A loud clatter sounded!
The Commander’s tent was shredded apart!
However!
A tall towering figure stood right in the middle of the collapsed tent. He was wearing silver armour, a long spear gripped in his hand, a fiery red cape draped carelessly behind him. His eyes were on fire, standing firm as a mountain, the brilliant light of dusk behind him, looking as if he was plated in golden glow.
“The Rui Lin Army only has men who die in battle, and none who surrenders without mettle! Come fight!” The Commander of the Rui Lin Army suddenly thrust out his long spear, unafraid of the soldiers who surrounded him heavily, as he flew right towards the Condor Country’s Commander in Chief!
Volume 12
Chapter 1144: “A Soldier’s Spirit Lives On (1)”
The tempestuous wind howled, kicking up a yellow storm of sand, as the Condor Country’s army flattened the Rui Lin Army’s encampment, making their way towards the Qi Kingdom’s Imperial City.
In the Rui Lin Army’s camp, the military tents were set ablaze, the fiery glow shooting upwards, lighting up the dimming skies . In the middle of the raging fires, the Rui Lin Army’s Camp Commander stood erect, his body upright with his unbending back, exemplifying the steel hard will of the most ferocious strike force, never to fall!
Among the roaring flames, he stood tall and proud, countless arrow shafts pierced through his armour, into his body, together with the numerous blade wounds covered all over his body. Blood flowed as if from a spring out from his wounds, down his armour. His eyes had already lost the twinkle they had always held, the light gone out of them. He could no longer see the land he and his men had protected all their lives, and neither could his ears hear the howling of the wind.
Till death, he had not fallen before the enemy, the spirit of a soldier permeating his entire body, his hand gripped around the spear as he stood like a statue erected upon the blood soaked land!
The spear that had morphed from a ring spirit glittered with specks of light under the fire, its owner’s demise not allowing it to remain much longer upon the mortal realm, but…..
Even when the Commander’s blood had fully covered it completely, it was still unwilling, and was refusing to leave…..
Till its final struggles fizzled out completely, the spear gradually began to disappear within the howling wind and the raging flames, the Commander’s stiffened body remained standing with the glow of the fire reflecting off his armour, forever….. and ever….. unyielding, indomitable!
Over thirty thousand Rui Lin Army soldiers annihilated, hundred over thousand Qi Kingdom army soldiers fallen upon the battlefield, their spilled blood causing a thick stench of blood to permeate everywhere throughout the entire piece of land.
The enemy army defeated, their soldiers dead, the Condor Country’s army charged straight in, driving themselves into the heart of the Qi Kingdom. Several more cities were thoroughly cleansed by the raging flames of war, as the armoured cavalry of the Condor Country swept through them!
Without the cover from the army, the citizens in the various cities fled in a panic running in all directions, as blood and merciless killing filled their eyes. They were just citizens who did not possess any battle power, and under the Condor Country’s merciless blade, they had nowhere to run!
Over ten cities were brutally taken out, without a single survivor left from all of them!
The Condor Country’s army was approaching closer and closer to the Qi Kingdom’s Imperial City, and the refugees who had fled from many places were weary and exhausted.
“Quick! Get everyone out of the city!” The Lord of the City said on the eve before the Condor Country’s army were supposed to reach them, transferring all the citizens within the city out. Upon the city’s walls, the soldiers standing guard held their swords in hand as they peered far into the distance, the blood within them boiling, every nerve within their body stretched taut.
[Just a bit more time!]
[Just a little bit more!]
They prayed countless times in their hearts, that they would have more time, to let their family members escape this hell in purgatory.
Even if there was only the tiniest sliver of hope, they wished that their family would be able to live.
As the citizens were continuously being moved out, a troop of soldiers instead came marching in from the city gates at the back.
“And all of you are?” The Lord of the City asked, his face puzzled, as he busied himself with the citizens’ evacuation.
The leader of the troop of soldiers stepped forth, dressed in light armour, his face well weathered, a grey white beard verifying his advanced years in age, but within that pair of wizened eyes, it could be seen they held a chivalrous glint that shocked one who looked into them!
“My humble self am the previous High General of the Rui Lin Army, Long Zhan! I received news that our army on the frontline were annihilated and I have specially brought some men here to prepare to meet the enemy!” Long Zhan’s eyes were ablaze, not exhibiting the slightest sign of senility nor his advanced age!
The eyes of the Lord of the City widened as he stared in disbelief. The name Long Zhan had rang loudly throughout the entire Qi Kingdom and beyond twenty years ago. That was in the beginning when the Qi Kingdom had just been established, when the Rui Lin Army had been at its pinnacle of glory, with the Rui Lin Army soldiers numbering several times what it was now!
Volume 12
Chapter 1145: “A Soldier’s Spirit Lives On (2)”
At that time, the generals who served directly under Duke Lin, Jun Xian, were all men of extraordinary ferocity. But after the kingdom was established, the reigning Emperor seeked to weaken the Rui Lin Army’s power and influence and he forced several generals who carried out outstanding military exploits to step down from their positions, stripping them of their military ranks, to serve as Lords of the City in several small cities in the hinterlands.
