Chapter 74: The Phoenix's Gift

Did Tuyuhun fall?

Li Guanyi’s thoughts paused slightly; his impression of this country still came from his days of fleeing, when Tuyuhun dominated the vast Western Regions—a horseback people who, under their ruler, had crushed other Western tribes, sharpened their weapons, and eyed the Central Plains with predatory intent.

Its territory was so vast it was hardly smaller than Chen Guo.

How could such a powerful, martial nation, so openly formidable, vanish overnight?

Was it that letter?

Li Guanyi unconsciously conjured the thought—but immediately shattered it. Impossible. Absolutely impossible. His advice had been only to plunder land and wealth, weaken the enemy, and strengthen himself—not to annihilate the state.

Tuyuhun was the hegemon of the Western Regions. Its disappearance as such a colossal power would shake the entire realm. Li Guanyi steadied himself and said, “Xue Lao, what happened? Stop playing coy.”

“I’m only over ten years old.”

“I’ve always been here in Jiangnan. How could such distant events possibly concern me?”

The elder said: “...Tuyuhun has become a dish on this world’s table.”

He extended a finger toward the map.

Of the Thirty-Six Western Tribes, most had already been crushed by Tuyuhun.

Thus Tuyuhun had amassed strength, preparing to march south and confront Chen Guo. The elder said: “Because of the standoff with Yue Qianfeng, border troops were redeployed... leaving defenses hollow. Tuyuhun’s hegemon decided to strike downward, seizing Chen Guo’s southwestern territories—and they did exactly that.”

“The original plan was to ally with the Duke Prefecture beyond Ying Guo’s borders and the Tangut people.”

“To strike at the heart of Tuyuhun while their battle lines were stretched thin.”

Li Guanyi nodded.

He did not mention his advice to the second son of the Ying Guo Duke Prefecture.

The elder exhaled slowly and sighed: “But at this moment, an unexpected event occurred. I’ve roamed the realm for a hundred years—and still made a mistake. I underestimated the heroes of this world. Tuyuhun’s famed general led troops south, and the Tanguts rose in rebellion.”

“They lost contact with their rear, grew anxious, and turned their army back.”

“Then, from Chen Guo’s border, an army surged forth.”

“They laid an ambush, exploited the opportunity with exquisite precision, pierced Tuyuhun’s rear, shattered their main force, pushed the front line forward, and ultimately seized three hundred li of southern Tuyuhun territory.”

“Chen Guo’s envoys were with the army, negotiating with the Tanguts, installing a Tangut king to establish his own state, while the Tanguts pledged vassalage to Chen Guo. Chen Guo married a distant clan daughter—named by the princess granted three months prior—to the Tangut leader.”

“Then they invited the Tangut crown prince to Jiangzhou in Chen Guo to attend the Great Sacrifice.”

“Yesterday, the Tanguts founded their state.”

“Dantai Xianming’s congratulatory letter arrived there at the same time.”

“The Tanguts will now serve as Chen Guo’s shield against the other border tribes.”

Li Guanyi’s pupils contracted. This massive shift left him stunned. In the boy’s mind, Dantai Xianming was merely the chancellor who ordered Xue Daoyong’s assassination.

Xue Daoyong’s face was complex as he sighed:

“It was Dantai Xianming’s scheme.”

“While playing the zither beside the emperor in the palace, he had already issued the plan; while raising his cup and reciting poetry to Zu Wenyuan and Wang Tong, the general he personally promoted from his servants had already stepped onto the battlefield.”

“The redeployment of border troops to confront Yue Qianfeng was the bait he gave Tuyuhun.”

“And beside that bait, swords were already drawn—finally severing Tuyuhun’s arm. The mountains of problems plaguing this nation—the tax loopholes, the people’s fury—will now be poured into the newly conquered western territories over the next decade.”

“What a court jester. What a treacherous chancellor. What a statesman of this chaotic age.”

Xue Daoyong closed his eyes and sighed.

Li Guanyi said: “Even so, Tuyuhun need not have fallen.”

Xue Daoyong said: “Of course not—by itself, this would not have been enough.”

“But the realm has more than just Dantai Xianming with vision.”

The elder’s finger pressed against Ying Guo.

“Tuyuhun’s internal unrest was not merely our preparation.”

