Chapter 187 Jinjiang First Launch

"What?"

Mother looked at Wuyan as if she had heard a big joke. Wuyan was not afraid at all and simply repeated what she had just said, saying confidently:

"Mom, I've thought about it. This is the best way. If I leave you, it will not only reduce your burden, but also save you from worrying about my marriage all day. Qiu Sheng and Ping An have been taken away. They are worse than me. Since they can go, why can't I go? Everyone should serve the motherland. Since I can't read and write, I will go to the battlefield to kill the enemy!"

Mother was furious: "I really spoiled you too much, and I accustomed you to lawlessness. You can do whatever you want, and you can even say such nonsense! Going to the battlefield to kill the enemy is something you, a girl, should think about? Do you know the difference between men and women? The battlefield is full of men. How can a girl like you enter the barracks have a good ending?"

Wuyan wanted to argue, but her mother had already given up talking to her. She dragged her into the inner room and locked the door from the outside: "You stay here for the next few days. You are not allowed to go out until the conscripts leave!"

Wu Yan sighed, it seemed impossible to get her mother's support. She looked at Xiao Qing silently, and a plan came to her mind immediately. She was much stronger now than before, and it was impossible to trap her in such a room. However, she didn't want to confront her mother head-on, lest she make her mother sad.

After nightfall, everything was quiet and his mother had fallen asleep. Wuyan punched the window, broke it down, and escaped through the window with Xiaoqing.

She ran all the way to the county. The soldier in charge of conscription was in an inn in the county town. The lights in the inn were brightly on. Although it was very late, the soldier and his men were still awake. They were counting the new recruits. The soldier shook his head and sighed as he read. Although they had made great efforts to recruit soldiers this time, they still did not reach the number of recruits required by the court. Now the war on the border was tense and the army was short of people.

The soldier was worried when there was a knock on the door. He didn't look up and asked tiredly who was on the other end. A loud voice came from the other side of the door: "Sir, I want to join the army!"

The soldier's eyes immediately lit up after hearing this. This was a talent who had taken the initiative to come to him. He hurriedly opened the door to welcome him in, but after opening the door, the soldier's expression changed -

Although this person is tall and strong, she is actually a woman?

"Are you drunk? Are you trying to make fun of me in the middle of the night?" The soldier spat impatiently and tried to close the door.

Wuyan quickly blocked the door and volunteered, "Sir, don't look at me as just a woman, but I am very strong. I can beat a group of people by myself. Sir, let me try!"

The soldier still planned to close the door, but he pushed and pushed and found that he could not close the door at all. The door had been pushed by Wuyan all the time, and the soldier became a little annoyed for a moment - he was not as strong as the woman in front of him.

He angrily swung his sleeves and returned to the table. Seeing him like this, Wuyan actually thought that he had tacitly allowed her to come in, so she pushed the door open and went in. The soldier was shocked. He had never seen a woman come uninvited like this. He pointed at Wuyan and cursed: "You - you woman - how can you be so shameless?"

She smiled without caring about his insults. She just wanted to prove her strength. She looked around the room and finally picked up the soldier's halberd standing beside the bed. After playing with it for a few times, she held it with both hands and broke it easily.

Seeing this scene, the soldier was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He shouted: "Come here, come here - take down this traitor for me -"

Before he finished speaking, a group of people rushed into the house and arrested Wuyan. Wuyan had no intention of fighting, but said to the soldier sincerely: "Sir, I am a commoner, my family is very poor, I damaged your weapon today, if you want me to compensate, I certainly can't afford it, at most you can chop me off, the worst case scenario is that I will lose my head, but if you let me join the army, I will definitely repay you when I succeed in the future!"

Hearing this, the soldiers on both sides started laughing.

"A woman also wants to join the army, did I hear correctly?"

"She still wants to stand out. It makes me laugh. What does she think of us brothers?"

"I think she is dreaming! Sir, there is no need to waste time talking to her. Just chop off her head and she will stop talking nonsense!"

The soldier thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case. Moreover, he had just witnessed Wuyan's strength. It would be a waste of such a talent if he just chopped him to death.

