Chapter 521: What the Battle-Hardened Seek

Even the youngest among them could understand what the battle formation sketched out on that white snow meant—or rather, it was precisely because of a youth's high spirits that he longed all the more for such a battle formation.

Xue Changqing's breathing had grown slightly heavy, his eyes bright as he stared fixedly at the formation, full of envy, and said: "Truly wonderful. A battle like this is surely one that can be recorded in the annals of history, isn't it?"

"But whether it's His Majesty the Qin Wang, or General Fan Qing, neither of them will let me go to the front lines, even though I've already reached the Third Heaven!"

"Big Brother Li, back in the day, led General Fan Qing and the others to defeat General Yuwen Hua's three thousand heavy armored troops, and then fled for ten thousand li. He was only thirteen or fourteen back then—younger than I am now—and he was only at the Second Heaven!"

Sa Atandi glanced at this young man from the Central Plains and said:

"Going to war means people die."

Xue Changqing said: "If a man fights for his homeland and country, and dies beyond the frontier, wrapped in horsehide for the journey home—that is only natural!"

Sa Atandi no longer wished to speak with this fellow who had never set foot on a battlefield. When she was young, she had followed her small tribe of birth, wandering across the vast lands of the Western Regions, being cautious at every turn, afraid of being swept up in the clash of arms.

When she was small, she had even been seized by nobles. Back then, Yu Langwang Chen Fubi was at the height of his brilliance—the most spirited moment recorded in the annals—and the nobles of the Western Regions, fearing the Wolf King's majesty, captured people from passing small tribes as gifts.

If not for Tiange Er, she might already have been sent to the front lines to serve as a slave.

Precisely because she had personally witnessed the cruelty of the battlefield—

Knowing how fragile life is upon it—people who were just now alive, still chatting and laughing foolishly, might, after a single battle, never return again, leaving behind only a blade and a single word.

Therefore she was, by nature, disinclined to like those who treated the battlefield lightly.

Those who live in times of peace always harbor an excessive longing for the battlefield, overlooking the resolve required to face blade against blade, staking one's life and everything upon the gambling table, and magnifying instead the exhilaration of triumph and homecoming after achieving glory.

But the former is what is commonplace.

On the battlefield, there must always be one loser.

There may even be two losers, with no winner at all.

Why did he not realize that what he now found boring—mere everyday routine—was the most unattainable dream for those who lived in an era of battlefield chaos?

Sa Atandi thought this, but she did not speak it aloud.

She was not the sort who liked to lecture others, to press her own thoughts down upon their heads.

Perhaps it was because every time Mr. Wen He wished to do so to Master Yan Daiqing, he would meet Master Yan Daiqing's iron fist; and every time Master Yan Daiqing wished to lecture Mr. Wen He, he would receive an even more cheerful 'retaliation.'

Even old Master Siming used these two fellows, with their utterly different temperaments, as stand-ins for the concepts of Yin and Yang, and casually imparted to Sa Atandi a few strange arts of the Yin-Yang School.

She looked at Xue Changqing over there, whose eyes were shining bright, and sighed.

Xue Changqing, for some reason, felt uncomfortable all over, as if nowhere on his body was at ease. He touched the hair at his temples, then touched his own forehead, and said: "Wh-what is it?!"

The young girl from the Western Regions, who had grown up on the battlefield, smiled slightly:

"It's nothing. I just envy you."

"You must have lived in a place that was, at the very least, peaceful, and been raised being doted on, haven't you?"

Xue Changqing paused, feeling that the emotions and experiences in the young girl's eyes were beyond his comprehension, for he had never lived that kind of life. Yet somehow, it left him feeling a little deflated.

Sa Atandi turned and left: "The things Master Yan Daiqing instructed me to do are not yet finished. Captain Xue Changqing, please lend me a hand."

Xue Changqing's expression did not change: "Naturally."

But looking at the young girl—clutching scrolls, her black hair tied up in a man's style, dressed in the manner of a Mohist wandering knight, a pair of small calfskin swift boots upon her feet—Xue Changqing exhaled, touched his cheek, and gritted his teeth: "W-women of the Western Regions, are they really this lacking in propriety?"

"Staring at me like that… n-not even a little shy."

He wanted to use the word 'bashful.'

But the vocabulary of this youth, raised and educated in Jiangnan, was far too clean; he could not bring himself to utter anything insulting, so he could only sulkily clutch his battle-halberd and stride briskly after Sa Atandi.

