Chapter 563: Li Guanyi Versus Jiang Su

"What?!!!"

The instant this news appeared, Jiang Gao's expression had already changed in a flash; he rose sharply, strode forward several steps, and snatched the Juan Sect back from the hands of the soldier reporting the intelligence.

He only took one look, and his countenance changed drastically.

It was written clearly and plainly: Qin Huang had nearly exerted every ounce of his strength.

Even if it were a million-strong army, according to the wording there must certainly be much padding, much bluster and posturing, yet there were at least five hundred thousand elite combat soldiers, and the so-called number-one divine general under heaven, Qin Huang, personally leading the troops—such a vast, sweeping momentum, like the bursting of Jin Yu, the sound grim and murderous.

The great momentum of the world turned because of this.

Jiang Gao's expression tightened. The great momentum of the world—Ying Country's sole weakness at this moment—had been found by Qin Huang just like that. Jiang Su had burned his boats, broken before establishing anew; in Jiang Su's eyes, after Jiang Gao's awakening, in the years to come Ying Country's situation would be far, far better than now.

But the fact that it would gradually grow stronger in the future also proved precisely that now was the moment when Ying Country was at its weakest.

Jiang Gao, with this flesh-and-blood body of his, felt the great momentum of the world surging with a thunderous roar.

Qin Huang's use of troops, in days past, had been extremely steady and composed, unmoving as Rushan.

Yet this time, the speed was so fast it struck terror into the heart.

Jiang Gao drew a deep breath and said:

"Summon Grand Preceptor Jiang Su at once!"

Jiang Cai seized the imperial edict and the intelligence and said, "I'll go fetch the Grand Preceptor!" Then she turned and ran out at once, her face pale. Jiang Gao sat on the throne, drew a deep breath, then exhaled a long breath, trying to calm himself down.

But controlling his emotions was not as simple as he had imagined.

He sat there, his heart still pounding violently, his mind in a panic.

The feeling of being Crown Prince and the feeling of being emperor were not the same; and the feeling of diligent governance as one gradually set the internal affairs in order as emperor, versus the change of facing a landslide-like, resolute offensive the moment one ascended the throne—these were a world apart.

He gripped his own palm tightly.

He realized that the one he faced was not that Li Guanyi, who was quite a bit younger than himself, but a fierce hero of these troubled times who had galloped across the four corners of the realm from his youth—from Qin Wu Hou, to Qin Wang, to Qin Huang—climbing up step by step.

In the experience and depth of foundation of being a sovereign, a king, he was stronger than Jiang Gao himself.

He watched his own palm tremble slightly, calmly observed his own fear, and said to himself: "So this is the feeling, when the world is in great upheaval and one stands at the very center of the whirlpool? Li Guanyi…"

"More than ten years ago, in Jiangzhou city, I never imagined it."

"That in the end, the ones contending for the realm would be you and me."

His voice paused, carrying a trace of self-mockery, and he said: "I, in truth, only qualified to stand before you and become your opponent by leaning on my father's generation and the military god Grand Preceptor, or rather… rather than saying your opponent is me—"

"It would be better to say that Father Emperor, the Grand Preceptor, and the three hundred years of Ying Country's national fortune have all fallen upon my shoulders, all stacked together, that is your opponent. I am nothing more than a shadow chosen by all of this…"

"But, even so."

"Even so!"

Jiang Gao clenched his fist. The helplessness and fear born deep in his heart from terror, from facing the greatest upheaval under heaven, still made his body tremble; then bit by bit, he tightened the trembling hand into a fist.

"I, too, am the sovereign of Great Ying."

The trembling hand slammed heavily onto the dragon chair; the sharp pain drove away hesitation and fear. Jiang Gao's eyes once again took on a sharp, keen look, and he said: "Let the two of us end these troubled times, Li Guanyi."

"With a single, exhilarating great battle."

Jiang Su arrived at Ying Country's imperial palace very quickly.

Jiang Su was, after all, the foremost figure of the military arts in the world over the past three hundred years. Before Qin Huang launched this final campaign, when he withdrew his troops back to Huicheng, he had already mobilized the entire Ying Country army, ordering several corps to garrison the regions of southern Ying Country bordering Jiangnan.

