As Cui Xun had predicted, the Great Zhou was indeed planning to wage war against the Turks.

Six years ago, the Tianwei Army had been annihilated, and the six provinces of the Guannei Circuit had been lost. After six years of military preparation, the Great Zhou had finally developed the capability to fight against the Turks. However, due to intense factional struggles at court, no one had dared to deploy troops rashly during the serious internal conflicts. Now, with all power in the Empress Dowager’s hands, she could finally confidently deploy troops and generals to reclaim the lost six provinces.

This was also how she would make amends for her son’s wrongdoing.

Since learning about the military campaign, Cui Xun had been deeply preoccupied. Li Ying saw this but pretended not to notice.

The fifteenth day of the tenth month was Cui Xun’s twenty-third birthday. Li Ying had prepared a bowl of longevity noodles for him early in the day. She handed him the white glazed bowl of noodles and said embarrassedly, “I’ve never made longevity noodles before. Try them?”

After a period of recovery, Cui Xun had removed the silk wrappings from his fingers. However, his joints had been deformed and were no longer as nimble as before. He tried several times before he could barely grip the silver chopsticks. After taking a bite, Li Ying looked at him expectantly. Cui Xun said, “It’s very delicious.”

Li Ying could hardly believe it. She tasted it herself and asked Cui Xun doubtfully, “You call this delicious?”

The noodles were bland and tasteless, like chewing wax, with absolutely no connection to the word “delicious.”

Cui Xun nodded and even finished the entire bowl of noodles. “Yes, it’s very delicious.”

He had never been particularly demanding about food. When he was younger, he had some standards, but after those years with the Turks, just being alive was good enough—how could he be picky about food? Li Ying rested her chin on her hand and said, “When I was making the longevity noodles just now, I made a wish.”

Cui Xun put down his silver chopsticks and smiled gently. “Did you wish for me to live to a hundred?”

“No,” Li Ying shook her head. “I wish that you would get your heart’s desire.”

Cui Xun was slightly taken aback. Li Ying smiled, “I want to play chess. Would you play with me?”

Cui Xun came back to his senses and nodded. “Yes.”

For the entire day, he accompanied Li Ying playing chess and drinking tea. When night began to fall, Li Ying finally said, “Seventeen Lang, today is the fifteenth. I want to go out and release a river lantern.”

After Li Ying had appeared to the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager was shocked to realize that her beloved daughter’s soul had remained in the human world. She therefore ordered all the major Buddhist temples in Chang’an to hold ceremonies on the fifteenth of each month to pray for her beloved daughter. As a result, the people of Chang’an also got into the habit of releasing river lanterns at Qujiang on the fifteenth day to ward off evil and disaster, and to help departed souls.

Cui Xun nodded. He put on a black crane-patterned cloak and left the Cui residence with Li Ying. A Kunlun slave drove them to the banks of the Qujiang River and then went back. It was almost curfew time, and the vendors selling river lanterns were also hurriedly packing up to go home. Cui Xun looked at the lanterns and asked, “Which one do you want?”

He was asking Li Ying, but the vendor thought he was asking him, so he pointed to a lotus-shaped river lantern and said, “This one sells the most. It’s the prettiest.”

This lotus lantern was indeed the most beautiful among all the river lanterns. The lantern was made of paper as thin as cicada wings, cut into the shape of a lotus flower with overlapping petals. In the center of the flower, there was a red candle. When Li Ying saw the lotus lantern, she shook her head instinctively, but Cui Xun said, “Let’s take this one.”

He paid the silver, and after thanking him, the vendor quickly packed up the unsold lanterns and hurried home. In an instant, the banks of the Qujiang River were empty except for the Golden Crow Guards patrolling with torches. When they saw Cui Xun, they dared not urge him to leave but merely cupped their hands in greeting before continuing their patrol elsewhere, allowing Cui Xun to stay by the riverbank.

A gust of wind arose, and Cui Xun coughed violently several times. Li Ying reached out to tuck his black crane-patterned cloak more securely around him. She was wrapped in a snow-white fox fur, which made her face appear even paler. Cui Xun said to her, “If you’re cold, let’s go back.”

“I’m not cold,” Li Ying said. “Today is your birthday, and it’s also the day of the fifteenth ceremony—a rare occasion. I don’t want to go back too early.”

Cui Xun had no choice but to hand her the lotus lantern. Li Ying took it and said, “I thought you wouldn’t choose this lantern.”

