As Shen Shen arrived with the troops of the Left Wing Camp, he dismounted and called out, “Jiuheng!” to Xie Zheng.
Slightly out of breath, he surveyed the current situation and said with a grim expression, “The firearms of the Divine Machine Camp aren’t in the Western Garden!”
After engaging with both the Divine Machine Camp and the Right Wing Army sent by Grand Tutor Li, his Left Wing troops had lost nearly half their strength. Coming to support Xie Zheng now was truly risking their lives.
“I know,” Xie Zheng replied, rising to his feet. His gaze swept over the corpse-strewn, blood-soaked ground before meeting Wei Yan’s eyes.
His expression at that moment was indescribable—cold, calm, and indifferent.
As daylight burst forth, howling north winds whipped up waves of snow. The glow from the clouds in the east cast a golden-red hue over half the imperial city. Standing there with his halberd, half his face splattered with blood and illuminated by the dawn’s golden light, he looked as beautiful as a deity, yet surrounded by an aura as fierce as a war god.
Wei Yan silently returned his gaze for a moment before looking at the Left Wing troops behind him. With the air of someone in control of the situation, he asked calmly, “Do you think adding one Left Wing Camp can turn the tide today?”
Xie Zheng raised his head casually and sneered, “Whether it can or not, we have to try to know.”
He smiled faintly and added, “This Marquis is curious, though. The Prime Minister doesn’t even care about his own son’s life. For which bastard son is he fighting for this position?”
Wei Yan’s austere phoenix eyes instantly frosted over with a layer of cold anger. He berated, “Outrageous!”
Xie Zheng’s smile, not reaching his eyes, turned extremely cold as he raised his halberd, pointing it directly at Wei Yan. “You have no right to lecture this Marquis!”
Wei Yan, seemingly enraged by Xie Zheng, didn’t immediately order his death squad to act. Instead, he shouted coldly, “Bring me a blade!”
Soon, a crescent blade about eight feet long was brought forth. The blade was ancient in appearance, and where the blade met the hilt, there was an engraving of a blackened azure dragon. At first glance, the blade seemed to be shrouded in a layer of black mist, quite terrifying.
The long blade, which required two soldiers to carry, Wei Yan lifted with one hand. His wide sleeves caught the wind, his bearing no less impressive than those old generals who had fought on battlefields.
From afar, when He Xiuyun saw Wei Yan lift the crescent blade with one hand, his face looked as if he had seen a ghost. He turned to Tang Peiyi and asked, “Uncle Tang, does Wei Yan know martial arts?”
Tang Peiyi replied with a somewhat peculiar expression, “He should. In his early years, he was as renowned as General Xie and even guarded the Northern Court. But by the time I enlisted, Lord He was already in charge under him, and he had taken the path of a civil official. I never heard about his martial arts skills.”
Meanwhile, after lifting the crescent blade with one hand, Wei Yan looked at Xie Zheng with a cold, austere gaze. “This old man who taught you can certainly discipline you!”
Xie Zheng watched as the man dragging the long blade charged towards him. He stood motionless, but his eyes revealed a hint of cold hatred. As his fingers tightened around the halberd, the fresh blood from his palm, where a large chunk of skin had been scraped off, dyed a section of the halberd shaft red.
In the past, he had received instruction from Wei Sheng alongside Wei Xuan and the newly selected death squad members and had also been guided by Wei Yan.
In terms of martial arts alone, his later fighting style was greatly influenced by Wei Yan. Wei Yan’s moves were all about delivering fatal blows, never wasting a single move.
As the crescent blade was about to strike a vital point, Xie Zheng forcefully clashed his halberd against it.
Sparks flew as the blade’s edge met the halberd’s side blades. Wei Yan spun around, his backhand swing of the blade striking the halberd shaft. Xie Zheng’s whip-like kick met Wei Yan’s blocking elbow, sending snow flying from the ground.
Their moves were so swift that they were almost imperceptible to the naked eye.
The contest between the two was direct and forceful, simply a matter of who could strike faster and harder.
The personal guards of both the Wei and Xie families stood on either side, watching the battle with intense focus.
When Xie Zheng’s halberd nearly swept across Wei Yan’s neck, Tang Peiyi slapped his thigh and shouted, “Well struck! Cut down that old villain!”
Beside him, Fan Changyu, who was entangled in combat with Wei Sheng, let out a fierce roar. Her blade, capable of shattering gold and breaking jade, came down in a horizontal slash. Even though Wei Sheng managed to block it with one of his golden maces in time, the immense force still sent him staggering back several steps, his hand splitting open, in an utterly wretched state.
