Qiu Liao’s eyes reddened as well. “Young General.”
Only then did Chu Qing notice Qiu Liao standing beneath the dim firelight. “You... You’re Military Adviser Qiu?”
Qiu Liao suppressed his tears. “Yes. Nan Wen and I were fortunate enough to encounter our lord, along with several hundred surviving soldiers from the Northwest Army. We’ve been serving under him for more than a year now.”
“Good, good. As long as you’re alive!” Chu Qing’s throat tightened, and he was so overcome with emotion that he could barely contain himself.
Li Feng and the others were equally thrilled by the surprise. They had thought the entire Northwest Army had been wiped out.
But time was pressing, and Jiang Jin had no choice but to interrupt their reunion. She pointed toward the weapons nearby. “Choose your weapons.”
Chu Qing nodded and quickly composed himself. Among the pile of weapons, his eyes immediately settled on the mo dao, a weapon designed for broad, sweeping strikes.
The moment he took it in hand, he knew it suited him. It was just a little too light.
Still, since he had yet to recover to the peak of his former strength, it was just right for him at present.
He also noticed that quite a few soldiers in the Jinyang Army used this kind of weapon. Even their lord and the young man at her side carried such long blades.
He had never seen a blade like this before, but that did not stop him from recognizing its power at a glance.
Yet what truly shocked him was not the might of these blades, but the power of the repeating crossbows in the hands of the Jinyang Army.
When they encountered their first patrol, the soldiers were several dozen yards away. Before he could even make a move, just as he thought a bloody battle was about to begin, the guards beside Jiang Jin raised their crossbows.
In the space of a single breath, the patrol of several dozen men had all fallen.
Jiang Jin did not even stop walking. She simply led the way forward.
At that moment, he finally understood what “going home” meant.
They had truly come home!
With such weapons, capturing Wenxia City and holding it was entirely possible.
After all these years, were they finally going to reclaim their homeland?!
“Who’s there?” he exclaimed, jolted from his thoughts when several hundred guards carrying bows and arrows rushed out of the Grand Chanyu’s residence.
Jiang Jin waved her hand. The shield bearers immediately advanced, while the crossbowmen behind them fired volley after volley.
The two sides exchanged several rounds of fire in a matter of moments.
Only several rounds, because aside from those who fled, not a single enemy remained standing.
Jiang Jin quickly issued her orders. “Split up. Kill every enemy you encounter!”
“Yes!”
The Jinyang Army’s response was perfectly unified.
A few breaths later, only five hundred elite soldiers remained at Jiang Jin’s side as they continued toward the Grand Chanyu’s sleeping quarters.
Not long after, they encountered another unit of Ji soldiers attempting to stop them. The two sides soon clashed.
Grand Chanyu Ji Duoyan had just finished his “softening work” with his two favorite consorts and had fallen asleep, physically relaxed but exhausted, when a eunuch hurried in with a report.
“Grand Chanyu! Grand Chanyu, this is bad! Someone is attacking the city!”
Ji Duoyan was still half-asleep. Only after the eunuch shouted a second time did he awaken fully. He shot upright, yanked open the bed curtains, and demanded, “What did you say?”
The eunuch crawled and rolled to the bedside, dropping to his knees. “Someone is attacking the city! They’ve already broken in!”
By then, Ji Duoyan could also hear the faint sounds of fighting outside. His heart tightened. “Quickly, get me dressed!”
Several eunuchs brought over his clothes and were just about to dress him when Ji Duoyan snatched the garments away and hurriedly threw them on himself.
“Who is it? Has the city fallen? Where did the enemy enter from?” he demanded.
The eunuch had no idea. Trembling with fear, he replied, “I... I don’t know.”
“Useless!”
Ji Duoyan hastily finished dressing and strode outside.
“Who was on watch tonight? Get Ji Yong and Wu Ke in here—now!” he roared.
Ji Yong was the general responsible for defending Wenxia City.
Wu Ke was the commander in charge of guarding the entire residence.
A moment later, Wu Ke hurried in. “Grand Chanyu, the city has fallen. The enemy has broken into the palace, and the guards are engaging them.”
