Battle Before the City

A reader came to visit, so Shadow updated early. There might not be another update tonight; I'm saying so now to spare everyone a wasted wait. There have already been three updates today—Shadow hasn't slacked off!

Seeing how hard Shadow is working, anyone with monthly or recommendation votes, please send some my way. Thanks!

Yu Ji's gentle, peerless beauty had not only gone down in history; it captivated men and women, young and old alike.

Seeing Yu Ji in tears, everyone who had been shaken by the Huan King's roar felt their hearts break together...

"Don't misunderstand! His Majesty just cares too much about you. We're about to break through, and given the battle as it stands, you can imagine the pressure he's under..."

Zuo Qiuhan, an older and more experienced Righteous Mohist elder, sighed inwardly. She gazed after the "angry" figure as though lost in memory, then looked at Yu Ji with envy and reminded her softly.

As she spoke, whether stirred by those memories or moved by Yu Ji, Zuo Qiuhan's eyes reddened and brimmed with tears...

She recalled their youth, the boy and girl practicing swordplay side by side...

She recalled their flowering years: that solemn, "wooden" face scolding the lovely girl for her willfulness...

Even after reaching middle age, Zuo Qiuhan had changed little. She had only grown more mature and graceful, and still looked like a peerless beauty in her twenties.

But he... the former Grand Master of the Righteous Mohists, her senior brother and childhood companion, already looked like an old man in his forties or fifties...

People said beauty faded easily, but how many beauties could understand what lay in a man's heart?!

Only now, seeing their usually good-tempered lord fly into a rage for no apparent reason...

*So alike. Far too