Tang Peiyi felt as if the stagnant blood that had been clogging his chest due to his earlier injury was no longer as uncomfortable. He wanted nothing more than to grab a blade and join the fray himself, shouting, “Keep chopping at him, niece Changyu!”
His extreme excitement nearly caused him to cough up blood, alarming the personal guards around him. He Xiuyun also raised his hand to pat Tang Peiyi’s back and help him catch his breath.
The weight of the Mo blade in Fan Changyu’s hand was not light. After that powerful slash, she almost didn’t have the strength for a second strike. But she spun on the spot, using the momentum of her body, and with a long cry, she managed to bring the blade down forcefully once again.
Wei Sheng, ignoring his split palm, continued to block with his golden mace. This time, however, there was a sharp sound of metal breaking.
The Mo blade had cleaved the improved golden mace into two pieces. If it weren’t for two of Wei’s household death squad members who sprang forward and knelt on the ground, using their swords to block the remaining force of the Mo blade, Wei Sheng would have been split in half by Fan Changyu’s strike.
After this slash, Fan Changyu was also somewhat exhausted, standing in place and leaning on her blade handle to catch her breath.
Xie Shiyi and his men stood behind Fan Changyu, glaring vigilantly at the two Wei household death squad members opposite them, ready to fight to the end if they dared to make another move.
Wei Sheng spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. As he was being supported by the Wei household death squad, he looked at Fan Changyu and asked, “Wei Qilin’s offspring?”
He shook off the support of the death squad members, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, and said, “You’re indeed more formidable than your old man. The Prime Minister shouldn’t have spared the lives of you sisters back then.”
The ferocity in Fan Changyu’s eyes hadn’t subsided. She stared at him coldly and said, “Heaven’s net is wide-meshed, but lets nothing through. What Wei Yan owes to my parents, to my maternal grandfather, and to the tens of thousands of soldiers who died tragically in Jinzhou, must be repaid!”
The early sun rose behind her, its brilliant light so dazzling that it was hard to keep one’s eyes open.
Upon hearing her mention Meng Shuyuan, Wei Sheng suddenly fell silent.
On the other side, after several exchanges, Wei Yan also began to show signs of fatigue in his battle with Xie Zheng.
He was getting on in years, and in this pure test of strength and endurance, his body was finally giving out.
Xie Zheng’s attacks, on the other hand, were becoming increasingly fierce. His long halberd darted about like a flower in bloom, thrusting and parrying around Wei Yan with the force of ten thousand pounds, forcing Wei Yan to retreat and defend passively.
The Wei household death squad wanted to rush forward to rescue him, but they couldn’t find an opening to squeeze in.
Xie Zheng seemed to be filled with hatred, his jaw clenched tightly, yet he still managed a cold smile, his eyes full of mockery. “Discipline? Who are you disciplining for? For my father, whom you had killed in Jinzhou? Or for my mother, whom you drove to her death?”
Accompanying his final question was a powerful thrust.
In the shadow of his disheveled hair, whether from the cold wind or not, his eyes seemed to have reddened slightly.
The long halberd plunged deep into the hard granite of the Wumen Square. Wei Yan rolled clumsily on the ground, barely avoiding that fatal thrust.
The death squad members hurriedly helped Wei Yan to his feet, retreating several steps while eyeing Xie Zheng warily.
The cold wind choked his lungs. Supported by his trusted aide, Wei Yan coughed heartrendingly before raising his eyes to look at Xie Zheng. “Mere brute force. This old man can’t match you now, but if you think you can settle things tonight with just brute force, that’s laughable!”
As he finished speaking, archers on the city wall and below all aimed their crossbows at Xie Zheng and his group. The Jinwu Guard even rolled out several large cannons and positioned them on the city platform.
Shen Shen’s expression changed. He immediately ordered the Left Wing Camp archers to draw their bows, but they were vastly outnumbered. It was almost like a desperate struggle of trapped beasts.
Wei Yan gazed at Xie Zheng from afar. For a moment, there was iron and blood in his eyes, but also a hint of world-weariness.
Tang Peiyi, half-lying on the ground, said to He Xiuyun, “That old villain infuriates me! If we hadn’t been guarding the frontier all this time and had no influence in the capital, how could he speak such nonsense!”
He Xiuyun coughed twice, sharing the sense of a hero’s last stand, and said, “General Shen is truly heroic!”
Knowing that Wei Yan had the Divine Machine Camp’s firearms, yet still bringing the remnants of his troops to help, this courage alone was admirable.
Tang Peiyi said, “If we die here today, at least we’ll have the company of heroes on the road to the underworld. How delightful!”
