Firmament Sword

Lianyi wanted to say something, but in the end, she was at a loss for words, choking back sobs. She sat there, weeping, for a long time before slowly rising to her feet. Wiping away her tears, she whispered, ”Young Master, Lianyi won’t be able to personally welcome you back in triumph. But no matter what, you will always be Lianyi’s Young Master! Always!”

「Three days later.」 Having arranged all her affairs at home, Lianyi left the National Guardian General’s Mansion, where she had lived for eighteen years.

Outside the city, she saw the two old women.

Their attitudes had indeed completely changed. The deep-seated arrogance they once hid was now entirely gone.

Instead, their gazes toward Lianyi held a hint of ingratiation and fear.

’How strange,’ Lianyi thought. ’I wonder what trick Young Master Feng used to intimidate these two powerful and impossibly arrogant old women.’

”Alright, let’s go,” Lianyi said calmly.

The two old women nodded and led Lianyi away, heading west.

* * *

”Miaomiao, have you found any trace of Wei Ziting and the others these past few days?” Inside his campaign tent, Xu Luo had just completed a Grand Circulation. Emerging from his meditative state, he saw Miaomiao nearby and asked casually.

”Master Mao has searched for days without finding them. They’re not within a several-hundred-mile radius! Xu Luo, don’t make Master Mao do such boring things ever again, AHHHHH!”

Xu Luo laughed. ”But this is good for you, too!”

”How is Master Mao not aware of this?”

”Think about it. While you’re out searching everywhere, you might just run into a Mother Heaven-Swallowing Fox!”

”Pah! Take a swipe from Master Mao!”

Huangfu Chongzhi and his men had visited yesterday, bringing a personal letter from Yuwen Shentong. The matter was settled.

They were just waiting for Cao Tianyi’s grand army to finish assembling in three days, at which point they would immediately march to war.

Compared to the guides the Cao Kingdom’s Emperor had assigned to the Great Yan army, Cao Tianyi was clearly more knowledgeable and familiar with the Endless Forest Sea.

That fifty-thousand-strong Great Yan army was currently hiding in the Endless Forest Sea, playing a game of cat and mouse with Yuwen Shentong.

It might be difficult for Yuwen Shentong to find them, but for Cao Tianyi, their every move had never once escaped his sight!

”Xu Luo, we’re about to head into battle. How are you feeling? Nervous?” Early on the morning of the third day, Cao Tianyi, clad in heavy armor and mounted on his horse, laughingly asked Xu Luo, who rode beside him.

Xu Luo was dressed in Soft Armor and a black cloak, exuding a heroic air.

”A little,” Xu Luo said with a smile, not lying. ”But more than that, I’m excited!”

”HAHAHAHA! One day, I truly hope to meet your father, the Grand General of National Guardian Xu Ji, one of the so-called Twin Pillars of the Empire. To have raised a son like you, your father must be even more remarkable!” Cao Tianyi said with a laugh.

”Actually, I’ve always been a disgrace to my father,” Xu Luo said, a little bashfully.

”A disgrace? If I had a son like you, I’d probably wake up laughing from my dreams.” Cao Tianyi sighed softly. Then, he grabbed a long spear from his saddle and pointed it toward the sky. ”Move out! Destroy the Yan Gou!”

”Destroy the Yan Gou!” The twenty-thousand-strong army roared in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.

* * *

Yuwen Shentong looked at the handsome young faces around him and asked, ”Are you afraid?”

”Reporting to the General, we are not afraid, but we are a little nervous. It’s probably because we’ve never been on a battlefield before,” Huangfu Chongzhi answered honestly.

”Heh heh. Eldest Prince, after this battle, you will find that your world has become vastly different!” Yuwen Shentong said meaningfully. He then drew the sword from his side and pointed it to the heavens. ”Move out! Cut down the Yan Gou!”

”Cut down the Yan Gou!” the fifty thousand elite soldiers let out a deafening roar.

* * *

Mo Yun had been in a foul mood lately. She had originally thought this battle would be a walk in the park.

It wasn’t that she looked down on the generals of the Cangqiong Kingdom; rather, she never believed that the Cangqiong Kingdom would have troops stationed at the edge of the Endless Forest Sea.

The Endless Forest Sea stretched thousands of miles from north to south. Its narrowest point was still over a thousand miles wide, and its widest was more than three thousand!

It separated the Cao Kingdom and the Cangqiong Kingdom, and it was nearly impossible for any army to cross it to strike at the other side.

Therefore, when she had first entered the territory of the Cao Kingdom, Mo Yun had been brimming with confidence.

She was a tigress from a line of generals, blessed with exceptional talent since childhood. She had mastered her family’s Feihong Spear Technique to the point of perfection!

Her own power had already reached the Peak Realm of a Tier Nine Great Sword Master!

And she was only twenty years old!

Her fifty-thousand-strong army was composed entirely of elites, ranking among the top units in the entire Great Yan Military Department.

This time, Mo Yun’s mission was to cross the Endless Forest Sea, penetrate deep into the Cangqiong Kingdom, and launch a surprise attack, conquering at least three major cities!

Then, they were to plunder all the wealth from those three cities, kill every last guard, and finally... burn the cities to the ground!

If possible, this elite army would become a nightmare for the Cangqiong Kingdom!

They would come like the wind and go like lightning, striking and fading away, constantly harassing cities of all sizes throughout the Cangqiong Kingdom.

She wanted everyone in the Cangqiong Kingdom, from the highest nobles to the common folk, to hear the three words ”Mo Family Army” and tremble in bone-chilling fear!

This was the feeling Mo Yun loved most.

