Chapter 529: The Fall of Chen

Chen Wenmian was repelled by Chen Dingye, staggered to his feet, then heard the sounds of blades and swords ringing out violently within, as if countless weapons had plunged into flesh all at once, and then, in an instant, all fell silent.

Chen Wenmian's body trembled.

First, fresh blood flowed out through the gap beneath the door; then the Chief Eunuch, who had shut the courtyard gate, finally seemed unable to hold on any longer, falling backward onto the ground, and the courtyard gate swung open toward the outside.

The gruesome scene within the courtyard was clearly revealed.

Chen Wenmian looked at the scene before him, his face faintly pale.

Even though he had steeled his resolve and truly struck a killing blow at Chen Dingye.

But the human heart is such that, when one truly witnesses the final scene, one cannot help but feel sorrow; and as for what happened today in this small city, the later-drafted history of Chen, the historian recorded in five characters.

【The Emperor perished by the blade.】

Following the historian's principle for recording such matters.

That is, to spare the dignity of the great.

In other histories, the record of this event is much clearer, often stating 【Chen Dingye died amid the chaos of blades and weapons】; his last words before death, 【Come, let us open the nation with you】, as if possessed some mysterious power.

The famed generals who took part in the battle within this courtyard, the battle to slay the Chen Huang, all received titles and stipends in the future, just as when the Hegemon of old perished, the famed generals beneath the Scarlet Emperor fought over the Hegemon's body, dividing it into five portions, and every general who seized a share of the corpse was enfeoffed as a marquis or duke.

Later generations, reading the histories, sighed in lamentation.

Li Guanyi watched this scene in silence; the death of the Chen Huang marked the completion of the first step in avenging his parents—he had personally destroyed the very reason Chen Dingye had moved against his father and mother, destroyed everything Chen Dingye had held dear.

Chen Dingye, for the sake of the throne, for his own empire, had moved against the Tai Ping Gong and his wife, whose fame shook the world; the son of Tai Ping Gong, over the course of ten years, led a thousand troops and ten thousand horses, an army of hundreds of thousands in its vanguard, and trampled the Chen Kingdom flat.

He himself did not strike; he let Chen Dingye die amid the chaos of battle.

Revenge, from the inside out.

There are always those who feel that this Qin Wang rather fits the jocular appraisal of his contemporary, the Hegemon of Ying, Jiang Wanxiang, who said his spirit was grand and bold, but his heart was petty.

Yet there are also those who feel that such revenge, upright and honorable, in keeping with the Gongyang school of the Confucians, is what truly counts as satisfying.

The Chief Eunuch, with one last breath remaining, gazed at Chen Dingye's corpse.

He sat there in a daze, then as if suddenly coming to his senses, his body trembled; he braced his hands against the ground, crawled forward on his knees, and finally reached Chen Dingye, looking at the monarch in a white robe almost entirely turned red, sitting there.

Chen Dingye had breathed his last, clad only in a blood-soaked robe, sitting on the bluestone of an ordinary small city's courtyard, propped up on a sword, never having fallen, his eyes open; this manner of death, in fact, possessed far more bearing than in days past, when robed in dragon robes and seated beneath the great hall.

General Fan Qing and the others raised their weapons.

But were stopped by the Qin Wang.

The Chief Eunuch crawled on his knees to Chen Dingye, looked up at the dead Chen Dingye, forced himself to his feet, reached out and closed Chen Dingye's eyes; after several attempts, the Chief Eunuch said: "Your Majesty… the rain has stopped."

"You may rest now."

He raised his hand and brushed down once more, and only then did Chen Dingye's eyes close.

The Chief Eunuch choked back his sobs, turned to look at the dignified Qin Wang, knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and said: "Imperial Prince Qin, it has been long since we last met."

Li Guanyi looked at the Chief Eunuch and said: "It has been long."

