It was no exaggeration to say that with the help of the spiritual dew, even severe wounds could quickly be reduced to minor ones.
Willow asked again, "Did we win completely?"
He Lingchuan replied, "I ran Fu Shanlie through the heart, but he doesn't seem to be dead. The allied forces of Xiji and Jintao have been driven back across the border. I don't think they'll dare return anytime soon."
He patted Willow lightly twice on her uninjured shoulder. "You played General Red wonderfully. Holding off Fu Shanlie was a great service."
Willow did not hide her fear at all.
"I was scared to death just now."
She had forged the replica armor as a collectible, occasionally wearing it in secret at home. Who could have imagined that one day she would don it for real combat and use it to intimidate Fu Shanlie?
Facing a ba of such high cultivation, her heart had been pounding the entire time, terrified that her imitation wouldn't be convincing enough and she would give herself away.
Back then, the South Gate had already been breached. Thanks to her holding down the fort, single-handedly pinning Fu Shanlie in the barbican and preventing the enemy troops from spreading out, she had bought precious time for Yuheng City and He Lingchuan. Otherwise, had Fu Shanlie led his army into the city, the devastation would have been endless.
Even if He Lingchuan had eventually recaptured the city, it would have come at a horrific price.
From that perspective, Willow deserved the greatest credit for today's battle.
"What reward do you want? Think it over while you recover." He Lingchuan was never stingy toward those who rendered meritorious service.
Willow readily agreed.
He Lingchuan then glanced at the Seven Fortunes Wheel beside her.
This was naturally also a replica. He had not expected Willow to be interested in the immortal artifact Lu Xun kept by his side as well.
Still, having a divine artifact in hand suited General Red's identity even better. Furthermore, Fu Shanlie had just suffered at its hands and would surely remember it vividly.
Just then, Wen Daolun hurried in from outside, his first words echoing He Lingchuan's:
"How is she?"
"Old Wen!" He Lingchuan gripped his shoulders with both hands and gave him several firm shakes. "It's good to see you're all right!"
Wen Daolun was taken aback, somewhat unaccustomed to such intimacy. Yet sensing that He Lingchuan's joy was heartfelt and undisguised, he felt a touch of warmth. "Thanks to fortune, I'm safe and sound. It's all thanks to your bravery that Yuheng City was held!"
If Yuheng City had fallen, how could he have faced Commander Zhong?
"The fighting at the East Gate was just as difficult. Fortunately, you held out too." While Willow was deceiving Fu Shanlie disguised as General Red, the Jintao army had been fiercely attacking the East Gate. Although they were a diversionary force, turning a feint into a real breakthrough would have been no trouble at all for them.
After exchanging a few words with him, Wen Daolun departed in a hurry.
He and Chao Qian had been in charge of the East Gate, exhausting every effort.
But he didn't know how conflicted He Lingchuan felt deep inside:
Wen Daolun's escape from death proved that his personal fate could be altered!
Yet Zhao Lingyang was gone, and the prophecy that "the City Defender of Yuheng died suddenly" had come true all the same.
Although tonight's crisis ended with Yuheng City's victory, the twists and turns along the way had been heart-stopping.
Just a little more, and Yuheng City would have returned to the original track of history.
He Lingchuan felt a momentary sense of bewilderment.
What about Panlong City in the future, then? What about General Red?
Could predetermined destiny truly be overturned?
Back then, changing the fates of General Nan Ke and Zhu Erniang hadn't been difficult.
Had he known this would happen, he shouldn't have let the Dafang Pot devour Nailuotian's avatar!
Ever since this damn pot ate something it shouldn't have, who knows what kind of karma it has been secretly shaping?
Whenever anyone presumed to deviate from their original path of destiny, an unseen force would drag it right back.
This was... utterly terrifying.
As he was lost in thought, a maid carrying a tray of medicine came over, intending to apply ointment to his wounds.
He Lingchuan was right in the middle of brooding, specks of blood still flecking his face. The dark, irritable glare in his eyes gave the maid such a fright that she nearly dropped the tray.
The commander's expression was too terrifying.
Fortunately, someone beside her caught her wrist and gently took the tray:
"I'll do it."
Sun Fuling had arrived.
Dressed in green robes, Master Sun stood under the eaves holding the tray, with busy soldiers bustling behind her.
He Lingchuan stared straight at her.
If Panlong City's ultimate fate could not be changed, what about her?
He still remembered National Preceptor Qingyang's words, remembered how she had described the original owner of the celestial centipede bone flute.
Under his intense gaze, Sun Fuling lightly dampened a cloth and wiped the bloodstains from his face.
The cloth was instantly stained red. Unperturbed, she said, "What are you thinking about? Your eyes look so frightening."
"I was wondering whether fate cannot be escaped, only faced." He had pushed Wen Daolun back to Yuheng City, hoping to help him evade his destined death, yet the man had returned just before the great battle, and death had indeed come knocking for Wen Daolun again and again. Thinking of himself, his original fate was probably to become Nailuotian's vessel, but he hadn't run away, ultimately resolving that lurking menace in Panlong City.
Running away solved nothing.
Sun Fuling smiled. "Fate? You either accept it or overcome it."
"Well said. As expected of a scholar, your words are precise." He Lingchuan gently pressed her hand. "What brings you here?"
"There was chaos throughout the city, so I came to help." Sun Fuling pulled him over to sit beneath a tree and began tending to his wounds.
He Lingchuan took off his outer armor to make it easier for her to apply the medicine. In the chaotic brawl just now, he had suffered no fatal wounds, but he was covered in injuries. A hole half a finger deep was gouged into his left shoulder, chiseled out by the insect demon's foreleg; across his broad back were three lacerations, the longest a foot long, deep enough to almost expose the white bone beneath.