The task Master Yan Daiqing had given them was, in truth, a task given to all the basic officials of the entire Tiance Prefecture—

To receive people coming from the front lines.

The front-line soldiers, captives from foreign lands, and those hundred-plus thousand elite troops of Chen State—some gravely wounded, some broken in fighting spirit, some already too old to fight—had all been brought down, and these people had been brought under the banner of the Fire Qilin Army.

Within this, too, was already contained a certain resolve.

The Qin Wang did not intend to let Chen Emperor Chen Dingye off the hook.

The brief alliance had been for the great cause of the Central Plains, to overcome the present hardship together. Once many matters were concluded, Chen Dingye would not be given even a moment to rest and recover his foundations. After the campaign against the Turks was finished—

It would be a matter between the Qin Wang and Chen Dingye.

At present, Grand Marshal Yue Pengwu had been forced to remain in the heartland of the Central Plains. As one of only two great generals qualified to command a large army, he was tasked with garrisoning the entire territory of Chen State, to prevent any unrest from arising in this newly conquered region.

This was an arrangement that went without saying.

But Grand Marshal Yue Pengwu expressed the most extreme protest at this.

Yet the Fire Qilin ran fast, and the Qin Wang, without the slightest hesitation, shouldered the Tiger Howls at Heaven battle-halberd and went up himself. Yue Pengwu could only consider the greater picture, remaining in the safe rear. Over these past few months, he had heard that the fighting on the front lines was fierce.

Yue Pengwu wrote twelve letters of the Grand Marshal's level, marked most urgent, to the front lines.

Hoping Li Guanyi could retreat a little.

Things like, 'With the sovereign upon the throne, should the great general fail in his duty, how can we allow the lord of a nation to personally don armor and take up arms, standing at the forefront of the formation, and so on and so forth.'

Or, 'A body worth a thousand gold pieces should not sit beneath the eaves—how could one charge into the formation and brave the arrows?!'

Grand Marshal Yue was a man of dignity; at the very least, what was written in the Juan Sect was still quite dignified, but the basic meaning was that he hoped His Majesty the Qin Wang would charge into the formation just a little slower, and if that wouldn't do, to swap someone in, and let Yue Pengwu have a try as well.

His Majesty the Qin Wang always replied very politely each time, but the substance was basically—

Yes, yes, yes.

Definitely next time!

The great affairs of the realm depend on you, sir; such a small matter, do not trouble Grand Marshal Yue with it.

Yue Pengwu's twelve letters had, by sheer force, failed to bring back the sovereign charging at the front, and he could only stew in his frustration. And the Qin Wang's method of warfare lay not in slaughter, but in winning hearts. From the front lines to the rear, supplies and provisions, and population, were continuously transported back.

Causing Master Yan Daiqing's expression to remain unsettled.

Among these, the tribal populations were all broken up and dispersed to different places for resettlement, with Fire Qilin Army soldiers trained by Fan Qing looking after them, while the Chen State front-line soldiers who had fought to the death without retreat had other arrangements.

Today, Sa Atandi and Xue Changqing were heading to these places where the front-line soldiers were resettled. It seemed an old soldier had gotten into a conflict with a fellow from Jiangnan. When they arrived, the grey-haired old soldier was loudly insisting that he absolutely must get hold of something.

But that commoner from Jiangnan was unwilling. Upon asking, they learned that the old soldier had taken a fancy to a litter of puppies the man's dog had whelped, and wanted one, saying he could pay for it. The commoner's tone carried some complaint, but he could not conceal his own forthright nature, and said:

"It's just a dog—it's not a matter of money or not."

"If it were any other day, even if you wanted one, or two or three, as long as you weren't planning to catch them for meat, I'd give them to you. They're not worth much."

"But I've already given away this whole litter of puppies long ago, planning to let some friends' families raise them. Each one is accounted for. There has to be some principle of first come, first served here, right? Otherwise, how am I supposed to keep my reputation around here? Where would I even put my face?"

"This old fellow came straight over here the moment he arrived, gave everyone a fright. Asked him what was going on, he wouldn't say. After a long while he finally opened his mouth, just to say he wanted one dog."

"He came over all fired up like this—why should I give him one?"

