"Now that's more like it. Jing Kingdom has already defeated Mu Kingdom and can deploy troops south at any time. Those Qi bastards are caught between advancing and retreating!"
"After so many days, after so many people's sacrifices, we can finally look forward to a good outcome... Heaven has eyes."
"Heaven's Mandate is with Xia!"
"We must never forget today's hatred!"
"We can't let those Qi dogs retreat so easily. We have to sink our teeth into them!"
"General Wang is right—bite down on them and wait for Jing Kingdom to march south. Just this once, let's beat them until it hurts!"
"If we bury all three armies of the Nine Legions here this time, then perhaps Linzi... might truly be within reach! What do you say?"
Inside the council hall, voices rose one after another, the clamor in full swing.
Then, like the sound of the tide, it dimmed wave after wave...
Xi Mengfu pushed open the hall doors, bringing in the cold wind from outside. With a howling whoosh, it doused the boiling fervor and joy.
The cold of spring was harder to endure than winter's.
People awkwardly scattered, their gazes all turning cautious. They looked at the corridor pillars, at the chairs, at the wrinkles at the corners of the person beside them's eyes, at the tops of their own boots...
In short, they all behaved as though they could not see him.
Every step Xi Mengfu took seemed to tread down rain and snow.
And all the silence in this council hall interpreted one phrase... "Unwelcome."
Human hearts were colder than the spring breeze.
Xi Mengfu seemed oblivious.
He had lived through colder seasons. He had felt more icy human hearts.
He knew, with utter clarity, what the truth of this world was.
And the reason