Now issuing orders once more, these corps, which had already been gradually drawing closer to this region, responded swiftly; a full eight hundred thousand troops directly blocked the broad expanse of territory where Ying Country and Qin Country bordered each other.

"The crux of this battle is Li Guanyi."

Jiang Su's expression was calm. He said: "This subject will go forth, block Li Guanyi, seal off their path of advance. Qin's foundation is insufficient; under such circumstances, as time drags on, their logistics and provisions will not keep up, and their morale will collapse swiftly."

"If we can break Li Guanyi on the field of battle, that would be a great victory."

"Even if we cannot achieve such a great gain, we can still block the edge of their arms. Among the heroes of the world, only Li Guanyi can be counted as an opponent."

Jiang Su tapped with two fingers on the map of the realm, his voice steady and unhurried, and said slowly: "Moreover, once the enemy moves, it is in fact our opportunity."

"With Gao Xiang present, let him go with this subject to tear into Li Guanyi head-on; He Ruo Qinhu and Yuwen Lie shall each lead a hundred thousand troops to sever the connection between Qin Huang's army and its rear from the left and right flanks."

"If this can be accomplished, we can in turn pounce and slaughter Jiangnan and Qin Country."

Jiang Gao asked: "So direct, so simple?"

Jiang Su looked at the map and said softly: "Simple? Does Your Majesty think that the art of war is some profoundly mysterious thing? It is not so. The so-called art of war is merely knowing oneself and knowing the enemy, knowing the shifts of the great momentum; with that, one can be ever-victorious."

"In these several hundred years of the world, the heroes have already withered away one after another."

"Our generals, Qin Huang knows; the fierce and valiant men under Qin Huang, we also know them by heart. The two sides have fought to such a state as this; the old acquaintances have departed, and those remaining are all old familiar faces, having clashed more than once."

"Who is stronger, who is weaker, we have some measure of it in our hearts."

"Whether it be attacking or fighting, it is all an open stratagem now."

Strike directly at Qin Huang.

This was Jiang Su's open stratagem.

The so-called grasping the main thread, striking where the enemy must rescue.

Aimed straight at the enemy's vital point.

With two top divine generals launching a fierce assault on Qin Huang—even if Qin Huang were incomparably domineering, a legend of the martial Dao—he would still suffer a loss.

He is young, but in terms of the depth of his cultivation, he is still inferior to Jiang Su; and with the number-one divine archer under heaven present, even if we cannot utterly slay Qin Huang on the battlefield, we can still sharply blunt his edge.

When that time comes, Qin Huang's offensive is halted, and it will be the moment to wear down Qin Huang's foundations and his rear logistics. At that point, victory and fortune will lean toward Ying Country's side.

And having He Ruo Qinhu and Yuwen Lie simultaneously carve in from the flanks is the very tactic Qin Huang once used against him in the Western Regions. Li Guanyi is constantly learning his art of war and strategy; the aging military god, at this age, is still learning the things of the younger generation.

"There is also… Beicheng…"

Jiang Su wanted to tell Jiang Gao.

But at that very moment, a second piece of intelligence of the utmost urgency arrived. Imperial Forest guards supported a man wearing frontier armor as they brought him here; the man's face was pale, and from his spirit it was plainly evident he had already reached his limit.

The two Imperial Forest soldiers slightly loosened their grip on the arm they were supporting.

This frontier soldier's body went limp at once, nearly staggering forward and collapsing onto the ground; even so, he still managed to steady his mind with great effort, presented a bloodstained scroll with both hands, and said in a halting voice, full of fear:

"Reporting! Northern military intelligence!"

The expressions of everyone present shifted slightly.

Jiang Gao's fist tightened.

The man's breathing came in ragged gasps; the candlelight reflected in his eyes flickered, as if mirroring the fear within them, and he reported loudly:

"Yue Pengwu's Yue Family Army, together with the Fire Qilin Army, total one hundred fifty thousand men. They have abandoned Beicheng and marched out. Now our general has been slain in formation by Yue Pengwu. The enemy's army advances like an arrowhead, heading straight for our capital. We request reinforcements!"