The old soldier's white hair hung over his forehead, and he only said: "I, this one dog, the dog my brother and I raised, too alike, I, I'm begging you, just one little puppy..."

The man frowned, looked at this old soldier with his hands pressed together in supplication, almost about to kneel, and his heart softened too. But though his heart softened, his mouth was still stubborn, and he said: "Then call your brother here. What's the meaning of you coming yourself?"

"How about this—even Mr. Zhao has come, and the Captain of the Fire Qilin Army. Fine, since you're like this, bring your brother's old dog over, let me take a look. If it really looks alike, I'll give it to you."

The old soldier answered: "That dog, died."

The man's mouth paused, he opened it, then closed it again, and said: "Then, your brother?"

The old soldier answered: "Died too. Died in the Western Regions, or was it in Saibei?"

"I don't remember."

"I really want this dog, but, I'm truly sorry, I just came back from Saibei. Ha, to tell the truth, my nerves are still wound tight. Sometimes at night when I'm sleeping, I hear someone shouting and I jolt awake, clutching my saber."

"Like I've gone mad. I'm really sorry, I don't want this dog anymore."

"I'm truly sorry."

The old soldier tugged at his clothes, turned around, and walked off. The man stood there in a daze for a while, then suddenly raised his hand and gave himself a hard slap across the face, cursed once, then reached out, grabbed that dog, strode after the old soldier in three quick steps, and shoved it into the old soldier's arms, saying:

"It's yours, brother."

"Take it, take it!"

The old soldier froze, declined for a long while, but the man only said: "Just take it. Sigh, it's just one dog. It's nothing, it's nothing."

The old soldier thought for a moment, first took out a pouch from his chest and set it on the ground—inside were copper coins, that being the compensation money for Zheng Laogou—then only carefully took this one dog, holding it.

This was a good dog.

Small, its fur a dark yellow, its nose moist.

It seemed the aura of murderous intent rolling off the old soldier from the tip of his saber had startled this little puppy. The puppy's body gave a shudder, and it peed right on the old soldier. The old soldier cursed, "His mother—"

Then he lowered his head, sniffed at the smell, and suddenly burst out laughing:

"What has this dog been eating? A whole stinking smell!"

"Must be running a fever!"

While saying such things, he suddenly choked up. He pressed his forehead against the little yellow dog's head. The little yellow dog suddenly wasn't afraid anymore, stuck out its tongue, and gently licked Zhou Laosan on the head. Zhou Laosan wiped away his tears, then placed the little puppy on his shoulder.

Zhou Laosan wore blades at his waist—two blades, two blades with broken edges. On the hilt of one of them was carved the likeness of a dog's head.

The little puppy sat up straight.

Just like it was his comrade-in-arms.

Zhou Laosan extended a finger, gently scratched the little dog under the chin, and said:

"Let's go, home!"

He staggered off into the distance. Sa Atandi watched his retreating back. The man beside her wore a face full of guilt—most likely for many nights to come, unable to sleep, he'd suddenly sit bolt upright and give himself a slap across the face.

"Zhou Yong, Tianhe third year, rank-and-file soldier in the assault formation under the Deputy General of the Gui-zi Battalion."

"Having fought through several campaigns—first against the Tuyuhun, then against the Tanguts, finally shuttling back and forth across the land—at Beicheng he faced off against the Turkic Weight and Tie Futu. All his brothers-in-arms, every last one, died in battle. When Your Majesty the Qin Wang arrived at Beicheng, he shouted out his old battalion's call sign and fought desperately against the Turkic cavalry."

"One Central Plains battle-saber, hacked and slashed until the edge curled. After being wounded, he lost too much blood and fainted, collapsed in a pile of corpses, and was brought back."

"He was the last one left of those who had walked into the military camp together that year."

Xue Changqing's words fell silent.

Sa Atandi watched the old soldier and the little dog gradually walk off into the distance, their figures blurring into the sunset, and said: "Captain Xue, do you think, if after this there were never any more great battles, would you feel regret?"

"What do you think the purpose of war is?"

Xue Changqing looked at the Shi Guan girl clutching her history books under the sunset, not knowing how to answer. Sa Atandi said: "I think, if it were Your Majesty the Qin Wang, if it were Tiange'er, he would surely answer: the purpose of war is so that there will no longer be any need for war."

"It is for peace."

