Of the tens of thousands of great paths, Li Daer had to choose the most impossible one.

At this moment, the sky was gradually gaining light, and the clattering of mail reverberated ruthlessly in their ears. Qu Fongning only had fifty people by his side, and Cher Vei’s squadron totaled less than a hundred. If they were to stand off face-to-face, it would be as good as sending meat right up the chopping board and be minced into shreds in an instant. Presently, though their hiding place was discreet, they were situated right in the center of the Western Liang’s curving pathway. And they would be detected before half a quarter time.

“Back!” Qu Fongning hissed a low order, and led the way, retreating into the depth of the Clouding Vale. The crowd held their breaths, strenuously suppressing their footsteps, moving in a critical slowness. Even when the sky glowed bright, they still could not pull a distance from the Western Liang army.

Cher Vei was on one side crawling onwards, and on the other, not forgetting to patronize the troops, “Qu, hurry men to report to the mouth of the Clouding Vale! If no one is to pick us up, aren’t we going to become dog feed?” Qu Fongning didn’t even bother looking at him.

“Only two thousand men garrison the mouth of the Clouding Vale. Even if we light the smoke signals here and now, and the larger army immediately take strike from Obsidian City, it will take them three days to get here,” he said mildly. His lashes danced, obviously swiftly devising a countermeasure.

Cher Vei grasped the immense direness, his brain exploded to a buzz, and he nearly collapsed on the ground. “And when General Yujien comes to collect our bodies, you better have died a pretty death. Don’t lose to our captain!” Uighshön said on purpose. Cher Vei looked sick; his footsteps faltered as well. “Have you nothing good to say?” Cher Bien booed at him. Gerrgu followed to hiss, “All shut up, don’t disturb little brother Fongning’s thoughts!” As they spoke, a Western Liang vanguard team had come behind them to only half a li away. The crowd instantly behaved to silence, fearing to drop their breaths half a whiff too heavy, as to throw their lives away.

“Little General, this subordinate shall shield you to breakthrough,” Autumn Hunt’s deputy captain said.

“The horses are all dead. Break what through?” Cher Vei scowled. When they fell down the snow well the day before, the warhorses suffered heavy casualties, and Qu Fongning only brought over a dozen horses. Wind Chaser stood like a crane amongst chickens, biting its leather bridle, with its amber eyes frosted with snow. It lifted its cotton-wrapped hooves, seeming very uncomfortable.

Qu Fongning brushed its soft mane, settled a plan in his heart, and called out a man from the line. This man had a diminutive figure. His arms were long enough to touch the earth, looking very much like an ape on first strike. Qu Fongning draped his white minks around him, took down the silver nvquay mask and donned it on him. And he whirled to pull over Wind Chaser. “Tingming adepts in riding. I order you to head to Juma City at full speed to call for rescue.”

Tingming answered and mounted. Wind Chaser’s red saddle was covered by fur blankets, looking plain white from the distance. Qu Fongning whispered a few quiet orders, and leaned into his ear: “When you get to forty li west of Juma City, shoot three arrows towards House He of Jinghu’s campgrounds. The accuracy doesn’t matter. Leave right after the shots.” He took down Moon Frost and secured it to the horseback.

Tingming left on order, first prowling towards a Euphrates poplar forest on the northern slope, then snapped a whip crackle and took flight. The Western Liang army immediately took notice and shouted, “It’s Qu!” Mob anger promptly boiled and no less than a hundred men gave chase. Tingming’s ridership was superb; he rounded many circles in bait, raised the reins, and flew across the clouds above the forest, disappearing at the end of the snowy vale.

“How’s Qu easy to catch?” Qu Fongning sneered. And with the chaos, he led the group to scud towards the inner vale, pulling the Western Liang army behind their heads.

Before noon, a smoke plume shot up the eastern horizon; it was the garrison by the Clouding Vale reporting enemy sightings to Obsidian City. At the same time, a red smoke signal also rose from the western battlements of Juma City.

“Boss, Juma City is also under attack!” Uighshön cried in horror.

