In the end, out of the 120,000 soldiers that remained in Xiao FengYang’s middle army after the first battle, the casualty count numbered over 50,000. The people who escaped were less than 7,000, with the remainder being taken as prisoners of war!
However, even as the victor, the number of deaths and injuries sustained by the Ling Family were almost equivalent to the Xiao Family. Naturally, to accomplish the entire task in one fell swoop, the price one needed to pay could be imagined. The deceased included 5,000 Blood Iron Warriors and Wang Han who Ling Tian had left behind! Out of the 24,000 cavalry, more than 5,000 died, and the injured were not even in the statistics!
The huge price paid this time made everyone unable to put on expressions of joy, even though they won the battle!
A Pyrrhic victory, not just in name but in reality!
This was also the first time since Ling Tian had been reborn in this world that he had lost so terribly!
Wang Han and company originally should not have died, for they were all bedridden due to their previous wounds. However, upon realizing that the situation was not in the Ling Family’s favor, they had borne with their injuries and rushed out to hold the fort on one side, gaining precious time for Meng LiGe’s troops to rush over. The price was that all 5,000 of them gave their lives in return!
Out of the five generals within the 5,000 strong Blood Iron Warriors, only Wang Han’s corpse could still be barely recognized. The rest had been muddled in with the meat paste that was thousands of humans lumped together, no longer able to be told apart.
Upon receiving the news, Ling Tian sighed to himself, keeping silent for a long time.
This could actually be considered the first battle towards stepping on the stage of world domination. However, it was just this one battle, and he had already lost five men under his personal command! Five good people! One of them was even one of the three leaders of the Blood Iron Warriors! How much blood of his brothers would he have to spill further down the road?!
Ling Tian was never stingy about money, power, or wealth. But he hoarded his personal subordinates, his brothers-in-arms, like how a rich man hoards gold!
Even after successfully destroying the ancient unbreakable ravine pass, and even achieving victory twice in a row, he was supposed to be ecstatic and jubilant. But he remained silent and moody!
“Wang Han!! Brother Wang… it’s all my fault! I should have been the one to request to stay in Sobbing Ghost Pass….” Feng Mo and the rest pounced on the corpses of their fellow brothers, bursting into tears. Feng Mo and Wang Han had been together ever since Ling Xiao assumed command, and they had taken care of each other for almost two decades! Twenty years of brotherhood, how was it a small thing? To be best buddies for the past twenty years, then suddenly see his closest friend ice-cold just like that, not moving even when shaken! What sort of feeling would one experience?
If it was possible, Feng Mo would rather have traded his life for Wang Han’s, than to accept the fact that his good brother would never wake up ever again!
And for Ling Tian, even with two lifetimes, he never had this sort of experience before. But he, above everyone else, understood the sincerity behind this feeling, and how valuable it was! He could also empathize with Feng Mo’s current agony, his deepest regret, and anger!
The cold autumn wind blew, and heaven and earth shared the pain of the people. Everyone on the battlefield quietly stood up one after another, saying their final farewells to their brothers lying there. Even those grievously injured, or with broken limbs, would run the risk of their injuries worsening to stand up straight, looking at their brothers one last time!
Countless corpses lay neatly in rows, with the blood on some not even dry yet.
Ling Tian bowed deeply before taking a few steps forward and gazing at the huge army standing at attention. His eyes brimmed with tears and his voice trembled as he addressed the crowd. “Brothers-in-arms, I am Ling Tian! Today we have won, obtained a complete victory! But so many of our dearest brothers have also left us because of this victory. In my heart, I feel the agony as much as all of you here. This is because those brothers lying on the ground are also the brothers of me, Ling Tian! I’m not going to spout any hypocritical bullsh*t, like I would rather not have this victory just to see all of them happy and well, this would just make me a hypocritical bastard who steps on and profanes the sacrifice of our brothers!” Under the urging of his internal energy, his voice traveled far and wide, clearly heard.
From the crowd came sounds of stifled choking.
“It’s just that, when I see all our brothers who have passed on, I suddenly feel a sort of pride! That’s right, pride! Sincere pride!” Ling Tian’s voice took on an inspiring tone. “Our dead brothers, every one of them died from injuries to the chest, from the front. What does that mean?” His eyes, like lightning, stared at everyone in front of him.
“This means that none of them were cowards, and all of them charged bravely and met with death fearlessly. They all died amid the fighting! They are all true warriors! And this also means that each and every brother, while fighting, was looking after the backs of their own partners!” Ling Tian screamed out. He suddenly spun, pointing at the ground as he hollered, “Do you see that! These are OUR BROTHERS! To protect their brothers, they would not hesitate to sacrifice their lives! With such good brothers, what do we have to be afraid of? We can safely entrust our backs to them! All those soldiers who sacrificed themselves died so that the rest of their brothers could continue living! I’m proud of that! Because they have succeeded! I’m also proud of all of you because all your brothers are role models! They are all people that will always have your back, life and death, BROTHERS!”
