Chapter 122

At the end of the Longguan Road was Cangya City.

Tianmen Pass was outside the city.

Cangya City was built against a sheer cliff; the city was vast, its walls majestic and heavy, towering into the clouds.

Inside, there were magnificent city towers, arrow towers, and a city district where residents lived and traveled; it was incredibly lively and extremely prosperous. This place was also a trading hub between the Great Yu border and the Northern Rin Kingdom, with a great deal of carriage and horse traffic.

But that was eight hundred years ago.

Now.

Only a small mound of earth remained here.

The two characters "Cangya" were carved on the small mound; this was the city.

A patch of military tents surrounded the small mound, firmly entrenched with the small mound as the center.

At the edge of the tents, several battle flags were planted.

The battle flags fluttered in the biting cold wind, with the two ancient characters "Tian Yuan" on them.

This was the Li family's banner.

The five great Divine General's Mansions each had their own titles, such as the Wang family's Emperor Tianzhao Divine General's Mansion, while the Li family's was the Li Tianyuan Divine General's Mansion.

At this moment, the cold wind howled, and dust and sand swept through.

On the edge of the sheer cliff behind the military tents, there were mounds of graves of varying sizes, with broken wooden blocks carved into memorial tablets stuck into them at random, serving as tombstones and also as markers for those buried within during their lifetimes.

Clang, clang.

Nearby, several soldiers with broken battle armor were digging pits with shovels.

Not long after, others brought over a stretcher, on which lay an arm, a missing thigh, torn battle armor, and a dented helmet.

Once the pit was dug, they placed these inside and then filled it with sand and soil.

Then they found a tree, shaved off a piece to split into a wooden tablet, carved a few characters with their fingers, and stuck it on the grave mound.

On some stretchers, there were only a few fingers and a dropped boot.

Thus, these were also buried, and the wooden tablet was carved with four characters:

Li Family Soldiers.

The cold wind howled quietly, blowing through the military tents, passing through the gaps between the tents, squeezing out bursts of sorrowful wailing like weeping and complaining.

Li Li Hongzhuang, in bright red armor, stood silently before the grave mounds with an expressionless face.

Most of the wooden tablets here had no names, because the slaughter with the demons was too tragic; being able to keep a whole body was quite difficult.

Once the newly added grave mounds were all buried one by one, she stretched out her hand, and the deputy general beside her handed over a flask of strong wine.

She flicked her finger, kicked off the wine stopper, and poured the wine before these grave mounds.

She drank the remaining mouthful herself.

This was to drink with these brave men.

Subsequently, she didn't look again and turned to leave.

She had already been doing this for twenty years, and she had also been watching this scene for twenty years.

From the deputy general who handed the wine, to the commander she was now.

Because her third brother and sixth brother, who had once come to help hand the wine, had fallen one after another.

Thus, although she was a woman, she still chose to stand out.

To support this sky for the Great Liangzhou!

Li Hongzhuang was the youngest daughter of Li Tizong; she had nine brothers who shook the world, each of them stunningly brilliant and admired by all, among whom the most monstrous brother was Li Junye.

But he had also passed away more than ten years ago.

At that time, she was guarding this border and could not get away; she couldn't even attend the funeral of her ninth brother, with whom she had grown up playing in that courtyard, and her tears could only be shed on this battlefield.

She still remembered when she was a child, her father said that he gave her this name because he hoped she would find a good family and marry out.

From then on, to serve her husband and teach her children, and to abandon the sword for books.

To avoid this suffering of slaying demons.

But seeing the scars on the soldiers who returned to the courtyard to report the military situation since she was a child, and seeing the empty ancestral tablets in the ancestral hall, she understood that she could not abandon the sword in her hand.

Thus, she cultivated diligently, studied under famous teachers, and practiced ultimate arts.

Subsequently, she descended the mountain into the world, relying on the three-foot green blade in her hand to slay the millions of demons outside the pass.

Here, she had been fighting continuously for twenty years!

Twenty years of wind, frost, and warfare had made her skin, which could be broken by a blow, as cold and hard as rough sandpaper.

The blue hair that used to flutter in her youth was now coiled in her helmet, long since soaked in grease and the blood of demon creatures, dirty and carrying a bit of fishy stench.

This was something a woman could least tolerate, but she was already used to it.

Except for her face, which was still as beautiful as a city-toppling beauty, peerless in the world, and had never changed.

But those eyes had changed from the clear and gentle ones of the past to the cold and sharp ones like cold stars today.

