Qing Xia frowned slightly, not expecting this woman to be such a fickle traitor. She asked sternly: “Then how is she in the Yan Battalion?”
Li Xian said: “Although she rendered service to Great Qin, because she had once betrayed the border civilians, she was also scorned by the Qin people. After the Second Prince succeeded, he handed her over to the military supply depot and exiled her to the northern frontier camps to serve as a military prostitute. Later, somehow His Highness learned of this and transferred her from the northern frontier to the Yan Battalion. I heard her military registration was removed from the army long ago, but she still clings to the Yan Battalion and won’t leave. Well, for such a fickle traitor like her, in this vast world, there’s no place for her anymore.”
Qing Xia nodded. She stood up and hastily packed her things. Seeing it was nearly time to break camp, she suddenly remembered something and turned to ask: “Li Xian, have you heard this poem anywhere: ‘I shall climb to the absolute peak, and view all mountains as small beneath me’?”
Li Xian smiled and said: “Sister Qing, do you take me for some illiterate? This is a eternal masterpiece by the Poetry Saint Du Fu. How could I not know it?”
“Du Fu?” Qing Xia raised her eyebrows. Had history changed course, causing Du Fu to be born early? Everything was becoming increasingly mysterious. All events were gradually connecting into a single thread, but something crucial was still missing. Qing Xia pondered silently, gradually furrowing her brows tighter.
The sun slowly rose from below the horizon, casting brilliant golden light across the land. Howling horn sounds thundered like rolling thunder. Massive hoofbeats swept across heaven and earth, stirring up layers of white snow waves. The one hundred thirty thousand troops of the Yan Battalion sat uniformly on their warhorses, their imposing presence stunning and their force intimidating.
Under this magnificent military display, Qin Zhiyan wore silver-white armor with an ink-blue great cloak behind him. His brows and eyes were gentle, yet revealed the dignified royal bearing of nobility. Qing Xia sat upon a black warhorse beside him, her brows and eyes sharp as ice and snow, her skin snow-white, her lips bright red. Standing together with Qin Zhiyan, they looked like celestial beings, possessing otherworldly magnificence.
Chaotic clouds hang low at dusk, urgent snow dances in whirling wind.
White Deer Plains stretched endlessly flat. Across the vast snowy wilderness, looking out over the expansive plain covered everywhere in pristine white snow, the north wind howled and rolled, clouds piled up at the horizon. The harsh cold wind blew against faces, sweeping across the silver-clad boundless earth. Goose-feather snowflakes flew and howled, dancing through the sky – what magnificent northern scenery stretching for ten thousand li.
Qing Xia sat on her warhorse in white fur and snow sable, her eyes like morning stars, her features clear and beautiful. A massive canopy sheltered overhead. Qin Zhiyan’s expression was calm, his lips soft, as if he understood everything in his heart, closing his eyes peacefully and coolly, gazing at the vast land ahead.
Suddenly, rumbling sounds arose in the distance, spreading from point to surface like rolling thunder at the sky’s edge. Massive snow waves surged layer upon layer, sweeping in from the horizon.
Qing Xia’s heart tightened, her expression changing slightly. At this moment, a pale white hand suddenly reached out from wide sleeves to grasp Qing Xia’s hand.
Qing Xia turned her head to see Qin Zhiyan’s gaze calm and detached from worldly dust, serene like a banished immortal.
“Third Highness! The imperial carriage of the Great Emperor of Southern Chu has arrived!”
The scout’s voice carried from afar. Hearing this, Qing Xia and Qin Zhiyan both raised their eyes to look. Through the rushing snow waves, bright yellow light gradually blazed forth through gaps between heaven and earth, its majesty swallowing and spitting, radiating brilliant light like a rising sun, flashing with dazzling splendor.
Rolling hoofbeats thundered across the sky, their sound shaking heaven and earth, stirring hearts.
Thunderous drumbeats instantly echoed across the earth. Those inspiring drum rhythms seemed to beat upon everyone’s hearts, making the blood in their bones pulse along.
Qing Xia looked up to see across the vast snowy wilderness a vigorous, upright figure sitting proudly on an imperial horse, charging forth like lightning!
The boundless earth was vast as an ice sea, limitless and endless.
The fiery sun leaped out from below the horizon like a fireball, enormous and perfectly round, burning fiercely. Golden light swallowed heaven and earth, casting brilliant golden armor-like radiance across the white snowy plain.
Great winds rise and clouds fly forth. Fierce gales swept heaven and earth. Ten thousand snow waves rolled accordingly, dancing elegant steps in mid-air like the final song of a fairy dancing on waves. Through the vast expanse of pure white, low roars came from the distant sky’s edge, like the final howls of ancient beasts, carrying thick murderous aura and soul-shaking impact. Those beating drum rhythms surged through people’s blood, keeping time with pulsing heartbeats, climbing bit by bit from feet up the spine, triggering vibrations from within outward. Massive snow waves rushed turbulently from the horizon, row after row, sheet after sheet, roaring and galloping, vast and boundless.
Under the sun’s broadcast, a proud and resolute figure, sharp as a prosperous war god, wearing magnificent armor, treading on cloud-like snow waves, grasping a gleaming bloodthirsty long spear, with brilliant blinding sunlight behind him. The enormous red sun slowly rose behind him, sketching a supremely beautiful totem between heaven and earth.
