We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?-Chapter 385: Lord of Martial Peace Bai Qi Dies in Battle, the Northern Pacification King Xiao Shi Is Gravely Wounded
The great army marched out.
Xiao Mo and Qin Jingsu led their forces toward Que Prefecture.
Que Prefecture had originally belonged to Jin, but after Qin seized it, Qin had continuously stationed a great army to hold Ghost Gate City to the death, preparing for the next invasion of Jin.
“Before the departure, did Father Emperor say anything to you, Brother-in-Law?” Qin Jingsu asked with a smile, riding beside Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo looked at the First Prince. He did not conceal anything, and answered truthfully, “His Majesty said for me to keep an eye on Elder Brother, to prevent Elder Brother from being too impulsive when facing Jin, and doing something irrational.”
“Hahaha.” Qin Jingsu laughed. “I truly hate Jin, so Father Emperor’s worry isn’t unreasonable. But don’t worry, Brother-in-Law. Even if I die, I’ll personally attend Jin’s funeral with my own hands!”
“...” Xiao Mo shook his head. He did not take up Qin Jingsu’s words. He only emphasized, “In military matters, my word is final. Elder Brother must not disobey orders and put me in a difficult position.”
Qin Jingsu nodded. “I understand.”
“It’s good that Elder Brother understands.” Xiao Mo looked into Qin Jingsu’s eyes, sighed, and said in a low voice, “Elder Brother, Siyao has already lost one brother. If something happens to Elder Brother too, what will Siyao do? Elder Brother, please think carefully.”
When he finished speaking, Xiao Mo urged his horse and moved forward at a quick pace.
Behind him, Qin Jingsu lowered his head, gripping the reins tightly. He spoke slowly, as if to himself, “I know...”
Twenty-five days later, Xiao Mo and Qin Jingsu reached Ghost Gate City.
After the entire army rested for one day, Xiao Mo and Qin Jingsu led their troops to attack the city.
It was also around this one-month span that Xiao Shi and Xiahou Nan respectively went to war with Zhao State and Qi.
From the broader strategic view, Qin wanted Xiao Mo to destroy Jin, so that Xiao Shi could gain an advantage against Zhao State.
As for Xiahou Nan, all he needed to do was block Qi’s advance. The longer he could delay, the better.
And for Qi, Zhao State, and Jin, their goal was to have Jin tie down Xiao Mo’s army, while Qi and Zhao State gained the upper hand, seized territory, and even pushed into Qin’s lands.
Qi appointed Gu Fei as its principal commander.
Gu Fei was a veteran general who had served through three reigns, a military-path cultivator of the Jade-Pu Realm. His command style was ferociously aggressive. He had once smashed through ten cities in three months.
Across several thousand years, only two people had achieved such a feat. The other was Xiao Mo.
But Gu Fei soon discovered that Xiahou Nan truly had skill in defending a city.
Xiahou Nan understood every section of Phoenix City’s walls like the back of his hand, and he always prepared ahead of time, leaving Gu Fei almost no openings at all.
Phoenix City had been one of Chu’s sturdiest fortified passes, like a turtle shell.
And it was one thing that Xiahou Nan hid inside that turtle shell and refused to come out.
He even stuffed stones into every crack and gap and sealed them all shut!
Gu Fei tried cursing at the top of the walls, using every method to provoke Xiahou Nan into rage.
Xiahou Nan sent back a reply: “Your provoking words have no edge; they cannot even reach a blade. In the past, the Frost King tore my clan register into the heavens with thunder, and even sent an envoy bearing women’s garments as a gift—only then did I see true heart-killing cruelty.”
In plain speech, it meant: “Your taunts have no attack power at all. You’re not as good as the Frost King back then—he sent my clan register to the skies, and even had an envoy deliver women’s clothes to me. That’s what you call stabbing the heart.”
When Gu Fei received Xiahou Nan’s reply, he laughed in fury, pointing at the letter. “Since General Xiahou has such a taste, then let him have it.”
