Chapter 128: Do you know why we must unify the world?

A dozen or so men on horseback were the border patrol guards of Lin Xian Cheng; they had rushed over after seeing this group of villagers in the drone.

The leading guard sized them up for a moment, yet could not tell from their appearance, clothing, or accent whether these villagers were from Xuan Guo or Yu Guo.

The seven major states of Zhong Yuan are originally of the same Huaxia stock; only because of regional differences among the states do they differ slightly in various aspects, but the villagers of the two states living on the Yu Guo–Xuan Guo border even share the same local customs and way of life.

"Where are you from?" the leading guard asked warily.

The villagers, afraid of revealing their identity, all said they were from Xuan Guo, living in a remote place close to the Yu Guo border.

Seeing these people emaciated and miserable in appearance, the leading guard pondered briefly and said, "Since you are subjects of Daxuan, we ought to look after you—come with us into the city."

Having said that, he not only gave his own water flask to the villagers, but also had the other guards produce some water.

"Thank you, commander! Thank you, commander!"

The villagers, overwhelmed with gratitude, hastily got up, drank the water, and followed behind the soldiers.

After bringing these people through the city gate, the guards handed each of them a compressed biscuit, ordering them to eat it first and wait in place.

"What kind of rations is this? I've never seen anything like it before."

The villagers looked at the compressed biscuits in their hands with faces full of doubt.

"It smells especially sweet…," someone said, "Never mind that—let's eat first and talk later."

Although everyone was tense and doubtful, they could not resist their extreme hunger; after a brief hesitation, they all began to wolf down the food.

As the compressed biscuits entered their mouths, they tasted a flavor they had never experienced before, and each pair of eyes widened.

"Mmm! Good, delicious!"

"How can this ration be so delicious? It doesn't look like any food we know… What is it made of?"

"Do people of Xuan Guo eat this well?"

"Shh… watch what you say, don't give us away…"

After finishing the compressed biscuits given by the guards, everyone felt the satisfaction was insufficient.

Even the crumbs that fell on the ground in the hurry were carefully picked up and stuffed into their mouths, then they kept chewing, savoring the endless aftertaste.

"It's a pity they only gave each of us one piece; I'm still not full."

"Yeah, it would be great if we had a few more pieces…"

"Be content; such fine rations, they probably don't have much of it themselves."

"No way; if it's also a rarity for them, how could they bear to share it with us? Do they really have such good intentions?"

……

Just as they gathered together to whisper their discussion,

Duan Wu and the patrol guards from just before came over together.

"Where do you say you're from?" Duan Wu stared fixedly at the crowd.

The crowd felt uneasy under his fierce gaze, dared not meet his eyes, and lowered their heads timidly.

"Answer me," Duan Wu warned, "otherwise I, the general, will drive you out!"

"General, spare our lives!" the bolder ones forced themselves forward, saying, "Reporting to the general… we… we are from a very distant village, a poor and remote place… the general surely doesn't know about it."

"I heard you claim to be from Xuan Guo?" Duan Wu's eyes held an inscrutable expression.

This person stammered, "Yes… we… we are all from Xuan Guo."

The patrol guard beside him spoke up, "General, didn't I just tell you earlier that they live in a place relatively close to Yu Guo…"

"You've been deceived by them!" Duan Wu said coldly.

The patrol guard immediately froze.

Duan Wu suddenly drew his sword, placing the blade at the neck of the villager who had stepped forward to speak, "You have the gall of a dog! How dare you deceive me, the general?!"

The villager's face turned ashen with fright, his legs went weak, and he collapsed.

Seeing this, the other villagers were also terrified and all dropped to their knees.

Amid the crowd rose the wailing of a frightened child.

The patrol guard, feeling reluctant, whispered, "General… could it be that you don't believe them?"

Duan Wu sneered, "You're unaware and have been taken in by them, but I am perfectly clear: following the Fairy's orders, I have repeatedly sent scouts to survey the vicinity over the past two months or so, and I have visited every village outside Lin Xian Cheng's gates that belongs to Daxuan territory, bringing back every living soul—there is absolutely no omission."

"Yet now all these villagers claiming to be Daxuan subjects have appeared, saying their village lies even closer to Yu Guo—clearly a fabrication!"

"They must all be Yu Guo people!"

Hearing this, the patrol guard furrowed his brows, his eyes swept over the villagers, and a killing intent appeared on his face.

Duan Wu stepped with one foot on the chest of the man beneath his blade and shouted, "Yu Guo people are indeed all deceitful wretches, actually dreaming of sneaking past the gate and infiltrating my Lin Xian Cheng! Tell me, what exactly are you scheming?"

