"Kill them all?"
A chill ran through Gong Cheng's heart.
Slaughtering cities and building mounds of corpses are not uncommon in war. He also believed that after experiencing so many ups and downs, his heart had hardened to the point that it was hard for anything in this world to make him lose control of his emotions.
However, he still overestimated himself.
The visitor's words alone affected his mood.
The other person's eyes were calm and empty, without even a trace of mockery: "Otherwise what? War, in essence, is nothing more than 'life and death, victory and defeat.' If the enemy neither dies nor loses, it is we who will die without a burial place. Kid, you don't think this is child's play, do you?"
What about today's young people?
Hmph, each generation is worse than the last.
If they were people from their generation, they wouldn't be as hesitant and indecisive as Gong Cheng. Whether it was the enemy or the trenches, they would just step over them. He didn't know why his usually decisive old comrade had chosen Gong Cheng; this kid was too cowardly and indecisive.
Gong Cheng replied decisively, "Of course not."
The visitor ignored him and continued, "Before I came to see you, I learned a little about your past. You have no loyalty to the Northern Desert, yet you have no choice but to fight for them."
Gong Cheng said, "So what if it is?"
A laugh escaped the man's throat as he changed the subject: "I come from a small tribe in the Northern Desert. Years ago, I left my homeland to learn martial arts and make a living. When I returned, my father and mother were dead, and my wife had been kidnapped and humiliated. When I found her, she was already pregnant with an illegitimate child, and had a five-year-old daughter by her side. Guess who did all this? You don't actually think that all the kingdoms of the Northwest are righteous armies, leading disciplined troops?"
Gong Cheng didn't understand why he suddenly brought this up.
"You're not going to say that Bei Mo is innocent too, are you?"
The visitor said, "Under the threat of war, no one is innocent."
His first wife fared slightly better than the other female prisoners captured in the same group. Because of her outstanding beauty, she didn't end up in a brothel for the soldiers' amusement. Instead, she was offered as a gift to curry favor with minor leaders. The men she followed afterward either died in battle or tried to use her for greater benefits. In the end, she followed her current husband.
Both the daughter and the child in her womb are from the current father.
There were four women like his first wife in his current household, and five others were given to colleagues or superiors to curry favor. She was just one of the more favored among the ten traveling spoils, and because she had borne children, she wasn't resold again.
When the wife saw her husband, whom she hadn't seen for many years but whose face still looked young, her beautiful face drained of color. As if remembering something, she trembled and pulled her daughter into her arms. Her lips trembled, unable to utter a word, but her eyes were filled with fear of her husband.
The visitor fell silent at the sight.
Women of the northern deserts are mostly raised in a wild and untamed way. Their skin is roughened by the harsh and ever-changing environment, which diminishes even the best natural features. But they possess a unique wildness. Free, vigorous, passionate, flamboyant, and tenacious... like a handful of grass seeds, they can take root, grow, and multiply wherever the wind takes them.
His wife, standing before him, was a stranger to him.
Her cheeks and neck had delicate, snow-white skin, and although the fabric of her clothes wasn't brocade or silk, it was still far superior to what ordinary people could wear. Her lightly made-up eyes held a melancholy air. When she looked at me with pleading eyes, I couldn't discern any of the characteristics of a woman from the Northern Desert.
The environment and the state of the world can truly change a person beyond recognition.
He held out his hand: "I won't kill you."
His wife, with tears in her eyes, shook her head frantically.
Kneeling on the ground, she pulled her daughter closer to her chest and crawled back a few steps. She dared not speak; she could not use her awkward, refined language, lest it anger her husband, but she also could not use her rusty mother tongue, for that would be a death knell.
His eyes darkened: "Are you worried I'll kill you?"
The wife shook her head again, her eyes brimming with tears that spilled down her cheeks with each movement. Her daughter, held tightly in her arms, struggled uncomfortably, her grip on the fabric causing pain: "Mother, let Father kill him—"
The wife was terrified and quickly covered her daughter's mouth.
Seeing the girl struggling to breathe, his gaze fell on his wife Gao Long's lower abdomen: "Your fate is not your fault. I won't kill you; I'll take you away to start over. But—these two bastard children cannot be kept!"
His wife's answer was still to shake her head.
He refused to let go of his daughter.
With tears welling up in her eyes and shaking her head, she sobbed in her now-unfamiliar mother tongue: "I won't go with you! You can't hurt my daughter!"
Of course she missed her husband, especially during her most desperate times, and it was this longing that sustained her through the two most difficult years. Until she met her current husband, who wasn't a good husband and wasn't particularly gentle, but he provided her with a stable life.
She had no choice but to obey her husband.
If she doesn't comply, she'll be handed over to a stranger.
She realized that she did have some feelings for him.
Since her daughter was born, she has repeated these thoughts to herself over and over again. She learned to be as docile and considerate as the other women in the backyard. From being clumsy and making a fool of herself at the beginning, she gradually became adept and seemed to have completely integrated into a world she had never experienced in the previous twenty years.
