A Fair Fight

When Zhang Sheng stepped into the main hall, it was as if all the world's springtime had followed in her wake. She took the seat of honor, raised a teacup, and took a gentle sip. "What brings the Fourth Prince here?" Li Chengfeng hurriedly rose and bowed. "I have come for the two hundred thousand soldiers of our Great Zhao. If they can be released, Chengfeng will be endlessly grateful! Should you have any commands in the future, I will go through fire and water without hesitation!" Zhang Sheng gently skimmed the floating tea leaves with the cup's lid, not saying a word. Li Zhi also felt like picking up a teacup—not to drink, but simply to do something to conceal his awkwardness and nervous tension. He could not explain why he, as the proud successor to the Human King, would feel nervous at all. Yet when he reached out, his hand met only empty air. In the entire room, there was only a single cup beside Zhang Sheng; none had been prepared for either of them. Li Chengfeng stood frozen, uncertain whether to sit back down or take his leave. Seeing that the Fourth Prince had been struck dumb, Li Zhi cleared his throat and said, "So many soldiers of Great Zhao have stayed in Qingming for days on end, incurring no small expense in medicine and treatment. It is only right that proper compensation be made for all of this." Li Chengfeng snapped to his senses as if waking from a dream, chiming in repeatedly, "Yes, yes! We will certainly compensate you! Just name a figure, and I will have it delivered at once!" Li Zhi added, "The immortal silver is already prepared. As for the delivery time—" Waking to the prompt once more, Li Chengfeng hurried to say, "It can be delivered within half a day!" Zhang Sheng finally made a move, raising a single finger. "Ten taels of immortal silver per person." Li Chengfeng let out a massive sigh of relief. "No problem!" Zhang Sheng raised a second finger. "Two hundred thousand displaced refugees." "Agreed!" Li Chengfeng assented without a second thought. The flames of war had only just been kindled; going forward, there would be as many refugees as anyone could want. Zhang Sheng raised a third finger. "Those who do not wish to return to Zhao cannot be forced." Li Chengfeng's heart sank. What he feared most had come to pass after all. He asked nervously, "How many do not wish to return to Zhao?" "Not many. Only twenty thousand." Gritting his teeth, Li Chengfeng said, "Agreed! When I return, I will report them as fallen in battle." "Then let it be so." Zhang Sheng rose and drifted away. Long after her silhouette had vanished, Li Chengfeng finally recovered his wits, only to discover a Dao Foundation warrior standing beside him, though he had no idea how long the man had been there. Seeing Li Chengfeng come to his senses, the Dao Foundation warrior said, "I have been ordered by my master to escort you back. My master stated that the moment the goods arrive, the men will be released." Li Chengfeng blanked for a moment. The immortal silver was easy enough, but how could two hundred thousand refugees be gathered at a moment's notice? Li Zhi gave another soft cough, reminding him, "Fourth Prince, delays breed trouble. For every day we stall, the number of casualties we must report will only climb." Startled awake once more, Li Chengfeng merely asked the Dao Foundation warrior to point him in the right direction, then took flight toward Bishui on his own. Li Zhi flew alongside him. Seeing him completely unsettled and at a loss, Li Zhi sighed inwardly and offered another reminder: "Prince Duan is waiting for your report. I believe that if the refugees cannot be gathered in time, you could offer Qingming some collateral to secure the release of the captured soldiers first." "Why didn't I think of that?! Master Li's words truly wake a man from his slumber! But what should I use as collateral? Immortal silver, medicinal ingredients, or magic treasures?" Li Zhi said, "The best collateral is none other than people. Doesn't the Fourth Prince have his own elite troops? Send one hundred thousand of them as collateral to exchange for the captives first, and then trade refugees to reclaim your elites later. By then, there will be no rush, and you can swap them back at your leisure." Li Chengfeng's eyes instantly lit up. "Why didn't I think of that!" Li Chengfeng moved like the wind. That very day, he sent one hundred thousand elite soldiers whom he had trained with his own hands to Qingming, successfully retrieving one hundred thousand captives. Over the next three days, he scraped together seventy thousand refugees and delivered them to Qingming, securing the remaining seventy thousand captives. In less than five days, all the prisoners were safely retrieved. Prince Duan was immensely pleased, praising Li Chengfeng lavishly before setting off on his return journey to the Zhao capital. Afterward, there was no need to hurry. Li Chengfeng spent more than ten days rounding up over one hundred thousand refugees, carefully screening them to select one hundred thousand able-bodied youths before sending them to Qingming. Li Chengfeng felt he had handled the matter brilliantly, having deliberately weeded out twenty thousand old, weak, sick, and disabled. Such painstaking effort ought to earn him a measure of respect in her eyes, shouldn't it? At that thought, he felt a surge of pride again. Soon, Zhang Sheng's reply arrived, returning eighty thousand elite soldiers and twenty thousand refugees. Li Chengfeng was completely stunned. Only after inquiring in detail did he learn that of the one hundred thousand