"It is so that everyone can be like Zhou Yong—at the very least, on a winter evening like this, be able to walk along the road holding a little puppy, buy a steamed bun at a little stall, get a bowl of piping-hot soup, and greet strangers beside him."

"Smiling and saying, 'Ah, it's really cold today.'"

"The soup tastes pretty good. Too bad, if only there were some meat, it would be even better. After eating and drinking one's fill, holding the little dog, strolling leisurely back to one's own home, quietly watching the sun set, sleeping well, having a good dream."

"Isn't that right?"

Under Sa Atandi's description, the days of peace gradually took shape. Xue Changqing slowly understood that this Shi Guan must have grown up in a place of rather tragic, rather intense conflict and warfare.

Xue Changqing slowly came to understand this girl, and felt that arguing with her was really not something a real man should do. Besides, this Miss seemed quite learned, versed in many affairs of intelligence.

Capable, very impressive.

"So, Captain Xue, if one day there were no more battlefields for you to achieve glory on, would you feel some regret?"

Sa Atandi suddenly asked. Xue Changqing froze, not knowing how to answer. The Western Regions girl's eyes were a deep black, like the most beautiful black gemstones. She smiled slightly: "You really are still a child."

The Jiangnan youth's face flushed red.

"You!!!"

Nothing is more intoxicating than the spring breeze of Jiangnan, and nothing expresses emotion better than the flushed face of a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old youth.

Xue Shen looked down from the upper floor of the tavern, watching this scene.

He curled his lip: "Young people, hmph."

"Is this useless fellow really my blood descendant?"

"Or rather, is he my elder brother's blood descendant?! How can he be such a blockhead? If it were me, I could surely be extraordinary."

"I'd only need to make a slight move to catch that girl's attention."

Elder Guan Shier of the Mohist school rolled his eyes wildly, saying:

"Yes, yes, yes, you're amazing, you're amazing. If it were you, what would you do?"

Xue Shenjiang said unhurriedly: "Go rob her of the history book, then run ahead. You can't run too fast, can't run too slow — just right in front, seeming like you could catch up, yet seeming to require great effort."

Elder Guan Shier gaped, tongue-tied.

The Mohist Elder said without the slightest courtesy: "Then you kid really are shameless!"

Xue Shenjiang said triumphantly: "But I too have my Yaoguang."

The Mohist Elder rolled his eyes wildly, feeling he could not speak more with this venomous-mouthed fellow, otherwise he would surely have his lifespan shortened, so he simply exerted even more effort into forging the new mechanical arm.

At this moment, Xue Shenjiang's bodily structure was entirely like that of an ordinary person.

His brow was composed, and even this sharp-tongued ability had been added on.

Elder Guan Shier desperately wanted to go back to the past, to that moment when he had creatively developed this kind of mechanism and laughed maniacally, rush over, and give his then-triumphant self a southwest iron-eating beast throat-lock.

My past self.

What on earth did you develop for this fellow surnamed Xue!!!

The previous successive great battles — one was the battlefield aimed at the Chen Kingdom, and the other was the great campaign to punish the Turks and the grasslands — both could be considered magnificent, both were soul-stirring, with many heroic deeds, but Xue Shenjiang had absolutely no intention of setting foot on these battlefields.

"Hmm? You ask why?" At that time, Elder Guan Shier and the others worried that Xue Shenjiang was also anxious to set foot on the battlefield, and planned to develop in advance a mechanical battle armor sufficient to bear a certain measure of his ability; when they asked Xue Shenjiang, Xue Shenjiang merely smiled lazily:

"The punishment of the Chen Kingdom, and the allied rout of the Turks — these are merely things that ought to be done normally. For famous generals ranked in the twenties or thirties, this might be the greatest achievement of their lives, but for the top three famous generals under heaven, it is only a preparation."

"Just like when you go out — eating, drinking water."

"Would you save your final battle at full strength for something like eating and drinking water?"

Xue Shenjiang's answer was concise and to the point, a very calm narration.

But the pride of the once strongest great general under heaven had already been displayed in full.

Even Elder Guan Shier understood — this was the pride belonging to the number one great general of that era: even the war to destroy Chen, and the campaign to punish the grasslands, which were enough to leave bold strokes on the annals of history, held no value in Xue Shenjiang's eyes.

In his eyes, there was only that final battle that would inevitably decide to whom the world belonged.

Before that, all great battles were merely preludes.

