Awakening

His expression darkened. "Pass through the ruins at full speed! Not a single moment's delay!" Having just sat down, the Ying people had no choice but to scramble back up at the command, several of them moving especially sluggishly. The Chieftain's gaze turned sharp as he glared at them. Just as he was about to speak, the hurried clatter of hooves suddenly echoed from behind. A lone rider was galloping toward them at breakneck speed. "It's A'xun!" "A'xun is here!" Though the Ying people did not know where A'xun had gone when he left Chigu a while back, he was the Chieftain's flesh-and-blood son after all. If he tried to dissuade him with gentle words, surely the Chieftain wouldn't cut him down with a blade as well... would he? A'xun had pushed himself and his prized steed to utter exhaustion, finally catching up before the Ying people crossed the ruins of Mount Ke. He let out a long breath of relief. He had finally seized that slim sliver of a turning point. For once, heaven had not played a cruel joke on him. Seeing his son ride up in a rush, the Chieftain's face remained gloomy, devoid of any joy. The moment A'xun dismounted, his father struck him across the face with a vicious backhand. "You still remember to come back?" His father looked at him with chilling eyes and a distant tone; that slap had carried his full strength. A'xun staggered from the blow. By the time he righted himself, his cheek was already swollen. Even though he knew his father was completely under the control of the Luosheng Armor, he could not stop an ache of sorrow from gripping his heart. He had already learned that while different people behaved differently when wearing the Luosheng Armor, the obsessions within their hearts were magnified without exception. For his father to be driven this mad meant that an inner demon had possessed him from the very start, which the Luosheng Armor had accelerated, turning him into a demon in a single thought. Yet behind the sorrow came greater resolve. "Father, I was wrong! I shouldn't have left!" Clutching his cheek, he said, "From this moment on, I will follow your footsteps without faltering!" The Chieftain's gaze turned suspicious. "What were you doing earlier?" Speaking to him now, A'xun felt as if he were addressing a suit of cold iron armor. "I went to scout Zini territory to gather intelligence for you! Since this battle must be fought, we need to make thorough preparations!" The Chieftain was somewhat surprised. "Oh? What intelligence did you gather?" Dripping with sweat and still panting, A'xun grabbed a branch from the ground and drew a circle in the dirt. "Your timing for this offensive is impeccable. Right now, Zini's busy farming season is nearing its end. Their granaries are full, but the farmers are still working the fields, drastically reducing their available military strength." Manpower was exceptionally precious in small states; most Zini people farmed the land, taking up arms only during agricultural lulls or when facing starvation. Maintaining a standing army in peacetime was far too costly, something a minor realm simply could not afford. Zini's permanent garrison numbered a mere six thousand men; only in a major war would they initiate a temporary levy. "What's even better is that they built new communal granaries in Liusong Town this year. Grain from ten miles and eight townships around has all been delivered and stored there." His branch moved across the makeshift map. "When we descend the mountain, we can strike directly at Liusong Town. As long as we seize these granaries, our rear will be supplied with rations. We can establish a firm foothold in Zini and steadily press forward. Liusong Town isn't far from several key towns, either; we can split our forces into two routes, launch surprise raids, and easily capture them. With provisions and strongholds secured, taking the Zini people's capital won't be difficult at all." He laid out his points logically and convincingly, causing the Chieftain's expression to soften considerably. Even the corners of his mouth twitched upward. "Now that is my good son!" The rest of the Ying people, however, were deeply disappointed. They had pinned their hopes on A'xun talking sense into his father. Who could have expected him to jump right into the muck with him instead? *Hmph. Like father, like son.* A'xun acted as though he had not noticed their looks. With a heavy thud, he dropped to his knees before the Chieftain. "Before, I was willful and failed to appreciate Father's painstaking intentions." Hearing the sound of his knees striking the hard earth, onlookers winced for his sake. Normally, whenever he did something like this, the Chieftain would instinctively reach out to help him up. Yet nothing of the sort happened. Not only did the Chieftain refrain from offering a hand, he even took an instinctive step backward. "Enough, get up. In a few more hours, the Zini people will witness what the two of us are capable of!" Aside from that initial impulsive slap, his father did not wish to touch him at all. Why? Was he guarding against him? A'xun already had a suspicion. With father and son reunited, the Ying people continued their march toward Zini. The vegetation on Mount Ke was dense and shadowed. Vine-draped stone carvings and inscribed cliff faces lay scattered, swallowed by wilderness and decay. A'xun had wondered before just how magnificent the Shanjin Empire must have been to construct such lavish palaces. But why had it collapsed in the end? Was it truly all because of a single suit of Luosheng Armor? Father and son walked side by side. From A'xun's angle, his father had lost a tremendous amount of weight in just over a month; his cheekbones jutted out sharply, blood vessels webbed his eyes, yet his cheeks bore an unnatural, feverish flush. How exactly was that sinister armor corroding his father, keeping him in such a state of frenzied excitation? A'xun had visited the ruins of Mount Ke twice before and knew the marching column was approaching the vicinity of the treasury, so he softly called out, "Dad." The Chieftain kept his head down as he marched, merely grunting in response. "Your grandson will be born in a few months. Have you thought of a name for him?" Thrown a sudden question completely unrelated to the war, the Chieftain froze. The feverish belligerence filling his mind abruptly broke, and a fresh name flashed into his thoughts. A grandson? That was right—his daughter-in-law was already five months pregnant and would give birth in a few months. This would be his eldest grandson, perhaps even the new chieftain of the Ying people decades from now. A brand-new life, the continuation of his bloodline. "Ah..." The Chieftain shook his head hesitantly. "Not yet. Isn't it too early?" At that hesitation, a surge of joy rose in A'xun's heart. His father's wavering was proof of his humanity, showing that this part of him had not yet been completely dominated by the sinister armor. "You can choose an infant name for him first. You are the person Xiao Luo and I respect and hold dearest." A'xun wanted to awaken the humanity in his father's heart. No matter what, a grandfather's love for his grandson was an innate instinct. He added fuel to the fire: "I heard from the clan elders that before my brother and I were born, you had already thought of our names long in advance." A faint smile finally broke across the Chieftain's stern face, like the first spiderweb crack spreading across a sheet of ice. "It wasn't easy, you know. I went through dozens of names and wasn't satisfied with any of them. Only after your older brother was born, when he drew lots himself, did he pick his own name." Walking among the ruins of the fallen empire, listening to the cawing of crows and looking out at the wild weeds, the two men reminisced about old times. Though their words were wandering and trivial, the look in his father's eyes gradually softened. Seeing that the mood was receptive, A'xun could not help but ask, "Dad, have you ever considered leading our people away from the Shanjin Plain?" "What do you mean?" "The world beyond the Shanjin Plain is vast—far more fertile, far richer, and free of the Yao Kingdom." Deep down, A'xun had always hoped to resolve the crisis without bloodshed. "There aren't many of us. If we board ships from Julu Port and start anew in the west, wouldn't that also be a way out?" "Naive! Do you have any idea what you're saying?" The Chieftain's brow furrowed fiercely. "We are descendants of Shanjin, true imperial blood! This land belongs to us!"