"Kou lang~ Kou lang~"
"Xiuning, Xiujun, I'm fine."
Seeing that the battle was over, Li Xiuning and Shang Xiujun walked up.
They had both witnessed Kou Zhong's combat prowess and weren't worried about him at all.
They even wished to see Kou Zhong display his might and conquer Song Yuzhi as well.
Alas, Kou Zhong didn't seem to have any intentions toward Song Yuzhi, which disappointed them both.
If Kou Zhong were to conquer both of Song Que's beloved daughters, the Song clan would surely support him,
which would be immensely beneficial to Kou Zhong's grand ambitions.
"Little sister Yuzhi, it's been over two years, and you've certainly grown."
Li Xiuning walked up to Song Yuzhi, affectionately took her hand, and said softly, like an elder sister from next door.
Indeed, when Song Yuzhi had roamed the martial world before, she had always called Li Xiuning "sister."
"Heh~ Sister Xiuning is the one who has truly grown."
Song Yuzhi glanced at Li Xiuning's proud bosom and said with a hint of sourness in her tone.
As someone who was already 30 years old, fully developed, but still flat-chested, she truly couldn't stand seeing others' ample assets.
In the Cold Palace, except for Jia Xichun, who was only 11, no other girl was younger than her.
And Li Xiuning, apart from Zhu Yuyan who had already ascended to immortality, was the largest among the women she had met.
Before marriage, she could only be envious,
but now, Song Yuzhi was consumed by envy, jealousy, and hatred.
"Heh, you flatter me, little sister."
Following Song Yuzhi's gaze, Li Xiuning puffed out her chest triumphantly.
She spoke humbly, but the pride on her face was undeniable.
"Heh~ Heh~"
Song Yuzhi glared at the fortunate Kou Zhong, then looked at the pair of mounds, even swallowing hard.
"Sister, Sister Xiuning, and this sister here, I have some good things. Let's go for a bath, a hot spring bath."
Song Yuzhi paid no mind to Kou Zhong's thoughts. She pulled Song Yuhua and Li Xiuning along, and also gestured to Shang Xiujun, before returning to Song Family Fort.
As for whether Shang Xiujun would follow, she didn't care.
And Kou Zhong?
The servants of the Song family would naturally lead him to meet the men of the Song family.
As for Kou Zhong's intentions, Song Yuzhi cared even less.
If it was something she should know, Song Que would tell her;
if it was something she shouldn't know, there was no need to ask.
After all, she was a married daughter, like spilled water.
She now represented the imperial family, the Sixth Prince Yang Hong, who was in the Cold Palace.
She could listen to all decisions made by the Song family, but she couldn't interfere or change them.
If Song Que and the others asked for her opinion, she could voice her thoughts.
Even if it truly involved imperial matters, at most she would only pass on intelligence or offer suggestions, never interfere.
She was very clear about her position.
However, none of that mattered now. What concerned her most was a way to enlarge herself.
The methods used by Zhou Fengzhi and Li Xuefeng in the imperial palace had been useless,
perhaps the methods of these three sisters might work.
With hopeful wishes, Song Yuzhi took out a ten-jin jar of "Yan Huo" and invited the three sisters for a hot spring bath.
After experiencing the nourishing effect of "Yan Huo" on the physical body, Song Yuhua and the others truly poured out all their knowledge in response to Song Yuzhi's inquiry.
As a token of gratitude, when the three left seven days later, Song Yuzhi generously gifted each of them 50 jin of "Yan Huo."
During this period, she had carefully kept the existence of other fine wines a secret,
not revealing a single word even to her own sisters.
The other disciples of the Song family had been instructed by their respective elders.
The matter of the special fine wines was something Song Yuhua and the other two had no opportunity to learn about.
Kou Zhong, at the Celestial Being realm, had discovered some things, but he had greater ambitions and did not dare to investigate further.
As for his ambitions and his initial plans, Song Yuzhi was unaware.
Although Song Que had revealed some ideas to her, Song Yuzhi noticed a troubled expression on Song Que's face.
