Chapter 80: I Could Do It Too

Behind the military camp, Liao Jingwu had set up a feast, drinking with several officers until their faces were flushed.

“I toast the general first!” Captain Wang Delu, who was not in the county town, was also at the camp. He downed his cup in one gulp, then asked: “General Liao, are we really not going to rescue General Li?”

“Who? You?” Liao Jingwu glared.

Wang Delu shrank his neck and chuckled nervously: “I don’t even know how to lead cavalry. If we run into a large group of Liao horsemen, wouldn’t that be suicide?”

“Then shut up if you’re too scared to go!” Liao Jingwu drained his cup, spat out a breath of alcohol, and said: “The Duke of Southern Qi can’t command us here! These Immortal Sect brats are just here to polish their reputations, earn some glory, and then go back to where they came from. My troops are already few—these men are my future capital. If I waste them all, who’ll I turn to?”

Another captain chimed in: “General is absolutely right! We’ve already earned our battle merits—why push harder? I say we hold steady until winter, and the Liao barbarians will retreat on their own. If we force an attack and run into their main force, we’ll lose our heads! Besides, Sun Chaoen isn’t a fool; Quyang County can still hold. As for those outside the walls, let them die. The Liao won’t withdraw unless they get some spoils.”

Wang Delu said nothing more. Though he wanted to curry favor with Li Zhi, he would never personally lead troops into battle.

Another captain asked: “General, the imperial pay has arrived, but there’s still a huge shortfall. What do we do?”

“How much is missing?”

“We’ve received thirty thousand taels. By old custom, you take half, and the officers take half of what’s left. Now we owe seven ten thousand taels in unpaid wages and compensation—still short over sixty thousand.”

Liao Jingwu grew irritable: “Get out, get out! Don’t bring up this gloomy business. Do as we always have! Pay out what we have, leave the rest as debt. If anyone causes trouble, arrest them—execute the ringleaders! Drink!”

The officers clinked cups again, drinking from afternoon until nightfall.

After Wei Yuan and Li Zhi returned to Shayang Village, reinforcements arrived in waves. Over the next few hours, more kept coming—even from two hundred li away. In the end, nine separate reinforcement units gathered in the tiny village, totaling over eight hundred men. Li Zhi finally regained his confidence.

But Shayang Village was too small, and each reinforcement unit had its own defensive post. After exchanging pleasantries, they dispersed: the nearby returned to their posts, the distant stayed overnight in Quyang County before leaving.

Shayang Village ancestral hall.

Wei Yuan sat bare-chested, with medicine and bandages beside him, while Li Zhi personally treated his wounds.

Wei Yuan had been struck by three arrows, each time severing the shaft with Daoist magic and continuing to fight. Now he needed treatment. Liao arrows often bore serrated tips that couldn’t be pulled out carelessly.

Wei Yuan’s physique was near-perfect—broad back, narrow waist, skin faintly glowing with a precious sheen, flawless except for the three long arrows embedded in him like three stains, glaringly obvious.

Li Zhi first probed the arrowheads with his spiritual sense, then used magic power to reshape them, smoothing the barbed serrations. He gripped the exposed shafts, unleashed a burst of magic power to separate flesh from metal, and carefully extracted each arrowhead.

After removal, each wound left a tea-cup-sized hole, blood gushing out immediately.

Li Zhi’s other hand glowed white—he was about to cast a Reviving Spring Technique, then add a healing talisman from the Four Sacred Academies. Together, such flesh wounds usually healed in two days.

Just as the Reviving Spring Technique was about to activate, the blood oozing from Wei Yuan’s wounds turned pale pink, like congealed gel, and began wriggling back into the wounds. Wei Yuan’s muscles rippled, sealing the wounds shut, leaving only a faint pink dot. Soon after, even the dot vanished.

Li Zhi silently dissolved the Reviving Spring Technique and pulled out the remaining two arrowheads without bothering to smooth the serrations. Both came out the same way—blood flowed back, wounds sealed themselves.

Li Zhi stared at the arrowheads for a long while, then, unwilling to believe it, licked one. His mouth went numb, his head spun, his Dao Foundation dimmed, his breath grew shallow. He quickly swallowed a large dose of antidote and only then recovered.

