441 Holding Umbrella (2/2)

Ning Que picked up the boat with one hand and overturned it, dumping the accumulated rainwater in the hull.

The boat floated atop the calm Yanming Lake once again.

After the heavy rain, the air around the lake had become clean and refreshing. The summer heat had been swept away, and the lake breeze was filled with the sweet tangy smell of broken green branches.

The boat sailed into the corner of the field of lotuses.

Here, branches lay broken and lotus petals lay scattered across the lake surface. The lake water seemed turbid and seeped an aura of misery.

No matter how powerful thunder and lightning may be, they could not have caused this.

Among the lotus leaves and debris floating on the lake, traces of iron residue could be vaguely seen.

Looking over the broken branches in the lake, Ning Que smiled and said, ”With the crack of thunder, naught but a ruined lake remains.”

Tuyang City was located near the northeastern border of the Tang Empire. It lay beside Min Mountain, close to the Wilderness. It always remained extremely cool, even in the searing heat of midsummer. During the summer months, the rain would gradually increase, though the sound of thunder was rarely heard.

The gradual increase of rain did not mean that the locals could luxuriantly dig lakes to plant lotuses like the people in the southern parts of the country. In Tuyang City, only the General's Mansion had a lotus pond, and only a few people were able to see the lotus blossoms. In any case, there weren't too many people in this border town that had an appreciation for poetry and flowers.

However, when the people of Tuyang City saw returning troops of the Tang Empire cavalry with their broken and miserable appearance on the meadow outside the city, they were shocked and even speechless.

It had been several years since the Tang Empire Army had last suffered any kind of loss. In fact, the Northeast Border Military led by General Xia Hou had never been defeated. So why did the cavalry outside look like they had just suffered a bitter defeat?

In truth, this was no more than a misunderstanding

The Tang Empire Cavalry on the meadow outside Tuyang City had not defeated in the Wilderness. They had traveled a long distance, their armor was dyed gray with dirt and mud, and their horses were tired. The most critical thing was that all the soldiers' faces revealed expressions of numbness. There was a bitter atmosphere among the troops, which was why they had been regarded as broken troops.

The cause of this numbness among the soldiers of the Tang Empire's army was the tribes of Desolate Men in mountain woods.

A sole man's leather robe had already been torn to tatters. Blood and water mixed with dust smeared on his clothes, which themselves were stolen from god knows where. He looked extremely tired, as if he might even fall down at any time.

It was such a seriously injured man who had followed the Tang Empire cavalry from the depths of the Wilderness to the outskirts of Tuyang City and had never fallen.

The Tang Empire Cavalrymen looked at the man in the distance with a numb expression. There was even some respect in their eyes.

Over these past few days, this man had been following the Tang Empire cavalry, ready to attack the camp and assassinate General Xia Hou anytime. He tried seventeen times and failed seventeen times, but he still hadn't given up.

The Tang Empire Cavalry did want to kill the man, but with his strength and perseverance he had proven impossible to kill, especially when the Tang Empire soldiers weren't willing to pay the price of their life to do so.

Assassination, counterstrikes, geurilla tactics, and encirclements happened again and again during this long journey. Yet, the man could not kill General Xia Hou.

Neither could Xia Hou and his invincible cavalry kill the man.

After having faced him time and again, like a group of beggars in the face of an aristocrat, all of the Tang Empire cavalry, even their proudest generals, could only feel numb now.

The sound of approaching horse hooves warned the cavalry to split into two and create a path.

Xia Hou dashed over on his horse and looked at Tang, who stood on the meadow in the distance. There were no emotions on his face.

In the past few days, the Tang Empire cavalry had tried every possible tactic to kill that great warrior of the Devil's Doctrine. They had even almost succeeded several times, though they always failed eventually. Tang had also successfully approached Xia Hou several times and forced Xia Hou into a fight against him.

However, Xia Hou was never alone. He had countless horsemen as his guards. Hence, in this continuous battle of attrition, Tang would eventually find himself on the losing end.

Today's Tang was close to that breaking point. He had suffered serious injuries over the past few days. There was no longer the look of a great warrior of the Devil's Doctrine on him, he was now more akin to a poor beggar. However, Tang was not dead yet. And Tang still persevered in killing him.

Xia Hou had also suffered severe injuries. His Academy-made special armor had also been destroyed by the huge blood-red blade in Tang's hands just the day before.

”Tuyang City now lies behind me.”

Xia Hou looked at Tang on the meadow in the distance and said indifferently, ”You no longer have any chance.”

Tang said, ”I have told you that you are old.”

Xia Hou said, ”And I have told you that words like old and frail mean nothing to you or me.”

Tang said, ”The problem is that your heart is getting old. From the moment you decided to retire, you became old, and old is weak. Even if Tuyang City is less than a hundred miles away, you will definitely still die by my hands.”

Xia Hou kept silent as he realized Tang the truth in Tang's words.

”But I own Tuyang City. And Tuyang City contains countless loyal troops.”

Xia Hou said, ”And you have only yourself.”

Tang said, ”If only you could understand that fighting is ultimately a matter of one person, maybe you would not have made so many mistakes, and you would not have been as old as you are now.”

In the sweltering heat of summer, the grass rippled underneath as the eagle soared overhead.

There were countless wounds upon Tang, and his blood was still flowing. It fell on the grass and began to burn.

Xia Hou covered his mouth tightly with his fist and began to cough. There was blood left on his fingers. He was like an injured eagle that huddled to recover on the rock wall.

A bald eagle is still as majestic as any other eagle.

But an old man is less than half another man. [1]

[1] - The original ending phrase was a Chinese pun that used the Chinese words for eagle and hawk, where the word for 'eagle' (老鹰) is obtained by adding the character for 'old' (老) in front of the character for 'hawk' (鹰). The second line says that in a similar way, putting the character for 'old' in front of the character for 'man' only creates a person who is full of the stress of old age, and nothing more.

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