Chapter 38: Xiang Yu

  In the Wujiang River, a young man named Ban Cun held a girl named Xiao Ying and dived into the water to swim.

  Before the oxygen underwater was exhausted, he went ashore and saw that three fishing boats on the river had become burning ships. He took out his binoculars with a sad face. His comrades were all shot dead on the boat, and it was estimated that there would be no survivors. The hatred in his heart was endless, and he only fled with the girl. He silently vowed to exterminate the Ye family and their followers sooner or later.

  A young man with a strong physique like an ox, carrying a girl on his back from dusk till dawn.

  "Ah!" He panted heavily, his eyes scanning the surrounding area until they landed on a dilapidated temple not far away in the middle of the Wujing River. The temple was surrounded by desolation and devoid of any human presence. He pulled the girl inside, checked their surroundings cautiously, and then sat down with her in front of a rotten idol. They gazed at each other silently. He took out some food and handed it to the woman opposite him. Her eyes were dull, and she only took a small bite after accepting the offering.

  "We've escaped! Jiangbei isn't their territory, they don't dare to chase us here." The young man with the wooden hairpin slowed down his breathing, and only then did he start sweating, emitting a warm mist. The woman's gaze at him had only a faint hint of gentleness, which warmed the young man's heart.

  "I'll kill them sooner or later! Flay their skin, slice their flesh, and use their skulls to offer sacrifices to everyone! I'll also crush their bones and scatter their ashes, making sure they have no place to rest in death!" Xu Dun gnawed on the cold meat, as if he was gnawing on Ye's gang's flesh, his face twisted with ferocity.

  The girl Xiao Ying listened to Xu Dun's oath, her eyes glanced at the statue and the roof. She slowly ate the food in her hand, finishing it with small mouthfuls, then tilted her head to look at Xu Dun, this action made Xu Dun's heart feel a little joy. Since the old official's death, Xiao Ying had been silent, if not for her eyes still moving, she would be like a vegetative person.

  "Xiao Ying, you..."

  Xiao Ying shook her head, her voice hoarse and tone flat: "You can't beat the Ye family unless you obtain the military legacy. Maybe it's because your intelligence is not high, and the gods of war don't favor you."

  "Little girl, don't make reckless definitions." A sudden loud and clear voice broke the reverberation in the temple. Xu Dun picked up a knife from the ground with one hand and pulled Xiaoying behind him with the other. He held the knife in both hands, facing outward and constantly on guard. A pair of large and spirited eyes were wide open like bronze bells, vigilantly scanning the objects inside the ruined temple.

  In the empty and desolate temple, there was a silence, with only the faint sound of footsteps and his breathing. The voice just now must have been someone speaking inside the temple, Xu Duan did not believe it was an auditory hallucination, nor would he believe it was some kind of ghostly audio equipment. Everyone knew that electronic products had completely collapsed and become useless junk.

  "Little one, do you want revenge? Alright, give the girl behind you to Gu Wang. Gu Wang will reward you with unparalleled martial arts that can look down on the world, and also give you elite heavenly soldiers that no one can match!" The thick voice sounded again, but what it told Xu Dun was an answer that made him hard to believe. This voice came from all directions, rather than from a specific place.

  "You're just dreaming! If you want Xiao Ying, you'll have to step over my dead body!"

  "Haha, hahahaha! Why can't you see the situation clearly, kid? With just a snap of my fingers, I can make you disappear into thin air!" As soon as the thick voice fell, a crisp finger-snapping sound came, and Xu Dun couldn't help but widen his eyes again. The buildings inside the broken temple quickly weathered and crumbled, while white mist burst out from all around.

  In the blink of an eye, the broken temple thoroughly weathered and disappeared. And Xu Dun was surrounded by countless armored soldiers who walked out of the white fog, with countless guns, spears, and halberds protruding from the rows of armored soldiers, tightly surrounding Xu Dun and Xiao Ying into a ball.

  "Is that so? The Lonely King said he wants to kill you, it's just a matter of snapping his fingers. Young one, have you thought it through? If you offer the woman behind your back to the Lonely King, I'll reward you with invincible martial arts and these armors, all bestowed upon you!"

  "People who don't even dare to show their true selves, I, Xu Dun, despise the most! Still that sentence, if you want Xiao Ying, please step over my corpse first!" Xu Dun's tone was very resolute, and after speaking, he turned his head to take a glance at Xiao Ying. Xiao Ying's face was only delicate, but in his eyes, it was so beautiful.

