The successive blows left Da Jiu motionless, staring blankly at the floor before its paws.
Chu Diangjiang pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to An Jiu.
She took it and wiped her hands. “What did you want to say?”
Chu Diangjiang’s style of expressing affection differed from Sheng Changying’s. After pondering for a while, he decided on a “remembering hardships, cherishing sweetness” approach. He took An Jiu’s hand and sincerely delivered his opening line, “Ajiu, I’m truly fortunate to have met you in this lifetime.”
Perhaps because the mood hadn’t been set properly, An Jiu was momentarily stunned, unsure how to react.
Chu Diangjiang had intended to say something like “I wish to spend my life with you,” but upon reflection, he realized it would sound too abrupt and cliché. So he went straight to the point, “Do you remember our first meeting?”
At that time, Chu Diangjiang hadn’t intended to capture her alive and meant her no harm, yet her every move had been ruthless. An Jiu nodded, “Yes, you came to capture me, and I stabbed you.”
“That’s not the main point,” Chu Diangjiang ignored this mood-breaking comment. “From our first encounter, you amazed me. Despite lacking inner strength, you could hold your own against a master. Such uniqueness and excellence naturally piqued my curiosity.”
“I know,” An Jiu said, completely oblivious to the concept of modesty.
Chu Diangjiang sighed inwardly, feeling this topic was going nowhere. He continued, “Later, when the incident at Meihua occurred, I brought you out. When you heard about the Mei clan’s extermination, you showed no shock or distress…”
“I remember,” An Jiu nodded. “Afterward, I gathered my strength and fought you. It was quite satisfying.”
“That’s not the point,” Chu Diangjiang patted her back and continued, “What’s important is that at that moment, I suddenly discovered another side of you hidden beneath your cold, bloodthirsty exterior.”
An Jiu stiffened briefly, then relaxed, wrapping her arms around his waist.
Chu Diangjiang felt a warmth in his heart. Holding her, he asked with a smile, “Do you remember when we fought our way out of Piaomiao Manor together?”
An Jiu remained silent.
Knowing she was lost in memories, Chu Diangjiang didn’t rush to interrupt.
After a moment, An Jiu said, “I killed eighty-nine experts.”
So she had been counting all this time!
“That’s not the point,” Chu Diangjiang, now accustomed to her “mood-killing” tendencies, continued, “What I want to say is, fighting side by side with you, I realized you were the partner I had been looking for.”
An Jiu paused, frowning, “Because I can kill?”
“No. Because seeing you in a frenzied state during battle, my heart ached, and I was overcome with the desire to protect you for life.” It had taken Chu Diangjiang some time to understand that this wasn’t pity, but love.
They had often been on different wavelengths, but on this issue, An Jiu surprisingly aligned with his thinking. Neither of them was particularly empathetic, but because they had fallen in love and cared for each other, they could feel that heartache.
“I used to believe that a great man should aspire to rule the world. Even a beautiful woman by his side would be mere decoration. But somehow, I changed,” Chu Diangjiang sighed. “I began to set aside important matters, fearing you might be in danger.”
Eventually, he would even postpone things he once considered crucial just to see her, to spend a little more time with her.
At first, he struggled with this, feeling he was becoming increasingly degenerate. It seemed laughable that a man full of ambition couldn’t overcome the allure of a beautiful woman. However, it wasn’t long before he found himself relishing this “fall from grace.”
Abandoning one’s ideals for a woman might seem cowardly from any angle, but Chu Diangjiang no longer cared.
“With one person by my side, why need an empire?” Chu Diangjiang said, half-jokingly.
“Chu Diangjiang, go back,” An Jiu said.
Chu Diangjiang paused briefly.
“Is this okay?” An Jiu appreciated the sense of security Chu Diangjiang provided but was reluctant to see him shed his brilliance to become a carefree wanderer. “I feel like you were born for the world of power and strategy.”
