Spring days were late to come, but the Spring Sun Battalion already felt the spring.

The Quartermaster was a playful character, and the rewards for the Eight Divisions Contests were often oddly playful. Sometimes it was silver or gold pieces, sometimes fine wine and delicacy, and one time he outright sent over twelve captive maidens. For the perennially stationed soldiers in the city, such were the sweetest possible gifts.

And these twelve maidens, at the present, were kneeling before the Spring Sun Battalion’s dark yurts. Their soft bodies shivering inexorably, their tears pooling into an autumn lake.

What else, other than maiden’s shuddering weeps, could arouse more of men’s desire for abuse?

Hence, hundreds of eyes gawked like flies fallen into a honey pot, impossible to sieve clean, and impossible to pluck away.

But this reward had not a single mince or shred to do with them. The truth was, when Captain Qu’s scarlet moon hurling, heart snatching, and life tracing arrow left the string, the ones hooting jeers and boos were the majority… of them.

All understood no reward without merit. And thus, although the eyeballs were almost falling out of the sockets, they sufficed with ravishing the view and swallowing their drool.

At last, when the deputy captains went on their stiff paces, under Captain Qu’s holler, to each take a maiden to their respective camps, the bunch of eyelids-jittering human wax sticks finally found a bit of shy pomposity.

“The old boy twisted an ankle, else even if there’s another twelve I’ll fix them well-done! Shut your mouth and do your work for the boss. Don’t let those lil’ fuckers make the jokes!” Qu Fongning’s voice rang from afar, sounding mighty impatient.

And with that, everyone gave a knowing grin and responded to the distance, “It’s precisely the brothers’ duty to ease the captain’s load!”

Qu Fongning lazily waved his hand and called in many of his close brothers, and distributed the remaining girls. “You all enjoy.”

Almighty selfish for the populace, he rose and cracked a whip blossom in the air. Wind Chaser whickered and dashed forth.

“Where’s the boss going? You won’t join in the fun with the boys?” exclaimed Uighsheon.

Limping and hobbling, Qu Fongning unsightly clambered up the horse. “I’m going to enjoy a good one.” He wagged his brows at him. “First-class goods.”

Uighsheon smacked his lips in understanding, obvious in his envious admiration. Cher Bien clamped a girl in each of his hands, howling to his back. “Uncle Hwei! Breaking the fast! Where’s Uncle Hwei?”

~

The charcoal flames in the main ger burned warm and red. The ground was carpeted with thick lampskin pelts and furnished with hot wine, warm milk tea, and a large platter of candied fruits and nuts. Qu Fongning was lolling in the first-class goods’ arms, listening to him going on two sets of go endgame layouts, and suddenly burst out laughing.

Yujien put down the wine bowl and backhanded a knock on his head. “What’s with the laugh.”

“Those slicks on my team.” Qu Fongning rubbed his head, still giggling in his arms. “As soon as they see girls, their bellies’ all full of fire, even fuming out of the top of their heads! It’s so embarrassing! The army brothels are only two lanes away from the unit! It’s just two large coins! How are they so stingy!?”

“Captain Qu is so familiar. I see he’s been over no few times?” Yujien nipped over his chin.

“I only whore you!” Qu Fongning rebuffed with a monumental defiance.

This boldness even took Yujien aback, and a dangerous smile emerged in his eyes. “Whore this old boy? How exactly?”

Qu Fongning wobbled here and there, evading his hand, laughing almost unable to speak. “Free whoring!”

Yujien cursed with a laugh and lowered to kiss him. Having his chin caught against him, Qu Fongning kissed with him for a moment and finally romped no more, yet his raven black eyes kept the mirth. And with nags and whines, he studied a few more cases of go. Yet, of those occupying the center and turning the corners, he would hear nothing of them, and instead frolicked and played for an entire night, while sneaking out a hand to feel Yujien’s liquor.

Just as the hand went half-way and just touched the side of the bowl, Yujien caught the thief with the dirt right in the action. He immediately started squirming in his arms, with his tongue and teeth soft and gooey and inarticulate: “Let me have a sip! Just one sip!”

Yujien would not take the bite, drank it to the bottom himself, and wrapped around him, kidding lightly, “Ningning, early in the year before last, I met someone. This someone was both hard-working and motivated, and quick at learning anything; he was the proudest student that I ever had.”

Qu Fongning immediately guessed who this person is, his eyes winked wide and bright.

“A pity he disappeared later. Really, where had he gone? The old boy really missed him.” Yujien signed, seeming in an endless regret.

Qu Fongning yanked away the go sheet from his hand and went off to the side in a fit of pique, to work hard on his own.

Yujien watched his puffed-up face, his heart enraptured at the sight. This alone was the very best delicacy to down the drink! Yet the pretty scene didn’t last. At night, Qu Fongning only mouthed him half-way and abruptly tunneled up from the covers. His lips slightly swollen, very deviously, he said, “I know where your good student had gone to.”

Yujien hissed low, his robust chest rising and falling, and his hand clawed into his hair. “Oh?” he grunted impatiently.

“Someone must’ve kidnapped him, or Feng-pursed-Feng-ed him away. Well, this is a long story. I’ll have to start it slowly from the beginning. One day, the sky fell a spring rain…” Qu Fongning deliberately drawled one word after another.

If he was only speaking it would’ve been fine, yet with this old man’s drawn-out tone and his thighs grinding here and there on Yujien’s loins, he worked him even harder. And Yujien was vexed into a laugh. “Fine, won’t say it again. Get down there!”

Qu Fongning licked his lips, turning up the price. “I want a drink later!”

“Be good, I’ll get you some when you’re done,” Yujien had to concede.

Qu Fongning went down smugly and mouthed him off. He then finally uncovered the blanket, his cheeks and lips dripping full of cum, and climbed up along his flank, his entire face coming in before him. “General, am I your best student?”

The high from these words exalted much more than the climax itself. All of Yujien’s blood promptly reversed in their paths, and he sprang around and pressed him down onto the bed.

~

The Spring Sun Battalion was breaking the ground like shooting bamboo, but Gerrgu was doused head full of earth and dust.

Qu Fongning had displayed, to the crowd, a full set of horse-butcher saber, every strike clean, deft, and pretty, for which he was very pleased with himself. Under the cheers and clamors from the men and ghosts, he felt quite unfinished and changed to three different blade paths in succession, and his back soon sprouted a wing-shaped sweat print. A number of deputy captains immediately vied with inquiries and services, and left Uighsheon instead with nothing to do.