"Commander, just counted, 28 demons slain, seven dead, twelve injured."

Another deputy general stepped forward and reported to Li Li Hongzhuang.

Li Li Hongzhuang was expressionless; she had also seen the previous battle with her own eyes, and she had a rough idea of the casualties in her heart, only saying:

"A letter came from the family, saying that reinforcements will arrive soon, and once the reinforcements arrive, we will be allowed to withdraw and rotate."

"Now, have you detected where the reinforcements have reached?"

The deputy general shook his head slightly and was about to speak when suddenly, a horn sounded outside the military tents.

The expressions of both changed, and they moved quickly, flying out and soaring into the high sky.

They saw a pair of young man and woman, as well as a white fox, approaching from the direction of the Longguan Road outside the military tents.

"On the Longguan Road, how could anyone still come over?"

Both were slightly stunned and flew over quickly.

They were guarding Tianmen Pass; over these years, reinforcements had arrived one after another, but the numbers were small, and it seemed there was already an intention to abandon Tianmen Pass.

And the Longguan Road had long since fallen, occupied by demon creatures.

Even the armies that came as reinforcements bypassed the Longguan Road, and some had already been defeated and died on the Longguan Road.

"Military camp?"

At this moment, Li Hao and Ren Ren Qianqian walked over, also full of confusion.

They had thought that the end would be Cangya City, but the result was that all they saw were military tents, pits and cracks everywhere on the ground, as well as some unprocessed demon corpses, and broken military flags, which was actually a tragic battlefield.

At this time, Li Hao heard the horn and saw two figures descending from the sky.

"Who are you?"

Li Li Hongzhuang looked at the young man before her, feeling that his face seemed somewhat familiar, and frowned in confusion.

Li Hao just wanted to speak, but suddenly fell silent.

He had said he would no longer use the surname Li, so how should he refer to himself?

His eyes were somewhat lost, but he soon thought of a character and immediately said: "My surname is Ji, you can call me Ji Hao; I am the reinforcement sent to replace you."

"Ji Hao?"

Li Li Hongzhuang and the deputy general hadn't heard of this name, but upon hearing Li Hao's later words, they were both overjoyed and looked toward the distance behind Li Hao at the same time:

"Then where are their people?"

The two were confused; behind Li Hao, there was nothing.

"It's just me," Li Hao said.

The two were stunned, the excitement in their hearts instantly falling through, and they looked at Li Hao at the same time: "Just you?"

"Not just me."

Li Hao said: "This is my sword attendant, and this is just my little companion, the three of us."

As for Elder Feng, he was already hidden on the side, which was also Li Hao's reliance for daring to come to Tianmen Pass, but he couldn't introduce him to the people before him.

Elder Feng's identity was despised and rejected by the world and was relatively sensitive; he only had a private friendship with the Second Uncle and him, and no one knew about it on the surface, otherwise, it would have exploded long ago.

"..."

Hearing Li Hao's words, Li Li Hongzhuang and the deputy general were both stunned, and astonishment appeared on their numb faces that had been weathered by long-term wind and frost.

Looking around again, there was indeed no other aura.

Just this young man?

Reinforcements?

Li Li Hongzhuang said angrily, "Are you joking?"

Having waited for so long, having hoped for so long, the result was that they only hoped for a child of ten-plus years old; anger surged in her heart.

Li Hao shook his head and said earnestly: "I'm not; I am indeed here to replace you. For the next three years, I will guard this place until I die."

"Relying on you, you want to guard for three years?"

Li Li Hongzhuang simply wanted to laugh in anger; guarding an isolated city alone, even she wouldn't dare to say such words!

"Seventh Brother must be crazy!"

Li Li Hongzhuang didn't pay any more attention to Li Hao, but said to the deputy general: "Send a message back immediately, ask what Li Li Tiangang means, whether he really intends to abandon it completely, or if there is another intention."

The deputy general took the order and was about to leave.

Suddenly, a figure flew over and landed before the few of them.

This was an old man wearing battle armor, his hair gray and white, his gaze steady and restrained.

He first looked at Li Hao, then bowed to Li Li Hongzhuang and said: "Young Lady."

Li Li Hongzhuang felt the aura of the Three Imperishable Realms from the other party, looked him over carefully twice, but didn't recognize who it was.

The deputy general beside her seemed to recognize him and said in surprise: "Are you General Li He?"

"Li He?"

Hearing this name, Li Li Hongzhuang pondered slightly, and astonishment immediately appeared on her face; when she was cultivating on the drill ground in her childhood, Li He had already made a name for himself outside.