She loved seeing the desperate expressions on her enemies’ faces as they feared her, and even more, she loved the brilliant spectacle of blood spraying from their bodies.

She was insane, earning her the nickname, Yun the Madman!

Never mind her enemies; even the scions of noble houses in the Great Yan Empire, no matter how arrogant or domineering, would immediately become as docile as lapdogs in her presence.

No one dared to act presumptuously before her.

But what Mo Yun hadn’t expected was that before any of her plans could be implemented, she would meet her match right on the Cangqiong Kingdom’s border!

He was also a young general—though, of course, to her, Yuwen Shentong was practically an old man.

For some reason, this old man had appeared at the edge of the Endless Forest Sea, deployed extensive defensive fortifications, and had Reconnoitres everywhere.

This made Mo Yun’s desire to slip past him and secretly enter Cangqiong territory an extravagant hope!

”I’m going to devour this army!” Mo Yun said through gritted teeth to the advisor at her side.

”General, we can’t afford a direct confrontation!” the advisor hastily tried to dissuade her. ”We have fifty thousand elites, but the enemy’s numbers are no less than ours. Even if we could win this battle, we would lose eight hundred to kill a thousand. It’s not worth it!”

”I know, but I can’t swallow this insult. How long have we been pinned down here in the Endless Forest Sea? If this continues, the soldiers’ resentment will grow, and morale will become unstable...” Behind her mask, Mo Yun’s eyes were ice-cold. ”You know what happens when morale is unstable, and so do I!”

The advisor sighed. ”The orders from above this time were to enter the Cangqiong Kingdom’s territory undetected. If that proves impossible, we are to head south along the Endless Forest Sea and assist General Wu Xiaxian...”

”I won’t go!” Mo Yun said coldly. ”He’s the person I despise most. Asking me to assist him is just a dream! A man who only got his position by relying on his family background and sucking up to his superiors—on what grounds should I have to assist him?”

The advisor’s mouth twitched slightly. He thought to himself, ’If General Wu Xiaxian were truly as incompetent as you say, General, how could he have possibly become the commander of a two-hundred-thousand-strong army? Alas, it seems my general’s prejudice against General Wu runs too deep.’

Mo Yun wasn’t stupid. Seeing her advisor’s expression, she knew what he was thinking and said flatly, ”Too many people in my family want me to marry him. A union of powerful houses is a good thing for them. But for me, it’s just three words—’On what grounds!’”

”On what grounds must I marry a man I don’t like? On what grounds, when our strengths are equal, does he get to be the main commander leading two hundred thousand troops while I can only lead fifty thousand? Is it his strategy and tactics? In what way am I inferior to him? Is it just because he’s a man and I’m a woman?”

”General...”

”You don’t need to persuade me any further. That Yuwen Shentong is supposedly the rising star of the Cangqiong Kingdom in recent years. Hmph. Today, I am going to meet this ’rising star’ and see who is stronger, him or me!” As Mo Yun spoke, a formidable battle intent suddenly erupted from her.

She roared, ”My boys, do you dare follow me and devour Yuwen Shentong’s army? To capture Yuwen Shentong alive?”

”We would die for the General! Capture Yuwen Shentong alive and swallow his army!” The fifty thousand elites roared, shaking the heavens and startling countless birds into flight.

”See? The momentum is on our side. We can fight,” Mo Yun said flatly to her advisor.

”Report—” A powerful, resonant voice called out from the distance. Immediately after, a figure shot forward like a lightning bolt, running swiftly from afar and dropping to one knee before Mo Yun. ”Reporting to the General! A large Cangqiong Kingdom army has been spotted seventy miles ahead, advancing rapidly in our direction!”

”HAHAHAHA!” Mo Yun threw her head back and laughed. ”The Cangqiong whelps dare to take the initiative! My boys, prepare for battle!”

The few guides from the Cao Kingdom at their side turned pale with fright. One of them stammered, ”Um, General Mo... could... could we... retreat first?”

”Hm?” Mo Yun’s face hardened in an instant as she stared coldly at the guides the Cao Kingdom’s Emperor had sent her.

She was utterly disgusted by these men. Although the Great Yan Empire and the Cao Kingdom were currently allies, Mo Yun looked down on the people of Cao from the bottom of her heart. In the entire Cao Kingdom, only that Prince General Cao Tianyi had earned a sliver of her respect.

The rest, in Mo Yun’s eyes, were nothing but useless rabble.

”Retreat?” Mo Yun sneered. ”The army is about to go to war, and you want to retreat?”

”General Mo, His Majesty sent us here only to guide you. We are weak and few in number. Even if we stay, we’ll be of no use...” one of the Cao Kingdom Reconnoitre said boldly.

”Mm, what you’re saying... makes some sense. You bunch of trash really are of no use,” Mo Yun muttered to herself, not even glancing at the flushed, angry faces of the men from Cao.

Suddenly, Mo Yun grabbed a long saber hanging from her saddle. Gripping the hilt with one arm, she viciously swung it at that Reconnoitre.

VMMMM!

The long saber let out a piercing shriek as it tore through the air. A wave of Sword Qi surged forth, splitting the Cao Kingdom Reconnoitre in two.

Immediately after, she swept the saber sideways, decapitating the other guides from the Cao Kingdom in a single slash!

Blood flowed freely, its coppery stench filling the air!

”If you’re of no use, then you can die! You’ll serve perfectly as a blood sacrifice for my army’s banner!” Mo Yun pointed her saber to the sky and bellowed, ”Kill!”

”KILL! KILL! KILL!” Their fighting spirit ignited by the gruesome scene, the army responded with a thunderous roar.

In an instant, killing intent flooded the sky.