Chapter 85 Chapter 85 You finally woke up, Xie Tingyu. ...
In the vast darkness of the night, only the sound of horse hooves like thunder could be heard.
The defenders at the front of the camp looked up and suddenly cheered loudly, "It's Captain Jifeng! Quickly report to the general, Captain Wang has returned victorious!"
The soldiers had all witnessed her bravery on the battlefield, and at this moment they all struck their shields with swords, and thunderous cheers broke out amid the sound of swords clashing.
Several soldiers who particularly admired Wang Xuanji ran over and shouted.
"Captain Wang returns triumphantly!"
"Captain Wang is heroic!"
"Captain Wang is back!"
A black lightning flashed past the crowd, and a black shadow flew off the horse, holding a bloody sack in his hand.
Bang.
The blood-soaked cloth slammed onto the table. Wang Xuanji ripped off the blood-soaked mask and said in a hoarse, murderous voice, "Wang Zhuozhang, this is the head you wanted."
Hearing the thunderous cheers outside the tent, Wang Zhuozhang's heart, which had been hanging in the balance all night, finally settled down. She slammed the table and stood up, "Excellent! Excellent! Your safe return is more important than any head!"
Wang Xuanji threw back her head and laughed heartily, shaking the candlelight in the tent. "Hahahaha! If I strike, there's no head I can't chop off!"
Wang Zhuozhang lifted the bloodstained cloth, revealing a fresh head. The hair was untangled, eyes wide open, and blood trickled down the sides of the lips, evidently having been beheaded by a sudden blow. The incision on the neck was as smooth as a mirror, a testament to the sharp and precise knife technique.
"Good! Good! Good!"
Wang Zhuozhang praised him three times, "Great Zhou is fortunate to have such a brave general! Hahahahahaha!"
She patted Wang Xuanji's shoulder armor heavily, "Although you often say that you don't seek fame and fortune, how can you not report your achievements?"
He immediately spread out paper, ground ink, and wrote quickly, "I will write a report of victory and order three groups of post horses to rush to the capital!"
"etc!"
Wang Xuanji placed her palm on the desk, her expression unusually serious. She pressed down the tip of Wang Zhuozhang's pen, "This honor and disgrace isn't just mine. There were fifteen riders, including me. If they hadn't shielded me and deflected some of the arrows, how could Helian Shu have been killed? I can't take all the credit!"
"Don't worry."
Wang Zhuozhang stopped smiling upon hearing this and said sternly, "Anyone who participated in the night raid and died in battle will have their names reported to the Sirong Mansion, and their compensation will be doubled, and their families will be exempted from taxes and labor service for ten years. All survivors will be credited with military merit and awarded thirty strings of cash."
She picked up her pen and dipped it in ink again: "No name will be left out of this victory report."
Wang Xuanji leaned forward, her shadow casting a shadow over the entire military report. She watched the tip of her pen move, her gaze fixed on the movement of her pen until the last name was written. A smile crept up her lips. When Wang Zhuozhang put down his pen, she snatched the paper without waiting for the ink to dry. She carefully read each word three times, confirming that all fifteen names had been included, before handing the victory report back.
Wang Zhuozhang walked out of the tent with the victory report, but when he came back he saw Wang Xuanji staring at Helian Shu's head in a daze.
"What's wrong? Do you like it so much? Why don't you take it to your tent and hang it in front of your bed tonight?"
"screw you."
Wang Xuanji glanced at her, crossed her arms, and suddenly sighed, "I was just thinking, this war has been going on for a year, it's time to end." She shook her head and said, "What's that sentence in the book? When prosperity comes, the people suffer; when decline comes, the people suffer."
She turned around, leaning against the table, and gazed at the starry sky outside the tent. "Although we drove the Xianbei back, all we saw along the way were displaced civilians. They were pale and thin, starving. It wasn't just them who suffered, but also the soldiers who went out to fight."
Wang Zhuozhang stood side by side with her, and the two figures were cast obliquely on the tent.
She glanced at Wang Xuanji for a moment and chuckled, "It's rare to see you take your studies so seriously and understand your concern for the country and the people."
Wang Xuanji raised an eyebrow. "Do I look stupid? The Xianbei people occupied my city and bullied my people—"
With a clang sound.
Wang Xuanji drew his sword from his waist and thrust it straight into Helian Shu's head, gripping the hilt tightly. "This battle is for justice, and only victory is allowed!"