But then, her real husband appeared.
The moment she saw him, she felt not the joy of escaping death and being reunited with her husband, but a suffocating sense of fear and impending death. Her once clear and stable future was now shrouded in uncertainty.
[Since that's the case, then let it be a life for a life! Do you want the one in your arms to live, or the one in your womb to live? Only one of these two children can leave this world alive! Your plight is my fault, but everyone involved must die!]
His wife hesitated for several breaths.
He loosened his grip on his daughter's arms slightly.
She gently shoved her daughter toward her husband; the daughter's expression was blank and numb, clearly terrified. Just as the newcomer was about to deliver a mocking laugh, blood trickled from the woman's mouth. Her features contorted in agony, she reached out towards her husband.
[...Child...I trouble you, please take care of him...]
The excruciating pain caused her teeth to chatter uncontrollably.
She wanted to roll on the ground.
Give me a quick death, Brother Yun—
The intruder killed the wife and then went on a killing spree, leaving not even the guard dog alive. When the master of the house returned upon hearing the news, he only saw his dozen or so children hanging from the rafters, and his daughter, whose birth year was unknown, trembling in a corner. The ground was littered with the corpses of his wives, concubines, servants, maids, and guards, with a strange martial arts master standing in the middle.
The rage at the murder of his wives, concubines, and children paled in comparison to his desire to escape, which he did. He was ultimately choked and lifted up, his limbs shattered by the attacker's martial arts. He awaited death in despair, but then he heard the voice of the murderer. The latter turned to the girl in the corner, the child who looked so much like his wife: "Kill him, you live!"
The girl, clutching a blood-stained dagger, screamed uncontrollably as she plunged it into the man's body again and again. She didn't know where the vital organs were, and her strength was insufficient to kill him instantly. The man initially tried to struggle, but eventually became numb and stared blankly at the sky.
As blood flows away, life force also fades away.
The murderer who massacred his entire family sat beside him, chatting casually with him as they gazed at the same crimson sunset: "Tragic? Cruel? Completely devoid of humanity? But isn't this all your own doing? As long as there are people like you, as long as there are people like me, innocent women like Amuqing will be endlessly created. These people died because of me, and they died because of you; we are both guilty."
The blood-stained hand gently patted his cheek.
You should atone for your killings, and so should I.
He took his wife and the girl away, set the place ablaze, and buried his wife on the earthen slope he used to frequent in his youth, where the sunset views were beautiful. The world was vast and the breeze never ceased. It is said that after the death of every Northern Desert dweller, their soul would turn into a tiny grass seed, rising with the wind and falling when the wind stopped.
He left the place with the girl and his doubts.
After many twists and turns, the girl grew up little by little, found a man she loved, and had her own child, which sprouted and grew like a seed. Free, vibrant, passionate, flamboyant, tenacious... just like every woman from the northern desert.
Sadly, the girl died during her second childbirth, and her husband was captured in battle and eventually torn apart by five horses. His head became an ornament in a mass grave in Camel City, where tens of thousands of people celebrated their victory. Their only child survived and was entrusted to him.
At that time, he was already a renowned and fierce general in the Northern Desert.
They conquered cities and seized territories, committing murder and arson.
What he did was no different from what people did before or do now; it was like a wild beast that had to kill to survive. Killing was for survival, and the two were like a vicious cycle. The doubts that plagued him throughout his youth remained unresolved.
Until he was captured after a defeat.
He was already critically injured and on the verge of death, and was prepared to wait for it.
Now, it is his turn to atone for his killings.
But he did not die. Instead, he met a handsome young man dressed in foreign attire. This young man was the former lord, a very learned man. The other man's voice had a naturally frivolous tone: "Death is escape, not atonement. Living is atonement."
[To atone for killing by committing murder?]
【Why not? Is it so hard to understand? War to end war! Only when all living beings are free of each other, and the fragmented land is united as one, can we truly wash away our sins! The final outcome requires constant killing! This is the price! Once achieved, there will never again be a woman like your wife. Neither in the Northern Desert nor beyond.】
The young man's voice was very seductive.
It was as if a hand had cleared away the fog that had troubled him for years.
In order to stop the killing, killing must be done.
It doesn't matter whose knife you use.
Results are what matter most!
As a general of the Northern Desert, he completely pledged allegiance to the young Wu Kingdom, continuing the same tasks he had repeated countless times before: leading troops into battle, losing countless lives. The Wu Kingdom had given him hope. That hope, too, was ultimately extinguished a century ago.
He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Gong Cheng.
"You are unwilling to truly serve the Northern Desert because your ancestors fought against them for many years. You only act when it comes to generalship because you feel that you are aiding and abetting evil. But in my opinion, it's all the same. Outsiders will think you are noble because you only attack enemy generals and not soldiers? Hypocritical! No matter what your starting point is, as long as you reach your goal in the end, that's fine."
