“You’re blessed without knowing your blessings!” Wu She deliberately drew out his voice as he spoke.

“When others suffer defeat, they’re either beheaded or demoted. Only when you’re defeated does nothing happen—those generals and commanders still have to apologize to you. You’re a scholarly person who has read the history books. Look at this favor—who can compare? At most, the Champion Marquis could compare with you, but who knew he was short-lived.”

“Hehe, I’ve always been fortunate. As long as I treat someone well, they’ll treat me well in return. Always fortunate.” Speaking of this, Yun Ye was complacent. Generally speaking, in Great Tang he still hadn’t made any mortal enemies. With great difficulty there was one Zhang Liang, but now the Emperor had sent him to Bozhou, where he was probably gnawing on pickled vegetables. As for the rest, even if they were a bit petty, they acted from their respective family interests—nothing could be done about that. When Li Er’s interests clashed with their families’ interests, even he wouldn’t relent, let alone a small national marquis like himself.

“This old man is different from you—a wretch who suffered bad luck for a lifetime. Only these past two years with you have I enjoyed a bit of peaceful fortune. My backbone grows harder and harder—no need to bow all day long. Boy, do you know how comfortable that is? The present days, this old man didn’t dare imagine. I always thought I would die alone in a cold, desolate palace, rolled up in a reed mat by someone and buried in a mass grave mound, left for wild dogs to devour.”

“Now, at least I know that after this old man dies, at least you’ll be sad for a while, get me a decent coffin, find a place with good feng shui to bury me. During festivals and holidays, who knows, I might even receive your letters. For a eunuch, with such an outcome, what more can one ask?”

Hearing Wu She describe himself so miserably, Yun Ye replied: “If you’re afraid of being lonely after death, when I return, I’ll have Yuan Tiangang find a place with excellent feng shui and arrange positions for all of you. Mister Li Gang says he won’t return to his ancestral grave. Mister Yushan and Mister Yuanzhang think the same. Lishi—that’s my brother-in-law—has good skills and no health problems, so he probably won’t want to be buried there. When the time comes, you can keep each other company. Wouldn’t that be delightful?”

Hearing Yun Ye speak of these posthumous matters without any hesitation, Wu She laughed heartily and pointed at Yun Ye, saying: “Good idea, good idea! This old man’s position should face the sunny slope. Having been in shadow for a lifetime, I can’t become a yin ghost to harm people after death. Plenty of sunshine—that’s beneficial.”

Unknowingly, the sky had completely darkened. The personal guards lit a fire—this was Yun Ye’s special instruction. Firelight proved there were living people, so the watchtower on Mount Dahei wouldn’t grow suspicious.

Liu Jinbao brought food to Yun Ye—all his usual favorites, yet today Yun Ye ate as if chewing wax. He had always been one for whom eating was paramount, yet today he truly couldn’t eat.

Wu She suddenly put down his food tray. With a wave of his hand, everyone immediately fell silent. After listening for another moment, he said to Yun Ye with a darkened face: “Ships are coming, and there are sounds of battle cries.”

Yun Ye’s heart immediately leapt to his throat. Battle cries at this time—could his great plan have changed? Picking up the loaded crossbow at his feet, he followed Wu She toward the source of the sound. Liu Jinbao waved his hand, and immediately one family retainer ran toward the warship to have them prepare to respond. The others quickly pursued after Yun Ye.

Passing through the forest, Yun Ye and Wu She stood in the pitch-black woods, watching the not-too-distant beach ahead. Under the dim starlight, cold glints occasionally flashed, mixed with a woman’s screams. From the sound, she didn’t seem to be from Great Tang.

“Both groups are Goguryeo people. One group has only five, including one woman. The other group has a full thirty-one, all skilled fighters. However, among those five people is a blade-wielding expert. The cold glints you see are his blade flashes. Every strike is a killing blow. This fellow has three more blades on his back—one person using four blades must be an exceptionally brave and fierce battlefield general.”

Only then did Yun Ye’s heart settle. As long as his plan hadn’t leaked, dog-eat-dog affairs didn’t concern him. So he and Wu She stood together in the darkness watching those blurred figures continuously fighting and killing.

Liu Jinbao and the others formed a semicircular encirclement, surrounding Yun Ye and Wu She in the center. Each person carried a horizontal blade on their back, held a short spear in hand, and had a crossbow hanging at their waist. Now they had all removed their crossbows and held them ready. With just one order from Yun Ye, none of those Goguryeo people on the beach would survive.

After all, it passed the time. Watching Goguryeo people’s combat scenes wasn’t bad. Yun Ye, who used to feel distressed seeing dead people, now found the sound of weapons cutting into bone extremely stimulating.

Just as his subordinates were about to be killed off, the man carrying four blades suddenly threw the woman on his back far away. His now-free other hand also drew a blade from his back. The two blades danced into a ball of light as he killed his way into the enemy group. Continuous screams and sounds of clashing weapons came forth, making Yun Ye continuously rub his hands together. So satisfying!

