Firmament Sword

”Damn it, this woman is insane!” Wei Ziting was so startled by Mo Yun’s frenzy that he couldn’t help but shrink back.

The men beside him immediately moved to protect Wei Ziting. Sheng Lin advised from the side, ”Young Master, why bother with this madwoman? Just fall back to a safe distance and enjoy the show.”

Cao Yi added, ”That’s right, Young Master. A man of your standing shouldn’t put himself in harm’s way. You just need to wait on the side. We’ll be sure to capture this madwoman. Then, whether you want her killed, flayed, or... heheh, she’ll be entirely at your disposal!”

Wei Ziting nodded. ”In that case, I’ll leave it to you.”

”We serve you gladly, Young Master!”

A mocking smile played on Mo Yun’s lips, but a flicker of despair showed in the depths of her eyes. ’What rotten luck,’ she thought. ’It seems... I’m going to die here today.’

As Wei Ziting slowly retreated, his men began to tighten their encirclement. Around Mo Yun, only about a thousand of her soldiers were left. Nearly all of them were wounded, their eyes glinting with a mix of despair and madness.

One of her men said, ”General, you have to get out of here! Don’t worry about us. As long as you survive, our deaths will mean something!”

”Yes, General, please go! Don’t let our deaths be in vain!”

”General, go!”

”Go, General!”

Their voices filled with sorrow, they desperately pleaded with Mo Yun.

In truth, this was not the first time they had urged Mo Yun to leave.

From the moment they were surrounded, they had been desperately trying to get Mo Yun to escape. But Mo Yun seemed to have made up her mind, stubbornly refusing to leave.

”Say no more. It’s my fault you’re all in this predicament. Even if we couldn’t return home, we could have lived as free-roaming bandits in the Cao Kingdom. It was I... I who brought you to the north. My lust for revenge has doomed you. I have failed you.” Pain filled Mo Yun’s eyes as she spoke with grim determination. ”Today, we face death. It’s nothing to fear. Since I failed to give you the lives you desired, then we shall die together. Let that be our shared destiny!”

”General!”

At that, many of the men couldn’t help but shed tears.

Death... they were not afraid of it.

As soldiers, a battlefield grave was their destiny.

But now, here in a foreign land, to have their General die alongside them filled them with a profound and desolate sorrow.

Gradually, resolve hardened in every man’s eyes. A Deputy General gritted his teeth. ”If this is how it’s to be, then even in death, we won’t let these Cangqiong dogs have an easy time! Kill one, and we break even! Kill two, and we’ve made a profit!”

”That’s right! Kill one to break even, kill two for a profit! Damn it, it’s just death! Who’s afraid?” another Deputy General roared. Brandishing his long saber, he charged toward the enemy.

”Kill!”

”Kill!”

Embracing the certainty of death, the veteran soldiers at Mo Yun’s side charged fearlessly toward the Wei Family’s private army.

On the other side, Sheng Lin and his men felt a chill run down their spines. Watching these utterly fearless soldiers of Great Yan, a kernel of fear began to sprout in their hearts.

If they hadn’t outnumbered their enemy several times over, they would have been no match at all for these battle-forged soldiers!

Even so, to whittle Mo Yun’s remnant army down to just over a thousand men, they themselves had already paid the price of more than three thousand soldiers!

They were elite soldiers too, but compared to Mo Yun’s remnants who had braved countless life-or-death battles, the gap in skill... was absolutely immense.

”Archers, suppressing fire!” a commander on the Wei Family’s side shouted coldly.

SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH!

Instantly, a piercing sound tore through the air. A sky-blotting volley of arrows, like a swarm of locusts, descended upon Mo Yun’s remaining forces.

War is just this cruel. There is no room for warmth or sentiment, only blood and slaughter!

Some of the more powerful Great Yan warriors swung their weapons, batting aside the arrows, and charged bravely toward the enemy.

”Shield bearers, form up!”

”Spearmen, meet the enemy!”

The commander on the Wei Family’s side gave the orders, his voice trembling slightly.

This was how they had spent the entire day. If not for these tactics, their casualties would likely have been even greater!

This battle, even if they won in the end, would be a pyrrhic victory.

Mo Yun’s remnant army had started with four or five thousand soldiers. The Wei Family had over fifteen thousand. Now, Mo Yun was left with just over a thousand soldiers, while the Wei Family... was down to a little more than six thousand!

Four thousand against nine thousand!

Such a jarring figure made even Wei Ziting’s heart race, let alone the officers who had personally trained this private army. They had once believed that with their fifteen thousand men, they could face even Xu Ji’s army on equal footing without losing ground.

But now they finally understood—no matter how rigorous the training, soldiers who had never seen a real battlefield were simply not the same.

And this was with an ambush, having taken them by surprise and killed a great number with arrows before they could react, then surrounding them and using more archers for suppression... If it had been a direct confrontation, the Wei Family’s commanders had zero confidence they could have won against Mo Yun’s terrifying forces!

Wei Ziting watched this terrifying army of the Great Yan Kingdom from a distance, a trace of envy in his eyes. ”How wonderful would it be if people like this could be made to serve me?”

