On 23rd day of seventh lunar month, the leader of the peasant army, Wu Shuang, led 3,000 peasant soldiers, trying to break through Jiaping Mountain Pa.s.s by force. He had a close fight with the officers and soldiers stationed there. On this chaotic day, Liu Qianqiao came to Jiaping Mountain Pa.s.s with the Imperial Decree.

The Imperial Decree was caused by the war demons. Emperor Rong Zheng was fond of spending his days with pleasures and turned a blind eye on the war. A sentence from Li Chaoyang “General of the Flying Calvary has the power to fend off the enemies, but he only lacks the opportunity” made him wrote the Imperial Decree. He also allocated 2,000 troops from Old General Bai Zongying’s hands to Lu Qianqiao.

It was easy to imagine how the officers and soldiers stationed at Jiaping Mountain Pa.s.s would react to this Imperial Decree.

And most important of all was, the legendary General of Flying Calvary was laying like a dead man, motionless for days. Was the Emperor making fun of his kingdom?

On 25th day of seventh lunar month, Old General Bai Zongying was so humiliated that he quickly returned to the capital and harshly criticised the inexplicable thing. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

On 30th day of seventh lunar month, the more absurd reply came : the Emperor had a half-sister, who had been conferred the t.i.tle of Princess of the Lake and was also known as the ‘Eye of G.o.d’. The Princess of the Lake made a prophecy for Emperor Rong Zheng. It was said that the first war in Jiaping Mountain Pa.s.s would end up victorious . The hero’s surname would be Lu. Emperor Rong Zheng believed in the magic power of his imperial sister, so he asked General Bai to relax.

It was estimated that Bai Zongying vomited blood when he saw this reply.

But neither Lu Qianqao nor Silan knew about this. Lu Qianqao was still like a living corpse, just as before. Except for the heat in his solar plexus, his other body parts were deadly stiff. They both were a.s.signed to live in a small tent. It was so deserted that even the chefs in charge of cooking in the mountain pa.s.s did not bother to pa.s.s by. As a result, they had not yet seen any hot water, meals and the like been sent here.

The war demon who brought them here was called Li Yan, a promising young war demon in the Li Chaoyang’s clan. To this day, Silan didn’t know where he was hiding. Every day, not shaken by thunder (Chinese idiom : the arrangements are unalterable), Li Yan would come around xushi (7pm to 9pm) hours to take a look at Lu Qianqiao. As time goes by, the look on Li Yan’s face finally became less calm, and unconsciously, a trace of anxiety appeared in his bright red eyes.

Lean Meat Porridge
Source Xinshipu

This day, as usual, Li Yan opened the curtains to see Lu Qianqiao. Silan was stewing lean meat porridge on the fire, and it smelled delicious. Li Yan moved closer to the bedside and touched Lu Qianqiao"s forehead. He couldn’t help himself from sighing.

“That ... Mr Li, General he ...”

When Silan heard him sighing, his heart alarmed, body leaping (Chinese idiom : fear and trepidation in the face of disaster). The war demon seemed to be in his late teens, and had a good temper. So, Silan had the courage to speak to him.

Li Yan came over and sniffed the lean meat porridge in the pot, as he praised, “It smells good. You have taken good care of Young Master. Can he eat now?“ This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

“He can’t swallow yet, so it takes some effort to feed him each time.”

Li Yan nodded and began to scoop a bowl of lean pork porridge to drink. He said, “If I remember correctly, Young Master’s birthday should be on the  9th day of eighth lunar month, right? Today is the 3rd day of eighth lunar month. There are only 6 days left.”

...... So? Silan’s hands trembled uncontrollably.

"I think there’s no harm in telling you regarding this matter, Little Monster. The success or failure of the war demon’s awakening can be looked at the first ten days before one"s birthday. The first thing to be restored is the touch. Then, the sense of taste and hearing will return one by one. All five senses will completely restore on the day of  one"s birthday. This way, it can be said a successful awakening. I have not yet seen the return of any of the five senses on Young Master. I’m afraid that this is not a good sign."

Silan’s expression turned pale and he became speechless.

“Anyway, let’s just wait and see.”

Li Yan patted Silan on the shoulder to console him. After he had done drinking his porridge, he got up and left.

On the 5th day of eighth lunar month, Lu Qianqiao still had no sign of waking up. More than The Old General Bai Zongying could bear (Chinese idiom : at the end of one’s patience), he came over and looked at Lu Qianqiao in akimbo, with rage on his face. His voice thundered, “The Emperor expects this dead general to repel the peasant soldiers for him?! Now that he is in office, he must do his duty. To even ask me to give him 2,000 troops and horses, I am really unwilling to do so!“ This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

Silan handed over a sealed letter and whispered, “Old General Bai, when the General was still able to move, he had written a secret letter and told me to hand it over to you for you to take a look.”

