Firmament Sword

”Alright, everyone, stop laughing. Careful, or Second Brother Xu won’t forge any more weapons for you.” Xu Luo chuckled, then turned to Xu Jie. ”My dear Second Brother Xu, don’t you worry. She’s just one female general from an enemy country. So what? Even if you’d fallen for the enemy empress, we’d still find a way to capture her and make her your wife!”

”Really?” Xu Jie blurted out.

”Hehe, of course it’s true.” Xu Luo looked at Li Hong, and the two exchanged a knowing smile.

”You two, don’t piss me off. I’m an injured man right now!” Xu Jie glared at them. ”Start talking and explain yourselves, now!”

”Yeah, Boss, if Mo Yun finds out we planned this whole thing, won’t she hate our guts? How could she possibly become Second Brother Xu’s wife then?” Liu Feng asked, confused.

”Exactly! We’ve made her life so miserable, and we’re on opposing sides. How could she possibly have a change of heart?” Ling Luoxi added from the side.

Xu Luo glanced at Li Hong and smiled. ”Li Hong, you tell them.”

Li Hong nodded. ”It’s actually quite simple. First, you all need to understand why we schemed against her.”

”Duh! She’s an enemy general. An enemy! She was going to lead troops to invade our country. If we don’t scheme against her, who do we scheme against?” Liu Feng said, rolling his eyes.

”Yes, you’re absolutely right. So, from that perspective, does she have any right to hate us? If we hadn’t done this, would she have pitied our people? Would she have sympathized with our soldiers?” Li Hong asked with a smile.

”Well... of course not. But the problem is, her downfall is entirely our fault!” Liu Feng just couldn’t imagine any scenario where Mo Yun and Xu Jie would end up together.

”Like I just said, this is a normal clash between two nations. Personally, we have no grudge against her, right?” Li Hong didn’t wait for Liu Feng’s answer and continued, ”The Boss and I did a very detailed background check on this Mo Yun. Just as Second Brother Xu said, she’s really something special! She’s open-minded and can take things in stride.”

”Don’t be fooled by how ruthless she is to her enemies; she’s extremely good to her own people. Look, Second Brother Xu only met her once and already fell for her. That alone is a testament to her charisma,” Li Hong said with a laugh before continuing.

”If I’m not mistaken, Mo Yun was already on bad terms with her family for resisting a marriage. After this incident, her relationship with them will hit rock bottom! And there’s no way to cover this up. Even if she killed every single grain transport soldier, she couldn’t keep it a secret, because... we’ll be helping spread the news!”

”You’re too evil!” Xu Lingtian, who had been holding back the whole time, finally plucked up the courage to say what was on his mind.

”Hahaha, you innocent child! This isn’t being evil; it’s helping our Second Brother Xu pick up a girl!” Li Hong roared with laughter.

Xu Jie’s face was flushed red. He leaned against a large rock, not saying a word, lost in thought.

”So, without her family’s protection, Mo Yun will definitely be dealt with by the Great Yan Kingdom. If she goes back, it’s a dead end! But if I’m right, she will definitely go back!” Li Hong paused, looked at Xu Jie, and said, ”Therefore, we have to find a way to keep her here in the Cao Kingdom, to prevent her from returning to Great Yan for the time being!”

”Er... with just the few of us, can we even stop her?” Xu Jie asked.

”Of course not. What we need to do is, first, make her... and all her subordinates lose all hope! Make them understand that they... have been abandoned! Returning to the Great Yan Kingdom is a death sentence for every last one of them!”

Li Hong continued, ”Second, we need to make that Wu Xiaxian mistakenly believe Mo Yun has defected to our side. Hehe, we need to provoke him into sending troops... well, at the very least, he needs to make a show of declaring Mo Yun a wanted fugitive!”

Li Hong then gave a cold smile. ”We need to leave Mo Yun with no way out, nowhere to run. We have to make it so that even if she wants to return to her country to face death and save her soldiers, it’s impossible!”

”Holy crap... Isn’t that too vicious?” Ling Luoxi stared at Li Hong, stunned. ”How did I never realize you were so sinister before...”

”Hmph. If I weren’t a little sinister, how could Second Brother Xu win the fair maiden?” Li Hong ran a hand through his hair and said dismissively, ”As long as we do all this, first, Great Yan’s court will be in chaos for a while, or at least in an uproar. The pressure on their military will be immense. Second, Wu Xiaxian’s camp will also fall into some disorder. Even if Wu Xiaxian doesn’t want to pursue Mo Yun, will his many soldiers and officers stand for it?”

”Right now, at this critical juncture with our two armies facing off, can you imagine the impact of them having this kind of internal strife? This creates an incredibly advantageous situation for our side. And third... well, this last part is about our Second Brother Xu’s lifelong happiness. By then, with nowhere left to turn, who else could Mo Yun possibly accept besides our Second Brother Xu?”

