065

Night fell, enveloping the entire dynasty.

Tiny, flickering flames lit up the barracks, creating a rare lively atmosphere.

"Sigh! Whose turn is it now?"

"General, here I am!" A junior officer wiped his mouth. "I'll go right away."

"Quickly, take your men there—be careful, there's no room for error if there's an enemy attack." Lieutenant General Li waved his hand, "You've all had your food saved."

A bonfire before the battle, a farewell feast, and a lively singing competition would have been quite nice.

After taking several detours, Lieutenant General Li finally reached his subordinate commander and called out to the man who was about to spar with Xue Hu, "Chu Yan, come here."

A man dressed in a close-fitting outfit jogged over, saying, "General Li."

"The general wants to see you about something." Lieutenant General Li patted his shoulder. "Let's go inside the tent and talk."

"There's no rush to exchange ideas."

"yes!"

There was still a stretch of road leading to the main tent, where the noise subsided and the ground grew increasingly dark and indistinct.

Fortunately, the closer he got to the tent, the faint light from inside peeked out from the curtain and spilled onto the road outside, preventing Chu Yan from losing his way.

Chu Yan lifted the curtain, first swatting off the snow and mud that clung to his feet, then didn't go in: "General, you wanted to see me?"

Those inside the tent, who had been engrossed in the sand table, looked up and gestured upon hearing this: "Enter."

"sit."

Chu Yan replied, "I'll be fine standing."

Yu Baizhou didn't force him to do anything. He just stood there and looked him over carefully for a few moments before slowly saying, "I've already given her what you gave me. A-Ling wants me to leave you at the camp. I'd like to hear your opinion."

It seems that this was not a military question, but a private conversation.

Chu Yan paused for a moment, then relaxed his shoulders slightly: "May I sit?"

"Please, go ahead." Yu Baizhou reached out, and there happened to be two simple wooden chairs next to Chu Yan.

Chu Yan didn't stand on ceremony and chose a seat, and Yu Baizhou sat down not far from him.

After pondering for a moment, Chu Yan looked at him and said, "I don't want to stay at the garrison. These days I've been fighting alongside Vice General Li, leading the vanguard."

The battles that will begin tomorrow or the day after will be nothing more than this.

"I hope the general will give me this opportunity."

Yu Baizhou leaned forward slightly, his arms resting on his knees with his hands folded over, as if he were thinking about something.

"I remember seeing you twice in Yunzhou before. Your martial arts skills are not bad either. You would have a great future if you followed A-Ling. Why did you join the army?"

He rose from obscurity to his current disheveled state.

After all, at that time, Yu Baizhou saw that this man seemed to care more about his makeup than many women.

"Because I refused to accept my fate," Chu Yan grinned. "At first, I was also partly acting out of spite."

"But later, when I saw the people who were slaughtered in the war, the women who were barely clothed, and the infants who were separated from their bodies... I began to hate the war and the people who started it."

The exceptionally fierce battle he spoke of was the one fought against the King of Qi a few months prior.

Chu Yan paused for a moment before continuing, "But to put it another way, King Qi is a heartless man. He would even massacre a city in order to kill us."

"But I also feel that this war should be fought."

"We are protecting the people of the southern border now, and maybe tomorrow we will be able to protect the people of the entire Later Jin Dynasty."

Chu Yan smiled, seemingly lost in thought. "I never knew what the Seventeenth was all about. I was tired of hearing about 'the common people' since I was a child."

“I dislike this kind of preaching the most, so I often skipped classes.”

"Only now, having experienced it firsthand, do I realize how huge a mess our ancestors left behind. It's neither good nor bad. Seventeen of us shouldered all the hardships of the past ten years in Huailai, so there's no reason for me to remain indifferent now."

Yu Baizhou was somewhat speechless. "I don't quite understand what you mean. What do you mean by making her bear all the burden alone?"

Chu Yan shook his head with a wry smile, "The time has come anyway, so it doesn't seem to matter if I tell you."

"General, this must be the first time you've heard of 'Huailai,'" Chu Yan murmured. "You don't know what kind of place that is."

Yu Baizhou frowned: "What?"

“A paradise on earth.” Chu Yan’s eyes were filled with longing. “It can be described as a paradise on earth. Huai Lai has four distinct seasons and rarely suffers from disasters. People work at sunrise and rest at sunset.”

“Our disciples were all taught family skills from a young age, each with their own unique abilities, and all of us are under the command of our sect leader. Of course, we also send people down the mountain from time to time to investigate the local conditions in preparation for our return.”

"But in reality, the opportunity to come out of the mountains only comes once every few hundred years," Chu Yan smiled. "And Seventeen just happened to be there."

