Chapter Thirty-two: Leaving the Great Desert, Heading to the Southeast

  After the defeat of Wang Han and Zhamuhe, Temujin's power grew greatly. Many small tribes either feared his attack or admired his reputation and came to surrender, making Temujin's forces much stronger than before, becoming the largest tribe on the grasslands in name and reality. Genghis Khan rewarded his generals who had made great contributions, Muqali, Bo'orchu, Boroqul, Chilaun, Jebe, Jelme, Subutai and others were all appointed as chiliarchs. Guo Jing's achievement was also remarkable, he was also appointed as a chiliarch, a teenager of over ten years old, unexpectedly ranked among the great generals.

  At the celebration banquet, Temujin Khan was toasted by his generals and became slightly intoxicated. He turned to Guo Jing and said: "Good boy, I will give you another one of my most precious things."

  Guo Jing hastily knelt down to thank him.

  Temujin Khan said: "I will give Hua Zheng to you in marriage, from today on, you are my Golden Sword Son-in-law." At this time, even if Duan Shu hadn't died, he and Wang Yan had already thoroughly fallen out and become sworn enemies, so it was impossible for them to be united by marriage again. Therefore, he simply gave his daughter to Guo Jing in marriage, in order to win over his heart.

  The crowd erupted in cheers, and everyone congratulated Guo Jing, shouting: "Golden Saber Son-in-law, great, great, great!" Tuo Lei was even more excited, embracing his sworn brother tightly.

  Guo Jing was stunned, unable to utter a word. He had always regarded Huang Rong as his own sister, without any romantic feelings whatsoever. For years, he had devoted himself wholeheartedly to martial arts training, with no distractions or frivolous thoughts. Suddenly hearing Temujin's words, he felt bewildered and at a loss for what to do. Everyone saw him standing there in a daze and burst out laughing.

  After the wine ceremony, Guo Jing hurried to inform his mother. Li Ping hesitated for a long time and ordered him to invite the Six Freaks of Jiangnan to come and tell them about this matter. The six freaks saw their beloved disciple being favored by Temujin Khan and all congratulated Li Ping. Li Ping remained silent, suddenly knelt down and kowtowed to the six people. The six freaks were shocked and said: "Sister, what do you want to say, why make such a big ceremony?" Han Xiaoying quickly stretched out her hand to help her up.

  Li Ping said: "My child has learned from the teachings of six masters, and today he can become an adult. A young woman's body is fragile and easily broken, it's hard to repay great kindness and virtue. Now there is a difficult matter that I want to ask the six masters to take charge." She then told them about her late husband's promise with his sworn brother Yang Tie Xin to arrange a marriage between their children, and finally said: "The Khan wants my son as his son-in-law, which is a very honorable thing. However, if Uncle Yang left behind a daughter, I would not keep my promise, and in the future when I am dead and buried, how could I have the face to see my husband and Uncle Yang?"

  Zhu Cong smiled and said: "Don't worry about this matter, sister. That Yang hero indeed left behind an heir, but it's not a daughter, rather it's a son, just like Jing Er."

  Li Ping was both surprised and delighted, and hastily asked: "Master Zhu, how did you know?"

  Zhu Cong said, "A friend from the Central Plains once wrote to us brothers about this matter and hoped that we would bring Jing Er to Jiangnan to meet with a certain Mr. Yang, so that everyone could test their skills."

  Originally, the six freaks of Jiangnan never told Li Ping and Guo Jing about the reason for competing with Qiu Chuji. When Guo Jing asked about the origin of the little Taoist Yin Zhiping, the six freaks were also vague and did not clarify. The six people knew that Guo Jing was kind and would definitely show mercy when competing with Yang Kang, winning or losing, and might make a mistake.