Jiang Gao was briefly stunned, then instantly realized what it meant.

Jiang Su's strategy was to deploy eight hundred thousand troops to forcibly intercept Qin Huang, the foremost among the lords of the realm. The War God Jiang Su and Divine Archer Gao Xiang would both take the field at once to face Qin Huang.

But now, with Yue Pengwu's momentum, once Jiang Su departs, Yue Pengwu will likely not hesitate to strike directly at the capital of the Kingdom of Ying.

If they go to fight Qin Huang, the rear becomes unstable.

If they go to intercept Yue Pengwu, then Qin Huang's forces grow stronger.

In this situation, the one bogged down would not be Qin Huang, but Jiang Su and Gao Xiang.

Jiang Gao understood.

This time, it was no ordinary great battle.

It was a battle to determine the fate of the realm.

It was a battle to annihilate a nation.

One does not move lightly, but once one moves, the heavens collapse and the earth cracks, and all directions are shaken. Even Qin Huang—Jiang Su gazes at this map of the realm, the military situation of the world. Among the Ten Divine Generals, the Kingdom of Ying's foundations run deeper than those of Qin.

Li Guanyi versus Jiang Su; Yue Pengwu versus Gao Xiang; Xue Shenjiang versus Yuwen Lie.

If among these three pairings, for now no clear superiority can be discerned, then He Ruo Qinhu firmly outmatches General Yue Qianfeng and Li Zhaowen. Surely they cannot still expect Yue Qianfeng to fight to the death against He Ruo Qinhu, a divine general at his peak who stands fourth under heaven.

Moreover, at this moment, He Ruo Qinhu has already embraced the resolve to die.

Far more difficult to deal with than in days past.

Even if Yue Qianfeng were to spit out every last drop of his qi and blood, he still could not stop him.

Jiang Su exhaled and said in a low voice: "So that's how it is... Once one moves, the world must move. What magnificent spirit—only the late Emperor Jiang Wanxiang could have been his match. Your Majesty, today we shall live and die with the state."

Jiang Gao looked at Jiang Su and nodded deeply: "Grand Tutor, rest assured."

"I shall live and die with the realm of Great Ying."

Jiang Gao nodded slightly.

When he stepped out, he saw Gao Xiang—old as he was, still carrying the cool, sharp edge of a knight-errant. Gao Xiang stood with arms folded, leaning against a vermilion pillar of the Ying palace adorned with gilded coiling dragons, watching Jiang Su calmly.

"No matter what, Gao Xiang."

"Jiang Wanxiang is already dead. Consider it the pact of old, and fight once more for Great Ying." Jiang Su's voice was low and grim. He stood beneath the palace gate, his great black cloak hanging down, the whole man resembling a solemn mountain ridge.

Gao Xiang's eyes were calm: "You want me to shoot and kill Qin Huang at the critical moment?"

Jiang Su said: "You cannot kill him. Even though you have already touched the foundation of the martial Dao's legends, you still cannot kill him. But with your archery—the foremost under heaven—it is enough to contain him."

"His Wu Gong and mine cannot be told apart by much. On a battlefield like this, whoever is contained, whoever is distracted, even for an instant, may lose. And to lose may mean death."

"This battle is fought on national strength."

"Qin Huang's national strength is insufficient. What we need is to contain him. Qin Huang seeks a swift victory; if we wish to win, we absolutely cannot follow his wishes. He wants speed, so we are slow. He wants a decisive clash, so we delay, we wear down the vigor of Qin Huang and the Fire Qilin Army."

"And then, when his logistical reserves run short and he is forced to withdraw his army back to the capital—"

"We launch our offensive."

"This is the military contest for seizing momentum."

"On the battlefield, the first taboo is to fall into the opponent's strategic rhythm. Once that happens, even with a great army and famed generals, there is no saving the situation—one will only be toyed with in the palm of another's hand, dying without knowing how."

Jiang Su's expression was calm. As a top-tier commander, he would absolutely never fall into the opponent's battle rhythm. Meet soldiers with soldiers, water with earth—such is but this very principle.

