Chapter 332: Doesn't He Look Familiar?

Riding at an easy, swaying pace, General Zheng looked nothing like an imposing commander at the moment.

If anything, he looked downright carefree and slovenly.

Inside the fortress, he had to preserve his heroic image in front of the soldiers.

Out here, there was no need.

He had never intended to strike up a friendship with the savage commander opposite him anyway.

This was not a matchmaking meeting where he needed to leave a good impression.

The ideal outcome would be for the Sword Saint to raise his hand, lower his sword, and send the savage commander’s head rolling across the ground.

Then Zheng Fan would shout, “Wind’s turning—run!”

He would lash his horse hard and get the hell out of there.

Looking back at Snow Sea Pass behind him, Zheng Fan suddenly felt a little lost.

Lost as to what exactly he was busy doing with his life right now.

True, it was winter.

But today’s weather was genuinely excellent.

Would it not be pleasant to gather three or five friends, ride horses out for a picnic, then return home and try some new “needlework” with Siniang?

Would that life not be happy?

Unfortunately, occasional laziness could only serve as seasoning in life.

It could never become the staple meal.

Because Zheng Fan knew perfectly well that if he decided to release the horses onto the southern mountains and retire from all this fine.

Then the rest of his life would basically become house arrest.

Under the watchful eyes of the Demon Kings, every day would consist of nothing except cultivation, cultivation, and more cultivation.

At least right now, everyone still had this “dynasty-conquest dungeon” to occupy their attention and burn off some energy.

Thinking of that, Zheng Fan could not help laughing to himself.

When he raised his head again, two mounted figures had already appeared clearly in the distance.

Perhaps because Zheng Fan himself had a guilty conscience, he only gave Gelimu a cursory glance.

Most of his attention remained fixed on the man beside Gelimu who carried the savage banner.

The State of Yan had a national standard—the Black Dragon Banner—with a general’s personal command banner flying beneath it.

The savages, however, had clearly not yet completed that kind of military integration.

Almost every Ten-Thousand Household formation still carried its own tribal totem banner.

Gelimu was an outsider and therefore had no tribe to which he truly belonged.

But since he had always dreamed of restoring his own family’s glory upon the snowfields, he had “designed” a banner of his own.

A red falcon was depicted upon it.

The man carrying that banner looked completely ordinary.

But anyone with a functioning brain could guess he was anything but ordinary.

Both sides had agreed that each commander could bring only one attendant.

Unless Gelimu believed himself to be Tian Wujing, there was no chance he would casually choose some ordinary savage warrior and bring him along.

“He looks familiar,” the Sword Saint said.

“Mm?”

Zheng Fan’s heart abruptly trembled.

*We brought a genuine expert.*

*Don’t tell me the other side brought one too?*

General Zheng’s greatest fear right now was that his own decapitation attempt would fail, while the enemy succeeded in decapitating *him* instead.

Still, Gelimu probably would not be that stupid.

If Zheng Fan died here, that would not actually be good news for the savages preparing to attack Snow Sea Pass.

The Shengle Army inside would inevitably fight even more desperately.

Their commander had gone out to negotiate and been killed.

Who the hell would still believe the savages afterward?

Surrender?

Surrender your ass.

The snowfields lay behind them anyway.

There was nowhere to retreat.

They might as well fight until the last man died.

“You know him?”

Zheng Fan asked cautiously.

The Sword Saint shook his head slightly.

“I’ve probably seen him before.”

Seen him.

Not necessarily known him.

The Sword Saint had met too many people in his life.

When he was younger and still practicing martial arts and the sword, he had traveled everywhere challenging people in order to improve.

After becoming famous, he had done the same thing even more recklessly partly for reputation, partly to climb one step higher.

So naturally, he had encountered plenty of experts.

“Is he a problem?”

Zheng Fan asked.

“Probably not,” the Sword Saint answered.

