Qu Yunmie and Han Qing were only separated by a few dozen zhang. At such a short distance, he naturally wanted to chase after him and his men. However, those few dozen zhang was not flat ground but a steep hillside. By the time Qu Yunmie rode his horse up the slope, Han Qing and the others had already become only a tiny black dot in the distance.

……

Qu Yunmie has chased many enemies in his life. To pursue them, he had once been able to run a thousand kilometers in one go. Compared to that, he has already been very restrained with Han Qing, chasing for only about one or two li at most. When he noticed the surrounding vegetation becoming increasingly unfamiliar, he reined in his horse.

Watching his enemy escape before his eyes felt like being pricked with needles to Qu Yunmie, just  extremely painful. Even so, he felt he could not continue the chase. If he went further, who knew what might be waiting ahead?

He kept his promise and did not act impulsively again. If he could safely return to the main army, Xiao Rong would surely praise him. Unfortunately, although he could control himself, he could not control his enemies.

Turning his horse around, Qu Yunmie tried to determine the direction from which he had come. At that moment, from beneath the thick snow and decayed leaves under his feet, a thick hemp rope suddenly shot out. The horse was tripped and fell. It looked as if Qu Yunmie would also be thrown to the ground, but he reacted quickly, leaping off and simultaneously drawing his Snow-Drinking Vengeance Spear from his back.

……

Han Qing had brought over a thousand men in total. A thousand were ambushed near the main road, and the remaining several hundred were all hidden here.

This was the maximum force Han Qing could mobilize. He was picky and did not trust ordinary people. Only those he confirmed as completely loyal to him could be considered his soldiers. Because of this, he constantly seeks backing and puppets, but he was also always able to retreat unscathed, since all his men were fearless elites.

On the mountain terrain, every single meter formed a completely different world. Even though so many people were there, the surroundings were so silent that not even a bird could be heard.

Qu Yunmie was surrounded. In all directions, there were people who wanted his life.

Looking at those pairs of identical, cold, yet crazed eyes, Qu Yunmie let out a sneer. With one hand, he swung his spear in a circle. The spear tip flashed with a cold silver light under the moon.

Qu Yunmie has a habit of not wasting words with enemies. Even at this moment, he merely glanced provocatively around him and then said calmly, “You go first.”

These people were surprisingly obedient. In the next instant, furious human roars erupted through the forest, shaking the heavens. Immediately after came screams, the horrifying sound of flesh being cut open, and the sounds of startled beasts fleeing in all directions.

Three hundred and eighty-eight people—that was the number of those who besieged Qu Yunmie. By the time the last person was pierced through the chest by his spear, Qu Yunmie was completely drenched.

He was soaked both in blood and sweat. Today he was not in peak condition and wasn’t driven by adrenaline, so he could not unleash the wild frenzy he had shown in Zitong City. It took him nearly an hour to kill them all.

Standing in a sea of corpses and blood, he looked like a ghost crawling out of hell, and also like a god dominating the land.

He still stood upright, but only he knew that his strength was draining away. His limbs were becoming weak.

Clenching his fist, Qu Yunmie did not move for a moment. He first scanned the surroundings with fierce, murderous eyes. Only after confirming there were truly no survivors did he slowly kneel down.

He tore open his leg armor and ripped apart his clothes, which were now unrecognizable. On his calf was a small, slightly darkened wound.

Qu Yunmie: “…”

As expected of that person’s methods—if they could not win, they used poison.

Staring at the wound for a moment, Qu Yunmie did not hesitate at all. He drew his blade and, in one swift motion, cut off a piece of his own flesh.

The strike was so ruthless that the white bone underneath could be seen. Yet his expression did not change. After sitting down, he looked around, found a relatively clean corpse, tore off its clothing, ripped it into strips, and tightly bound it an inch above the wound.

Then he stood up again, using his spear as a crutch, and forced himself to distinguish direction.

Stars… the North Star… he had to go back… he could not break his promise again…

As Qu Yunmie walked forward, his vision grew more and more blurred. What he did not know was that the wound only looked dark because of the night and the coagulated blood. The blades of these men had indeed been coated with medicine, but lethal poison was not so easy to obtain. Poisons like those used by the Xianbei, which killed instantly upon contact, were worth a fortune. Han Qing neither had the time to gather so many rare ingredients nor the wealth to coat the weapons of over three hundred men with such poison.

Only a few carried truly lethal blades. The rest had only been smeared with anesthetic.

Their plan had been to inflict small wounds first to numb Qu Yunmie, then finish him off. No one expected him to be so strong that no one could even get close. At times, to avoid injury, he even gave up opportunities to kill enemies. A general who cherished life like this was truly rare.

……

Because of this, only one person managed to injure Qu Yunmie from beginning to end, but he was tall and strong, so that small dose of medicine meant nothing. By the time it took effect, it would already be too late.

A misunderstanding was thus formed, but everyone who could have explained the truth was already dead.

Qu Yunmie staggered forward, struggling against the anesthetic in his body. When a person’s will to survive becomes extremely strong, they could surpass instinct. He never fell unconscious. Driven by sheer determination, even if he ruined his legs, he would still walk out of this forest.

This must have been the moment in Qu Yunmie’s life when he most did not want to die. Perhaps even heaven was moved by this spirit. In the next second, he stepped into empty air.

