Boiling Beast Bloodline
Chapter 1057 - 271: Mulan Faces a Formidable Enemy

’Mojie’ in the Mulanese language means ’warrior’, and the ’Golden Blade Mojie’ is a warrior bestowed a precious sword personally by the Sultan of the Mulan Empire. Throughout the entire Mulan Empire, there are no more than a hundred warriors with this title."

The Mulan Empire was the strongest among the thirty-six countries of the desert, so vast that not even migratory birds crossing in the winter could fly over it. The air was filled with the fragrance of figs and dates, and every year, three small desert nations would present their most beautiful women and finest wine to His Majesty, the Sultan of the Mulan Empire ----------------- The camels of the Mulan Empire were the fastest of all, and the Mulan Mojies were the most ferocious and battle-savvy of all desert warriors. Should any small desert nation refuse to pay tribute, they would suffer as Maerhan is now, groaning under the iron hooves of the Mulan cavalry."

As a high-ranking warrior with the title of ’Golden Blade Mojie’ of the Mulan Empire, Ali Dai Yi always undertook the most arduous missions. For example, on his last expedition with Commander Rommel to the Dile country, Dai Yi was the first to scale the walls and cut down the enemy’s flag, laying before his blood-streaked golden blade were the corpses of eight of Dile’s finest Mojie swordsmen; this time, leading three thousand warriors to defend the Suwit Oasis was no different from past challenges for the battle-hardened Dai Yi."

Ali Dai Yi wasn’t a true Mulanese — the eyes of a true Mulanese are thick with blood vessels, like an unwiped, blood-stained Uzi Curved Knife. He was of Moya descent. The Moya Empire once was a vast state within the Taklamago Desert, the birthplace of glassmaking techniques. However, three hundred years ago, the Moya Empire was annexed by the Mulan Empire, so now all Moyans have become Mulanese."

Whether in the past, present, or future, the Taklamago Desert would always be a land of constant absorption, wars, killings, and divisions ------------- an eternal theme."

To the inhabitants of the desert, the vast land to the west was somewhat known; they were aware that it was called the Aegean, that Elves, Beamons, and Dwarves lived there, and that it was home to powerful human kingdoms. All this knowledge was thanks to the efforts of the traders."

Many, many years ago, Goblin traders from the Aegean Continent told all desert dwellers about the sky beyond; many years later, desert traders began to scatter their footprints across the world, bringing back news from abroad to their homeland ---------- Traveling the long ancient sandy paths northward across numerous mountains and rivers, they could reach the Silk Continent far east, adorned with exquisite silk, brocade, and porcelain; heading south from the desert would lead to the Aegean Continent, the homeland of the Goblin traders."

Unlike the detached view of the world held by desert dwellers, outsiders may never truly understand what life in the desert is like. People outside tend to assume that the desert is nothing but fiery, dancing sands and that the intelligent beings living there must be poor and backward. Little do they know of the vast wetlands and rivers in the desert, where the land is so fertile it could ooze honey. They’re also unaware of the powerful kingdoms established there—this ignorance persists because desert traders, never reveal to outsiders what their homeland is like. It’s a natural inclination for self-preservation and discretion among desert residents, different from the Aegean traders’ uncontrollable desire to show off and the Silk traders’ presumptive and chauvinistic belief in their own supremacy.

To outsiders, the desert traders’ seemingly naive appearance belies their dual identity as robbers. Desert men are taught horseback riding and swordsmanship from the moment they learn to speak, thus every desert man is a brave Mojie warrior. These traders select the most opportune moments to draw their Uzi curved knives, capturing those covetous treasures. Such acts are common in the fractious and annexation-prone world of the desert—it’s a place for the strong, where you earn everyone’s respect only if your blade is quick enough.

The Bimon Kingdom, located on the Aegean Continent closest to the Mulan Empire, is accessible from the Mulan’s western province "Kalimantan City" by traveling over three thousand miles westward through the desert. Only the Mulanese themselves know that for four hundred years, their traders have been abducting beautiful women from within Bimon Kingdom’s borders to sell at the "Kalimantan City" slave markets. Each Bimon beauty signifies a tremendous wealth! The Caliph and noblemen of "Kalimantan City" are particularly fond of keeping Bimon beauties as concubines, especially Fawkes.

Last year, a Mulanese trading caravan even kidnapped a Bimon princess who was too careless, venturing out for a spring outing with only a few maids. This was a clear invitation for robbery in the desert realms! Despite losses of several men and goods, the caravan eventually succeeded in bringing the Bimon princess back to "Kalimantan City" and presented her to Caliph Abdullah.

After the princess’ abduction, the Bimon Kingdom launched an attack on the desert. The tight-lipped nature of desert traders proved massively effective as, without maps and guides, their army had no clear direction towards the Mulan Empire. After wandering aimlessly in the desert for several months and only managing to sweep away some small tribes allied to Mulan, they remained thousands of miles away from "Kalimantan City". With only a fraction of its border soldiers harassing them, the Bimon troops suffered greatly and had to retreat in defeat.