When he was young and entered the palace as a Jinwu Guard, this Chief Eunuch had already guessed who his father was, but at that time, for reasons unknown, the Chief Eunuch chose to remain silent and did not report it.

He bore no particular ill will toward the Chief Eunuch.

Li Guanyi said: "Chen Dingye is already dead; I have no nature for butchering corpses. All things are like flowing water—the Chen Kingdom has perished, and you have made it this far. From now on, go and keep vigil at Chen Dingye's tomb, and see out the remainder of your life."

The Chief Eunuch said deferentially: "Imperial Prince Qin is merciful."

"But this servant is already Your Majesty's servant—how could I betray my lord to seek favor…"

Before the words had finished, he suddenly leapt up, a dagger in hand, and lunged at the Qin Wang before him; but he was nothing more than a maimed man without any talent, and even though, by virtue of Chen Dingye, he had had the chance to consume all manner of elixirs, he was still only a Third Heaven warrior fed on pills.

A Third Heaven martial artist, even if his qi and blood were robust enough to wear armor.

Was still only fit to lead a few hundred men in battle as a minor general.

How could he possibly compare with the Qin Wang, whose spirit now swallowed the whole world? Moreover, Li Guanyi was not alone; the dagger was thrust out with all its might, but a palm seized the wrist, and before the Qin Wang could act, the great generals on either side had already stopped the Chief Eunuch.

Fan Qing's grip tightened; the dagger clattered to the ground with a ringing sound.

The Qin Wang looked at the Chief Eunuch and said: "…Take him away."

"Eunuch, there is no enmity between you and me; let there be a proper beginning and a proper end."

Fan Qing released the Chief Eunuch's wrist; the Chief Eunuch looked at the Qin Wang, tears streaming down his face, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed repeatedly: "…This servant knows his words are absurd and bold, but, Imperial Prince Qin, might you grant this servant a corner of your battle robe?"

General Yue Qianfeng roared in fury: "How dare you!"

"A mere eunuch—how dare you ask for the Qin Wang's battle robe? Do you seek death?!"

Li Guanyi raised his hand, stopped Yue Qianfeng, looked at the eunuch whose face held little color, and said: "Speaking as Qin Wang, I cannot give it to you."

The Chief Eunuch's expression dimmed.

But then the Qin Wang suddenly drew his sword; amid the clear, ringing cry of the blade, he merely cut off a corner of his battle robe, and the long sword returned to its sheath; that corner of battle robe fluttered down, and Li Guanyi said softly: "But in the end, you are an old acquaintance."

The Chief Eunuch twitched the corners of his mouth, unsure whether he wanted to laugh or cry, and suddenly recalled days gone by.

At that time, Chen Dingye was an idle, unfavored Imperial Prince, long since no longer in the palace.

He was just a little eunuch, a eunuch with no backing, living a bitter life, whom anyone could bully a little; only that divine general would thank him, and after being helped onto his horse drunk, would raise a wineskin and invite him to drink together, saying something about brothers drinking together.

He had said, in terror and awe, that a maimed man could not be called brother.

That young man had only laughed heartily.

Saying that a man with boldness in his chest need not care what others thought.

The Chief Eunuch said softly: "Truly his father's son—the disposition of the Imperial Prince and Tai Ping Gong, how alike they are."

Surrounded by the famed generals, this eunuch, an arrow lodged in his body, gripped his dagger and stabbed again and again at that corner of battle robe; he had no Wu Gong to speak of, and could only use this to avenge his lord; then he cast the dagger aside, his breath ragged, his face deathly pale.

This eunuch, who had once risked his life to charge into a blaze and witness the divine general's final moments, had bowed and scraped his whole life long; this time, at last, he straightened his back, staggered to Chen Dingye's corpse, twitched the corners of his mouth, and bowed down.

And then never rose again.

A man with boldness in his chest.

Even if we were enemies, Tai Ping Gong.

This one, here, is the same.

Can he finally be called a man?