After some consideration, the sergeant asked the others to release Wu Yan, and then registered Wu Yan's name in the register, truly counting her as a soldier.

On the day the conscription team left, Wuyan followed them. Although it was a strange thing for a woman to join the army, Wuyan encountered a lot of doubts and ridicule along the way, but she proved her strength every time. Gradually, people accepted the fact that there was a woman in the army, and no one raised any objections anymore.

The imperial court urgently needed troops, and Wuyan's men were sent to the border to guard the border with almost no training. The team was full of newcomers, and the extremely talented Wuyan quickly overwhelmed the other recruits and became a junior officer in the barracks. At first, the newcomers were a little unconvinced, but Wuyan conquered them time and time again with force, and even Qiu Sheng and Ping An became Wuyan's subordinates, and now they even admire Wuyan a little.

Under Wuyan's leadership, the army made rapid progress. The border was bitterly cold, and the neighboring Zheng people invaded from time to time. Wuyan led the warriors to kill the enemy, and would rather die in blood than give in. She was born with infinite strength, bravery and good at fighting, and she was self-taught in military strategies. Wherever she appeared on the battlefield, Ji State had never lost. Such Wuyan shocked the Zheng people. The Zheng people, who had always been good at fighting, actually calmed down a lot and did not dare to invade again for a whole year.

In the past two years, Xiaoqing has lived with Wuyan in the military camp and has grown bigger and bigger. She is good at catching insects and mice. The brothers in the barracks like her very much. She has become the pet of the group in the barracks and a good helper for Wuyan to kill enemies on the battlefield.

Although Wuyan was extremely powerful, Zheng State was not without its prodigies. Sometimes when Wuyan and the enemy were in a stalemate, he would shout:

"Xiaoqing—come out!"

Xiaoqing would fly out from Wuyan's collar, jump onto the enemy like lightning, bite the opponent's neck fiercely, and kill the enemy with one blow. Yes, it is a poisonous snake, and its venom is not small.

With Xiaoqing's help, Bai Wuyan won many battles. During the three years at the border, she was promoted out of turn all the way and finally became the general's deputy.

At the end of the three-year period, Wuyan and others were recalled by the court. Because of their meritorious service in protecting the Ji State, the emperor decided to summon them in person.

In the hall, the emperor rewarded Wuyan generously. He did not look down on her because she was a woman, nor did he dislike her because of her appearance. Instead, he praised her again and again, even rewarded her with 100 taels of gold, and officially appointed her as a general at the border.

It happened that the former border general had reached retirement age, so Wuyan knelt down respectfully to receive the order, and she was finally able to go back to see her mother.

On the day Bai Wuyan returned home, all the villagers gathered at the entrance of the village, welcoming Wuyan as if they were welcoming an emperor. When she entered the village, Wuyan got off her horse and the villagers came up to her hurriedly, congratulating her warmly, as if they had never bullied her before.

Mother was also in the crowd. She knelt down to Wuyan according to etiquette. Wuyan hurriedly helped her up. The two looked up at each other. Wuyan's eyes turned red and mother's tears flowed. She recounted the hardships of the past three years. Since Wuyan disappeared, she had been looking for Wuyan like crazy. Later, she learned that Wuyan had gone to the military camp, and mother completely lost hope. She had already erected a tombstone for Wuyan on the back mountain, but she didn't expect that Wuyan could return home in glory.

"I thought I would never see you again in this life, but I didn't expect..." Mother beat Wuyan in sadness and anger, "You damn child, you left without saying a word, do you know that you almost pissed me off to death!"

Wuyan apologized profusely, took her mother's hand and went into the house, and talked about her future plans. Now that Wuyan had money, she planned to bring her mother to the capital to live and completely stay away from this group of people in the village.

After comforting her mother, Wuyan brought offerings to the temple of Biyuan Immortal Lord. The temple was even more dilapidated than before. Although Wuyan had never seen Biyuan Immortal Lord appear since she was six years old, she believed that Biyuan Immortal Lord had always been blessing her in heaven, and that her safe return was also due to Biyuan Immortal Lord’s credit.