Yu Baizhou didn't find it funny. Chu Yan's words clearly avoided the important points and concealed many things. "What about the previous sect leader?"

The story Chu Yan told Yu Baizhou about Song Ling over the past ten years left him breathless.

"Dead."

Chu Yan was extremely indifferent. "The person before him is also dead."

"The person who took office two years ago also died."

Chu Yan's tone was somewhat sarcastic: "Didn't she tell you why I call her Seventeen?"

Yu Baizhou paused for a moment, then said, "She said she was the seventeenth in line inside the gate."

“Ha,” Chu Yan clenched his fist, his nails almost digging into his flesh, “Clearly… he is the seventeenth among the Song Clan leaders.”

"The previous one died eleven years ago, and she became Song Seventeen."

So, were there sixteen sect leaders before her?

Why single out the Song family again?

Yu Baizhou had countless questions in his mind but didn't know where to begin, and a faint bitterness welled up in his heart.

Asking a four- or five-year-old child to take on the responsibility of a door.

"Don't you think this is absurd?" Yu Baizhou gripped his robe, his tone indignant. "Why can't we choose someone else? How old is she?"

"Yes...why can't we choose someone else?"

Chu Yan murmured something, then his eyes reddened, and he asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "General Yu, do you believe in fate?"

He didn't seem to expect a response from Yu Baizhou either.

"Because this is fate, destiny."

"It's Huailai's fate."

"It's her fate."

Chu Yan was speaking without thinking, and he couldn't tell whether he was explaining or expressing his inner fears.

"Can you believe it? Seventeen's master is highly skilled in martial arts and in good health."

"But he passed away suddenly on his thirty-fourth birthday."

Yu Baizhou's heart skipped a beat, "But what does it matter? Don't mention A-Ling's illness..."

As he spoke, his voice gradually faded, because he remembered the mysterious and enigmatic expressions of Wu Sheng and the furrowed brows of the military doctor beside Song Ling back in Yunzhou.

He could no longer utter a word in rebuttal.

“The Pavilion Master of Huailai will not live past thirty-five, and most of them will not live past thirty.” Chu Yan lowered his eyes, his hands trembling slightly. “This is a secret. Please keep it to yourself, General. If you succeed one day, take it to your grave.”

"Don't tell Seventeen that I told you, and don't tell anyone else."

Yu Baizhou calmed his breathing and asked him somewhat anxiously, "Since it's a secret, how did you know it? And why did you tell me?"

"How would I know..." Chu Yan's eyes were filled with pain, as if he were thinking of many dead people. "This, I can't say."

"The latter, I hope you remember Seventeen's kindness, even if you can't promise anything."

"Don't let her down."

Chu Yan sighed, stood up, and asked the person beside him, "Does the general know how to read stars?"

"Won't."

Lifting the curtain, the previously misty sky had dissipated somewhat, revealing a few dim stars.

“I don’t understand either.” Chu Yan looked up, a hint of surprise in his eyes. “Because physiognomy is only passed down through the successive masters of Huai Lai Sect. But Seventeen pointed it out to me…”

He raised his hand, trembling slightly, and traced it across two places. "There...and there. There are many...Imperial Stars shining brightly."

Yu Baizhou followed his hand and looked at it, his eyes flashing with many emotions, and he pursed his lips, unsure of what to say.

One in the northwest, one in the southwest.

It is self-evident who it refers to.

Chu Yan was already in shock, his fingertips still trembling. Why were there two Emperor Stars?

At this moment, scenes from when he first met Song Ling after descending the mountain flashed rapidly through his mind, all the way to their parting...

He suddenly understood what Song Ling was trying to do.

Defying fate is easier said than done.

But she took a desperate gamble and walked alone for so long.

How far has she traveled this road? Chu Yan couldn't help but wonder. A year, two years, or did it start back in Huailai?

Reaching this point was no easy feat.

He caught a glimpse of the person beside him out of the corner of his eye, and a bitter smile crept onto his lips.

He immediately made up his mind; he wanted to help Seventeen.

"General, you must know one thing: there can only be one emperor, and so can the Emperor Star." Chu Yan gazed at the stars in the southwest and said slowly, "No one knows how many founding emperors Huai Lai has assisted."

"But none of them left behind any names."

Why? A guess secretly popped into Yu Baizhou's mind.

Before he could ask, Chu Yan revealed, "Because once Huai Lai's secret is revealed to the world, we will all die."

“Song Ling can do that too.”

"Sometimes I feel that, rather than some kind of curse, this is more like a curse..."