“He’s indeed an expert at wielding twin blades. Goguryeo martial arts has too much flourish—can’t compare to our Tang Hand. In battlefield combat, such moves will lead to a miserable death.”

“But he’s very formidable! Look, he’s almost finished killing those thirty-one people. Wow, look at that—that person’s head flew up, blood spurting high!”

“If Xiao Ying were here, those thirty-one people would be long dead. If Gou Zi were here, those people would also be dead. Now there are still five left—that’s the difference between him and Xiao Ying and Gou Zi.”

When the last enemy’s head was half-sliced off, the beach finally quieted down. That woman stumbled and ran to the man’s side, crying softly in grief.

The man struck a fire starter and lit a pile of dead branches. By the light, he carefully examined his five subordinates. Ignoring the other three, he lifted a continuously wailing man and said something unintelligible. Yun Ye saw very clearly—the knife in his hand thrust straight in from the injured man’s ribs. The wounded man’s cries immediately stopped. After killing someone, this fellow even sang a song with chattering sounds. The woman beside him and another less seriously injured man knelt on the ground singing together. Only after singing three times did they stop.

He put down the already-dead man and tore strips of cloth from his own body to bandage the lightly wounded man. After bandaging was complete, the injured man immediately searched among those corpses but couldn’t find anything after a long time.

Yun Ye found it boring and let out a big yawn. Tears came out. Just as he prepared to wipe them, Wu She stood before him, reached out his hand, and caught a gleaming long blade.

Yun Ye jumped in fright. You bastard—I just yawned and you throw a blade at me? Seeking death? He twisted his head to glance at Liu Jinbao. Gritting his teeth, Liu Jinbao didn’t care about anything—the crossbow in his hand fired immediately. The other family retainers’ crossbows also fired together. In a moment, arrows flew like locusts. That injured fellow immediately became a porcupine. Though the blade-wielding man continuously danced his long blade and his martial arts were formidable, he still couldn’t block the crossbows. He could protect his upper body and the woman behind him but had no way to protect his legs. When four or five crossbow bolts pierced his legs, he knelt on the ground still trying hard to strike away the incoming crossbows.

Yun Ye stopped the family retainers from their intention to finish him off. He walked out from the forest. Wu She walked behind with hands clasped behind his back. That man kneeling on both knees pulled the woman behind himself, loudly saying something.

Liu Jinbao walked before the man and struck away the long blade in his hands with one blow, kicked him to the ground, stepped on his neck, and turning back said to Yun Ye: “Young master, shall we cut off his dog head?”

That woman desperately pulled at Liu Jinbao’s foot. After being kicked away, she crawled back to continue pulling, loudly speaking strange Goguryeo words.

“You are Tang people. Why would you come to our land? Could it be war has begun?” The man with his face pressed to the beach turned his head and looked at the approaching Yun Ye, asking with difficulty.

“I simply like this island and plan to build a residence here, keeping it for retirement in the future. The scenery here is beautiful—a good place for retirement.” Yun Ye lowered his head and looked at the man, speaking slowly.

“This is Goguryeo land, not Tang territory. You don’t have this qualification.”

“Why not? I’m a Tang person. Things I fancy all belong to me. Of course, if this island is yours, if I like it, it will also become mine. This is Tang people’s privilege.”

“Are all Tang people so arrogant? I remember beside the Liao River there’s still a huge viewing mound with many Tang people’s bones. Have you forgotten so quickly?”

“Haven’t forgotten. This time, I’ve come to retrieve those bones and collect some interest while I’m at it. By the way, haven’t asked you yet—did you steal someone’s wife, put a green hat on someone, and get chased for it?”

“Dream on! If you dare enter the Liao River, the Beisha City garrison will know, and the Sanshanpu navy will block you in the Liao River and kill you like killing turtles.” The man’s arms were twisted behind his back by two other family retainers and bound with a very fine silk thread. Ever since the previous lesson with Qiu Ran Ke, when Yun Ye faced such highly skilled martial artists, he only trusted his silk threads and never believed in ox sinew or hemp rope.

The family retainers stabbed all the corpses on the ground again with short spears before walking toward the seaside. There were two not-very-large merchant ships moored there. After searching them, they said to Yun Ye: “My lord, no one on the ships. Two young maidservants are already dead.”

Yun Ye nodded and ordered the family retainers to hide the ships. He himself brought that half-dead man back to his camping place. The woman didn’t need managing—crying and sobbing, she followed behind without any intention of running.

Looking at the sky, it remained pitch black. The moon hadn’t yet climbed up. He sat with Wu She by the fire to warm themselves, ordering family retainers to remove the crossbow bolts from the man and bandage his wounds properly. Yun Ye always felt this fellow wasn’t simple and seemed very useful. He never wasted social resources.

The man faced the pain of arrow removal without changing expression. Looking at Yun Ye, he said: “Looking at your appearance, you should also be nobility. My wife’s body is frail—give her a blanket. I’m also nobility. This is the respect I should receive.”

Yun Ye made an “oh” sound, pulled over the blanket beside him, rolled it up, and tossed it to the woman. The woman quickly wrapped the blanket around the man and nestled against him, sobbing softly.