Fan Changyu looked at the dark cannon muzzles and countless glinting arrowheads on the city wall. At this moment, her heart was unexpectedly calm. She turned her head to look at Xie Zheng.
The early sun and the firelight from the city wall intertwined on his face, covered with traces of fresh blood and smoke, stern and resolute. It was the most handsome she had ever seen him.
Upon discovering that the Western Garden was Wei Yan’s trap, she already knew what she would face by rushing here.
She wasn’t afraid of death; she just couldn’t accept it. Couldn’t accept that they had lost like this!
And there was also some… reluctance.
The elders always said that after death, one must cross the Bridge of Helplessness, and drink Meng Po’s soup to forget everything from this life before being reincarnated.
As she walked over to stand shoulder to shoulder with Xie Zheng, without turning her head, she passed an object soaked with fresh blood from her palm into his hand.
Xie Zheng noticed and turned his head slightly to look at her, but Fan Changyu didn’t look back. She only said softly, “Xie Zheng, do you believe in reincarnation?”
“I don’t believe in ghosts and gods,” he replied, his voice deep and slow.
Fan Changyu continued to look straight ahead at the opposing imperial troops, chatting with him as if they were having a casual conversation. “I didn’t believe either, but after my parents passed away, I started to want to believe.”
She paused, then said in an extremely soft voice, “If there is a next life, come find me.”
Xie Zheng suddenly turned his head, staring at Fan Changyu with a look that only he understood.
On this clear day after the snow, the newly risen sun was not yet warm. The morning breeze carried the scent of gunpowder and ice. As everything fell silent, only the sound of the burning Yanchi Tower, which had been bombarded earlier, could be heard.
In this deathly silence, hearts were pounding loudly.
He said, seemingly out of nowhere, “This old fellow probably doesn’t have any more tricks up his sleeve, so let’s not waste time with him.”
Before Fan Changyu could react to the meaning of his words, a signal flare had already risen into the sky from Xie Zheng’s hand.
Everyone present was momentarily stunned by his sudden action.
Xie Zheng glanced coldly at Wei Yan: “The Prime Minister sits high in the imperial court, unrivaled in manipulating power, but in military strategy, he’s perhaps still a step behind.”
A muffled sound of armor clashing came from afar, vast and mighty like the tide of the sea.
As everyone turned to look, they saw a great army bearing the “Xie” banner surging like a tidal wave from several long streets outside the Wumen Gate towards the square below. The Jinwu Guards standing on the city wall had a higher vantage point and a broader view. Seeing the seemingly endless troops on those long streets, their faces turned pale almost instantly.
And this was just the visible army. Who knew how many more were blocked at the outer city gate, unable to enter? This was truly a force of thousands upon thousands!
Shen Shen’s worry turned to joy as he looked at Xie Zheng: “Jiuheng, you were prepared all along?”
Xie Zheng didn’t answer, but an elegant man in a brocade white robe and snow-white fox fur emerged from the troops, fanning himself with a feather fan. Upon seeing Xie Zheng, his first words were: “I waited half the night for your signal, thinking you might have been wiped out inside the city!”
He then gave a slight bow with his fan to Shen Shen: “Brother Shen, it’s been many years since we last met.”
Despite his disheveled appearance, Shen Shen couldn’t help but smile: “Brother Gong Sun!”
Xie Zheng gave Gong Sun Yin a faint glance: “You were just eager to enter the city and watch the excitement, weren’t you?”
Gong Sun Yin wasn’t offended by Xie Zheng’s retort. He bowed again to Fan Changyu: “General Fan.”
Fan Changyu was both surprised and delighted: “Mr. Gong Sun? You’ve been outside the city all along?”
Tang Peiyi, He Xiuyun, and the others were also shocked beyond measure.
Tang Peiyi immediately burst into laughter: “I knew our Marquis was a military genius! How could he possibly be defeated by that old villain Wei Yan!”
He shouted at Wei Yan: “Old villain, tell your men to surrender immediately!”
He Xiuyun was also smiling, though his injuries were more severe, and smiling caused pain throughout his body, so he had to restrain his laughter.
Gong Sun Yin nodded slightly to Fan Changyu. Seeing the blood on her face and body, he raised an eyebrow and said: “It seems there was a fierce battle in the city last night.”
As the army continued to pour towards the square below like a tide, their side was chatting and laughing, but the Jinwu Guards and the Five Armies soldiers on the city wall were in a dire situation. Even though they still held their bows and crossbows, their faces were filled with fear.
