Return for Reinforcements

Two days later, the snow stopped. Aoyun found his horse, a small pony with a red body and white hooves. At this time, Xin Yi was also able to leave the tent, but his range of movement was limited. Fortunately, he knew to avoid suspicion and did not walk around randomly outside the tent.

Chiye was well taken care of by Wuyun Qiqige. Medicine had been applied to its hind hooves, and the fodder was to its liking.

Without waiting for the Qiyan siblings, Xin Yi himself proposed to leave.

"You're leaving now?" Wuyun Qiqige was counting sheep in front of the tent. Hearing his words, she only nodded. "If you think you can hold on, you can go."

Aoyun brought out fodder from under the grass shed below and fed it to the sheep in the pen. He said to Xin Yi, "Are you going back to Beiyang?"

Xin Yi affirmed.

Aoyun said, "Arslang hasn't left yet. How will you get back?"

Xin Yi smiled, "There's always a way."

"You Beiyang people." Aoyun said, leaning against a small mountain of fodder, making a few circles on his chest with his hand. "Are you all so carefree?"

"Staying any longer will only add to the trouble." Xin Yi pulled Chiye's reins. "Besides, Arslang is still there. I can't stay here and hide."

"Very good." Aoyun nodded, then looked up at the sky and said, "It won't snow tomorrow either. I'll see you out in the afternoon. I hope you can remember what you promised, and not let the shadow of the Beiyang Army or the Southern Campaign Army appear here."

"I will." Xin Yi smiled slightly, but the next moment, his tone changed abruptly and directly, "But I want to talk to you about something else."

Aoyun looked at his somewhat pale and gentle face, and gradually straightened up.

The Qiyan Tribe was not completely detached from the center of power in the Great Yuan. It was just deliberately suppressed and marginalized, directly manifested by its territory being moved from the fertile pastures of the past to a place on the edge, close to the wasteland. The most ironic thing was that they had been at the forefront of fleeing the Beiyang Army back then, and now they were placed at the doorstep of the Beiyang Army. The Habugeqin Clan seemed to want to use this method to make the Qiyan Tribe remember the root of the disaster planted back then, and the shame of being conquered.

The Habugeqin Clan was very successful. He made the next generation of Qiyan eke out a living in the cracks of shame for a long time, turning it into hatred for the entire Great Yuan, and of course, resentment towards Beiyang.

Aoyun was born to be the heir to the king.

But when he was a stone's throw from the throne, he was taught to bow and submit.

His father died under the treacherous swords of the Habugeqin Clan because of this. His mother, like an enraged lioness, dragged him and his sister to survive the rebellion, and miraculously allowed them to leave the Habugeqin Clan's territory unscathed and come here.

Of course, this lioness herself did not make it out.

Aoyun was still a teenager when he shouldered the heavy burden of the Qiyan Tribe. Leading his sister, who was only up to his waist at the time, he walked out from the interior of the Great Yuan, one deep step and one shallow step at a time. In a daze, it was as if he had deviated from his original track, making him often feel a lack of reality in the first year, as if he could suddenly wake up.

He could be said to have hated the Xin clan of Beiyang very much, but in his day and night of hatred, he couldn't help but have more and deeper admiration for the legendary Xin Jing. He even thought that if he had been born a few years earlier, he could have personally met this sharp blade of Beiyang on the battlefield.

He knew Xin Jing was dead, and that his younger brother was still a mute.

Every time he thought of this, Aoyun would feel a trace of schadenfreude and pleasure. Everyone looked similarly wretched when they fell, and you were even more miserable than me, with only a mute left. A mute who lived under someone else's roof.

So even if you were like a thunderclap back then, splitting open the heart of the Great Yuan, so what?

But he had never thought.

That one day the mute would speak, that one day the Xin clan of Beiyang would join forces with Qiyan.

I'm afraid no one ever thought of it.

"You say the Beiyang Army wants to join forces with the Qiyan Tribe?" Aoyun stood by the haystack. He showed some unprepared surprise, which was instantly covered by sarcasm and a cold smile. "If the Beiyang Army and the Qiyan Tribe join forces, who will hold down Xin Jing's coffin lid?"

"The Qiyan Tribe has been here for a long time." Xin Yi patted Chiye's head and said, "You are familiar with the terrain and environment here, more familiar than Arslang. Even if there is a difference in numbers, with the Beiyang Army holding them at the front, you can still attack Arslang's army from the rear. In terms of troop numbers, he has taken almost all of the Great Yuan's soldiers. The Habugeqin Clan's territory is now as thin as paper. If Arslang is defeated, the Qiyan Tribe can return to its territory."

"What makes you think we can go back just because Arslang is defeated? Is the Habugeqin Clan a dog?" Aoyun snorted, "And there's the Zadalan Tribe."

"That's your business." Here, Xin Yi revealed the offensive side beneath his gentle exterior, something he had learned from Zuo Kai in the capital.

Seize the crucial point, and press forward step by step.