“If he were a real problem, I should remember him clearly instead of merely thinking I’ve seen him somewhere.”

Defeated opponents were only people he had “seen.”

Those interesting enough to leave an impression counted as people he actually “knew.”

For example, the Sword Saint knew Li Liangshen.

And there was another man a man named Tian Wujing whom the Sword Saint would unquestionably remember for the rest of his life.

Hearing this, Zheng Fan immediately felt far more reassured.

What did a player using cheats fear most?

Naturally, that the opponent’s cheat was even more outrageous than his own.

Both sides could already see each other clearly in the distance.

Zheng Fan reined in his horse and stopped to wait.

If he could steal even a little extra distance, he would take it.

That would give him a few additional seconds when the time came to run back to the fortress.

Gelimu, meanwhile, behaved like an honest man.

He continued riding slowly toward Zheng Fan with his standard-bearer beside him.

“Their standard-bearer definitely isn’t simple either,” Zheng Fan warned.

“It doesn’t matter.”

The Sword Saint did not care in the slightest who Gelimu’s standard-bearer was.

As a swordsman, drawing his sword at close range against a single target required precisely this kind of absolute confidence.

“Their commander looks like a man of Jin.”

Gelimu’s appearance was indeed indistinguishable from that of a Jin man.

Only three generations had passed since his family fled into the snowfields.

There had not even been enough time for much intermarriage with the savages.

“Looks like a collaborator.”

The Sword Saint had never heard the term before.

But after chewing on it briefly, he understood its meaning.

General Zheng knew perfectly well what kind of people someone like the Sword Saint—whose moral compass was frighteningly straight and whose sense of ethnic identity was exceptionally strong—hated most.

Traitors who helped outsiders prey upon their own people.

That was why, back in Fengxin, the Sword Saint had been willing to risk himself alone, using only his sword to force back more than a thousand rebel soldiers so Zheng Fan could seize the city and kill Situ Yi.

Even now, General Zheng did not forget to add one more layer of killing intent to the Sword Saint.

...

Atop Snow Sea Pass, Liang Cheng, Xue San, Fan Li, and A’Ming were all waiting and staring toward the distant meeting point.

Below them, two hundred cavalrymen stood ready to charge out of the gate at any moment.

They were not worried about the negotiations themselves.

Because the negotiations were certain to collapse.

Blood would be spilled.

What worried them was their Master’s safety.

A’Ming took a drink of blood and suddenly said:

“This reminds me of when the Ottoman Empire was rising.

“They had nearly swept across Eastern Europe without an opponent.

“When they attempted to conquer Serbia, Serbian nobles pretended to surrender and invited Murad I to a banquet.

“Then they assassinated Murad I there.”

Xue San listened and said:

“That really does sound a little like this situation.

“Those Serbs had guts.

“What happened afterward?

“Did they defeat the Ottomans?”

“They were defeated by the Ottomans and ruled for centuries.”

“...”

Xue San.

Xue San punched A’Ming in the knee and cursed:

“Go drink your blood.

“What the hell are you babbling about?”

...

“Of the four great states of the East, Jin no longer exists.

“But there are still many talented people among the Jin lands.

“That Sword Saint is one of them.”

Gelimu spoke while riding toward Zheng Fan, who waited in the distance.

Beside him was Hasi, his standard-bearer.

“So that is why the King has deliberately recruited people of Jin?” Hasi asked.

“But Gelimu, you know perfectly well that it is extremely difficult for a Jin man to rise within the snowfields.

“Not every Jin man can become someone like you.”

“There are still too few truly outstanding people in the snowfields.

“If the Holy Race wishes to prosper for generations, we must absorb talented people from every race and place them in the King’s service.”

“Heh.

“I have no interest in discussing this with you.

“In my eyes, anyone who does not respect the stars does not walk the same road as us.”

“You know Sanghu’s true identity.

“Don’t pretend otherwise.”

“...”

