Revenge

The news that the General of the North-Suppressing had won his first battle reached North-Rejecting City on the third day.

At dawn, a fast horse came galloping from the south. Its rider was covered in blood, but his face was alight with excitement. The moment he charged through the city gates, he shouted, "A great victory! The General of the North-Suppressing has won a great victory!"

The news spread, and all of North-Rejecting City erupted.

Li Jinshui stood at the barracks entrance, listening to the cheers from afar. His face showed little emotion.

A great victory.

They had won.

But the messenger's blood-soaked appearance suggested that the price of this victory had been steep.

Sure enough, more detailed news arrived that afternoon.

The General of the North-Suppressing had fought a bloody three-day battle against the main force of the Di Army, three hundred li beyond Yanmen Pass. Both sides had suffered heavy casualties. The enemy commander had been gravely wounded and forced to retreat a hundred li. But Great Zhou had also lost nearly fifty thousand men, and the General of the North-Suppressing himself had been injured and was recovering.

Fifty thousand.

Li Jinshui fell silent for a long time.

Fifty thousand lives, traded for a great victory.

Was it worth it?

He didn't know.

He only knew that those who had died would never come back.

Over the next few days, the atmosphere on the battlefield turned strange.

Huyan Zhuo seemed to know he couldn't take North-Rejecting City anytime soon, and his attacks visibly slowed. Instead of launching a fierce assault every day, he engaged in small-scale skirmishes every two or three days, testing the defenses before withdrawing as soon as there were casualties.

The Seventh Prince wasn't in a hurry either. He simply let things drag on.

The two sides seemed to have fallen into an unspoken war of attrition, neither willing to pay such a terrible price again.

But the fighting on the battlefield continued.

On the fourth day, the Di Army came again.

Li Jinshui charged onto the battlefield with the Black Iron Blade in hand. He had just killed three Di soldiers when that familiar presence returned.

Tuoba Feng.

He stood ten zhang away, holding a curved saber, and stared coldly at Li Jinshui.

Their eyes met. Neither said a word. They went straight into battle.

The fight lasted nearly half an hour.

Tuoba Feng's saber techniques had clearly improved since the previous few days.

His strikes flowed more smoothly, his moves had grown more varied, and he was harder to deal with. Li Jinshui still had the upper hand, but Tuoba Feng was no longer as helpless as before. Every now and then, he even managed to strike back.

The longer they fought, the more alarmed Li Jinshui became.

Even while under his pressure, this man was still improving.

Another genius.

A genius who, like him, could grow by leaps and bounds in the midst of battle.

On the fifth day, the Di Army came again.

Another small-scale battle.

Three thousand Di soldiers came and attacked for two hours.

Li Jinshui charged at the front. Wherever the Black Iron Blade passed, Di soldiers fell.

As he killed, his gaze swept across the crowd—and suddenly stopped.

Thirty paces away, a familiar figure was locked in a fierce fight with a Di soldier.

The man wore iron armor from the Capital City. He was a hulking brute with a face full of flesh.

Li Jinshui knew him.

He was the brute who had searched his barracks that day—the Capital City soldier who had kicked the door open, thrown his military saber on the ground, and slapped Li Jinshui's face as he called him a "mud-legged peasant."

Now the brute was fighting a Di soldier at the early Inner Strength stage, drenched in sweat and barely holding his own. His saber skills were mediocre, and he was relying entirely on his cultivation to stay in the fight. But his opponent was far more agile and had nearly cut him several times.

Watching the man, Li Jinshui's lips slowly curled into a smile.

He pretended to charge forward, but quietly edged toward them.

As he passed a rock, he gave it a light kick.

It wasn't large, only about the size of a fist, but he sent it flying straight into the back of the brute's knee.

"Thud!"

The rock struck the bend of his knee. His leg gave way, and he pitched forward.

The Di soldier's eyes lit up. He swung his blade down!

"AAAH—!!!"

A scream rang out. The brute's right arm was severed at the elbow, blood spraying everywhere!

He sprawled on the ground, clutching his severed arm and rolling as he screamed. His cries were so shrill they hardly sounded human.

The Di soldier was about to finish him off when a Zhou Army soldier rushed over and engaged him.

The brute seized the chance to scramble up and flee, clutching his severed arm and howling as he ran.

After a dozen steps, something caught his foot—

Another rock.

He pitched forward and hit the ground, his face smashing into the dirt and covered in blood.

The Di soldier had already broken free of the Zhou soldier and charged over, slashing him across the back!

"AAAH—!"

A second slash!

A third!

A fourth!

The brute lay face down, covered in blood, desperately begging for mercy. "Spare me! Spare me! I came from the Capital City! I belong to Lady Yun! Spare—"

Summoning all his strength, the brute got up and turned to run.

He ran straight toward Li Jinshui.

Li Jinshui was locked in a fierce exchange with a Di soldier, their blades clashing back and forth.

As the brute passed by him, his foot caught on something, and he stumbled again, crashing hard to the ground.

Crack!

His leg twisted at a grotesque angle. It was broken.

The pursuing Di soldier had already caught up and slashed him across the back.

"AAAH—!"

A blade cut into his neck, and at last he stopped moving.

With his face contorted, he desperately twisted his head, looking around as he lay dying.

He saw Li Jinshui.

Li Jinshui was driving his blade into the Di soldier's chest. He pulled it free, turned, and met the brute's gaze.

But something flickered in those eyes.

It wasn't sympathy, or fear, or even satisfaction.

He simply watched, calm and still.

As if looking at something that had finally fallen into its rightful place.

The brute opened his mouth, trying to say something.

He recognized those eyes.

That day in the barracks, when he had slapped that face, those eyes had looked at him just like this—calm as a winter lake.

But he hadn't paid them any mind.

Just a mud-legged peasant.

Now he understood.

Something had been hidden beneath that calm.

But it was too late.

His eyes slowly lost focus. One last mouthful of blood welled from his lips, and he never moved again.

Seeing the brute hacked to death, Li Jinshui's smile deepened a fraction.

The Di soldier had killed the brute and was about to pick up his military saber when Li Jinshui charged over.

One slash, and the Di soldier fell.

[You killed a Northern Di squad leader, early Inner Strength stage. Points +10]

Li Jinshui stood beside the brute's corpse and looked down.

The brute's eyes were still open, refusing to close in death.

Li Jinshui crouched and closed them for him. In a voice only he could hear, he said,

"If you're going to search someone, you don't have to be so violent."

Then he stood and continued killing.

Behind him, the corpse was soon trampled beyond recognition and swallowed by the chaos of battle.

By noon, the Di soldiers withdrew.

No one would pay him any mind.

No one would know what he had seen before he died.

The battle ended, and the troops returned to the city.

Li Jinshui walked among them, his pace steady and his breathing even.

Monkey followed behind him, chattering about the battle. Er Gou walked beside them, agreeing that he had killed several more today.

Li Jinshui nodded now and then but said nothing.

Back in the barracks, he set down the Black Iron Blade, sat on his bed, and opened the panel.

[Points: 87]

He had earned quite a few more today.

He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

He heard Monkey and Er Gou laughing and talking, the racket from the neighboring barracks, and the distant horn calling the troops back.

Listening to all those sounds, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

The smile was faint, and it soon vanished.

Outside the window, the sun sank below the horizon.

Another night descended on North-Rejecting City.