Chapter 723: This Road Has No Return

"Hiss... Old Seventh, lighter. Lighter. Lighter still."

Inside the command tent, Li Liangting lay facedown on a blanket with his back bare. Seventh Uncle stood behind him, driving silver needles into his flesh.

The needles were thick, and the front halves were barbed. They looked very much like the arrowheads used by Zhenbei cavalry, the sort designed to go in easily but come out only after tearing away a strip of flesh.

Under circumstances like these, it was perfectly normal for Prince Zhenbei to cry out in pain.

Tian Wujing lifted the tent flap and walked in.

Li Liangting immediately swallowed his voice.

"Li Chenghui's twenty thousand have also moved out under the pretext of rotating garrisons."

Thirty thousand here.

Another twenty thousand under Li Chenghui.

That made fifty thousand Zhenbei cavalry committed to this campaign.

Even then, the force had been split in two.

Li Chenghui's twenty thousand would serve as support and remain visible, drawing Barbarian attention.

The thirty thousand cavalry in this camp, where the Prince of Jingnan and Prince Zhenbei currently sat, were the true spearhead.

In other words... only these thirty thousand riders would actually strike the Barbarian Royal Court!

Li Liangting's face had gone red from holding back his cries, but he nodded.

"If it hurts, shout," Tian Wujing said.

"How could I? In front of you, I can't bring myself to shout. Your elder brother still has a face to preserve."

Tian Wujing did not leave.

Instead, he dragged over a chair and sat down.

"..." Li Liangting.

Seeing how miserably his Prince was enduring it, Seventh Uncle could only try to comfort him.

"Your Highness, if it hurts, then shout. Being afraid of pain is nothing shameful. Martial Artists beneath Heaven are all renowned for hard bodies, but doesn't even Prince Jingnan use a saber and weapons when he fights? If men truly weren't afraid of pain, why bother with all that?"

"Heh-heh-heh... hahahaha..."

Li Liangting laughed.

Then another needle went in.

He sucked in a violent breath.

Tian Wujing looked at Li Liangting's back.

"This is a Barbarian sacrificial technique?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Seventh Uncle answered.

"When Old Seventh was young, Barbarians once carried him off as a slave," Li Liangting explained. "Later, one of their shamans took him in. That's where he learned these things."

Then Li Liangting twisted his head toward Tian Wujing.

"What, Wujing? You understand this too?"

"A little."

"Prince Jingnan is correct," Seventh Uncle said. "In truth, Barbarian methods and the methods of our Qi Refiners and sorcerers are fundamentally the same. The outer skin differs, that's all. In the end, they all force a person's latent potential out over a short period."

"What about tonics?" Tian Wujing asked.

"Brought plenty," Li Liangting answered. "This is still a military house with a century of foundation. We don't lack that little bit of stock."

First, they would use the Barbarian ritual method to reopen and reinforce meridians that had already withered and died.

Then they would pour borrowed water into those channels.

One could hardly blame Prince Zhenbei for crying out.

This was not merely damage to skin and flesh.

Nor was it something one could endure through simple willpower.

"I remember Zheng Fan once brought me Prince Fu's head," Tian Wujing said. "In a little while, how will you be any different from Prince Fu?"

"Do I look that fat-headed and big-eared?" Li Liangting said disdainfully.

"You'll swell up."

Li Liangting froze.

He turned toward Seventh Uncle, who was inserting the needles.

"Really?"

"To reply to Your Highness, yes. Your body will indeed swell."

At that moment, Seventh Uncle looked toward Tian Wujing.

"Your Highness, may I trouble you to come over and look? These three needles here. Can they go deeper?"

"..." Li Liangting.

Tian Wujing stood and came over.

He glanced once.

"Those three can go another half-inch. It will let him squander roughly twenty percent more blood and qi. The pain will double."

"Then shove them in hard!" Li Liangting shouted.

"One inch."

"No, go deeper."