"Hahahahaha! Good! Good! Good!"
The two men tacitly extended their palms and struck out, saying in unison, "Only victory is allowed, not defeat!"
At the first quarter of the morning, dawn broke, and a few golden rays shone through the morning mist, slowly illuminating the continuous military camps.
Above the northern desert, the sun is rising from the horizon.
Everyone stood in silence before a freshly dug pit, with Wang Zhuozhang and Wang Xuanji at the forefront. With a wave of his hand, Wang Zhuozhang signaled the soldiers to carefully bury the fallen soldiers, covering them with clean earth. This ritual, passed down through generations by the Wang Family Army, comforted the spirits of the heroes and reminded the living of the weight of the journey.
Wang Zhuozhang brushed off his clothes and sat on the ground, placing the guqin on his knees. As his fingertips rose and fell, clear and melodious music poured out like a spring.
I've heard from people in the Wang family that this song was composed by an ancestor of the Wang family. It's called the Soul-Calling Song and is said to guide lost souls back to their homeland. Hence the deep, mournful melody, like a lament.
Wang Xuanji gazed up at the rising sun, her entire body bathed in golden light, even her eyelashes stained a dazzling gold. She placed a hand on her heart and chanted softly, "I will travel thousands of miles, fearing death, to slaughter all the barbarians and captives. I bow my head and open my heart, never regretting anything in this life..."
This song "Joining the Army" is well known to everyone in the Wang family army. Whenever soldiers are buried, the sad melody will always echo over the desert.
Everyone's faces were solemn, their hearts surging with emotion. The chanting gradually gathered into a stream, spreading from the burial grounds, infecting the entire camp. All the soldiers, facing the rising sun, sang in unison. Even soldiers from the neighboring Qingluan Camp emerged from their tents and involuntarily joined in the tune.
The music faded, but the lingering rhythm lingered in their ears. They both mounted their horses and galloped off towards the dawn, their scarlet cloaks rustling in the fierce wind.
Wang Xuanji took off the wine gourd from his waist and drank it with his head tilted back. The clear wine slid down his chin. "After this battle is over, I will leave Jiankang! I will go to see the big rivers, the majestic snow-capped mountains, and all the beautiful scenery in the world! I also want... I also want to sleep with the most beautiful woman in the world! Hahahahaha!" After that, he laughed loudly, and his laughter echoed in the wilderness.
Wang Zhuozhang stared at her carefree smile and asked, "Then...will you really return to Jiankang in the future?"
"nature!"
"If the Xianbei invade our Great Zhou again, I would like to ask the incomparably brave Captain Wang if he would be willing to return to Jiankang to lend a hand."
"Of course! If there's a war, just send me a letter to summon me—" Wang Xuanji reined in his horse and turned around, his horsetail drawing a graceful arc in the morning sun, his arrogant smile becoming even more dazzling in the sunlight. "I will gallop to help!"
"Good! I wish you a pleasant visit, and also...what did you say just now?"
"Sleep with the most beautiful woman in the world!"
"Alright! Then I wish you to sleep with the most beautiful woman in the world!" Wang Zhuozhang laughed heartily, "That beauty will definitely fall drunkenly at your feet!"
The two looked at each other, raised their heads and laughed at the same time, and their unrestrained laughter spread throughout the area with the morning breeze.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. In that battle, the two died side by side on the battlefield.
"ah……"
Wang Xuanji stared at her own nearly transparent soul, then at the bloody corpse at the bottom of the cliff. Its face was shattered by the scratches of the rocks, and its armor was in tatters.
"Ah... so ugly... so when people fall off a cliff, their death looks so ugly?"
This was the fifth day since she had died at the bottom of the cliff. Fortunately, there were no wild animals nearby to gnaw on her body, but there was no guarantee that a few wild wolves would not appear one day and tear her skin apart.
The most regrettable thing is that the soul is trapped here, unable to float back up to see the battle situation, and I don't know if Wang Zhuozhang is safe. Now, I can neither return to the Great Zhou, nor see the mountains and rivers, let alone sleep with the most beautiful woman in the world.
What bad luck!
Wang Xuanji could only continue to stare at her own broken body in silence. She wondered if this lonely ghost really had to wait until there was nothing left of his body before floating across the Naihe Bridge to be reincarnated.
While I was thinking, I suddenly heard the clear ringing of bells from the cliff, mixed with a few donkey brays.
