486 A Hero Past His Prime (1/2)

Fu Baoguo was a seasoned veteran of the battlefield. In spite of his hopes to save the old marshal, he did not foolishly deploy all of his military strength in the relief operation but kept half of the Steel Cavalry behind. After all, his current responsibility was to build another Resilience Fortress and block Dongxuan's invasion the best he could!

However, the tides of the battle were quickly changing. As Yun Yang entered the fray, their side's morale was significantly boosted. Since the Serving Troop and half of the Steel Cavalry had already united with the Old Marshal's guards, he had to give it a go. Otherwise, not only was there the chance that the old marshal's remaining ship would be lost, the Serving Troop and half of his Steel Cavalry would have to be buried together as well!

By then, the loss outweighed the gain; the chances for his combat force to rebuild the new defense line would be greatly damaged. How could they then defend against Dongxuan's army?

By the looks of it now, with Yutang's morale skyrocketing over the roof, not only could the Old Marshal's ship be saved, half of the Steel Cavalry and Serving Troop would not suffer from too many casualties. Besides, the current situation was advantageous to Yutang and they could retaliate by counterattacking Dongxuan to stump their spirits with the given chance. It would benefit the continuation of warfare afterward!

It was with such judgment that Fu Baoguo decided to give it his all and performed a direct attack.

Yun Yang finally heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Fu Baoguo taking action. With the breathing room he had, he retrieved a few bottles of pills from his ring and gave three pills each to Bai Yixue and the rest. The group had long been exhausted, barely supporting themselves with a breath of life and pushing themselves beyond the point of exertion; being passed good medicine, they asked no questions and swallowed them directly.

It was not yet time for pleasantries and checking up on each other. Having regained their energy, they pushed themselves again to charge outward and kill everything and everyone along the way. It was the right time to do so as Dongxuan's troop was still without a commander; unable to react, they were a disorderly mess.

When Zhan Ge returned to another flag podium and moved to resume his commands to reorganize his troops, he saw Yutang's army already storming away in the form of a raging dragon.

Yutang had successfully broken the siege and was leaving!

Seeing that the general picture was had been painted, Zhan Ge came down sullenly and sprinted over to Han Sanhe, speaking in a grumbling tone, ”Teacher, why…”

Just as the words left his tongue, he knew that his tone was too harsh and disrespectful nor was it an appropriate attitude to speak to his teacher. He shut up subconsciously.

Han Sanhe smiled and replied, ”You wanted to ask me why didn't I take the baton to command just now, do you not?”

Zhan Ge nodded.

Han Sanhe had not intervened in the battle to take down Qiu Jianhan. The entire battle was handled solely by him. In fact, Han Sanhe had given up commanding the army since they charged out of the west gate of the Fortress of Resilience, and had passed all the power to Zhan Ge.

”Qiu Jianhan is a few years older than I am.”

Han Sanhe watched the fluttering flag and sighed rather dejectedly, saying, ”From his military career alone, he is my senior; in fact, we are each other's confidants in this lifelong war…”

”Previously, I had to listen to your plan and tried to ambush Qiu Jianhan with an arrow to wound him severely. I already felt helpless then… Now, I really can't bring myself to see this nemesis of mine, this lifelong opponent… to just die like this in the battlefield. I will not see him die incomplete, dismembered on the battlefield…”

Han Sanhe's tone was laced with so much lamentation that Zhan Ge was stunned when he heard his teacher. Suddenly, he seemed to understand what Han Sanhe was thinking and felt his heart lurch.

To die on the battlefield was every militant's destiny as well as his moment of utmost glory. However, it did not include being beheaded when one was incapable of fighting back and unaware of what was happening! To a fighter, that would be the biggest humiliation that could never be washed away!

A hero's end should be dying from fighting on the battlefield, not to be killed after an ambush, unconscious and holding on to the last breath for it to be the enemy's merit.

Who was to say today's Qiu Jianhan was not tomorrow's Han Sanhe and even Zhan Ge himself later on! Zhan Ge thought his teacher must have seen himself from Qiu Jianhan's eyes; putting himself in their shoes, Zhan Ge was thoughtful.

”Notable generals are like ravishing beauties since the beginning of time.” Han Sanhe sighed dejectedly, ”The world is not allowed to see their white hair. Qiu Jianhan… his hair and beard are all white now…”

The pauses in his speech caused Zhan Ge to feel as if he had been hit by a drum or hammer.

That was right; be it a god of war or legendary marshal of their time, they had to step back from the long stretch of history eventually. The glorious prime of life that belonged to them… was no more than dozens of years at most! Like Qiu Jianhan, like his teacher, they were already the luckiest of those present.

”Yutang has lost this war. There are no two ways about it.” Qiu Jianhan said in a melancholic tone, ”I believe even if Qiu Jianhan can survive, for now, he won't be able to last for more than a couple of days. Zhan Ge, why must a hero be killed in such a way that his remains won't be intact? No matter how vicious he was when you faced each other, how much a headache he's been, nothing can deny the fact that he's an opponent worthy of respect and a hero worthy of anyone's, especially militants', tribute!”

Zhan Ge was ashamed, bowing in agreement, and spoke no further on the issue.

…

On the other side, amidst the chaos that ensued, Yun Yang and the others had finally arrived at Fu Baoguo's base, all the while guarding Qiu Jianhan's carriage.

Fu Baoguo sprinted to them at once, asking with anxiousness displayed on his face, ”How is the old marshal? Is it serious?”

Yun Yang sighed, feeling equally heavyhearted, if not more than Fu Baoguo. Truthfully, he wanted to ask the same question; he wanted to ask it when he charged over just now. However, he dared not ask. He was terrified, afraid that the answer he heard would be one he could not bear to accept.

I've lost too much! I don't want to lose anymore, I can't – I can't lose anyone anymore! God!

The question that had been sitting in Yun Yang's mind was voiced by Fu Baoguo, the former clenching his fists but perking his ears to listen to the imminent answer nervously.

”Old Marshal is suffering from a serious wound. It was during the ultimate battle at the west gate that he was ambushed by the Ghoul Archer, Jin Wudang, and took an arrow…” Bai Yixue looked utterly ashamed. After all, Qiu Jianhan had been shot while under his protection. It was his failure, a humiliation that could hardly be lifted.

”I have killed that Jin Wudang, amongst his army…” Bai Yixue supplied weakly but could not avoid the harsh glare Yun Yang was directing at him.

Ghoul Archer Jin Wudang had been crowned the title of the world's top archer. The bow and arrow had always been the specialized weapon of the military, although the martial world people rarely equipped themselves with it. Even when they did, it was only a complimentary weapon; rare was the practitioner who was truly proficient in it.

In spite of this, the Ghoul Archer Jin Wudang was different. His main and sole weapon was the bow and arrow! It was his only attacking technique; all of his skills were tied to the bow and arrows in his hands!

It was said that this man's archery skill was beyond belief. The military's strong archers had the force of six stones at most, while Deicide Bows, a bow so powerful that only cultivators who had significant mystical Qi cultivation base could use, required about ten stones of strength. Such strong bows were about the limit a human body could endure and continuously use. However, the bow used by this Ghoul Archer was made of Stellar Wood and its string was made of the flood dragon's tendon.