Chapter 4: A Tragic Journey into the Martial World
Lin Chengye had no idea how long he had been unconscious.
But these days were extremely difficult. She could neither wake up nor wish to die, so she could only fight against herself and struggle in her death throes.
At first, her consciousness was shrouded in a thick fog. From the very beginning, that fog was denser than a city wall, and she could neither see nor feel the outside world. She could only hear faint sounds: the boiling medicine pot, the hurried footsteps back and forth, and someone sighing that she was still too young. Perhaps it had rained a few times, and there was the crisp sound of water hitting the bluestone slabs.
That person stayed by her side almost every step of the way, constantly holding her wrist and channeling his inner energy into her. Lin Chengye also craved that warmth and always wanted to hold that person's hand tightly, but she gradually realized that if she held it too tightly, that person would always gasp for air, and she felt that that person was probably afraid of pain, so she gradually stopped using such force as if she wanted to crush him.
The person hardly spoke when it was noisy, only occasionally giving gentle instructions to bring the boiled medicine, or to get some new medicine or silver and gold needles, always making sure she had them, as if afraid that the King of Hell would take her away again.
But when everything was quiet, the person started rambling on and on, saying all sorts of things, but no one answered her.
"It's good that you're alive, it's good that you're alive..."
"I was too late..."
"I always seem to be late..."
"She seems to be... only seventeen? She's still a child."
"I don't know what you like to eat?"
Lin Chengye wondered who the person was talking to. But surprisingly, this person was quite talkative.
The days became increasingly agonizing, and the fog that had shrouded his consciousness was finally smoothed away by the memories he struggled to recall. His vision was no longer completely dark; Lin Chengye could now perceive sunrise and sunset, his face reflecting a hazy red before plunging back into darkness, a cycle that repeated itself endlessly.
"Leader, when will Miss Lin wake up...?"
"It will be soon."
"She slept for a long time..."
"Let her rest."
The man sighed deeply, his fingertips tracing her forehead, the corners of her eyes, and the space between her brows, finally lingering on the thin skin beneath her eyes.
"If she wants to keep sleeping like this, that's fine, but... she definitely wants to wake up."
Yes, she must wake up.
There seems to be something I haven't remembered. What happened after that? What happened during those three months? Why did she die? She…
Lin Chengye suddenly felt a splitting headache, but she refused to stop, desperately trying to find something. Her body trembled slightly, and she let out broken moans.
"Chengye! Calm down, calm down, don't be so anxious."
The person seemed very... frightened. Hearing the person's flustered tone, Lin Chengye felt a pang of pity. Instead of clinging tightly to the person's hand for warmth, she gently stroked the person's wrist with her fingertips as a way of comforting them.
...
She didn't know how much time had passed, but the painful memories finally tore through the fog, and at the moment when the memories flooded in like a tsunami, she finally convulsed violently.
Those memories are a thousand times more painful than death.
Southern Yan and Northern Qi, Li Taozhou, Linfu...
Lin Chengye suddenly opened his eyes.
The first thing that rushed in was the lingering stench of blood, as if she were still buried in that mountain of corpses and sea of blood. But she knew clearly that the person had cleaned the room spotlessly, with only a faint scent of herbs and wood burning in the incense burner. She didn't know what time it was, but the weather wasn't cold, and the plum blossoms outside the window were clearly in full bloom even in the pitch-black night.
She is no longer in the northern frontier.
"No……"
Before her blurred vision could return, warm tears welled up uncontrollably in her eyes. Lin Chengye gritted her teeth and dragged her empty body up from the bed, but she never expected her legs to be so weak that she fell heavily to the ground before taking a single step.
"Ugh...cough cough..."
Blood seeped through the white gauze wrapped around his chest again, and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. Lin Chengye tried incredulously to gather his inner strength, but desperately found that he could not find a trace of flowing power in his internal organs.
With meridians severed and the inner sea completely lost, one is no different from a cripple to a martial artist.
What will she do in the future? How will she... avenge her family and the deep-seated hatred of the blood feud in Litao Prefecture?
"Hey, who said you could get out of bed? I finally managed to save you."
A breeze carrying the scent of plum blossoms blew open the door. Before Lin Chengye could even see who it was, she was enveloped in a moon-white, wide-sleeved silk robe. The person's arm supported her back, channeling a gentle inner force into her. With one hand reaching under her knees, they pulled her into their arms and carefully placed her back on the bed.
The plum blossom branches that the man had just picked in the night were scattered all over the ground, and a few pale red petals still clung to his clothes.
"Look, the wound has reopened."
"The northern frontier, how is the northern frontier... the northern frontier, Litao Prefecture..."
Ignoring the pain in his chest, Lin Chengye grabbed the man's collar in a daze, forcing out a few words through his teeth, his heart aching with coldness.
The man paused for a moment, then slipped his long, slender fingers between Lin Chengye's and gently rested her head against his chest. Perhaps it was this position that made her feel so safe, for Lin Chengye gently half-closed her eyes.
After a long while, the man's gentle voice was tinged with sorrow.
"...At the end of October in the 20th year of Yongjing, General Mi Fan of Southern Qi and Prince Tuoba Nian of Northern Yan led an army of 200,000 from Northern Yan and Southern Qi to invade the northern border. General Lin and Young Marshal Lin Chengtong led 60,000 Weilai troops to fight to the death and defended the city gate of Litao Prefecture for three months."