Wang Xuanji looked in the direction of the voice.
She followed the sound and saw a green donkey turning the corner of the mountain path. On its back sat a Taoist wearing a Hunyuan crown, holding a young Taoist priest in his arms. The young Taoist priest wore a yin-yang fish jade pendant at his waist, which shone warmly in the sunlight.
Wang Xuanji felt that the Taoist robe looked familiar, and only when the two of them got closer did he recognize that it was the clothing of Shangqing Temple.
Suddenly I remembered my master's prediction and felt ashamed.
Her master said she was destined to be a general. But now, she was lying here, unable to move. What was she still talking about being a general? I just didn't know if I would run into her master again in the underworld. If I did, I wouldn't be scolded.
"……master……"
The little Taoist priest suddenly pointed to a place not far away and said, "There is someone lying there. Let's go and take a look."
Only when I got closer did I see that it was a bloody and dried corpse.
The young Taoist priest gently tugged at the Taoist's sleeve, "Master, why don't we bury her? Tingyu heard from his mother that if the body isn't properly buried, the soul will have nowhere to go and will only be able to wander the world as a lonely ghost."
Tingyu? Such a familiar name, have you heard it somewhere before?
Wang Xuanji couldn't remember for a moment, so she moved casually and floated in front of the Taoist priest. She took a closer look. Wasn't this one of the Taoist priests who had come to her master's courtyard and asked her to return to preside over the affairs of the Taoist temple?
What a coincidence! How did you end up here? This is the North, and you were originally in the South. Did you end up here while strolling?
The Taoist took out a yellowed piece of letter paper from his bosom, read it over and over again, and then went forward to bury the body under a pine forest not far away.
The young Taoist priest looked at the newly erected wooden sign and whispered, "Xuan Ji's Tomb." She turned her head to look at the Taoist priest, "Master, how do you know this person's name? Did you know him before?"
The Taoist replied, "Before the Grand Master of Shangqing Temple passed away, he left a letter asking me to come here and investigate. If I find a body in military armor, I should bury it properly. He said it was the Grand Master's disciple, named Xuanji."
Wang Xuanji was immediately shocked. I didn't expect that Master, after so many years of passing away, would still think so much of me.
The young Taoist priest bowed to the wooden sign in a daze, turned around and climbed onto the green donkey, the yin-yang fish jade pendant on his waist swaying gently with his movements.
Perhaps it was because of the sincerity of the bow, or because the jade pendant had its own spirituality, but Wang Xuanji's soul involuntarily attached itself to the jade pendant and gradually walked away with the two Taoists.
The two of them headed south from the north as if they had completed their mission.
One day, while passing a pavilion in a bamboo forest, I suddenly heard the lingering sound of a zither. The person in the pavilion was dressed in a purple robe with calamus patterns, her dark black hair half-hiding her face. The low and melodious sound flowing from her fingers was surprisingly similar to the soul-calling song that Wang Zhuozhang had played that day.
Who is playing here?
It seemed as if there was an invisible force pulling her, and the surrounding scenery gradually became hazy like fog. It seemed as if someone was calling softly in her ears, but the name she called was not Xuan Ji.
My consciousness gradually faded and everything became blurry.
"...Xie Tingyu..."
"...Xie Tingyu...Xie Tingyu..."
"...Xie Tingyu...wake up soon..."
The person on the couch shivered as she slowly opened her eyes. She glanced sideways to see the world's most beautiful woman hunched over the couch, her eyelids swollen like peaches as she stared at her.
The beauty subconsciously clenched her hands, her voice choked and hoarse, "You finally woke up, Xie Tingyu, I thought... I would never see you open your eyes again."
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The author has something to say: I've finally finished writing the whole story. It's like fate: I'll give you the elixir, and you'll bury my body.
A Thousand Miles Away, Not Hesitating to Die - Song of the Frontier, Gao Shi
When prosperity comes, the people suffer; when decline comes, the people suffer - Shanpoyang·Tongguan Nostalgia
I really want to open another female-dominant channel for pre-collection, but I'm afraid that the next one will be pure torture. Should I open it or not? In fact, I don't even understand what the Jinjiang female-dominant channel is all about... I'd better not open it for now (wait for me to figure it out)
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Small Theater:
Someone's profile on Instagram says, "I want to sleep with the most beautiful woman in the world."
Seeing this, Lian Lian changed her ID to "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World"
A little red heart message popped up, "Want a date?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