Li Zhi finally confirmed: the Liao arrows were no cheap shoddy work—each was truly poisoned, even a Dao Foundation couldn’t withstand it. He himself had been struck, but his armor’s rank was too high; the arrow only grazed his skin after piercing through, and all poison had been purged by the armor’s innate properties, so he felt nothing at the time. Now, by his own foolishness, he knew the Liao poison’s true power.

Li Zhi tossed the arrowheads aside, draped Wei Yuan’s robe over him, and couldn’t help asking: “Wei Brother, how many Body-Cultivation Sacred Elixirs have you taken?”

Wei Yuan counted them off: “Peiyuan Pill, Xuehua Pill, Duan Gu Pill, and Shen Yun Pill.”

Having shared a bloody battle, their bond was no longer ordinary. Wei Yuan revealed everything to Li Zhi without concealment. But he didn’t know what medicine his senior sister used for her refinement, and the refinement process itself was vague—unsuitable to speak of to outsiders.

Hearing the pill names, Li Zhi’s expression changed: “These are just ordinary elixirs to replenish spiritual energy and accelerate progress. Wei Brother, you only took these?”

Wei Yuan nodded.

Li Zhi extended a finger, touched Wei Yuan’s back skin, and slowly slid it downward. Feeling the texture, he tried to input a bit of magic power—but it was all repelled.

Li Zhi sighed: “These ordinary elixirs barely help raise physical rank. Wei Brother, you must have suffered much in the Tai Chu Palace—your progress today is entirely your own. I won’t even mention what my family prepared for me; even the Academy provided two hand-written texts from sages to aid my cultivation, and no precious medicines to enhance my physique were ever lacking. My base was only eight chi—I slowly grew it to over nine. Yet even with all external aids, my physical body still falls far short of yours. Losing to you back then was no shame!”

Wei Yuan expected Li Zhi to resume his usual recruitment pitch, as he had years ago. But after his sigh, Li Zhi said: “With your current talent, you’ll soar wherever you go—even in the Tai Chu Palace. It’s an Immortal Sect; even if it was blind before, it must now provide you with the resources you deserve. I won’t waste words urging you to transfer to the Four Sacred Academies. But seeing you again, I do have an idea.”

Li Zhi looked at Wei Yuan earnestly: “Once you forge your Dao Foundation, the Tai Chu Palace’s rules require you to earn merit. The greatest merit is expanding territory. I’ve been lucky to advance first in cultivation, and after years in the military, I’ve gained some insight into territorial expansion. When you forge your Dao Foundation, if you’re interested, let us fight side by side again—just like today!”

Wei Yuan, still youthful at heart, felt his blood boil and cried: “Good!”

“It’s a deal!” Li Zhi reached out and slapped Wei Yuan’s palm, sealing the pact.

During this joint battle, Wei Yuan had been observing Li Zhi.

Li Zhi led from the front, fought fiercely against powerful foes without fear. Wei Yuan took three arrows; Li Zhi took one and a slash, his wounds serious. When Liao reinforcements appeared, Li Zhi remained calm, made decisive choices, and retreated toward Quyang County as Wei Yuan advised. Even back during the Martial Assessment, Li Zhi showed interest in military strategy. Now, ten years later, he was no longer the boy who only talked on paper—he had led troops in real battle, and his conduct already bore the shape of a famed general.

Yet for some reason, Wei Yuan always felt Li Zhi’s battlefield command was lacking something—but he couldn’t say what. After all, his own talent for military strategy had only manifested during the old Martial Assessment; the past ten years of cultivation offered no chance to use it, and it had gradually grown rusty.

Now, imagining future days when the two of them led vast armies east and west, smashing through endless enemies, Li Zhi grew dreamy and asked, somewhat smugly: “Wei Brother, what do you think of my command?”

“It just feels like something’s missing—if I were in charge, it’d be much better.” Wei Yuan nearly said it aloud, but since he’d only recently entered the Tianqing Hall, he kept it to himself.

Wei Yuan feigned thought, then said: “Brother Li leads from the front and remains calm in crisis—truly a famed general!”

Li Zhi beamed, delighted yet slightly embarrassed, quickly saying: “Wei Brother flatters me! I’m only passably familiar with military affairs.”

Li Zhi didn’t know: when Zhang Sheng taught Wei Yuan, the terms “truly” and “worthy of comparison” meant “still far short.”

Though Wei Yuan couldn’t articulate what Li Zhi did wrong, he had no doubt he himself would do far better.

(End of Chapter)