Cui Xun glanced at the lotus lantern and said, “I used to hate the nickname ‘Lotus Lad,’ but now, I don’t care so much anymore.”

He was even more frail and thin than when Li Ying had first met him, so thin that he seemed like he might disappear at any moment. Li Ying even wondered in her heart if he felt his days were numbered, so things he used to care about no longer mattered to him. She suppressed the sorrow in her heart, lit the candle on the lotus lantern with a fire starter, and walked to the banks of the Qujiang River.

Many river lanterns had already been released onto the river—some shaped like animals, some like flowers, but most were lotus-shaped. The lanterns floated slowly on the water’s surface, with flickering candlelight inside, like countless stars illuminating the night sky. The trees along the riverbank cast dappled shadows on the water’s surface, intertwining with the light from the lanterns, creating a scene of indescribable beauty. Li Ying noticed that some of the lanterns at her feet had wishes written on them—hopes for a long life with a loved one, for success in the next year’s imperial examinations, for the health and prosperity of children. Cui Xun asked her, “Do you want to write a wish on the lantern?”

Li Ying shook her head. “No need. I can just make a wish to myself.”

She silently closed her eyes, made a wish, then squatted down and placed the lotus lantern on the water’s surface, watching as it slowly drifted away with the current.

She stood up and asked Cui Xun, “Do you know what wish I made?”

“Hmm?”

Li Ying looked at him and smiled. “I hope that in this military campaign, you can drive out the barbarians in one sweep and reclaim our territory.”

Cui Xun was completely stunned. Li Ying pretended to be casual and said, “Don’t you want to volunteer to Mother and lead the northern expedition?”

Cui Xun pressed his lips together, his eyes gradually moistening. “Mingyue Pearl…”

“I know you can’t let it go. You feel that the six provinces were lost while in the hands of the Tianwei Army, so you must represent the Tianwei Army in taking them back. You want to restore the pride of the Tianwei Army and, more importantly, your pride, isn’t that right?”

Cui Xun remained silent for a long time before finally speaking with difficulty. “Mingyue Pearl, I’m sorry. I know I’m being selfish…”

Before he could finish, Li Ying interrupted him. “How are you being selfish? You want to reclaim lost territory, save the people of the six provinces, and achieve final redemption for the Tianwei Army and yourself. This is such a wonderful thing. I’m more than happy about it. Why are you apologizing to me?”

Her words were brave, but her eyes were filled with tears. Cui Xun was going to war, and she could no longer walk during the day. With her weakened spirit, she couldn’t accompany him on the expedition. She could only wait for him in Chang’an.

Cui Xun felt increasingly guilty. Both he and Li Ying knew very well that this northern expedition was his path to redemption, but also a journey of no return. Given his current frail health, he simply couldn’t come back. Li Ying was destined to wait for someone who would never return.

Cui Xun lowered his head and murmured, “No, Mingyue Pearl, I will do my utmost to come back to see you.”

No matter how bitter the medicine, he would drink it with pleasure. He still hoped to return and spend a long time with Li Ying.

Li Ying smiled through her tears. She threw herself into Cui Xun’s arms, tightly hugging his waist. Her tears fell onto his black crane-patterned cloak and disappeared without a trace. She choked, “Good, I’ll wait for you to come back.”

The day he left Chang’an, Cui Xun took nothing with him except the lotus sachet containing their hair strands.

Before parting, Li Ying tucked his black crane-patterned cloak around him. With a thousand words in her heart, she only said, “Be careful on the journey.”

Cui Xun looked at her steadily. He bent down to kiss her forehead, and then her lips. He raised his eyes and said, “Mingyue Pearl, having met you in this life, I… have no regrets.”

Li Ying looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Having met you, I also have no regrets.”

How fortunate they were—he to have met the woman who saved him from the path of asura, she to have met a soul that would never surrender and would always remain resilient. Cui Xun, enduring the pain in his heart, said softly, “Mingyue Pearl, don’t come to see me off. I’m afraid if you do, I won’t be able to leave.”

Li Ying pouted, “You’re trying to fool me. Even if I went, you wouldn’t be reluctant to leave.”

Because in his heart, some things were more important than love.

And in her heart, it was the same.

No matter how heartbroken she was, she would not stop him from going to this battlefield where death was almost certain. Because she was a princess of the Great Zhou, and on that battlefield were millions of Great Zhou citizens waiting for the royal army to save them.

She said, “But I won’t come to see you off, because I’m afraid if I do, I won’t be able to let you go.”