”Young Master, that’s next to impossible,” Sheng Lin said obsequiously. ”I’ve had dealings with this Female General for a while now and understand her to some degree. I believe she will never surrender.”

”Indeed, she cannot be subdued... which is why I must see them merely as military achievements.” Wei Ziting sighed. ”It’s a waste of a woman like her.”

Cao Yi chuckled slyly nearby. ”If you’re truly taken with this woman, Young Master, this lowly one... might have a way.”

”Oh? You have a plan?” Wei Ziting glanced at Cao Yi. ’Honestly,’ he thought, ’I can’t stand either of these two. They look like scum.’ But they were moles the Wei Family had planted in the Bandits Gang years ago, one of the family’s hidden assets. This time, they had betrayed Mo Yun and advised him on strategy, so they had certainly put in the effort.

At his station, Wei Ziting couldn’t just act on his whims. He understood that while men like these were the Wei Family’s assets and their loyalty was assured, they still needed to be given the proper rewards.

With that in mind, Wei Ziting said, ”If you can capture Mo Yun alive, I will personally see to it that you are commended for your service.”

”Heheh, you can rest assured, Young Master. I’m not just bragging. I have a certain... ancestral skill.” As he spoke, Cao Yi leaned close to Wei Ziting’s ear and whispered a few sentences.

Wei Ziting said with some surprise, ”That will work?”

”Heh, it’s a sure thing. I’ve used it countless times... er.” Realizing his slip of the tongue, Cao Yi snapped his mouth shut.

Wei Ziting didn’t bother with the gaffe. His eyes flickered toward Mo Yun, who was still fighting furiously. ”Fine. Do as you say. Capture her, and I will record it as a great service.”

”Just you watch, Young Master!” With that, Cao Yi slithered away like a snake, quickly disappearing into the crowd and making his way toward the heart of the melee.

”Young Master, Cao Yi might lack other talents, but when it comes to this sort of thing, very few people in the world can match him!” Sheng Lin said to Wei Ziting, watching Cao Yi’s retreating figure with a touch of envy.

Wei Ziting nodded, saying with a reserved expression, ”I hope he succeeds!”

...

Mo Yun felt her strength fading faster and faster, the True Essence in her Dantian dwindling. She knew with stark clarity that if she couldn’t break through their encirclement soon, she... she would truly die here today.

The terrain was incredibly disadvantageous for Mo Yun and her troops. Before them lay a wide, churning river, its rapids filled with countless whirlpools and undercurrents. Behind them loomed a cliff several hundred meters high—impossible to scale unless one could fly.

The enemy had blocked the two sides, making it nearly impossible to break through.

She slammed her spear against a shield in her path, and the heavy wooden shield splintered into fragments. The Soldier behind it died on the spot from the sheer force of the blow. But another shield was immediately moved up to take its place as a new Soldier filled the gap.

It seemed they had practiced this maneuver countless times, performing it with considerable skill.

Mo Yun sighed, reined her horse around, and prepared to charge again.

Just then, she suddenly saw a figure dash out from the enemy’s ranks, rushing toward her at high speed.

A wave of fury surged through Mo Yun. ’Does every piece of trash think they can come and claim merit off me?’ she thought. Spurring her horse, she charged toward the figure.

Several arrows, fast and cunningly aimed, shot toward her from the opposing side, forcing Mo Yun to deflect them first. In that brief moment, the figure had already reached her horse. Mo Yun let out a cold laugh, wielding her long spear like a club as she brought it smashing down on the man!

VWOOM!

A dull thrum echoed through the air.

Cao Yi was terrified; he was gambling his life for a promotion!

Without a second thought, he threw himself into a pathetic roll on the ground, barely dodging Mo Yun’s spear. The next instant, he saw the cold, glinting tip of the spear growing ever larger in his pupils!

At the last possible second, Cao Yi rolled again, just barely avoiding the thrust. His heart was about to pound out of his chest.

He scrambled to his feet and, just as Mo Yun thrust her spear forward again, he flung out his hand, sending a small cloth pouch flying toward her.

Without thinking, Mo Yun shattered the pouch with her spear. A powdery smoke instantly billowed out. She smelled a sickeningly sweet scent drift into her nose and knew this was bad. Gritting her teeth, she watched the sleazy figure turn to flee, drew a Long Sword from her belt, and sent it flying after Cao Yi.

THUNK!

An ecstatic smile spread across Cao Yi’s face. He had succeeded! He was already sprinting for his life back to his own lines when a massive force suddenly threw him forward. He stumbled more than ten steps before looking down to see a Long Sword sticking out of his chest.

”Ah!” Cao Yi let out a terrified scream, collapsed to the ground, and breathed his last.

On his face, the smile from his recent success was still frozen.

Watching Cao Yi get cut down by Mo Yun’s Flying Sword, Wei Ziting couldn’t help but sigh. ”What a waste.” Then he added, ”But he should have succeeded, right?”

At his side, Sheng Lin pursed his lips and said sorrowfully, ”He should have.” Inwardly, however, he was thinking, ’Young Master Wei... what a cold, heartless man you are!’