These villagers, having had their identity exposed, were already trembling with fear and unable to compose themselves.

After being berated by Duan Wu, they could not even utter a word.

Duan Wu's eyes sank, "Your mouths are still tough; it seems eight or nine out of ten that you were sent by Yu Guo to spy on us—you're really ruthless, even bringing children along to deceive us."

"Someone, take them all away."

"First lock up the old, weak, sick, disabled, women, and children in a room; the rest, give them severe torture!"

At his order, the soldiers who had followed behind him surged forward, ready to act.

"General… general!" an old man with white hair crawled over and clung to his leg, "We… we really are all Yu Guo people…"

Duan Wu quickly waved his hand, signaling the soldiers to pause.

Then he squinted his eyes as he crouched, staring at the old man, "At last you're willing to admit it?"

The old man's tears streamed down, "But we… we really aren't here to spy; we're just ordinary folks—our village suffered a disaster, and to survive we had to flee… we deceived you, commanders, out of sheer desperation… we… we only want to live! Please, general, spare us!"

Duan Wu's face turned ashen, "If you're fleeing famine, why didn't you run to your own border? Why come into Daxuan territory?"

The old man wore a look of helplessness as he wiped his tears, "Our village may be within Yu Guo, but it lies closer to Xi Tun Guan; if we had forsaken the near for the far, we would surely have died on the way."

"You truly aren't people sent by them to spy?" Duan Wu asked dubiously.

The old man clanged his head in a bout of kowtowing, "General above! If this old man dares utter even a single false word, may Heaven strike me with five thunders; I shall not die a good death!"

After finishing his kowtow, he turned back and shouted to the other villagers, "You also swear quickly! Quickly give your guarantee to this General!"

Spurred by him, the villagers rushed forward, each hastily uttering a poisonous oath.

Duan Wu furrowed his brows and slowly rose, looking down at the villagers kneeling before him, wailing and crying.

"General, what should we do?" a nearby soldier whispered.

Duan Wu tightened his expression, "I examined them closely; they are all in tattered rags, without shoes, their hands and feet covered in thick calluses, each emaciated to bone… even the most skilled spy could not disguise themselves as these…"

The soldier frowned, "Do we really have to rescue them?"

"Of course not!" Duan Wu lifted his head coldly, "Even if they are ordinary civilians, they are still Yu Guo people! In the past, the Yu Guo Border Pass troops that disturbed my Xi Tun Guan fed on the grain and supplies contributed by Yu Guo civilians! Every drop of blood and life shed by Xi Tun Guan's soldiers is inseparable from those Yu Guo civilians!"

"And also!" Duan Wu's anger grew as he spoke, his voice seething, "I will never forget, in this lifetime, the blood feud of Yu Guo's murderous barbarians slaughtering Xi Tun Guan! Every single account will be charged to each Yu Guo person! No one can escape!"

His torrent of hatred‑filled words made every soldier present eyes redden, clenching their back teeth tightly.

General Duan had not forgotten, and they naturally would not either!

The soldiers who died gruesomely months ago still have their corpses buried beside the Xianzi Temple!

Duan Wu's face twisted grimly, "Hear my command: kill them all!"

"And… the children?" a soldier asked.

Duan Wu paused briefly, then gritted his teeth, "Infants may be spared, but those who can walk… all must be killed."

Complex expressions rose in the soldiers' eyes.

Even with their deep‑seated blood feud against Yu Guo, they felt some reluctance to slaughter children only a few years old.

But General Duan's words were not without reason.

If they killed everyone else but left a child already beginning to record events, future trouble might arise.

"The younger ones, I will kill them," Duan Wu whispered.

He knew that harming those children would impose a huge psychological burden on his soldiers.

And if the news spread, they would bear a notorious reputation.

He made a decision: he would bear it all himself.

"General…" several soldiers hurried to intervene, "Just give the order, and we will handle the matter ourselves."

"General, rest assured, we won't mess it up."

Duan Wu shoved the few aside, brandishing his sword, ready to rush into the villagers and personally finish off those children.

Seeing General Duan's eyes already flushed red with killing intent, the villagers sank into utter despair.

"Duan Wu! Stop!" a crisp, resonant voice suddenly rang out.

At this moment, even if Xiao Qidi had arrived, Duan Wu would not have responded, but this was Ning Jinli's voice.

Duan Wu's whole body stiffened; he forced his emotions down, halted in place, and said mournfully, "Fairy… are you going to protect them?"

