Chapter 52 052 (End of Main Text) [VIP]

Shi Qingruo tugged at the hood of her jet-black wind cloak, feeling the chill of the passing wind slightly lessened.

Turning, she saw Wenrou catching up with her whip.

Since they were heading north, everyone had already donned riding gear, and Wenrou was no exception.

According to Wang Xiaoshi, her usually fiery and unruly nature seemed more suited to such attire; at least it wouldn't appear hypocritical.

And then, he was punished by Wenrou and Jin Lingzhi.

"Senior Sister," Wenrou's eyes gleamed, her complexion rosier than usual, perhaps from the wind. "What do you think the north is like?"

She wore a snow-white fox fur coat, recently sent by the King of Luoyang, which made her look even more beautiful. Of course, Shi Qingruo didn't let the King of Luoyang go. She detained the poison master named Wenhe, claiming Wenrou was short of guards.

One wonders what the venerable Wen family was thinking. From Wen Wan to Wenrou to Wenwen, and finally this Wenhe, none of them seemed to live up to the name.

Wenhe didn't seem to care much. Her mind was already preoccupied with the gathering, preoccupied with the grand spectacle of the borderlands, just as she now posed the question to Shi Qingruo.

What is the north like?

Previously, jianghu figures, like Wenrou, the Little Cold Mountain Swallow, had only set their sights on Bianjing, hoping to carve out a place for themselves in this turbulent city. Now, under the command of Master Alliance Leader, they were looking north.

Yes, Master Alliance Leader, not Master Saint Leader—

that was the title bestowed upon Shi Qingruo before the group set out.

"The north wind blows the white grass to the ground, and snow falls in the Hu sky in August. Now that autumn has arrived in the Central Plains, the land beyond the Great Wall must already be clad in a blanket of white. Only we, possessing inner strength, dare to journey at this time."

"Senior, is that so?" Shi Qingruo turned and asked Ah Fei.

He was dressed plainly today. Aside from the weapon he had been forced to exchange for a fine sword, he still wore only a worn fur coat and a black leather hood. He looked less like someone heading for border support and more like a down-to-earth northern swordsman. Yet, the chill wind accentuated his deep, inky eyebrows.

"Indeed," Ah Fei replied simply, but the expression on his face betrayed his unfinished words.

He had lived in the north since childhood, in the very region where the ghosts of the underworld once appeared. It was through this very snowstorm that he first entered the martial arts world.

It was because of this that he met Li Xunhuan, who had returned from the Great Wall, and the subsequent experience.

Seeing Wenrou's excitement, he felt he shouldn't be spoiling the fun. He stopped talking with a single sentence.

But a voice interrupted, "The raging snow is chilling, the world is austere, but it's not as easy as you think."

Chen Guyan, following behind Shi Qingruo, cracked his whip intermittently, "reminding" Wenrou.

He couldn't be blamed for not giving Miss Wen face; it was Wenrou's fault for always finding fault with him.

Wenrou suddenly raged, "You're too disrespectful. I grew up learning my trade in Xiaohan Mountain. The name suggests it's covered in snow for years, not a valley with perpetual spring. Senior Brother—"

As she mentioned Xiaohan Mountain, she turned to look for a witness. "Senior Brother, isn't that right?"

Su Mengzhen wasn't riding, but sitting in the carriage.

A charcoal fire burned before him, its sparks flickering in the wind from the curtains ahead, illuminating his face and that of the ruthless Chief Constable.

Normally, since he had already handed the Rascal Feng team over to Shi Qingruo, he could have stayed in Bianjing to oversee the rear operations, without having to come in person.

But as he had said to Shi Qingruo, reclaiming the five states of Yingyun was the aspiration of his grandfather and father's generations, so how could he be absent?

Besides...

there was another reason he wanted to come along, to bear witness.

"Brother..." Wenrou, receiving no response from Su Mengzhen, rode her horse to the carriage in discontent. As if afraid he couldn't hear, she placed her hand to her mouth and shouted louder.

Su Mengzhen said helplessly, "You came north to gain experience. Don't you see the difficulties ahead? What can stop you?"

"That's right," Wenrou nodded solemnly.

Compared to her ambitious demeanor, Li Yuhan, the young master of Yongcui Villa, was clearly at the opposite extreme.

His wife, Liu Wumei, was detained in Bianjing for drug rehabilitation, and he was forced to follow her north at his father's behest.

She didn't know if it was the wind or her mood, but she looked like she'd lost her parents.