Qu Fongning joked and cursed around, and leaned back onto Uncle Hwei’s knees.

“Didn’t even give a word before you left. Had me worried sick for so long,” he grumbled.

Eyes shot blood red, Uncle Hwei obviously hadn’t shut his lids for a long time. At his words, he gave a weary smile and made his hand signs: “Pale Eastern Wind has inconsistent timing of attack. Get the antidote a day early, and you’ll suffer one less day of pain.” And nipping a brown pill with two fingers, he sent it into his mouth before any protests.

The pill tasted atrociously foul. Qu Fongning swallowed and almost didn’t belch out his stomach acids, and hastily gulped down a large jug of cold water. “Evil hag does no good deeds, real mighty bitter!” Suddenly, he spun around and peeled at his tunic and trousers. “Did she see you? Did you cross arms?”

Uncle Hwei cracked a smile, his lips shifting faintly, “No. Those little whirring, whistling tricks of hers aren’t enough to stump me. If I wasn’t set on coming back, she’d still be circling around in Shandong!”

Qu Fongning laughed and glowered at him. “You mustn’t lie to me.”

“Why should I lie to you?” Uncle Hwei scoffed and measured to his chest. “I’d bullied her ever since she was little. Which time didn’t it end up with her sobbing and tattling to my Gran… Grandmaster Shixiong? Don’t mind all her pomp and whomp on the river and lakes now; she’s still a crippled cricket in front of me; she can’t pop a hop.”

Qu Fongning started giggling, finally sweeping clear the shadows around his eyes. “Why were you bullying her? It couldn’t be because you fancied her?”

Uncle Hwei made a better-dead-than-alive face, snatched away the sweat cloth from his hand, and made a furious blow of his nose.

But because of Qu Fongning’s unintentional words, something he ought not to remember flooded before his eyes:

The spring sun shining, the phoenix woods by the mountain path bloomed like red clouds. A linen-clothed boy with a solemn face clasped another younger, wholly disgruntled child, and both knelt before the Celestial Altar.

“Yunge, the Head Disciple, failed to set an example for the sect. I beseech Shifu to punish me as well.”

~

Later that day, Cher Bien found a break and came over in heaves and signs. “Little Brother Fongning, Brother Gu isn’t gonna make it. The thing from a few days ago, his that knows about it.” He held out his little finger for a swing, thinned his voice, and intoned to his ear, “‘What are you coming to me for? What’s so good about the old woman? You had some fun these past days, eh? To be sure, she’s a little girl, who’s younger than me, prettier than me, lustier than me, and better than me in bed!’ Madam’s original words.”

Qu Fongning cracked a burst, cackling without sympathy.

“Stop laughing!” Cher Bien said grimly, “Brother Gu has been scratching his ears and clawing his skull for so many days! He’s thinned down from the stress! He’s growing piles on his head! He will not make it out alive!”

“Why is the Madam being so serious? She’s the one who said, only these two little pieces of flesh are useful on a man. How come just cuz she’s used it a few times, now other people can’t use it,” said Qu Fongning, snorting and wiping his eyes.

“You wouldn’t know,” Cher Bien said mysteriously. “If you were to lay together a few times and two people become one person, that sentiment would be very different. Look at Madam Danki, who’s such a slut. Ever since she had been with Brother Gu, this honest good fella, a few times, she only had one heart for him. And the little whore over there. Ever since your second bro spent a few nights there, she never asked for a single coin…”

The more he heard, the less it became, and Qu Fongning shooed him away with a kick. Yet Uncle Hwei seemed in thought, so he asked, out of curiosity, “Uncle Hwei, do you believe his rubbish?”

Uncle Hwei’s eyes appeared remote, his thoughts had gone to some unknown place, and he answered with his mouth, “It’s true. Sharing bed and pillow, and tangling head and neck can make a person… spirited away and greatly changed for another person.”

Qu Fongning stood in place, bemused, chewing for a moment at the meaning of these words. And with a flickering expression, he hesitated away.

~

The long slender white charcoal from Cangzhou looked beautiful when laid out, and burned with a crystalline red luminance, almost like a coral tree in blossom.

The crack of a charcoal branch made a fire sparkle, taking Qu Fongning aback, and he finally realized the go layout had already closed before him. Yujien rolled up the scroll and tapped his head. “Absent-minded all night. Where had a little kid gotten all these ideas from?”

Surprisingly, Qu Fongning didn’t rebut, but fell back onto his shoulders, his lips ajar, seeming very lost.

Yujien found him adorable and lowered to plant a kiss. He leaned in for a sniff, his scent was fresh and cool, the hollows of his neck even carrying a watery moisture, and his mood was refreshed again. “Did Captain Qu drink a soul-snaring potion? The scent on you is luring my soul away,” he teased him.

Qu Fongning ruminated, turned around to hug his neck, and hook at him with his little finger. “Still hooking? Long yours,” Yujien said with a husky laugh. He spread open his legs and wrapped his entire body around himself. His fingers peeled at his soft lips and covered it with his own, kissing and sucking, his tongue probing apart his neat teeth, twisting in his tongue, enticing him into the entanglement. Qu Fongning’s kissing skills were thousands of li away from him. Given his skillful tease for a moment, he felt nowhere in his lips not being tickled by a feather. With just this one kiss, his entire waist softened, and even his hair became wet from sweat. Yujien let go of his moist red lips, unsated, and pressed against his chin, ordering him to lift his head, revealing his slender throat. Faint dark stubble grazed past the bump on his neck, the inside of Qu Fongning’s thighs started to shudder, and his throat made low moans. He glanced at the curtain doors and pushed at him somewhat in plead. Yujien kissed his ear, dropped him with a hoarse “Eat you up,” and finally let him go.

But he didn’t know these unintentional words would make Qu Fongning space out for a long time. Even until he came back from the shower, sweeping with snow, Qu Fongning was still sitting by the bed with his cheeks in his hands, with some unknown secret in his mind. Yujien pinched him by the bed. “What? Not sleepy?”

Qu Fongning dully swayed his head and laid by his side. Although his eyes shut obediently, his posture seemed a little odd. He laid on his side for a moment and his ears shifted.

“It’s raining outside?”

Yujien inclined over his ear and only heard the murmurs of a spring night.

“It’s the sound of green worms feeding on mingling¹ reeds.”

Qu Fongning nodded vaguely and turned his back to him. A long moment later, came his rustling voice:

“Da-ge, do you want to come in?”

