Chapter 569: Pride

Qin Huang personally slew Jiang Su.

It signified the fall of Ying Country's strongest fighting force and the death of its supreme commander.

Even though a considerable portion of Ying Country's army still remained here, without a top-tier famous general, the remaining Ying Country army could no longer stand against Qin Huang.

Li Guanyi exhaled a breath, and in the instant his qi and spirit relaxed, a great wave of exhaustion surged up. He lowered his head to look at his armor; the top-grade treasure armor was covered in slash marks.

Grand Preceptor Jiang Su's death on the battlefield dealt a tremendous blow to the morale of the entire Ying Country army. Gao Xiang, facing the encirclement of Qin Huang, Yue Pengwu, and the Whale-Riding Guest, was ultimately defeated.

It would be more accurate to say that although Gao Xiang had taken the field, he had no resolve to fight and die for Ying Country.

After the fighting at the central battlefield had initially drawn to a close, Li Guanyi gathered with Po Jun, Yuan Zhi, and others. Clad in armor and battle robes, carrying the fierce, killing aura of the battlefield, he entered the central army camp and met with Po Jun and Yuan Zhi.

Only now, these two top strategists both had somewhat pale faces.

Both were in a state of having expended tremendous mental and spiritual energy.

These twenty-plus days of standoff and campaigning—though spoken of as twenty-plus days of eruption—were in truth only the final decisive stage. The true victory or defeat had been laid down bit by bit over the preceding four full years, or even over a decade or more.

Like a great tree, taking root, sprouting, blooming, and bearing fruit.

One cannot see only the fruit and miss the growth that came before.

Li Guanyi rarely saw a look of weariness on Po Jun's face, but though weary, it could not conceal his pride—the final move in a war that had spanned eight hundred years of empire and three hundred years of chaos.

One could well imagine that this top strategist was, in truth, immensely proud and triumphant.

The Red Emperor defeated the Hegemon of Po Jun and built an empire that lasted eight hundred years.

Now Po Jun serves Qin Wang and breaks the four directions, ending the age of chaos.

Now the final move is played; it can be called a beginning and an end that match.

Po Jun cupped his hands slightly and said: "My lord, now that Jiang Su has been defeated and perished, the great momentum of Ying Country is gone. Yet a centipede, though dead, does not stiffen immediately—among these remaining Ying Country troops, there must surely be those with considerable ambition and wild aspirations."

"The annals of history have left us experience and lessons."

"Defeating the enemy's chief is easy, but after the opposing commander is beaten down, those remnants and routed troops become the greatest hidden danger. Most will be led by local strongmen and famous generals, fleeing across the land; they have soldiers and armor, becoming bandits the common folk cannot withstand, and we too cannot easily exterminate them."

"Once these men grow in strength, dealing with them becomes extremely thorny. In the short term it takes several years; in the long term, ten or twenty years may not be enough to root them out completely. My lord, please issue the order: shift the army formation and take all these bandits and roving outlaws!"

"Granted."

Li Guanyi nodded, but after issuing the order, he noticed that the encircling armies had not received any response from Li Zhao Wen and General Xue on the eastern flank. They had been ordered to lead the Mohist mechanism formations to intercept Yuwen Lie and the Yuwen family's generals, yet they had not returned.

Li Guanyi's expression shifted slightly. He said: "Mr. Po Jun, Mr. Yuan Zhi, please take my army's command and go suppress all the routed troops!"

"I'll go find them!"

Li Guanyi mounted his divine steed, gripped his divine weapon, and hurried toward that battlefield.

………………

Several days earlier.

On a local battlefield roughly a hundred li from the heart of the great battle, killing intent drifted in the air. Bodies of the slain lay everywhere. General Xue's mechanism men faced off against Yuwen Lie.

Fan Qing gasped for breath, his right hand leaning on his weapon, his left arm drenched in blood, pierced through by an arrow. The arm was clearly ruined, and several familiar war-generals lay collapsed on the ground, plainly beyond saving.

Old Master Gongsun Huai-zhi had fallen by the Mohist mechanisms; whether he lived or died was unknown.

