Pei Wugou let out a cold snort, but surprisingly, he did not take offense at the Deputy General’s words. Instead, his gaze swept over the assembled men.
“How many people did you bring this time under orders from Yunjing?”
“G-General!” The Deputy General was still shaken to the core. It took him a moment to suppress his shock and panic before he managed to answer, “This time, under orders from the Yunjing court, I brought thirty thousand elite soldiers!”
“We also recruited a large number of labor troops along the way.”
“We have ample provisions, supplies, and logistical support, no matter where they are needed.”
“My lord…”
“With so many men, we can enter Pukou City and hold it firmly. There’s no way Ren Tianye’s army will be able to get in.”
Pei Wugou shot the Deputy General a vicious glare. He had discovered that there was something rather poisonous about this Deputy General—he always seemed to bring up exactly the things that should be left unmentioned!
Pei Wugou did not wish to answer.
Someone else answered in his stead. Song Shaoyi let out a cold laugh.
“Pukou City was already taken by our Lord Duke. And you’re still talking about defending it?”
“Keep dreaming!”
“What?” The Deputy General’s face changed drastically. “Pukou City has fallen? Its walls are high and thick, and it even has red-coated cannons. How could it possibly have fallen?”
“Zhou Xiong truly is a useless fool!”
“He couldn’t even hold Pukou City!”
Song Shaoyi lazily added, “Pukou City was personally handed over to our Lord Duke by Pei Wugou.”
This was a blatant attempt to sow discord. Pei Wugou was no fool, and he naturally saw through it. He immediately flew into a rage and swung a fist into Song Shaoyi’s stomach.
In an instant, intense pain surged through Song Shaoyi like a raging sea. His entire body folded in on itself like a shrimp.
“Hmph. Thief, you certainly have a lot to say.”
Pei Wugou barked the words and turned to look at the Deputy General.
With his status, he normally had no need to explain himself to a Deputy General. But this matter had clearly begun to affect the army’s morale.
“Ren Tianye took Pukou City from us,” he said.
The Deputy General did not dare ask anything further, but he could still guess that Marquis Jingyi Pei Wugou must have suffered a considerable loss in the battle for Pukou City.
Otherwise, he would not have ended up in such a state.
He was even missing a patch of hair.
The Deputy General could only say, “My lord, if Pukou City has been taken by Ren Tianye, our army will be unable to advance any farther.”
“We can only fall back and defend from the rear!”
Pei Wugou had already made his plans.
“Then we’ll retreat to the Jiangbei fortresses. Here… I’ll make a proper plan. I swear I’ll make Ren Tianye pay in blood!”
“For today’s humiliation…”
“One day, I will repay it tenfold!”
After saying this, Pei Wugou took the Deputy General’s reins, mounted his horse, and led the army toward the fortress complex north of the river.
After traveling for some time, they set up camp.
Pei Wugou was brimming with energy. He personally led the Deputy General and the others on an inspection of the camp, making sure that everything was in order.
They could not let Ren Tianye catch them off guard again!
As they walked and inspected the camp, Pei Wugou was, on the whole, quite satisfied.
These soldiers were all elite troops sent from Yunjing. Every one of them was well trained, and, more importantly, most of them had grown up in the southern regions.
They could swim!
That was what Pei Wugou valued most.
Ren Tianye’s army was currently riding high, sweeping forward with unstoppable momentum. It had even captured Pukou City. That meant the only things standing between Yunjing and Ren Tianye were the natural barrier of the Yangtze and Zijin Mountain.
The Yangtze was especially important.
One could say that this place would determine the outcome of the entire war.
If they could completely defeat Ren Tianye at the natural defenses of the Yangtze, Yunjing would remain safe. They might even be able to use their victory and prestige to sweep across the realm.
But if Ren Tianye broke through the Yangtze defenses, then, regardless of anything else, the shock alone would be enough to throw Yunjing into chaos.
Thus, the Yangtze was their greatest shield.
And to hold the Yangtze, aside from the advantage of the terrain, they possessed another extremely important advantage.
Namely…
The ability to swim!
Most of Ren Tianye’s soldiers were northerners. Quite a few had even returned from the northern frontier or the grasslands.
In land warfare, they could rightly be called invincible beneath the heavens.
But in naval warfare, they were all landlubbers!
How could a bunch of landlubbers hope to compete with them on a river as vast as the Yangtze?
With this thought in mind, Pei Wugou felt somewhat more at ease, and his determination to avenge himself grew even stronger.
He threw himself into the camp inspection with renewed enthusiasm.
Suddenly, a series of loud voices reached his ears.
Pei Wugou frowned slightly.
“Is military discipline really this lax?”
“We set up camp so the soldiers can rest and recover, allowing us to resume our march tomorrow. What kind of conduct is it to make such a racket inside the camp?”
“Go and see what’s happening.”
The Deputy General hurried over to investigate. Before long, he returned and reported, “My lord, it’s one of the newly recruited labor troops. His features are rather feminine, so the others are teasing him. It’s nothing serious.”
Pei Wugou immediately became displeased.
“What’s wrong with having feminine features?”
“Does that mean he deserves to be mocked?”
“Hmph. How can my camp tolerate such wanton trampling of another person’s dignity?”
“Come. I want to see who dares behave so recklessly in my camp.”
He strode forward, following the sound of the commotion.
Before long, he saw where it was coming from.
It was not a serious matter. A group of soldiers who had not yet seen battle and had nothing better to do were gathered in a circle, talking animatedly. Perhaps they had become excited, and their voices had grown somewhat heated.
Pei Wugou had no intention of pursuing the matter.
Though he had not set foot in a military camp for five years, he understood the situation in one well enough.
Soldiers chatting and fooling around was not a problem.
He was about to lead the senior officers elsewhere to continue their patrol when the crowd’s voices suddenly rose another level.
“Ho, ho, Little Sir, back from relieving yourself?”
“How strange. Everyone else does their business right in front of the others, but you have to sneak off somewhere else. Why is that, I wonder? It’s so hard to guess.”
“Hahaha! Little Sir, you wouldn’t happen to be a woman, would you?”
“Hey, don’t talk nonsense. This fellow is clearly a Little Sir, just like the rest of us. What woman? Don’t be ridiculous… Say, Little Sir, which tent are you sleeping in tonight? How about you sleep with me? We can huddle together and keep each other warm.”
“That’s right, I can vouch for him. He’s definitely a Little Sir. And tonight, I’m sleeping with him. We have to share the same communal bed.”
“No way! We should be sharing a communal bed!”
…
Every one of those words reached Pei Wugou’s ears. He did not particularly like what he heard, but he did not say anything either.
He was just about to lead the senior officers away when his gaze suddenly swept across the Little Sir everyone was talking about.
The instant he saw that person, Pei Wugou’s entire body shook.
He stared again in shock. Though the Little Sir had changed into men’s clothing and done his best to make himself look like a man, there was no mistaking her.
They had spent several years together. How could he possibly fail to recognize her?
“This… This is my beloved!”
“W-What is she doing here?”
…
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