“The Seven Lost Kings of the Turkic tribes appeared above Tuyuhun. The Western cavalry were never a match for Iron Cavalry, let alone when Tuyuhun’s main force was deployed—this made the Western Regions an undefended pasture for them to ravage.”

“In the past, Turkic tactics were direct and blunt. This time, they moved like ghosts—swift, elusive, impossible to pin down. Tuyuhun’s defenses and experience against heavy cavalry collapsed entirely, causing even greater casualties. I suspect the Seven Lost Kings now have a supreme military strategist among them.”

“But I don’t know who.”

“And Ying Guo—Ying Guo has moved too.”

“Everyone assumed that after Marshal Yue was imprisoned in court, Chen Guo and Ying Guo had reconciled, and Ying Guo’s troops turned north to face the Turks. But two days ago, the general who was supposed to be facing the Turks vanished without a trace.”

“The former Ying Guo Grand General led eight thousand iron cavalry out.”

“Supplies had been pre-positioned along the route; they rode day and night, and at sunrise, shattered Tuyuhun’s border gates, won battle after battle. A nation’s strength takes decades to build—but one wrong decision, and it is devoured whole by the heroes of this chaotic age.”

Li Guanyi said: “If Ying Guo’s general left, wouldn’t the Turks notice?”

The elder said: “They noticed...”

He whispered: “As several Turkic tribes launched raids into Ying Guo, the general who had struck Tuyuhun switched horses, led his pre-prepared light cavalry, and turned back toward Ying Guo’s border. The Turks had seized Ying Guo’s border towns—its people had fled. They drank wine—and that very night, the general surrounded them.”

“Ying Guo’s own general burned the border towns.”

“Tens of thousands of Turkic cavalry were burned alive.”

“Then, under the pretext of Turkic border arson, he rallied his army and attacked the Turks. In just four or five days—he rode ten thousand li by night, shattered thirteen cities, slew over thirty generals, destroyed one nation, and plunged three others into chaos. The realm cannot find peace. And this man is only thirty-seven. How young the heroes of this realm have become!”

“Tuyuhun fell into his hands.”

“Even Dantai Xianming’s strategy only stirred the tide of the realm to profit from the chaos—he never intended such annihilation, for destroying Tuyuhun would not benefit him. But this Ying Guo general showed no mercy when he erased a nation.”

“Then he ransacked Tuyuhun’s capital, captured every noble, searching for something unknown. More than three thousand Tuyuhun nobles died in the process. Dantai Xianming, too, seemed to be searching for this thing—and in the end, neither side found it.”

A few casual words—and the fate of the realm, countless lives, were decided.

Li Guanyi said: “Who is this general?”

The elder said: “Ying Guo’s famed general: Yuwen Lie.”

“Guanyi, wait a moment.”

The elder turned and pulled out a scroll, handing it to Li Guanyi: The Divine Generals List.

Naturally, there was no issue. Li Guanyi scanned it, found no such name—until the elder turned page after page, pointing to the very front, the section with portraits. Only then did Li Guanyi find the title.

But when Li Guanyi looked at the corresponding portrait, his expression froze. He saw the man on the Divine Generals List: clad in heavy full-plate armor, face concealed, riding a strange beast, wielding a long spear, eyes cold.

That gaze—he had seen it before.

The true Bai Hu Zongzong!

“Fifth on the Divine Generals List.”

“Ying Guo: Yuwen Lie.”

“Victorious on foot against the Western Regions. Victorious on water against Chen Guo. Broke eighty thousand with three thousand heavy cavalry in direct charge. Defeated the Turks.”

“A true warlord!”

Bai Hu Zongzong.

The realm’s foremost general.

Li Guanyi fell silent, long without speaking. At this moment, he felt the starlight above, as if destiny’s slaughter lay before him—the tranquil days of Jiangnan shattered by the blade’s edge of iron and fire.

He stared at the general on the scroll—as if the man had lifted his head to gaze at him.

The one bearing Heaven’s Mandate is, of course, a hero. Compared to him, the older warlords had already achieved earth-shaking feats.

Right after Li Guanyi declared “death or victory.”

The true Bai Hu Zongzong appeared before Li Guanyi—with the glory of a nation’s annihilation.

Xue Daoyong said: “We plotted in the Western Regions, using iron cavalry and salt-iron trade to stir chaos—but the realm holds too many heroes. All await each other’s mistakes. One misstep, and you die, your state falls. This is the world of chaos.”