The old man's expression was solemn. He extended his hand, five fingers strong, gathering the flowing wind, and said slowly: "... His parents, in a sense, died by my hand. Yu Langwang was cut down by me. As for his friend Emperor Ji Zichang—though I did not strike him myself, had I not contained him in the north, things would not have reached such an end."

"All these karmic ties between him and me must come to a close."

"Whether I kill him, or he kills me."

"Either is fine."

"Karma and the myriad phenomena have a beginning and an end."

Gao Xiang lowered his eyes, calm. In his life, his nature delighted in the bearing of a knight-errant, but the world is full of troubles and affairs—how could it let a man follow his own nature? Even having reached a realm such as his, one cannot escape being a slave to circumstance.

Jiang Su gazed into the distant sky, lifted the Divine Spear Oblivion, and mobilized the forward army corps to go forth and lead troops to block Qin Huang's spearhead. He led only a contingent of elites out from the Eastern Capital, because long before this battle, he had already prepared in advance for such a situation.

………………

Outside Beicheng.

The Yue commander's banner billowed in the wind, making a sound like surging waves. The Fire Qilin Army and Yue Family Army combined numbered over a hundred thousand. The great army advanced rapidly toward the front. Yue Pengwu held Li Guanyi's letter.

【Swift Victory】.

Yue Pengwu's expression was calm, but in his heart he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He had been given an extremely important mission.

At last it was not as before—always defending a city, or sitting at the rear. In these tumultuous times, for the most critical of battles, he could only sit safely at the back. As a famed general and commander, how could he endure such a thing?

This time, at last, he had taken on a great responsibility.

His heart was exceedingly exhilarated!

Yue Pengwu was never a man of mild temperament to begin with.

The great army suddenly abandoned Beicheng, leaving only a second-line force to hold the defense. The main combat corps, under Yue Pengwu's command, formed battle arrays and charged forward to engage.

Yue Pengwu personally led the charge to slay enemy commanders, and the Fire Qilin Army's morale soared.

Because of the matter of Jiang Yuan, Qin Yulong and his wife had been forced to leave the frontier, and later retired to live among the jianghu. Although Jiang Gao had executed Jiang Yuan, he had even sent Yuwen Lie to bring Qin Yulong and his wife back.

But the time was too short.

Qin Yulong had not even managed to arrive here yet.

The Fire Qilin army had already seized this critical opportunity and launched a full-scale assault.

Yue Pengwu looked at Mr. Pojun's silk letter, exhaled a breath. Mr. Pojun wanted Yue Pengwu's forces to push the battle line forward, but not to attack immediately; instead, to use the more than one hundred thousand troops garrisoning Beicheng, along with the momentum of their great victory over the enemy's border army, to carry out a containment.

"Containment… a great victory at the border, and it's still only containment."

A flicker of strange color passed through Yue Pengwu's eyes.

This battlefield was no longer a region of merely a thousand li; it was the entire realm, a dynamic battlefield spanning an entire era. They had smashed the enemy's army here, their spear-tip aimed straight at the Ying Kingdom's capital.

One hundred and fifty thousand troops, plus the routed Ying Kingdom stragglers—if left unmanaged.

The Ying Kingdom would once again suffer a disaster like Yu Langwang's invasion.

This was enough to pin down the Ying Kingdom's overall troop deployments, creating the most critical opportunity for the core battlefield in Jiangnan, shouldering part of the military pressure Jiangnan needed to bear.

Suddenly, the banners ahead rolled like waves and clouds. Generals Ling Pingyang of the Yue Family Army's Beiwei Army, already at the Seventh Heaven, withdrew, his voice grim and murderous:

"Marshal Yue, enemies ahead—"

Yue Pengwu tucked the letter away.

He mounted his divine steed in person, gripped the divine spear Lique in hand, and rode out from among the ranks.

The battlefield's atmosphere was grim and murderous. As the great army advanced, the hoofbeats struck the ground, thundering like rolling thunder; the swirling dust, the scorching wind in the air—all made Yue Pengwu's heart pound fiercely.

At last, he could unfold the ambitions in his breast.

