Chapter 4: A War of Words with Wei Ming

  In the imperial palace of Haotian, Chu Wei looked at the secret report in his hand and let out a light breath, saying: "Fortunately, we didn't push Lei Ming's army to its death, otherwise the loss would be great."

  Cai Yan knelt down on one side, and his heart surged with great waves. This thunderous army was indeed formidable, fortunately they had not committed any crimes in Yao City.

  "Ts'ai Yen, transmit My command: provide three million soldiers with two months' rations to Lei Meng!" Chu Wei transmitted the order and smiled to himself.

  In the main hall of the White River City, Lei Ming and other main generals listened to Sun Ming's report: The Thunderbolt Army had over 1,200 deaths, while the Jin Yuan Army had over 16,000 deaths. The bodies have been handled.

  Luoyang Tian and others couldn't help but smile, then looked at each other and burst out laughing. Luoyang Tian slightly suppressed his laughter and said: "Hehe, General Lei is indeed formidable, to think of using a false show of force to scare the Jin Yuan army. Haha ~, they were scared and ran around in all directions, trampling on each other..."

  "Hmph! If it weren't for me leading the charge and breaking through like a hot knife through butter, coming and going as I pleased, Jin Yuan wouldn't have fallen so quickly!" Yang Tian said with dissatisfaction, pouting his mouth and shouting out.

  "Yes, yes! If it weren't for General Yang Tianyang's timely killing, the White River City would have fallen into our hands. General Yang has made the greatest contribution! We must thank him sincerely!" Lei Meng said with a smile.

  Mr. Wen and others looked at each other with a smile. Yang Tian's face turned red, saying: "Uh... actually it was mainly thanks to everyone's bravery in battle!..."

  "Alright! Let's reward the entire army! Tonight, we might have a master coming. Everyone can disperse!" Lei Meng hesitated for a moment before giving the order, and although he was young, he had great authority. Seeing everyone getting up, he added another sentence: "General Luo, come with me to practice our skills, we've basically stabilized now."

  Luoyang Tian's heart was stirred with excitement, previously watching Lin Chong and Liao Yun getting stronger and stronger, his heart wasn't feeling good, now finally enduring until this day, he excitedly replied: "Good! I...I also want to upgrade my martial arts!" He said, actually clenching his fist and raising it high.

  Qin Hao and Sun Ming hurried forward to congratulate them. The two of them also wanted to learn from Lei Meng and Yang Tian, but they had never received their approval, so they could only keep quiet about it. Lei Meng glanced at Qin Hao's shining eyes and the slight disappointment on his face, knowing that they too wanted to learn martial arts again. Without waiting for them to turn around and look at him, he spoke up first: "You two follow Yang Tian in a couple of days."

  Yang Tian was about to walk out of the hall when he suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned around and pointed at himself: "Me? Why should I be the one teaching them?"

  "Because you've always been with them, so you're more familiar, because you have a set of military training, and also because your martial arts skills are quite impressive..." Lei Meng hastily added.

  "Alright, alright, alright!" Yang Tian quickly raised his hands in surrender and continued, "I also think they're quite pleasing to the eye, so let's just accept them. But we'll have to wait a few more days before teaching them, as there will be others coming from Jin Yuan." Qin Hao and the other two had initially been somewhat disappointed, but upon hearing this, they immediately pounced on Yang Tian, kneeling down and kowtowing, excitedly saying: "Master, please accept your disciples' bows!" After finishing speaking, they knocked their heads against the ground three times in succession, as they wanted to solidify their master-disciple relationship first.

  Lei Meng looked at Fu E and saw that Qin Hao was going to take Lin Chong's pulse. Then he turned his head and saw Luo Yang Tian, who seemed to be moved by them, wanting to imitate them. He hastily said: "No, no! Let's go now!" After finishing speaking, he got up and walked out of the hall. As he passed by Yang Tian's side, he smiled slightly.

  Yang Tian let out a light hum, turned his head and rolled his eyes, looking like a quarrelsome child. Luoyang Tian chuckled and scratched his head, chasing after Lei Ming as he went.

  Lei Meng brought Luo Yang to a small courtyard beside the hall, where under the light of the lanterns at night, he taught Luo Yang the moves and concepts of Tai Chi. This was all too new for Luo Yang, so although Lei Meng's teaching was lazy, he learned with great enthusiasm, panting and sweating as he danced in circles...

  The next evening, Lei Meng was still teaching Luoyang Tian Taiji in the small courtyard. Just as Luoyang Tian was about to demonstrate the new moves he had learned, a gentle laughter echoed from the rooftop: "Indeed, it's not a bad move, and Wei has benefited greatly." Then, a black-clad figure floated down gently.

  Luoyang Tian busily drew out his long sword and stood guard: "Who's there!"

  Lei Meng turned around and stood casually, calmly looking at the approaching person, because he had already discovered that someone was sneaking a peek.

  "It's indeed as rumored, calm and composed." Wei Ming sidestepped Luo Yang Tian's question and first commented on Lei Meng.

  A clap of thunder in his heart, this person had no intention to kill. Where did he come from? He tried with language first, staring at him: "Jin Yuan has just been defeated, are you sent by Jin Yuan?"

  "Hehe, quite a sharp mind." Wei Ming smiled brightly and said, "That's right, I'm the legendary Wei Ming, the top expert by Emperor Jin Yuan's side!" After finishing his sentence, he put his hands behind his back, looked up at the starry night sky, straightened his waist, waiting for their gasps of admiration...

  The thunder rumbled and frowned, who is this? So good at pretending to be a B? Turning his head to look at Luoyang Tian beside him, he also saw that he was puzzled. Luoyang Tian shook his head and said softly: "I don't know."

