Chapter 140: Send Them an Ultimatum Too
There were eight people on that elephant.
Kurozawa Ranzi himself was only a Sixth Grade warrior.
Among the Divine Elephant Nation men escorting him, the strongest was only at the Eighth Grade.
Under the pressure of Profound Rank experts, the elephant let out a trumpet and crashed to its knees.
Li Mu showed no mercy. He brought his cudgel down directly on the elephant’s head and killed it in a single blow.
The elephant was their means of teleportation. Li Mu did not know whether they could teleport away in the middle of a fight, so he killed their transport first.
The one who moved alongside Li Mu was Qu He.
Once the pressure of a Profound Rank Martial Artist spread outward, he did not even need to attack.
The entire area buzzed violently!
“Don’t kill them yet!”
Li Mu gave a warning.
Qu He understood at once. He simply drove his Profound Rank pressure to its limit.
Kurozawa Ranzi and the others all felt their minds quake violently. Their eyes lost focus, and it felt as though the droning vibration would shake their souls right out of their bodies.
One after another, they went limp and collapsed.
Since Li Mu had said not to kill them, Song Chuhe immediately called more men over from behind.
The gates opened, and a group of soldiers rushed out. In no time at all, they had Kurozawa Ranzi and the Divine Elephant Nation men bound up.
Li Mu had been worrying over where to find someone to test the side effects of the Corpse Dissolution Flower liquid on.
Now several had delivered themselves right to his doorstep.
And he still needed some information from them.
Watching the soldiers drag Kurozawa Ranzi and the others inside, Li Mu and the others also returned to the camp.
Duan Yuwen said to Li Mu with some concern, “Commander, make your decision carefully.”
As a veteran member of the bureau, he had spent many years in official circles, and there were far too many things he had to take into account.
Seizing Kurozawa Ranzi like this made their stance toward the Little Sakura Nation far too obvious.
He meant well. He was only reminding Li Mu out of concern, afraid the young man might act in hot blood.
“Don’t worry, Senior. I know what I’m doing.”
Li Mu reassured him, then led the others straight into the small room where Kurozawa Ranzi and the others were being held.
Inside, Kurozawa Ranzi and the others had already fully come back to their senses.
The pounding headache left them all listless.
Kurozawa Ranzi forced himself to lift his head despite the pain and glared at Li Mu in disbelief.
“You... did you not hear that I—”
Before he could finish, Li Mu grabbed him by the hair and hauled him straight to his feet.
“Ah... AHH!!”
Kurozawa Ranzi felt as though his scalp were about to be torn off.
He was, after all, a Sixth Grade warrior with an extremely tough physique. Crushing stone and splitting iron was nothing to him.
Yet in Li Mu’s grip, his True Qi felt strangely unable to resist.
And the rope binding his hands was made of some unknown material and was extremely hard to break.
“I ask the questions. You answer them.”
Li Mu enunciated each word.
“You have no idea what you’re do—” Kurozawa Ranzi gritted his teeth, but before he could finish—Smack!
Li Mu slapped him across the face, and Kurozawa Ranzi’s cheek instantly swelled red.
All Kurozawa Ranzi could see was a field of pure white, accompanied by shrill ringing and stabbing pain.
His eardrum and his back teeth had been hit hard at the same time.
“I don’t like listening to nonsense. Every sentence of nonsense earns you another slap.”
Li Mu’s expression was extremely serious.
Whether from fury or fear, Kurozawa Ranzi stared blankly at Li Mu, his whole body trembling.
He was a pampered special envoy stationed in the Divine Elephant Nation, a man respected by everyone there.
The historical education he had received since childhood had always taught him that Huaxia was no match for the Little Sakura Nation.
And that Huaxia feared them deeply.
So what exactly was wrong with the man standing in front of him now??
Could his own country’s education really have lied to him?
“How did you end up here with the Divine Elephant Nation? What is your identity—” Wait.
How did you end up coming here together with the Divine Elephant Nation? What is your identity?”
Li Mu asked, one hand on his hip.
After the question left his mouth, the air froze for two seconds.
Smack!
Li Mu struck him again, this time nearly knocking him into a concussion.
“Answer me!!”
“Uh... I... I am a special envoy from the embassy stationed in the Divine Elephant Nation. My name is Kurozawa Ranzi. I am thirty-seven years old. I come from Hirakawa City in the Little Sakura Nation...”