Khan Qibili had a spear hole in his abdomen; the Golden Curved Saber cavalry had been shattered. Were it not for life-sustaining pills shoved into his mouth and Hou Zhongyu's hemostatic powder stuffed desperately into the wound, this fierce general too would have perished.

Even so, with a Grandmaster's vitality, only a flickering breath of lingering life remained.

Li Zhao Wen's armor was covered in cracks, her helmet fallen to one side. She still had the strength to fight, but this was the heaviest wound she had suffered since stepping onto the battlefield. The battlefield was scarred with cracks; the roars of two Bai Hu shook the four directions, and after so many days, the ringing had set Fan Qing's ears to buzzing.

But now, it had finally stopped.

General Xue. Yuwen Lie.

In their eyes, only each other remained.

Like beasts of prey stalking each other, wary, pacing slowly. Though they had not yet rushed in to slaughter, this sudden stillness and heaviness created a pressure and oppression greater than what had come before.

As if submerged in water, as if all of heaven and earth had sunk into an amber marsh, making it impossible to breathe. Only the violent pounding of the heart, the sound of breathing, and the iron scent of fresh blood underscored this killing stillness.

Yuwen Lie looked at the number-one divine general beneath heaven from five hundred years ago before him.

General Xue did the same.

This once top-tier divine general had, at last, not a trace of his usual jesting.

Po Jun's brilliant stratagems, Yuan Zhi's grand formations—among all the armies on every front, only here, whether Ying Country or Qin Country, had neither side achieved its set strategic objective. Only Yuwen Lie had held firm and blocked the Qin army's offensive.

Twenty-plus days of standoff, constant fighting and confrontation, neither side yielding a single step.

And so this place became the fiercest, most brutal battlefield under heaven.

Both sides understood the importance of this point, and so neither yielded.

Each had their own reasons.

There was nothing to do but fight to the death.

Li Zhao Wen, Fan Qing, Khan Qibili, and the others were no match for Yuwen Lie; here, only General Xue could intercept the sharp edge of this Divine Might Generalissimo. Yuwen Lie steadied his breathing to quell the stabbing pain in his chest, gripped his heavy spear, and raised its blade.

Yuwen Lie remained concise:

"Come."

General Xue burst into laughter, swung his arm up, and gripped the Tiger-Roaring-at-Heaven Battle-Halberd.

"Good, come then. Let me see what you've got, you little white kitten."

"How much courage you have left, how much skill!"

Yuwen Lie's tone was cold and contemptuous: "Xue Qing, I will tell you."

"Your era has passed!"

Xue Qing, Chen Baxian—the twin jewels of the strongest empire five hundred years ago. Now only one's shadow remains, and even he must borrow the final foundation left by the martial legend Zhang Ziyong to finish this battle.

Facing Yuwen Lie's resolve and heroic, killing aura—

General Xue thought for a moment, simply tucked the Tiger-Roaring-at-Heaven Battle-Halberd under his arm, extended his left hand, and rubbed his thumb, index finger, and middle finger together as if calling something, smiling: "Tsk tsk tsk."

"Come here, little tabby."

"Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk."

Fan Qing: "…………"

This Divine General Xue's sudden swerve was really too fast.

Fan Qing couldn't catch his breath.

On the contrary, it made his chest ache so badly it felt like death.

This solemn and commanding talent of the Fire Qilin army couldn't help but curse, feeling that within his breath, his saliva carried blood, his nose carried the smell of blood, but under such circumstances, he still had a feeling of being at a loss, wanting to smile bitterly.

Even under such circumstances, even on the most brutal battle lines of every battlefield, against the most tenacious of enemies, Divine General Xue's mouth was still like a blade dipped in poison.

He felt that, if he were in General Yuwen's place, he might not have been able to hold it together.

Yuwen Lie's face, however, was solemn and cold. His armor already bore many battle scars, his aura no longer as overwhelming as at the very beginning, but his will remained firm and resolute, his spine still ramrod straight.