Moreover, Kou Zhong had actually requested the Song family to marry a legitimate daughter to Xu Ziling.
Knowing this, Song Yuzhi chose not to listen any further.
The Song clan must have reached some agreement with Kou Zhong's Young Marshal Army, and it was not appropriate for her to know.
In fact, even if she knew, Song Yuzhi would only scoff.
Let alone Yang Hong's cultivation, the Great Sui imperial family alone, with Yang Hong's vegetables and fine wines, and the soon-to-be-unveiled medicinal wines,
as long as the Great Sui was given some time, mass-producing Grandmasters would not be a problem.
If Yang Hong were to release some more good things, mass-producing Celestial Being realm martial artists would also not be an issue.
What would Kou Zhong use to rebel? What would he use to unify the Five Dynasties?
With him and Xu Ziling, two Celestial Being realm experts?
Heh~
Once Kou Zhong moved against the Great Sui, he would likely perish without a burial ground.
After seeing off Song Yuhua and the others, Song Yuzhi resumed her own tasks.
First, she supervised the family's farmers to plant the crops,
and then found a hidden place to plant the medicinal herbs specially cultivated by Yang Hong.
The effects of these medicinal herbs were even better than wild herbs outside, serving as a capital for the Song family to cultivate young disciples.
If utilized well, the Song family also had the opportunity to mass-produce Grandmasters.
In addition, Song Yuzhi also began to go out and explore the special places found by the Song family's housekeepers, places where she suspected spiritual energy existed.
However, unfortunately, the Five Dynasties were truly devoid of true qi. Even in deep mountains and old forests, there was no spiritual energy. At most, the air was fresher and the environment better.
Although she did not find spiritual energy, Song Yuzhi still completed two other small tasks.
These were the tasks of seed collection.
The Lingnan region was relatively warm and had a better climate, with a greater diversity of plants.
Although Yang Hong had instructed her not to collect poisons for the time being, the collection of herbs with mild anesthetic effects was a priority.
I cannot poison people to death, but incapacitating or knocking them out is no problem.
Just like the anesthetic used by Yang Hong when facing assassination two years ago,
as long as it wasn't too outrageous or attention-grabbing, a little anesthetic was very useful.
Song Yuzhi collected over 200 types of anesthetic plants alone,
and another 300-plus types of various other strange and exotic plants.
By the time Song Yuzhi embarked on her return journey, the 36 horse-drawn carriages were once again loaded to capacity.
In addition to plant seeds, Song Yuzhi also collected some martial arts manuals.
A small portion of these manuals came from those foolish bandits, but more were "borrowed" by Song Yuzhi and her two maids, Xiao Yu and Xiao Shi, from the martial arts sects in the Lingnan region, acting as elegant thieves.
For a Qi cultivator, accompanied by two Innate Grandmaster masters, "borrowing" some manuals from sects that only had at most Innate Grandmasters was incredibly easy.
Song Yuzhi would read these manuals and then return them to the sects.
As for the consternation of those sects, it was none of her concern.
Well~ Borrowing books is not stealing.
"Yuzhi, are you not using the imperial banner?"
On the return convoy, Song Que asked Song Yuzhi curiously.
"No, absolutely not. If we use the imperial banner, those petty thieves won't dare to rob us, and the guards will have fewer opportunities for training."
Song Yuzhi said matter-of-factly.
When she arrived, she realized that the imperial banner had a considerable deterrent effect on ordinary bandits, so she immediately removed it.
"Heh~ Your idea~ is truly excellent."
Song Que's mouth twitched violently.
All of Song Yuzhi's Imperial Guard had advanced to the Innate Grandmaster realm. They had not been idle these past six months.
Even the drivers had reached the third-rate martial artist level.
As for the two maids, Xiao Yu and Xiao Shi, they had already advanced to Grandmaster.
With such combat power, they were going to fight petty thieves?
Was this entrapment?
Or was it to eradicate the bandits completely?
Along the way, seeing the bandits who came out to court death, Song Que could only pity them.