These were souvenirs left by the Beijia elites behind him after he ran Fu Shanlie through. Had he not twisted aside quickly, he would have been skewered himself.
Countless other minor wounds dotted his body.
As Sun Fuling cut open his tunic, the nerves in He Lingchuan's face twitched. During the pursuit of the Jintao army, the torn flesh of his wounds had stuck to the cloth. Now, to apply the medicine, it had to be peeled away.
It hurt like absolute hell.
Sun Fuling fed him a painkiller. "You need a good suit of armor."
"Indeed." With his clothes shredded, He Lingchuan fetched a clean set. "I'll keep an eye out."
A good blade or a good suit of armor needed to grow alongside its master, and armor in particular required careful attunement. He had experienced firsthand just how capable General Red's battle armor was.
Such things could not be rushed; he would take his time searching or forging one.
Sun Fuling added, "There are many wounded in the city, but they've mostly been treated."
And this was with Yuheng City winning.
Had the city fallen, who knew how many would have died tonight?
As if hearing the sigh in his heart, Sun Fuling tilted her head. "Nothing in this world is flawless. You've already done very well. The scourge of Longchuan will soon be eradicated, and Yuheng City remains intact. In this match between you and Fu Shanlie, you won."
"Still, the process..." The process had been truly harrowing.
"The process doesn't matter." Sun Fuling's fingertips were still smeared with He Lingchuan's blood. Catching two falling drops of Emperor's Flowing Dew, she casually brought them to her lips and sucked them down without a second thought. "War cares only about the result: success or failure. Fu Shanlie was also only a hair's breadth from taking Yuheng City, but 'almost' is still failure."
Failure was failure.
So Fu Shanlie was chased back to Jintao, while He Lingchuan reaped the fruits of victory.
"Do you think..." He Lingchuan glanced at her and asked, "...if General Red had been in my place, would she have struck Longchuan tonight?"
"That depends on whether there was sufficient justification to attack Longchuan. I believe you had plenty." Sun Fuling blinked. "I also know that people like you shoulder heavy responsibilities. You have neither the luxury to be softhearted nor the time for regret."
He Lingchuan took her hand. "And after this?"
"After this? Keep charging forward, of course," she said leisurely. "Just as always."
He Lingchuan broke into a wry laugh. "You really know how to put someone at ease."
She hadn't uttered a single word of comfort, yet He Lingchuan understood.
He was now the supreme commander of a city. Every action had consequences, and every mistake carried losses.
The higher the station and the greater the power, the more magnified those consequences and losses became.
But so what? Certain decisions had to be made, certain risks had to be borne, and certain mistakes had to be made, even if it required paying a steep price and making great sacrifices—
Sacrifices that might cost his own life, or the lives of others.
This was what it meant to do what must be done, knowing full well the impossibility of it.
The responsibility of a ruler was not merely to do good, but sometimes even to commit evil.
"Did I cheer you up?" Dimples appeared on Sun Fuling's cheeks once more. "Buy me breakfast tomorrow morning."
It would be dawn in just a few hours.
"Tomorrow morning won't do. The day after tomorrow at noon—no, the night after tomorrow, I'll treat you to a grand feast."
"It's a promise." Knowing he had countless affairs to manage, Master Sun said no more and turned to leave.
Next, He Lingchuan assigned tasks to Chao Qian.
The Emperor's Flowing Dew had not yet ceased, nor had Yuheng City's curfew; public order throughout the city still required strict enforcement and tight control.
With the calamity of war having struck just moments ago, many residents of Yuheng City had been affected. Now was the time to restore order from chaos.
Having settled these matters, he led several mounted bodyguards out of the city once more, heading south!
In Longchuan, there was still a battle to eradicate the bandits.
Earlier, he had delegated military command to Hu Min while rushing back with eight hundred men. Now that Yuheng City had turned crisis into safety, he needed to attend to that battlefield as well.
The east began to lighten with dawn, and the Emperor's Flowing Dew ceased.
By the time He Lingchuan reached Longchuan, the fighting there had entered its mopping-up stage.
The elite Xiji puppet forces that had originally defended Longchuan to the death had already been led away by Fu Shanlie. After their sneak attack on Yuheng City failed and He Lingchuan pursued them, they had crossed straight into Jintao.
As a result, only a portion of demons and water bandits remained in the puppet army's encampment in Longchuan.
Fu Shanlie had left them to hold the base, treating them in truth as pawns to be discarded at any moment.
Acting with delegated authority, Hu Min had led the troops into Longchuan, first clearing away the demon vines to carve out a path. Due to the Emperor's Flowing Dew, the enemy's minds were somewhat delirious and their resistance feeble, making the Yuheng Army's sweep much easier than anticipated.
On this just-concluded night of Emperor's Flowing Dew, He Lingchuan and Fu Shanlie had each raided the other's base.
The rule of the game was that the winner took all. He Lingchuan had won, so Longchuan was the trophy he deserved, easily claimed as his prize.
Both sides understood this tacitly, which was why Fu Shanlie had not returned to Longchuan, instead retreating to the Jintao Kingdom with the remainder of his viable elites.
Longchuan no longer offered him any foothold.
After this battle, the captives were all sent to the mines for hard labor.
With that, Panlong City's side finally took complete possession of the entire territory of the Xiji Kingdom, renaming it the Maohe Plain. The name "Xiji" vanished from history forever.
Upon receiving this joyful news, the Panlong Wasteland and the Maohe Plain celebrated for three full days!
Chapter 1044