Qu Fongning rolled his eyes. “Saw it. I’m not blind,” he said mildly.

Uighshön heard his airy speech and cheered. “Boss’s got a plan?”

“Naturally, there’s a plan,” Qu Fongning said with a thin smile. He waved at him mysteriously. Uighshön ecstatically tagged over his ear and only heard the boss blowing out one word, “—Wait.”

Cher Vei watched cooly from the side, finding him still conversing flippantly with others under the heavy siege, dreaded to show any fear worthy of his contempt, and hurried to order, “Follow up, follow up!”

But, by dusk, his competitiveness completely dissipated before the other side’s startling feat of wolfing raw horse meat.

Especially when the said carnivores were biting into bloody pieces of flesh, and nonchalantly going on casual conversations.

“Baldy, this horse meat’s pretty firm, pretty decent on the chew!”

“Hehe, better than human meat. Human meat bites to a mouthful of grease, gets you a whole wipe of white fat off your lips after.”

“Humans don’t taste so good.”

“Human flesh doesn’t fill hunger.”

Cher Vei listened with his stomach acid in tumbles, and almost retched.

Qu Fongning was holding an unskinned horse’s leg, eaten to lips full of blood. He heard the shuffle and kicked at Uighshön. “Think not only about yourself, leave some for others!”

With the reprimand said, he turned back his head and favored him with a polite smile.

This smile was more terrifying than any demons or monsters. Cher Vei sprouted a full wash of pale sweat then and there, and hated that he wasn’t a reverent who would open an altar and seal away this devil on the spot.

And soon, some blood red meat chunks was sent forth. The soldiers were fine, but Cher Vei grew up with silks and luxury, and consumed nothing by delicacy; how could he suffer this kind of shock? He forced down two little pieces of leg meat and could not eat any no matter what.

Qu Fongning backhanded a knock on Cher Bien’s crown. “Take it out. Haven’t you seen that Little General isn’t used to eating this?”

Cher Bien hemmed and hawed, reluctantly took out a small skin and tossed it over to Cher Vei. Cher Vei unplugged the cork and sniffed a whiff of wine, and his mood instantly was refreshed. And with the liquor in compliment, he at last swallowed a couple more bites of horse meat.

However naive he was, he knew this was not what he deserved. He owed them a favor, and hence no longer directed sharp words at them. Having retreated into the latter half of the night, the group were all exhausted, and the Western Liang army was still relentlessly moving forward. Qu Fongning went back and forth about the line, alerting those falling drowsy, surveying the path ahead, and steering away from the pursuers, always busy on his toes.

An Autumn Hunt soldier scanned him up and down, and remarked, “When this subordinate followed General Cher to the City of Ghosts, I’ve also seen this famous Captain Qu. He was talking like a little kid and acting all with the air of a child, and fell asleep right against General Yujien. Compared to today, really… really…” He really-ed twice and lost his words.

Cher Vei was hungry and sleepy and could only walk with the support of others. In these words, he struggled to open his eyes and scoffed, “He was a slave, used to suffering since a kid, and a little stronger now with the bones. There’s nothing special about it.”

“Oh,” the soldier answered in understanding, but shook his head in disbelief. “Captain Qu doesn’t look like someone who’s been a slave; he’s got an air that’s very… very…” He was at a loss for words again, and hurriedly added, “similar to General Guo.”

Cher Vei dreaded this name and glared at him, forbidding him from speaking again.

Between now and then, the ringing of iron hooves and the cry of horses, dry snow splattered down the branches. The Western Liang army searched around in alarm, and in the dim snowy hues, they only saw a long black line appearing on the horizon, rapidly closing in with righteous fury.

Qu Fongning looked out from the line, his gaze fell on the wild dancing scrawl of He, and the corner of his lips made a subtle curve.

“…. The idiot has come.”

~

Sitting on the hill to watch the tigers fight, with the complimentary liquor and cooked meat from those who fell in battle, was not lost to be a thing of beauty. If they could also light up a cow dung bonfire and take a nice, sweet nap, it would be even better.