He held his heavy spear, his wrist turning, the heavy spear spinning a full circle within his palm, accompanied by waves of low, murderous howls, as the Bai Hu Dharma Phase beside him grew ever more rampant.

In the battle before Qin Wu Hou proclaimed himself king, his Bai Hu Dharma Phase had already been defeated head-on by Li Guanyi on the battlefield, thus losing the destiny and spirit of the Bai Hu Da Zong, becoming only an ordinary Bai Hu Dharma Phase like Xue Daoyong's.

But now it was different.

The Bai Hu's fangs and claws were grim, a pair of pale-gold pupils fixed intently on the five-hundred-year-old number-one Divine General before him, its edge fierce and menacing, and upon its body, a faint starlight once again emerged.

Bai Hu Da Zong?!

Divine General Xue's gaze narrowed slightly. Behind him, the Bai Hu Dharma Phase, the size of a small mountain, pressed down its claws, bared its fangs, and let out wave after wave of murderous, dangerous tiger roars, locking onto the enemy before it with deadly focus.

The atmosphere grew ever more oppressive, ever more murderous; this aura even pressed down to a level that did not permit any other person to interfere in this great battle.

Divine General Xue and Yuwen Lie moved at the same time.

Yuwen Lie's warhorse screamed, the heavy spear in his hand thrusting forward as always, the Bai Hu Dharma Phase behind him roaring mightily, baring its fangs, pouncing toward Divine General Xue.

Divine General Xue, riding the great momentum of soldier souls, swept his Tiger Howls-at-Heaven Battle Halberd out in a diagonal slash.

Surging Waves!!!

The killing move of the halberd he had once taught Li Guanyi appeared here once more.

It forcibly dissolved the overbearing ferocity of Yuwen Lie's strike.

The heavy spear and the battle halberd, in an incomparably mysterious posture, carrying resolve and the surging momentum of the martial way, slammed viciously together, the sound bursting forth like thunder, booming, shaking.

The shockwave exploded outward, spreading in all directions.

Two Bai Hu Dharma Phases roared up to the heavens.

Both were the top Divine Generals of the age. The collision of military momentum, the contest of heavy spear and battle halberd, and the clash of will — their moves had long since risen beyond what ordinary people could take part in. Fan Qing, Li Zhaowen could only watch their resolve to fight to the death.

Divine General Xue laughed out loud: "Hahaha, these moves are actually a bit interesting now, come! Let's try!"

Yuwen Lie's bearing was cold and elegant. The heavy spear and battle halberd in his hands clashed several times, locking against each other, then with a twist of momentum, the edges of both weapons shifted, crashing heavily into the ground, tearing open huge gullies in the earth.

Following the momentum, fists and feet came out in turn.

They slammed viciously together.

Their moves were already first-rate in the world.

Their Dharma Phases had already reached the level above the Nine Heavens. In such a slaughter, Yuwen Lie and Divine General Xue's auras pulled at each other, beginning to step through, step by step approaching the level above the Nine Heavens.

Divine General Xue's gaze swept over Fan Qing, Li Zhaowen.

Fan Qing's heart gave a sudden lurch, suddenly sensing something ill and uneasy, and said:

"Senior!!!"

"Fighting here isn't satisfying. Yuwen Lie, come!"

Divine General Xue turned his battle halberd, guiding Yuwen Lie toward the distance. Yuwen Lie's gaze lowered, and likewise so. The two Bai Hu Da Zong. Fighting as they went, striking as they moved, the earth splitting apart beneath them. Fan Qing and the others wanted to pursue, but could only hold their position here.

Divine General Xue and Yuwen Lie, locked in deadly combat, not retreating, not withdrawing.

They were both extremely proud people. The two fought and struggled without cease, until the great sun set, the stars rose, the bright moon hung high, and the light of the Western Bai Hu Seven Mansions blazed bright.

And then the great sun rose once more, fighting without cease, battling without end.

For a full several days, neither man stopped. The two Divine Generals, bearing vast military momentum, fought with everything they had, almost reshaping the terrain for more than ten li around, beating the earth into collapse, fissures opening one after another.

