"Gulu..."
The Centurion swallowed hard. He could feel how close he had just been to death.
"Boss, there’s a letter attached to the arrow," said a subordinate.
"What?"
Inside Wanyan Xiaji’s commander’s tent in the city.
Wanyan Xiaji was discussing plans with the generals and staff officers on how to deal with the Wei Army.
At that moment, a personal soldier hurriedly entered the commander’s tent and presented a feathered arrow to Wanyan Xiaji: "Grand General, our men just discovered a Wei Army soldier quickly approaching the city wall. This arrow was shot by that soldier, and there’s a letter attached to it."
"What?"
The words startled everyone inside the commander’s tent.
Wanyan Xiaji took the feathered arrow, untied the letter, and began to read.
Moments later, Wanyan Xiaji looked at the generals and staff officers who were eying him and handed the letter to the nearest person, saying, "It’s a challenge letter from Chen Mo to our army, inviting us to a showdown tomorrow at Golden Double Ridge.
He gave us two options: one is for us to send out all our generals to duel with him, the other is an all-out battle of army against army. With either choice, should they lose, they will retreat and leave Jin Xia immediately."
"Arrogant."
"Presumptuous."
"Who does he think he is, wanting to duel all our generals by himself."
"The young man doesn’t know the height of the heavens."
"Retreat? Does he think he can leave alive if he loses?"
"..."
As soon as Wanyan Xiaji finished speaking, everyone in the commander’s tent began to argue, truly being enraged by Chen Mo’s arrogant words.
To duel all our generals single-handedly? That’s blatant disregard for them.
This is a bare-faced provocation.
Wanyan Xiaji glanced at everyone and asked, "Do you think we should accept this challenge letter?"
"Accept, Grand General, we must accept; it’s too arrogant, we must teach him a lesson."
"To challenge all our generals clearly includes you, Grand General. I don’t know if you can swallow this insult, but I definitely can’t."
"Kill him to avenge Prince Ning and King Yong."
"..."
Everyone unanimously decided to accept.
"Your current reaction is exactly what Chen Mo wants to see. You’ve all fallen into his trap and been angered by him," Wanyan Xiaji shook his head, smiling.
The crowd did not understand what Wanyan Xiaji meant.
"Come and take a look."
Wanyan Xiaji moved to the map laid on the table.
Everyone gathered around.
"Everyone, please take a look. The Golden Double Ridge mentioned in the challenge letter is a wide-open area with no noticeable obstructions," Wanyan Xiaji said.
The crowd still did not understand.
One of the staff officers asked, "An open area sounds good. It means there are no ambushes?"
"No, there are indeed no ambushes, but what is the strongest aspect of the Wei Army?"
"Strange Thunder," someone replied.
"Exactly. It’s the Strange Thunder. The Wei Army’s Strange Thunder is immensely powerful. Our imitation doesn’t compare to its might. Imagine our army’s formation spread out in this open area, making it convenient for the Wei Army’s Strange Thunder to massacre us," Wanyan Xiaji explained.
"Hiss." Someone gasped, "So, the kid had such a sinister plan. We almost fell for it."
"Truly insidious."
Then someone said, "Grand General, in that case, we can opt to duel him. Once he’s dead, the Wei Army will naturally collapse."
"That makes sense verbally, but how do you know the Wei Army will genuinely adhere to what’s written in the challenge letter and won’t plot any schemes? As the saying goes, all’s fair in war," Wanyan Xiaji remarked with hands behind his back.
"Furthermore, can you detect another layer of meaning in this letter?"
"Another layer of meaning?" One person laid the letter on the table, and everyone leaned in to read closely.
After a while, a staff officer rubbed his chin and said, "There’s a sense of urgency between the lines."
"Snap."
Wanyan Xiaji snapped his fingers, "Exactly, urgent. Chen Mo is in a hurry. He wants to achieve his goal through a rapid resolution. Winter is approaching, and our winters in Jin Xia are colder than those in Great Wei. Furthermore, the longer the battle drags on, the more disadvantageous it is for them.
Thus, we don’t need to confront them head-on; we can simply hold our ground."
"The Grand General is wise."
...
Tianxing City has a permanent population of only two to three thousand, being a small county.
After nightfall, the city was very quiet.
Nalan Yiren knew Chen Mo planned to challenge the enemy generals alone, which made her quite anxious. So earlier, she hurriedly concocted a bottle of poison, intending to give it to Chen Mo, hoping it could provide some help.
Their resting place was a mansion requisitioned from a prominent family in the city.
In the backyard of Chen Mo’s chamber, as Nalan Yiren stepped into the courtyard, she saw the silhouette of a graceful woman printed on the window paper.
Nalan Yiren focused her gaze, observing the woman’s hair cascading, her body swaying as she leaned over doing something, seemingly unclothed.
With her perception, she could also hear the sounds coming from inside the room.
"Your Majesty, is it comfortable?"
"Hmm, hold it tighter."
???
Nalan Yiren was utterly stunned.
Immediately, a surge of unnamed anger rose in her heart. The decisive battle was tomorrow, yet he had the interest to indulge in this act tonight. Nalan Yiren frowned deeply, feeling a sting of jealousy.
Whether it was for Chen Mo’s benefit or something else, she directly pushed the door open and walked in.
"Ah!"
In the orange-lit chamber, Yu Zhu screeched with shock when she heard the sound, then quickly grabbed a bellyband nearby and slipped it over her head to cover herself, hastily getting off the bed.
Without Yu Zhu to obscure him, Chen Mo’s weapon was right in front of Nalan Yiren’s eyes.
Evidently, Yu Zhu had just used her ample bosom to comfort Chen Mo.
Chen Mo was startled too and hurriedly pulled the quilt over himself.
He sensed Nalan Yiren’s arrival, but never imagined she would dare to burst in like this.
"Yiren, it’s late, why have you come?"
Chen Mo quickly composed himself and asked.
Nalan Yiren’s face was flushed, her gaze avoiding his, feeling her eyes sullied. An intrusive thought sprung up: this weapon might kill her on their wedding night.
She gave Chen Mo a brief glare, then quickly placed the poison on the table, advising, "This is the Bone-Dissolving Water I made for you; it’s the strengthened version. If things go awry, just open it and sprinkle it, maybe it’ll help."
Speaking, Nalan Yiren added with a concerned tone for Chen Mo’s sake, "The battle is tomorrow, you should rest well, gather your strength, not indulge in this, lest she drains you dry, truly foolish."
Having said that, Nalan Yiren didn’t linger; she snorted coldly and left.
Chen Mo: "..."
Yu Zhu also turned red, after a while, softly said, "Your Majesty, the State Preceptor is right, we should retire early."
Indeed, Chen Mo had been somewhat frivolous, but after Nalan Yiren’s disruption, his mood vanished. He glanced at the jade bottle on the table; only then did he realize that Nalan Yiren’s aura seemed slightly off just now.
"Yu Zhu, rest first, I’ll go check outside." Chen Mo got out of bed.
Yu Zhu nodded, stepping forward to clothe Chen Mo.
...
Outside the courtyard, the sky was moonless.
Only the light from the chamber’s lamps offered a hint of illumination.
Nalan Yiren walked while muttering, "I shouldn’t have come, let him die then."
"As if there’s time for this sort of thing."
"I’m also silly, exhausted myself to help him, yet he doesn’t care."
"..."
Deep in thought, she didn’t sense Chen Mo emerging, let alone coming behind her.
When she realized it, she was already embraced by Chen Mo: "Thank you, Yiren."