Realms In The Firmament

It was in front of the Palace of Hua-Yang.

The 16 generals who worked as greeters saluted at the same time and shouted in chorus, “Thank you, General Ye! Thank you, the northern army! Thank you, brothers! Please come in!”

The five generals of the northern army stepped forward with big strides towards the 16 greeting generals. Both side reached their hands to gently bump on each others’ fists. They were all expressionless though.

And then the five general passed through the 16 generals and stood behind them. They joined the greeting team to greet the incoming guests together.

The fifty soldiers who had been following the five generals lined up in two lines. - Shoo! - They marched to the location beside the greeting soldiers of the Palace of Hua-Yang.

So, there were 55 five men joining the initial greeting team.

They neatly stood side by side, and it looked so orderly and harmonious as if what they were doing was the most natural thing in the world.

From the east, there came a continuous sound of orderly footsteps once again.

There was also a troop marching over with the flag raised high.

“The Eastern General’s troop…”

And then the sound of footstep sounded from the west.

“The Western General…”

There was no one coming from the south though.

The main general in the south was the Northern General, General Lan. He was leading his army in the south fighting the battle.

All these men who came today were all warriors who had been through hundreds of battlefields.

However, no one had ever seen them in the capital.

In the peaceful city, among the feasting and revelries, these warriors who would rather bleed than weep had long been forgotten.

The most meritorious man with the highest glory was even less well-known than the hottest prostitute of a big brothel.

They had been devoting themselves, staying and waiting in the city silently.

When there was a battle that requires them to fight… When it suddenly needed people to fight, they were like divine troops from the heavens coming from everywhere to gather together here.

They were still full of men’s vigor. Their blood was still burning.

They only showed their fierceness to the enemies.

They had never shown their spirit of ‘I will bite away some flesh from you even if I am going to die’.

Only at this moment, when they were preparing for a battle, would their extraordinary vigor would be seen.

When they walked on the street as simple civilians, even when sometimes they got mocked and teased, they just bore it silently. They had been bearing it all till this moment. When they revealed their arms, they could shake the whole world.

Now, it seemed that everybody who was supposed to be here had arrived.

When they were all going to enter the palace, all of a sudden, a voice shouted from the south, which supposed to be nobody, “The Southern General’s troop is here to congratulate Prince Hua-Yang. We wish you the glory of victory!”

The voice was from a guy who had used up all his strength shouting.

The voice became hoarse like someone had cut the guy’s throat. People who heard it shared the same feeling.

They looked to the direction where the voice had come from.

They saw a small man wearing a suit of armor with a broadsword in his hand walking over with big strides.

The guy was serious and careful.

His face turned red, and in his eyes, a surging passion was just about to be ignited.

All the generals widely opened their eyes at the same time staring at this guy. In their eyes, they were filled with admirations.

The guy who was coming over was the guy no one would ever expect to come today. No one had even thought that he would actually come today.

Even if the king of the Kingdom of Chen, Chen Xuan-Tian, came and wanted to go with the army to attend the fight, it wouldn’t be more shocking than the presence of this guy today.

Because in everyone’s mind, this guy was nothing but a foppish young lord who had absolutely nothing to do with the military.

Who was this guy?

It was…

Lan Lang-Lang.

The son of the Southern General.

The Southern General’s men were all in the south. He was here alone representing the southern army.

Although there was only one man from the southern army, as the son of the Southern General, he made up for everything.

At the moment, the vigorous figure of a man who had no fear to the threats of swords and spears had instantly made all the iron men forget about the ironic title ‘lord in the town’.

No one had thought that Lan Lang-Lang would come. As the impossibility became reality, people could only think of one phrase.

The tiger would never beget a dog [1].

They seemed to have truly discovered Lan Lang-Lang, the only son of the Southern General.

“Bravo!”

“The Southern General truly has a tiger son! He truly has guts!”

Some generals with brawny faces shouted at him.

Lan Lang-Lang was angry and shouted loudly, “You are all talking bullshit! I can prove my guts!”

The generals laughed wildly. They didn’t take it seriously and they just shouted, “Look at you, stepping over bit by bit. You truly haven’t disgraced your father’s honor. We are talking bullshit indeed. Come in for some drinks!”

Lan Lang-Lang was fearless. He raised his head and thrusted his chest forward, and then walked into the palace with big strides.

Although something unexpected happened, it was a pleasant thing. The generals felt relaxed and then followed him in.

These had been all the people that these generals felt worthy to greet. They were like brothers.