The waters of the Jianghe seeped into these fissures, then were struck aloft by the Divine Generals' Qi and fell again, transforming into cloud and mist. The mist was shattered by halberd and heavy spear, and the divine weapons carrying Qi, burning with a fierce, scorching heat, set even this cloud alight.

Boom!!!

Another daybreak, another day of slaughter.

The collision of long spear and battle halberd burst open layers of thunder. The great army's momentum could no longer continue to reinforce the two Divine Generals; they fought to the death as warriors alone, with nothing but their own bodies.

Divine General Xue was held up by nothing but a single thread of Qi. His mechanism body was already covered in dense, fine cracks, the Tiger Howls-at-Heaven Battle Halberd nearly impossible to grip, and when the heavy spear pressed down, Yuwen Lie's palm also seemed to tremble almost imperceptibly.

Compared to Divine General Xue, who possessed the final Qi and spirit of the Longevity Guest Zhang Ziyong, compared to Xue Shen Jiang's mechanism-craft body, Yuwen Lie was flesh and blood. First there had been the great army standoff, and then fighting the five-hundred-year-old number one in the world for several days without sleep or rest.

This kind of slaughter consumed enormously.

When the Qi of a Nine Heavens Grandmaster was exhausted, then flesh and blood were consumed; when flesh and blood dried up, then the marrow was wrung dry. The proud, powerful will belonging solely to man drove this body forward, forward, ever forward.

Yuwen Lie's breathing finally grew heavy.

Divine General Xue no longer had the mind for idle talk.

When the two weapons were locked in frenzied contest—

Suddenly, a sound like thunder exploded.

Yuwen Lie, who had been holding on desperately, suddenly froze. Even the force in his weapon scattered somewhat. Divine General Xue did not seize this chance to attack him, only retreating in an instant, and Yuwen Lie did not continue to press forward with another strike.

He merely raised his head, looking at the vault of heaven where fortune soared to the skies, looking at the rolling, swirling layers of baleful Qi, and the colossal Jin Jia Divine Being Dharma Phase collapsing and scattering apart.

What it represented was precisely Jiang Su's death in battle.

Jiang Su was dead.

The proud Divine General stood dazed and lost.

The collapse of the Jin Jia Divine Being Dharma Phase was like the shattering and annihilation of a grand fireworks display, slowly falling down. Viewed from such a distant remove, it carried an indescribable dreamlike quality.

The Divine General Yuwen Lie, who had staked everything and alone held the line against the calculations of the world's schemers and prodigies, looked upon this scene — which for the generals of the Ying Kingdom could be called despair — and spoke no more.

Strike with the orthodox; win with the unorthodox.

The battlefields of the military strategist have their fundamental rules. Once Jiang Su, who held the decisive engagement position, fell in battle, it meant the collapse of the entire battle line. Therefore, no matter how fiercely Yuwen Lie's local battlefield fought, no matter how valiantly, the overall situation could no longer be changed.

This meant that Yuwen Lie's twenty-plus days of struggle and bitter endurance had ultimately been meaningless.

Yuwen Lie realized with perfect clarity that they could no longer win.

The State of Ying could no longer win.

Fan Qing gripped his blade, looking toward Yuwen Lie over there. Though his arm was nearly crippled, he still said: "Yuwen Lie, Jiang Su has already fallen in battle. The great momentum of the State of Ying is gone. You should know that continuing has no meaning."

"Surrender."

"Surrender?"

Yuwen Lie spoke coldly to himself, looking ahead at General Xue Shen, looking at the Fire Qilin Army that even now still blocked his path with everything they had. Then he gripped his divine heavy spear and, without hesitation, raised this divine weapon high.

Yuwen Lie's voice, word by word, measured and deliberate, arrogant and disdainful, said:

"Great State of Ying, Tiger Barbarian Cavalry, advance."

"Warriors of the Yuwen clan, step forward."

Boom!!!

