Shen Jue and Feng Chunya sat astride their horses at the head of the army.
At the fall of a single command, ten thousand elite soldiers set out as one. They marched along the official road west of the city, their footsteps making the trees beside the road tremble and rustle.
The clashing of armor rolled on without end, like a vast iron-gray thundercloud surging across the earth.
The morning wind tugged at the bright red banner embroidered with the words “Pacify the North,” making it crack sharply in the air.
Not far away, Shen Ying and the boy emperor reined in their horses and watched from a distance.
The boy emperor gripped the reins tightly, his mouth half-open and his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the road ahead.
The soldiers’ movements were terrifyingly precise.
Thousands upon thousands of boots struck the ground at once, then rose as one.
It was almost as if this army were not made of flesh and blood, but a steel behemoth forged with meticulous precision.
“This…” The boy emperor’s throat tightened.
Only after a long moment did he find his voice again. “With such an elite force—so disciplined and obedient to command—the good-for-nothings in the capital couldn’t catch up even if they rode at full gallop.”
The Imperial Guards who protected the palace might look imposing, but whenever they trained, they were either claiming illness or shirking and cutting corners.
Such a grim, unified spectacle—ten thousand men moving as one—was practically impossible to see among the Imperial Guards.
Shen Ying paid no attention to the boy emperor. Her gaze remained fixed on Feng Chunya’s retreating figure, her eyes filled with admiration and envy.
“One day, I’ll become an even greater general than my brother—and even greater than Feng Chunya!” she declared with conviction.
The people of Xindu City had received the news long ago.
Before dawn, they had gathered along both sides of the main street.
People stood shoulder to shoulder, stretching from the city gates all the way to the archway three li away. Adults hoisted children onto their shoulders, while the elderly leaned against the walls with their walking sticks. No one spoke. They simply followed the columns of soldiers with their eyes, seeing them off all the way beyond the city gates.
They did not dare approach too closely, afraid of disturbing the march. Instead, they watched from afar, rising onto their toes and craning their necks, their eyes anxiously searching through the grim ranks.
When they caught sight of familiar relatives and friends standing tall among the soldiers, their hearts filled with both sorrow and pride.
Just then, a hunched figure slowly and unsteadily pushed through the crowd at the far end of the street.
It was an old woman whose hair had turned completely white.
Her back was bent like a drawn bow. In her left hand, she carried a modest bamboo basket covered with a blue cloth bleached pale from washing. Wisps of steam rose through the gaps in the fabric.
Her legs were evidently weak, for she walked very slowly, each step seeming to consume all the strength in her body.
Someone nearby tried to help her, but she waved them away.
The old woman shuffled toward the edge of the marching column, mumbling something under her breath.
No one could make out what she was saying.
A young soldier of eighteen or nineteen, marching along the outer edge of the formation, noticed her. His pace faltered, and he instinctively reached out to steady her.
“Grandmother, please don’t come over here. The column is moving—be careful not to get knocked down…”
The old woman raised a withered hand and lifted the blue cloth.
The basket was filled to the brim with dozens of eggs, each one carefully wrapped in dry grass. Thin tendrils of steam still rose from them.
Her trembling hand picked up an egg and held it out to the young soldier.
“Eat… eat before you go…”
Her aged voice was indistinct.
A middle-aged woman hurried after her and caught hold of the old woman’s arm. With an apologetic smile, she said to the soldier, “Please don’t take offense, sir. This is my mother-in-law. Decades ago, my husband’s younger brother was forcibly conscripted by the imperial court to fight in a war, and he never came back. My mother-in-law is old now, and her mind is confused. I suppose she’s mistaken you for him. Please don’t take it to heart.”
“Mother, let’s go home.”
Her daughter-in-law tried to coax her away, but the old woman was stubborn. The hand holding out the egg did not move an inch. Blue veins stood out across her wrist, her arm so thin it was little more than skin stretched over bone.
She stared at the young soldier’s face. A sudden light flickered in her cloudy eyes, as though through that still-youthful face she were seeing someone else.
“Achang…” she murmured. “You said last time… that you wanted boiled eggs… Mother boiled so many for you…”
The young soldier’s eyes reddened in an instant.
He knew that look.
When he had left home, his own grandmother had looked at him the same way, forcing two eggs into his arms and telling him to eat them if he got hungry on the road.
At the time, he had promised obediently, then secretly put the eggs back in the house as soon as her back was turned.
It was only after he had walked two li that he discovered she had somehow slipped the eggs back into his bundle.
“Grandmother.” He lowered his voice, trying desperately to keep it steady. “I can’t take your food. There are rules in the army. We aren’t allowed to take so much as a needle or a thread from the common people.”
The old woman did not understand him.
She simply kept trying to press the egg into his hand, repeating the same few words over and over.
“Eat… You need strength to walk…”
The egg’s scorching warmth passed through its shell and burned into the young soldier’s palm. At last, he could no longer hold back his tears.
“Grandmother.” He sniffed and quickly wiped his face with his sleeve. His voice was hoarse, rough as sandpaper scraping against stone. “Don’t see me off anymore. Go home…”
Seeing that he had accepted the egg, the old woman broke into a smile. With only a few teeth remaining, she grinned like a child, her deeply wrinkled face glowing with contentment and delight.
Then she reached into the basket and grabbed another egg, trying to stuff it into the young soldier’s arms.
But he had already turned away and rejoined the marching column.
He walked quickly—so quickly it was almost as though he were fleeing.
The old woman stood there with the egg raised in her hand, watching his figure grow farther and farther away.
“Achang…” she called.
No one answered.
Her daughter-in-law took the egg from her hand and carefully placed it back in the basket.
“Mother, didn’t Achang tell you? He’s going to win glory and make a fortune, so that you can eat meat at every meal from now on.”
The old woman stood where she was, the wind blowing her white-and-gray hair loose and plastering it against her cheeks.
“I don’t want money, and I don’t want meat. I only want my Achang to come home…”
Two muddy tears rolled from the corners of her eyes.
“He’ll come back. We’ll go home and wait for him.”
Supporting the old woman, her daughter-in-law slowly turned around. Step by step, they made their way back into the depths of the long street.
At the city gates, the ten thousand elite soldiers had completed their formation.
The dark ranks spread across the open wilderness. Their armor gleamed like scales, their spearpoints rose like a forest, and their killing intent struck like a wave.
Shen Jue and Feng Chunya reined in their horses at the front of the formation.
Every soldier raised his eyes to the sky.
Suddenly, the light of day changed.
A narrow fissure split open in the clouds. Violet radiance spilled through it, gradually staining the entire vault of heaven.
Within that purple glow, a figure slowly emerged.
The Goddess stepped through the void. With every step she took, faint violet ripples spread beneath her toes. Within those ripples bloomed delicate shadows of wisteria, only to vanish in the next instant.
Before long, she had reached the front of the army.
All ten thousand elite soldiers dropped to one knee at once. The crash of their armor rang out in perfect unison like thunder, shaking the banners atop the city walls.
The mighty roar surged into the heavens and rose straight to the ninth firmament.