Yujien’s slumbering eyes, very, ever so, slowly opened — he didn’t know whether or not he should understand.

Qu Fongning was scared that he wouldn’t understand, and lifted a hand to pat his rear. “… Here.”

Dead silence all around, even the murmurs of spring rain ceased.

It seemed to be a very long time — or a moment stretched to infinity in the awkwardness, and Yujien finally opened his mouth, his tone singularly peculiar, “What bad friends have you been seeing?”

“… I heard this is considered as…. laid together,” Qu Fongning said in a small voice, his shoulders stirring in light tremors.

Yujien turned him over, and his hands and feet pushed to kneel, propping over him. The bridge of his nose touched his cheek, seeming to drink deeply of his youthful scent.

“What else did your bad friends say?”

“Said… you don’t lay with me, because you don’t really like me, and you’re scared… scared that I’ll take it seriously,” Qu Fongning tugged at his scalp, making up the lie.

“The old boy doesn’t like you?” Yujien laughed. His lips touched him. “I’m cherishing you; I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Try it?” Qu Fongning bit his lip, looking at him.

Yujien’s throat rolled. His hands and feet tightened, enveloping him deeper.

“I fear you’ll be hurt.”

Crimson around his earlobe, Qu Fongning lifted his eyes to meet his gaze.

“I… I want to myself.”

These words truly affected much more than any aphrodisiac; Yujien’s bottoms instantly tightened, and his voice ran hoarse as well, “Then we’ll try it.”

Qu Fongning closed his eyes and nodded. Yujien held his back, kissing his throat and chest, and removed their clothes, leaving only a thin blanket above their naked bodies.

He held up Qu Fongning’s buttocks with one hand, rubbing their lower bodies against each other. Qu Fongning embraced his neck and buckled up his flank to him.

“Comfy?” asked Yujien.

“Comfy.” Qu Fongning moaned. He could only feel his large hand stroking ceaselessly at the flesh of his buttocks, kneading it round and flat, to a little pain, but also more pleasure. And soon, he came in Yujien’s hand.

He didn’t know what the steps were and the words just blurted out, “Come in?”

Yujien lightly clapped his butt. “Can I get in?” And he let him lay in his arms side-ways, nipped some of the white essence from his belly, and nudged open his anus with the tip of his finger, sending some in.

After the climax, Qu Fongning’s sensitivity to pain hadn’t yet reawakened and wasn’t very resistant to this foreign intrusion. Yujien’s hand was huge, the fingers long, and the middle finger was the prime. Each joint was distinct and covered with callus; it was like a deformed scabbard, which felt quite unpleasant as it pushed in.

“It hurts?” asked Yujien, noticing his minute curling.

Qu Fongning shook his head and lifted his face to kiss his resolute lips. Yujien kissed deeply with him, his finger gradually pushing to the end. “Ningning, you’re too tight,” he husked.

Qu Fongning’s canal was suffocatingly tight; it clamped firmly at the joints of his finger. As it went further, the walls of his anal gland turned outwards in retention, and it was almost difficult to pull out.

Yujien dabbed some more white residue and sent in a second finger. Qu Fongning’s backdoor squeezed at his rough fingers. Before the last section entered, it could move no more.

He shook his head, finding Qu Fongning lifting his wet pupils in question, and said, “Can’t go in anymore. “

Qu Fongning omphed and closed in, his two long legs clamping at his dripping hardness, as if helping him to relief. This halfway return on the unsuccessful venture was in Yujien’s expectation, though somewhat disappointed, he wasn’t dejected. And on one end entangled with him on lip and tongue, and on the other end withdrew his fingers.

Qu Fongning’s forehead creased lightly, a red hue tinted his cheeks, and he gasped lightly with the withdrawal. “Is it uncomfortable?” asked Yujien.

“Not uncomfortable. A… a little ticklish,” said Qu Fongning, his moist red lips just ajar,

“Ticklish?” Yujien’s heart stirred. He tapped against his back entrance. “In here?”

“Emm. Again…” Qu Fongning panted.

Yujien understood and sent in the finger once more, pushing in light and hard, and pressing on the soft membrane of his rectum. Qu Fongning flushed red all across his body, his panting ceaseless, and the recently released, tired male member again raised its head.

This poignant state of his love was a hundred times more arousing than usual. “Really want to fuck you,” hissed Yujien’s extreme husky throat. The finger probed deeper, scratching circles in him. Then he suddenly felt his inner walls changed from suffocation to plushie soft, and the originally dry walls gradually moistened.

Yujien’s colossal root stood furiously, throbbing between his legs, and his finger pushed fast and slow in his ass. Where he touched soon became a spread of wetness, gradually gaining a momentum of outpouring. Bewildered, he stroked a moment longer, light watery noises spurted from Qu Fongning’s rear, and a clear liquid slowly slid into his palm.

In his amazement, he suddenly remembered a boast from Cher Baochi: when he was at the hinter borders, he met an otherworldly youth. The youth had styled himself as the “Prime Vessel of Youzhou,” priding an ass as tight as a woman and could self-secrete jade essences. When the male ship entered port, it was like the spring waves bringing rain, the suckling of babes, a pleasure beyond description. Cher Baochi spent several clouds and rains with him, soaring to Celestia and closing to death, until a great damage befell his masculine meridian, and only recovered after half a year.

His gaze sank dimly and relieved the finger. Qu Fongning brought his hazy eyes to him, his moans subsiding. “Da-ge,” he called.

Yujien pulled out his enormity from his legs, turned him over to have his back to himself. There were streaks of glistening liquid on Qu Fongning’s buttocks, the entrance was especially pink and tender, and his watery eyes watched him from beneath.

Yujien held his lower hardness and pushed at his backdoor. “Swap this. Lift your ass.”

Qu Fongning struggled to lift his waist. The youth’s flank, with its slender, taunt lines, was extremely smooth. Yujien planted a kiss on his back, held up his thighs, and, opening it slightly, helped his manhood push in.

His member was huge and grisly, and the head was almost like a giant egg. Although Qu Fongning’s threshold had been expanded, how could it take in such a gigantic matter; it immediately shrunk. Yujien coaxed a few words and finally invited himself in.

The flesh walls around his entrance opened and closed, seeming in rejection and also in invitation. It bit tight at his purplish red head, the wrinkles squeezed and teased his sensitive soft flesh; it was truly bone melting and soul snaring. Though he had assailed in bed for many years, this was the first taste of such bone quivering and tendon easing sensation. Needless for words, his hand clutched his waist, and he pushed in some more.