Though their forces were spent, they stepped forward in unison, still carrying an inexpressible spirit. Yuwen Hua, Yuwen Tianxian, Yuwen Tianlei—all already grievously wounded—still gripped their weapons and stepped out from the ranks. Then the remaining soldiers of the State of Ying's army also moved forward.

Yuwen Lie looked at the warriors before him, not a single one retreating.

He stared blankly, lost in thought. Then, at last, the expression on this arrogant divine general's face softened. When those sharp features gentled, the killing intent and haughtiness were gone. Gripping his divine spear, he said softly:

"Sixth Brother, following me all these years—everyone, you've worked hard."

Yuwen Tianxian said: "What words are these, General?"

Yuwen Lie said: "Comrades-in-arms, in the netherworld, Yuwen Lie will atone to you all again…"

Yuwen Lie turned around.

Looking at the Fire Qilin Army arrayed ahead in an equally resolute, unyielding posture, he said:

"Form ranks!"

Fan Qing gritted his teeth, his long saber pointed forward. He drew a deep breath, his eyes reddening, and said: "Fire Qilin Army, form ranks!"

Fighting until the last drop of blood, never retreating. Unlike the grand battlefield above, where grand momentum, strategists, divine generals, and fate contended, in a local battlefield like this, valor and will were pushed to an even more vivid and thorough extreme.

Yuwen Lie gripped his weapon and led his troops into the charge.

The sounds of the battlefield were like thunder, yet carried a loneliness and tragic savagery.

General Xue Shen charged at the forefront. Li Zhaowen drew a deep breath, enduring the searing pain of his wounds, gripping his weapon as he trod the path forward.

Just as He Ruo Qinhu had said, Yuwen Lie had never understood the so-called grand picture from beginning to end. Just as Jiang Su had said, Yuwen Lie had been arrogant as ever from beginning to end.

But so what?!

The bloodstained battle robe billowed fiercely in the wind.

Even though his nation no longer had any chance of victory, even though there would be no more reinforcements from behind.

There was still the courage to draw his spear and fight to the death.

Who is this general?

His name is—Lie!

The proud, aloof divine general suddenly burst into wild laughter, laughing with utter abandon. The roar of the Bai Hu resounded throughout the world. General Xue Shen also laughed uproariously, wild and unrestrained—that was the true Xue Qingcang.

In the end, both men unleashed their ultimate killing strikes at the same moment.

The Bai Hu's roar, the final army momentum, displayed its full power.

Above the vault of heaven, the starlight suddenly blazed bright.

The streaming light of the Western Bai Hu Seven Mansions flowed down from the heavens.

A clash where virtually every soldier and general was pushed to their absolute limit.

When the body had reached its limit, when weapons had already chipped, arrows exhausted, crossbow bolts all snapped, the final weapon that decided the ultimate victor—

Was will.

The howl of the heavy spear overpowered the Tiger Howling Heaven Battle-Halberd.

The heavy spear, heedless of everything, nearly grazed past the Tiger Howling Heaven Battle-Halberd, then thrust violently forward, piercing through General Xue Shen's mechanism. Yuwen Lie gripped his divine weapon with both hands, let out a long roar, and his energy suddenly erupted.

The mechanism puppet shattered. General Xue Shen sighed faintly.

Yuwen Lie gasped for breath.

The Bai Hu Dharma Aspect raised its head, bathed in starlight.

The aura unique to Bai Hu Da Zong reappeared.

Lost in fighting spirit, defeated upon the battlefield, even his very star-fate seeming to fall into another's hands—but his arrogance remained. In the end, Yuwen Lie completed his own retrieval of self.

A proud, aloof spirit, sustained from beginning to end.

The resolve of Bai Hu Da Zong was never meant to be decided by so-called heavenly mandate. Accompanied by the roar of this untamed Bai Hu, General Xue Shen's body crumbled, turning to powder. That dark-gold divine weapon, the Tiger Howling Heaven Battle-Halberd, fell to the ground.

But Yuwen Lie still stood there, his body ramrod straight.

Fan Qing looked toward Yuwen Lie over there. Li Zhaowen, bearing no light wounds, tightened his grip on his weapon.