The choking sounds had gradually turned to sniffing as tears dripped down ceaselessly.
“Now I announce, let us bring our brothers, our unyielding heroic spirit, back to Sky Bearing!” Ling Tian had a burning gaze. “Our lives have been exchanged through the sacrifice of our brothers! We have to put in our utmost effort to take care of all the families of our brothers who have died in battle so that our partners in the underworld will be able to rest in peace! Also, we have to bring their final wishes, their heroic spirit, to war against the world, clinching victory after victory, to reassure them their sacrifice was not for nothing!”
“Their heroic spirit will live on! Brothers, rest in peace!”
“Their heroic spirit will live on! Brothers, rest in peace!”
Tens of thousands of soldiers hollered at the top of their voices in one go. All of them had on emotional expressions, with tears flowing down their faces.
Amid the raucous hollering, Meng LiGe took a cursory glance at the number of casualties before bidding farewell to Ling Tian and returning first to Sky Bearing. While they won this war, they had after all sacrificed so many men. Sky Bearing would be in a depressed mood because of this, and Ling Tian would thus definitely not choose such a time to return. He simply said, “Old Meng, where there’s war, there will be sacrifice. Having one person or ten thousand dead, it’s still a death. This has just begun, and there will be bigger stages for us in the future. After you return to Sky Bearing, you have to begin to prepare in consideration for the bigger picture. We can afford to be sad when people die, but we cannot be dragged down by it. Remember this point.”
Meng LiGe nodded before mounting his horse. Before he left, Ling Tian added, “This time, for the soldiers who died on the battlefield, the family will be compensated three times the usual amount. See to it for me. We’ll use the finances from the Ling Family Courtyard, tell Supervisor Xiao that I gave the command.”
Upon hearing the title ‘Supervisor Xiao’, Meng LiGe’s body shuddered for a bit, as he stared at Ling Tian with a complex expression. He sighed in the end, and with a bitter smile, rode off. Along with him was half of the surrendered Xiao soldiers as well as the Second Master of the Xiao Family, Xiao FengYang.
Ling Tian naturally understood why Meng LiGe gave such a look. This war, while sudden, was after all one fought with the Xiao Family, and they had even captured the Second Master as a prisoner. Furthermore, they had even destroyed the Xiao Family’s land for a good 1,500 kilometers along with the Xiao Family’s protective screen which was the Heavenly Water Ravine pass. While Sky Bearing was suffused in a depressing atmosphere, it would soon pass. However, for the Xiao Family, it was just starting!
But now, the person in charge of the Ling Family’s finances was the only princess of the Xiao Family, the granddaughter of the Xiao Family’s head. Let’s not talk about Ling Tian having to worry about such a complicated matter, even Meng LiGe got a headache just thinking about being in Ling Tian’s shoes.
He could only wish his monarch good luck!”
After sending off Meng LiGe, Ling Tian looked at Yu YanHai, before warmly smiling as he greeted, “Uncle Yu, it’s been hard on you this time.”
Yu YanHan let out a small smile, yet replied in a very stern tone, “How could Young Noble address me so casually? I was only carrying out orders, compared to those brothers in arms who died in the war for us, my hard work pales in comparison to them.
Ling Tian could not help but laugh. This General Yu was well known for loving his soldiers as though they were his children, and furthermore, he was an old-fashioned man through and through, just like Lao Fu Zi 1 , cutting an extremely distinct line between superior and subordinates. He was initially a minister in the imperial court, the same rank as Ling Xiao, and hence could accept it when Ling Tian called him uncle in the past. However, after Sky Bearing changed hands, Yu YanHan was now under them, thus his eccentric behavior flared up and would not allow Ling Tian to address him as uncle anymore.
Ling Tian was helpless against his attitude, and in fact was extremely impressed with him.
“Haha, since that’s the case, then hear my order, General Yu!” Ling Tian straightened his face.
“Old man is present!” Yu YanHan cupped his fists together, his face stern.
“I command you to reorganize the troops present and repair the Sobbing Ghost Pass. In addition, gather all the soldiers and horses from the nearby three cities, and command them to proceed towards the East. The moment the flood from the Blue Jade River decreases, you have to seize control of the Heavenly Water Ravine pass before the Xiao family does so! There can be no mistakes!”
“This subordinate receives the order! I dare to use my head as a guarantee that I’ll accomplish the task even if I die! I will not let the deaths of my men be in vain!” Yu YanHai swore violently.