  "Hmm!" A cold hum came from all directions, causing Xu Dun's seven orifices to bleed and his head to spin. The knife in his hand was also powerless to grasp, falling to the ground. His whole body shook and swayed, kneeling down on the ground, and then fell forward with a thud.

  "The gap between you and the Lonely King is like that between heaven and earth, clouds and mud. How can you fight the Lonely King? What do you rely on? A mortal body, after all, is just a mortal body!" The thick voice was filled with anger.

  Xu Dun's eyes were blurry and he couldn't see things clearly, but the Snow Frost Knife was reflecting light, allowing him to make out its shape. With great effort, he stretched out his hand and reached for the Snow Frost Knife.

  "With your abilities, how can you protect her?" The thick voice was full of disdain.

  "Unless you kill me, I..." Xu Dun grasped the knife and slowly got up from the ground. The little shadow beside him seemed to have fallen into a deep memory, his face changing constantly, sometimes smiling and sometimes crying.

  A leg emerged from Xu Dun's back, wearing a golden boot, and pressed down lightly, pinning Xu Dun to the ground. No matter how hard Xu Dun struggled, it was all in vain.

  "An existence like an ant, are you worthy of contending against the Lonely King?" The golden boot suddenly exerted force, and Xu Dun spat out a mouthful of blood, fainting away.

  "Yu Ji, I have been waiting for you for a long time." The voice was full of tenderness at this moment, and his figure also appeared. He wore a black dragon robe with golden patterns, had a broad face and thick eyebrows, and was extremely majestic. He was Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Western Chu, Xiang Yu!

  "Great King, Yu Ji had long taken her own life with a sword in the hills of Gaixia. And I am just Wu Ying'er, an ordinary person who has been foolishly protected by him." Ying'er squatted on the ground with his back to Xiang Yu, wiping the dust from Xu Zheng's face.

  "Why? I, Yu Jie, have been waiting for two thousand years. The world has changed greatly, but I have never set foot in it. It's just to wait for my beloved to return, and together we can roam freely in the ghost realm. To live as you once said: with mountains and rivers, with sons and daughters; rising with the sun and resting with its fall; not asking about the affairs of kings and nobles, but only sweeping the snow in front of our own door!" Xiang Yu stretched out his arm, and the shadow seemed to have discovered it early, getting up to avoid it.

  "There is no more peerless beauty like Yu Ji in this world, only a mortal body like Wu Ying'er!" The determination in Wu Ying'er's tone made Xiang Yu's outstretched hand drop weakly and his foot that had stepped forward retreat back.

  "Ai Ji, think again. Gu Wang has waited for you for two thousand years, and it won't make a difference of seventy or eighty years more. Gu Wang will wait for you in the ghost realm, hoping that Ai Ji can live happily in the human world." Xiang Yu said, then looked down at Xu Dun who was still unconscious, and with a wave of his hand, one of the halberd-wielding guards behind him appeared out of thin air and was compressed into a bead.

  The bead, shining with a faint blue light, was weighed by Xiang Yu. He looked up at the sky and saw that the east had turned white like a fish's belly. Knowing it was time to go, he suddenly flung the bead out, which lodged itself in Xu Rong's skull.

  "This young man is quite a hero, with him protecting the princess in the mortal world, even the Lonely King can rest assured." Xiang Yu's tone had a hint of desolation, and he immediately took out another black jade carved ring and placed it on the ground.

  Xiang Yu turned around, and the surrounding area was once again shrouded in a vast white mist. The dense and orderly armored soldiers standing in front of Xiao Ying disappeared layer by layer. By his ear, he also heard Xiang Yu's voice: "In life, be a hero among men; in death, be a mighty ghost! You have been reborn many times, but you cannot awaken the memories of your past lives. This time, I only wish for you to live happily. If there is anything in the future, take the ink ring to Wujiang to find me."

  "Great King......" Wu Ying'er turned around, and Xiang Yu disappeared. The blood spat out by Xu Duan on the ground also disappeared. He suddenly woke up, picked up his knife and jumped up, alerting all around. He saw himself and Wu Ying'er standing in a desolate place, with the Wujian River still flowing loudly beside them.