"If the pain leaves your mind muddled or knocks you unconscious outright, what would be the point?"

"Mm. You're right. Old Seventh, do it the way Wujing said."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Wujing, if I'd known, I would've had you insert the needles for me from the start."

"I only know the surface."

"Fine, fine, fine. Hiss... hurts..."

The mighty Prince Zhenbei was in so much pain that tears came out.

For a moment, his eyes nearly rolled back.

Fortunately... he endured it.

At a time like this, he needed some topic to distract himself.

"Wujing. The scouts reported back. During the Golden Tent Grand Assembly, there will be a hundred thousand Golden Tent cavalry protecting the Barbarian Royal Court. Add in the men brought by the chiefs of the major tribes, and the Barbarian force should reach around a hundred and twenty thousand."

Barbarian cavalry and Savage cavalry from the snowfields were entirely different things.

Their combat strength was separated by an enormous gulf.

"The Golden Tent cavalry are not there to guard against us," Tian Wujing said. "They are there to display power before the chiefs of the various tribes. Strong outside, hollow within. In military affairs, that kind of posture is a grave taboo. So long as we can approach without being discovered, thirty thousand veteran Zhenbei cavalry are enough to punch straight through them."

Break through.

Then take the Royal Court directly.

The bloodline of the Royal Court.

The great nobles and tribal chiefs of the Barbarian clans.

Those were the true strategic targets of this battle.

The Barbarians had never truly been weak.

Their decline came from the weakening of the Golden Tent.

In that sense, they resembled Great Yan in earlier years, when aristocratic clans stood everywhere and the central court could not effectively mobilize the country's soldiers and civilians.

The old Barbarian King had spent his entire life laying roads.

Marriage alliances.

Drawing tribes in.

Suppressing some, rewarding others.

Now he intended to use the Grand Assembly to raise his son into the supreme position, bind the great Barbarian tribes together, and rebuild the Golden Tent's authority.

Once that happened... with the eastern and western Barbarian tribes linked under one authority... they could choose whether to march east or campaign west.

Their hands would become far freer.

This was the greatest opportunity the Barbarian people had seen in nearly a century to restore unity and strength.

And at the same time... it was also the moment when they were weakest.

Why had the Barbarians begun declining a century ago?

Because the Barbarian King of that era had led his Golden Tent host west... walked into an ambush... and died there.

For the states of Xia, the destruction of a capital was still secondary.

The blow was often more symbolic than substantive.

Chu was an example.

But if the capital and the entire central court were destroyed in one sweep... then even Chu would collapse outright.

The Barbarian political order was looser still than that of the states of Xia.

A blow like this would be even heavier for them.

And the wounds left afterward... far more terrifying.

"Good. If you're confident, that's enough. We already agreed on this. I'll be nothing more than your military staff adviser. How this battle is fought, when it begins, where it turns... Wujing, you decide all of it. Thirty thousand. That's a good number. Back then, my ancestor built our family with thirty thousand men against five hundred thousand Qian troops. That victory earned us the Marquis title. Now... I get to taste a little of my ancestors' old glory. This life... wasn't wasted. Wasn't cowardly either. Good enough."

"I heard you sent your son as envoy to the Royal Court?"

"Yes. What about it?"

"Was that necessary?"

"Heh. That doesn't sound like something you, Wujing, should ask. What do you mean, necessary or not? Even if it increases our chances by only the size of a fingernail, I, Li Liangting, Prince Zhenbei of Great Yan, will still pay any price! Wujing. From the first year of Yongping until today, this flourishing Great Yan... the three of us built it together. This last battle has to be fought properly. Fought to our hearts' content. Fought until we're satisfied. Fought... without leaving regrets. Our ancestors are watching from above. For eight hundred years, countless Yan forebears who died in the desert are watching from Heaven. And His Majesty... Brother Hao... is in the capital... Heh-heh-heh. Hahahaha. Maybe he's already up there too, waiting to watch. Hahahahaha."