Ling Tian could only helplessly smile. He thought to himself, ‘Would I dare to ask for your head even if you did fail?’
Gazing at the receding figure of Yu YanHai in the distance, Ling Tian suddenly realized there was another person standing there: The Great Demoness Li, Li Xue.
Our Young Noble Ling’s face immediately turned dark as he tried to rein in his anger. He originally hoped that Li Xue would go back and console Xiao YanXue, but instead, she stayed here on her own initiative.
“Why are you not leaving? Quickly get lost, there are still a lot of matters waiting for you back there!” Ling Tian glared as he rudely said.
“Hmph!” Li Xue only snorted, “You don’t dare to go back and face her yourself, so you want me to go and extinguish the fire for you first? How is there such a good thing in the world? I’m not your scapegoat, do you take me for a fool?”
From past to present, the person who was said to understand Ling Tian the most was not Old Madam Ling, Chu Ting’er, or even his lover Ling Chen or his best brother Ling Jian!
Being a person of two lifetimes, he could lie to the world, but wasn’t Li Xue also a person of two lifetimes?
Ling Tian nearly burst in anger. It turned out that this lass had long ago seen through his own calculations, and knew what he wanted her to do, so she pretended to be silly and stayed back instead.
“Come here!” Ling Tian broadened his footsteps, walking towards his tent.
“Not going! You think I’m a fool!” Li Xue seemed to have grown roots on her legs, fixing herself in place. With her intelligence, she knew that she would not have a good time now that Ling Tian was angry. So why would she listen to him?
“Are you trying to rebel?! Since you’re not a fool, then this young noble here will make you into one!” Ling Tian suddenly reversed direction, appearing in front of Li Xue in an instant and sealing her acupoints before hoisting her up. He personally knew how hard it was to deal with Li Xue and was afraid that he would have to expend a lot of effort. So he suddenly attacked when her guard was down, aiming straight to seal her cultivation.
“Let me down! This is molestation! Catch the pervert!” Being carried over his shoulder, Li Xue was angry and embarrassed and unconsciously started using the old catchphrases from her past life as her tiny fists pounded repeatedly on his back. However, because her acupoints were sealed, it was just like massaging his back. Ling Tian snorted and shrugged, causing her body to slip downward instead. It was ok for him to be hit on the back, but this situation would be too inelegant!
Thus, Ling Tian carried her like a burlap sack over his shoulder. Li Xue’s face happened to be situated near his buttocks, and every time Ling Tian walked, her face would briefly come into contact.
This caused her face to turn as red as a monkey’s bottom, and she started to furiously scold, “Ling Tian, you… you rogue! Quickly put me down! You you… wait, see if this lady here will forgive you!”
At this time, Ling Tian had already reached the tent door, but he suddenly stopped and ridiculed her, “I advice you not to struggle so much. These past two days, I’ve eaten too much barbecued meat, causing my stomach to feel pretty uncomfortable with diarrhea every day. If I suddenly lose control of myself and let everything go, I’m afraid…
“Stop talking! You disgusting pig head!” Before he could finish, Li Xue had already taken a 180-degree change. She had no choice, with such an embarrassing position where her head was plastered right at his buttocks… If he really let go… then wouldn’t it…
Grinding noises came from Li Xue’s mouth, as she really did not dare to speak another word!
Having succeeded in his ploy, Ling Tian secretly chuckled to himself. For someone of their level, their organs were actually many times stronger than a normal person, so how would he ever have the runs? However, it was not that Li Xue did not know of this, it was just that she did not dare to bet on it. After all, an internal energy expert was also able to control every part of his body, so if he controlled himself to fart out…
At this point, both of them entered the tent, but he did not put Li Xue down, instead pulling her calf a little so that she shifted to a more comfortable position. After that he nonchalantly asked, “On the battlefield, I asked you to shock the world, so why didn’t you? And you obviously knew why I wanted you to rush back, so why stay? Give me a reasonable explanation!”
Now that the war had ended, there was finally some excess time, thus Ling Tian began to settle his scores at this opportune moment. He was still brooding over the fact that Li Xue refused to allow him to shock the world, doing as he pleased. Such a fun event was actually few and far between!
“Put me down and I’ll tell you the reason.” Lying on his shoulder, Li Xue deeply inhaled his manly scent, and she couldn’t help but feel hot, her heartbeat also increasing.
“Pa!” Li Xue suddenly yelped in shock. It turned out that Ling Tian had unceremoniously smacked her crisply on her buttocks, sniggering as he replied, “Say it! Spill the beans now! Or else I’ll beat you some more.”
Li Xue exerted fiercely, trying to push herself off Ling Tian, but with her internal energy sealed, what struggling could she do? Ling Tian, however, was infuriated by her struggling and could not help but start smacking her more to remind her who was in charge.