elites he had raised with his own hands, over twenty thousand had refused to return after spending a mere ten days in Qingming! Li Chengfeng could hardly accept this reality, nearly coughing up three pints of blood. Yet aside from bitterly cursing under his breath, "Li Zhi has ruined me!" there was nothing he could do. Looking at the twenty thousand refugees returned by Qingming, Li Chengfeng's fury flared uncontrollably. The problem was that across a radius of ten thousand li, Qingming was the only place accepting refugees. In Li Chengfeng's hands, these tens of thousands had nowhere to go. Unable to bring himself to drive them out and leave them to fend for themselves, Li Chengfeng could only grit his teeth and personally escort the tens of thousands of refugees to Qingming, intending to sell them to Qingming at the original price. He knew full well that all of this must have been part of Zhang Sheng's plan from the start. Yet even though he had delivered the refugees in person, he did not manage to catch so much as a glimpse of her. *** After the great battle, a fleeting calm returned to the Northern Mountain Gate. Wei Yuan stood atop the battered garrison town wall, watching small airships ascend one after another to transport Liao corpses to Qingming, his heart utterly devoid of ripples. Carts rolled continuously into the town, each laden with tens of thousands of jin of cement. Craftsmen and Dao soldiers labored with all their might, mixing cement and pouring it into the wall breaches where steel-reinforced frameworks had already been erected. Only two days had passed since the battle, yet nearly half of the riddled walls had already been restored. Behind the lines, the firing of cement kilns never ceased for a single moment, and the supply yards were piled high like mountains. He was confident that during the next battle, the Liao Clan's colossal ballistas would not breach the walls so easily. Even if they succeeded in the end, it would demand at least fifty percent more giant bolts. Wei Yuan kept a separate ledger in his mind: every time the Northern Liao fired a colossal ballista bolt, it cost them one million taels of immortal silver, merely to destroy a stretch of wall that cost him ten thousand taels to build. With nothing else to attend to, Wei Yuan sat at the garrison town's highest point, taking in the surrounding scenery. The vault of heaven stretched vast and boundless, while the world lay bleak and desolate. Low clouds drifted at a slant, and the north wind swept across the grasslands, brushing over the earth's ravines like soothing an open wound. As dusk fell, blood-red hues spilled across the sky, dyeing half the heavens crimson. Phosphorescent flickers roved over the plains while trumpets sounded in unison; the northern realm at this time of year possessed a beauty of its own. With idle time on his hands, Wei Yuan pulled up the recorded image of Zhang Sheng commanding the army to encircle and annihilate the Zhao host, watching it over and over. He had viewed the footage countless times, yet he never grew weary of it. When he had initially asked Zhang Sheng to take the field, all he had hoped for was a victory. With Qingming's current military strength, whether it was Bao Yun or Cui Yu in command, either could have won. Even if Li Zhi had taken charge, the outcome would have been the same. Yet Wei Yuan had never expected Zhang Sheng to orchestrate a battle that would shake the realm. Not only had she triumphed, but she had radiated dazzling brilliance from start to finish, breathtaking from every conceivable angle. Just as he was admiring the scene, a flash of silver suddenly flickered before his eyes. Frowning slightly, he looked at the silver-haired Liao woman who had appeared before him and said, "Daring to show yourself here—have you grown tired of living?" The silver-haired woman pointed at Wei Yuan, then crooked her finger beckoningly. "A fair fight. Do you dare?" Seeing that same gesture, Wei Yuan could only feel that Zhang Sheng was eighty-seven times more pleasing to the eye than the Liao woman before him. "A fair fight? With you? And you call that fair?" The silver-haired Liao woman said, "Not with me. Fighting me would be bullying you. Your opponent is the Whip of the Northern Border. He is waiting for you in the wilderness right now. How about it—do you dare come?" Wei Yuan rose at once, sneering, "A mere dharma idol coming to throw his life away? What would I have to fear?" "Very well, follow me!" The silver-haired woman turned and flew toward the outside of the city. The instant she turned, Kshana was already in Wei Yuan's grip. The gun was preloaded with a Xun Wind Calamity Bullet; with a thunderous blast, the shot struck true, slamming square into the silver-haired woman's back! The silver-haired woman whipped her head around, her face filled with sheer shock and disbelief. Wei Yuan sneered. Although the Whip of the Northern Border carried a treasure of paramount importance, in Wei Yuan's heart, the truly grave threat had always been this silver-haired woman. But because she was at Scenery Command, Wei Yuan had been biding his time for a chance to strike. Several times she had passed nearby, yet he had held back, waiting specifically for this very moment. Yet an instant later, Wei Yuan's smile froze. The silver-haired woman's body suddenly disintegrated into grains of sand, scattering into the wind. Then, another silver-haired woman appeared in the distance. The two exchanged glances, both of their faces etched with shock, fury, and bitter regret over the steep price paid.