Firelight always moves people’s hearts on snowy days. Even the commanders of the opposite sides shouted to halt the sixty thousand soldiers charging in mad battles. Each side assembled a fire and started yelling across the smoking battlefield.

The winds raged high, and the distance was far; it was truly difficult to hear what they were haggling about. Then they grew smarter. And each sent forth several clever messengers between lines of shields, archers, and crossbowmen to exchange words between the two sides. The messengers ran swiftly and talked to their ears, and it was even more difficult to find out their discussions.

And so, it went on for a dozen times, and Qu Fongning’s drooping eyes suddenly snapped open. “Truly?” he let out.

Amur hadn’t yet made the hand signs, the Western Liang ambassador already held high a roll of land deeds, dashed over, and knelt. “If General He will be generous in giving aid, our humble nation will offer the retrocession of the Six States of Hehuang and the outer horse pastures. The heavens will bear our witness, we shall not break our words.”

This was the first time He Yingnan ever tasted such victory and blanked at what to do. He hurried to wipe the sweat from his hands, and affectedly took the object into his hand, as if holding a thousand stone weight, and a burning rod of iron. The bronze finger gloves clattered in tremble, his eyes grew moist, and he abruptly whirled around, holding the land deed high above his head.

“My brothers! The Hehuang Six States are coming home!”

The thirty thousand Jinghu army held a momentary silence. And in a split instant, the cheers broke beyond the higher atmosphere.

“Southerners are so cheap, get their own stuff back, what’s there to be happy about?” Cher Vei snorted.

When he looked at Qu Fongning, he found him lowering his head, lightly adjusting the mask covering his eyes.

“And such, we wish General He will hold true to his words and aid our humble country through this great crisis…” the Western Liang ambassador reminded with a smile.

Before his words finished, there rose the sudden shriek of military report.

“Report——sighting of Chienye army thirty li away!”

Eyes covered beneath in bloody bandage, Li Daer leaned out from the royal litter. His voice quivered, “Coming so fast?”

A sentence unended, another battle report arrived:

“Report——eighty thousand enemy men and horses are charging in at all speeds!”

Li Daer looked wan, fell heavily onto the carriage, and muttered, “House Li’s regime has stood in the west for four centuries, and is really ending in my hands…” His facial muscles gave a sudden jerk, searched for the hands of the two princes, and rasped, “You two follow your queen mother with the Southern army towards Hehuang for hiding, forget your royal status, live a good and peaceful live, never bring about the thoughts of restoring the empire. General He, would you swear to protect the well-being of the mother and sons after my death?”

His eyes were blind, unable to find He Yingnan’s position, and could only vacantly search the surroundings. The younger of the two royal princes was only ten, was crying beside himself, and the queen was also silently dropping tears on the side. The rims of He Yingnan’s eyes warmed, and he couldn’t help himself spilling out, “Yes, I swear to you!”

And in came a deep, austere voice from the far distance, “A subjugated emperor pleading for his children’s protection on the battlefield, how touching. Brother Ulan, you’ve come far to arrive on a good show.”

Cher Vei had a shake and tremblingly turned his head to look. In the shape of a fan, the black tide of a great army enveloped around this side, and Yujien Tianhung sat on his horse under the colossal banners in a full black set of heavy armor. The one next to him with an enormous belly, who is it but Cher Baochi?

And in his words, he only waved his hand and scowled. “I ain’t got the mood to watch their weeps and sobs before I found that rascal of mine.” He searched with his eyes all around, hollering, “Cher Vei—Hurry out—Da’s here to pick you up!—”

Cher Vei had always been debauched and unruly, and gained little favors with his father. At this moment, he heard his father worried about him, having traveled a thousand li here, and his nose prickled.

Yujien made no comment and returned to He Yingnan. “I wonder who is the mastermind behind General He’s retreat to advance tack?”

He Yingnan found these words odd, but couldn’t say what was odd. A clever close guard hurried to suggest, “He said you’re foolhardy and unable to think up such brilliant tactics. General, hurry to say something to trick him!”