……………………

The death of the Emperor of Chen meant the end of Chen's dynastic mandate; his passing dealt a tremendous blow to the noble houses and hidden forces within Chen's borders that still harbored some will to resist.

Under this banner, the Fire Qilin Army under Qin Wang began to thoroughly eliminate and subdue the last of Chen's defiant factions.

Chen · Imperial Mausoleum.

Chen Dingye was ultimately buried here in the end.

In recognition of his final desperate act of tearing open the steppe, which at least earned him a place here, Li Guanyi buried the Chief Eunuch of Ceremonies beside Chen Dingye, and gave a grand burial to the Golden Guard warriors who fell in the last battle.

At the center of Chen's imperial mausoleum stood one tomb in particular, ancient and grand beyond the rest.

Beside it stood two enormous stone steles, and outside grew an old tree.

This was the burial place of Chen's founding sovereign, Emperor Wu of Chen.

The white-haired old Master Siming stood here, looking at the great tree. Another spring had come, and this old willow had sprouted tender leaves anew; only the people of those years were gone. Not only were the old friends of those days no longer to be seen, even the dynasty they had forged amid clashing arms and armored steeds had perished.

Only this old willow, once the spring wind passed, was green once more.

The old Master Siming patted the trunk of the old tree and said to the old Dark Turtle beside him: "Old mate, back then, that bastard Emperor Wu of Chen broke with me. Before I left, I said that after he died, I'd take a good piss right in front of that old tree at his tomb."

"Never expected that, before this kid died, he actually wrote an imperial edict ordering his descendants to plant this old tree. Stubborn as a spit and a nail, that one. Though when his descendants were still around, doing this sort of thing still had a certain flavor to it."

"Now his dynasty's fallen. Pissing in front of his tomb suddenly feels... pointless."

The old Dark Turtle rolled its eyes: "You just love getting smacked."

"What, you need someone to catch you, then come after you swinging a big cleaver, before you feel thrilled?!"

The old Dark Turtle cursed and grumbled.

As for why it remembered the events of those years so clearly and bore such a grudge—

One would have to guess: back in the day, when the old Master Siming was in a mood, during the height of Chen's power, he went and pissed on the tree in front of Emperor Wu of Chen's tomb. When he was discovered by Chen's palace guards, who came swinging great cleavers down at his skull—who do you think took the blow?

The old Master Siming scratched his head and laughed heartily: "Hah!"

"Look at you, it's been so many years now."

"How do you still remember it so clearly?"

"We're so close, come on. You little turtle, how can you hold grudges like this?"

The old Master Siming furiously rubbed the Dark Turtle's head.

The latter wished it could bite this old bastard in one snap.

The old Master Siming gently stroked the old tree; the smile at the corner of his lips gradually faded. White hair hung loose, his eyes calm and serene, carrying a sense of the weathering of years, and he said: "Time flows on. Chen Wu, your kingdom has fallen too."

"Now under heaven—the Western Regions, the steppe, your Chen, the Southwest—all belong to one kingdom. The realm is already split in two. The unification of all under heaven that we dreamed of in our youth is about to be realized."

"But on the road to chasing that dream, your great dream was shattered. If you could see today's scene, would you feel unwilling and resentful, or would you just laugh freely and drink a cup of wine and let it be?"

"How should people like us respond?"

The old Master Siming sighed. As if heaven itself cooperated, in such weather a thin, pattering rain began to fall once more. The rain was bleak and cold, fitting the mood perfectly. The old Master Siming stood before his white hair, stretched out his palm, catching the falling rain as it scattered upon the world. Seeing the willow's tender branches, it was as if he saw an old friend.

The willows before his eyes, the clear sky in the distance—was it not desolate, was it not…………

The old Master Siming's thoughts froze.

Hm?

Wait—the clear sky in the distance.

Clear sky?!

