Genius Demon Empress

The winter sun emits a faint heat, reflecting the Fontaine County outside the Xuanshou Mountain Ridge.

It has been snowing for half a month, and it finally stopped today. There is a thick layer of snow on the ground, and facing the ridge down, you can see a frozen lake.

By the lake, there are rows of arrow bamboo forests. After winter, the leaves of the arrow bamboo have been stripped off, leaving only a bare bamboo body. At this time, the bamboo body has been frozen into ice edges, and under the sunlight, it folds into a multicolored halo.

"Squeak--" On the quiet snow, there were four rows of crooked footprints. A little boy wearing a worn-out felt hat followed behind a hunched old man with a basket on his arm.

The old man looked to be about seventy or eighty years old. He was wearing a thin winter coat that was so torn that he could see fluff, and his dark blue flesh was exposed inside. He walked around the arrow bamboo forest, his cloudy old eyes lit up, pointing surrounding the bamboo forest.

"There are winter bamboo shoots, Erwang, dig them out with Grandpa," the little boy's face was also blue and purple from the cold, and two sticks of icicles of snot were dragging from his nose.

As soon as Grandpa found the winter bamboo shoots, Erwang hurriedly took out the hoe in the basket, and the grandpa and grandson surrounded the bamboo forest and digged hard.

The soil in winter was almost as hard as ice, and Erwang and his grandson hadn’t had enough to eat for a long time. The speed was very slow. It took them nearly half an hour to dig up a plant that was as thick as an arm. bamboo shoots.

In such a severe cold weather, the bamboo shoots have been frozen brown and black, and they look no different from a piece of dead wood.

But the eyes of both grandpa and grandson burst into joy at the same time.

After picking out the bamboo shoots, the old man quickly peeled off the skins of the bamboo shoots, took out a machete, and cut them open vigorously, the frozen bamboo shoots split in two.

A plump wintering stick insect was hidden in the hollow bamboo shoot. Erwang, who hadn't seen the smell of meat for three or four months, couldn't help sniffing his nose, but was shivering from the cold wind pouring into his nose. .

"If you dig again, maybe you can find a few stick insects, so you brothers won't have to starve," the old man touched Erwang's hand with a dry hand.

This year's winter came very early, and the snowstorm was surprisingly heavy. Nearly nine tenths of the barley in the county was buried by the snowstorm before it could be harvested.

All the surplus grain that the people had for the winter was taxed again. Ordinary people like Erwang's family had long since run out of coarse wheat for cooking.

"Grandpa, when do you think we will have a lord?" Erwang carefully put the winter bamboo shoots into a basket and asked the old man innocently.

"Silly boy, we have a lord. Our young lord, Mr. Yue, received the training of the dragon riding battalion in the Owawa Imperial City. When he becomes a great dragon riding warrior, he will come to the territory," the old man touched kindly. Erwang's head and old eyes looked at the cluster of arrow bamboo forest on the sunny side of the lake.

"However, other people in the village said that we don't have a lord. If we had a lord, we wouldn't go hungry. In winter, we'd have winter clothes to wear, and we wouldn't be bullied by people from other counties," Er Wanggu said. With a straight face, a little discouraged.

For most ordinary people in the empire's feudal cities, the lord is their heaven, their shelter from the wind, and the lords of other counties come to the territory once a year.

The lord of Fontaine County has not appeared for three years, and some new children in the county have never even seen the lord of Fontaine County.

The old man coughed dryly, wanting to explain.

Suddenly, there was a whimpering sound from the other side of the mountain. The sound was like a galloping horse, or like a tiger roaring deep in the mountain. Beside this empty snow field and ice lake, I kept thinking about it.

The old man suddenly changed his face.

On the other side of the mountain, patches of snow and mist suddenly rose, rumbling like an avalanche-like sound, and dozens of neat animal shadows rushed down the ridge like the wind, accompanied by the sound of young men and women playing.

One, two, several tall leopards, shining like snow, emerged from the other side of the mountain. This group of snow leopards has small heads, snow-colored fur, agility and sharp minions. Their speed was very fast, and they had already swooped down from the ridge at the moment when the grandparents were astonished.

As if smelling people, the irises of the group of leopards were red, and they let out a panting sound.

"It's the Snow Leopard from Bailu County, Erwang, let's go," the old man's voice was frightened, and he pushed the children.

Soon, the old man gave up the idea of ​​running away. Based on his decades of experience living in Fontaine County, the foot strength of ordinary people is not as good as that of the third-level snow spirit leopard.

"Climb up, don't come down if you didn't hear grandpa's call," the old man pushed the child, and with trembling hands, lifted the child's buttocks and sent him to the arrow bamboo.

The children in this area lived in the environment of the arrow bamboo forest since they were young, and all of them have learned the ability to climb trees like squirrels.

Erwang heard Grandpa's almost anxious cry, he was very obedient, his two stick-like hands hugged the arrow bamboo that was extremely smooth for ordinary people, and his two feet entangled the arrow bamboo that was not much thicker than his arm , send it up, and climb up the arrow bamboo several feet high.

Under the bamboo, you can hear the creaking sound of grandpa stepping on the snow and running towards the lake.

"Grandpa," Erwang called out in a low voice.

For a long time, no one responded to him.

The bamboo shook, and Erwang looked down, frightened to the point of splitting his guts. Several snow leopards several times bigger than cats surrounded the arrow bamboo forest, trying to climb up.

After climbing several times, the snow leopards found that they could not climb the arrow bamboo, so they had to walk away wagging their tails.

Erwang hid for a while, and then slid down from the bamboo.

He had just walked out of the arrow bamboo forest when a projectile hit his knee with a "whoosh".

Awang slipped and slid all the way to the lake.

"Hey, look what I found. There's still a kid here who hasn't died yet. Don't worry about the old one. Let the babes eat this living one." Mouth, smiling very ugly.

Not far from him, there are several young men and women dressed in high-quality sable fur, each of them is riding a four or five-tier mysterious beast mount, with the word "Bailu" tattooed on the saddle of the mount.

Erwang looked forward, his throat was immediately blocked, and Grandpa "watched" him not far away.

A large area of ​​blood spread on the ice, Grandpa's body had been split in two, and the basket containing the stick insects was scattered on the side, Grandpa's eyes were protruding, "looking" at him firmly.

"Wuwu-" Erwang cried, "You killed grandpa, and when our young lord returns, we won't let you go."

"Young lord, haha ​​-- brat, there is no lord in Fontaine County for a long time, and there is still a lack of lord," the domineering young man raised the animal whip in his hand, as if he was about to whip it at Erwang.

"!" The domineering boy only felt a howling wind behind him, and when he realized it, a sharpened bamboo had already been inserted into his shoulder, and he was suddenly thrown off his horse. The next moment, he was punched The heavy fist hit the cochlea.

Boom, a big hole was smashed into the surface of the ice lake, and the domineering boy was submerged in the water including his armor. The biting cold water flooded his nostrils and mouth, making him shiver with cold.

Just when he thought he was going to drown in the water, he was pulled out of the water.

"Ahem, who are you, dare to hit me?" The domineering boy spat out ice water, and what caught his eyes was a masked face.

"My name is the lord," said the boy wearing a half mask, with a corner of his mouth raised, and said evilly.