As he slapped, he began to settle into a rhythm. Right now, summer had just ended and autumn was settling in, so Li Xue was not wearing thick clothes at the moment. When Ling Tian’s palm came down, it was as though he was slapping on her bare skin, with so much smoothness and buoyancy in his palm. Whenever he slapped, he could even feel her skin ripple with the impact, causing him to involuntarily get excited. He threw the thought about punishment to the back of his head as his hands both took turns to start smacking her.
Left hand, then right, then left again… as he smacked, Ling Tian began to get into a rhythm just like beating the drums, which caused him to feel even more excited.
Ling Tian would naturally withhold most of his strength, and neither could he bear to use much strength, but his smacking produced an extremely crisp sound that was pleasing to the ear. Li Xue initially yelped non stop, struggling continuously, but it was unknown why she suddenly lost strength midway, as her face grew redder and her body hotter. Following every hit from Ling Tian, her body would tremble involuntarily in response, and soft moans would escape uncontrollably from her mouth every now and then.
A musky fragrance started to fill up the whole tent at this moment.
It was the scent of a woman in heat!
Ling Tian finally discovered something fishy and lifted her over his shoulder to take a look. What he saw was a lass that looked as though she had become boneless, lying on him without resistance, her body flushed red and hot to the touch. The famous demoness did not seem to match up to her current appearance!
This gave Ling Tian a huge shock, as he suddenly recalled something. His body convulsed as though an electric shock had run through him, and he quickly threw the delicate body in his arms onto the military bed as though he was holding onto a hot potato.
“Owww.”
The so-called bed was actually just a simple mattress placed on the ground, and of course was incomparable to their big beds at home. With Li Xue bereft of strength, landing on the bed hurt her, and her eyes immediately snapped open. Upon seeing Ling Tian, her face flushed like a ripe peach, but she did not leap at Ling Tian for revenge. Instead, she grabbed the bedding near her, and not caring if it was clean or dirty, buried her head inside it.
After a long while, choking sounds came softly from under the blanket, increasing in volume.
An ambiguous atmosphere filled the entire room all of a sudden.
Ling Tian looked awkward and could only twist his hands in embarrassment as he stood by the side. He was already scolding himself repeatedly in his heart,‘Was this how an elder brother should treat his sister? What sort of attitude was that, why was I so muddled in the head, and why did my hands have to be so dirty?’ He had no idea how to right the situation! In the end, he cleared his throat and coughed twice, but not knowing what to say, he coughed again.
The tent seemed to suddenly turn into a ward for tuberculosis patients, with repeated coughs coming out from it.
After what seemed like half a day of silence, Ling Tian was praying for Li Xue to come out and say something, so he could follow up the train of thought. However, out of his expectations, not only did Li Xue not poke her head out, the choking sounds seemed to have intensified.
Finally, Ling Tian noticed that her crying sounds had subsided somewhat, and on tenterhooks, opened his mouth to ask, “Are you… in pain?”
The moment the words came out, Ling Tian almost felt like slapping himself. What sort of words were those? Wasn’t this merely reminding her of what he just did! How stupid!
How stupid could he get?!
“Hmph!”
Suddenly, an earth-shaking change occurred! Li Xue pulled the covers away, angrily sitting up. “Still not going to unseal my acupoints? What are you waiting for! Are you going to do THAT once more?!”
Uhhh…. Ling Tian blinked repeatedly in disbelief. ‘She was just crying one second ago, but suddenly became so barbarous? My goodness, it seemed like my brain is messed up, and my eyesight having problems, I… must have heard and seen things…’
Seeing his startled expression, Li Xue’s face turned red once more and she suddenly pounced onto him, grabbing his arm and biting down hard…
“Ah ouch….” Ling Tian let out a howl of misery, like a lone wolf at night.
Biting his arm, Li Xue spoke in an unclear voice, “Are you awake? Want another round?!”
“I’m awake, awake, very awake…” Ling Tian did not dare to use his internal energy to withstand for fear of damaging her teeth. This bite was firmly clamped down, causing him to shiver in pain as he pleaded, “My dear grandaunt… please let go of your royal mouth, before we talk!”
Li Xue finally let go of his arm with a satisfied expression and stood up. Ling Tian did not dare to tarry, immediately unsealing her acupoints.
Li Xue snorted as she loosened her limbs. Looking at Ling Tian, she blushed once again, before pretending nothing happened as she snarled, “Still want to question me? Settle accounts? Speak, why are you not speaking now? Are you mute?! Oh great young noble Ling?!”
“No, I wouldn’t dare…” Ling Tian sighed in his heart, rubbing his bite wound gently as he silently cursed, ‘Women in the villages are all tigers, one should avoid them if they ever see one…’