“Ajiu, I’m old,” Chu Diangjiang said softly. “My heart has aged.”
This was the generation gap between them. An Jiu was just beginning to search for life’s meaning, while Chu Diangjiang had weathered the storms of life.
From the moment of his rebirth, Chu Diangjiang had felt no joy in his new life. Wealth, family, fame – he could discard them all in an instant. He deceived himself into thinking he could cast everything aside and start anew, but in reality, his heart was still filled with resentment for the futility of his efforts in his previous life. Everything he did was out of instinct, out of unwillingness to accept defeat, while the passion of his youth had long since faded.
If he were still living in the Warring States period, Chu Diangjiang would certainly have sought to turn the tables in his favor. However, spanning across time, with the irreversibility of the past, and looking back at the history from the Warring States to the Liao and Song dynasties, he seemed to have grasped the underlying patterns of the rise and fall of empires. Even the most brilliant strategies could only create ripples in the river of history, leaving him feeling that everything was ultimately meaningless.
It wasn’t until he met An Jiu that he gradually felt a new vitality in his life. Rebirth truly began at this moment. Perhaps years later, he might reignite his fighting spirit. But for now, he sincerely wanted to set everything aside, take his beloved woman, invite a few close friends, and immerse himself in nature, viewing the world with a relaxed and content attitude. Only then would he feel his life was not lived in vain.
He didn’t voice these thoughts aloud, knowing that even if described in detail, someone who hadn’t experienced it wouldn’t truly understand.
“But I…” An Jiu struggled to express her inner thoughts.
Chu Diangjiang stroked her hair, his gaze tender. “Let me guess… you must not have lived long in your previous life.”
An Jiu nodded.
“Your killing skills couldn’t have been honed in just a few years. You must have either undergone cruel training or been constantly killing in your past life,” Chu Diangjiang’s tone grew increasingly gentle as he spoke.
In essence, An Jiu’s previous life had been wasted, save for acquiring her skills. She had been nothing more than a killing machine, devoid of self.
Those blood-soaked memories had shaped her inner world, making it vastly different from others. If she wanted to live a normal life, she first needed to find herself, become a normal person, and experience what normal people should.
They were at different points – one at sunset, the other at dawn – but weren’t they both at the intersection of night and day?
Chu Diangjiang remained optimistic. “Do whatever you want to do. I’ll always be by your side. I have my plans too, which won’t conflict with yours.”
“If that’s what you like, then it’s good,” An Jiu’s eyes sparkled as she thought about her plans. “I want to rebuild the Dragon Warrior Guard.”
A flicker of concern crossed Chu Diangjiang’s face before he calmly asked, “Why?”
“After hearing about the Dragon Warrior Guard, I found it interesting. Besides, it’s the only thing I’m good at,” An Jiu pondered, realizing that organizing a military force was different from using force to prevent things. “I want to be a good person, the officially recognized kind.”
Hearing that she wasn’t influenced by any residual intentions from Gu Jinghou’s bloodline, Chu Diangjiang relaxed slightly. “Alright, work hard on it. But before that, quickly resolve the bounty list issue.”
“Okay,” An Jiu agreed.
“Do you want me to accompany you?” Chu Diangjiang asked.
An Jiu shook her head.
Chu Diangjiang felt a bit dissatisfied. “I should have had someone take care of it immediately back then.”
At that time, Chu Diangjiang had been busy and delayed it for a while. Later, An Jiu inexplicably decided to handle it herself. He had checked and found it wasn’t a major task, so he readily left it for her to deal with, which he now slightly regretted.
Thinking about this, Chu Diangjiang suddenly felt embarrassed, remembering he was supposed to be expressing his affection earlier.
“Oh, right. I promised Sui Yunzhu earlier that I’d help him find a wife. He likes feisty women. Since you’re free now, why don’t you help with this?” An Jiu, having made new plans, still remembered the “business” she hadn’t been able to complete.