Hasi.

“You also know I do not believe in the stars,” Gelimu continued.

“The stars are something for the warriors and tribesmen below us to believe in.

“Not for people like us.

“For hundreds of years, the Holy Race kowtowed and worshiped the stars.

“Yet we could not even touch the edge of Snow Sea Pass.

“So what use were the stars?”

“Gelimu, the Yan commander is already in front of us.

“Are you really planning to quarrel with me here first?”

You cannot say the stars are useless.

I may not completely believe in them either, but I make my living from them.

“Hahahaha.”

Gelimu laughed loudly.

“No, Hasi.

“What I mean is that after entering the pass this time, you should also have had opportunities to encounter other faiths and deities.

“The stars may continue to be worshiped, of course.

“But we can add some other things into the system as well.

“Let more people join in the worship.”

“Is that your idea, or the King’s?”

“It is my idea.

“And it is also the King’s.”

“I understand.”

“Relying on Sanghu to handle things is impossible.

“It will not be long before the position of High Priest of the Guides returns to you.

“What you must do is offer your loyalty to the King.”

“I will.”

“When the siege begins, we will also need you and the Guides beneath you to contribute more.

“You understand the situation.

“The warriors of the Holy Race are not especially skilled at attacking fortresses.”

“If I had known this would happen, we should never have stopped them when they wanted to demolish Snow Sea Pass.

“If Snow Sea Pass did not exist, our return route would be much easier now.”

“Yes.

“And when the Yan entered the snowfields, their route would be much easier too.”

“You...”

“Do not assume the Yan are weak.

“Yes, we defeated tens of thousands of them beside the Wang River and drove them into the water to feed the turtles.

“But that was merely Yan’s Left-Wing Army.

“And the Left-Wing Army was never one of Yan’s true elite forces.

“The tens of thousands of cavalry their Southern Marquis led into the snowfields last time—

*those* were Yan’s genuine elite iron cavalry.

“All right.

“We are close enough now.

“Hasi.

“Place the protection of the stars upon me.”

“Didn’t you say you don’t believe in the stars?”

“I believe now.”

Hasi began chanting.

A faint blue glow appeared around his body.

Then it separated and flowed partly onto Gelimu.

Once the blessing had settled, Hasi raised his head and looked ahead with complete confidence.

“In more than ten years, only one man has ever broken through my protection by himself.

“The Sword Saint of Jin.

“No one else has managed it.”

“Heh.

“Enough.

“I, Gelimu, am hardly some helpless Jin scholar with no strength to bind a chicken.

“I genuinely came today because I wanted to see the bearing of this Yan commander for myself.”

“Is this what you Jin people call heroes appreciating one another?”

“Something like that.”

“That Yan commander looks remarkably ordinary.

“Ordinary armor.

“Ordinary warhorse.

“Ordinary saber.

“Are you sure we have the right man?”

“My falcon confirmed it.

“There is no mistake.

“That is him.

“The Jin have another saying: never judge a man by appearances.”

“Hm?”

“What now?”

“Why do I feel as though the Yan commander’s standard-bearer looks somewhat familiar?”

“Familiar?”

Hasi carried the banner over his right shoulder.

He turned his head toward Gelimu.

Then he said:

“Gelimu, tell me this isn’t amusing.

“That standard-bearer over there... doesn’t he look a little like Yu Huaping?”

“...”

Gelimu.

The very next instant, Gelimu wheeled his horse around and fled.

At the exact same moment beside Zheng Fan, the Sword Saint cast aside the banner and revealed the sword hidden within.

Man and sword shot forward together.

Immediately afterward, Hasi threw himself across their path to block the Sword Saint.

And then, Zheng Fan clutched the Demon Child in his left hand, seized his reins with his right, wheeled his horse around, and raced toward Snow Sea Pass while shouting at the top of his lungs:

“OPEN THE GATE!”

[End of Chapter 332]