This was a huge disappointment to all soldiers in "Kalimantan City." Had not Emperor Hagan of the Mulan Empire deployed his forces on a far-flung campaign against the Maerhan Kingdom, withdrawing the most elite troops and wisest Commander Rommel from Kalimantan City, the brave Mulan Mojie warriors would have surely mounted their camels for a strike, not settling for defense, ensuring that these invaders wouldn’t have a single hair left upon escaping the Taklamago Desert.

Prudence is ingrained in desert residents, especially when facing a depletion of forces.

To prevent the wild barbarians from the west from entering the desert again, the Scout Cavalry, which had been patrolling the desert since last winter, confirmed their fears anew this spring—the situation was dire. The western barbarians had once again amassed a large army, their threatening approach evidenced by a multitude of troops resembling a migrating colony of ants, and they now even boasted a number of Air Knights. Only one-tenth of the Scout Cavalry managed to escape back.

At this time, "Kalimantan City" was left with only ten thousand soldiers, while the thirty thousand Flying Camel cavalrym and special forces under the command of Rommel were still engaged in siege warfare in the Maerhan Kingdom’s capital.

Caliph Abdullah was a bit panicked, and while writing to the Sultan of Mulan begging Emperor Hagan to recall this army to "Kalimantan City," he urgently dispatched the royal palace’s Imperial Guard’s first valorous warrior, Ali Dai, to "Suwit Oasis"——"Suwit" in the Mulanese language means "small area," and Suwit Oasis could only provide for small tribes to survive and for traders to rest their feet; the Mulan Empire disdained to occupy it because the place was too small, with little value to conquer.

The task given to "Golden Blade Mojie" Ali Dai by Caliph Abdullah was that he must lead three thousand valiant warriors to guard the small oasis on the western side of the desert and do his best to fend off the barbarians’ assault from the west, gaining time for General Rommel to return and prepare; perhaps considering the arduity of the task, the Caliph even entrusted Ali Dai with all of the royal palace’s "Tower of Light’s Wish" and the court’s Imperial Guard and conscripted another three thousand Slave Warriors from the city to march out together.

In the desert to the west of "Kalimantan City," there are a total of three oases, and the journey to the nearest small oasis is over a thousand li. Due to the excessive weight of the "Tower of Light’s Wish," "Golden Blade Mojie" Ali Dai led the army for eighteen days to reach this nearest Suwit Oasis. The situation was obviously not as grave as the Caliph had imagined, as the scout cavalry that Ali Dai sent out after safely arriving at the small oasis reported back, the vanguard corps of these barbarians were not moving quickly; their vanguard corps would take at least another twenty-some days to reach Suwit Oasis.

If they rushed to the next oasis, the journey would be far too long, so Ali Dai simply took this opportunity to build a semi-circular earthen wall in front of the small oasis. He had a good plan in mind, a move he had learnt back when serving under General Rommel, that as long as he could eliminate the two thousand men of this vanguard corps and hold out for a while, General Rommel would definitely come with the invincible "Flying Camel Army" and trample all of these invading barbarians into the ground.

Finally breaking free from his brief reverie, "Golden Blade Mojie" Ali Dai took a deep breath and waved to the Mojies at his side, the stout and burly desert men immediately erupted in cheers, tearing open their camel hide jackets to reveal their well-built muscles and forcibly dragged the pretty Elven female prisoner to one side.

The other male Elven prisoner stared at Dai Yi with a look of vengeful fury that was almost man-eating.

"Speak or not," Ali Dai, using the pure Common Language of the Continent, walked up to the male Elven prisoner and hunkered down to ask, "How much longer must you persist? Tell me your troop strength, tell me your marching plan! If you tell me, I will let him..."

"...I will let him spare that woman, but if you still refuse to speak..." the tone in Ali Dai’s voice carried not a trace of mercy; since Goblin traders had invented the simple and easy-to-learn Common Language of the Continent and spread it throughout the world with their travels, it had never sounded so cruel.

"Ptooey!" A spit full of blood splattered onto Ali Dai’s face. Elves could not be humiliated.

The female Elf’s screams abruptly ceased, and life suddenly vanished from her beautiful body, just like a drop of water in the desert.

"Yabushan! This woman is dead!"

Just as the Elves wouldn’t know that "Yabushan" was a term of respect for a General in the desert language, the desert men likewise had no idea that an Elf could die from a broken heart.

"Shalhkhub, did you switch your courage with a sheep’s today?" Ali Dai wiped the blood off his face with one hand, turned to one of the burly men, smiled, and with his right hand, "clang," pulled out a golden arc.

"Puchi," a dull sound as a stream of blood arced like a water arrow towards the sky.

"Yabushan! Your swordsmanship is getting sharper and sharper!" The desert men looked admiringly at the Golden Blade Mojie as he scraped the fresh blood off his boot.

**

Recommended "Number Ten Jersey" and "Agent of the Demon Spirits," both written by veteran authors!