Smack!
“Get to the point! I asked why you came here with the Divine Elephant Nation, and who sent you!”
Li Mu slapped him again impatiently.
Kurozawa Ranzi burst into tears.
He had been scared into crying.
After only those three slaps, his entire right ear was already ringing sharply, and the right side of his head throbbed with pain.
It was obvious that Li Mu had really been hitting him as though he meant to kill him. Kurozawa Ranzi felt the terror of death closing in.
Snot, tears, and blood gathered at both sides of his nose, then mixed together as they ran down.
The moment his mind broke, he began stammering out answers to Li Mu’s questions.
Very quickly, he spilled everything.
He explained that the noble officer had brought him here to demand the return of the Vacuum Zone and the things they had lost.
But he also insisted that his embassy knew he had come.
Only after hearing him out did Li Mu glance back at the others behind him. Then he signaled to them with his eyes and took the lead in walking out of the room.
Zhang Zhiwei and Lu Chenfeng remained inside, keeping watch over Kurozawa Ranzi.
That was in case he had some method of returning to the city.
Those two were Li Mu’s brothers, but they were also his adjutants.
Once outside the room, Li Mu looked at Song Chuhe.
“What do you think?”
“He’s lying. If his embassy knew, wouldn’t it have been easier to handle this from the surface?”
“Based on the distance you estimated the last time you came back, they’re several thousand kilometers from here, and those elephants only have one-way teleportation.”
“To cross the Abyss and get here, they would need at least a day or two.”
“Looking at that cowardly little face of his, why would he take that kind of risk? He definitely came for personal gain.”
Li Mu nodded. His guess was the same as Song Chuhe’s.
“So even if we kill him, the Little Sakura Nation won’t know about it?” Qu He asked.
Song Chuhe thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“Probably not. More likely, Kurozawa Ranzi himself was set up. If I were one of the Divine Elephant Nation people,” “I wouldn’t care at all whether this trip succeeded or not.”
“If he succeeds, I get the Vacuum Zone back.”
“If he fails, I tell the Little Sakura Nation that Huaxia’s border troops killed your man.”
“Even if he makes it back the same way he came, I would still kill him and pin it on Huaxia’s border army.”
“That would make it easy to stir up conflict between the Little Sakura Nation and Huaxia.”
“After that, whether they sit back and watch the tigers fight, or join in and make trouble together, would depend on how the situation develops.”
Li Mu laughed.
Did the Little Sakura Nation and Huaxia really need anyone to stir up conflict between them? It seemed the Divine Elephant Nation did not understand the current state of affairs very well.
“No matter what they’re thinking, Kurozawa Ranzi is definitely going to die.”
“But before he dies, I want to try this on him.”
As he spoke, Li Mu took out a small red bottle. Inside it was the Corpse Dissolution Flower liquid.
Song Chuhe’s mouth twitched.
“You living King of Hell, don’t play him to death right away. You should first think about how you’re going to explain this to the military district.”
“If the Little Sakura Nation really does join hands with the Divine Elephant Nation over this, that will be troublesome.”
Li Mu walked a few steps outside and called over a courier.
“Go back to the military district and pass a message to Liang Huajun and Wang Longcheng.”
“Tell them that the Divine Elephant Nation first used force to seize the Vacuum Zone and slaughtered soldiers of Huaxia’s Abyss-Suppressing Army!”
“And now they’ve gone a step further and joined forces with the Little Sakura Nation to attack our camp. Have them send an ultimatum to both the Divine Elephant Nation and the Little Sakura Nation.”
“Tell both countries to apologize to our Huaxia border army over this matter.”
“Otherwise, I will...”
At that point, Li Mu paused to calculate how long it would take him to get his Mid-Grade Heavenly Immortal Art and Somersault Cloud.
Especially the Somersault Cloud.
If he was going to deal with the Divine Elephant Nation, then the Somersault Cloud was absolutely essential.
There was also the time needed for the pills to mature, and the time needed for the soldiers to grow stronger using them.
In the end, Li Mu recalled that the Divine Elephant Nation’s notice to Huaxia’s border army had given them one month.
So Li Mu continued, “Otherwise, twenty-five days from now, I will launch military sanctions against the Divine Elephant Nation’s border.”