Wuyan put his hands together and said devoutly: "My Lord, I once said that if I had money one day, I would definitely rebuild the temple for you. Today I am here to fulfill my promise."

So she immediately hired some workers from the city, demolished the now dilapidated small temple, and rebuilt a magnificent large temple for the Immortal Lord Bi Yuan.

The Immortal Lord Biyuan, who was far away in the sky, sensed the changes in the mortal world. He looked at Bai Wuyan in the mortal world through the mirror of the world, and suddenly felt some emotion in his heart. Many years ago, he saw Wuyan in trouble, being chased and hiding in a temple. He helped her at that time, but it was just out of the instinct of a god. He didn't expect that the little girl would be grateful to him until now and really fulfilled her promise.

Bi Yuan Xianjun was originally a deity in charge of the demons in the human world. All plants, trees and animals in the human world could become demons after cultivation, but they had to get Bi Yuan Xianjun's approval. Demons were divided into good and evil. If a demon became an evil demon and brought harm to the human world, Bi Yuan Xianjun would take action to deal with it in time.

雖說碧元仙君一直都在造福人間，但是他所做的事與世人并無直接聯系，世人也不知道他的功勞，所以他是一個沒有信徒的神仙，就算在人間偶有神廟也無人祭拜，碧元仙君本都習慣了這樣清冷的日子，沒想到有一天他突然多了一個小小的信徒。

這些年來，他就在天上透過人間鏡看着這位小信徒的成長，無鹽送來的祭品，每樣他都親自品嘗過，就連小無鹽自己蒸的饅頭他都試了試，沒熟。

如今無鹽已經長大了，出落成了一個成熟的女子，雖然容貌醜陋，但碧元仙君卻真的被她重新立廟這一舉動所打動，他做了千年的神仙，看過無數皮囊，自然早已不在乎皮相，他看見的是無鹽的堅韌和勇氣，是她皮囊之下永不熄滅的生命力。

天界允許神仙戀愛生子，但很少有神仙會選擇凡人或是妖魔戀愛，因為神仙不能未經允許私自下凡，若是私自下凡，便會失去所有法力，變成一個普通的凡人，只有回到天界才能恢複神力，因此和凡人的每一次見面都要冒着巨大的風險，沒有神仙願意擔負這個麻煩。

碧元仙君不同，他是天界出了名的真性情，曾經為救好友擅闖魔界，險些丢了性命，若是他認準一個人，便會将生死都置之度外。

不過碧元仙君有些猶豫，他還不清楚白無鹽的心意，若是……若是無鹽只把他當做一個神仙來祭拜呢？若是她已有心意的男子呢？

在凡間，聽說無鹽要重蓋寺廟之後，阿娘沒有多說什麽，反正無鹽如今有錢了，怎麽花是她的事，阿娘做了一桌好菜，等無鹽坐下來，然後拉着她的手又唠唠叨叨說起了那個老話題：

“我的兒，你都已經這個歲數了，到底對自己的婚事有什麽打算？隔壁村的小梅，和你一個年紀，如今膝下已有三子，肚子裏還懷着一個，可是你，卻是顆粒無收啊！”

無鹽坦然地攤開手：“我這輩子不想成婚，娘，以前是我貌醜，那些男人們看不上我，如今是我看不上他們，他們一個個手不能提，肩不能扛，連戰場都沒上過，還好吃濫賭，滿臉色相，我若是與他們成婚，只怕是飯都吃不下去！”

阿娘笑了：“那是自然，你如今已經當了将軍，自然眼界也高了許多，咱們鎮子裏的男孩你看不上，那京城可有好兒郎啊？實在不行，你可以招一個贅婿入贅，只挑相貌好的，這樣你總滿意了吧？”

無鹽還是搖頭：“贅婿我也瞧不上，一個堂堂的六尺男兒，不做正經行當，偏要來吃軟飯，你說我如何能放心他的人品？”