Bai Zongying sneered, “So, if I don’t come and see this distinguished General, his letter won’t reach me? The General of the Flying Calvary is indeed very impressive.“

“I have tried several times to see Old General Bai, but I have been stopped by others as you were busy attending to numerous affairs of state every day (Chinese idiom : be occupied with a myriad of state affairs). I didn’t dare to act impulsive.”

Bai Zongying was embarra.s.sed by his words. He grabbed the envelope and opened it. His face changed in an instant. After reading carefully, he was able to put a thick stack of writing paper back into the envelope.

“Who does he think I, Bai Zongying, am? An ignorant youth dare to make indiscreet criticism!“

He smashed the envelope on the ground, turned around and walked away. “General of Flying Calvary has such a clever plan, so, why doesn’t he go to battle to defend against the enemy himself? I, Bai, do not dare to compete with him for such great credit. He also asked the General of Flying Calvary to earn it himself.“

Silan silently watched him left the tent and looked back at Lu Qianqiao. He was still in a deep sleep, calm and unresponsive to everything outside.

How could such a general go into battle to kill an enemy looking like this?

But the battlefield was ruthless. The next day, 2,000 peasant soldiers came as reinforcements. Wu Shuang brought 5,000 people to break through the mountain pa.s.s. The voice of shouting and provocation could be heard clearly ten miles away. Bai Zongying could hardly bear it. He only asked someone to send two pairs of armours, along with two sentences, ‘Two thousand troops are ready. Please put the General on the horse.’

Silan could only stare blankly at the two battered armours. Could he ask the present General to go out and fight? Obviously not! He hated that the current General’s body was unwell. If Bai Zongying had seen the General’s fierceness earlier, he would not have dared to be so arrogant today. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

Looking back on the General’s former heroic bearing, Silan suddenly felt that the curtain of the tent had been lifted. Li Yan, who used to appear only during xushi (7pm to 9pm) hours, came in. Seeing Silan sitting, Lu Qianqiao lying down and their armours lying on the ground, his face which was a little childlike, sank immediately.

“Wear your armour and mount a horse!” His voice was cold.

Silan urgently said, “How can the General kill the enemy with him looking like this?!”

“I don’t care. You can either protect him or hold onto him! If we retreats today, we will lose all our faces because of him!”

With tears in his eyes, Silan put on Lu Qianqiao’s armour, shouldered him and left the tent. When he blew a few whistles outside the tent, Lie Yun Horse, who was far away eating gra.s.s and resting, immediately came just like wind. Silan tied Lu Qianqao firmly onto Lie Yun Horse’s back with a rope and whispered, “Good boy, make sure not to drop the General! Run as soon as you are in danger!“

“Only victory is allowed, not losing!” Li Yan’s voice came from behind.

Silan looked back at him and said nothing.

The so-called 2,000 troops were mostly consisted of the old, weak, sick and disabled, and even two rows of them were already wounded. When they saw Lu Qianqiao tied to the back of Lie Yun Horse, they all showed scorned and angered. (T/N : Well... Aren’t they a suitable troop? A living corpse General with the weak troops?)

Silan said coldly, “The General has ordered : Get on the high platform! Get the boulders and hot oil ready!”

No one moved.

“The General has ordered : Get on the high platform! Get the boulders and hot oil ready!”

There was a dead silence.

Silan gritted his teeth, turned suddenly and answered loudly with a “Yes, General!”. He picked up a huge boulder, which was half a man high, and walked step by step to the high platform. When he came back, he had a broken arrow stuck on his shoulder, as if he had been shot by a peasant soldier off the platform.

Silan picked up another piece of boulder and continued to move slowly up the high platform.

This time another arrow hit him in the waist, and his armour was stained red with bloods.

The two thousand troops began to agitate and became anxious as all eyes were glued to Silan, while they still stay motionless.

When Silan came back from moving the fifth boulder, all the broken arrows on his body had gone. Only blood was dripping, leaving a long trail of blood along the way.

In the end, some people could not bear looking at Silan as they silently stepped forward, with two to three people shouldering huge big boulders, accompanying Silan up the high platform. Gradually, more and more people joining, till all 2,000 troops, slowly following behind Silan’s steps, successively carrying the huge boulders. While some busily preparing the hot oils. Old General Bai Zhongying who was watching the fun at Lu Qianqao’s expense inside his tent, stared intently at this scene.

