Chapter 379 - 208: The Vanished Jianghu

Chapter 379: Chapter 208: The Vanished Jianghu

Zheng Xiu: "...You didn’t stop it completely. What Miracle Technique did you use to take Xie Luohe’s arrow?"

Fan Yao: "Heh. It wasn’t a Miracle Technique, but Lou Mengkong’s true Martial Arts—the Yin-Yang Reversal Scripture. To learn it, one must first castrate oneself. Do you want to learn?"

Zheng Xiu: "Not interested. You know our situation here. Why go to such lengths to destroy the ’Martial World’?"

Fan Yao: "To find you. Bai Xiaosheng wouldn’t talk—he absolutely refused. So I told him, for every day he remained silent, I would kill a Martial Artist. Gradually, no one among the common folk dared call themselves a Martial Artist anymore. It’s rather laughable. After all this time... do you still want to get out?"

The rapid-fire exchange came to an abrupt halt.

Zheng Xiu opened his mouth, but in that instant, he fell silent.

He hesitated.

"I see." Fan Yao gave a helpless smile. "Ten years is long enough to extinguish one’s original purpose."

Zheng Xiu turned his head, looking toward "home."

There, he had a house, a bed, a table, a chair, a well, a cat, and... his Madam.

Fan Yao rose, his face toward the bright moon and his back to Zheng Xiu. He said softly, "Five years ago, I was still looking for you, wanting to ask if you knew a way to escape. But one day, I had an epiphany. I have lived here for fifty years. Fifty years pass in the blink of an eye. The world around me has changed, and the people are gone. Everything from the past has gradually grown distant and unfamiliar. What is real? What is fake? I can no longer remember if I am Fan Yao or Lou Mengkong. Life is short. How many fifty-year spans does a person get? I have lived a full life here as Lou Mengkong, enjoying wealth, status, and fine delicacies. I have no regrets. So what if it’s real? What’s to fear if it’s fake?"

"And you,"

Lou Mengkong let out a long laugh. His body was like a swan goose, drifting lightly away into the distance. His voice floated back, "how can you be so sure that you are Gongsun Mo, or the person you think you are?"

"The prime of one’s life, a clever play in a grand pavilion... is it all a grand dream, or just an empty void?"

"Since I’ve already lived here for fifty years, what’s wrong with being Lou Mengkong for a lifetime?"

Zheng Xiu returned home. The house was pitch-black.

Two eerie, green eyes stared at him from the darkness.

"Meow~"

With a meow, Xie Luohe, who had been hiding behind the door, threw her arms around Zheng Xiu from behind.

"What... did you two talk about?"

Xie Luohe asked.

"You couldn’t hear?"

Xie Luohe was silent for a moment, then shook her head. "I didn’t want to hear."

"He said everything before our eyes is just a grand dream. But I... I don’t trust him."

Zheng Xiu chuckled.

Xie Luohe’s embrace suddenly tightened. She had seen through her husband’s thoughts.

Zheng Xiu paused for a moment. Knowing he couldn’t hide his thoughts from his wife, he sighed softly. "Even so, if this is a dream, I will walk with you until the end of it."

"Mm." In the darkness, Xie Luohe finally smiled. "Alright."

「Ten days later.」

"They’re here."

West of Richan Valley, beyond the horizon, a massive army blotted out the sky and land. It stretched as far as the eye could see, a mighty and endless tide pressing down on the valley.

When Ri Ding spread the news throughout the tribe, a somber cloud fell over the Sun Tribe.

A rough estimate put their numbers at ten thousand. A month had passed, and the ambitious "Brake King" had gathered the armies of thirty-six states.

"Obviously, it’s a hopeless situation."

Fan Yao stated with conviction.

Zheng Xiu shook his head. "Not necessarily. The path through Richan Valley is narrow, only allowing ten men to walk abreast. No matter how many they are, if we defend the valley entrance to the death and counter them with a Bow Array, we should be able to hold them off for a while using the terrain to our advantage. If that fails, we can retreat into the Great Desert. With the Sun Tribe’s familiarity with the desert, it might not be impossible to wear down their ten-thousand-strong army."

Xie Yunliu, however, shook his head with a pained expression. "Brother-in-law, you’ve never been on a battlefield. You don’t know how terrifying an army of ten thousand is. Defending the valley entrance is one thing, but out in the open Great Desert, the sand is soft and tiring. The camels here are weak, no match for the War Camels of the Western Regions. They’d catch up to us in a flash. When an army of ten thousand charges on War Camels, even if my little sister’s Archery is heaven-defying, she can’t stand against the might of ten thousand soldiers."

Xie Luohe said nothing.

Ri Di gritted his teeth. "We will defend Richan Valley to the death! Boss Mo, Lord Xie, if the time comes when we truly can’t hold on, you two should ride your camels and escape back to the Central Plains. Don’t worry about us!"

Zheng Xiu was taken aback. From Ri Di’s tone, it was clear he was mentally prepared to live or die with Richan Valley. But Zheng Xiu couldn’t understand why Ri Di was so stubborn, willing to lead his entire tribe to their deaths rather than retreat to the Central Plains.

"Why?"

Ri Di forced a difficult smile. "This place... is our roots!"

After the discussion, Ri Di began to prepare for battle before the army of the Western Regions arrived.

...

Three days later, the ten-thousand-strong army stormed Richan Town.

The one in the lead was not Arturo, but an unfamiliar general. He began by firing flaming arrows dipped in boiling oil indiscriminately toward Richan Valley from a distance.

One volley of flaming arrows forced Zheng Xiu and the others to take cover behind the rocks.

But every member of the Sun Tribe had practiced the basics of Xie’s Archery Skill, and their arrows could curve. Eerie arrows shot out from Richan Valley, only to be blocked by the Western Regions’ strange "Fan Shields."

Little Feng Miao trembled on Xie Luohe’s shoulder. Xie Luohe held her Longbow, biting her lower lip, but did not make a move.

Xie Yunliu, clad in Iron Armor, stood in a Military Array with a hundred soldiers, defending the valley. He was shifting restlessly.

Zheng Xiu slit his wrist. As blood gushed out, he began painting countless Fierce Ghosts directly onto the rock face.

"Demons and ghouls... Soul Capturing!"

The instant Zheng Xiu finished painting, countless illusory Fierce Ghosts shrieked and swarmed into the enemy army. The sky and earth changed color in a flash. Startled, the ten thousand soldiers of the Western Regions’ army looked up at the sky in unison as piercing Ghost Souls passed through their bodies. Those affected by the Magic fell one after another.

Seeing this, a glint flashed in Fan Yao’s eyes.

"Demon Technique! Demon Technique! He knows Demon Technique!"

Someone in the Western Regions’ army cried out, terrified.

With this one move, Zheng Xiu had taken out a small chunk of their forces in the blink of an eye. Seeing this, the Western Regions’ commander waved his banner, and the army retreated.