"Your horses are all warhorses." Xin Yi continued, "Including Qiqige's. If you have no intention of returning, why raise horses and sharpen knives, training hard every day? That scimitar of yours, sharper than Arslang's, wasn't forged just to cut wild grass. The opportunity has arrived, Aoyun."

"That's also your opportunity." Aoyun turned and continued to arrange the fodder, saying, "Arslang's defeat is certainly good for Qiyan, but this benefit is not worth mentioning for the Great Yuan. And you people." He turned his head and said impolitely, "Once you lose the threat of the Lion King, both retribution and ambition will be poured out on the Great Yuan."

"Maybe in the past." Xin Yi's expression remained unchanged. "But the Great Lan of today cannot do it. We have a more dangerous enemy."

"Then that's even better for us." Aoyun frowned fiercely. "Without the Great Lan, the Great Yuan's territory can span the grasslands and the Chang River, possessing fertile land and fresh pastures. We would no longer have to worry about the arrival of winter, nor would we have to trade with you for grain."

"Is that really so?" Xin Yi did not retreat half a step. "Without the Great Lan, who will fill the southern granaries? You gallop on the grasslands, but who will teach you agriculture? Even if Arslang really reaches the banks of the Chang River, how long can he hold it? The Lion King is already an old lion. If he dies on the campaign, the wrath of the Great Lan will be overwhelming. At that time, the Qiyan Tribe will bear the brunt. Because you are the closest to Beiyang."

Aoyun clicked his tongue but stopped his movements. The dark-skinned young man was very imposing when he stood straight. His solid chest and broad shoulders showed that he already had sufficient strength.

He didn't speak, but Wuyun Qiqige shook the debris from her skirt and said, "What do you want the Qiyan Tribe to do? Sneak attack the Habugeqin Clan's territory?" She put her hands behind her back, leaned forward to look at Xin Yi, her eyes clean but stern. "Don't be ridiculous, we can't do it."

"Qiqige."

Wuyun Qiqige ignored her brother and paced around Xin Yi. She walked playfully, perfectly stepping into the footprints she had left on her previous lap.

"The Qiyan Tribe has horses, but no grain. We are closest to that trade route, yet we do not enjoy any mutual benefits. There are still people in the Qiyan Tribe suffering from cold and hunger today. The Qiyan Tribe has blades, but no army. Our women and children are all soldiers, yet they cannot hold their blades because of the cold. The Qiyan Tribe wants to go home, but the way back is blocked by Jianan Mountain. We want to fight Arslang, but we found that we can't get past the Iron Wings on our own." She stopped, standing directly in front of Xin Yi to his side. The girl pinched her waist-length braid and smiled generously, "If you want our help, we want grain, charcoal, gold, and manpower. And your written oath."

"My oath?"

"You must swear before the Beiyang Army and the Qiyan Tribe that after Arslang, you will help us pass through Jianan Mountain and guarantee that the Emperor of Great Lan will not interfere or force us." Then Wuyun Qiqige tilted her head. "Your oath will be effective. You have this power, right, Little Prince of Yan from Beiyang."

Xin Yi's expression sank slightly, his fingertips stroking Heavenly Dao. "I don't have the gold you want." He said, "But I can give you something else."

Wuyun Qiqige made a listening gesture.

Xin Yi said, "A trade route."

Aoyun couldn't help but interject, "We don't need it. Your Crown Prince's trade route only opens the way for the Habugeqin Clan and his dogs. Besides, the exchange of leather and horses for gold, silver, and grain has always been suppressed and kept cheap. The money from selling one horse can't even feed a stray dog."

"I'm not talking about the one in Shangjin." Xin Yi looked up at the grey-white sky and said, "I'm talking about a brand new trade route that can allow both Beiyang and this place to get what they need, without having to fight back and forth for it."

Aoyun fell silent. Wuyun Qiqige's eyes lit up, but she did not change her cautious attitude because of this. She said, "This matter is beyond Beiyang. Can you do it?"

"Not now." Xin Yi's eyes suddenly sharpened. "But as long as Arslang retreats from Jianan Mountain, I can do it."

"If you go back on your word." Aoyun raised his hand and struck his own heart. "No matter where, I will kill you."

Xin Yi raised his arm and likewise struck his heart, saying, "I swear."

Due to the deployment of terrain in the rear, Xin Yi stayed another night. The next day, Aoyun led him away, the two of them on horseback.

"You are completely different from your eldest brother." Aoyun carried a scimitar today, right at his side.

Xin Yi paused for a moment, then smiled, "Maybe, a bit more like my second brother."

"I heard your second brother is a scholar." Aoyun glanced at him sideways. "You don't look like a scholar either." Before Xin Yi could answer, he continued, "I know all of your eldest brother's military achievements, but I've never met him. There's a giant rock by Wan Ze. It was originally an ordinary stone, but since Xin Jing, it has been called 'Weijing'. It means a fearsome territory, and also the fearsome Xin Jing."