The old Master Siming stared blankly at the rainless, clear sky some thirty-odd paces away, then looked down at the rain shrouding this patch of ground. His forehead twitched.

He seemed to realize something. He stiffened, slowly turned around, and raised his head to look. Up on the high ground of the mausoleum, a man with skin like wood and stone was relieving himself, letting loose a stream into the wind.

Their eyes met.

General Xue Shen said cheerfully: "Why, if it isn't little Siming?"

Hah???

The old Master Siming's face visibly flushed red.

All that melancholy over the passing of spring, all that aged, desolate air—

Was thrown clean away in an instant.

The foremost divine general of five hundred years past needed not speak; a single action sufficed.

To shatter the Dao-heart of the foremost great master of the Yin-Yang School in eight hundred years.

The old Master Siming hoisted up the Dark Turtle with one hand to shield himself from the rain and roared:

"You bastard surnamed Xue, you son of a bitch!!!"

General Xue Shen, still relieving himself, cheerfully explained:

"This is a new function Elder Guan Shier added for me."

"It looks like a little piss, but it's just normal water storage and release, like a water crossbow. Ah, I've been dead for how many years now—how could I still do it like you?"

"It's just ordinary river water, really."

"Even if it's river water, it's still too damn inauspicious."

The old Master Siming lunged and tackled the fellow, beating him furiously, his face flushed with rage. But his furious blows landed on the mechanical body, reddening his own fists. He gritted his teeth: "What the hell did you force Elder Guan Shier to add to your functions?!!"

General Xue Shen answered with perfect righteousness: "The most essential function."

The old Master Siming: "…………"

Somehow, looking at this fellow's utterly self-righteous expression—

The old Master Siming couldn't even muster the energy to be angry anymore.

Forget it. No point getting worked up over this guy. Not worth it, not worth it.

General Xue Shen easily grabbed the old Master Siming and lifted him up, then sat up. Looking at Chen's mausoleum, he clicked his tongue in wonder and said: "I heard that old bastard Chen Baxian's line—the last emperor of his dynasty—has dropped dead. Knowing that kid Li Guanyi's temperament, he'll be heading back here soon enough."

"While we haven't started fighting Jiang Su yet, hurry over and take a look at Chen Baxian."

Master Siming said: "Jiang Su... the final battle?"

The old man was silent. He had already faintly perceived that the final battle between Li Guanyi and Jiang Su would decide the course and future of this world, yet the forces and people involved in this battle were still too many.

With no external enemies, the intensity and scale of this battle would surely be unprecedented, truly without parallel in history — the final slaughter among the renowned generals of the realm.

Just imagining that scene made Master Siming's heart tremble.

Master Siming was silent for a moment, then asked: "Who do you think will win in the end?"

Xue Shenjiang laughed: "How would I know?"

Master Siming said: "Aren't you the number one Divine General from five hundred years ago?"

Xue Shenjiang said: "You said it yourself — five hundred years. The Chen Kingdom and Ying Kingdom were at their peak, dominating the realm, but their dynasties only lasted some three hundred years. Back in my day, the Laozu Sect's Chen Baxian was just a Duke, and he fought with me every day."

"Now the kingdom founded by his descendants has risen and fallen."

"Five hundred years really is a very long time."

Master Siming said: "Speak carelessly, then."

Xue Shenjiang thought for a moment, then said: "If you want my take on it—"

"In terms of foundation, Ying Kingdom is certainly deeper, but in terms of potential, that kid Li Guanyi's side is definitely greater. Give Li Guanyi thirty years, and although you can't say it would be effortless, winning would still be relatively easy."

"They possess the future; Ying Kingdom's Jiang Su holds the past."

"Yet they must contend in the present."

"You ask who wins and who loses — to tell the truth, I can't see through it. In my life I never experienced a battlefield of this level either. One of my greatest achievements was slaying the Great Khan of the Turks, but these people have already swept the steppe Turks clean off the map."