Cui Xun looked at her jade-like face, his heart aching as if cut by a knife. How could he bear to part from her? He bent down again to kiss her lips. He could only repeatedly promise, trying to alleviate her pain: “Mingyue Pearl, I will come back.”

Li Ying’s eyes glistened with tears. “This is your promise. You can’t lie to me, or I won’t speak to you anymore.”

Cui Xun nodded. Finally, gritting his teeth, he turned away and left the Cui residence with a heavy heart.

He dared not look back.

While some were heartbroken, others were jubilant. The people of Chang’an were extremely enthusiastic about this northern expedition. Six years of humiliation would finally be washed away today. When soldiers wearing bright armor rode white horses out of the Daming Palace, the people cheered on both sides of the official road. Young women even broke off plum blossoms and threw them shyly at the gallant young men. Everyone hoped this army would soon reclaim the lost territory. When Cui Xun’s carriage drove through the midst of the soldiers, someone keenly noticed the flag carried behind the carriage: “Tian… Wei?”

The Tianwei Army?

Had the Empress Dowager named this elite force the Tianwei Army?

Was the Tianwei Army being rebuilt?

Everyone was stunned. They watched as the reconstituted Tianwei Army marched in a line toward the city gate. Six years ago, the Tianwei Army had been annihilated at Luoyan Ridge, dying heroically for the country, resulting in the loss of the six provinces of the Guannei Circuit. Six years later, the Tianwei Army was going to take back the six provinces from the hands of the Turks.

This was Cui Xun’s persistence. Everything had begun with the Tianwei Army, and it would end with the Tianwei Army.

When the troops reached Tonghua Gate, He Shisan and other youths blocked Cui Xun’s carriage. Cui Xun lifted the carriage curtain, and He Shisan stood tall and straight, saying, “We want to join the Tianwei Army too.”

Cui Xun said, “War is not a game. Your elder brothers have already sacrificed themselves for the country, and most of your families have only you left as sons. You should go back.”

“It’s precisely because our brothers have already sacrificed themselves for the country that we don’t want to be cowards,” He Shisan said. “We want to fight the Turks and avenge our brothers!”

Cui Xun still shook his head. “Those under fourteen cannot join the army.”

“I’m old enough, and so is he,” He Shisan pointed to the youths beside him, counting them one by one. “He just turned fourteen yesterday. We’re all fourteen or older!”

He simply grabbed the reins of the carriage and knelt with the other youths, pleading, “We know war is not a game, and we know we might die on the battlefield. But we’re not afraid. Our brothers were brave men, and we’re not cowards!”

Cui Xun stared at them. Before his eyes appeared one young, passionate face after another. After a moment of silence, he finally nodded slowly. “Alright, you can come with me.”

The youths were overjoyed and followed behind Cui Xun’s carriage. From then on, they became members of the Tianwei Army, just like their elder brothers.

As the dawn broke and the morning sun rose, the Lotus Lad in the carriage led the newly formed Tianwei Army soldiers past Tonghua Gate, where Sheng Yunting was buried, heading toward the distant Yin Mountains.

The Empress Dowager mobilized troops from the entire country, gathering an army of three hundred thousand, commanded by Cui Xun. Cui Xun led the army, departing from Ningshuo and heading north.

On the twentieth day of the eleventh month, they recaptured Yan Prefecture.

On the first day of the twelfth month, they recaptured You Prefecture.

On the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, they recaptured Sheng Prefecture.

On the second day of the first month, they recaptured Xia Prefecture.

On the twenty-sixth day of the first month, they recaptured Qing Prefecture.

On the thirteenth day of the second month, they recaptured Feng Prefecture.

The army advanced like an unstoppable force, pressing from Feng Prefecture toward the Turkic court. Snow covered bows and swords, and the Khan fled in the night.

In this campaign, the Turks were driven out of the Yin Mountains and forced to retreat a thousand miles. The Turkic Yabgu was killed by Cui Xun’s crossbow during the battle, and his corpse was trampled into mud by He Shisan and others. Those who humiliate others will be humiliated themselves.

The Turkic Khan Sutai was killed during the retreat, and the Turks fell into internal turmoil, no longer having the power to oppose the Great Zhou.

The northern expedition, which had lasted nearly four months, ended in a great victory.

On the first day of the third month, Cui Xun led the army back to the capital.

On the tenth day of the third month, he died of illness on the journey home.

At the same time, a wooden box was delivered to the Cui residence in Chang’an. Inside the box were one thousand grasshoppers.