As long as you can reach the finish line, that's enough.
Who do you expect to reach the finish line?
That's not important.
It could be the former Wu Kingdom, or it could be the present-day Northern Desert.
Gong Cheng closed his eyes to steady his wavering heart and frankly admitted, "This junior is indeed not a virtuous gentleman. Whether I am a hypocrite or a true villain, these empty titles are unimportant. Senior is willing to use his own experiences to advise this junior, which is a sign of respect. But this junior is different from senior. You harbor grand ambitions and desire peace for the world, while this junior only wants to protect the safety of my only blood relatives..."
The other party sneered upon hearing this.
The laughter concealed murderous intent: "It's a real waste that he passed on all his martial arts skills to a good-for-nothing like you with no ambition."
Gong Cheng retorted, neither too soft nor too hard, "After I, Gong, have seen them off in their final days, senior, you can help me find a talented person with lofty ambitions. The secret technique of [Enlightenment] is not difficult to learn."
The visitor simply said, "The day after tomorrow at midnight!"
If Gong Cheng doesn't go, he will have to bear the consequences.
Once the other person's presence had completely disappeared, Gong Cheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. When he came to his senses, he belatedly realized that his left hand was covered by a layer of light blue ice and snow. He clenched his fist and gathered his strength. With a cracking sound, the ice layer shattered and broke off, crumbling into fragments at his feet.
"Although it is only an avatar, the strength of a 20th-rank Marquis is indeed formidable. Kang Kingdom is probably doomed this time..." He murmured, expressing his concern for his homeland, but he also knew that he was not qualified to say so, so he could only suppress it.
The next day, in the evening.
The border fortress was filled with a cold and desolate atmosphere.
Chu Jie, dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, sat cross-legged in the hall, adjusting his breathing.
Before long, the sound of armor joints clashing came from outside. The newcomer was dressed in full armor. As he stepped into the hall, he raised his hand and made a sweeping motion in front of him. The hideous demon mask transformed into martial energy and was stored in his palm: "Marshal, I just received two messages."
Chu Jie completed the last cycle of Qi circulation and then withdrew his breath.
He opened his eyes and said, "General Bai, please speak."
The fact that Bai Su personally delivered the message speaks volumes about its importance.
Bai Su said, "Firstly, there is news from the royal court. Minister of War Jiang Xiandeng used his scholarly skills to see that dark clouds were obscuring the emperor's mind, and there was a fear of unforeseen events at the border. The emperor and his men secretly broke away from the main force and rushed over, so they should be able to arrive ahead of schedule. Secondly, a martial artist surnamed Yun has appeared in the Northern Desert camp. His strength is unknown, but judging from the reaction of the Northern Desert's high command, he is likely to be a troublesome opponent."
"The surname Yun...a martial artist?"
Chu Jie rose from the seat of honor.
The surname Yun is quite rare.
Coincidentally, they met a man surnamed Yun.
What is the relationship between the martial artist surnamed Yun who joined the Northern Desert camp and General Yun Yuanmou? Recalling the latter part of Bai Su's intelligence, a sense of foreboding crept into his heart. He remembered Yun Ce mentioning that he was an orphan adopted by his teacher and took his teacher's surname.
Yun Ce's teacher also has the surname Yun.
He is also a reclusive master with unfathomable strength.
Seeing the change in Chu Jie's expression, Bai Su knew he was thinking the same thing as her: "Marshal, are you worried that the martial artist is General Yun's teacher? It's not impossible, his teacher's strength is..."
Bai Su swallowed those words back.
Martial artists at that level have only been heard of in legends.
The lord did consider recruiting them, but for some reason, nothing came of it. Yun Ce and Xianyu Jian have not returned to visit their families in recent years, which is quite strange.
Chu Jie said, "It could also be a coincidence."
Although this possibility is unlikely.
Bai Su raised her hand and put the mask back on. A cold voice came from behind the mask, and with the hideous mask, it sounded like a real demon whispering: "If he is really General Yun's teacher, then we have no choice but to fight to the death. Even a 20th-rank Marquis is not someone we cannot kill!"
|ω`)
I haven't paid much attention to the website's activities, but a reader mentioned that Qi Shan's character made it into the top 50 of the update festival (although she later dropped to 51). Yesterday, another reader brought it up in the group, asking if there would be any extra chapters, so I wrote this.
PS: Actually, this "Explosive Update Festival" has little to do with "Retreat the Emperor," but since the ranking of "Praying for Goodness" was voted on by everyone, I prepared in advance.
P.S.: Yesterday I took the high-speed train for seven hours, five of which were standing. Plus, I had a cold and wasn't feeling well, so I've been catching up on sleep and resting since I got home. That's why I posted this extra chapter. I know some readers aren't interested in extra chapters, so I mentioned that in the title so you don't accidentally subscribe.
PPPS: The beginning of the new book is being prepared, but I can't say anything about the specific content yet. One thing I can reveal is that the female lead is very skilled at needlework (#winking).
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