Elder Guan Shier could only, while crafting a true full-strength mechanism sufficient to let Xue Shenjiang appear in this world in his strongest posture, casually ask: "So, Xue Shenjiang isn't going to go see Old Man Xue Daoyong?"

Xue Shenjiang said: "See what?"

Elder Guan Shier was stunned: "Hmm?"

Xue Shenjiang lazily propped up his chin and said: "Put yourself in my shoes — if it were me, after roaming the world for a lifetime, I saw some several-hundred-year-old ancestor crawl out and demand I acknowledge my lineage, I wouldn't be interested either."

"When a person lives a hundred years, grandchildren still remember them, but great-grandchildren find it hard to remember; if you go another one or two generations, not to mention that person's character and experiences, even their name — few would know it."

"The Xue family of this moment, to me, is merely a world with a thin thread of blood relation, a stranger. If I go, they won't be at ease, and I won't be at ease either. Better that we both forget — they know of me, but need not see me; I know of them, but need not see them either."

"Only thus does one feel at ease; only thus can it be called carefree and unfettered."

Elder Guan Shier looked at Xue Shenjiang at this moment, and only now felt that this fellow with a venomous mouth possessed a measure of the spirit of the once number one under heaven — only that Xue Shenjiang had his arms folded across his chest, gazing into the distance at the heavens and earth.

"The battle to destroy the grasslands and the Turks, huh…"

He thought of when he had made his name — that generation's Red Emperor had been surrounded by the Turkic great army, and he had used the Cloud-Breaking Heaven-Shaking Bow to slay the Turkic Tian Kehan of that time, but even so, the Turks had merely retreated.

In this era five hundred years later, they were still active.

This generation — to utterly destroy the Turks, and then end eight hundred years of feuds and grudges, huh…

Heh, truly exhilarating.

Wonder whether it'll be that kid Li Guanyi, or Jiang Su who takes the prize.

Xue Shenjiang narrowed his eyes slightly — with what kind of regret he was mourning his own prime, thinking of the man beside him, or with what kind of emotion he was envisioning the slaughter upon the distant grasslands, was unknown.

He merely cupped his hand in the air, as if lifting a wine cup, and raised it toward the distance.

"Stronger than us, Chen Baxian."

"A toast is in order."

……………………

Battle flags flapped fiercely, like clouds falling from the sky, landing upon the earth.

It was a clear winter night sky, cloudless for ten thousand li, a bright moon hung upon the heavens, illuminating everything around; the land was a sheet of silver-white. The army under Qin Wang had already arrived outside the Five Great Lotus Pond Volcanoes.

Between heaven and earth, the snow lay white, but within this white snow there was faintly a fierce flame elemental qi hidden within. Li Guanyi stood amidst the snow of heaven and earth, and a ball of fire leapt up, landing on Li Guanyi's shoulder.

It was the little Fire Qilin.

It shook its body, not at all fearing the cold of this extreme northernmost place under heaven, only widening its eyes wide as it looked at the distant solemn volcano, and said: "Hmm?? This aura — what a dense fire elemental qi…"

"One whiff and you just know it's gotta be delicious!"

"It's a good fruit!"

Li Guanyi rubbed the Fire Qilin's head and said: "At a time like this, and you're still thinking about your good fruit." He too looked at the solemn volcano that lay beyond the grassland Khan's final battle line.

The Five Great Lotus Pond Volcanoes — like the Flaming Mountain of the Western Regions, a place nurturing the dense elemental qi between heaven and earth — was also the place where Master Siming, the old gentleman, had once sealed one of the martial Dao legends, the blue-robed Longevity Guest Zhang Ziyong.

It was likewise — the place where one could cast and temper, completing the Jiuli Bingzhu's final masterwork, the Jiuli Bingzhu-tier divine weapon capable of breaking all divine weapons — the Jiuli Divine Weapon Jin Tie.

As if sensing the fierce fire elemental qi of that distant place, a light hum of weapons came to Li Guanyi's ears, and a surging, rising aura of martial sternness and killing intent welled up —

On this very day, at this place where the fire elemental qi of heaven and earth converged, and where the weapons and war of the world were at their most flourishing, golden flowing patterns appeared upon the Jiuli Divine Weapon Jin Tie.

A stream of flowing light gathered.

A sudden change occurred.

?? Begging for monthly tickets, friends~

? Got some things going on, my schedule's slipped a bit again (peacefully weeping)