Qu Fongning’s insides were curiously soft and wet. The lusty waters rushed in waves, pushing and pulling in currents, and the anal valve sucked at the shaft and veins like soft, dainty lips. Watery light rippled at the place where the two bodies connected. Qu Fongning’s flank shivered, and the stout tight ass lifted higher and, like tearing, tender red lips, tried desperately to take in his enormous dark pillar. This sweet, lustful scene almost entirely took away the rest of his sanity. He bent Qu Fongning’s straight legs towards himself, and the veins bulged on his virile monstrosity, pushing deeper into the waving spring waters.

His spirit was soaring beyond the heavens, but Qu Fongning was having it hard. He had always experienced absolute care and devotion from Yujien, and never any pain. How would he know Yujien would suddenly depart from his character and pin it all in without regard? He only felt a warmness on his ass, and a gigantic matter plunged straight into the crack, pushing his thighs into breaking. Even his pelvis seemed to have displaced.

Just as the pain became unbearable, his waist was pulled higher again, then the huge matter nailed in even further, like a scalding iron rod, thrusting straight into his stomach and intestines. Before he could call pain, came another gut piercing push, tearing a deep crack at his lower body, and his insides burned a fiery pain. How could he bear this? “It hurts,” he cried, sobbing in twos.

Yujien hadn’t a half sense to withdraw himself. “Be good, endure,” he rasped, peeled apart his two hills, which, with the clammy wet noises, swallowed in half a cun more, and stopped.

The agony filled tears in Qu Fongning’s sockets. Finding the pause, he thought it was all well and done. “Do… Done?” he sobbed.

Yujien answered not. He pulled over his hand to where the two connected. Qu Fongning only felt an enormous shaft with the hairs dripping wet, and a full four or five cun — almost a half was on the outside. Horrified, he thought even this half was already unbearable; if he were to put it entirely to the root, how would he live? And he instantly writhed. “No… No more. I’m going to die!”

Yujien kissed along his ear. “Don’t be scared, relax.” He held his waist and pushed all of himself into the depth of his valve. He only felt currents of hot honey engulfing his spearhead, washing over his loins one wave after another; there was not a place along the shaft that wasn’t clasped deep and tight, and every single strand of veins pleasured to ecstasy. He had always been reserved on the bed, but now it was as if he had been possessed by a tyrant. And caring not at all whether Qu Fongning could take it, he pulled out a slight and plunged hard all the way to the end.

Ever since he had burrowed to the root, Qu Fongning felt as if a gigantic blade had sliced him open from the middle; the pain whipped from his back to his thighs, and tears smeared his face. And when Yujien started to pump, every action felt like it was shaving his blood and flesh from the core. The excruciating pain of the rear wound went from clear to blurry, and in the end, he felt no more.

Yujien’s arms clamped like a cage, tightly detaining the little prisoner beneath him. His lower body moved front and back, charging gradually. The young flesh below clenched him full and all from every slap, the tender walls of his intestines contracted to extremity, and the sublime euphoria was maddening.

His eyes shot crimson, his face menacing. He pumped forty or fifty times, gradually ascending to the peak. Qu Fongning had passed out from the pain and woken again from his violent assaults, his eyes black with shadow.

Yujien let go of his lust, the pumping frequency took flight, and the heavy sacks slapped claps on his thighs. Qu Fongning was covered in cold sweat, could no longer speak, and only felt him going singularly fast. A sudden low groan, and he embraced him tight, almost holding him in midair. Then a scolding hotness flooded the depths of his body, showering on his wounds like a wash of hot oil.

His entire body trembled, feeling Yujien’s manhood jerking on and on in his body, totaling to at least twenty loads, and the heavy flank, shimmering with sweat, finally fell on his back.

This complete, unreserved release was the first for Yujien ever since his adulthood. This soul-soaring climax almost emptied his stock completely. And he thought, “Che Baoche really does not delude me, this prime vessel of the human realm really is the chief devil’s artifact for ensnaring male essence.”

Then looking at the little devil’s artifact again, his face had not a touch of blood, his lips blanched white, liquids ran strewn across, and his head fell to the side, with jewels of tears under his lashes. The manhood exited from his body with globs of thick white cum, and a few streaks of scarlet caught his eye; he had bled.

Startled, he was finally reminded of the special tenderness of Qu Fongning’s virgin flesh, and for their first cloud and rain, he was much too rough. He felt sorry, uncovered the bundle of wet beddings, and cradled him into his arms.

Qu Fongning had the physique to sweat easily. By now, his whole body appeared all the more drenched in a deluge. He reared against Yujien, his clammy spine rising and falling in light fluctuation. Yujien looped an arm around him, and the pair held in infinite propinquity in their naked flesh, ineffably intimate. For a time, there were no words. They cuddled for a moment, then the fatigue of release assaulted them, and they closed their eyes to sleep.

Next day, at the horn blare, he stretched out his hand to a void and realized Qu Fongning had already got up. This was a long-awaited clear day. At the roll call, he saw, under the pale golden light, Qu Fongning standing before the unit in an awkward stance. His two legs seemed unable to close together, looking especially pitiful. He thus called for an order to relieve the Spring Sun Battalion of morning practice, but to immediately leave the city to survey the steeds.

Warhorses were easily expended; though there were keepers tending them, the supply never met the demand. The army often placed the warhorses under nomads’ foster while providing regular feed. And every three to five days, the army assigned people to inspect the well-being of the foster horses; it was called steeds survey, and every battalion’s most sought-after easy task.

Qu Fongning listened to this military order of private favor and threw a glance to the commanding podium, but looked no further, and led the unit out of the city.

Uncle Hwei saw Yujien staring intently at Qu Fongning, found it odd, then walked out a far stretch, turned around, and found he was still gazing fixedly to this side, without a slight change to his posture and movement.

He quizzically glimpsed the tightly clasped fist under Qu Fongning’s uniform sleeves, was going to make a hand sign to question, and Qu Fongning’s knees gave way to a bend, and nearly collapsed headlong to the ground.

Seven or eight soldiers’ limps immediately scrambled in to help him sit by the side. Just as Qu Fongning’s ass touched the ground, his entire body suddenly sprang up with a heavy gasp. Bewildered, Uncle Hwei probed his pulse and was alarmed, brooding, “Good and all, why the sudden seizure of the invasive cold and bloating heat?”