  "Xiao Ying, just now I seemed to have had an illusion, no, that's not it, I also had a dream. In the dream, someone merged with me and became some kind of Overlord... My head is so confused. Right, aren't we in a ruined temple? " Xu Dun remembered being seriously injured and touched his chest, but it seemed like nothing was wrong. But that memory was really too deep, making it hard for him to forget."

  Looking at Xu Dun's silly and worried appearance, Wu Ying'er burst out laughing. Xu Dun was stunned, staring blankly and said: "Little Shadow you laughed? So beautiful."

  "From now on, I'll only smile at you, and your silly face is also handsome." Wu Ying'er picked up the ink jade ring from the ground and put it on Xu Dun's middle finger. Looking at Xu Dun with a gentle expression, he was enchanted at this moment.

  "Your Majesty, you will always be just Your Majesty. You are the Overlord of Western Chu, the Hero of the Ghost Realm. And I am just a mortal woman from Yu Di, who only wants to live in peace with my husband, and enjoy the mundane life between mountains and waters." Wu Ying'er's awakening memories did not make her become Yu Ji.

  "We're going to find Uncle, my mother is there too." Wu Ying'er, under Xiang Yu's stimulation, had already walked out of the blow of this life, and pulled Xu Dun's hand along the Wujing River upstream.

  Looking at Wu Ying'er, Xu Dun couldn't understand how she had come out of her sorrowful state overnight. However, seeing that she had put down the burden on her heart made him very happy. He liked this happiness and hoped it would last forever.

  Northwest, Gong Sun Ce marched triumphantly and captured the last county town in front of Pingliang Prefecture on August 25th at noon. As usual, they first looted gold, silver, and jewelry stores, having lost interest in banks. Because bank vaults were built too solidly, it would take too much time to break them open by manpower.

  In Gong Sun Zan's eyes, wasting time for the gold and silver in the bank was not a worthwhile deal. The power of the military soul increased day by day, and today 2,000 symbol soldiers and 3,000 guardian soldiers fought fiercely. If it weren't for Gao Shun's 200 trapped heavenly soldiers joining the battlefield, this battle would likely be won, but it would be a miserable victory.

  After comforting the wounded Tianbing Heavenly Soldiers, he gathered his men to discuss their next move.

  At the meeting after dinner, Gongsun Ce sat in the middle position, while other personnel were seated on both sides of him according to their identity and ability.

  Du Yuanzheng and Liu Wei, who were in charge of collecting gold and silver, reported the income from the county town. Liu Wei spoke with a light tone, familiar with the routine: "27.5 kilograms of gold, 130 kilograms of silver, give or take a little. In the past five counties, we have accumulated a total of 187 kilograms of gold and 950 kilograms of silver. This is the detailed account, all personnel involved have signed and stamped their fingerprints."

  "It's still a bit less, the gold and silver are too scattered, not easy to collect. These aren't even comparable to the bank vaults in a county. If we give these things to Li Jing, we'll still need to find some more people, I think our manpower is still a bit short." Gong Sun Ce said "a bit less" twice, it's not that he's greedy, but now it's like big fish eating small fish, small fish eating shrimp. If you don't quickly grow stronger, you'll eventually be eaten by the big fish.

  "What the lord says is extremely right, it's indeed a bit less, but these things can be put aside for now. The most important thing at present is to take down Pingliang County first." Military strategist Chu Mengmeng played with the folding fan in his hand, his tone was light and frivolous. After that one war, he expressed willingness to surrender to Gong Sun Ce, using a very ancient way of addressing him as "lord", regarding himself as a house minister.

  Although this made Gong Sun Ce somewhat unaccustomed, he still liked the title very much. Unfolding the map, Gong Sun Ce pointed to Pingliang City and Jinghe County with a wooden stick, saying: "According to General Li Ziqi's words, there are more than 10,000 Dingnan Army in Pingliang City. It's not something we can handle now, so I plan to continue along the provincial highway to attack Huazhen, revive the Qin army there as our vanguard."

  Then lead the army to return, from Jinghe County along the provincial highway to the west, and capture Chongxin County before sunset the next day. Chongxin County is only thirty kilometers away from Jinghe County, and the two counties of Qin can revive each other, defend each other as a horn, attack together in one place, forming a powerful fist!

  Gongsun Zan's strategic level was not high, but An Meng gave him many hints, which made him think of a step-by-step plan with strong operability.