Chapter Forty-One New Bodyguard

  "How did you manage to return unscathed from Zeinab's hands?"

  Mercedes VII did not return to his own throne until he had helped Li Xie onto the chair.

  Regarding Mercedes' overly "enthusiastic" behavior, Li Xie didn't react as he thought. He had already anticipated that Mercedes would ask this question, so he told a story he had prepared early on: "You don't know, Zeinold is fond of gold coins..." Feeling a slap on the back of his head, Li Xie hastily added: "And fine wine! As it happens, my spatial ring has plenty of both gold coins and fine wine. I gave them all to him in one go, just to get him to let me off. Alas, my poor gold coins and fine wine..."

  Mercedes Seventh and Zuo Xiang stared at each other again, both of them could see two words in each other's eyes: Bullshit!

  It's clear that you revealed your identity as a Divine Envoy, using the power of the Divine Envoy to intimidate Zaynrad into not daring to be presumptuous, and obediently letting you return! And what about the gold coins and fine wine? If these two things can buy off Zaynrad, then this 9th-level giant dragon would have died countless times already!

  Mercedes VII didn't say a word, but instead burst out laughing: "Evil Duke is indeed clever and resourceful, you've figured it out! As long as no one was hurt, the gold coins and fine wine are on me! El, send 5 million gold coins and 1,000 bottles of the finest 'Fire Cloud' to Evil Duke later!"

  "Heh heh......" Li Xie and the meow on his head both raised the right corner of their mouths: "Then thank you, Your Majesty!"

  "As long as you are safe and sound, everything is easy to say." Mercedes VII said: "You escaped from the giant dragon's hands, it must have been hard work, please rest well. The Five Nations' delegation will arrive in the Imperial Capital soon, and we still need your hard work."

  "I, Li Xie, am willing to die for Your Majesty!" Li Xie knelt down again: "Oh, right, I heard Zayn Nadir whispering that he will attack the western part of the Imperial Capital tomorrow, please prepare well, Your Majesty."

  "Hmm, I will dispatch more Imperial Guards"

  "That's all, I'll take my leave."

  Duke Avril beside him also said: "Mona has also bid farewell."

  Mercedes VII nodded and gave El a signal, El hurriedly followed up to send the two out of the palace. The study was left with only Mercedes VII and Zuo Xiang.

  "It's indeed a Divine Envoy! No wonder we couldn't sense the magical aura around him, it turns out we weren't strong enough to perceive it! And Li Xie is still young and vigorous, our scouts reported that he didn't even touch any of his female servants! Unless he's incompetent, he must be a Divine Envoy! Haha... Our dynasty has a Divine Envoy!" Mercedes VII was somewhat excited.

  The left minister wore a relieved smile: "Your Majesty's blessings are deep, and there will naturally be noble people to assist! However, this godly descending master seems not to want to reveal his identity. Obviously, Princess Aileen also knows his identity but is keeping it confidential. Hehe, it looks like we can't treat him as a godly descending master either, everything remains the same. Also, the spies sent to investigate the evil duke have probably already detected something and withdrawn by now, lest they arouse his suspicion."

  "Yes, you're right. It seems our Shendaoist is just playing games with humans. But do you have a way to make him stay in Doudou for a long time and even help our dynasty?"

  The left minister thought for a moment and said, "The divine descent has already transcended the mortal realm, we can't control him. However, we can make use of Lady Evie! He helped Lady Evie advance to become a holy priestess, his intentions are worth considering! A priestess cannot break the color taboo, otherwise she won't be able to summon the divine light. But ancient texts have records that divine descent practitioners can form couples and it doesn't affect their loyalty to the gods! Your Majesty thinks, is this evil duke aiming for Lady Evie?

  "Hahaha, isn't this obvious? Well, if Duke Avril also becomes a divine master, then Doudou's dream of becoming an imperial overlord will be impossible! And with Duke Avril guarding our dynasty, I'm not afraid that our evil duke won't make contributions to the royal family! Hahaha, my dear, you don't have to go back tonight, let's get drunk together!"

  In the following days, the giant dragon Zaynarde continued to harass various parts of the Imperial City, but was repeatedly chased away by the Imperial Guard who were waiting in ambush. In desperation, the giant dragon Zaynarde left a pile of harsh words and finally left the Imperial City, no longer seeking the help of Duke Aiwier to advance!

  The dragon clan didn't send any news about this either. So, the matter of the evil duke being kidnapped by a giant dragon was temporarily settled.

  Then, before long, someone arrived at the Duke of Evil's mansion.

  He wore black clothes, with a shaved head, his face was stern and cold, his eyes were piercing, with an air of "do not approach" around him. The exposed skin on his hands, neck, and bald head all had black thorn tattoos, giving off a fierce aura that made people even more afraid to get close!

  This person is Zean the Nadir in human form!

  In the grand hall of the Earl's mansion, Li Xie sat on the sofa with an air of nonchalance, while Zayn Nadir stood silently after just entering. Lili peeked from afar with a timid expression. Kano stood by, vigilantly eyeing the strange person before him.

  The little kitten meowed temporarily left its territory, jumped down from Li Xie's head, and circled around Zayn Malik, curiously sizing him up, occasionally meowing twice.

  "Let me introduce you, this is the bodyguard I've hired, Zain! This is Kano, my guardian leader. Zain, from now on you'll be the deputy guardian leader, under Kano's command."

  Li Xie assumed a masterly demeanor in distributing the goods, and Kano also gave Li Xie face by immediately dispelling his vigilance and greeting him with a smile.