Qu Fongning hunched his chin over his shoulders. “Uncle Hwei, you caused no small harm. Yesterday, I… almost fucking died for the country,” he said weakly, and dropped on him, losing all sense of strength.

Uncle Hwei was out of his wits, carefully scrolling through his memory for any improper acts, almost breaking his head over it.

Before dusk, Yujien trotted by, alone on his steed. And the crowd immediately put up a busy act with the human yells and horse yawls in a sky-high flaming heat. He found Qu Fongning sitting like a prince, like with a mighty steed and a golden blade by his side, on the earth and seeing the lord commander’s inspection as if nothing, and couldn’t help but admire him.

Yujien reined the horse’s head, and the hooves stomped up clouds of frosty mist before him, veiling the ups and downs of his voice. “Come up.”

Qu Fongning stayed as if unheard and twisted his face to the side.

Without more words, Yujian made a curl of the horsewhip and looped him before himself. Shadow Leaper originally carried a set of rhino skin saddle, which was as hard as black iron, and now it was lined with a blanket of soft lambskin. Qu Fongning gritted his teeth, suffering the jolts of the horseback, his face metallic green. Yujien held him against his chest, nonchalantly pulled down his cloak and wrapped it tightly around him. Qu Fongning sealed his lips shut. As he entered the City of Ghosts and off the horseback, he instantly snatched it off and dunked it over Shadow Leaper.

At this point, his limbs were hollow, his head burned dim and heavy. Though this dunk bustled all this strength, there was no air whatsoever. Yujien watched this childish gesture, did not feel threatened at all, and a smile even rose in his eyes. Now he was even more angry and decidedly stayed on the ground, refusing to budge.

Yujien finally pulled over his hand. “What are you cross with my horse for? It didn’t offend you,” he whispered.

Qu Fongning seethed, his fingers twitching, and glared at him.

How could this misty glance scare him? Yujien was unmoved and roughly tugged him around, yanking him into the gear. Seeing they were going to the sleeping quarters again, Chou Fongning planted his feet down like a stump, nailing himself in the main gear, refusing another step. Yujien sat down and forced a pull to have him between his legs. “Are you feeling unwell? Your hands are so cold.”

Qu Fongning twisted his neck to the side, but his legs remained faintly shivering.

“Take off the mask. Let me see if you have a fever,” said Yujien.

Qu Fongning turned away his face, ignoring him, but the breath he huffed out broiled hot.

Yujien extended his head to help him remove it, found the corners of his eyes had burned scarlet, and hurried Oyghrmuki to call for the military medic. Oyghrmuki was also a harum scarum, who came in, exuberant in seeing Qu Fongning, and smacked a loud clap on his ass. “Little Syr, what’s up?”

Qu Fongning ate his slap hard, almost snapping to halves in the force. Yujien was livid and promptly lifted a kick at him. “What are you hitting him for? The boss is chopping off your dog paw! Scram! Get on a horse!”

“Can’t even touch him anymore?” exclaimed Oyghrmuki, and swiped out his hand for another spank before running away, giggling with glee.

Yujien massaged for him and coaxed, “Don’t be cross. I’ll chop him up for you later.”

Chou Fongning was hurt into tears brimming his eyes again. He bit his teeth and shot him another glare. Yujien watched on with especial satisfaction and hugged him over more. “Did you get it out?”

Qu Fongning stumbled before the realization. His eyes suddenly widened and looked about to throw a fit. “Da-ge bid people to ask today and found out it couldn’t stay inside. I didn’t take care of you for the first time and affected you with a fever. Next time… fine! No more clamoring!” coaxed Yujien.

The military medic rushed in at this moment, and finally invited the clawing Captain Qu onto the bed, examined for the diagnosis, and wrote the prescription. When Yujien returned from the formation review, Qu Fongning had finally slackly drunk up the black soup. Oyghrmuki squeezed onto the bed as well, and was holding up two halvas, teasing him left and right. Yujien watched him staring at the candy, and ordered a large platter of sweets and candies, five hues and six colors piling into a small mountain, and presented it before him with his own hands. Qu Fongning spared him no eye, but fixed on the two in Oyghrmuki’s hand. Now Oyghrmuki was all smug, gloating at Yujien with eyes and brows, until Yujien stuffed no more and thrusted him out with a lance.

As the curtains dropped, Qu Fongning refused to pay him heed absolutely. Asked him to eat sweets, no reply; asked him to sleep, also no reply. Yujien made an air to come up, and Qu Fongning immediately pushed the saber pelts along the bedside, piling mightily high. “This is not letting me come up? Then where are you making me sleep? On the ground?” Yujien scowled. He shook out the pelt blanket and covered him up, laid side-ways by his side and cuddled him.

After the intimacy of the night before, when the two bodies touch again, it really felt quite different; even wordless, there was still a sense of entwinement. Yujien nuzzled him. “Really not going to pay me mind anymore? Never going to speak to me again?” he asked quietly.

Qu Fongning sided him a glance and flew his eye away again.

“Ningning, who brought this up first yesterday?” said Yujien, resting by his broiling earlobe. “I said I’m afraid you’ll be hurt, and you were the one who insisted you want to. Now you are cross, are you in the rights?”

Qu Fongning shifted his lips, wanting to speak, but bared his teeth down, holding back.

“Since you’re not speaking, I’m taking you for admission,” said Yujien.

Qu Fongning’s cheeks fumed even redder, and he finally returned him a vicious rebuff, “I’d said I ain’t coming again!”

Yujien chuckled low and spoke to the hollow of his ear, “That’s all the less sense,” he dropped his tone, “you’re so tight inside, how could I tear myself out?”

Qu Fongning flushed red to the nape of his neck in an instant, covered his ears at once and wanted to jump to the ground. Yujien hooked around his arm, cupping him by his chest, and smiled. “Fine now. Not going to bed?” And easily put him back to his place. He admired his silent fuming for a while and stretched out his hand to loosen his belt. Qu Fongning immediately spun around his head and stared at him in alarm. “To help you sweat. What are you thinking about?” said Yujien. He helped him relieve his outer robe and also undressed his own upper shirt, revealing his well-built chest.

The pair were both dressed in soft, thin clothes; and embracing face-to-face as such was nearly as intimate as in flesh. Yujien cuddled his warm body, and his hand fell behind his rear. “Tell me seriously, did you get it out?”

“I got it out long ago! It’s so nasty!” Qu Fongning finally snapped, crumbling from the poking.

“Oh. How did you get it out?” said Yujien.

