The military camp remained under high alert throughout the night due to the intruder, and no one paid much attention to the missing child anymore.
Unexpectedly, the next morning, that child appeared again outside the Changfeng Camp.
He stood barefoot in the snow that had accumulated overnight, shirtless and wearing pants that were both too large and too thin for him. The flame mark on his chest was particularly striking as if that very flame had heated his entire body—in this frigid, snow-covered landscape, he showed not the slightest tremor from the cold.
When the soldiers approached him, he spoke only five words: “I want to see Li Shuang.”
At that time, Li Shuang was conducting a war simulation meeting with several of her deputy commanders, both to educate Li Ting and to prepare for defending against the Xi Rong this winter.
The soldiers brought the child over.
Seeing a child dressed so sparsely, everyone was somewhat surprised. Only Luo Teng slammed the table in anger as he stood up: “You little bastard, coming and going as you please—do you think our Changfeng Camp is some kind of inn?” He turned to Li Shuang and said, “General, this disrespectful brat, let’s just tear him apart and feed him to the dogs!”
Li Shuang examined the child, her fingers slightly curled as she tapped the table: “Since you ran away last night, why have you returned?”
The child gazed at Li Shuang, his eyes clear and bright: “I wanted to see you,” he said frankly. “The further I walked, the more I wanted to see you.”
When a child spoke such straightforward words, all the generals in the room were inwardly startled: what a little wolf cub, barely bigger than a fart, yet already trying to charm a general…
Li Shuang had been known in the capital as the tiger lady general whom no one dared to provoke. When she first arrived at the frontier, several commanders who prided themselves on their status had challenged her for being a woman, and then… those people were no longer in the military.
For three years, the commanders had viewed her as their iron-blooded general, her gender long forgotten. Now, suddenly hearing a child speak to her this way, she found it quite amusing: “Oh? Is it because I’m special?”
“Yes,” he answered directly. “You are special.”
Special enough that he couldn’t control himself…
“What should we do about this?” Li Shuang said with a hint of amusement. “Yesterday I took you in out of sympathy, but you ran away, so that sympathy is gone. Today you’ve come back on your own, wanting to stay—that’s your wish, but Changfeng Camp has never accepted useless people. Tell me, what skills do you have? Why should I keep you?”
“I can be your soldier.”
“A soldier?” Luo Teng sneered. “Ridiculous. Even our youngest recruit in Changfeng Camp is older than you. What skills could a tiny thing like you have to be a soldier?”
The child finally looked properly at Luo Teng: “I can kill you.”
Along with his words falling upon Luo Teng came a gaze like that of a frontier wolf, carrying an icy killing intent that made all the generals present tense up. Even someone as rough as Luo Teng detected the murderous intent in those eyes.
This kid… wasn’t just talking. He truly intended to kill him.
“Heh.” Feeling embarrassed at being intimidated by a child, Luo Teng immediately shouted: “Fine! Come on! I’ll save others the trouble and tear apart your arrogant little self right now!”
“Luo Teng!” Qin Lan called out softly from the side, and Luo Teng glanced over to see Li Shuang giving him a slight look.
Luo Teng finally calmed down—in the military camp, under everyone’s watchful eyes, it would be unseemly for a deputy commander to seriously fight a child…
He could only grit his teeth and sit down sullenly.
Li Shuang turned her attention back to the child. Upon meeting her gaze, the killing intent in the child’s eyes notably diminished. After a moment’s thought, Li Shuang asked: “Have you learned martial arts?”
The child hesitated, then shook his head: “I don’t know.”
Li Shuang pondered for a moment: “I said yesterday, if you trust me, tell me your background and name. If you have parents, I’ll send you to them. If not, I’ll find a willing family in Lu City to take you in. But I won’t accept you as a soldier—you’re too young. The Great Jin Dynasty doesn’t use children like you to defend the country.”
Hearing that Li Shuang wanted to send him away, the child’s heart suddenly became chaotic: “I… don’t remember my background or name, but I know I’m not as weak as you think…”
While Li Shuang remained silent, Li Ting suddenly jumped out: “Sister, let me, let me! Let me test his skills—if he beats me, let him stay. If he loses, we’ll send him to a family in Lu City, alright?”