娘很是不解：“這也看不上，那也看不上，你到底要什麽？無鹽，難道全天下的男子，就沒有一個能入得了你的眼嗎？”

無鹽想了想，然後認真地說：“如果此生非要我嫁人，那我必定要嫁碧元仙君，唯有他能入得了我的眼！”

碧元仙君的神像雖然破敗，但是神韻俱在，能看得出他是一個風度翩翩的俊秀青年，自從六歲那年破廟裏初見，無鹽就對他一見傾心了。

娘根本沒有當真：“你這孩子，我看你是出去打仗打傻了吧，說什麽胡話？碧元仙君只不過是民間傳說中的人物，根本就不存在，一個看不見摸不着的人，你怎麽與他成親生子？”

無鹽不服氣地說：“不是的，仙君真的存在，六歲那年——”

娘又一次打斷了她：“行了，這個故事我聽得耳朵都起繭子了，那時候你還是個小孩子，能記得住什麽呀？我看，說不準是你做了一個夢，然後把夢裏的事情當真了，以後可別再說這些胡話，免得讓人聽見笑話！”

無鹽便不再做聲，悶悶地低頭扒飯，娘又唠叨了起來：“你就算不喜歡那些男子，也得湊乎挑一個，人總是要成親生子的呀，要不然，不留個後，等你老了誰給你養老送終呢？你看看娘，有你這麽個好女兒，能把娘接到京城去享福……”

過了不久，京城的宅子安置好了，無鹽把娘接了過去，村裏的神廟也蓋好了，托無鹽的福，現在村裏人都成了碧元仙君的信徒，就連京城的人也都一窩蜂地趕去拜碧元仙君，廟門口擠得水洩不通，反倒是無鹽被擠得進不去了。

無鹽站在人群之外，朝着神廟遙遙一拜，算是表達了自己的心意，今天是她休息的最後一天，今日過後，她又該重返戰場了，下次再見還不知道是何時。

想到這裏，無鹽心底泛起不舍，她趕走了身邊跟着的人，想一個人出去走走，反正她身強體壯，也沒人能傷得了她。

村裏有一處池塘，現在是夏日，池塘中的荷花開得正盛，片片花瓣飽滿，像是粉玉雕琢，無鹽忍不住走下去，想摘一朵荷花，沒想到那池塘看着水淺，實際上很深，水底還有淤泥，無鹽下去之後就被纏住了腳，一時上不來。

她在水底呼救，可聲音傳不上去，正當她苦苦掙紮之際，水面上忽然伸下來一只手，緊緊握住了白無鹽的手，那只手的手指細長，關節清晰，在水下泛着白光，不似凡人。

那只手把無鹽拉出了水面，在出水之前，無鹽隔着水面看見了一張朦胧的臉，那張臉宛如白玉雕琢，清冷又高貴，正是她在廟中所見過的碧元仙君的神像！

還來不及驚喜，她就被拉了上來，濺起滿池的水花，那些水珠打在荷花荷葉上，滿池蓮花皆搖動。

“碧元仙君？！”無鹽驚喜地叫出了聲，這正是她在夢中見過無數次的那張臉啊！

碧元仙君唇角勾笑，微微點頭：“許久未見，一切安好？”

他說的許久未見，是指無鹽自六歲之後就沒見過他顯靈的樣子。

無鹽不顧禮數，直接一下子撲到了碧元仙君的身上，還雙手使勁搓揉他的臉：“啊啊啊啊居然是真的，我該不會是在夢裏吧？我就說嘛，你一定是存在的，我見過你顯靈，那間寺廟裏發生的事，我一直都記得，但是沒人相信我！太好了，你終于顯靈了，我要帶你去見阿娘，讓她看看，你真的存在！”

無鹽說着就要走，碧元仙君勾住了她的手：“噓，別去，我這次下凡是個秘密。”

無鹽一副了然的樣子：“哦——我知道了，你一定是下凡來執行神秘任務的，帶我一起去，我可以幫你！”

碧元仙君溫柔地看着她：“我是為你而來。”

