Death… and me

Jing Meng Hun yelled, and tried to chase after him fiercely. However, he could only see the rustling of tree leaves. He merely saw a shadow ‘whooshing’ further away from them as it left-behind a strong orchid fragrance.

However, a wild laughter still echoed in the sky.

Jing Meng Hun roared, followed after Chu Yang, and entered the jungle with a whooshing sound.

The experts of the Golden Horse Riders Department exchanged glances since they still had a lingering fear in their hearts. They left three people behind to wait for the others, who were still to arrive. Then, they followed him into the forest.

Another round of chase-fight had started.

However, this time, even Jing Meng Hun didn’t dare say that they could win. It was impossible to guard against King of Hell Chu’s rapidly changing strategies. He could appear and disappear mysteriously. He was merely a Revered Sword Artist, but his means were adequate-enough to kill a King Level Master.

He had crippled even Jing Meng Hun’s hand; what could one say for other.

Therefore, Jing Meng Hun sent-out a message via an invisible falcon as he continued the pursuit.

Jing Meng Hun was becoming increasingly impatient. Unexpectedly, King of Hell Chu had already fled for 4000 kilometres! This had been a terrible journey. If someone had said to Jing Meng Hun that King of Hell Chu would flee beyond 4000 kilometres at the time they had left the Continent Centre — then Jing Meng Hun would’ve grabbed the said-individual by their skull and slapped them; [that’s such a shameful prediction!]

However, Jing Meng Hun no longer thought so.

So much so, that his heart had started to harbour some admiration for King of Hell Chu; as well as fear. Jing Meng Hun was a Ninth Grade King Level Expert. But he knew that there was no way that he could’ve managed to pull this off if he would put himself in King of Hell Chu’s shoes.

Throughout this whole journey, King of Hell Chu had framed people, tricked people, ambushed and attacked, taken advantage of the mountains and rivers, used wild animals, and had even exploited the will of the people. He had taken advantage of everything-and-everyone…

He could conjure a myriad of unusual and marvellous ideas that could amaze anyone.

Furthermore, King of Hell Chu had extreme forbearance and toughness — the likes of which Jing Meng Hun had barely seen in his entire life. He possessed this unique attitude of ‘whatever works’; he was the type of man who would use his waistband to fasten his hair. Not to mention that his style had recently evolved to become more uninhibited and confident.

Jing Meng Hun had often though, [an enmity with a guy like this one… is the greatest tragedy of my life!]

The emergence of the countless attack-strategies of King of Hell Chu had made Jing Meng Hun wary in his heart. Therefore, this time, he had made a prompt decision to send out a message to the frontline. He had sent a message asking the experts of the Golden Horse Riders Department within the army to intercept King of Hell Chu from the opposite side.

After all, he had successfully covered 4000km of the 6500km route. Therefore, he only had 2500 kilometres left to reach his destination.

This was an impassable distance for an average person. But, not-necessarily-so for King of Hell Chu…

He had already rushed-through 4000 kilometres; so, couldn’t he cover the remaining 2500 kilometres as well?

Initially, Jing Meng Hun had no plans to use the experts of the Golden Horse Riders Department who were allocated to the army. However, he couldn’t sit idly either. If King of Hell Chu and the army of Iron Cloud were allowed to unify — even Diwu Qing Rou wouldn’t be able to withstand the consequences.

King of Hell Chu had over-heard too many military secrets. Moreover, the plan to use Enchanting Tobacco and other sorts of poisons was like a double-ended sword… If it could be used by them — it could be used by the enemy as well!

Countless experts of the Golden Horse Riders Department got to work after Jing Meng Hun issued the summoning order.

This would weaken the military might of Great Zhao Army, but it would put an enormous amount of pressure on Chu Yang.

[Let his return-trip become a living hell…]

Tie Bu Tian had triumphed over Bai Chang Tian, and his army of 500,000 was completely destroyed. Thousands of the men in Bai Chang Tian’s army had died during the internal conflict. And, tens-of-thousands were killed on the spot. A real river of blood was flowing through the valley.