Li Ting had learned martial arts from his father since childhood. Though young, he was considered quite skilled in the capital, and many young masters who played with him had been beaten by him. His father sending him here was partly at his request and partly hoping the frontier’s harsh conditions would temper his character. Moreover, given Li Ting’s young age, having him spar with this child seemed appropriate.
Li Shuang looked at the mark on the child’s chest and his wolf-like eyes, thinking this child’s past must be extraordinary. Sending him to an ordinary family might endanger them. Better to keep him in the military camp under her supervision and training—perhaps he could become a sharp blade for Changfeng Camp in the future.
After consideration, Li Shuang had already decided to use this half-willing approach to keep the child in camp. She said: “Alright, spar, but don’t go too far.”
Qin Lan, who had been sitting silently to the side, glanced at Li Shuang, noting that she was staring at the child while saying these words. She was telling the child not to go too far, not to hurt anyone. She had already determined that Li Ting was no match for this child who was four or five years his junior.
The child caught Li Shuang’s gaze, silently stepped back, and fixed his eyes on Li Ting.
Li Ting bounced around, removing his fox fur coat and putting on the arm and leg guards handed by his servant. He spent quite a while warming up, twisting his waist and rotating his neck, before finally stepping forward and assuming a ready stance: “Come on.”
Just as he finished speaking these words, the child’s figure shot toward him like a sword. Li Ting had no time to react before taking a heavy hit to his chest, falling backward onto his servant’s feet.
The match ended faster than an eye could blink.
Li Ting rubbed his chest and coughed with difficulty while his servants cried “Good heavens!” The accompanying old steward immediately became furious: “How dare you use such force against the young master!”
The child stood straight-backed, small in stature but with the presence of a mountain.
Li Shuang waved her hand, turning away in embarrassment. Li Ting knocked to the ground, and continued rubbing his chest, coughing while holding back his old steward: “Stop, stop, it’s embarrassing enough.” He was helped up, and looked at the child, then at Li Shuang. “Sister, he’s much stronger than me…”
Li Shuang nodded: “Go apply some medicine.” Having grown up in a military family, Li Shuang had never been one to coddle her brother.
Li Ting was helped out. The tent fell silent.
The sparring match had surprised all the generals—the speed and power of that strike was beyond not just ordinary soldiers, but many commanders as well.
“If you join our military camp, even though you’re young, you’ll be one of our soldiers, and soldiers must follow military rules. If you make any mistakes, I will still punish you according to military law,” Li Shuang spoke. “Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good, now go to the quartermaster to register your name, and let the logistics staff arrange your quarters and issue you clothes.”
Though she said this, the child didn’t move. Li Shuang found it strange: “What’s wrong?”
The child stood dazed for a while before looking at Li Shuang: “I don’t know my name.”
Such a simple statement.
Li Shuang and the child silently gazed at each other for a moment. Luo Teng interjected from the side: “Back in the chaotic war days, we had plenty of kids who didn’t know their names. What’s the big deal? Just pick something to call him. I think ‘Niu Shi Dan’ (Bull Dung) works fine.” He waved his hand, “Hurry up, Bull Dung, go get your clothes.”
The child showed no reaction to this name and turned to leave.
He was going to accept such a name!
Li Shuang rubbed her temples, unable to bear it any longer: “Let’s call him Jin An.”
The child stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her.
She stood there in the same red armor with silver trim as the day she had brought him in, her posture straight yet gentle behind the table: “Jin An,” she said, “It means wishing for lasting peace in our Great Jin Dynasty. Tell the quartermaster this name.”
She had given him not just a name, but its meaning as well.
He didn’t look at Li Shuang for long, accepting this name as readily as he had accepted “Bull Dung,” and then left the tent. But as the heavy curtain fell, he cast one last glance at Li Shuang.
She sat down and began discussing matters with her generals.
Jin An.
He silently repeated these two characters in his mind.
He thought it sounded beautiful, carrying a warm and stable power.