  However, this giant dragon clearly didn't put the two of them in its eyes, and didn't even give them a glance!

  His cold eyes were staring at the little kitten, as if this palm-sized sky blue kitten was worth his attention!

  Zain didn't dare to offend Li Xie, who had already anticipated this and was about to say something when Kano on the side suddenly burst out: "Hey! Newcomer, do you know the rules? When an adult is talking to you, what kind of attitude should you have!"

  This hot-headed big man, with his fists clenched, was being disrespected by him, which he didn't care about, but being disrespected by Li Xie was absolutely unacceptable! He seemed to want to teach this newcomer a lesson, even if Kano couldn't see that this strange newcomer was several levels higher.

  "It's okay, Kano." Li Xie didn't want Kano to resort to violence, mainly because he was afraid that Kano would lose face and make Zein even more arrogant!

  Li Xie stood up, walked over and hugged Miao Miao into his arms, then coldly stared at Zeennard: "If you want to blend in here, you must first follow the rules here. Everything here is decided by me. If you're willing to listen, stay; if not, leave. It's simple, but if I have to repeat it again and again... Hmph! Our cooperation can end right now!"

  Zayn Nad stared straight at Li Xie, his eyes cold and piercing, which made the meows in Li Xie's arms very dissatisfied, staring back at Zayn Nad with wide eyes.

  Li Xie shook his head and said: "If you agree, then say 'yes, sir'."

  Zaynarde was just not used to interacting with people, he was willing to come to the Duke's mansion, it already showed that he was willing to listen to Li Xie's words, but he was used to being cold and aloof, other etiquette, he didn't know at all, for example, he agreed with Li Xie's words, but didn't understand that he should respond with a "yes", thinking that just staring coldly was enough.

  "Yes, sir." It took Zayn a good while to say that one sentence, his tone still icy. Li Xie also knew it was impossible for him to change his attitude immediately, but since he was willing to listen, everything else would be easy to talk about.

  However, the little kitten in Li Xie's arms seemed not to be so easily reconciled! Twisting its body and standing on Li Xie's arm, it meowed loudly at Zayn, baring its teeth and showing intense hostility.

  Zayn snorted coldly: "Calamity beast, hum! My fate is already miserable enough, what are you staring at?!"

  "Meow! Meow meow!"

  "What? You can see through my true form? Are you looking for a fight?"

  "Meow! Meow meow meow!"

  "Alright, let's have a fight! Go outside!"

  "Wait, wait, wait!" Li Xie opened his eyes and said: "Can you understand what my cat is saying?"

  Li Xie, this ill-fated beast, is actually a 9th-tier demonic pet, and must possess extremely high intelligence. And she has indeed shown her intelligence! However, most intelligent magical beasts can speak human language, but the problem is that this 9th-tier demonic pet will only meow! Li Xie thought it was because of its young age, but Kano said that intelligent magical beasts usually inherit some knowledge from their previous generation, and are born with a lot of things they already know. If they understand human speech, they would have learned it at birth!

  That is to say, Meow doesn't understand human language, which makes Li Xie, who likes small animals, feel a bit depressed.

  "She spoke in Orcish, and of course I understood." Zayn nodded, adding: "Yes, sir."

  Li Xie didn't care about Ze En's nonsense etiquette, seeing a dragon and a cat seemed to have some gunpowder flavor, so he asked: "What did she just say?"

  "She said this is her territory and she's in charge, telling me to listen to her."

  Damn it! You damned cat! You bully me because I don't understand and deceive newbies!

  Li Xie raised his hand to give the kitten a knock on the head, but ultimately couldn't bear to do it. He asked instead: "What does 'going out for a fight' mean?"

  "She said she's tougher than me and wants to fight with me. If she loses, she'll listen to me from now on and I'll be the boss here; if she wins, she'll still be the boss and I have to unconditionally listen to her! Hmph... I never refuse a challenge! Let's just fight it out with her! If she can really win against me, I'll listen to her from then on and won't go back on my word!"

  You think Miao Miao absolutely can't beat you, right? In terms of age, you're two thousand and she's two months; physically, oh my, one of your toes is bigger than my Miao Miao!

  Li Xie was just about to stop this unfair duel when the little cat in his arms bared its claws and cried out again: "Meow! Meow! Meow!"

  "What else can I say?"

  Zayn snorted in disdain: "She asked me whether it was a battle of wits or a battle of strength! A battle of strength is about fighting prowess, a battle of wits is about drinking capacity!"

  Wow!

  Li Xie's eyes lit up, our family's cat has a good omen!

  Li Xie stood up and said, "Fighting is not an option. It's not that I look down on your abilities, but if you two were to fight, my small dukedom might not be able to withstand it! Let's have a battle of wits instead! You set the stakes yourselves, and I'll act as witness."

  "Alright!" Zayn nodded decisively: "I lost, I'll listen to her from now on! If I win, she'll listen to me from now on! I swear by my mother's name that I don't believe in gods!"

  "Meow!" The little cat took out a new bottle of Huo Shao Yun, thought for a moment, then put it away and turned to call out to Li Xie.

  No need for Zayn to interpret, Li Xie can also understand the meaning of Miao Miao, must be reluctant to take fine wine to drink together!

  "Kano, go buy some Ignis Exigens right away! The strongest liquor in the kingdom!"

  Li Xie's mouth corners slightly rose, unintentionally revealing a small white canine tooth. The cat in his arms had the same expression, probably indicating that someone was about to be unlucky!