Xue Shenjiang sat cross-legged on the upper level of this Chen Kingdom tomb complex, one palm propping up his chin, and said:

"The strongest battle in eight hundred years, since the war against the Hegemon, the Red Emperor."

"It truly makes one look forward to it."

Master Siming looked at Xue Shenjiang, hesitated for a moment, but still asked: "Then do you think, between Guanyi and Jiang Su, who is stronger right now?"

Xue Shenjiang said lazily: "Jiang Su is stronger."

"The former number one Divine General of the realm, who somehow also received the blessing of Ying Kingdom's national fortune — to tell the truth, with such methods and strength, I don't know how he could possibly lose. Even though that kid Li Guanyi has exceptional talent and rose with the times—"

"To flatten Jiang Su's three hundred years of foundation in just ten years is too exaggerated. At least, for now, Jiang Su has also advanced further. If the two led equal forces into a decisive battle, one-on-one, Jiang Su wins."

"But a military battlefield isn't simply a contest of individual strength."

"This final battle will be a contest of national strength, of foundation, of how well the many generals grasp the battlefield, of unity from top to bottom, of the great momentum of the world's fortune, of that little bit of luck, and most importantly..."

Master Siming said: "Most importantly?"

Xue Shenjiang smiled slightly: "A single breath of fighting spirit."

Master Siming was utterly baffled: "Huh?"

"The final battle that decides the course of the realm — not competing with famous ministers and good generals, not competing with blades and armor, but competing on this?"

Xue Shenjiang answered: "Famous generals, armies, blades and armor are of course important."

"But the will of that army is more important than they are."

"In a battle of this level, the contradictions are laid out in the open; whatever stratagems one might use won't be of much use, since both sides can roughly guess the other's general tactics."

"When it comes down to the end, it's the most brutal style of fighting — both sides packed onto the battlefield, hacking at each other with blade and spear. Even when the edges are chipped, one must still chop down. It's a single force, a fierce force, a force bent on victory."

"Don't underestimate this breath of spirit. With it, even if defeated on the battlefield, there will still come a day to rally and return; without it, even a million-strong army is nothing but an empty shell — a brief victory, and it will still collapse and perish."

Master Siming fell into thought.

Xue Shenjiang patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Since this is a battle to 'bring peace to the realm,' how could it possibly be just one battle? It will surely be a prolonged war."

Then he fell into thought again, and said:

"Since we're already here, we might as well go see what this tomb is really like inside."

Master Siming, still fuming with anger, said instinctively: "Huh??"

"You're going to rob Chen Kingdom's tomb?!"

Xue Shenjiang said: "Of course not."

He said confidently: "We'll go in through the front door."

"Take it openly and honorably!"

Master Siming was dumbfounded: "Huh???"

Although Xue Shenjiang spoke in a very flippant manner, when it came to actually doing things he was extremely decisive and efficient — especially when it involved Chen Baxian, he moved at great speed, and soon arrived before Chen Baxian's tomb.

Chen Baxian could be said to have personally laid the foundation of the Chen Kingdom lineage. The later generations, looking up to this ancestor who was a top Divine General of his era, revered him greatly. The Chen Kingdom's imperial tomb complex was built around the tomb of the former Duke of Chen, Chen Baxian.

Master Siming saw, between two enormous, towering tomb-guarding beasts, a stone tablet surrounded by them, with a line of text carved upon it.

【Whoever enters this tomb shall be personally punished by the ancestor Baxian, and die without a place of burial】!

Xue Shenjiang paid it no heed, and directly pushed open the massive stone door atop the tomb.

"Come and try it then, Chen Baxian."

"You old fool, who are you trying to scare?"

He pressed forward, passed through the corridor, and saw another tablet.

The characters upon it were written with iron strokes and silver hooks, their edge fully exposed, as if inscribed with a long spear, carrying an overwhelming, fierce martial spirit of the battlefield.

【Those surnamed Xue and dogs are forbidden entry】!