Now forty-five years old, Yue Pengwu, at the peak of his Wu Gong, was here on this battlefield—where he had comrades who could fight shoulder to shoulder with him, a lord who charged even more ferociously than he did, a great army, enemies ahead, a place where the ambitions in his heart could be displayed.

No!

Ambitions even greater than those of yesteryear, when he had aided the restoration of Southern Chen!

A true, genuine unification of all under heaven!

Such a grand dream, such a great vow—how could it not intoxicate a man, how could it not make a hero spur on his horse and whip his steed?

And in such a great battle, he should be the sharp edge, should hack through thorns and brambles, charge valiantly forward—was this not also a glorious exhilaration!

Yue Pengwu's heart pounded.

His blood seemed to be boiling. The generals ahead wore solemn expressions, all parting to clear the way, like waves splitting apart. The marshal's banner, bearing the character Yue on a Fire Qilin-patterned ground, unfurled; behind him the great army was grim and murderous. Yue Pengwu led his men forward, only to see a great army drawn up across the path ahead.

The military killing aura pierced the heavens, leaden and heavy, the army's will as solid as iron.

Just as Mr. Pojun had planned, Yue Pengwu's force had indeed drawn the redeployment of at least two hundred thousand troops, causing the number of Ying Kingdom soldiers gathered in Jiangnan to drop.

A blue dragon pattern unfurled, bearing prominently the two great characters 【He Ruo】.

Before the great army, He Ruo Qinhu stood in heavy armor, his battle robe billowing.

He kept his eyes closed, his white hair swaying slightly beneath his golden helm.

He was already very old. He cultivated the Wu Gong of the military school, walking the field of battle. The Wu Gong of a military commander was ultimately different from that of the Buddhist or Daoist schools. The Buddhist and Daoist schools cultivated in seclusion; once one grasped their essentials, one's lifespan would be longer than that of a martial artist of the jianghu.

But a divine general of the military school, slaughtering in chaotic times, darting across the four corners—though aided by the nation's fortune and killing aura, his Wu Gong would advance faster, yet he would always harbor many hidden wounds, and his fate would not be long.

Needless to say, he had previously been gravely wounded twice by Xue Shenjiang.

Now, he was long past his peak.

He was likely no longer a match for Yue Pengwu, whose spirit could swallow ten thousand li.

He stayed here to intercept Yue Pengwu.

There could only be one outcome—death in battle.

But his death in battle could buy a tremendous opportunity: it could free Gao Xiang, who had originally been able to hold Yue Pengwu, to be redeployed in a formation paired with the army god Jiang Su and the divine archer Gao Xiang, to intercept and assassinate Qin Huang!

Once Qin Huang died, the enemy army would be without a commander.

Even if he did not die, only being gravely wounded could extend the Ying Kingdom's prosperous era by another ten years; by then, Qin Yulong would surely have already Break Through the Realm to the Ninth Heaven.

If he held Yue Pengwu, the grand strategy could succeed; if he could not hold Yue Pengwu, he should still die on the battlefield.

This body stands here, to be pledged to the nation!

Yue Pengwu, you have your resolve; we too have our own passion.

By now, words could no longer persuade one another.

He Ruo Qinhu stretched out his palm and gripped that horse-halberd. The divine weapon, the horse-halberd, roared and surged, ripples spreading through the void. This war general, who had entered the Imperial Guard as a boy of ten-odd and then for a full sixty years had followed Jiang Wanxiang on campaigns east and west, earning countless merits, opened his eyes and gazed ahead.

The Dharma Aspect behind him roared, shaking heaven and earth.

He thought of Jiang Gao's words back then.

'I grant you.'

'The qualification to die on the battlefield!'

Truly, a fine place to die on the battlefield!

Divine General Under Heaven · He Ruo Qinhu, the divine weapon in his hand pointed forward. In that instant, he forgot life and death, forgot the past, forgot all the noble clans that entangled and clung to this body. Standing here, he was only here for the nation, for the dream of his youth!

A true man, giving his life for his country, wrapped in horsehide for burial—is this not a splendid end?!

He Ruo Qinhu drew a deep breath, his voice like thunder, and roared furiously:

"He Ruo Qinhu is here!"