”Yeah, and by then, even if she doesn’t accept me, it won’t matter to you... The main goal will have been achieved anyway. We’ll have already won this battle...” Xu Jie was no fool; he understood. From start to finish, Li Hong had been prioritizing the bigger picture.

It wasn’t that Xu Jie lacked a sense of the greater good; he just felt a bit down since this particular matter involved him so personally.

Li Hong gave an awkward smile and was about to speak, but Xu Luo cut in first. ”Actually, Second Brother, you really don’t need to worry. I guarantee that in the end, Mo Yun will fall in love with you. As they say, beautiful women have always loved heroes. Mo Yun herself is a woman who’s a match for any man. You, Second Brother, possess both wisdom and courage. You managed to scheme against her and leave her in such a desperate state. In this world, could she possibly admire any man more than you?”

”Haha, the Boss has a point!” Ling Luoxi added from the side. ”Second Brother, you just can’t see the forest for the trees. Given Mo Yun’s personality, she’ll probably hate your guts at first. But once she thinks it through, even if she doesn’t fall for you right away, you’ll have definitely left an indelible impression on her mind!”

Huangfu Chongzhi then added calmly, ”I agree. However, the first thing we need to do now is contact General Cao. To make this happen, we absolutely need his help.”

”Exactly. After all these years, it’s impossible that General Cao hasn’t set up networks in both the Cao Kingdom and the Great Yan Kingdom. He’s the perfect person to spread some rumors,” Li Hong said.

Seeing that Xu Jie was still looking down, Xu Luo leaned in and whispered something in his ear. Xu Jie looked puzzled at first, then a hint of joy appeared on his face. He asked in a low voice, ”Will that really work?”

Xu Luo nodded seriously. ”It definitely will!”

”Alright then, Third Brother. If my lifelong happiness is secured, you’ll get all the credit!” Xu Jie’s face finally lit up with joy.

”Hey, I should be the one getting the credit!” Li Hong cried out, looking aggrieved. ”You should be more grateful to me!”

”Bullshit! You’re the one who wants to drive my future wife into a corner with no escape, and you want me to be grateful? Dream on!” Xu Jie rolled his eyes, his face full of disdain.

”...” Li Hong was speechless. ’Who knew an honest man could be so terrifying when he gets serious?’ he thought. ’Maybe I should stop scheming against them in the future.’

At that moment, the battle in the distant valley was drawing to a close. As expected, the three thousand soldiers escorting the grain supply were being utterly routed.

The entire valley was littered with corpses, and rivers of blood flowed!

Almost all the dead were the soldiers who had been transporting the grain.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Mo Yun’s remaining forces looked like a band of wounded and exhausted soldiers. In a real fight, even if the numbers were equal, their opponents would have been no match for them.

In the end, the brutal clash concluded with Mo Yun’s remaining forces suffering three to four hundred casualties, while the enemy was completely wiped out.

Gazing at the tragic scene in the valley, the pungent stench of blood in the air, Mo Yun’s face was deathly pale, and her body swayed precariously.

She and all the officers by her side knew it clearly: this... this was a catastrophe.

First, her family would never forgive her. No reason could ever justify slaughtering their own comrades.

Second, the Great Yan Kingdom would not spare her. For such a grave crime, there was only the path to death.

Finally, Wu Xiaxian could never forgive her. No matter how much he might have liked her, after something like this, the two of them were finished for good.

Licking his cracked lips, Zhou Bo said, on the verge of tears, ”How did it come to this?”

An advisor, usually calm, was also dumbfounded. He mumbled, ”It’s over. It’s completely over now. I’m afraid we’ll never be able to return to our homeland in this lifetime.”

”Who attacked first?” an officer asked, utterly demoralized.

”Does it even matter?” Zhou Bo gave a bitter smile. ”Regardless of who struck first, we’ll be shouldering the crime of slaughtering our comrades. Not to mention, those few Grain and Grass Officers at the Great Sword Master Realm, and the ones who got away... Heh, do you think any of them will have a single good thing to say about us?”

That was right. During the battle, Zhou Bo had slain the main Grain and Grass Officer, but another Grain and Grass Officer at the Great Sword Master Realm, one who had never even shown his face, had escaped in the chaos.

One could only imagine how that man would wail and slander them when he reached Wu Xiaxian.

”They might even slap us with the label of traitors, heh.” At a time like this, Mo Yun had become surprisingly calm.

She rose to her feet, a little weak, and looked at her equally stunned soldiers. This time, she didn’t offer any words of encouragement. Instead, she asked with profound calm, ”Are you... willing to follow me, to roam the world together?”

The entire scene fell deathly silent. No one spoke, all of them just staring at her in a daze.

”I bear an undeniable responsibility for what has happened today. If my death could be exchanged for all of your lives, then... I, Mo Yun... would have no regrets!” As she spoke, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

”General!” an old soldier wailed, bursting into tears. He cried out, ”Does this mean... none of us... can ever go home again? Does this mean that even you, General, can’t bear this burden alone anymore?”

Tears streamed down Mo Yun’s face. She closed her eyes and gave a slight nod.