As the child’s footsteps faded away, Qin Lan frowned with concern: “General, this child’s identity is unclear, there are too many suspicious points. And yesterday, as soon as he arrived, someone was spying outside your tent. Keeping him here might…”
“It’s fine. If someone sent him as a spy, better to keep him in plain sight than hidden in the shadows. Moreover, this child has a rare talent that can be molded. If he can be used by our Changfeng Camp in the future, he’ll be like adding wings to a tiger.”
Seeing she had made her decision, Qin Lan swallowed his remaining concerns without a word.
Jin An followed someone to receive his clothes, and the logistics soldiers arranged for him to stay with several other youths. The other youths already knew each other, and the sudden addition of a newcomer made them somewhat uncomfortable. Moreover, Jin An was quiet and had been personally brought in by the general, making the youths inevitably ostracize him.
Jin An’s bed was in the darkest corner of the tent. He put his newly received items on the bed and lay down directly, ignoring others.
It was just as well that no one spoke to him—he didn’t want anyone asking about his background or origins, because even if he had asked himself these questions ten thousand times, he still couldn’t remember.
What was his name? Where did he come from? How did he get here?
His mind was blank.
He tried desperately to remember, but beyond that night’s pale moonlight and the smell of blood that had covered him, he could recall nothing else.
As evening approached, Jin An began to feel a faint pain in his chest. After yesterday’s experience, he roughly understood that at the transition between day and night, his body would undergo changes again.
During the day, he became a child, while at night he returned to the form of a young man.
Jin An forcibly suppressed the surging energy within his body, crawled under his blanket, and removed the clothes he had just received. No one paid attention to what he was doing. When everyone went for dinner, no one called him.
Deep into the night, the young soldiers of the camp fell asleep, exhausted from the day’s training.
The burning energy within Jin An’s body was like a wild beast, roaring fiercely in his chest. Like yesterday night and the night before, his entire body felt unbearably uncomfortable, the scorching energy seeming to transform into needles piercing him.
Li Shuang’s blood scent was like a point of light in the deep mountain wilderness at night, attracting him even from such a distance.
He placed his bare feet on the ground, wrapped himself in a thin blanket, and left the tent without disturbing any of his tent mates.
In the vast military camp, even with patrols, he moved freely under the cover of darkness—no one could detect his movements.
He had only been to Li Shuang’s tent once but could remember the way… even if he couldn’t remember the path, he could still find where she was.
The closer he got to Li Shuang’s tent, the more his inner turmoil could be soothed.
The guards at Li Shuang’s tent were noticeably more numerous than the previous day. But this wasn’t a problem for him. When he transformed into an adult, power constantly surged from his chest. When far from Li Shuang, this power always came with pain. It was as if a hook had been embedded in his heart and flesh—the further he tried to leave, the stronger the pull of the iron hook became until he could no longer resist and had to be drawn back. But now Li Shuang was just ahead, and her scent could soothe his pain.
Using light martial arts, Jin An easily landed on top of Li Shuang’s tent, touching down without a sound.
No one discovered him, including Li Shuang inside the tent.
She was in deep sleep. She seemed to be dreaming, occasionally letting out soft murmurs.
Jin An could hear even the faintest sounds.
He found the spot directly above where Li Shuang slept and slowly lay down. Through the felt of the tent, he listened to her steady breathing, each breath soothing not just his physical pain but all the unease in his heart.
It was as if who he was and where he came from—all these unknown mysteries—no longer mattered.
Why did he depend on her so much?
Jin An didn’t know. It was as if he had been poisoned, and Li Shuang was the only antidote.
He slept on top of her tent all night.
At dawn’s break, what woke him wasn’t the sunlight but the sudden change in Li Shuang’s breathing pattern inside the tent—she yawned, about to wake up.
Jin An’s eyes instantly opened, clear as if he hadn’t slept at all.
Then his heart suddenly contracted. There was no pain like during previous transformations, but he knew he would soon change back into a child. He leaped away from Li Shuang’s tent.
The guards below noticed nothing.
Inside the tent, Li Shuang opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling for a long while before putting on her clothes and walking out. The soldiers outside immediately saluted. Li Shuang walked a few steps away and looked up at the roof.
Of course, there was no one there.
“Was there any disturbance last night?”
“Report to General, there were no disturbances.”
Li Shuang could only nod and let it go.