Though they had painfully lost a precious head, this great victory still counted for some military merit. It was far better than the other ambush party, who had waited all night without seeing so much as the shadow of an enemy. Thinking of it this way, Xu Quan felt a little better. Happiness, after all, was always relative.
"Ah-choo—" Xianyu Jian had spent the whole night in the cold wind. He raised a hand to touch his cheek, and his fingertips met skin that was cold and stiff, as if it had no warmth of life. The one consolation was that there was somewhere here to shelter from the rain. Otherwise, after a whole night, the misery would have doubled.
He didn't dare close his eyes.
He had led his men in waiting from nightfall until dawn.
At last, he let out a breath of stale air, deeply unwilling.
"By the looks of it, the enemy didn't choose this route."
The enemy hadn't come, so he'd spent the whole night working for nothing.
Lü Jue's eyes were bloodshot from staring so hard.
He said angrily, "But why wouldn't they come?"
Everyone had been sharpening their blades, waiting for the main course to be served.
"Ah, who knows? Since Qiu Cheng's troops didn't pass this way, they must have chosen the route toward our lord... I wonder how the fighting went over there." Xianyu Jian rubbed his aching eyes and slowly pushed himself up against the wall. He had crouched too long, and his legs had gone numb.
Lü Jue sighed. Xianyu Jian forced himself to perk up and patted the other man on the shoulder. "Come on. We worked for nothing. Let's head back and catch up on sleep."
The two Martial Gall Warriors looked terrible after staying up all