He Yingnan finally came around and bellowed a laugh. “Just the time to let you know, this general recently gained an ingenious… tactician; they call him… the Xiao-Kongming¹. With this man in line, the recovery of Han and Tang lands is right in the offing. And this man is… Qu Fongning!”

As he got to the last few words, his tone abruptly changed to a gritting bite.

A commotion erupted from the rear of the Jinghu army. A white horse carrying a youth in white minks flew across the sky like a white shooting star.

“Your… why’s your son on the other side?” exclaimed Cher Baochi.

“Not him,” Yujien said mildly, and ordered, “Archers, ready.”

Both the Jinghu army and the Wester Liang hated and feared Qu Fongning. By this point, their hearts aligned, and they tossed away their past grievances and surrounded him together.

Li Daer sent his wife and sons before the Southern army under the heavy protection of guards, and hugged for farewell.

The white horse sped fast and arrived before a split instant. Just as it came into the shooting range, its four hooves gave a sudden splay, and leaped across the ether above the heads of the outer rings of shields! At the same moment, the man on the horseback also curled and jumped.

Hundreds of soldiers swung their spears and raised their pikes in chorus, wanting to stab him into a hornet’s nest. But the man’s ridership was truly exquisite. He rounded an arc in midair, shot into the snow like a cannon, spun a dozen tumbles, and rolled precisely under the cover of a short horse.

Ever since the battle of Juma City, He Yingnan gained an ineffable feeling towards this rival. He hurried to wheel his horse around for inspection and barked, “Don’t kill him yet!”

But the reply was a low laugh behind him, followed by a soul-piercing cry, “Lord Father—!”

He Yingnan whipped around, and only saw Li Daer’s headless corpse standing stiff in the snow, and soon, gradually collapsing down.

A youth gowned in ghost army garbs, holding a head in one hand, leaped high from the formation, nimbly tapped his feet across two Western Liang soldiers’ shoulders, and back flipped up the white horse’s back.

His face wore a plain greenwood mask, but He Yingnan couldn’t be more familiar with this deft, head-cutting murderous hand, and blurted out, “Qu Fongning?”

Yet as the words left his mouth, he thought it was off, and turned to scrutinize the “Qu Fongning” in the white minks and silver mask. His head a total mayhem.

Qu Fongning hit on first strike and didn’t want to stop there. He held the white horse’s crimson saddle with one hand, his toes touching the ground, and rounded an exquisitely precise turn under the deluge of spears and arrows. With the burst of snowy mist, he sliced across the Western Liang Crown Prince’s throat. And the force of the weapon unended, the sharp blade tossed out a silver beam, and cut off the heads of the little prince and the queen at once.

As he fell back onto the saddle, he didn’t neglect to direct a giggle at He Yingnan.

“He Xiao-jiu, I resolved a great crisis for you. How are you going to thank me?”

It was good and well if he didn’t say this. He Yingnan lifted his eyes, his expression as if having seen a ghost. “You… You…”

This mask didn’t fit him and fell under the recent carnage. In this moment, what He Yingnan saw was a young man, looking even younger than himself by two years, with eyes curiously black and red rouge lips, and very unlike the appearance of a murdering maniac.

Qu Fongning brandished the four bloody heads, using it as a weapon, blocking out three, five arrows. “Me, myself, what and I? Scram! Really waiting for me to take you to get married?”

The Western Liang forces saw their king, queen, and two princes falling at the same time, all their eyes burst nearly to crack, and all charged forth, even if it comes to sacrificing their own lives, to hack him to mush.

And just as several long pikes were about to touch his back, the outermost ring of soldiers all gave a sudden jerk, and silently fell forward. The dozen breastplate mirrors punctured through by heavy black arrows.

This was the signal, and tens of thousands of Chienye arrows let fly in unison, holding the Western Liang forces fast to their place and unable to move a single step.

Leaving only Qu Fongning, cracking the whip at his horse, riding towards the arrow storm.

He Yingnan rounded both eyes with ten thousand disbeliefs in his heart. Can your arrows really recognize you?