Seeing his eyes flashing daggers again, he laughed and pressed him to his chest. “No more questions. Does your wound still hurt?”

Qu Fongning’s entire back was still burning. No longer dared to ride on his tongue, he nodded with ten thousand grievances.

Yujien got down to find a box of burn ointment and coaxed him into accepting the medicine. He felt many places along his anal canal swollen red, and it was very difficult to send his finger in. He went in and out a few times and at last evenly spread out the medicine. Noticing Qu Fongning trembling faintly on his chest, infinite tendresse filled his heart.

“It’s all my fault. I’m the bad guy, right?” he teased.

Qu Fongning agreed fully, answering with mouthing, “Yes.”

“Where am I the baddest?” Yujien asked on purpose.

Qu Fongning’s eyes stirred, before he could rejoin, Yujien had caught his hand and put it on his crotch. “Is it here?”

His crotch was scalding hot, obviously already hard. Qu Fongning held this enormous, thick weapon in his hand, remembering the grudge from the night before, bit his lips and flared, “I’ll snap you!”

Yujien laughed and touched his cracked lips.

“Snap it, if you will. But if you can’t bring your heart to do so…” he said by his ear, “from now on, every day and night, I’m going to screw you unable to stand up.”

Qu Fongning listened to this lust demon-like declaration, shriveled, and his waist uncontrollably softened. Yujien hugged around his naked thighs and kissed him deep. Qu Fongning dodged at first, then responded in kind. After all, they had experienced the cloud and rain; the kisses also gained another layer of inexpressible sensuality, and he gained the reaction as well. Soon, Yujien parted with him, who even threw himself forward, unsated. Yujien kissed him hard a few times and held him tight to the hollow of his neck, his chest rising and falling fast, and even his voice changed: “No more kissing. Else I can’t resist.” Qu Fongning’s heart was also thumping rapidly, and his face a red flush. He rested on him, speaking not. Hugging for a while, Yujien asked, “Was it truly all pain? Not one bit of pleasure?”

“What pleasure can there be? It hurt like death. I almost didn’t make it out alive!” As the thought rushed back up his head, he drove a ferocious hit towards his crotch.

Yujien pulled over his hand to wrap around himself. “Don’t be so vicious. I’m terribly sorry.” He pinched his butt, his finger ill-meaningfully poked at his swollen, red ass. “Sorry that I didn’t take you by force early on.”

Seeing the ferocity smoking out of his eyes again, he laughed and covered up his eyes.

“Good night, little supreme vessel.”

~

Thanks to the blessings of Captain Qu, the Spring Sun Battalion enjoyed many immensely merry days. A few ignorant of world affairs even ran before him, idiotically asking “Why is the General in such a good mood these days?” and such follies. Yujien listened to his sinister recounts and chortled. “This brother has some remarkable courage, truly a warrior of one in ten thousand in our army.” Qu Fongning sneered and made a neck slashing motion. Yujien caught his hand blade. “If you’re to kill, you gotta kill the chief criminal. What’s the point of fussing with the pawns? Here,” he said, taking over his hand, and swiped it across his own throat.

A gleam moved across Qu Fongning’s eyes. “Kill you eventually,” he said in an undertone, withdrew the hand blade, and tipped into his arms.

Yujien wrapped around him, his mood especially good.

“So what about giving you this life? The old boy is titled the Ghost Sovereign, I ought to die under the peony blossom.” And he whispered in his ear, “But I’ll have to decide on the weapon. You’ll use… Yeah?”

Qu Fongning heard the words whispered in his ear, and his face thumped red in an instant. Yujien pinioned his limbs and took a bite of his ear. “Seriously. Has the wound healed?”

Qu Fongning grasped the meaning beneath the words absolutely. “No!” he yelped.

Yujie tsked and signed. “It looks like the injury is pretty bad. Hasn’t healed all this time.” He kissed his crown and said gently, “Rest well tonight. Da-ge’ll help you apply the ointment.”

And Qu Fongning was completely swooned by his tenderness. Only until he got on the bed in the evening, and his salve-dipped finger poked deeply into his ass, as the thought turned around, did he finally figure it out. He was going to run. Yet as Yujien’s middle finger splayed and the nail cap bumped to a spot, a sudden bone-knocking and marrow-sucking palsy jolted up his body. He trembled from head to tail. And it was now impossible to run away. Yujien’s nail flicked up and lightly scratched over that spot again. A current of silking softness steadily streamed across Qu Fongning’s body, even his wrists and ankles softened, and his anal valves uncontrollably and dramatically contracted.

“Applying medicine here. What’s with the jitter?” Yujien teased by his ear, deliberately. With rippling, watery eyes, Qu Fongning glared at him, but could not resist the tides of ceaseless pleasure assailing his entire body. The cyclone converged to a point, forming an eye at the tip of his finger. Yet, that heinous finger withdrew to momentary plucks, or passing kneads or circles, and light combs and slow twirls, titillating his loins to an immeasurable swelling agony, but decidedly refused to touch that singular, tingling point. And just as the tide of lust was surging high and impending impact, a colossal, ineffable emptiness suddenly filled his rear canal. That irritating finger actually retreated from his body.

Of this age, how could he have any resistance to lust? So his gaze, as if being snared of his soul, followed his hand away. Yujien’s hand rubbed the oily ointment front and back on his ass. “Want me to come in?” he asked huskily. Qu Fongning, head fuzzy, nodded. And the result was needless to describe, his lower monstrosity thrusted him again into unable to yell or scream. The fortunate thing was that this time he supplied ample foreplay and appropriate lubrication, and finally tapped open his tender threshold, plunging straight into the depth of his body. Yujien had endured hard for so many days and finally tasted again the sensation of his flesh, and almost didn’t press him down and fuck him to tears. And he didn’t know how he applied such incredible self-control to hold his patience, coaxing him little by little, stroking his front, and his shaft half-in, hanging in mid-aid, and not daring to use any extra force. Qu Fongning, his raven hair sweat-soaked, his spine all red, dug his face into bed, moaning softly. Suddenly, the curve of his back stiffened, and he let out an orgasmic cry.

“Still hurting?” Yujien enquired with concern. Mist floated about his eyes, his fingers clasped the sheets, Qu Fongning bit down his lips, keeping silent, but his vessel squeezed tighter and tighter. Yujien understood at once and loomed by his ear with a chuckle. “No longer pain, right?” His lower body charged forward, plunging deep and shallow, until the sounds of water rained continuously. Qu Fongning was caught front and back, and before long, lost all helm and mail. And whimpering, he exploded all over his hand.

