Chapter 174: Protect her

"Our daughter seemed to be infatuated with you, and hence we would like to clarify something on her behalf. If you truly decide to accompany her, you will be facing deadly enemies throughout your life. Would you still like to take her as your wife?"

Long Tao was taken back by the words of the lovely woman." May I know who madam is? I remember Su Menqi stating that she was an orphan. The very fact that the general is claiming himself to be her father is already incoherent with my knowledge, and suddenly you came forward."

"I am her mother." The woman's countenance didn't change on hearing Long Tao's words. The aura she gave out was unwavering. Although Long Tao had his doubts, somewhere in his mind, he felt the situation to be true.

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"Any new inputs by you?" Long Tao asked the Keeper. " I suppose you already know the answer I am about to give you." The Keeper replied.

"These two have masked their cultivation as well."

"They have, with a very power treasure set. Even I couldn't gauge their cultivation properly as of now. The woman should be in the Qi King realm, at least in the advanced stage. As per the general, he is even more unfathomable. Although the aura coming out of him is 5that of a king, it seems to be unnatural."

"It feels as if it was caused due to some manipulation or injury. He should be a cultivator of an even higher grade."

"I guess I need to tighten my guard against these people. If what they are telling is true, then Su Menqi's origin is quite mysterious. But it would explain the special constitution she possesses."

"The ice-jade body is one of the supreme bodies if cultivated in a proper way. From what I felt back then, it qualified as a natural body of the superior state, but her power seemed to have been sealed by someone. I think it is the woman in front of you who did that. You need to inquire about Su Menqi's condition from her, but maintain a discretion."

"What are our chances of escaping successfully, if they decide to go on an offensive spree?"

"Although I couldn't win in a fight against these two, escaping with your body is a simple task for me. Just go with the normal flow. I don't sense any hostile aura coming from them, so they must have a more serious reason to approach you."

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"I hope milady is not offended on my remark that you aren't allowed to enter the tent of a vice-general without permission, even if you are the general's wife." Long Tao's remark surprised the duo. He wasn't even a bit nervous when confronting either of them.

"As per the matter of Su Menqi's protection goes, I will give my best to enable her to become strong enough to protect herself. She wouldn't be requiring me to protect her life. I am still doubtful about either of your motives and hence would like to have a verification conducted by Su Menqi herself."

"Hahaha…" The woman laughed out. She expected a varied collection of expressions from Long Tao, but she was taken by surprise to hear how casual his attitude is. He didn't even bother to show the minimum courtesy to either of them and directly transferred the matter to Su Menqi.

"I had my doubts when I heard about how cunning you are, but those words seem to be an understatement now. I am indeed her mother and she won't be able to recognize either of us, because we sealed her memory completely. The seal on her body would have stayed hidden and undiscovered until you stepped in and helped in increasing her cultivation.".

"Are you saying that the so-called seal you put on her restricted her cultivation speed? Just which parent would knowingly hinder their child's progress. Your explanation seems even more far-fetched now."

"We would like you to hear us out, Long Tao."

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"I was the son of a powerful family, or at least I believed in the strength of my seniors until one day the whole family was wiped out by a group of unknown cultivators. I managed to escape due to the sacrifice of my mother and father. They sealed their lifetime of cultivation within my body along with our ancestral treasures."

"I continued to cultivate, joined multiple organizations, and grew stronger and stronger. It was the same time at which I decided to investigate the attack which occurred in my family. I slowly traced the attacker's footsteps to multiple groups, all of which I massacred. But the trail seemed endless. "

"It was also during that time when I came to understand how deep the conspiracy to eliminate my household was. It was none other than a group of other noble households who conspired against our family. I couldn't come to peace with the enemies that remained alive and pursued more and more power."

"It was during this journey that I came across one of the most powerful organizations in the empire. I met an innocent girl there who I instantly fell in love with. I pursued her and finally managed to win her heart. All this time I was unaware of her identity. She was one of the holy-daughters of the organization."

The general decided to top her and the woman continued thereafter.

"We decided to flee away together and married each other. It was during this time that the organization behind me ordered a kill on sight order for either of us. They couldn't allow my betrayal to go unpunished and began the pursual."

"We were on the run and managed to form a small group with some strong allies amidst us. We tracked down the complete set of groups who were involved in the killing of his family, and guess what, the group was spearheaded by the organization which I belonged to." 

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"I the process of punishing me, they killed all my family members, and thus a blood grudge formed between the two of us and the organization. We swore to enact revenge on them. Fortunately for us, our strength was rising at a good pace and we both stepped into the realm of emperors."

Long Tao was shocked to hear that both of them were emperors. "Didn't you say that the woman was a Qi king?"

"I couldn't find any traces of injury in her body. It could mean only one thing. She knowingly abandoned her cultivation base to perform some taboo art." The Keeper replied.

"Is it related to the ice-jade body?"

"The ice-jade body is hereditary. It doesn't require any transfer of power. It must have occurred during a confrontation with the enemy. You need to be a little careful boy. The matter seems to have some depth in it. If two emperors weren't able to dissolve the enemy forces, it must contain someone of an even higher realm."

Long Tao was stumped for a moment. An enemy with a cultivation base greater than the emperor realm. "A monarch level practitioner."

"I guess so." The Keeper replied in a casual tone.

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"We confronted the enemy multiple times ad managed to inflict a huge amount of damage to the opponent. Your general was the one spearheading the group, while I was in charge of planning, support, and assassination. We managed to follow through with this tactic for some time."

"The situation changed when we were first made aware of the baby inside me. We decided to halt our progress and go into the shadows until the matter is settled, but there was a traitor amongst us. A sworn brother of ours betrayed us to the enemy and they got the location where I was going to deliver the baby."

"They decided to strike at my weakest moment with their full force. We tried our best to stay alive and kill the enemy."

"You did manage to survive. You should be thankful to fate for that."

"The cost was not small. Every single brother of ours was killed, our organization destroyed and each of us getting inflicted by the injury."

"The general was attacked simultaneously by multiple emperors and a permanent wound was inflicted on his body, while I decided to abandon my then cultivation base to perform a taboo spell. It managed to wipe out most of the enemies and helped us escape. We have been hiding ever since."

The general, who was sitting with a grim expression decided to speak up:

"We reached a consensus that it would be best to seal the natural body type of Su Menqi and wipe her memories. We decided to have one of our subordinates to raise her. Her seal was perfectly intact until you came forward and took charge of the black-buck squad."

"I don't understand how your training regimen works and how you were able t train all these soldiers so fast, but the seal was ultimately getting weakened day by day. The day isn't far off when the seal on her body completely breaks apart."

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"We recently spotted enemy forces approaching this region. They must have managed to track the ice-jade body, now that the seal is getting weaker and weaker. Initially, we thought of escaping with her and have someone take care of the seal. But it was during this time that you stepped onto the stage."

"She is lovesick and obsessed with you. For someone who has taken so many things from my daughter, I don't want to take you from him. Hence, I have a request. Please run away with her and keep her safe."

" Protect her, until she is finally capable enough to protect her own."