無鹽一時愣住了，不知該如何作答，她長到這麽大，還從來沒有受過男人的追求，而且還是一個這麽好看的男人，而且還是她喜歡了多年的男人，無鹽做了幾個深呼吸，生怕自己暈過去。

“這些年，你的一舉一動，我都看在眼裏。”碧元仙君自然地對無鹽伸出手，默默地邀請她。

無鹽想都沒想，直接拉住了碧元仙君的手，仿佛生怕他下一刻就要飛走。

兩人像凡世間一對普通的小情侶一樣挽着手，悠閑地走在池塘邊，小青愉快地探出頭來當電燈泡，碧元仙君不能透露天界的事，一直都是白無鹽在說話，她訴說着這些年她對碧元仙君的愛慕，她一個人吃過的苦，她做過的那些夢，碧元仙君只是默默聽着，用力地握緊了她的手。

那天他們去了附近的鎮上，一起逛了集市，碧元仙君按照凡間戀愛的俗例，給無鹽買了很多漂亮衣服，但是無鹽對這些不感興趣，她反而拉着碧元仙君去了兵器鋪子，挑了幾件趁手的兵器，碧元仙君笑着買了賬。

路上遇到賣花的老奶奶，碧元仙君一時心善，就把老奶奶背簍裏的花全給買了下來，他讓無鹽端坐在身前，仔仔細細地為她簪了滿頭的花，無鹽一時成了街上的焦點。

他們一起吃了小吃，一起看了雜耍表演，無鹽看得起勁，還拿着剛買的兵器上去耍了兩下，碧元仙君在人群中為她鼓掌。

到了夜裏，集市上的人更多了，為了避開人群，無鹽拉着碧元仙君上了游船，他們一起泛舟湖上，兩岸燈火通明，人聲鼎沸，在這樣的氛圍下，兩人放起了花燈。

放花燈的時候，兩人都在花燈裏放了自己的心願，無鹽偷看了碧元仙君的花燈，那裏面的紙條上寫着：

“無鹽平安喜樂”

對于一個上戰場的将軍來說，平安似乎是一種奢願，無鹽拍了拍碧元仙君的肩膀：“你放心吧，我肯定平安歸來，不光如此，我還會殺他們個片甲不留！”

意識到自己的願望被偷看了，碧元仙君有些不平：“那你又許了什麽願？”

無鹽坦誠地說：“我希望以後日日都可以和你在一起！”

碧元仙君有些為難，此次違規下凡已是破了天例，要他日日如此，着實是有些難，他只好對無鹽說：“能不能換個願望？”

Wu Yan's eyes dimmed for a moment, but he immediately perked up and said, "Okay, then I want you to have a baby with me!"

It seemed that this was not something a woman should say, but Wuyan was not an ordinary lady from a noble family. She had been on the battlefield for a long time and always spoke boldly and frankly. She also knew that Immortal Lord Biyuan was a god and he probably could not marry her like an earthly man. In that case, she wanted to leave a child.

Although Wuyan had said before that she would remain single until old age and never have children, her mood was different now. If marriage was just a calculation and compromise between each other, then there was no need to have children. But now her beloved was right in front of her, and she wanted to have a child with the one she loved so that this love would have a visible result. Even if Immortal Biyuan disappeared and left her alone to raise the child, she would be willing to do so.

Immortal Lord Biyuan was not surprised, for he knew that Wuyan had always been like this. So it would not be difficult for him to have a child. Immortals did not give birth like mortals did. They did not need to have sexual intercourse. All they had to do was take a token of love and let it be stained with the blood of both parties, and it would then turn into a child.

But it was too late. It was already dark, and Bi Yuan Xianjun had to return to the heaven. He looked at the sky and said, "Okay, next time we meet, please bring me a gift--"

Before she could finish her words, Bi Yuan Xian Jun disappeared. Wu Yan looked up at the sky, feeling empty inside. She shouted to the sky:

"Hey - when are we going to meet next time -"

There was total silence in the sky and no one answered her.