Yu Baizhou's expression tightened. "Are you perhaps a little dazed? I've never believed in fate."

"Just take it as me talking in my sleep," Chu Yan chuckled. "Why believe in fate when you can change things yourself? I don't believe in fate either."

Do you know who the least likely person to believe in fate is?

"Actually, it's Song Ling."

"From the moment she chose you, you should have known that she is not a conventional person, nor is she someone who listens to fate." Chu Yan looked at the person beside him and slowly uttered the sentence that made Yu Baizhou feel most helpless today.

"Because General Yu, you are not ordained by Heaven."

"The star in the northwest is the original imperial star."

“Ah Ling risked shortening her lifespan and dragged herself to the southwest. Then she chose you, creating the situation we have today. I feel heartbroken and helpless.”

Chu Yan's voice was somewhat muffled and suppressed: "If you don't have the ambition to go north, and instead suffer a defeat in the southern border region..."

Yu Baizhou's heart tightened, and his fingers curled up. "What will happen to her?"

"Maybe it's death, I'm not sure..." Chu Yan's voice weakened, but what he said next made Yu Baizhou's eyes redden.

“Huai Lai wants to save the world, but she cannot be trapped in it. Seventeen likes you very much, which is already a taboo.” Chu Yan’s brows furrowed with some agitation. “If you don’t intend to make any promises to her, then don’t get too close to her.”

"Otherwise, you'll hurt her and yourself."

"Although we grew up together in Huailai, I am seven years older than her and have watched her grow into who she is today."

Watching Song Ling grow from a cheerful and playful little girl into a sect leader bearing the heavy responsibility of the world overnight...

Just as Yu Baizhou said before.

That's ridiculous.

“I also hope that someone can protect her and treat her well without reservation.” Chu Yan paused and then said, “Because for so many years, it has always been her who has protected us.”

"She is only sixteen years old this year."

The little girl, who was five years old, disappeared overnight after her master died.

Perhaps it was hidden away, or perhaps it is already dead.

After the age of five, Song Ling remained calm and composed, always acted with propriety, and always convincingly hid behind others.

Only when General Yu was mentioned did Chu Yan see a different glint in her eyes.

As Yu Baizhou listened, he closed his eyes, his nose stung, and he felt a little breathless.

He didn't believe in fate or ghosts and gods... but a voice in his heart kept telling him that this was the truth.

Ah Ling's evasive answer and Wu Sheng and Qi Man's ambiguous responses.

They were like countless ropes, each one wrapped around his heart, constantly tugging at his mind.

Chu Yan originally thought that General Yu would ask him many questions, such as why Song Ling chose him, whether she really liked him, or whether she deliberately approached him...

But there was nothing.

Yu Baizhou simply asked him in a deep voice, "If I gain the throne, will A-Ling be able to survive?"

"Can it live a long, long life?"

Chu Yan gently shook his head, "I don't know if it's possible, but I know it's the only possibility."

After a long silence, the wind whistled through the air, and breathing was almost audible.

After a long while, a hoarse voice reached Chu Yan's ears.

"I see."

Yu Baizhou took half a step back and bowed to him.

Chu Yan: "General, what's wrong with you...?"

"I won't tell anyone about what happened today," Yu Baizhou said in a deep voice. "But I want to thank you for telling me all this."

Everything that follows also needs to be done at a faster pace.

"In that case, it is late at night, I will not disturb the general any longer." Chu Yan finished speaking, bowed, and prepared to leave.

At this moment, Yu Baizhou called out to him, "She asked me to give you something."

It is a breast protector.

Chu Yan was somewhat taken aback. Therefore, Seventeen knew from the beginning that he was determined to go to the battlefield.

"She really knows me very well."

Yu Baizhou stared at him for a while, then added, "A-Ling said that her agreement with you is not over yet."

"When the war is over, she'll be waiting for you to come find her."

Chu Yan smiled upon hearing this, turned his back, casually wiped away his tears, and then turned back to ask with a hint of teasing, "General, don't you care about what our agreement is?"

How could I not care?

But before she left, she told him to be more obedient.

"She will tell me when she's willing to."

Upon hearing this, Chu Yan's eyes lit up with a smile, and he carefully placed the breastplate inside his chest.

He then straightened his clothes, bowed deeply, and stood up.

Yu Baizhou had already observed this etiquette.

Shijiu once did this in front of Aling.

He performed the ceremony within the Huailai Gate.

“General, Huailai’s child is an orphan. When A Ling was an infant, her master carried her up the mountain on New Year’s Eve.”

“Every Lunar New Year’s Eve is her birthday.”

Chu Yan suddenly smiled with relief, "Farewell, General Yu."