And he witnessed an even more astonishing scene.

Qu Fongning drew his snow-white bow to the full, shot out an arrow towards the snowy earth with all his strength, and using the rebound force of this shot, rocketed himself high above the saddle. The man and the horse soared above the rain of arrows. The white horse landed, and not bothering with the whereabouts of its owner, splayed its four hooves and dashed itself forward. And Qu Fongning, just like he calculated, spun a perfect somersault in midair, and landed steadily on the horse’s saddle, speeding into the Chienye forces.

~

The flames of war sprawled until dusk. After this battle, the remnant Wester Liang forces came to their total obliteration, and House Li’s regime ended. Chienye’s map extended westwards by a thousand and nine hundred li; the vastness of her territory and the strength of her military since secured her place as the chief of the five tribes. The Southern army seized the opportunity to recover the Six States of Hehuang, from then on they stockpiled grass feed and expanded horse pastures, and their cavalries strengthened by the days. Such are all later words, and we will not elaborate on it now.

That very night, the larger Chienye army stationed by the mouth of the Clouding Vale. Felt-lined yurts covered a hundred li, the bonfire burned bright, and everyone hooked arms to shoulders, laughing and chatting. It was truly a massive festival. Drinking was prohibited during campaigns, so at the height of the excitement, clanking a bowl of sheep blood or mare milk also sufficed to cheer the mood.

Black shadows piled layers at the end of the yurts. A small Ghost Army squadron wobbled side and forth from the melting snow dunes, obviously at the epic stretch of their fatigue. The one on the forefront with a loose mask trudged in on heavy paces, his entire body mopping mud, with a military uniform utterly rumpled, really having no style to be described whatsoever.

But as soon as they saw the four heads in his hand, no one cared about style anymore, all clamored, even frightening away the birds from the snowy vale.

Some younger ones even climbed onto other’s backs and shoulders, making idiotic noises, raising their laughs.

When Cher Baochi saw Cher Vei, the first thing he gave him was a whack to the face, the clap loud and clear. “Little rascal! Your run with your two dog legs, not counting you making your old man hurry his way, if you had compromised their Captain Qu, see if your old man peels your skin!”

Cher Vei faltered to crawl up, grievously holding his face. His pitiful, hardly developed filial heart was immediately lost again.

Yujien stood serious and solemn before the main ger in a battle armor of night steel, fell his gaze before the line, and opened his voice, “Captain Qu.”

Qu Fongning’s heart took a jolt, lifted his head to look at him, and answered, “Subordinate reporting.”

“What do you have in your hands?” Yujien spoke coolly.

Qu Fongning heard the deeper rasp of his voice, obviously from having marched overnight, his fatigue must be no less than himself. “Li Daer and his wife and sons’ heads,” he thus answered in a subdued voice.

“Bring it up,” Yujien commanded.

The heads were placed onto plates, arranged neat and upright, looking very pretty, and seemed all vying to scream, “Reward me! Hurry, reward me!”

And truly, Yujien’s voice grew gentle, “Captain Qu, leaving your post on garrison time and causing delay to military opportunities is an unpardonable crime. Do you understand your crime?”

“This subordinate understands the crime,” replied Qu Fongning, hurrying to kneel.

Everyone watched this scene with a smile on their face, feeling great amusement. The Commander General’s fervent concern of his beloved son is no empty story. Having heard he was in danger, he marched through the starry night, going without sleep or rest to the rescue. The Crown Prince also lived up to expectations this time, cutting heads in pairs. Would he really punish him? He’ll most probably give him some perfunctory scoldings and follow up with a grand reward.

All contended to guess the contents of the reward: He’s already a millenarian captain. To rise again would be a deputy commander, or a myriadian commander, leading ten thousand men. Has there ever been a seventeen-year-old commander since Chienye’s founding? They’ll find out tonight.

And they heard Yujien, one word after another, apathetic:

“Good, you understand. The law of our army rules that misconduct of commanders above a thousand men receives a demotion of one military rank, and eighty poles strikes. Left and right, execute forthwith.”

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