There would be some princes, officers, even the envoy of the king coming later. However, the generals would never wait and greet these people.

At this very moment, something happened all of a sudden.

A white figure was coming over as if soaring. He shouted, “One more from the Northern General’s troop. I wish Prince Hua-Yang the greatest success!”

People all looked around.

They saw a young man in white wearing a snow white robe with a cyan waistband. He was tall and straight, and his features were becoming more and more obvious as he walked over to them.

His was handsome and he was smiling. He acted gently and elegantly.

He was the son of the Northern General.

Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao had finally come. He had returned to his house and changed his clothes in an unbelievable speed. And then he rushed over here.

He had felt his blood boiling while he was on the way.

The lines after lines of soldiers made Ye Xiao understand how the military life looked like, how a soldier was like, how home and country meant to people.

Lan Lang-Lang was a surprise to everybody, and Ye Xiao was definitely another one. People couldn’t believe what they saw. They couldn’t believe Lan Lang-Lang would come, and they would have never expected Ye Xiao to come at all.

The ‘three lords in town’ should all be foppish black sheep, yet it seemed the ironic title of them were about to be removed because of their honorable behaviors.

People were surprised, but looking at their expression, there was more of admiration at the moment.

In the northern troop, the two tigers, two dragons and one lion had their eyes lit up with pride.

[The son of our beloved great general… has come!]

In everybody’s sight, Ye Xiao acted vigorously and casually. He was full of confidence that made people feel comfortable. However, there was one flaw out of the perfection; the cyan hair bundle was a bit crooked…

But the next moment, the feeling in their minds disappeared.

Because when Ye Xiao stepped on the street on his own, he had walked step by step firmly and vigorously. Although he was walking alone, it felt like there were thousands of men marching forward behind him.

There were especially the fierceness of a soldier and the aura of invincibility perfectly showing up on him.

Under the glows of the swords beside him, he actually walked exuding an aura like an arising king stepping over the land of the whole world.

“Bravo!”

Some generals had never seen him before. At the moment when they saw this young lord walk in such a vigorous way, respect surged in their hearts as they shouted acclaims.

The five generals of the northern army were shaken a bit.

All of a sudden, their eyes moistened and the tip of their nose turned sour.

They had an extreme feeling of comfort.

They would always rather bleed than weep, yet at this moment, they actually couldn’t hold their tears.

They had heard about how foppish and useless the young lord was.

They had sighed that it was the most pathetic thing in the world that a tiger begot a dog…

Now it all seemed to be a rumor for them.

Only men knew well about men.

Only a tough man understood how a tough man should be.

In their mind, the son of their great general definitely deserved to be a man.

He looked a bit too young though.

But he already had an indomitable spirit.

The walk and the look on his face… were more than enough to make these iron men understand.

Ye Xiao was never a coward.

The son of the great general was indeed a son of a great general.

He didn’t disgrace the great general.

He didn’t disgrace the northern army.

The five generals cupped their hands and saluted at the same time, “Young General.”

Ye Xiao took in a deep breath and said, “You’ve all had a long day, my uncles.”

The five generals nearly wept because of being called ‘uncle’.

[The son of the great general has finally grown up and become sensible…

He has finally become a real man…]

And then everyone entered the Palace of Hua-Yang.

Well not all the men outside had entered the palace. The palace was spacious indeed, yet it was still not big enough to hold such a great amount of people.

Under the lead of a group of soldiers, the dozens of men including Ye Xiao, who had arrived late, took their seats in the main hall beside the generals who had already been there since a while ago.

“The generals’ seats are in the main hall while the others are arranged in the side halls.”

It separated the generals and the others with such an arrangement.

Prince Hua-Yang was vigorous and willful at the same time.

In the Kingdom of Chen, there would never be another person who dared to arrange the seats like him.

After a while, the crown prince, the second prince, the third prince and the officers… kept arriving one by one. The person who represented the House of The Minister was indeed Zuo Wu-Ji. When he was trying to get in the main hall and sit with Ye Xiao, he was refused.

He would never get flattered here.

Son of the Minister Zuo. So what? There was no privilege.

Even though he was one of the ‘three lords’, since he wasn’t a man of the military, he had no right to enter the main hall.

“Get the hell out!” A tough general fiercely glared at Zuo Wu-Ji and yelled at him while Zuo Wu-Ji pestered him to stay.

…

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[1] It means there will be no laggard among the children of a brave or talented man.

4th guaranteed chapter of the week.

Translated by: Rain

Edited by: Arch

From XianXiaWorld