Wenrou scoffed dismissively, then turned around and felt a surge of anger rising. She turned back and advised, "Brother, could you please show some strength?"

She glanced back at Shi Qingruo and saw that Chen Guyan had indeed said that to get her out of the way. Now, taking advantage of the vacant seat next to her, he'd already snatched it up.

This guy, even though he's considered a dead man, still hasn't stopped. He's a formidable opponent indeed!

Even more annoying, to conceal his identity, he dyed his white hair black, looking much younger than before, even more in line with his claim of being "childhood sweethearts."

So, Brother, don't worry... oh, it seems there's no point in worrying.

He can't just keep pushing his body forward, or else he'll be sent back and become a laughingstock.

Fortunately, the ruthless Chief Constable beside him was a respectable man, so the two of them could keep each other company on the journey.

Little did he know that Wuqing had already turned a page of the book in his hand, but it seemed that he had not memorized the words on that page.

He glanced over there and saw Shi Qingruo pulled up her hood, turned around and asked someone to call Guo Jing. It was clear that she had no intention of getting entangled with Shen Guyan, and he felt the corners of his lips rising uncontrollably.

Wenrou didn't stay by the car for long.

She wanted to find Shen Guyan to settle the score, but was stopped by Jin Lingzhi and invited by her to go to one of the carriages.

"That Madam Li is really amazing," Jin Lingzhi pointed, "I heard that she was harmed by the court's dog officials in her early years, her husband died, and she was also dragged into the northern barbarian kidnapping team. She actually crawled across the snowfield alive, gave birth to her son Guo Jing, and successfully led him to gain a foothold in the grasslands outside the Great Wall."

What a tenacious woman.

"Not only that, in such an environment, she also taught the children the meaning of propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame. No wonder Madam Shi sincerely hired her as a guide and military advisor to teach us how to set up camp in the north."

"I just passed by that end and heard her telling Miss Huang about interesting things in her early years. Do you want to go?"

"Yes! Of course." Wenrou turned her horse around and followed Jin Lingzhi with great interest.

It was his problem if her senior brother was not up to the task. She couldn't let herself get hurt by him. Besides, she couldn't take her senior sister home.

As she and Jin Lingzhi went to that end, she saw on the left that Tang Lan had confiscated all of Tang Ling's hidden weapons and thrown them to the child named Tang Neng. This should probably be called the internal strife of the Tang Clan in Shu.

On the right side of the road, the honest monk, Lu Xiaofeng, and Sikong Zhaixing were playing and joking around in a card game. It was probably what you'd call a brawl between sworn brothers.

After all, listening to stories was the most interesting.

"These young people are so lively..." Chu Liuxiang couldn't help but sigh.

He was just a little depressed.

Everyone knew he had three close female friends whom he treated like his own sisters. Since the Tianyi Divine Water case was solved, he no longer had to hide. After all, the Divine Water Palace wouldn't hold them hostage anymore.

But Song Tian'er, with her love of food, had teamed up with Huang Rong and, along the way, learned martial arts from Hong Qigong, poised to join the Beggars' Sect. Li Hongxiu was well-informed about various factions, and upon hearing this, Shi Qingruo immediately invited her to manage the accounts. As for Su Rongrong...

she was the young genius doctor's sister, skilled in disguise and poison making. Upon hearing someone from the venerable Wen family was in town, she immediately went to seek their advice.

As the now-abandoned "lonely man," Chu Liuxiang rubbed his nose, finding it difficult not to utter such a remark.

Yet, wasn't this scene of playful banter, rather than a solemn march, full of life and infectious?

Ye Gucheng, standing beside him, replied coldly, "I don't think I'm that old yet."

So there was no need to accept the remark about "those young people."

"Do you want the truth?" Chu Liuxiang smiled. "You're wearing a disguise mask, but your behavior still doesn't fit in with those young people. It's hard not to think the Lord of Baiyun City is still alive."

A flicker of emotion crossed Ye Gucheng's eyes, but the next moment, he saw Ye Guhong pestering Ximen Chuxue with endless questions, and his steps, about to react, stopped in their tracks. "If I were to do that, it would be foolish."

Chu Liuxiang: "..."

He felt as if Ye Gucheng had completely misunderstood his meaning.

Anyway, it was better to let Madam Shi speak; it would probably be much more effective than him.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard the sudden braking of horses. Turning around, he saw his old friend Hu Tiehua almost bumping into him.