General Xue Shen exhausted his divine resonance and was defeated head-on by Yuwen Lie.

Yuwen Lie gripped the Weight in Hand, stepped on the Tiger Howling Heaven Battle-Halberd, planted his heavy spear into the ground, his gaze cold and clear. The energy from the Nine Heavens above still seemed terrifying. The Bai Hu crouched there, the domineering, arrogant might of a top divine general under heaven surveying all.

Even Fan Qing felt a sliver of chill and fear in his heart.

Within this awe-inspiring pressure, the Fire Qilin Army's morale suffered a tremendous blow. Only because their military heart still held did they maintain their fighting spirit from scattering, not retreating. Fan Qing gritted his teeth, resolved to hold this ground to the death.

Even if he died fighting under Yuwen Lie's spear, he would hold this battle line steady.

But, for some unknown reason, Yuwen Lie—

Had never continued to attack them.

Several breaths passed. Li Zhaowen said in a low voice, "He... is dead."

Fan Qing froze. He looked at Yuwen Lie, who stood in place gripping his war-spear, leading the great army to intercept the Fire Qilin troops led by Xue Shen, fighting to the death for over twenty days without retreating, five days and five nights of fierce and proud slaughter — the final battle of two great generals of Bai Hu Da Zong.

Xue Shen exhausted his spiritual resonance and dispersed.

Yuwen Lie, too, was dead...

The only divine general who, even in death, still gripped his weapon and stood firm upon the earth — above the vault of heaven, the starlight was bright, and then in an instant, the radiance of the Seven Stars of Bai Hu faded into utter dimness.

The wind howled, and the crowd seemed to hear the sound of a proud Bai Hu's roar.

Yuwen Lie's battle robe billowed.

It seemed as if a phantom image of Bai Hu lit up above his body, then soared into the heavens.

Never to return to the mortal world.

Ying · Great General of Bai Hu Da Zong, Divine Might Grand General, Jing Wu Gong Yuwen Lie.

Died in battle upon the field.

Strength spent, and perished.

The Tiger Barbarian cavalry fought to the last. Fan Qing lost an arm; Gongsun Huai Zhi, along with seven other war-generals, perished in this battle. The Fire Qilin army's battle losses here reached three-tenths — a full fifty thousand casualties.

And the casualties of the great army led by Yuwen Lie were even more tragic. This battle, regarded by later generations as the most grueling, saw both sides possessed of the most supreme fighting spirit and military soul, and the resolve never to retreat — and indeed, neither ever did.

But even though Yuwen Lie had fallen in battle,

the remaining Ying Kingdom army did not choose to surrender.

Li Zhaowen and the others needed to carry out the next step of military strategy — after Xue Shen's divine resonance fell dormant once more, they would take over command of the battlefield. But the slaughter had reached such a level that the martial generals' valor had already surpassed the strategist's cunning; there was no longer any so-called command authority.

Upon this tragic and grim battlefield,

the one-armed Fan Qing and the gravely wounded Yuwen Hua exchanged a silent look with Yuwen Tianxian.

Fan Qing said softly, "Yuwen Hua, Teacher Yuwen Tianxian... admit defeat..."

Yuwen Hua and Yuwen Tianxian looked at him in silence.

Yuwen Tianxian's expressionless face remained solemn as he replied, "You have done well. But as I have already said — upon the battlefield, there is no private friendship."

"Fan Qing, this is the battlefield!"

"Have you forgotten how I taught you?"

Fan Qing's tears streamed down his face, and he finally kowtowed in the manner of a disciple to thank him.

Yuwen Tianxian gripped his weapon and would not surrender in the end.

He finally died in battle upon the field.

In this battle, the army corps led by Yuwen Lie was nearly annihilated — deaths approached forty percent, and the rest were all gravely wounded, collapsing unconscious upon the blood-soaked battlefield after their strength was spent in the slaughter.

The Yuwen clan fielded a total of thirty-seven war-generals.

The eldest forty-seven years old, the youngest just of age.

All died in battle for their country.

Not one surrendered.

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