Li Liangting raised one finger and pointed upward.

"Wujing. Tell me. Has His Majesty gone to Heaven yet?"

"Counting the days, he should have. If he still hasn't died, he'll delay military operations."

The blood he had coughed up at the banquet... that news had likely already reached the desert.

Now all that remained was for word of the Emperor of Yan's death to arrive.

Yes.

Even the timing of his death... had been calculated beforehand.

In truth, sending Prince Zhenbei's own Heir as envoy to the Royal Court was merely an appetizer.

What would truly allow the old Barbarian King to lower his guard and immerse himself in the grand vision of Barbarian resurgence... was the "good news" of the Emperor of Yan's death.

At that moment...

Li Yuanhu entered the command tent.

He reported:

"Your Highnesses. News has arrived from the capital. His Majesty... has passed away. He transmitted the throne to the Sixth Prince."

"Good!"

Li Liangting clenched one fist.

Then shouted:

"Good! Perfect timing. Hahaha!"

Li Yuanhu froze in surprise.

For one instant, he almost wondered whether the two Princes had been waiting for the Emperor of Yan to die so they could march on the capital and usurp the throne.

But anyone with even half a brain knew that was impossible.

Tian Wujing waved one hand.

Li Yuanhu withdrew.

Seventh Uncle also said:

"Your Highness, these needles cannot be removed today. You must lie like this."

"Fine. I know."

"Then this subordinate will withdraw as well."

Seventh Uncle left.

Only Li Liangting, lying facedown, and Tian Wujing, seated nearby, remained inside the command tent.

Li Liangting let out a long breath.

"His Majesty is finally free. I'd wager that if we returned to the capital right now, opened the imperial coffin before the burial, and looked at His Majesty's remains... the corner of his mouth would definitely be smiling."

Tian Wujing said nothing.

Li Liangting continued:

"Little Sixth. In the end, Little Sixth was still Little Sixth. Damn it. I saw him when he was only a few years old. I told Brother Hao at the time: this brat looks exactly like that bastard who used to fight me over chicken legs. Later, His Majesty told me he preferred Second. Fine. Second. Wujing... do you think he did that on purpose?"

"Both the palm and the back of the hand are flesh."

"Heh." Li Liangting laughed. "Damn. Put that saying on the three of us and it sounds downright festive."

"Does it?"

"Of course. A few days ago I saw your sister-in-law. Your sister-in-law pointed at my nose and called me a beast again and again."

"Are you not?"

"Compared with you two, I really do think I'm more like a human being. That's why I've always felt uneasy inside. Why am I having these needles driven into me? Why am I insisting on going to war? Once I am gone... even if my son truly manages to shoulder Prince Zhenbei Residence... heh. It won't be the same Prince Zhenbei Residence anymore. I am throwing away half the foundation my ancestors built. That should count as entering the beastly path too, shouldn't it?"

"It counts."

"But you. That Marquis Pingxi. These last few years, you deliberately kept him beside you, brought him along, cultivated him, supported him. Wujing... aren't you afraid he'll cause trouble someday?"

"Compared with the possibility of trouble... I worry more that someday there will be no one left capable of suppressing trouble. Even His Majesty, before his death, never thought of pulling out every thorn. A country without a few thorns who fear neither Heaven nor Earth... will inevitably be bullied by outsiders."

"Fine. Fine. Descendants have their own fortunes. We built this situation. Whether the men after us can hold it, whether they can expand it further... that's their problem. I'm a man who's about to ascend to Heaven. What about you... Wujing?"

Tian Wujing looked at Li Liangting.

"What do you mean?"

"In truth, His Majesty and I both hoped you could remain. With you in Great Yan, the state would truly be stable. But for your elder brother to say that aloud... would be shameless."

"Fight the battle first. Save these words until the battle is over and your blood and qi are completely exhausted and you're lying at death's door. If your son is extraordinarily lucky and doesn't die, pull him beside the bed and talk slowly. If he dies, that's fine too. Once you go below, you can talk even more slowly."