  Li Ping was overjoyed when she heard Zhu Cong's words, and asked in detail whether Yang Tie Xin and his wife were still alive, what kind of person the child surnamed Yang was, but none of the six freaks knew. At this time, Li Ping and the six freaks agreed that the six freaks would take Guo Jing to Jiangnan to meet Yang Tie Xin's descendants, and find a way to avenge Duan Tian De. After returning, they would then marry Hua Zheng. As for Ling Zhu Xiu, his excuse for coming to the Mongolian grasslands and staying for so long was that he wanted to witness Guo Jing and Yang Kang's martial arts competition with his own eyes, so this time he naturally followed along as well.

  Guo Jing went to see Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan said, "Alright, you go to the south and take a trip. Incidentally, go to Zhongdu of the Jin Dynasty and bring me the head of Wanyan Honglie, the sixth prince of the Jin Dynasty. My sworn father Wang Han and my sworn brother Jamukha fell out with me because of this Wanyan Honglie. How many brave warriors do you need to take with you to accomplish this great task?"

  He is now the first Khan of Mongolia, and his momentum is even stronger than that of Wang Han and Jamukha's allied army. With this trend, unifying Mongolia is only a matter of time. And after this series of events, he has already made an enemy of the Jin dynasty, and even if they hadn't been enemies before, once he unified Mongolia, it would be inevitable for him to clash with the Jin dynasty out of self-interest, and the two sides will eventually have to fight each other.

  He met with Wanyan Honglie several times, knowing that this man was clever and capable, a difficult opponent to deal with, best eliminated as soon as possible. As for his falling out with Wang Han and Jamukha, the real reason lay in his own long-held ambition to unify Mongolia, wanting to use every means to expand his power and encroach on the interests of Wang Han and Jamukha. However, he had made Wang Han his adoptive father and had sworn brotherhood with Jamukha for many years, well-known to all; now it was just right to shift all the blame onto the Jin dynasty and Wanyan Honglie.

  After Temujin defeated the combined forces of Wang Khan and Jamukha, Wang Khan and Jamukha were unable to even protect themselves, let alone fulfill their previous agreement to send troops to help the Jin State attack the Song Dynasty. There was no use for him to stay on the grasslands anymore, so he returned to Zhongdu, the capital of the Jin State. That's why Temujin had Guo Jing go to Zhongdu and assassinate Wanyan Honglie after he went south.

  Guo Jing had heard his mother's stories since he was young and knew that his father was killed by the Jin people, so he had always hated the Great Jin. Therefore, after hearing Temujin Khan's words, he nodded in agreement immediately. However, considering that although Mongolian warriors were very brave in charging and breaking through enemy lines, they were not good at fighting in the jianghu (martial arts world), and bringing them would only be a hindrance, so he said to Temujin: "I have six masters going with me, no need to bring any more warriors."

  "Very well," said Temujin Khan, "our military strength is still weak and we are not yet a match for the great Jin state. You must be extremely careful not to reveal any traces."

  Guo Jing nodded in agreement.

  Temujin Khan rewarded him with ten kilograms of gold as travel expenses and also gave a batch of golden utensils and treasures looted from Wang Khan to the Six Freaks of Jiangnan. Dua Lei, Zhebie and others learned that Guo Jing was ordered to go south, all had gifts to give.

  On the third day, Guo Jing accompanied his six masters to Zhang Asheng's grave to pay their respects. He then bid a tearful farewell to his mother and set off south with Ling Zhiyun. Li Ping watched as her son's tall figure on the little red horse gradually disappeared into the distance of the vast desert, remembering the scene when she gave birth to him amidst the chaos of war, feeling both joy and heartache.

  Guo Jing walked out for over ten miles, only to see two white eagles soaring in the sky. It was Duan and Huazheng riding together to bid farewell. Huazheng's eyes were filled with emotions, but Guo Jing remained clueless. Although he had already been betrothed to her by Temujin, he didn't show any difference from before, nor did he display any extra affection towards her, which made Huazheng unhappy. Linghu Chong watched from the side and shook his head secretly, knowing that although Huazheng liked Guo Jing, Guo Jing only treated her as a younger sister, without any romantic feelings. The two were destined to be star-crossed lovers, wasting Huazheng's deep affections.