This was the first time in his life that he ejaculated from being done from the back, and the sensation was unimaginably different as this day and all other days. He only saw golden stars dancing wildly before his eyes, and his breaths remained unpeaceable for a long time. In his orgasm, his contraction was especially intense, and even Yujien couldn’t bear it. He fastened his waist into a dozen rapid pumps, and panting low, leaned by his sweaty locks. “Relax a little… I’ll take it out.” A plane of white haze in his head, Qu Fongning was completely unaware of his whereabouts and stupidly lifted his flank. Yujien kissed and bit madly on his ears and nape. Pushing his rear, he withdrew from him with utmost reluctance and slammed hard at his crack a few times. The molten liquid erupted out, splattering a field of slippery wetness on his thighs.

Qu Fongning was heavily pinned to the bed, feeling his cock jerking on the back of his thighs, and was so embarrassed he wanted very much to dig his face into the surface. Yujien knew the little kid’s thin skin and didn’t torment him too much for the night, only smooched a few kisses and said good night.

Tangling on for several days, he virtually tore away all his defenses, and started a myriad of ways to toy him. Such as, at the gate of his climax, he would pause and ask on purpose, “Ningning, am I good?” At first, Qu Fongning sooner died than yielded, but after a moment’s anguish, he endured not and whimpered in a teeny voice, “Good…” Yujien even pretended he didn’t hear and persisted, “Who’s good?” Qu Fongning bit his lips, “You.” Yujien stroked him for an instant and soon clasped tight. “Who am I?” Tears were forced out of the corners of Qu Fongning’s eyes. “Da-ge,” he choked. And he was finally given release. Because of extended suppression, the climax topped the peaks; and after the ejaculation, his legs stayed soft on the second day. And because of this matter, he was supremely angry, and refused to sleep in the same ger with Yujien for a long time. Not only did he lose face, it was more because the bed business had been his specialty and his weapon of choice. Now the weapon not only lost its power, it was grandiosely picked up by the other party. His youth characters would suffer no loss, and hence put on a glacial face for many days, chilling the Spring Sun Battalion back to frost.

But even this didn’t last long. Just as he held pride for two days, Yujien sent out a military order, sending the entire Li Ignis Division to the Khilan border. The reason was also very serious: to purge remnant rebels. This was undefiable, and he had to leave with a belly full of indignation. The campaign was far, and the days were long. So his belly full of unspeakable grievances could only actualize into a sky full of blood arrows and a rope of heads.

On the return of the campaign, he was offered a few cups on the victory feast, and smug and dizzy, half-pushing and half-willing, with hatred and with fury, rolled into his arms. That night was especially brutal; Yujien almost didn’t allow him to close his legs. As he at last dozed for a bit, he was wakened again from the thrusts at daybreak. “It’s raining,” he said groggily, faintingly hearing the sounds of spinning from the foot of the mountain. Yujien watched his muddled phase and teased him, “I’ll give you a rain, want it or no?” Qu Fongning was also clouded from sleep. He rubbed his eyes to meet him. “Come,” he slurred. And always as you wish, Yujien forthwith gifted him a pelting rain. Qu Fongning was thoroughly drenched from the inside out and couldn’t even get on the horse for the day. At the morning practice dismissal, he promptly returned to the battalion to snooze.

~

And this day was not quiet either. First came Gerrgu, returning to the yurt to pick things up. As he was leaving, his nose stirred twice and his dark face suddenly went red, and reminded him to open the yurt for air more often. Utterly confused, Qu Fongning sniffed at himself, and instantly flamed to three heights, peeled off the small clothes and dunked it aside.

Before long, Little Ting’yu also bid men to send for him, and he had to drag over his exhausted frame. As he got to Wolfbend Mountain, his eyes brightened at the sight. Gracing an icy sheen, a black steel-framed ballista sat like an ancient beast holding its breath, prowling silently upon the grassy steppes. Little Ting’yu personally demonstrated for him. He brought out a steel quarrel nearly as wide as a bowl and slammed his arm on the trigger. A shattering blast, and ten or so gargantuan bolts hurled out of the steel bed, sounding like broken strings, as rapid as gale, and the force unwearied many li yonder. Dust stormed about the landing, and several soldiers clawed with their hands and feet for the good half of a day before finally digging out the bolts.

Qu Fongning watched with an unquenchable itch, took it over and played it a good many times, and was almost begrudged to give it back to him. Even after all the quarrels were emptied, still unsatisfied, he fondled the ice-cold mechanism for a good long time. “Your friend really is something. He made it exactly like how I imagined,” Little Ting’yu said with a chuckle.

Qu Fongning had his butt in the air, studying the toothed quarrel slots at the bottom of the bed, and was smug at the remark. “Of course, he’s my friend!” He curled his fingers for a few knocks. “Good lord, solid steel! How long does it take to make a set?” he exclaimed.

“Don’t mention it. I had no lack of arguments with them about this. To go by the cost for this one set, our accumulated years of stock isn’t even to make this much.” He made a number and signed. “Been busy talking trade with Bi’ro, groveling for iron. Old Lio Fox has got none other knack but is sure great at biting the price! I’ve only got these coppers in my pocket and he is almost gutting it all out.”

“When we hit the Heavenly Mountains, I’ll whip him for you,” Qu Fongning chuckled. Then the laugh went too wide, and he made an enormous yawn.

Little Ting’yu scrutinized him earnestly for a moment and solicited, “Fongning, you look ill. Doesn’t General Yujien treat you well?” He mulled over the question and laughed. “No, why am I asking this way? It’s not like you married him!”

Qu Fongning dodged around the question, and thought, “The stuff he does with me at night really is not far from it.” Then a curious idea roused in his head. As he returned to the city, he turned into the stockroom at the rear cliffs.

~

Jeweling splendor still floated about the storeroom; everything was as before. That black-hooded carriage sat quietly in the corners, surrounded by glittering starlight.

He crossed the bronze skeleton round umbrella, pulled open the dark wooden coach door, and sat on the thickly perfumed, golden-threaded carpet in a trance. He saw a side of the golden frills bulged up with something hidden beneath, turned over a corner of the rug, and found a stack of lambskin letters on the coach floorboard. In a casual flip, it was all strange, squiggly characters. He supposed it was some kind of confidential document, then his ears caught footsteps moving outside, and hurried it into his bosom.