Although she didn't know the date of their next meeting, Wuyan still prepared a gift. Among the rewards given to her by the emperor, there was a piece of the most precious mutton-fat white jade. There was only one piece in the whole country, and even the emperor's treasury did not have any of similar quality. It was given to her because of her outstanding military achievements.

Now she decided to give this piece of mutton-fat white jade to the Immortal Lord Bi Yuan. In her heart, the Immortal Lord Bi Yuan was a man as beautiful as jade, and this piece of white jade should be worthy of him.

Because he didn't know when he would see him again, Wuyan kept the jade close to his body at all times, hoping to give it to Immortal Lord Biyuan in person when he saw him again.

After that day, an imperial edict came down, and Wuyan hurriedly rode back to the border. During the days when Wuyan was away, the border was in chaos, and Zheng State took the opportunity to invade. The acting general failed to command the army, resulting in heavy losses to the Ji State army. Now everyone at the border is waiting for Wuyan to go back and lead them to win back a game.

When Wuyan arrived at the border, he went to the battlefield with a gun in hand before he even dismounted from his horse. He led his soldiers to break the four-sided situation of the Zheng State and won a small victory.

According to custom, after losing this battle, Zheng would wisely retreat to its own territory and would not dare to commit the offense again for a while. But this time, for some unknown reason, Zheng made a comeback after just a few days.

"Report - enemy troops are approaching - they have reached the border!"

Wuyan was sitting alone in the sheepskin tent when a soldier broke into the tent and said.

"How many people?" Wuyan asked calmly.

The soldier answered hesitantly, "Only, only a thousand men."

"A thousand people?" Wuyan was a little confused. Last time, the people of Zheng State brought an army of five thousand to invade, but were completely wiped out by Wuyan and his men. This time, they only brought a thousand people, which was simply to die.

Ji State had tens of thousands of soldiers stationed at the border alone. It would be easy to kill these 1,000 people. However, Wuyan was silent for a moment and waved his hand: "I'm afraid it's a scam. Don't send troops yet. Observe the enemy's movements."

The soldier took the order and left, but soon a cavalryman came outside the tent and delivered an imperial decree, saying that the emperor had ordered Wuyan to go and fight.

Wuyan took the imperial edict in his own hands and read it again and again, confirming that it was indeed the emperor's order, and had no choice but to obey the order.

After Wuyan led his men to the front line, he realized that something was wrong. Among the troops sent by Zheng State this time, only the first few rows were young and strong, and the team behind them were all old, weak, sick and disabled, and even children. How could this be an army coming to fight?

Wuyan wanted to evacuate, but it was too late. Zheng Guoren opened a wooden box and set the contents on fire. Then thick black smoke rose on the battlefield and a strange fragrance wafted out. Wuyan instantly knew what it was.

The terrain of Zheng State was rugged, and on the mountains grew a kind of extremely poisonous herb called the Five Poison Grass. If this herb was burned into powder and entered the human body through the mouth and nose, it would cause bleeding from all seven orifices and sudden death. There was no antidote for the Five Poison Grass, and once a person was touched by even a little bit of it, they would surely die.

But Zheng State had never used it before because such poison would also harm its own army.

No wonder Zheng Guo sent so few people this time. There are old, weak, sick and disabled people in the team. These are "useless people" who are useless to Zheng Guo. They came here with the idea of ​​dying, and they have no intention of going back. They want to die with Bai Wuyan.

Wu Yan hurriedly turned around and shouted, asking the soldiers at the rear to cover their mouths and noses with clothes, but she herself no longer needed to do so. She was at the front, and a large amount of black powder had already entered her nasal cavity.

Wuyan was reluctant to accept the challenge because he was worried about this, but in the end he had to obey the emperor's order.

Then why did the emperor have to go into battle himself? Did he really not know that the enemy was cheating?

The emperor must have known that he was doing this because he wanted to use Zheng Guo to kill him. Wuyan figured this out before he became unconscious.

Although the Emperor of Ji State appears to be magnanimous, he ultimately cannot tolerate this female general. Is it because he is worried that her achievements will surpass his own, or is it because she is a woman and has violated the dignity of a man?

She would never know the answer again.