Gu Fei sent an envoy with a set of Qi women’s skirts for Xiahou Nan, with a note attached: “I hear you greatly love women’s clothes. Today I have especially followed what you love. Do not disdain it.”
Xiahou Nan laughed as well, and told the envoy to carry a message back. “Tomorrow at chen hour, have your general come to the wall. I have a gift in return.”
The next day at chen hour, Gu Fei truly led his army beneath the walls.
Then he saw Xiahou Nan wearing the skirt Gu Fei had sent, dancing a sword routine atop the battlements.
The thick hair on his legs beneath the skirt was painfully glaring.
Qi’s entire army frowned so hard their brows twisted.
“This man’s temperament truly lives up to his name.”
From then on, Gu Fei understood that any further taunting was useless.
As for persuading him to surrender, he had tried that long ago as well.
Only the blade could pry open Phoenix City’s gates.
Eighty-seven days later, under Gu Fei’s relentless assault at any cost, Phoenix City finally fell.
But very quickly, Gu Fei could no longer be happy.
Because once his army entered the city, Xiahou Nan had already retreated to Luoyun City and built a second defensive line.
Xiahou Nan had not even thought of making a final desperate charge!
At this point, Gu Fei understood completely: Xiahou Nan was using Chu territory to delay him. Even if all of Chu territory fell, he did not care.
Because as long as Qin crushed either Jin or Zhao State, freeing up one front, then no matter how much land Qi swallowed, it would all have to be spat back out!
Compared to Xiahou Nan’s holding action, Xiao Shi and Bai Qi had already driven into Zhao State!
Zhao State appointed Pang Nuan as its principal commander, facing Xiao Shi head-on.
As Zhao State’s famed general, Pang Nuan ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) commanded with caution, enforced discipline without private favoritism, excelled at analyzing the opposing commander’s heart, and his schemes were no less than Xiao Shi’s or Bai Qi’s.
But unfortunately, Qin’s tiger-and-wolf army was still stronger than Zhao State’s by a margin.
Though Xiao Shi and Bai Qi were not fast in taking cities and territory, they advanced steadily all the same.
On the other front, Xiao Mo and the First Prince led troops into Jin, and it truly carried the meaning of moving as if entering an unguarded land.
The Snow-Treading Dragon Cavalry smashed through Jin’s cities and passes one after another.
And especially because the Second Prince had died at Jin’s hands, the soldiers all carried a surge of fury.
Not to mention that the commander Jin’s generals faced was Qin’s Frost King.
In their eyes, the Frost King was even more terrifying than his father, the Northern Pacification King.
No matter what, the Northern Pacification King had fought wars for a lifetime, with wins and losses—only that he won far more than he lost.
But this “Frost King” was simply too legendary.
Since he first led troops, he had destroyed Wei State, forced Xiahou Nan to surrender, slain the Great Pillar of Wei State, broken Wei’s capital, and then destroyed Chu—he had never tasted defeat in his entire life!
It made them doubt themselves: “Can I really break his undefeated halo?”
And precisely because of Xiao Mo’s undefeated halo, the soldiers held an almost faith-like reverence for him.
As if so long as they followed the Frost King, they could never lose!
Eight months passed. Under Xiao Mo’s command, the great army had already pushed into Jin’s Yu Prefecture.
At the heart of Yu Prefecture was Jin’s capital.
According to Xiao Mo’s and the First Prince’s calculations, at most seven more months were needed to take Jin’s capital, destroy Jin, and end the state.
And once Jin was destroyed,
Xiao Mo and the First Prince could each take an army and pierce in from the east and west flanks of Qi and Zhao State.
Then Xiahou Nan, who had been holding fast, could seize the moment and switch from defense to offense. Xiao Shi and Bai Qi’s army could also coordinate with them.
To extinguish both Qi and Zhao State would be close at hand!
But just as Xiao Mo and the First Prince steadily advanced the grand plan as expected,
news arrived from the Zhao State front—news so shocking the two of them could not believe it—
“Lord of Martial Peace Bai Qi has died in battle.
The Northern Pacification King Xiao Shi is gravely wounded.
The Qin army has suffered a great defeat!”