A group of generals who had been peerlessly fierce and powerful on the battlefield had had no other choice but to leave the army they had pledged their undying loyalty to because of the jealousy and suspicions of the Emperor, shedding their armour and blades, to go to a tiny city to administer over trivial matters.
And against all those repressive arrangements, no one from the Rui Lin Army said a single word in disparagement. They withdrew from the army cleanly, without a single word of grumbling heard from them.
And Long Zhan who stood before the Lord of the City now, was one of those highly ferocious generals who had been coerced to leave the Rui Lin Army!
And he was also the current Rui Lin Army’s High General, Long Qi’s father!
“Senior General Long Zhan! Why are you….. Why are you…..” The Lord of the City was suddenly at a loss for words. All those generals who had been forced to withdraw then were assigned to faraway poor and barren cities. The city Long Zhan had been in was nowhere close to this place and even though Long Zhan was already so advanced in age, he had still gone on to *cloak himself in stars and wore the moon to dash here speedily through the night.
[*Translator Note from Cloud: (Chinese idiom) I assume it means – carried out through the night tirelessly]
“Although I am no longer a soldier of the Rui Ling Army, but these old bones were shaped and formed under the pummeling from the Rui Lin Army. In the current crisis of war, how could this old bag of bones just sit back and do nothing? This city sits upon the route one must take to get to the Imperial City and the Condor Country will need to pass here to lay siege to the Imperial Palace. Although I and my men are already into our withering years, but giving everything this old bag of bones has, I will still be able to buy us some time.” Long Zhan said, strongly determined.
The Lord of the City was still in shock, but he suddenly realized that Long Zhan had come to appear here because the Rui Lin Army’s spirit still lived deep within his heart. Even though he had left the Rui Lin Army, but the loyalty the Rui Lin Army had branded righ
t into his soul would never be eradicated!
“General Long! Please accept a bow of respect from my humble self!” The Lord of the City immediately knelt, his eyes suddenly red as he lifted his head to look at Long Zhan and said: “I am willing to stand with General Long, to resist the Condor Country’s army!”
Long Zhan guffawed out loud. “Great! As expected of a man from our Qi Kingdom!”
The Lord of the City got up and immediately issued the order for everyone to leave the city after evacuating all the citizens, as this place would soon turn to become the lowest depths of Hell.
However…..
Among all of the city’s soldiers, not a single one shifted a step, as they continued to stand firm to guard their respective positions.
“The country must never fall. We are willing to die and live together with the Qi Kingdom! If with my blood and flesh, I am able to gain some time for His Majesty, that would be an honour!” The soldiers were strongly determined. Some among them had even just completed their coming of age ceremony and their faces were still slightly tinged with the green of youth.
[But when the country is broken, their home will be gone. When the country is faced with such a crisis, they must not allow themselves to even think of running to live ignobly.]
[Only when the country stands, one has a home!]
If the Qi Kingdom falls, then they will be no different from the homeless ghosts and drifting souls!
“Good! Good! All men of great calibre!” Long Zhan swept his gaze around to look at the hot blooded young men with tears in his old and wizened eyes, feeling as if he had returned to the past all the way where it had all begun, when he and his brothers had established the Rui Lin Army together with Jun Xian.
That same belief, supported and braced them as they climbed out from merciless battles one after another, their very own comrades who had lost their lives, pushing them forward to never take a single step backwards!
“Everyone hear my order! Defend the city with your very lives! We hold till the last breath, however long we can! We need to buy more time for our brothers within the Imperial City!” Long Zhan called out loudly, his trusty sword sealed under years of dust, finally unsheathed once more!
Volume 12
Chapter 1146: “A Soldier’s Spirit Lives On (3)”
Smoke rose in all directions, anguished wails could be heard throughout. The citizens who had escaped from the city were weary and heavy hearted. They could not see hope, nor saw any way forward, and the sounds of slaughter behind them made their legs go weak, but the longing to survive pushed them, with no other choice but to continue to move forward.
“Mother, where is Father?” Huddled inside a basket, a young child stared in fright with a pair of innocent eyes under the rumble of fighting, as he saw the city he had lived peacefully within growing smaller and smaller before his eyes.
The body of the woman who was carrying the basket on her back stiffened, and tears immediately rolled down from her eyes. She did not make a sound, not daring to utter a single sound, but just covered her mouth with her hand, as she stifled the choking sob lodged within her throat.
“Father! Father! Mother, I want Father! Father told me that he will bring me to go ride a horse….. Father said he will teach me martial arts…..” Not getting a response from his mother, the frightened young child could only cry out helplessly. That highly pitiful cry, made everyone in the group fall completely silent.
The child cried helplessly, remembering the image of his father dressed in light armour, tall and imposing, looking like the invincible God of War in his heart. He still remembered those strong arms that would lift him high up in the air, remembering the promise his father had made when he was being carried upon a horse.