  Farewell to Tuo Lei and Hua Zheng, Guo Jing and the Jiangnan Six Freaks, Ling Zhiyun and others traveled day and night, heading southeast. After several days on the road, they passed through the vast desert grasslands and soon approached the border of Zhangjiakou.

  Guo Jing, setting foot on the Central Plains for the first time, found all the scenery to be unprecedented in his life, and his mood was extremely pleasant. In his excitement, he couldn't help but gallop his horse wildly. Although the horses ridden by the Six Freaks of Jiangnan and Ling Zhuqing were also carefully selected fine steeds from the grasslands, they were far inferior to Guo Jing's little red horse. As a result, they were soon left behind by Guo Jing. The Six Freaks of Jiangnan and Ling Zhuqing understood Guo Jing's mood, so they didn't mind.

  After half a day's journey, Ling Yun and the Six Freaks of Jiangnan arrived at the Black Water River, where they saw Little Red Horse tied up outside an inn. They knew that Guo Jing was waiting for them there, so they also dismounted their horses and walked into the inn.

  It was Ling Muyun who took another look, because outside this wine shop, in addition to Guo Jing's little red horse, four snow-white double-humped camels were also tied up. These four camels had a majestic and robust physique, with an extraordinary appearance that was even more eye-catching than Guo Jing's little red horse. Ling Muyun's heart skipped a beat as he realized that these white camels were unique to the White Camel Mountain Villa in the Western Regions. He suspected that there must be someone from the White Camel Mountain Villa inside the wine shop, but didn't know if it was Ouyang Ke himself or one of his concubines.

  As soon as the crowd walked into the wine shop, they saw Guo Jing rushing up with a worried and regretful face, shouting to the three monsters Ma Wang, Shen and Han Baoju in a choked voice: "Third Master, come quickly and take a look, my little red horse is bleeding!"

  Guo Jing rode the little red horse all the way to get here, and stopped to wait for several masters and Ling Yun. Because he saw that the little red horse had sweated a lot after running long distances, he felt sorry for it and took out a towel to wipe it down. Who would have thought that after wiping it down, he was shocked to find that the towel was covered in bright red bloodstains? He quickly wiped other parts of the horse and found that they were also covered in fresh blood, which scared him so much that he almost cried. He blamed himself for pushing the horse too hard and ruining its divine spirit. Just then, Ling Yun and several masters arrived, and he hurriedly told Ma Wangsheng Han Baoju, hoping that he had a way to save the little red horse.

  "Is this really happening?" Han Baoju felt quite surprised upon hearing the words, and then walked to the side of the red horse, wiping its shoulder several times. He stretched out his hand into the sunlight for a look, and burst out laughing, saying: "This isn't blood, it's sweat! Jing Er, congratulations to you, this little red horse of yours is no ordinary creature, but a rare and precious 'sweat-blood' horse that appears only once in a thousand years!"

  Guo Jing heard that his horse was not injured and felt relieved. He quickly asked, "Third Master, why is the horse's sweat like blood?"

  "I once heard my predecessor say that in the Western Regions, there is a heavenly horse called the 'Sweat Blood Horse', which has a red sweat on its back like blood when it gallops, and its sides are as if they have wings. It can run for thousands of miles a day. However, this was just a legend, no one had ever seen it before, and I didn't quite believe it either... but unexpectedly, you actually got it..." At that moment, Han Baoju began to explain the origin and the extraordinary aspects of the Sweat Blood Horse in detail to Guo Jing and others.

  Apart from Linghu Chong already knowing that Guo Jing's little red horse was a sweat-blooded precious horse, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan were also learning for the first time that this foolish disciple had tamed a sweat-blooded precious horse, a divine steed renowned for thousands of years. They were all extremely delighted and congratulated Guo Jing one after another, praising his good fortune. The "Scholar with the Wonderful Hands" Zhu Cong, who was well-read in poetry and books, even told everyone about the story of Emperor Wu of Han waging war against the great country of Dayuan to the west for the sake of obtaining a sweat-blooded precious horse.

  Everyone listened with relish, but they didn't know that their conversation had actually stirred up someone else's evil intentions.