The remaining 300,000 soldiers surrendered, and were taken captive.

The extent of this victory’s glory was seldom even if the two nations had been at war over the past decade and more. The casualties on Tie Bu Tian’s side were less than 20,000. Considering the massive size of the enemy’s army… to pay with such low number of casualties in order to obtain such a tremendous victory… was simply unique!

Tie Bu Tian took advantage of this victory and the remaining might of his army, and advanced 250km past the defence line.

And then, he set his military camp outside the valley.

This army had become exceptionally proficient under Tie Bu Tian’s command. They had set-up the barracks, and had become very cooperative. They even watched each other’s back! They were in profit since Tie Bu Tian was a much better General than Wu Kuang Yun!

Moreover, Tie Bu Tian had secretly harboured a concern when he had joined the three army units into one. In fact, he had only done so after a lot of consideration. His concern was their rapport with each other. Yet, the way they had pitched camp together proved his concerns intangible. Even Wu Kuang Yun had started to admire him when he saw this happen.

Tie Bu Tian assigned Wu Kuang Yun the task of escorting the 300,000 war-prisoners to Tie Long Cheng after everything was settled. They couldn’t keep these people here because they were likely to cause commotion if they stayed for too long.

Tie Long Cheng couldn’t help but sigh when heard about Tie Bu Tian’s glorious victory. Then, he laughed out loud; twice. But, he wasn’t very sure of his true feelings regarding the matter…

His heart harboured conflicting feelings of joy and fear.

There was a smug look on Wu Kuang Yun’s face as escorted the war-prisoners. He seemed immensely proud of himself as he had reported his great achievement. But, Tie Long Cheng felt a scathing hellfire seething inside his belly when he saw that smug look of complacency on the General’s hairy face.

Wu Kuang Yun marched into the barracks arrogantly. It seemed as if he had made a great accomplishment. He made a virtuous face, and touched his belly as he waved at everyone. A flower-like smile bloomed on his face as he unconsciously strode forward with his feet splaying outwards. His ego had bloated quite a bit.

“Ah, good job Old Wu. 300,000 war-prisoners!” a General laughed as he commented with envy.

Wu Kuang Yun raised his head towards the sky. He evidently looked very pleased with himself, “This, this… it’s nothing… it’s really nothing, ha ha,” his mouth said it casually, but that didn’t hide his arrogance. He could no longer conceal his arrogance as he made these modest remarks, and finally started to laugh with complacence.

Everyone looked at him, and their mouths twitched at his pompous behaviour. They felt somewhat offended and stifled by it. Others had also notched great achievements, but not-enough to show such complacence… There were many great generals here, but who among them had ever brought-in 300,000 captives from battle?

Not a single!

“Ha ha… this is just a small token.” Wu Kuang Yun laughed as touched his belly. He laughed so much that his eyes disappeared behind his brows, “It’s spectacular, right? These 300,000 captives… are just a small, small token. Rest assured, there will be many more the next time… He he, the likes of which you guys have never seen … hey … dammit! You, I am talking to you… walk faster! Motherf*ker!”

He went so far that he rushed up to a prisoner who was passing by, kicked his butt, and started to curse, “You’re a captive; better act like one… you mother*ker… same goes for the rest of you!”

He raised his voice, “Everyone! My fellow comrades! How was it? Awesome right… wa ha ha… It was too easy, so easy, wa ha ha… ”

The other Generals’ facial muscles twitched. They wanted to surround this pompous guy, push him to the ground, and rain fists at him.

“Wu Kuang Yun, you’re so fierce and powerful. You’ve captured 300,000 men in such a short while! Not bad; not bad at all!” Tie Long Cheng calmly appeared in front of Wu Kuang Yun with his hands crossed behind his back.