The woman could not hold back the grief inside any longer and she crumbled to the ground to cry with her hands covering her face.
Her husband, was a guard in the city. From the moment that he had escorted her and their son out of the city, she knew, that her husband….. will never come back again.
The child continued to cry helplessly, and together with the woman’s wail of utter despair, it was as if a heavy chain had been looped around everyone’s throat, that made it hard for them to breathe.
A youth who was walking among the group of people clenched up his fists tightly, as blood dripped down through the gaps in between his fingers onto the ground. He suddenly turned himself around, and ran off in the opposite direction from where the group was heading towards!
“Little Tu! Where are you going!” A lady cried out in shock, suddenly in a fluster.
The youth’s steps hesitated momentarily and he froze a moment before turning himself around. Upon that still slightly childlike face, was a strong determination.
“Mother, the soldiers of the Qi Kingdom have spilled their blood across the battlefield in order to protect our homes and our country. And now the Condor Country’s Army is coming here and the people within the city will not be able to hold them back. I am going back there!”
“You’re just a child! What can you do by going back!” The lady’s face was filled with horror.
The youth instead replied: “Although I do not possess high spirit power, but I still have my ring spirit! I might not be able to kill much of the enemy foes, but I refuse to believe that if I give it everything I have, I will not be able to take down a single soldier from the Condor Country!”
The youth’s words were tinged with a slight childishness of youth, but they still made up a highly shocking declaration!
“I’ll go back together with you!” Another youth came over to stand by his side.
“And me!”
“Count me in!”
“Damn it all! We men of the Qi Kingdom will never be turtles who hide their heads! Any with bloodlust, we’ll all go charging back! Don’t be like a sissy and go hide in another city. I completely despise softies like that!” A brawny man holding a heavy forging hammer roared!
With that one thunderous roar, all the men from within the group stood forward at once. Although they were just common citizens who did not know how to wield a sword, but just as that youth had said, they all still had their Ring Spirits!
Even if they were unable to defeat the enemy, they would still be able to stake their lives on it and every single one enemy taken down was another one enemy less!
If their lives could be given in exchange to lessen a bit of the enemy’s army, it would still lessen that one bit of pressure on the Imperial City!
Hot blood pumped within the chests of the men. They cast a final gaze upon their family and then turned strongly determined to charge all the way back to the city!
Volume 12
Chapter 1147: “A Soldier’s Spirit Lives On (4)”
Inside the military camp, Long Qi stared at the letter he held in his trembling hands that he had just received, his cold hard face showing a crack of his emotions.
“Chief General…..” The Rui Lin Army soldiers were staring worriedly at Long Qi.
Long Qi was silent for a long while before he suddenly stood up. He put the letter on the table and grabbed his cape to secure it upon his shoulders. Picking up his sword, he ran out from the camp and leapt onto his warhorse, charging straight towards the battlefield!
A soldier within the camp looked in shock at Long Qi who had suddenly turned murderous. He turned feeling highly puzzled and saw the letter that Long Qi had left behind on the table. He subconsciously picked up the letter and swept his eyes over it!
In that instant!
Every word on that letter drove the soldier into deeper shock!
[To be opened by: Long Qi, my son]
[Your old man has been relieved of my armour and returned to pasture for many years. Finally, a battle has arrived that allows me to return to the battlefield. Today, I stand together with the Lord of the Green City in battle, swearing to defend the soil of the Qi Kingdom to the death. If you receive this letter, it will mean that your old man’s
soul has returned to the Heavens and do not grief when you see this letter. You know that men of the Long Family shed blood and not tears. Our bodies are branded with the Rui Lin Army’s spirit and do not besmirch the Rui Lin Army’s name! I look forward to seeing my son eliminate more of the enemy’s leaders on the battlefield and protect the Qi Kingdom’s empire from being stolen by thieves!
Long Zhan.
“It’s the Senior General….. The Senior General…..” The soldier fell back to sit upon the ground in shock. Another soldier who was patrolling suddenly saw the first soldier looking like he saw a ghost and he came running inside in a hurry.
“What happened?”
The first soldier’s face was filled with despair as he gripped at his comrade’s sleeve tightly!
“The day before, news that the Green City had been destroyed came in. Do you still remember that!”
The soldier was surprised a moment before he nodded quickly.
The battle at the Green City, was said to be extraordinarily intense. A city that should have been abandoned had suddenly put up a strong and powerful defense!
According to rumours, the people who took part in the battle had not only been the Lord of the Green City and his soldiers, but a powerful troop of reinforcements had joined them. In the end, even all the men of the Green City had turned back after being evacuated to join in with the battle!
A single Green City, had well and proper held the enormous Condor Country Army back for the entirety of three days and three nights!
At the moment the city was breached, a sea of the enemy’s dead bodies lay, and there wasn’t a single person still alive within!
“It was the Senior General! Those reinforcements was actually the Senior General! ! ! Argh! ! ! ! !” The soldier continued to wail in despair.
Genius Doctor: Black Belly Miss Volume 12 Page 12