This was no longer just a matter of numerical disparity. A group of capital troops who had only trained in the outskirts of Beijing, facing the Xie family army that had drunk the blood of barbarians on the northwestern battlefield – there was no need for actual combat. Just this distant face-off was enough for the killing intent emanating from the thousands of troops below to intimidate them.
The advisors accompanying Wei Yan also looked desperate, but Wei Yan alone remained calm, quietly gazing at Xie Zheng’s back through the crowd.
Xie Zheng’s face was cold and resolute. He surveyed the East and West Yanchi Towers and spoke in a deep voice: “Listen, all soldiers who have followed Li and Wei in rebellion! Those who lay down their arms and surrender will be treated leniently. Those who stubbornly resist will all be charged with treason!”
His voice, clear as ringing gold and shattering jade, echoed throughout Wumen Square.
Anyone could see that Wei Yan’s situation was hopeless.
A Jinwu Guard threw down his sword, which clattered on the stone tiles. Then, the sound of weapons falling to the ground began to ring out one after another, like beads on a broken string – once the first one fell, the rest couldn’t be held back.
In an instant, the only ones still supporting Wei Yan in Wumen Square were the death squad nurtured by the Wei household.
Gong Sun Yin lightly fanned himself and said: “Prime Minister, you’ve held high office for a long time. You should know best what it means to go with the flow. Given the current situation, do you still want to struggle in vain?”
Wei Yan looked at Xie Zheng, his eyes filled with complex emotions. In the end, he only said: “I underestimated you.”
Xie Zheng coldly returned his gaze without speaking.
As the army surrounding Wei Yan and his group tightened their encirclement, the death squad members around him drew their weapons, intending to fight their way out. However, Wei Yan calmly raised his hand, stopping their action.
The people around him called out: “Prime Minister!”
Wei Yan only said: “This old man made a miscalculation and lost the entire game.”
As the Iron Guard escorted Wei Yan and the remnants of Li’s faction to the imperial prison, the uncle and nephew almost brushed shoulders, but neither said another word.
When one mountain falls, another will rise.
The golden light of the rising sun flooded the imperial city. Below, soldiers began to treat the wounded and clear the battlefield. Injured generals like Tang Peiyi and He Xiuyun were also carried to the nearby Imperial Medical Institute for treatment.
The bloodshed and chaos of the night seemed to fade in the hazy dawn. Only the scorched marks on the ground and towers that had been bombarded by artillery remained, like scars carved into the magnificent imperial city.
Xie Zheng stood silently in this world, his long eyelashes slightly lowered, lost in thought.
At the edge of the sky were auspicious morning clouds. The wind seemed to have softened, blowing the loose strands of hair by Fan Changyu’s ears. She turned her head to look at Xie Zheng: “Does this mean we’ve won?”
Xie Zheng gave a soft “mm” in response, raising his eyes to look at the wounded yet majestic towers and palaces before him. A layer of sunlight fell on his thick, long eyelashes, leaving only his eyes still profound.
Everything had settled.
Gong Sun Yin walked over casually and asked: “How will Wei Yan be dealt with?”
Xie Zheng answered: “Keep him locked up for now.”
He no longer had the heart to stay here. The fatigue from a night of fighting washed over him. He tightly held one of Fan Changyu’s hands and said to Gong Sun Yin: “I’ll leave this place to you.”
Gong Sun Yin looked at his blood-covered body and, unusually magnanimous, agreed: “Alright, I’ll take care of things here. With all your injuries, you should quickly go back and see a doctor.”
Xie Shiyi cleverly found a carriage. Xie Zheng pulled Fan Changyu’s hand and boarded the carriage. Most of the people present had already left, and not many noticed them. Even those who did notice were under Xie Zheng’s command and dared not speak or look too much.
Fan Changyu sometimes seemed to react half a beat slower. Even after getting into the carriage, she was still asking: “Mr. Gong Sun probably brought about twenty thousand troops. You said yesterday that he could set out, but Mr. Gong Sun can’t enter the capital so quickly with such a large army in just one day. They must have been near the capital early on. Was this the thing you said earlier that you couldn’t tell me about?”
Xie Eleven drove the carriage quickly. As the carriage jolted, the curtains swayed, and sunlight shone into the carriage. Fan Changyu was in a disheveled state, but under her long eyelashes, which were rimmed with a faint golden light, her eyes appeared even more pure and clear.
Xie Zheng propped himself up with one hand beside her, silently looking at her, his eyes deep and dark. Instead of answering, he raised the object in his hand and asked Fan Changyu: “What is this?”