Without time to react, he tumbled down the hillside. Along the way, he hit an old tree stump and knocked himself unconscious.

When he finally came to a stop, he was no longer in the dense forest but in a small grassy clearing in the middle of it. A deer was drinking from a water pool. Startled by the noise, it fled immediately. When everything became quiet again, it cautiously returned to see what happened.

The young deer had never seen a human in its life. Its ancestors had not seen one for a long time either. It stared with round eyes, licked Qu Yunmie’s face, found it tasted terrible, and ran away again.

……

Meanwhile in Chenliu City, Xiao Rong finally fell asleep past midnight.

His sleep was uneasy. He dreamed he was in a field of white light, with nothing around him, only a voice speaking endlessly. It made no logical sense, yet he somehow understood that someone was talking.

He could not understand it at all. He could only tell the speaker seemed irritated, even somewhat resentful.

Later the dream disappeared, and he fell into a deeper sleep. A strange sensation in his throat suddenly jolted him awake.

Without pause, he rushed to the bedside and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Xiao Rong stared blankly at the bright red on the ground. Ah Shu, who heard the noise, rushed in immediately. He looked at Xiao Rong in horror, but before they could react, hurried footsteps came from outside.

Xiao Rong paused for a second, then immediately got out of bed. He only threw on an outer robe and went out barefoot. Ah Shu, panicked, did not stop him. He quickly grabbed shoes and Xiao Rong’s thickest cloak and ran after him.

The arrivals were Dongfang Jin and Gao Xunzhi. Before they even entered, the door opened by itself—Xiao Rong had opened it personally. Gao Xunzhi immediately saw the blood at the corner of Xiao Rong’s mouth. For a moment, his feelings were extremely complicated: heartache, anger, and worry all mixed together. Xiao Rong simply wiped it away casually.

Seeing Gao Xunzhi was not calm, Xiao Rong turned to Dongfang Jin and asked, “What happened?”

Dongfang Jin also saw the blood, but only felt briefly surprised. He did not know Xiao Rong’s condition. He answered briefly: someone had come to the government office asking for help. They claimed to be imperial palace guards, sent by the Southern Yong’s emperor to deliver a letter to the Northern King.

Two identical letters had been sent; clearly something was wrong.

Xiao Rong did not hesitate. At this moment, even he didn’t know what he was thinking. Every action he took seemed as if controlled by someone else.

He reached out. “Where is the letter?”

The letter was not with Dongfang Jin. It had been given to Gao Xunzhi. Gao Xunzhi looked at Xiao Rong, and without hesitation, handed it over.

The content was similar—urging the Northern King to send troops—but the wording was completely different. The first line stated that the letter was dictated by the young Emperor and written by others, to prevent suspicion and to reassure General Sun regarding future rewards.

The moment Xiao Rong read it, he understood everything. Though he did not know General Sun was involved, he recognized that the Qingfeng Sect and the young Emperor were working in parallel. The young Emperor had unknowingly become an accomplice.

Combined with the blood he had just coughed up, Xiao Rong’s expression remained unchanged, but the letter in his hand was already crumpled and torn. His breathing grew rapid.

Without hesitation, Xiao Rong ordered they call Jian Jiao and have him gather all cavalry from the four armies. Also tell Yu Shaocheng to set out at dawn—forced march, no delay.

If Dongfang Jin hesitated even a moment, Xiao Rong’s authority would be undermined, since he held no formal military command. Ordering the four armies without Qu Yunmie present was overstepping authority.

Yet in a flash, Dongfang Jin understood what he had to do.

He shouted like thunder: “Understood!”

He ran out first. Others followed immediately. When Jian Jiao and Yu Shaocheng were awakened, they did not object. Within an hour, the army was fully assembled. At that moment, Xiao Rong had effectively taken control of the military.

Previously, when he assigned tasks, many had resisted, but this time, with Qu Yunmie in danger, no one objected. From top to bottom, there was no opposition, because Dongfang Jin set the tone.

Those close to Xiao Rong obeyed sincerely, and those less close followed the crowd. Loyalty in feudal times was not formed gradually—it was decided in a single moment of life and death.

Once they followed once, they could never treat him as an equal again.

……

In Lushan it was a clear night, but in Chenliu dark clouds gathered again, as if snow would fall. Gao Xunzhi never interfered with Xiao Rong’s orders. Even when Xiao Rong chose to go without him, he did not object.

Xiao Rong took all ten thousand troops with him. One more old man made no difference.

Standing at the city gate, Gao Xunzhi watched as Xiao Rong and Jian Jiao led the cavalry out of sight. He wiped the corner of his eye and turned back.

Only then did he realize so many people were standing behind him: Danran, Sang Yan, Agusejia, Xiao Yi, Old Lady Xiao, Ah Shu, the monk, Yu Shaoxie, and Song Shuo, who had rushed over from the Song residence without even tying his hair.

They all looked at him without speaking. For some reason, Gao Xunzhi felt even more like crying.

These people were family and friends of Xiao Rong and the Great King. Unknowingly, they had become like relatives to each other. The Northern Army was no longer poor and isolated, and the Northern Commander was no longer alone.

Qu Yunmie, do you see this? This was the most important thing Xiao Rong had brought you—the good life you couldn’t even imagine was already right in front of you.

Do not close your eyes.

Wait for Xiao Rong.

Wait for him.

 

 

Edited by: Antiope

 

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