Chapter Seventy-Nine: I'll Bite You

*Smack!* In the headquarters of the Earth Dragon Mercenary Corps, Redno struck his own younger brother, sending him flying.

“Walker, are you trying to get the entire mercenary corps killed?”

Redno was nearly driven mad with anger. His useless little brother had done nothing but cause trouble since birth. Just a few days ago, Walker had closed a lucrative deal, and Redno was so pleased that he even arranged a celebration banquet at the Zieg Grand Hotel. Yet, unbelievably, this fool managed to stir up a huge mess just by drinking.

“Captain, please don’t be so quick to judge,” said Daniels, the deputy captain of the Earth Dragon Mercenary Corps and a seventh-level earth mage. “Perhaps the situation isn’t as bad as it seems.”

“Big brother, what trouble have I stirred up now?” Walker got up from the ground, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, flustered. “I only taught a dog a lesson, that’s all!”

*Cough, cough.* Walker hacked violently, the blow from Redno, an eighth-level Dragon Knight, having done considerable damage. “I checked it out. The person with that dog was just an ordinary man.”

Walker had been a mercenary for several years and had seen much of the world. Before acting, he had observed the servant leading the white dog. Yet he never expected that the finely dressed, unusually poised man he took to be the dog's owner was merely a servant of Chu Tian.

*Smack!* Redno struck Walker’s face again. “How could I have a brother like you? You’re dumber than a hog beast!”

“Why are you hitting me again?!” Walker shouted, clutching the mark on his face. “I knocked out the dog’s owner! You didn’t see me make a move. Besides, he’s not some big shot!”

“You...” Redno was at a loss for words, furious beyond measure.

“Walker, you’re being foolish,” Daniels explained on Redno’s behalf. “What kind of place is the Zieg Grand Hotel? Only the empire’s most important figures can enter. Yet a dog bought all the finest wine in the hotel, and those nobles silently accepted it. Tell me, what kind of person do you think that dog’s owner is?”

“You’re saying the one I knocked out wasn’t the dog’s owner?” Walker finally began to realize.

“Of course not!” Redno was about to strike again but was stopped by Daniels. “Look at this collar!” Daniels said, as Redno threw the white dog’s collar in front of Walker. “It’s filled entirely with wine. Do you know what that means?”

“This…” Walker was dumbfounded and cautiously guessed, “Does that mean the dog’s owner specially bought a collar to carry wine?”

“Most likely.” Daniels nodded in agreement.

Seeing Daniels nod, a chill ran from Walker’s feet to his mind. An expensive spatial collar and hundreds of jars of premium Foster wine—combined, these must be worth at least a hundred thousand gold coins. The Earth Dragon Mercenary Corps, with over thirty thousand members, could barely earn that much in a month of hard toil. Yet now someone was telling Walker all this was prepared for a dog.

“Big brother, what do we do now?” Walker trembled. If an ordinary pet dog received such treatment, what kind of person could its owner be?

“I don’t know either.” Redno smiled bitterly, shaking his head. His brother had truly caused a monumental headache this time, but he couldn’t just ignore it. “Daniels, have you found out who the dog’s owner is?”

“Sigh…” Daniels sighed deeply and said solemnly, “Captain, I’m afraid we’re in serious trouble. I simply can’t find out…”

“Can’t find out? That’s better, isn’t it?” Walker laughed. “Maybe that guy isn’t a big shot at all.”

Redno had no heart left to hit him again. How could his brother be so foolish?

“Walker, not being able to find out is the scariest thing,” Daniels said, unable to tolerate Walker either. “I’ve met with the Zieg Grand Hotel’s owner and the nobles who were drinking there. They all told me one thing.”

“What?” Redno asked urgently.

“If the Earth Dragon Mercenary Corps wants to die, then don’t drag us into it…”

Chu Tian’s fierce loyalty was already somewhat notorious in the empire. Everyone knew the place Xiao Bai held in Chu Tian’s heart. Even nobles who hadn’t met him had heard of it. At royal banquets hosted by Ludie III, Chu Tian would carry Xiao Bai in his arms. Even if Xiao Bai bit Chu Tian’s ear, embarrassing him in front of all the nobles and ministers, Chu Tian would only smile and accept it. Not even Serina enjoyed such treatment. Offending Xiao Bai was the same as offending Chu Tian; this was something all nobles had to remember.