Actually, they had met on his way to the Great Desert, and now they were on the same journey.

Old Hu was a skilled martial artist and a man of integrity, making him a good helper. However, there were some things about his behavior that were hard to agree with.

"Old Bug, I have something to ask you." Hu Tiehua rode his horse alongside Chu Liuxiang and put his arm around his shoulder.

Chu Liuxiang whispered, "Wasn't it Gao Yanan's confession that scared you off back then? Now, because of Master Kumei's mistakes, she's been appointed to take over the Huashan Sect, hoping to restore some of its reputation from the Northern Expedition. She doesn't have time to reminisce with you. If you now feel you shouldn't have refused her back then and pester her, don't blame me for looking down on you."

"Hey, that's not what I meant." Hu Tiehua pushed Chu Liuxiang's head away. "I wanted you to look behind. What do you think of those two?"

Chu Liuxiang looked in the direction Hu Tiehua pointed and saw two figures, one black and one white. The black one wore a night veil, while the white one seemed completely shrouded in gauze. In terms of appearance,

they were a perfect match. If he remembered correctly, one of them was a disciple of Shi Guanyin, whose beauty had been cruelly disfigured by her master. The other was a disciple of Xue Xiaoren, tricked by his twisted master into becoming a killer since childhood.

After the deaths of Xue Xiaoren and Shi Guanyin, they were inducted into the Misty Heaven Alliance as captives...

Now, marching together in this freezing wind, they truly felt like a pair of star-crossed lovers.

But their first half of life had been fraught enough, and their future was even more uncertain. Why bother exposing something? Perhaps the unicorn was approaching the north, but the wind had already borne a few more snowflakes. 

Chu Liuxiang reached out to catch them, catching a few in his broad palm. 

For the northern nomads, falling snow was never good news. It meant they needed to find shelter quickly and secure enough food for the winter. 

Otherwise, getting lost in the blizzard would mean certain death. 

But for these martial artists heading north, falling snow was perfect weather! 

The Jin people in the north would never believe that, in such a climate, the Han people had ended their internal strife and decisively coordinated their efforts, dispatching such a special force to the border of Yingzhou and Yunzhou to contribute to the recapture of their territory and the expulsion of the Hu people. 

That meant they had a far better chance of achieving their goal than their previous plan. 

He gazed far to the north, finding the distant cloud formations, blending into the slightly overcast sky, particularly charming. Chu Liuxiang wasn't the only one feeling this way. 

Lei Mei, leading the rest of the Fengyu Tower, rode slowly on horseback. While others flaunted their cloaks, she braved the wind, sand, and snow with relish. 

Ever since her father's death, and Lei Sun becoming the head of the Six-and-a-half Hall, she'd felt like she was living under layer upon layer of masks. 

To please Lei Sun and secure a position within the Six-and-a-half Hall, she'd sacrificed so much, finally being able to personally slay her enemy. 

But even though the swordless sword had taken Lei Sun's life, she still held onto a single obsession: to regain control of the Six-and-a-half Hall. Unfortunately... 

Su Mengzhen wouldn't give her that chance, and neither would Shi Qingruo. 

She didn't need to be discouraged. At least now—with the wind and snow blowing overhead, the reality of life was real. 

She hoped... those two would never give her the chance to seize power. 

Perhaps Guan Chun, who stayed in Bian Jing, thought the same. 

… 

“Hey, look over there—” 

Lei Mei regained her composure, grabbed the reins, and looked in the direction of the sound. 

Wenrou, who was still listening to Li Ping, leaned against the window, afraid she would miss something. 

At some point, a group of people and horses arrived from the north to greet them. Leading them was none other than Xi Honglei, the Lord of Huinuo City. 

No one knew what Shi Qingruo and Xi Honglei had said, but in the scene everyone saw, two figures, one black and one red, were riding their horses in the lead, marching at the forefront of the windswept wilderness, leaving everyone else behind. 

On the ground were galloping horses and a large group behind them. 

Above, amidst the snowy clouds, a column of black eagles were returning north. 

A longbow was suddenly drawn from the side of Xi Honglei's horse's back, and along with the quiver, it was thrown towards Shi Qingruo. 

Shi Qingruo laughed out loud and took them all. 

The horse galloped, and the longbow in her hand was already stretched swiftly, like a full moon. 

Wenrou almost subconsciously held her breath. 

Just now, in the carriage, she had heard Li Ping talk about how, when Guo Jing was still in the frontier, he had seen a black eagle and a white eagle fighting each other, and shot through both black eagles with a single arrow, earning the appreciation of his financial sponsor. 