"Fearsome?" Xin Yi couldn't recall a time when his eldest brother was fearsome. He only remembered his eldest brother's bravery and warmth, a protection that had always loomed over him and his third brother, a person who would surpass their father in admiration.

He wondered if his second brother thought the same.

"I hate him very much." Aoyun said bluntly, then added rather forlornly, "I also admire him very much. Why did your emperor do that?"

Xin Yi did not answer immediately. Chiye ran on the snow, the wind causing his robes to flutter, revealing his left hand holding the reins, but missing a little finger. He said, "Perhaps, it was also because he was fearsome."

The fearsome Xin Jing.

Because it seemed he would surpass the Prince of Yan, shining brilliantly and ostentatiously from Beiyang, even surpassing all his peers in the capital. So dazzling it was fearsome. So young it was absurd, making the decrepit and elderly tremble with fear.

After all, could the emperor still ride a horse at Wan Ze?

He couldn't even get on a horse's back anymore.

But his son, who held heavy troops, was in the prime of his life, entrenched in a region, with long-standing prestige, and had even more brilliant sons, one in civil and one in military affairs, known from the court to the army, from the capital to Beiyang.

What Beiyang's Sharp Blade, Beiyang's Young Phoenix, Prince of Yan's Third Young Master.

Every word of praise seemed to mock his old age and cowardice. They were clearly his sons and grandsons, yet their reputations were more revered than his own. These were not good sons and grandsons, not even as good as his Crown Prince.

Fearsome.

Chiye ran fiercely. Perhaps it had been pampered by Wuyun Qiqige for too long these past few days, causing it to run as if it wanted to break through the sky, not even caring about the wind.

Xin Yi's unobstructed vision swept across the entire snowy field, but something in the snow flashed in his eyes. He suddenly reined in Chiye's momentum.

"Aoyun." Xin Yi turned his horse. "Arslang!"

Aoyun stood up from the back of the galloping horse and looked into the distance. The white snow made it impossible to see other colors, but he still believed Xin Yi and turned his head to follow.

They had three hundred men on this trip, not a small target in the snowy wilderness.

The men and horses ambushing under the snow suddenly rose and gave chase.

"They've been waiting in ambush here." Aoyun rode alongside Xin Yi, saying, "The morning patrol doesn't reach this far."

Xin Yi suddenly reined in his horse again. Aoyun asked in alarm, "What are you doing?"

Xin Yi said, "Surround me." As he spoke, he drew Heavenly Dao. "Capture me."

The pursuit from behind was already close. Aoyun immediately turned his horse, drew his own scimitar, and ordered loudly, "Capture him!"

Xin Yi's Heavenly Dao immediately slashed over. Aoyun parried with his blade. He laughed over the clash of blades, "Hey, hey, even my sister can block a blow of this strength. Are you really a man?"

Xin Yi said nothing, his blade striking again and again. The clash of blades between the two rang out constantly. Aoyun had previously said that if it were him, his little finger would not have been cut off, and he was qualified to say so. Because during this clash, Xin Yi was already holding his blade with both hands, and Aoyun's arm strength was even more terrifying than Arslang's.

The pursuers from behind had already arrived. Aoyun's scimitar was so dangerous it even grazed Xin Yi's neck. A kick from the long leg behind the scimitar, and Xin Yi rolled off his horse.

Aoyun's horse circled Xin Yi slowly. He said to the newcomer, "Alatan, what are you doing on my territory."

"Aoyun." The middle-aged man in the lead only nodded to Aoyun, his sinister gaze falling on Xin Yi's back in the snow. He said, "Apologies for the disturbance, but this is the Lion King's prey."

"This is game from my ride." Aoyun's gaze darkened, his scimitar pointing directly at Alatan's eyes from a distance. "Who gave you, a slave of the Zadalan, permission to look directly into the eyes of the leader of the Qiyan Tribe."

Alatan narrowed his eyes in displeasure. "I am the Lion King's subordinate, not a slave."

Aoyun revealed his snow-white teeth. "Do you expect me to call you brother? Sheep pen mongrel."

As he spoke, the horses of the Qiyan Tribe slowly surrounded the pursuers. Alatan sensed his hostility, but he did not become vigilant, because this former prince had always been arrogant towards the Zadalan Tribe. He even took a few steps forward, tentatively approaching Xin Yi.

"Aoyun." He crouched down beside Xin Yi. "Don't anger the Lion King."

Aoyun sneered, but as if holding back, he tightened his grip on his blade and lowered it. Alatan revealed a satisfied expression, but before he could lower his head to look at the "prey", he was suddenly grabbed by the back of the neck by the prey, his whole body losing balance and falling forward. The blade of Heavenly Dao instantly sank into his chest.

Aoyun sneered from his horse.

"You should have slit his throat, let him taste the pleasure of being unable to speak."

"What a pity." Xin Yi pushed the corpse away, stood up, with some innocent apology. "It was too late."

The remaining several hundred men had not yet recovered their senses when the blades of the Qiyan Tribe on the periphery had already slit their throats from behind, as if obeying Aoyun's words, neat and clean.