Now that Xiao Bai was injured, those who knew the truth naturally didn’t dare leak the news to Daniels—partly to watch the chaos unfold, partly because they didn’t know how Chu Tian would react. Who knew if Prince Vladino would vent his anger on them?

“What now…” Walker almost collapsed to the ground.

*Rumble rumble!* Before he finished speaking, the ground started to tremble. “Captain, the headquarters is surrounded!” a guard member came rolling in, panting.

There was no need to alert anyone else; Redno already knew. As an eighth-level half-dragon knight, he was all too familiar with this kind of tremor. Only the Caesar Iron Cavalry from the Invincible Continent could bring such might.

“Notify all troops at headquarters to prepare for battle!” Redno’s decades of mercenary experience had taught him to remain calm in crises. Even if the invaders could summon the imperial capital’s guards, he would never simply wait to die.

Though prepared mentally, Redno’s heart turned cold when he saw the scene before him. His headquarters had just over two thousand mercenaries, clustered together without discipline. Opposite them stood the Caesar Empire’s standard battle formations.

Black horse cavalry clad in armor, spears in hand, short daggers tucked at their waists—three full regiments, three thousand strong, arranged in tight wedge formations for charge. At the apex of the wedge, a circle of heavily shielded infantry fiercely guarded over a hundred mages. Between the shields, the gleam of crossbows flashed coldly.

This alone did not frighten battle-hardened Redno, but the figure atop the wedge made his blood run cold.

Mounted on an eighth-level mammoth elephant, a hybrid dragon circling overhead, wielding a blazing long saber, flanked by crouching spider maidens—Redno had only heard of one man with such an imposing aura.

And that was a man he could never afford to offend.

“Praise the Goddess of Life!” Chu Tian held T’kura’s Fury upside down in one hand, while raising Xiao Bai in the other. “Captain Redno, care to explain?”

*Sigh.* Redno knew he couldn’t escape today. He grabbed Walker, bound him, and slowly approached Chu Tian.

*Ding!* A long emerald arrow pinned itself between Redno’s feet, stopping him in his tracks. He looked up at the elven beauty beside Chu Tian, a cold sweat trickling down his cheek. For an eighth-level half-dragon knight to not hear the whistle of an arrow, it could only be the Night Huntress. Fortunately, Redno hadn’t resisted earlier; while he might have narrowly dodged the elven hunter's cold arrow, others wouldn’t have.

“Prince Vladino, I apologize.” Redno half-kneeled, a knight’s salute, before throwing the cocoon-wrapped Walker to the ground. “Today, all this trouble was caused by my useless brother. I now hand him over to Your Highness. Please do not trouble the others…”

How sensible. Chu Tian nodded and lowered his gaze, asking Xiao Bai, “What shall we do?”

Today Chu Tian was here to avenge Xiao Bai. To what extent, naturally, he would ask the dog itself.

*Woo woo!* Xiao Bai blinked big eyes, pointed to himself, indicating, “Leave it to me.” Then he jumped from Chu Tian’s arms onto the Hummer’s back, patted its big ears, and the obedient beast lowered its long trunk, allowing Xiao Bai to slide down.

*Woo!* Xiao Bai trotted up to the trembling Walker, looked at his terrified face, then grinned slyly. “Awoo!!”

“Ah!!” Walker screamed in pain as Xiao Bai’s bite nearly tore off half his ear. But then, surprisingly, Xiao Bai, satisfied, ran back along the same path into Chu Tian’s arms. He affectionately licked Chu Tian’s fingers, yawned, and nestled against his chest to sleep.

Others might not understand Xiao Bai’s meaning, but Chu Tian did. This was revenge enough. Xiao Bai’s injury wasn’t serious—it was just kicked once. A bite in return was fair enough.

Yet Chu Tian was dumbfounded. Was this all? Had he mustered an entire army to come here just to get bitten?

“Ahem. Captain Redno,” Chu Tian, the trickster, had never encountered such a situation. In his plans, there should have been a fierce battle, followed by extortion under the victorious momentum. He wasn’t used to such straightforward excuses for blackmail. But now? Redno looked like a lamb to slaughter, and Xiao Bai seemed to have let it go.

Hmph, Xiao Bai let it go, but I will not! “Page, order the entire army to set camp here!”

Once the thousands of troops were settled, Chu Tian led Redno into the command tent. “Heh hehI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.