  Wei Ming waited for a long time, only to hear Luo Yang's soft conclusion "I don't know", and couldn't help but become angry: "You don't know?! As a high-ranking general of Jin Yuan, how can you not know the emperor's favorite person, the great master?!"

  Luoyang Tian awkwardly said, "I... I don't count as a high-ranking general." He glanced at Lei Ming and saw that he was unmoved, so he continued, "I'm no longer a person of Jin Yuan now." After finishing speaking, he let out a sigh.

  "Never mind." Lei Meng dismissed his chatter and changed the subject decisively, "I'm not interested in your identity."

  "You..." Wei Ming was so angry that he raised his hand and pointed, but he choked up and couldn't continue. He put down his hand, took a deep breath, and said, "Forget it. Let's have a good talk." He regained his calm demeanor.

  "What a guy!" At this time, Yang Tian came in from the small courtyard gate, drew out his Tang knife and was about to attack. He lived nearby and heard an unfamiliar voice, so he brought his Tang knife over.

  "Sheathe your sword. This man has no intention of killing." Lei Meng calmly stopped Yang Tian. Yang Tian looked at the calm body of that person and slowly put his Tang knife back into its scabbard, asking: "Who is he? What did he come here for?"

  "Just as we were about to discuss something, you arrived." Lei Meng shrugged and turned to Wei Ming, asking: "Speak up, what's the topic?"

  Wei Ming turned around, glanced at the three of them, and then stared at Lei Meng, shouting: "Why did you betray Jin Yuan!"

  A loud thunderclap, a fierce aura pressed in, he hastily mobilized his internal energy to resist. Fortunately, he only used 50% of his inner strength to withstand it. He narrowed his eyes and said, "This question shouldn't be asked of us! It's Jin Yuan who abandoned us!"

  Luoyang Tianxin's heart tightened, and his body shook slightly. He still couldn't fully accept the fact that he had left Jin Yuan. Wei Ming saw that Lei Meng easily deflected his own aura pressure, knowing that Lei Meng was not simple, so he nodded lightly and said, "Indeed, your strength is quite good." Then, he withdrew the aura he had released and said, "Now let's return to Jin Yuan."

  Lei Meng shook his head firmly and said, "No, it's impossible!" Yang Tian picked up his heart and immediately put it down, returning to Jin Yuan, he didn't have that much room for maneuver.

  "What?!" Wei Ming shouted, charging forward fiercely towards Lei Meng.

  Lei Meng flashed slightly, stood firm, and suddenly drummed up his energy to counterattack, causing Wei Ming to also flash slightly. The two men then engaged in a fierce battle without making a sound. Yang Tian saw the situation, swiftly drew out his Tang knife, let out a loud "Hai!", and charged straight at Wei Ming.

  Wei Ming saw someone coming from the corner of his eye, and hastily summoned his strength to retreat. Lei Meng also took a step back in the shockwave, and Yang Tian's attack was blocked and stopped. Just as Yang Tian was about to attack again, Lei Meng stopped him, saying: "Yang Tian, stop!"

  Yang Tian stopped and said: "This guy is so shameless, if I don't beat him up, I won't feel comfortable!"

  "It's probably that the two of them joining forces still can't beat him, otherwise they would have let him know why the starry sky is so brilliant a long time ago." Lei Meng knew he couldn't get any advantage with his hands and feet, so naturally he thought of ways to gain some benefits with his mouth.

  Listening to Lei Meng's words, Wei Ming felt that something was off, as if it didn't sound right. He had never heard anyone scold him like this before. He snorted and said, "You think you two little brats can beat me? Dream on!"

  "We didn't think of defeating you, not at that time in America! But it's also impossible for you to make us surrender to Jin Yuan again." He paused and saw Wei Ming was about to take action, so he stretched out his hand to stop him, "Wait, do you know why?"

  "You two are indeed formidable opponents, and it's really hard to stop you in a fierce battle." Wei Ming thought for a moment and gave an answer that he thought was standard.

  "This is one of them. The second is that we can contain Haotian here, and the two countries can use this as a buffer zone to prevent war from breaking out at will. If you want to pass through, you have to ask about the guns and swords in our hands first!" Lei Meng raised his left hand with the Tang knife.

  Wei Ming seemed to be deep in thought. Lei Meng continued to instigate, "Do you think why Emperor Huangtian gave us the White River? Isn't it because he knew we wouldn't surrender to Jin Yuan, and let Jin Yuan exhaust a large amount of military strength to eliminate us! General Liu Yu is a precedent!"

  "That makes sense!" Wei Ming understood after listening to Lei Meng's explanation.

  "So, you'd better go back and let Jin Yuan take care of the crow. " Lei Meng turned around and left with a faint smile. His analysis was reasonable, but people had different opinions about gains and losses."

  "It's like that, then I'll take my leave! I hope you staying here can ease the conflict a bit." After finishing speaking, Wei Ming turned around and jumped onto the rooftop, jumping several times before disappearing into the night.

  Luoyang Tian gazed blankly in the direction where Wei Ming had gone far away, and sighed in his heart, finally parting with Jin Yuan.

  Yang Tian snorted: "Just like that and you're running away? You good-for-nothing!"

  "Then he can stay here and lay eggs?" Lei Meng wasn't very interested in this malnourished remark, but still responded with a similarly malnourished sentence.

  Looking at the dazed expression of Luoyang Tian, Lei Ming asked in a soft voice: "General Luo, are you homesick?"

  "Yes, I miss home. I wonder how the wife and kids are doing back home?" Luoyang Tian replied absent-mindedly, his thoughts already far away.

  "When the war calms down, let's find a way to bring them all over." Lei Meng looked out at the night sky and said, "In the future, this place will be more beautiful than anywhere else."

  Yang Tian quietly turned around and left, he felt that such melancholy was meaningless.