Xiao Mi, now clad in full military attire, looked spirited and impressive as he mounted his horse.
Upon closer inspection, wasn’t this the very man who had led the protest and was supposedly shot dead by Che Hongluo’s arrow?
Che Hongluo, standing nearby, exclaimed in admiration, “This… this young brother has an immeasurably bright future ahead of him!”
“He truly embodies every role he plays.”
“When he fell after being shot, this old man was genuinely worried he might have been injured.”
“And yesterday, as the little beggar, I didn’t detect anything amiss at all!”
“Ah, the new generation surpasses the old. I must accept my age!”
Su Mo, who had witnessed the entire act of fooling Beiluo at noon, felt his mouth twitch.
Inspector Che, you’re not so bad yourself!
His performance was so emotionally charged that Su Mo had begun to wonder if the fake drama had turned real for a moment.
The man had been so tense, his hand never left the hilt of his sword.
No wonder he had managed to deceive Beiluo for so long.
Jiang Xingyan galloped to the front of the formation. Without any superfluous words, she merely swept her gaze across the resolute faces of every soldier. Yet, that was enough to make the hearts of the entire Huo Army surge with fervor.
“Tonight, we will be victorious!”
Firmly convinced in their hearts that Huo Ci was dead, the commandants of the two mountains held a great feast for all the Iron Pagoda warriors.
“Thanks to you brave warriors, we have eliminated a grave threat for our Beiluo!”
“From now on, seizing the cities of the Western Province will be as easy as turning over our hands for Beiluo!”
“We feast early today! First, as a victory celebration for you brave warriors! Second, to boost morale for our full-scale assault on the Western Province tomorrow!”
Towering men, solid as iron pagodas, stood in rows on both sides of the feast. They clasped their fists and spoke in deep, resonant voices, “Thank you, Commandants! We will spare no effort, pledge to destroy the Western Province, and bolster the might of Beiluo!”
A single set of the Iron Pagoda’s iron armor weighed seventy or eighty jin. Without bulging muscles and veins, without a formidable spirit and considerable skill, could one even bear its weight?
To maintain such brawny physiques, their daily food intake necessarily had to be four or five times that of an ordinary soldier.
Watching them devour the food, wolfing it down like a whirlwind, the commandants felt very pleased.
Such robust men existed only in their Beiluo.
“Warriors, don’t just focus on eating! Here we have excellent dishes and fine wine.”
“A true Beiluo man needs to drink until the heavens and earth go dark to have the strength to kill the enemy, isn’t that right?”
Over a dozen Iron Pagoda warriors hesitated, looking at each other. “But… General Tuoba said alcohol is forbidden in the army. Violators can be beheaded.”
The commandant filled his cup to the brim and drank, continuing to urge them. “Ah, but today is a day of celebration! How can we not drink?”
Another also persuaded them, “You warriors have achieved a monumental feat! Even if General Tuoba were here, he would personally offer you a cup of wine!”
The Iron Pagoda soldiers were already smug about their successful first battle and critically wounding Huo Ci.
They had to remember, this was the Yanlou Wang, whom even General Tuoba could not defeat!
The one who had once driven them all the way to the gates of the royal capital!
If not for the envoy from Great Xia mediating a peace, perhaps Beiluo wouldn’t even exist now.
Such a living King of Hell, whom everyone feared to even speak of, had died by their hands. Who wouldn’t be boastful?
After conquering the Western Province, they were each promised a reward of ten cities to share.
Just thinking about it made their hearts race with delight.
Joy lifts the spirit, and with high spirits comes more eating and drinking.
Unconsciously, their vision began to grow blurry.
“Why are there two Mount Kan Commandants?”
“What are you talking about? I see four.”
“No, there are eight Mount Hou Commandants.”
“Wahahaha! No matter how many, all of you, come drink with me!”
Seeing their proud and satisfied expressions, an outsider might think each of them had personally struck Huo Ci with a wolf-toothed club.
They had long forgotten that they owed this enjoyment to the true brave warrior who had actually faced Huo Ci.
He had lost his life for it, and now his comrades were feasting and claiming credit while sitting on his bones.
“Commandants! It’s terrible! The enemy… they’re attacking the mountain!”
The two commandants, also quite drunk with flushed faces, waved their hands dismissively. “What is there to fear? The Yanlou Wang is dead.”
“We still have so many Iron Pagoda warriors here! Anyone who comes will only meet their death!”
“Indeed! I am willing to go repel the enemy! I don’t even need my armor to kill these scattered soldiers and roaming braves!”
“Right, right! Without the Yanlou Wang, the so-called Huo Army is just a bunch of headless flies, dry bones in a grave!”
“Brother, let’s go together! Let’s give them a taste of the shock and awe of Beiluo’s warriors!”
The two, unsteady on their feet from drink, staggered out of the tent with their arms around each other’s shoulders.
Some who had drunk less had regained a degree of sobriety. A deep-seated fear stirred within them. “Commandant, should we send someone to check? After all, it is the Huo Army.”
The commandant initially wanted to refuse, but then reconsidered. The Huo Army must be coming with a death-seeking resolve to avenge their general.
As the saying goes, the fierce fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear the desperate.
They couldn’t afford any problems at this critical juncture.