"Yue Pengwu, dare you come and fight!"

The Dharma Aspect surged skyward, like a giant python coiled between heaven and earth, its power enough to seize a tiger.

The giant python of bygone days, which had once soared alongside the blue dragon, must once again uphold this nation.

Yue Pengwu's hand gripped the divine spear Lique, his eyes soaring. Behind him, golden radiance merged with the army's killing aura; accompanied by the scattering of golden light and cry after cry that could halt the passing clouds, a Jin Chida roc appeared between heaven and earth.

The killing aura of both armies clashed like metal.

Dharma Aspects and army souls merged, surging skyward, churning the sea of clouds above into rolling layers that spiraled upward. Lei Ting crackled faintly within. In the end, would it be the giant python that had galloped with the blue dragon, or the great roc that flew alongside the Fire Qilin?

The realm, the nation, life and death, comrades.

Nothing more than two words.

"Come and fight!"

Boom!!!!

………………

Weapons clashed, emitting a sound of slaughter.

The Fire Qilin army's great host advanced, looking down on all before it. Qin Huang led the troops in person, his momentum like a rainbow. Jiang Su led the army forward, Gao Xiao concealed himself within the ranks, and at the same time, following the grand strategy of the art of war, Jiang Su ordered Yuwen Lie and Qin Yulong to lead two hundred thousand and one hundred thousand troops respectively.

Over a hundred li away they split apart, sweeping past the grand momentum from the left and right flanks like blades, cutting toward Qin Huang's rear.

While he himself charged from the front.

Qin Huang's great army galloped forward, and Jiang Su's great army could already faintly be sensed. The two hosts faced each other; the military momentum of a million troops stretched out endlessly — there was no single point that was the breakthrough, the point of breakout.

A million troops — a single wave of military momentum.

Qin Huang was merely at the crest of that wave.

Jiang Su was the same.

Yet just as the vanguard of these million troops was about to clash, it suddenly halted, not colliding at the first instant. The two grand momenta, already surging to the utmost, stopped in the very instant before contact.

But that majestic, terrifying grand momentum had not dissipated in the slightest.

Not only had it not dissipated in the slightest, but because of this high-speed galloping and sudden abrupt halt, it became all the more vast, all the more oppressive.

A crimson great banner emblazoned with the Fire Qilin cloud pattern.

An ink-blue great banner emblazoned with the Dark Dragon pattern.

Each occupied one side. Though there was no wind, it was as if an endless gale raged, the banners whipping violently. In a daze, within the distortion brought by the martial world's baleful aura, it truly seemed as if a Fire Qilin and a Dark Dragon had manifested.

The Fire Qilin and Dark Dragon, having manifested, took form above the heavens, then collided and tore at each other. The wind and thunder in the void sounded like the roars of the Fire Qilin and Dark Dragon.

Beneath the Dark Dragon banner, an old man in ink-black armor and an ink-black great cloak wore a solemn expression.

Beneath the Fire Qilin army banner, Qin Huang, his hair bound with a jade hairpin, wore a suit of golden armor and a crimson battle robe embroidered with the Fire Qilin pattern in civil-and-military sleeves, gripping a battle-halberd. Behind him and to his side stood a silver-haired girl in an astrologer's long robe.

Within the great army, if it were a head-on charge, a silver-haired girl would be out of place.

But as the great hosts faced each other, advancing with precision in a foreign land, she had not left his side.

Just as their original promise.

Their original pact.

Whether it was the overlord who would tear the realm apart, or the sovereign who would trample the chaos of the world flat and open a great peace — she would be there.

Qin Huang urged his divine steed forward. The silver-haired girl's hand lowered slightly, using the astromantic arts of the Star-Gazing lineage to make the army's momentum all the more refined.

Jiang Su likewise urged his horse forward.

The great banners unfurled like waves; above the heavens, army souls fought and killed.

Beneath the great banners, Qin Huang and Jiang Su faced each other.

One young, one old.

The great hosts face each other — the fate of the realm lies between you and me.

Three hundred years of magnificent slaughter and strife — here, at the peak!

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