"If a dog bites you, will you bite it back?" When Qin Mo's famous quote spread throughout the Great Xia army, the plague began to show its true colors, revealing its fangs.

Zhao Qirui decisively implemented Qin Mo's obsessive-compulsive cleanliness regulations throughout the army. In addition, he began to forcibly isolate the military camps that were infected with the disease. Those who had not yet shown any signs of infection were placed under special care, while those who were infected were left to fend for themselves.

Logically, leaving the epidemic area should have been the right thing to do, but the Great Xia army did not retreat from Ulan-Ude; instead, they tightened the siege. Qin Mo didn't know if this decision was right or wrong, because the Russians in the city soon began a desperate breakout attempt.

This battle was even more brutal than when the Great Xia army besieged the city. The orderly "Hurrah...Hurrah" was no longer heard on the battlefield; only bloodshot eyes and desperate howls filled the air. For a full ten hours, the howls echoed incessantly, causing Qin Mo to suffer from insomnia and headaches.

After the howling subsided, the Great Xia army was troubled by the corpses in front of them. No one wanted to clean them up. The corpses of the third generation already smelled, and the tenth generation was already stinking. Now everyone was afraid of them and dared not approach them.

Finally, Zhao Qirui consulted Qin Mo, who had no choice but to play the villain again, gathering all cultivators above the Yellow Realm to form a corpse-collecting team. Wearing treated masks, they circulated their vital energy throughout their bodies, sealing off their skin from the outside world, and piled the corpses into mountains overnight, then doused them with kerosene and set them on fire.

When Qin Yuwen, the heir apparent of the Prince of Chenliu, finally arrived in Ulan-Ude, he was immediately nauseated by the pervasive smell of burning corpses. Meanwhile, Qin Yumu and Qin Yuanze had just arrived in Ulan-Ude when they saw the Yuan army break camp overnight and flee this horrific place as if escaping, without even seeing Qin Mo.

Standing on the hill, Ji Wu watched the departing army and sighed. He then turned to Lev beside him and asked, "Lev, have you made up your mind?"

"Do we have any other choice? Staying here, whether the Great Xia army wins or the orcs win, we'll all end up in the same way. We might as well go east and look for some opportunities," Lev said to Ji Wu with an indifferent expression.

“Alright, then let’s head west to find a suitable bay. We must reach the sea before winter. Hopefully, there really is a sea to the east.” Ji Wu made up his mind and rode with Lev toward their settlement, where the leaders of all the nearby villages and towns were waiting for them.

In the late autumn of the fourth year of Zhaowu's reign, Qin Mo left the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty, passing through Xuanhua Prefecture and Guihua City before arriving at Wulan City. In the late autumn of the fifth year of Zhaowu's reign, Qin Mo finally returned to Xuanhua Prefecture. Further south, across five hundred li of hills, lay the capital.

The mountain road stretched endlessly, the long line of soldiers marching with great speed, eager to return home. The troops, tempered by the battlefield, were no longer the energetic new recruits, but silent, hardened veterans.

Whether merchants, travelers, or baggage trains and noble troops heading north, all who encountered this army with its restrained killing intent would pull aside and stop to let them pass.

The procession suddenly stopped, and then Liu Renguang rode up at full speed on horseback, whispering to Qin Mo, "Young Master, someone is blocking the way."

"Roadblock? Is there a robbery going on?"

Liu Renguang was not amused by Qin Mo's joke, but instead told him to go and see for himself.

A winding mountain road spiraled upwards, the pass only wide enough for two carriages to pass each other. A horse-drawn carriage blocked the way. The carriage was old, and a man sat atop the shaft, clad in black armor—it was… a hero.