A vicious glint flashed through Ji Duoyan’s eyes. “Do you know who they are? How did they get in? How many are there? What is the situation in the city?”
Wu Ke shook his head. He truly knew nothing. A large number of enemies had inexplicably appeared throughout the city, slaughtering their soldiers everywhere.
Then he suddenly remembered something, and his pupils contracted. “It’s the Jinyang Army! I saw their repeating crossbows!”
Ji Duoyan was startled. “The Jinyang Army? Where is Ji Yong?”
At that very moment, Ji Yong was struggling to save himself. Clutching the wound on his arm, he cried out in disbelief, “Who are you?”
When the screams began echoing through the city, he had immediately awakened and quickly donned his armor.
“What’s going on?”
No one could answer him. At that moment, everyone was utterly bewildered.
Up until that day, everything in the city had been normal. There had been no sign of anything amiss.
In fact, before the sounds of fighting erupted, no one had known what was happening.
The enemy seemed to have appeared in the city out of nowhere, without the slightest warning.
Ji Yong knew there was no use asking questions. Once he had put on his armor, he rushed out, leading his soldiers toward the city gates at full speed.
But before he had gone far, he encountered a unit led by a woman.
The moment the other side fired their repeating crossbows, he knew who they were: the Jinyang Army!
Hearing the screams throughout the city, he was worried about the Grand Chanyu as well as the condition of the city gates. He had no desire to become entangled with them. Raising his hand, he knocked aside the incoming bolts and, shielded by his soldiers, spurred his horse into a desperate dash.
He was almost past the enemy unit when the woman suddenly charged out.
He saw only a flash of steel. The horse beneath him let out a shrill whinny and collapsed forward.
Ji Yong’s heart clenched. He swiftly steadied himself, and the moment the horse hit the ground, he planted his long saber against it and rolled several yards away. Then he sprang back to his feet.
He had no time to mourn the horse, which lay twitching on the ground. A dark shadow flashed before his eyes, and he instinctively raised his blade to block.
Only when the other woman’s weapon struck did he realize that her strength was like a mountain crashing down upon him. He was forced backward again and again, and his arm was still cut open.
It was fortunate that his combat ability was extraordinary; otherwise, the blade would have taken his neck instead.
Shuangjiang held the blood-dripping Yongsheng in her hand. “I am Shuangjiang of the Jinyang Army.”
Ji Yong frowned. He had never heard that name before.
But thinking about it, that was only natural. Aside from Zhou Sui, he had never heard of anyone else in the Jinyang Army.
Ji Yong endured the pain and numbness spreading from his injured arm through the entire left side of his body.
“Our two armies have no enmity between us. In fact, we were partners before. Why have you come to seize the territory of the Ji clan?”
Shuangjiang found the question laughable.
The territory of the Ji clan?
She did not bother to answer. Instead, she brought her blade down at Ji Yong with tremendous force.
Feeling the fierce wind stirred by the strike, Ji Yong knew she was a powerhouse and did not dare to underestimate her. He hurriedly raised his blade in front of him.
But one of his arms was already injured. How could he possibly stand against Shuangjiang with only one hand?
With a clang, the blade flew from his grip and plunged into the ground.
Shuangjiang swung again, preparing to deliver the killing blow, when another blade suddenly swept in from the side. It was one of Ji Yong’s deputy commanders.
Shuangjiang bent low to evade it. At the same time, Yongsheng slashed horizontally.
The sound of tearing flesh was drowned out by the metallic shriek of the strike.
The deputy commander felt a chill in his abdomen, followed by something warm gushing over him.
Ji Yong’s pupils contracted. He could never have imagined that his deputy would fail to last even a single exchange against this woman.
Several of Ji Yong’s personal guards immediately charged at Shuangjiang.
Mu Chichi, who had just finished off several Ji soldiers, shouted, “Your opponent is me!”
Before her voice had even faded, she and several female soldiers moved to intercept the guards.
Shuangjiang stared expressionlessly at Ji Yong, the corners of her lips curling upward.
Everlasting life rises, everlasting life falls!
Ji Yong, one of the ten great generals of the Ji Army, died without a sound that night.