Master Siming was silent for a moment: "What on earth did you do to the Duke of Chen, Baxian, that made him so certain you would come into his tomb, and even left words like these in his own mausoleum to curse you?"

Xue Shenjiang spoke righteously: "Who says I came in?"

"I died several hundred years ago — it was a mechanical puppet that came in."

"That old fool guessed wrong."

Looking at this great stone tablet, he strode forward:

"What do I care about all that!"

General Xue Shen walked inside. Every obstacle along the way was utterly unable to slow this divine general's steps. He walked all the way to the deepest part, only to see that on the foremost stone stele of the tomb, a single large character had been written in sharp, fierce strokes.

【Scram】!

General Xue Shen laughed heartily, paying it no heed.

He kicked the door open and went in.

Scram your uncle!

He saw the place where the coffin was buried. Before the enormous tombstone, there sat a pot of wine and two wine cups—plainly prepared long in advance. Having rested here for ages, they were already thick with dust. General Xue Shen picked up the wine pot, poured two cups, and said:

"Only you understand me!"

"At a time like this, of course I'd come find you for a drink, Chen Baxian."

General Xue Shen held the wine cup. Though he was but a mechanical body, he could still sense that slow, tranquil feeling, and said:

"You prepared everything, arranged everything. Your descendants truly did found a nation, but in the end it was still destroyed—just an empty great dream. I felt that, at the very least, I ought to let you know."

"What you sought could never be done."

General Xue Shen wore a faint smile, tipped his head back, and drank.

As if chatting idly with an old friend.

Then suddenly he spurted it back out: "Huh???"

He looked at the wine. A fragrant aroma, yet the moment it entered his mouth it was like drinking a mixture of vinegar and chili oil. Elder Guan Shier's mechanical arts weren't all that powerful, but General Xue Shen was using the power of his Nascent Soul to sense this wine, so he too would be affected to some degree.

General Xue Shen saw a line of small characters beneath the wine pot—Chen Baxian's handwriting.

【This time, I won】.

General Xue Shen was stunned. One could imagine how, five hundred years ago, when that old friend was aged and near death, he had—light, carefree, natural and unrestrained in manner—painstakingly devised such a "winning move."

Then set it all up properly, and with a sly, composed bearing, closed his eyes and departed the mortal world.

This was the final move against General Xue Shen, and also the old friend's last gift.

This gift had been separated by five hundred years.

Chen Baxian had been fully confident General Xue Shen would come to his tomb, never imagining that he himself was also General Xue Shen's friend—a close and trusted one. Even with the latter's free and easy nature, he had not done such a thing.

He had waited until over five hundred years later, when the State of Chen was destroyed, to come and tell him.

Both men were too clever—clever enough to see through people's hearts.

And because of that, they underestimated each other's bonds of affection.

The old friend was gone.

The old friend remained as before.

General Xue Shen's heart seemed to be pricked. He sat there in a daze, lost in thought, beside the tombstone. Raising a hand, he caressed the tombstone beside him, then suddenly chuckled softly, then burst into loud laughter—wild and unrestrained, a thorough, exhilarated release he had not felt in a long, long time. It felt wonderful.

He drained that "wine" mixed with chili oil and vinegar in one gulp, laughing loudly:

"Good wine!!!"

"Chen Baxian, Chen Baxian—I'll count it as your win!"

The ruler of the State of Chen had perished; the dynasty's mandate had been severed.

When the ruler of a great Central Plains nation dies, the impact on the world seems greater even than Qin Wang's conquest of the greater part of Chen's territory. Yet amid all this turmoil, amid these surging changes—

Two matters followed in quick succession.

First: Emperor Chen, Chen Dingye, had passed away; the court officials gathered to deliberate on his posthumous title.

Second—

The new Divine General Ranking spread throughout the world.

?? I've dragged myself back from my schedule—begging for monthly tickets, friends~