“You flatter me… eh… Supreme Commander? Supreme commander, this is nothing… it’s nothing.” Wu Kuang Yun had just opened his mouth to speak, but he hastily stopped his bragging as soon as he saw Tie Long Cheng. But then, he thought that his accomplishment was so great that… it wouldn’t be right if he didn’t brag. So, he couldn’t help but curl-up his tail again.

“Well, I’ve decided to reward you properly!” Tie Long Cheng’s facial expression was awfully calm, and he sounded very prudent.

“En… if you insist, go ahead… wa ha ha… many thanks Supreme Commander,” Wu Kuang Yun’s happiness knew no bounds.

“Come on then!” Tie Long Cheng exclaimed loudly.

“This is so embarrassing.” Wu Kuang Yun greedily rubbed his hands and slyly glanced towards Tie Long Cheng. Then, he continued with a virtuous smile, “Supreme Commander, a small token of appreciation will do for now… so the others don’t get jealous. Although my contribution isn’t small… but this… ahem, there must be unity within colleagues… how about you assign 1.8 million for military expenses… ahem… and apart from that… No matter what Supreme Commander rewards me… I will kindly accept it…”

“You don’t worry. They won’t be jealous of your ‘reward’!” Tie Long Cheng solemnly replied.

Wu Kuang Yun still didn’t sense the impending disaster, and continued with a lofty grin, “That’s good, that’s very good for everyone. I, Old Wu, am going to flourish today… ”

“Gather everyone around! This General has a total disregard for law, initiates attacks without authorization, ignores military regulations, and disrespects his superior officer… Then, the bastard chooses to bring captives to please me!” Tie Long Cheng’s words shook Wu Kuang Yun. He felt as if he had been struck by a ‘bolt from the clear blue sky’. His ears were ringing.

The officers on either side couldn’t control their laughter.

“En? Enn… Supreme Commander! Supreme Commander!” Wu Kuang Yun had been completely entrapped in his foolish fantasy. It hadn’t occurred to him that a self-proclaimed ‘great war hero’ like him would be rewarded like this…

“Seize him!” Tie Long Cheng ordered sternly, “Dare to resist and you shall be executed without mercy!”

Suddenly, a group of executioners arrived and quickly tied Great General Wu Kuang Yun’s hands and feet together; he looked like a horse with its four hooves trussed together. Then, he was thrown to the ground like a dead pig.

“Hit him for me!” Tie Long Cheng angrily said as he pointed a finger at him, “Hit him! Hit him 60 times with army rods!”

“Supreme Commander… why… why are you doing this… ” Wu Kuang Yun foolishly cried. The other generals gathered around him as if it were a ‘monkey’ show.

“Hey, isn’t that Great General Wu?”

“Yes, it’s him. Hasn’t General Wu made some great accomplishment?”

“But why is he getting beaten up?”

“Yeah, I wonder why?”

“Ha ha ha… ”

After that, everyone started to laugh in unison.

Tie Long Cheng picked up General Wu Kuang Yun as if he were a dead dog after he had been hit 60 times by the arms rods. He took big strides and circled around the main camp. Then, Tie Long Cheng threw him on the ground ruthlessly, “You’re disgraceful! There’s no one more disgraceful and shameless than you under the heavens!”

“Supreme Commander… I’m being wronged… ” Wu Kuang Yun groaned with a look of anguish on his face. He was a thick-skinned guy, but being beaten by sixty army rods wasn’t an easy thing to endure. However, he had been shown a little mercy; at least his life had been spared…

“You’re being wronged?” I ask you! What did I tell you when you started-off from here? Huh? I think it went-in through one ear and came out the other. You flatly disobeyed the military commands, and my words as if went past your ears altogether! And, you still brag about your victory and great accomplishment? Don’t you know that I would’ve sentenced you to death if you had failed?” Tie Long Cheng spoke angrily.

“I, I…” Wu Kuang Yun came to his senses at the mention of this topic. Then, he cried out, “Supreme Commander… speaking of this topic… I’ve been wronged even more…”