The Mount Kan commandant pushed the Mount Hou commandant, only to find the man was already dead drunk, limp as a rag.
He had no choice but to go out himself to address the situation.
“Warriors, don’t worry! Continue eating and drinking well! I will personally go investigate for us, to provide support for our brothers.”
He sauntered out of the camp, expecting to see a scene of the Huo Army charging around blindly, suffering heavy casualties. Instead, the first thing he saw was the mountains ablaze with fire, and standing out starkly amidst the flames was a single figure — 「Huo Ci」.
The commandant rubbed his eyes, checking again and again.
The person charging at the forefront on horseback… if it wasn’t 「Huo Ci」, who else could it be?!
“A ghost! A ghost!”
The next second, he watched as 「Huo Ci」 raised his hand and with one swipe of his blade, cleaved the head from the shoulders of a warrior who was similarly frozen in place.
Blood splattered across 「his」 face, making 「him」 look like a demonic Asura crawled up from hell.
The familiar sight sent a chill from the soles of the commandant’s feet straight to the top of his head.
The wine he had just consumed turned into cold sweat.
The Yanlou Wang wasn’t dead!
He actually wasn’t dead!
No Beiluo soldier was unfamiliar with Huo Ci in this state.
Drenched in blood, gaze piercing, killing relentlessly, unstoppable.
The will to survive made the commandant turn and run for his life.
He still had some conscience, not forgetting the brothers he had fought alongside. “Retreat to Beiluo via the back mountain! Quickly!”
Some Beiluo soldiers, still in their dreams, heard the commotion outside and the repeated blasts of the retreat horn.
They reluctantly crawled out of bed to see a scene filled with fire.
The sounds of assault grew closer, and closer still.
Everyone discarded their armor and weapons, any will to fight gone, thinking only of escape!
They could escape back to Beiluo via the suspension bridge built at the back mountain, then burn it behind them.
As long as Huo Ci didn’t grow wings on his back, he couldn’t follow.
Clutching this belief in survival, about half of the soldiers from Mount Hou behind Mount Kan managed to retreat.
A few scattered, disheveled soldiers who had escaped from Mount Kan also mingled into the crowd, all surging towards the back mountain suspension bridge.
“Stop pushing!”
“If you were at the back, wouldn’t you push too?”
“Hurry up in front! The Yanlou Wang is catching up!”
Hundreds of men crowded onto the narrow suspension bridge. They couldn’t move forward quickly, nor could they retreat.
In the midst of this anxiety, someone noticed something.
“Everyone, jump down to the riverbed! It’s dry down below, we can run straight across!”
His words shocked everyone awake.
The Beiluo soldiers jumped from the suspension bridge like dumplings dropping into water, rolled upon landing, and sprinted towards the opposite bank.
“Hey, you guys cut the bridge ropes and jump down too! Whatever you do, don’t let the Yanlou Wang catch up!”
Most soldiers had lost the ability to think by now.
They basically did whatever someone suggested.
A cold glint flashed. The suspension bridge ropes were cut, and the bridge fell with a clatter.
After everyone had landed on the riverbed, they saw 「Huo Ci」 sitting astride his horse, blade in hand, standing on the riverbank.
The Beiluo officers and soldiers were ecstatic.
Once they escaped back to Beiluo, they would have to properly thank that quick-witted brother.
In their glee, someone actually whistled, taunting 「Huo Ci」, “You’re a step too late, General Huo! Remember to be faster next time!”
“We’re leaving now, no need to see us off!”
In moments of extreme fear, it’s easy to laugh hysterically.
Watching the Beiluo soldiers laugh and run, Jiang Xingyan also curved the corners of her mouth upwards.
Abruptly, someone pricked up his ears. “Listen, what’s that sound?”
A roaring sound from upstream, like the thunder of ten thousand horses, charged towards them.
The Beiluo soldiers all stood dumbfounded.
That sounded… like water.
“Run!”
Nobody knew who shouted it first, but the soldiers immediately started running for their lives.
The Mount Kan commandant, mixed among them, found his face was already wet with tears he hadn’t even noticed.
If only he hadn’t been so overconfident, if only he had sent someone to check upstream earlier…
Everyone knew it was too late to escape.
It was a flood, with the force of a thousand jun!
At this moment, anyone with a shred of intelligence could figure it out.
The river drying up, the heavens’ punishment… it was all a trap, waiting for them to stick their necks in!
Roar! Roar! Roar!
The floodwater, roaring like a wild beast, instantly swallowed everything.
In that moment, all traces of those Beiluo soldiers were erased.
Even their screams were devoured.
Only a turbid river remained, rushing relentlessly eastward.
Jiang Xingyan, standing high on the bank, was splashed by the water.
She didn’t dodge or flinch. Pulling the reins tight, she stood silently by the shore.
The past is like this, flowing away.
Suddenly, she saw a figure on the opposite bank, also on horseback.
White helmet, white armor, white horse. His gaze was as sharp as an eagle’s, fixed directly on her.
Jiang Xingyan’s intuition told her: That man must be Huo Ci’s mortal rival, Tuoba Hongxue.
Tuoba Hongxue looked at the complete ruin of his carefully laid plans. His hatred for Huo Ci, mixed with fear, grew even deeper.
My fated rival, you have won again.
But I will not necessarily keep losing.
We have plenty of time ahead of us.