There were 5,000 peasant soldiers outside the mountain pa.s.s, which was double the number of 2,000 troops Lu Qianqao had. Wu Shuang was also a very good leader. 5,000 peasant soldiers were no less than 5,000 elite soldiers. Big rocks and hot oil attacks could only slightly disturbed some formations ahead. In reality, the actual damage was minimal. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

There was no other way for Silan, but to fight.

Silan turned over and jumped onto Lie Yun Horse. He looked down at Liu Qianqiao who was still asleep, unconscious and serene. However, it was better this way. At least he would not know that his family gave up his life in pursuit of fame.

There was a burst of heat in Silan’s eyes, “General, I won’t let you die!“

With a long neigh, Lie Yun Horse was the first one to rush out of the opened stone gate, like a red meteor. Two thousand troop were a bit hesitated as they slowly followed. In the battlefield of life and death, there was no tolerance for a moment of sluggishness. Almost as soon as they went out, their formation were cut like splitting a bamboo (Chinese idiom : with irresistible force) by the peasants soldiers. Wu Shuang’s goal was to cross the opened mountain pa.s.s stone gate!

At some point, Bai Zongying had went up to the high platform and gave out a loud shout, “Close the gate quickly!”

The stone gate screeched and creaked, ignoring the cries of 2,000 disabled soldiers in the distance, as it slowly closed. This. .h.i.t the troop’s morale to the lowest point. Most of them had no desire to fight anymore as they fled to hide. Only Silan still persistent on being the first one to rush forward.

He and the General had never experienced a lone army putting up a brave fight (Chinese idiom : struggling hard without support) in their five-year battlefield career. Unexpectedly, today they had experienced the feeling.

Behind and in front of Silan were flashes of swords and the enemies" battles cries. When one of the enemy was cut down, another ten would come up.

Silan was so desperate that he let Lie Yun Horse to take away the General out of this constructed trap!

However, it was something impossible! Li Yan stood on a high platform and drew a long bow. He knew that as long as they showed a trace of timidity, his arrows would pierce through Lu Qianqiao’s heart.

The reputation of the War Demon Clan should never be damaged and their spirits should never cower. The clan law was very strict on these matters.

Each war demon had his awakening this way, with the sound of killing and his body constantly splashed with blood. These would awake the ancient bloods in the depth of his body as he grew into a powerful invincible, real war demon.

There was a sharp pain on Silan shoulder, and he could no longer hold on. He knelt on one knee and barely held his head against a fierce attack with his long knife. Even if he was a powerful monster, he could not resist 5,000 soldiers on horses with his one man’s strength. He did not even know how much blood he had bled and whether he could go back alive this time. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

Lie Yun Horse suddenly whined. A group of peasant soldiers had put a noose around its neck, pulling it down hard – to catch the bandits, first to catch the ringleader. Everyone knew about this. An unconscious enemy General hanging on a horse, what could make them happier than this?

Silan rushed out with all his last strength to protect Lu Qianqiao, but at the next moment, his vest was pulled up by a great force as he rose into the air.

He looked up exhausted and confused. The sun was so dazzling that he could barely see himself being held by a huge bird. On the other claw of the bird was Lie Yun Horse. Lu Qianqiao was safely tied to the horse without any wound.

“What kind of dangerous actions are you guys doing?”

A soft, sweet female voice on the bird’s back asked in astonishment.

A friendly familiar voice. Though it could bring headache and the urged to vomit blood when being heard. However, for Silan, he suddenly felt the way her voice sounded at such a moment was simply more beautiful than celestial fairy songs.

The one claw that was grabbed his vest, pulled him up lightly. He landed on the thick and broad back of the bird as he gasped for breath. He was too tired to move. In the next moment, the sleeping Liu Qianqiao was thrown at him with Lu Qianqao black hair softly covering his face, which made him in a very awkward position.

Silan tried hard to pull himself together. He then checked on Lu Qianqao from top to bottom, making sure he wasn’t injured anywhere before he could breathe a sigh of relief.

“Are you still alive?” A finger was poking at him as Xin Mei was squatting in front of him while staring intently at him.

It was after a while before Silan could open his mouth, “You... How did you come... “

Xin Mei looked down at the peasant soldiers who screamed and kept shooting arrows. She shook her head and said, “Let’s go first. We’ll talk later.”

Slam was shocked: “No! We can’t go! “

Before Silan could even finished speaking, they heard a sharp, shrill sound of the wind thundering from a distance. Xin Mei suddenly turned her head and saw a war demon standing on a platform in the distance. His long bow aimed at them as he fired its first arrow.