Chapter 974: with translation of chapter title

Why are you suddenly speaking so softly?

General She's brows furrowed hard, and with his pouted lips, wrinkled nose, and unhappy expression, this fierce-looking middle-aged man instantly seemed to turn into a bullied pushover.

Old Nian'er lowered his head and said softly, "General, have you forgotten that the Ciji Zhai is now in Chen Wuji's hands? That bunch of elusive brats are best at gathering intel, and they have many experts."

Our people can pose as experts when they run into a village, but against real experts, they're just children; often, even if the experts stand before them, they might not notice, so we must be careful. Perhaps they were only suspicious at first, but if we discuss this loudly and they overhear, it would instantly confirm us.

General She let out a soft hiss, "Old Nian'er, you old thing, are you not just grasping at wind, deliberately trying to scare me? When will you fix this habit?"

"General, I'm not joking!" Old Nian'er said solemnly.

Really?

"General, stop pretending, you're just unhappy, not doubting my words!"

……

Damn it, Chen Wuji's mother, lower your voice, lower it. Speak up, what should we do now?

"There's no way, we can only grit our teeth and keep pretending; we definitely have to go through the Liu Min Ji!" Old Nian'er said, "Now it's an arrow on the bowstring that must be released; we have no other choice."

General She glared, "Do you even want to hear what you're saying? Just a moment ago you were saying we should guard against this and that, and now you want to meet the difficulty head-on?"

"I'm just suspicious, reminding the general to be careful; I'm not saying we've already been identified by Chen Wuji, and there may not be a Heavenly Net Earthly Net waiting for us ahead."

"But it's also possible, right?"

"That's true. However, unless Chen Wuji has already sent experts to steal away our just-spoken words, it shouldn't be that easy to figure out our identities."

General She suddenly froze, his neck unmoving, his eyeballs stiffly scanning the surroundings, "Do you think that's possible?"

"Yes, a master could easily do it, a grand master even more so, as easy as turning over one's hand." Old Nian'er's expression remained calm; he squeezed these words out from between his teeth, his voice so soft that if the two of them weren't very close, General She might not have heard it.

General She suddenly muttered, "I've ultimately suffered from my lack of experience; I've actually never really believed those experts could truly fly through heaven and earth."

Old Nian'er stared at General She, blankly looking for a moment before softly sighing, "General, although you are the Old Master's most loyal adopted son, you are now at the age of no doubts..."

"You old thing, you're finding new ways to scold me again!" General She muttered, though he wasn't really angry; he buried his head in thought and said, "Then I'll go with what you say—this time I won't trust my intuition, but I still have to ask one more thing: what if we're discovered?"

"Act according to the situation, there's no other choice."

"Damn it!"

……

The dawn's light, carrying the pure qi of heaven and earth, fell upon the land; the scent of plants, flowers, and soil became extraordinarily vivid at this moment, and a single breath felt as if it filled the chest with clarity.

The guards of Liu Min Ji were even more exaggerated; they weren't clear-headed, but felt as if they had fallen into an ice cellar!

Their gazes dull, they watched the cavalry surging like black clouds outside the city, their legs involuntarily trembling, their weapons almost slipping from their grasp.

"Quick... quick go report to the hall master, the enemy, the enemy is attacking, so many cavalry, so many!"

Someone shouted hoarsely, straining their voice as if it were about to tear.

Liu Min Ji had faced official purges more than once; it could be said they had been fighting year after year.

But they had never experienced anything like this.

They hadn't even seen it before!

The trampling of tens of thousands of warhorses gathered together sounded like thunder exploding beside the ears; the tremendous movement made the whole earth tremble, and the city walls, patched and repatched, seemed to emit a mournful groan, on the verge of collapse.

As the guards panicked and grew restless, a group hurriedly climbed onto the city wall.

Among those coming were old and young; at the front was a sturdy young man with strong arms, in his thirties, his thick brows furrowed tightly.

Behind him followed a group of elderly men tightly guarded by the sentries.

The elderly men waved their canes swiftly, following the young man's steps up onto the city wall.

A group panted heavily, stared fixedly outward, and then held their breath again.

"This... this..."

"Sinful! How could the heavens be so cruel to us... how could this happen!"

"This year's grain in the fields had barely shown a sign of harvest, and those hateful bandits had even become somewhat obedient, yet... sigh! Fate!"

"It must be that Hu Baobao! That bastard, we've warned him repeatedly not to disguise as bandits to raid those bandits, but he just wouldn't listen. Now we're all implicated; such military might surely means Hu Baobao provoked some big shot, otherwise why would they send troops to this desolate place for no reason?"

"Yes, yes, it must be that Hu surname; otherwise we should think of a way to hand him over!"

"How to hand him over? If we fight, it'll be a lose-lose!"

……

The elderly men were emotionally charged, discussing heatedly.

That young man braced his hands on the walltop, silent, merely staring fixedly at the imposing cavalry array outside.

"Chu Yun, say something—what should we do now?" an elderly man urged upon seeing this.

"It's Marquis Zhenyuan!"

Chu Yun's expression grew solemn as he spoke the first words after ascending the city wall.

The elderly men froze for a moment, then, as if infected, all sighed in unison.

"Indeed, in Nanyue Jun, aside from the Court Army, only Marquis Zhenyuan possesses such strength."

"These black clothes and black armor—aside from Marquis Zhenyuan's troops, there probably aren't any others."

"But isn't Marquis Zhenyuan reputed to love the people as his own children? How could he suddenly raise troops to attack us?"

"We can't exactly be considered civilians now, and besides, there's a Hu Baobao in the city!"

"It must be that Hu Baobao scoundrel! Surely this dog of a fellow looted Marquis Zhenyuan's possessions, or something even more important, provoking such anger that he sent cavalry to pursue and exterminate us. Mobilizing troops consumes great provisions; if it weren't for something supremely important, Marquis Zhenyuan wouldn't set his sights on our remote place."

Chu Yun shook his head, "Several Old Masters, actually Liu Min Ji is a very important place."

"Little Chu Yun, how could this place be important? Could it be only because we, this group of desperate people, fled here that it became important?" an elderly man asked.

Chu Yun shook his head, "For a hero like Marquis Zhenyuan, this place is important!"