"Wujing. Pour your elder brother a bowl of wine."

The wine sat on the tea table.

It had originally been brought to sterilize the silver needles.

Tian Wujing rose.

And poured three bowls.

"Right. Give Brother Hao one first."

Tian Wujing poured one bowl onto the ground.

The other two bowls... remained untouched.

Li Liangting did not urge him to bring one over either.

"Wujing. Your elder brother wronged you. Brother Hao... I know he felt he wronged you too. Great Yan wronged you. Asking you to continue living... wronged you too. After this battle, my life will have been worth it. Wujing, you... Wujing. That matter wasn't Brother Hao's doing. Though... I also think Brother Hao probably learned the truth afterward."

"My affairs do not need you explaining them."

"Yes. Yes. Yes."

Li Liangting sniffed.

Then said:

"I'm hungry."

He raised his voice toward the outside of the tent.

"Old Seventh! This Prince is hungry! Any chicken legs?"

Tian Wujing walked out of the command tent.

Seventh Uncle came in and looked at Prince Zhenbei lying facedown.

"Your Highness, where are we supposed to find a live chicken inside the camp right now?"

Li Liangting slapped the wooden frame beneath him with one hand.

Tears rolled down his face.

He shouted:

"This Prince doesn't care! Today, this Prince is eating a chicken leg!"

...

Tian Wujing walked all the way to the stables beside the command tent.

Two Pixiu lay there.

Prince Zhenbei's Pixiu had been secretly brought into the camp afterward.

It was still somewhat listless.

Not yet fully recovered.

Tian Wujing sat down.

His own Pixiu immediately leaned closer.

"Saber."

The Pixiu opened its mouth.

The Kunwu Saber slid from within and dropped into Tian Wujing's hand.

This was the saber the Emperor of Yan had personally bestowed upon him when Tian Wujing was first enfeoffed Marquis of Jingnan.

He had been a good Emperor.

But never a good father.

Never a good husband.

Never a good elder brother.

Then...

Tian Wujing opened his hand again.

"Letter."

"..." the Pixiu.

It hesitated.

Then opened its mouth and retched twice.

Nothing came out.

Tian Wujing turned his head and looked at the Pixiu crouched beside him.

"You gave it away?"

The Pixiu did not answer.

Tian Wujing himself had placed that letter inside its body.

If the letter had been lost, damaged, or destroyed... his Pixiu would certainly have informed him long ago.

Instead... the beast had remained silent.

It was an animal.

But it was an animal with a mind.

If it had never made a sound... then in the beast's own judgment, the letter must already have reached the person it was meant for.

Seeing its master remain silent for so long, the Pixiu fearfully lowered its head against the ground.

Its eyes opened wide.

They even glimmered wetly.

Prince Zhenbei's Pixiu, lying nearby, rolled onto its side.

It truly could not bear watching another of its kind disgrace itself like this.

But what Tian Wujing's Pixiu did not expect... was that after a long silence... its master did not become angry.

Tian Wujing shook his head.

"That's fine too."

In his mind... the great fire of Ying Capital appeared again.

Zheng Fan standing before him with saber in hand, roaring:

In this life, you're the only elder brother who's ever treated me well...

Tian Wujing slowly closed his eyes.

There was one sentence Tian Wujing had never spoken to Zheng Fan.

He too was grateful.

In this life hated by men and abandoned by Heaven... he could still have such a younger brother.

Tian Wujing reached out and rubbed the Pixiu's head.

"I originally intended to finish this battle, send you back, and have you deliver the letter to him. But this is fine too. You don't need to go back now. He once said... that if he ever had the chance, he wanted to travel west and have a look. Fine. When this battle is over... if even the Barbarians fail to kill me... there is no road home anyway. So I... as his elder brother... will go ahead first. And scout the road for my younger brother."

[End of Chapter 723]