His vision darkened. Yujien’s tall figure already came forth. He found him arms and legs flopped wide open in the car and thought it funny. “Like this car so much?” He protended his hand, helping him down.

Instead, Qu Fongning leaned backwards and patted his side. Yujien propped on the door frame, gazing at him deep.

“What do you want to do?”

This question caught him. He actually didn’t have any definite thoughts and couldn’t answer at the moment. Yujien helped him down, but didn’t let go of his hand, and cradled him out of the yurt.

“Ningning, you sat in my car and saw my face. You say what to do.”

Qu Fongning clenched his clothes, shook his head, and motioned two fingers at him.

“I’ve been married twice. You don’t think I’m good enough?”

Qu Fongning held his laugh and nodded and made a fifteen.

“So you think I’m too old,” Yujien snorted and stopped by the rocky cliffs, making a toss. “Even dare to reject this old boy’s proposal! Guts bigger for the sky, you!”

Held above cliffs of ten thousand edges, his foot hanging in mid-air, Qu Fongning laughed relentlessly. Yujien feigned a drop and scared him into a jump. Now no longer bold, he hurried to hug his arms around his neck, his legs also clutched fast around his muscular flank.

Yujien also stopped romping with him, pocketed him with one arm, and let him ride on his waist.

“Ningning, I rarely speak with people this way. But anything under this heaven, as long as I want it, there isn’t anything I can’t get my hands on.”

Qu Fongning lifted his lashes. The mountain winds clear, the moonlight blue, and from the foot of the mountain came the faint pounding of elephant drums.

“I had a talk with those two brothers of yours. They said you lost your parents young and struggled on with an only uncle. And said when you were little, you liked to eat sugared white swallow soups, liked to ride big horses on Little Swallow Mountain, didn’t talk much, and liked to cry. You guys were bullied by some king’s girls. And grew up a little, and was taken by me back to Chienye, surrendered yourself as a slave, and endured no lack of hardships.”

His verdant irises brimmed with smiles, looking especially gentle under the moon bright.

“I wallowed thirty years in the flames of war and had very few quiet days. Gains and losses, nothing definable with words. Only until I had you, I learned that the heavens truly ain’t bad to me. If it was fifteen years ago, my fief had no more than sixty households, my army had just over ten thousand men, washing with winds and bathing in blood, dawns without the promise of dusks. Even if I had the heart to protect you, I wouldn’t have been able to do so as good and well.”

“You and I are both men, marrying you would be impossible. But as long as you open your lips, even if it’s the stars in the sky, I’ll gather them for you.”

Qu Fongning’s feet landed soundlessly on the loam. He hugged around his neck, and, with the smallest voice, said two words by his ears.

“Emm, what do you want?”

Yujien watched his red-flushed ears, waiting for his words.

“—Stars?”

The person in his arms said nothing. Then came an ache on his shoulders, for he had taken a vengeful bite.

His thoughts suddenly came around, and in an instant, his mood soared beyond the clouds. He braced the person back up his body.

“Fine, let you bite as much as you want tonight.”

Swimming like a dragon and prancing like a tiger, he carried him into the sleeping quarters.

~

A thumb-shaved hand extended before his eyes and waved twice in concern.

Qu Fongning sat with his knees in his arms. “I’m fine.” He didn’t lift his head.

Uncle Hwei sat down by him. The Battalion yurt was a mess. A horseback bone porcelain cup rolled before their feet. A man called from a distance, “Captain Qu, when are we leaving?”

Qu Fongning heard but replied not, the raven locks fell by his knees like falling waters.

“Yujien Tianhung made you the minister of forty li of iron vines at the Rolling Hills Mountains. What does he mean?” Uncle Hwei was baffled, his lips minutely ajar.

Qu Fongning listlessly made a hand sign. Uncle Hwei read it, “… Gift. Ha, truly a gesture befitting the Ghost Sovereign. Millions of fine irons, giving you to play.” He followed with a laugh. “This iron minister of yours is a most coveted fat job in the Southern Empire. This old man burgled a couple once, every one of them so fat, they drip grease. That Minister Bai of Xuzhou had four hundred thousand ropes of coins in his private cache. We emptied it out in a year, and he just turned around and wrought it back…”

Qu Fongning laughed.

“Looks like us old boys will be rich.” He stood up, holding his waist.

Uncle Hwei saw his cheeks swollen high, showing ten red finger marks, and was taken aback.

“Don’t worry, I did it myself,” Qu Fongning signed, let down the mask, and turned back to look at him. “I’m afraid I won’t be clear-headed myself.”

Uncle Hwei watched his handsome silhouette walking out of the battalion yurt, let out an indiscernible lament, and followed out.

~

Yongning fifth year was a splendid and glorious year for Chienye. Even hundreds and thousands of years later, it was still sung from the golden willow lambskin histories.

Spring, the green worms cocooned, the nomadic women broiled silk, and tens of thousands of snowy-white threads spilled into thousands of households. From then on, their horseback carried more than bows and hunting knives, there added silks and weaves. The finished products, “Pale Waves Silk” and “Fine Mesh White,” were delicately soft, exquisitely made, and cheaply priced. The various northern countries fought to trade, and in poured the coins.

Summer, the Khilan puppet state crumbled. Four hundred thousand troops from Bi’ro and Chienye met by the Lii waters, fighting ceaselessly for the division of land. At the beginning of the Eighth month, Lio Whu and Yujien reached an agreement: decide the victory upon the number of heads cut in three days’ time. The victor wins the highest authority, which the loser must not violate. In three days, bodies bloated in piles, cutting off the flow of the Lii waters. A youth commander, on a horse as white as snow, flew fletches in connecting jewels, where his chill blade passed, heads fell like rain. And the name of “Wind Chaser Thousand Slain” came to be known.

Autumn, the Western Army led twelve thousand light cavalries, hauling sixteen stryker ballistae, eight crescent moon turrets, twelve teal cloud ladders, and breached the gates of Western Liang’s Obsidian City without losing a single man or soldier. Seventeen-year-old Little Ting’yu’s name resounded across the steppes, and King Andai personally bestowed him the title “General Thousand Arms.”

Yongning fifth year, Chienye, a nomadic tribe impoverished for thousands of years, was high above the Northern Steppes like the sun in the sky.

—

End of Volume One.

T.B.C.

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Special thanks to BraveNewWorld, Bacanora, and Miaouster for beta-reading this grand journey of Volume 1. Your precious reviews are the perfection of this translation.

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