Ning Jinli hurried forward, and the soldiers saluted one after another.

She walked to Duan Wu's side and gently said, "General Duan, I know you are angry; I will never forget the sacrificed soldiers of Xi Tun Guan. Could you first listen to a few words from me?"

Duan Wu slowly turned, head lowered, "Fairy… please speak."

"Who are you?" Ning Jinli asked.

"Huh?" Duan Wu looked up in surprise.

Ning Jinli looked into his eyes and softly asked again, "You, who are you?"

Duan Wu was bewildered, scratched his head, and tentatively said, "Daxuan soldier?"

Ning Jinli continued, "What does a Daxuan soldier do?"

Duan Wu looked puzzled, "Isn't that obvious? They certainly defend Daxuan. Fairy, why do you ask so strangely…"

"Besides defending Daxuan, what else?"

"Also… oh, also to achieve Daxuan Unification!"

"Good, you are right about everything."

Ning Jinli turned and looked at the other soldiers present, "If Daxuan Unification is the goal, does it require annexing the other Six Nations?"

The soldiers were also bewildered, looking at each other, and then in unison answered the obvious question, "Reporting, Fairy, that's correct!"

Ning Jinli said, "Yu Guo is the first to be annexed by us, right?"

A soldier replied, "From the current situation… that's correct."

Ning Jinli nodded, "Then I ask you, you place undifferentiated hatred on every Yu Guo person; after annexing Yu Guo, will you kill the hundreds of thousands of Yu Guo people?"

"This…" the soldiers were stunned.

Ning Jinli continued, "After annexing Yu Guo, aren't the civilians who originally lived in Yu Guo now Daxuan's citizens?"

"Duan Wu, you just said Daxuan soldiers must defend Daxuan; then aren't Daxuan civilians also within your protection?"

Duan Wu was stunned for a while, his mouth opening and closing, his face flushing, unable to answer, and could only bite his teeth, "Fairy… aren't you… digging a pit for me? I can't argue with you. If you insist on saving those people, this humble soldier… this humble soldier will obey you!"

"I know you're still unwilling," Ning Jinli said softly, "but you must understand that wherever the civilians are, they can only obey their ruler's orders: when told to deliver grain to the army, they must; when conscripted, they must go. Do they have a choice? Aren't they also suffering souls? Do you truly wish these ordinary people to bear the mistakes of their ruler?"

"I…" Duan Wu's eyes trembled, his expression becoming extremely complex.

Ning Jinli patted his shoulder, gently asked, "Let me ask you another question: do you know why Daxuan seeks Unification?"

Duan Wu answered without hesitation, "Of course it's for…"

Halfway through, he suddenly realized he couldn't articulate a reason.

Since childhood, he had heard his father say that unifying the world was the long‑cherished wish of successive monarchs, and that the rulers of the other Six Nations also harbored similar ambitions to varying degrees.

It seemed… this was a question that didn't require pondering the why.

"Do you all know?" Ning Jinli looked at the other soldiers.

A soldier thought for a moment and said, "Because… if Daxuan does not achieve Unification, it will be annexed by another nation."

Ning Jinli smiled, "That's not wrong, but it's not the key."

The soldiers stared with wide eyes, not knowing what kind of answer the Fairy wanted.

Moreover, does this have anything to do with her trying to protect these Yu Guo civilians?

Is she getting farther and farther off track?

Duan Wu and the soldiers present couldn't figure out what medicine the Jinli Fairy was selling from her gourd, and the Yu Guo civilians lying on the ground with their lives hanging by a thread were each more bewildered than the last.

Ning Jinli walked among the civilians, squatted down, and gently asked, "What is your greatest wish?"

These civilians only knew they were about to die, let alone have the mind to answer such a baffling question; each had a face ashen and remained silent.

Ning Jinli looked at the elderly man just now, "Please speak, what is the greatest wish of your life?"

Her big, bright, clear eyes inexplicably gave the old man a sense of steadiness and calm; he thought seriously and said, "My greatest wish is… to always have land to farm, to always have food to eat, and clothes to wear."

Even though Ning Jinli already knew in her heart that the poorest people's wishes in the world were this simple and plain, her nose still went a little sour as she listened.

She gently wiped the corner of her eye, stood up, looked at Duan Wu and the soldiers, and said earnestly:

"Whether it's Daxuan or any other nation, the wishes of the toiling masses are the same. Do you understand what causes all the common folk across the world to have even a constant supply of food and clothing as their greatest wish? Do you know how they can all achieve such wishes?"