a different robe and was emitting a cold aura. Flames of rage were burning in her eyes, which made the first glance at her put Li Mu in a daze.
Then, he gasped.
That woman was like a thorny rose, gorgeous but also deadly.
In an instant, Li Mu was forcibly reminded of another equally gorgeous face. At the wooden table of the food stall in Peace County, that woman in white had revealed the same supply, fair, and beautiful face as she rolled up the veil to eat the noodles. In comparison, that woman in white was like a fairy living on the moon; and the foreign slave cooped up in front of him was an enraged female warrior. Although the two was in drastically different scenarios, they were equally beautiful and stunning.
Zheng Cunjian pried something out of the crowd and then told Li Mu with excitement, “Young Master, turns out that the forty-six female slaves are not just normal slaves. This time, the Musical House in Chang’an paid a huge amount to snatch them over… Well, I am really surprised.”
Li Mu gazed up at Zheng Cunjian but did not speak.
Nonetheless, his eyes had made it clear that if Zheng Cunjian kept him in suspense he would beat him to a pulp.
Zheng Cunjian shuddered in fear. Familiar with Li Mu’s short temper, he dared not hold the story back anymore and said hastily, “The forty-six female slaves were the Wolf Warriors of the Wolf Temple on the prairie. Their leader, well, the slave imprisoned on the special carriage by herself, is not an ordinary woman. She is the Invincible Warrior of the prairie, the daughter of a brother of the Great Jebe. I was told that she was once selected as the Virgin Goddess of the Wolf Temple. But later, curiously, she did not serve for the Wolf Temple. Instead, she became a Wolf Warrior. And, haha, the other forty-five slaves are her direct subordinates. In the past few years, this troop constituted by female Wolf Warriors earned much fame and awe on the prairie…”
“Wow, she turns out to a female warrior!”
Li Mu nodded, a little impressed.
He only had limited knowledge about the prairie.
Half of it was taught by Qing Feng through the spoon-feed method at dinner, while the other half was learned from the long conversation he had with his sworn brother, Guo Yuqing. His sworn brother seemed quite familiar with the prairie. Li Mu could tell from his lines that he had deep feelings for that land. At that time, Li Mu guessed that Guo Yuqing was from the prairie, but he did not ask his sworn brother for confirmation.
The prairie was the territory that did not belong to the three great empires on the continent. It was ruled by nomadic people, a theocracy alliance constituted by many tribes. The Wolf God was the most respectable deity on the prairie. And the Wolf Temple was the representative of the Wolf God. The members of that temple were almost as powerful as an emperor, and they could issue orders to any of the tribes.
Now that those female slaves were the Wolf Warrior of the Wolf Temple, their status must be quite high. To draw an analogy, they might be as prestigious as the princesses in the Western Qin Empire and treated with awe and respect.
Plus, female Wolf Warriors were a scarce kind.
It was a shame that they were caught by the forces of the Western Qin Empire and reduced to prisoners. Since their defeat, they had to live in massive grief and misery.
Li Mu sympathized them, especially that woman confined to a separate cage.
She was too stunning. Her beauty was otherworld, breath-taking. At only one glance, numerous men would be mesmerized by her and willing to do anything for her.
Such a woman with unparalleled beauty was favored by God. She was supposed to enjoy all the woos and love of other men. But now, she was here, being displayed as a commodity. How sad it was!
“Young Master, if you’re interested, I’d like to make some arrangements for you. Well, you know, I kind of have a say in Chang’an.” After observing Li Mu’s expression, Zheng Cunjian offered tentatively.
Li Mu threw him a harsh look and snorted, “I’ll go and pick up my mother first. That is the priority.”
Zheng Cunjian’s heart trembled at his stern look. He hurriedly echoed, “Right, right, right. My mistake. Our Second Young Master is a dutiful son. And your mother has waited for you for so many years. Of course, you’d like to visit your mother first. Young Master, please pardon my stupidity.”
“Yeah, I know. Now that we arrived in Chang’an, we’re in your territory. You really have a lot on your mind,” mocked Li Mu, who urged the horse to go faster and gave the scholar an unfathomable smile. “If you are considering to tip that brute off or use his power against me, try it as you like, for I don’t mind it at all… as long as you don’t fear death.” The brute he addressed to was naturally Li Menglong, the magistrate who actually reigned Chang’an.
“I dare not! Don’t misunderstand me, Young Master!” Scared, Zheng Cunjian hastened to defend himself.
He truly wanted to do that, but he had no guts to put the plan into practice.
Because before they left Taibai County, Li Mu planted a magic figure in Zheng Cunjian’s body, which was called the Life-and-Death Spell. He also demonstrated its power by, of course, activating it while it was in him. The experience was… Well, Zheng Cunjian swore that he would rather be cut by a thousand knives at the same time than having the Life-and-Death Spell torturing him again.
With the Life-and-Death Spell as the deterrent, Zheng Cunjian had to put aside his schemes against Li Mu for now.
In fact, Zheng Cunjian’s blood chilled after he learned that Li Mu was also an intimidating warlock. He knew how frightening those warlocks could be. They could kill with no one noticing through all kinds of mysterious incantations and magic figures they drew up. Hence, before he found some warlock more powerful than Li Mu and got the Life-and-Death Spell lifted, he would do nothing rash.
Li Mu simply smiled and did not speak to him anymore.
As Zheng Cunjian rode in the front to lead the way, the two strolled forward unhurriedly. About an hour later, they came to the entrance of an alley in the west.
“Pi-Herding Alley?”
Li Mu read the name of the alley on a stone wall.
That was an odd but accurate name for the alley.
This was a slum area.
“Your mother is in the yard at the far end of the alley.” Zheng Cunjian pointed out.
…