This was of the previous generation of the Li family, of the same generation as the Second Uncle and the others.

But he was a child of a concubine.

Li He belonged to one of the outstanding ones among the concubine children of that generation.

"Young Lady Li Hongzhuang, please step aside to talk," Li He said.

Li Li Hongzhuang felt slightly confused, but still flew to the side with him.

Li Hao remained in place with the deputy general.

Li Hao was not surprised by the suddenly appearing old man; although this was their first close-range encounter, the other party had been following him secretly all the way, following him from Qingzhou all the way to this place, having followed for five days.

According to what Elder Feng said, this was mostly someone sent by Li Li Tiangang to protect him secretly.

Li Hao had no feelings about this.

Most of the demon creatures on the road were dealt with by Elder Feng and himself; after his injuries healed, he didn't need Elder Feng to take action against demons below the Imperishable Realm.

At this moment, while the other party was chatting privately with that little aunt, Li Hao also asked the deputy general:

"At the end of the Longguan Road, isn't it Cangya City? May I ask how much longer I need to walk?"

The deputy general said in a deep voice: "The place you are standing now is Cangya City."

"Hmm?"

Li Hao was stunned and looked at him in surprise.

Then he looked around, where was the city?

"After hundreds of years of warfare, the demon attacks have been frequent and fierce; Cangya City has weathered too many storms and suffered too many heavy blows, and it has been unable to repair the city walls or rebuild the Dharma patterns, and the entire city has been beaten out of existence."

The deputy general said: "Now only that place remains, which counts as the city, and is also the place where we are stationed."

Saying this, he pointed to a small mound of earth not far away.

Li Hao looked over and was stunned.

That small mound was only a few meters high, and it would be gone with a casual slap.

This is... Cangya City?

He knew the border war was tragic, but he hadn't expected it to be this tragic.

An entire city had been beaten into flat ground.

"So, you guard here without any cover, and when the demons come, you resist them head-on?" Li Hao asked.

The deputy general said expressionlessly: "The only wall is our bodies."

"..."

Hearing this, Li Hao didn't speak again.

Not long after, Li Li Hongzhuang and Li He returned.

Li Li Hongzhuang looked at Li Hao with a complex expression and said: "You are actually Hao'er!"

Li Hao looked at the old man Li He, guessing that he had told this little aunt about the matter.

"It's me; now you can believe it, you can withdraw the army."

Li Li Hongzhuang's eyes were complex and sorrowful, saying: "How could Seventh Brother be so heartless? It was just a small conflict, why did it have to turn out like this? Fifth Uncle, Second Uncle, and Sister-in-law, don't they care?"

Li Hao shook his head slightly, not wanting to mention these things again.

"Hao'er, you are too impulsive, hurry back; if you stay here, you will die!" Li Li Hongzhuang said.

No wonder she felt this young man's face was familiar; although it was their first meeting, she didn't want to see this nephew act foolishly.

"It doesn't matter."

Li Hao smiled slightly and said: "Dying here, at least it counts as a martyr; dying elsewhere, it wouldn't be anything at all."

"How can you be so stubborn, child? Your father wouldn't really kill you," Li Li Hongzhuang said with a sorrowful face.

Li Hao shook his head and said: "Little Aunt, it's not early anymore, you'd better withdraw as soon as possible; I heard that these soldiers have been guarding this place for many years, it's time to go back and visit their wives, children, and old mothers."

Hearing these words, the deputy general beside him trembled, and his numb, cracked face seemed somewhat moist.

Li Li Hongzhuang, however, suddenly fell silent, then shook her head and said: "Others can withdraw, but I will not leave."

She raised her head and looked at the small mound of earth behind her, although it could no longer be considered a city.

But this was the place where Third Brother and Sixth Brother had given their lives to hold firm.

She wanted to fight here until the last moment of her life.

"The heroic spirits of the soldiers here still need someone to accompany them."

Li Li Hongzhuang's eyes were sharp and earnest, and she said slowly: "I had intended to wait until the reinforcements arrived, and then stay here to continue fighting with the reinforcements, but now that there is only you, then Aunt will accompany you to continue slaying demons here; we'll kill as many as we can!"

"This is the land of my Great Yu Dynasty, and it is also the place where my Li family has guarded for many years."

"Unless there is an imperial order, I will never yield an inch!"

Sharp light shot from her eyes, her woman's body as majestic as the Great Wall.