Now, she saw Shi Qingruo and Xi Honglei riding together, bows drawn. 

"Can the master shoot arrows?" Jin Lingzhi asked softly. 

"I haven't seen it, but..."

But those with exceptional martial arts prowess inevitably possess both arm strength and vision. The heartbreaking little arrow that landed in Shi Qingruo's hand after Yuan Shisanxian's death was also a form of archery.

This heartbreaking little arrow no longer needed to destroy hearts; it simply needed to—

"Go!"

With a "bang," Shi Qingruo's golden arrow flew free from the bowstring.

The black eagle overhead had barely registered the sound of wind before the fatal shaft had already pierced its neck. But that wasn't the end. The astonishing internal energy was enough to allow the arrow to retain momentum, piercing the neck of the next black eagle.

Two dark figures, pierced by a single long arrow, plummeted from the sky.

It was an image some will never forget.

Shi Qingruo didn't slow, simply turning his bow and glancing back.

He didn't bother to brush his wind-twisted hair away, but his eyes remained as bright as stars.

And amidst the thundering gallop of his horse, another voice still reached the ears of the crowd.

"Everyone, shooting two eagles with arrows is a sign of victory!"

-----End of the main text, remember to read the preface-----

Author's Note:

(End of the main text)

After all, this is a martial arts novel, not a historical novel. Plus, this is a short story designed to practice character interaction, so I felt it would be nice to stop the main text here, with the feeling of heroes galloping and avenging their enemies. The volume I reported to the editor before starting was 400,000 words, which is about the expected pace.

I'll take a day off tomorrow, and then there will be about two weeks of extra chapters, which will cover the endings of the love story and the subplots. Aside from the young emperor, who I definitely won't be writing about (his role wouldn't be appropriate), I'm still considering the others, whichever comes first. Extra chapters won't count towards your total subscription. If you don't want to read the subplots, subscribing here will count as a full subscription.

The next book will feature card draws from the late Qin Dynasty. I expect the pace to be slightly faster than the previous two historical novels, and slower than this one. Lü Zhi's role is smaller than Liu Bang's, but I won't downplay Liu Bang's historical role.

Besides that unpopular Wei and Jin novel, which I'm not sure I should even start, I've been thinking about starting something a bit more bizarre with my recent martial arts writing. I'll reference the worldview and combat power levels of "Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty" and try to get some pre-orders, then see how it goes. "Three Kingdoms, But a Parallel World"

[What would you do if you traveled back to the chaotic Three Kingdoms era?]

— The simplest and most ruthless approach: use your historical knowledge to change the fate of an important figure and find a reliable protector. For example, go to Wancheng to rescue Cao Ang.

[What if this Three Kingdoms isn't the Three Kingdoms you know?] Sun Heng awoke to the sound of sobbing, startled to see the memorial

tablet of General Sun Jian, Sun Wentai, hanging high in the mourning hall.

She'd traveled back in time, and she'd become Sun Jian's daughter, a daughter who didn't exist in history and was only two years younger than Sun Ce. She later realized that she wasn't the only person in this world who wasn't recorded in history.

The Taiping Dao launched the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which was fierce but swiftly defeated, breaking up into smaller groups and waiting for an opportunity to rise again. One of the factions fled to Shu, using the Five Pecks of Rice as their banner, and they truly possessed the power to summon wind and rain.

The Stargazing House stole the Imperial Seal from Sun Jian, and traveled the world under the name of Dai Tianzezhu. They nominally served Yuan Shu, but in reality, they had other agendas.

The Divine Machine Pavilion stole valuable artifacts from the Han Dynasty's imperial tombs, used dragon veins to forge golden armored warriors to lead troops to the northwest, and joined forces with Ma Teng and Han Sui to establish the Dunhuang Mohist City.

The three factions of the Demon Sect were scheming against each other, lobbying and seeking to achieve great things with small gains, and cultivated many counselors who roamed among the princes.

The chaos of the separatist wars was ten times greater than that recorded in history books. Sun Heng slammed the table in anger, smashing the fine iron desk in front of him - and the eight bricks and stones underneath, and a combo sound effect popped up.

Hmm? It seems... it's not impossible to survive?

PS. The direction of the Eastern Wu hegemony.

A lot of magical changes are warned, and the military strength is based on the two dragons of the Tang Dynasty. There is no such thing as one person conquering the world.