General Lin killed Tuoba Nian, but died from his injuries. Lin Chengtong then took command, and Lin Chengye, the second young lady of the Lin family, served as her military advisor. They held out for another two months.
Of the 60,000 Wei Lai soldiers and the troops from Li Tao Prefecture, not a single one retreated. Until their final moments, when I arrived, not a single body remained intact; I could not bear to look. Although the Southern Qi and Northern Yan forces breached the city gates, it was a Pyrrhic victory; less than one-tenth survived. They carried out a massive massacre of innocent civilians within Li Tao Prefecture, leaving the entire city wiped out. At this time, the 100,000-strong garrison of Lai State at Yangguan finally arrived and annihilated the remaining forces of Southern Qi and Northern Yan.
Emperor Lai posthumously conferred upon General Lin the title of Marquis of Pingxi, with the posthumous name Zhuangmiao, and ordered the construction of a temple and memorial tablet for her in the northern frontier. The entire nation mourned.
The moonlight was hazy tonight, and Lin Chengye was already in tears as she read the cold battle report, word by word. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she could not see anything clearly. The anger in her chest was almost overwhelming her, the veins on her temples were bulging, and her eardrums were ringing.
What a load of rubbish! What talk of the Marquis of Pingxi! And what about the whole country being wiped out! That damned emperor was clearly doing it on purpose!
But all those secret letters disappeared without a trace. They could not wait for the imperial court's support of food and military supplies, nor could they wait for the 100,000 troops stationed at Yangguan.
Lin Chengtong stood outside the city, riddled with arrows, standing upright as Southern Qi warhorses trampled over the corpse of the young marshal. She stood on the city wall of Litao Prefecture, and she clearly saw Lin Chengtong fall backward with his eyes wide open, dying with unresolved grievances, as if questioning the heavens.
Her father, Wei Liu, witnessed the scene and, without hesitation, drew his sword and committed suicide. She simply waited numbly until General Mi Fan of Southern Qi pierced her chest with a spear.
"...This is the result given by the imperial court. I have also inquired in many places in the martial arts world and among the common people, and this is roughly the prevailing opinion."
When I arrived in the Northwest, Taozhou was awash in blood. I searched tirelessly for three days among the corpses before I finally found you still had a breath left.
You were in a coma for almost a month, and now it's past the Lunar New Year, the eighth day of the second lunar month.
"What is this? What is this... "
Lin Chengye finally began to sob softly, her shoulders trembling. It seemed like only yesterday that her mother had promised her to venture into the martial world, but now she was homeless, a dead man in the imperial court, with only the martial world as her path.
"It's safe here, you can... cry louder."
The person seemed to feel sorry for her eyes, desperately rubbing away the tears welling up in them. Perhaps it was the warmth of that person's embrace that made her sob uncontrollably. Lin Chengye finally broke down in tears and wailed.
"Mother, brother, father..."
Lin Chengye couldn't remember what she said. She was crying and laughing at the same time, calling out the Emperor's name and cursing him for treating the soldiers of the Lin family this way. She also laughed at her mother and brother for being foolish, but she herself wouldn't leave, nor would the 60,000 soldiers of the Weilai Army. Yet, the people of Litao Prefecture were the most innocent.
The crying gradually subsided, and the words he uttered through gritted teeth turned into incoherent murmurs. Lin Chengye also found the fragrance of plum blossoms at the tip of his nose becoming increasingly sweet and intoxicating. Unconsciously, he collapsed from exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep, his fingers still tightly gripping the other person's sleeve.
"Why are you holding on so tightly? I'm not going to run away..."
The woman muttered something and awkwardly pulled open the blood-stained white cloth covering Lin Chengye's chest, replacing it with another cloth that had been prepared earlier. Just as she was about to lay Lin Chengye down, the child in her arms frowned, and she froze. Lin Chengye then snuggled closer into her arms.
The man tried several more times in frustration, and finally had no choice but to resign himself to holding Lin Chengye in his arms until the bright moon disappeared and the first rays of dawn appeared.
...
When I woke up again, it was already broad daylight and the sun was high in the sky.
Lin Chengye blinked, his blurry vision gradually clearing. The first thing he saw was a simple square table by the bedside, on which sat a white porcelain vase with a bunch of plum blossoms covered in dew, blooming gently in the morning light.
She tried to explore the inner sea again, but received the same answer as last night.
It might get even worse. Not only is the inner sea empty and dry, but it has also developed cracks. She will probably never be able to practice martial arts again in her lifetime.
Given the circumstances, it's already a stroke of luck to have escaped death; there's no point in forcing martial arts skills.
Lin Chengye sighed resignedly and struggled to sit up. Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and a girl rushed in, carrying a soft cushion. She carefully helped Lin Chengye sit up against the headboard, then picked up the medicine that was warming on the stove. She tested the temperature with a spoon herself before handing it to Lin Chengye.
"Miss Lin, the leader said that you should drink this when you wake up."
The girl looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, with bright and lively eyes. A gentle smile always lingered on her lips, making her quite adorable.
"good."
Lin Chengye downed the medicine in one gulp; it was so bitter it made her tongue numb. Her features scrunched up, her brows furrowing into a small hill.
"Ahem, may I ask, young lady, who is the leader of the alliance you speak of...?"
“Miss Lin, this is within the territory of our Jiangjin Alliance.”
The girl smiled, took the empty bowl from Lin Chengye's hand, and unconsciously spoke with a hint of smugness.
"Bian Yi!"
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