Li Guanyi gripped the Divine Generals List and nodded.

After speaking at length with the elder, he stepped out of Tingfeng Pavilion and sat in the courtyard, gazing at the sky. The heavens were deep blue. Now Li Guanyi could see the position of the Seven Stars of Bai Hu. He heard the people on the streets chatting—about daily things: today’s vegetable prices, a quarrel between a woman from one house and a man from another.

It was utterly unlike the fierce winds of the Western Regions. Li Guanyi felt a tearing sensation.

He looked up. The Seven Stars of Bai Hu glowed and shifted above—perhaps because of the Bai Hu Zongzong’s achievements. He would soon fight this realm’s supreme military genius.

Siming reappeared from the corner.

Carrying a gourd of wine—one cash per cup, watered down—and a handful of peanuts.

The old man said: “The Western Regions have turned upside down.”

Li Guanyi nodded, lost in thought.

He propped his chin, idly pondering.

The realm’s great change had only just begun. The Western Regions would become a boiling mess.

And this shift in the realm’s tide would culminate in a grand event drawing the elite of all nations. For some reason, the first thing that came to Li Guanyi’s mind was Chen Guo’s Great Sacrifice.

It was still over a month away—but Li Guanyi already felt it had become a vortex, ready to draw every hero of the realm.

Like the tip of an iceberg floating on the sea.

Things are getting more complicated.

The elder sighed, teasing: “Earlier you said ‘death or victory’—was that just big talk?”

“Do you regret it?”

Li Guanyi answered: “A man must have the heart to draw his sword.”

“To fear the strong and bully the weak—I am not that low.”

The elder grinned but said nothing.

He simply sat on the wall, watching the stars visible in daylight, took a sip of wine, and said:

“Too bad—if this glory had been yours, we could’ve asked the Eastern Land’s Star-Watching School to help. With starlight refining, maybe your damn ‘Tiger Roar Bone Forging Art’ could finally bear fruit.”

“Where did you even dig up that thing? So hard to practice.”

“Besides starlight... I wonder—could destiny also be used to temper the body? Like in my Yin-Yang School... cough, I mean, our Yin-Yang School.”

“Our!”

We have similar methods—starting with the Art of Observing Qi, but the core lies in how one borrows destiny. Still, such methods require some distinctive token. Are you truly not involved in this matter? Right now, all the mighty lords of the world treat the Western Regions as a goblet and Tuyuhun as its soup—everyone wants a share.

Are you really not involved?

The old man asked skeptically.

Li Guanyi thought for a moment, then affirmed: “I did get involved a little, but not much.”

Siming smirked. “True—you’re just a kid.”

How much did you get involved in?

Li Guanyi gestured with his finger. “Just a tiny bit.”

Siming teased, “That much?”

So Li Guanyi pinched his fingers even smaller.

He paused, then made it smaller still.

He himself felt he had nothing to do with the Western Regions or the great affairs of the world.

The only possible link to the Western Regions was a letter from the border of Ying State.

But for such a massive affair, Li Guanyi suspected the Second Young Master had merely wandered over briefly—the old man didn’t even know he’d gone; and as his half-strategist, Li Guanyi now felt like the world was in upheaval, heroes rising one by one, while he and the Second Young Master had just tagged along together to pick up some experience.

The old man opened his mouth to spit out a peanut shell, but spotted a massive iron pot half-hidden behind a door—he hastily swallowed it back and comforted: “It doesn’t matter—even a little is impressive. You’re still so young. Old man believes you’ll achieve great things in time.”

Temporary setbacks mean nothing.

Right?

So what exactly did you do?

Li Guanyi thought again, took out the letter, and decided to see what the Second Young Master had done, then tell the old man the details—to see if he could claim even a thread of destiny for himself. The words inside the letter still brimmed with vigor.

“Seeing your words is like seeing your face—your strategy is supreme. I have followed it.”

“All gains stem from your strategy.”

“I send you a gift, to honor our bond—your strategy, my courage.”

Inside the envelope was something. Li Guanyi shook it, and the object fell out.

Clang.

It was a seal.

A golden seal, with a tiger-shaped handle, ancient in design, its back inscribed with Tuyuhun script.

The old man glanced at it.

His expression froze instantly.

“?!!!!!”

?? Tried adding an illustration—AI-generated, just take a look.