Fan Changyu looked at the thing in his hand, soaked with fresh blood, and only now felt embarrassed. Fortunately, her face was already dirty with blood and sweat stains, so the heat rising to her face could be concealed.
She coughed lightly and turned her face away, saying: “Hair.”
Xie Zheng’s breathing became heavier for some reason as he stared at her unblinkingly.
Fan Changyu felt as if his gaze could burn a hole in her temple. She pressed her lips together, remembering her state of mind when she cut that lock of hair and felt a bit bitter. As if giving up all pretense, she said: “I heard that only by tying hair together can one become husband and wife. After discovering the trap in the Western Garden, I thought going back to find you would likely be a journey of certain death, so I cut a lock of hair. We’ve bowed to heaven and earth, even though it was fake, but we haven’t tied our hair together. If this life was only going to be this long, tying a bit of hair together would at least mean we had been husband and wife.”
Xie Zheng’s heavy breath fell on Fan Changyu’s cheek as he asked in a deep voice: “Knowing it was almost certain death, you still came back to find me. Weren’t you afraid?”
Fan Changyu said: “Of course I was afraid, but my enemy was there, and you were there too. How could I not go?”
She raised her hand to touch his face, still feeling a lingering fear as she thought of the cold arrows Wei Yan had ordered to be shot: “Fortunately, I went.”
Xie Zheng wanted to say that he would have been fine even if she hadn’t come, that he had sent her away from the battlefield in the palace precisely because he didn’t want her to be in danger. His standoff with Wei Yan had reached that point because he feared Wei Yan or Qi Min might have another move that would ruin everything. But at this moment, he couldn’t say anything.
His heart felt so full it was almost painful, yet it also felt numb as if soaking in warm springs. He lowered his head, tightly gripping one of her hands, his breathing becoming heavier with each breath. When he raised his head again, his gaze had inexplicably turned fierce.
Fan Changyu felt a jolt in her heart at that look, not knowing what she had done to provoke him again. Just then, the carriage stopped, and she lost her balance, falling into his embrace. From outside came Xie Shiyi’s voice: “Master, General, we’ve arrived at the Marquis’s mansion.”
Xie Zheng immediately pulled Fan Changyu out of the carriage and strode towards the main courtyard.
Seeing this situation, Xie Shiyi, who had originally intended to find the household doctor, slowed his steps, awkwardly scratching the back of his head in embarrassment and uncertainty.
Should he still go call for the physician?
As soon as they entered the room, Xie Zheng kicked the door shut. Fan Changyu was pushed down onto the soft couch, with him propping himself up just half a foot away from her. Their breaths intertwined, and the smell of blood on his body stimulated Fan Changyu’s senses. He seemed about to kiss her, but suddenly stood up and left, finding a dagger from somewhere. He cut a section of his long hair and tied it in a dead knot with Fan Changyu’s blood-soaked lock.
His voice was deep and hoarse: “Tying hair to become husband and wife, two hearts bound in love and trust. In life, I shall return; in death, I shall long for you eternally. I had wanted to tie our hair together on our wedding day, but you gave me yours early. I won’t return it now.” ①
Fan Changyu looked at his stern brows and eyes. Although her heart was filled with joy, at this moment she suddenly felt a lump in her throat, her eyes faintly stinging. She glared at him: “Who asked you to return it?”
Xie Zheng only stared at her for a moment before lowering his head to kiss her, fierce yet tender.
Having just been through a brutal battle, his whole body’s blood was still boiling. Seeing her risk her life to save him, and hearing her promise of the next life, the surging love in his chest coursed through his limbs along with the sizzling blood, urgently seeking an outlet.
In the chaos, blood-stained armor was thrown from the outer room to the edge of the hot spring pool in the inner chamber. In the misty vapor, as Fan Changyu leaned against the pool’s edge, applying golden wound medicine and bandages to his mangled hand, his other hand tightly gripped her waist. The water rippled, and though his hair roots were already soaked with sweat, he still locked his deep, dark gaze on her, unwilling to blink even once.
Fan Changyu stubbornly pressed her lips together, her eyes covered with a layer of misty moisture. Her neck was covered in sweat, and several times she almost dropped the bandages into the water due to her trembling hands.
Later, when she finally finished bandaging him, he pressed her nape, pulling her completely into his embrace. His actions below showed no mercy, his eyes dark and bottomless.
Fan Changyu held on until the end, finally collapsing against his shoulder in exhaustion. In her daze, she heard him whisper hoarsely against her ear: “Changyu, my wife.”
The blood flowing through the thin layer of sinews was still agitated, yet in this warmth, it found the most extreme tranquility and tenderness.