Hooves flying, neighing and roaring, the entire earth seemed to simultaneously cry out in song for this son of heaven born through nirvana in blood and fire.
The youngest and most ruthlessly capable prodigy in three hundred years of the Southern Chu Empire, Great Emperor Chu Li of the Chu clan, under the blood sun’s reflection, stepped by step onto the vast fertile soil of White Deer Plains!
In that instant, Qing Xia felt her eyes suddenly stung painfully. She pressed her lips tight, lifting her head slightly, her gaze sharp and profound, staring unblinkingly at Chu Li’s increasingly firm and upright spine.
This was how he should be – dominating the world, his power tilting in all directions. A single sharp glance could make heaven and earth tremble together. Standing at the highest peak, looking down upon this bright universe and all living beings, making the entire heaven and earth submit at his feet, the whole earth cheering for him. He should naturally be like the prosperous dawn sun, radiating surging brilliance, iron cavalry galloping to every corner of the earth, conquering all doubt and resistance with powerful momentum. This was his destiny, like the army-breaking fierce star in the stellar field, reborn through destruction, glorifying the four seas, dominating the world alone.
This was him, this was the path he should walk.
Not the lonely king in the lakeside pavilion who wanted to believe in someone. Not the man full of desolation outside the capital city. Not the puppet bearing humiliation beside Lady Zhu Lan. Not the patient pierced by ten thousand poisons on the desert sands. And certainly not that lovesick fool who, despite being covered by canopies and wearing dragon robes, still cast aside his dignity to beg her pitifully to stay!
Chu Li, oh Chu Li, this world has failed you, and you have failed the world, but toward me, you always retained a rare tenderness. You never intentionally harmed me. But now, I must stand here, stand beside Qin Zhiyan, stand before the elite troops of four nations, watching you rush ten thousand li to rescue me, cutting your deep affection to pieces slice by slice, letting the eagles and vultures in the sky devour your last warmth bit by bit.
In the end, I am still a callous person. Please forgive me for being unable to stand beside you with your heart full of dust, waiting for time to heal your wounds one by one. Please forgive me for being unable to use my time and life to guard you, waiting for you to set aside past hatreds. Please forgive me for not loving you enough, unable to close my eyes and deceive myself into saying this man loves, protects, and trusts me wholeheartedly.
I’m sorry, Chu Li. Please forgive my excessive selfishness for being unable to tolerate a man who wraps himself in heavy layers, maintaining strict vigilance against the entire world and all humanity. I appear tough, protecting my fragile heart with solid barriers, but it’s actually very small. It cannot contain your ambition and revenge, cannot contain your ten thousand li of rivers and mountains, cannot contain your suspicion and concealment, and especially cannot contain your feelings that burn like raging fire. Please forgive me for being unwilling to be that moth rushing to flames. I am just a naturally callous woman who doesn’t want to wait for those emotions that are difficult to obtain. Resolute as you are, you will surely understand in the end – it’s either everything or nothing. Regarding your suspicion and concealment, cowardly as I am, I can only respectfully keep my distance.
Long winds howled and rose. Snow filled the sky. Black-armored warriors galloped closer and closer from the distant horizon. The white breath exhaled by warhorses gathered into sheets, hot air waves almost striking Qing Xia’s face. Those heated vapors carried thick bloody scents. These warhorses that had lived and died through battle too many times rushed together from afar, bearing the unique killing aura of Southern Border warhorses, like a roaring black sea.
Suddenly, ten thousand warhorses neighed in unison, rearing up and raising their front hooves in perfect synchronization, stopping with a whoosh, facing the Qin nation’s elite iron cavalry Yan Battalion from afar.
History always has shocking coincidences. Three hundred years ago, when the Great Qin Empire fell apart, Southern Chu family head Chu Yuanzheng faced the Tiger of Qin River Qin Xiaohai right here, firing the first shot of the four nations’ chaos. It was also here that the peerless enchantress Su Hongyun played the supremely tragic song “Flowing Cloud Lament,” leaving behind an eternal masterpiece that swept across all directions.
Three hundred years later, time’s footsteps moved slowly forward, finally stopping once again at another cycle of slaughter. In this turbulent world where winds rise and clouds surge, on the snowy White Deer Plains, the Qin and Chu nations once again faced each other with drawn swords, blade against blade!
Chu Li’s gaze was sharp, his face resolute, like a heavenly god with his back to the vigorous rising sun, standing before ten thousand troops. His robes fluttered and flew, his long spear flashed with silver light, and his jet-black warhorse seemed to merge with him as one. Harsh long winds swirled in reverse, snow filled the sky and howled between the two armies, fluttering like a great snowfall between the three people. Time seemed frozen at this moment. Qing Xia stood beside Qin Zhiyan, gazing at Chu Li’s deep-sea eyes, her whole body frozen, head raised in observation.
Above the vast emptiness, deities governing despair and desire sighed low, soundless sighs.
Finally still not ruthless and heartless enough, finally still not cruel and decisive enough. Clouds filled the sky, frost covered the ground. Endless grief and despair scattered and flew at the world’s end. Chu Li’s chest surged with emotion, his black hair flying. Taking a deep breath, the taste of blood spread through his mouth. He looked straight at Qing Xia, looking deeply, without half an expression, without half a word, without half a movement, just looking like that. Too many despairing scenes flashed one by one in his eyes. A massive storm gathered in the air, creating suffocating oppression that echoed within the six directions.