Firmament Sword

”Absolutely not! You’re my woman, so you’re my wife. I don’t care what your status was before—right now, you’re a daughter-in-law of the Xu Family, and nobody can change that!” Xu Jie said, his face flushing red with frustration.

Mo Yun smiled and thought, ’You really are domineering! But… isn’t this exactly the kind of man I’ve been searching for all these years?’

”Alright, but… it’s a bit too sudden to talk about this now. I’m sure you all didn’t come here just for this matter. I think we should finish our business here first, and then we can discuss us. How does that sound?” Mo Yun looked at Xu Jie and said earnestly, ”If you still refuse, then my only choice is to leave. I don’t want to cause trouble for all of you because of me. And if I decide to go, you won’t be able to stop me.”

Xu Jie realized he had been a bit rash. He shot an apologetic look at Huangfu Chongzhi, Xu Luo, and the others. ”I was being impulsive,” he admitted. Turning to Mo Yun, he said nervously, ”I agree to your terms, but you can’t leave!”

”As long as you don’t bring up marriage, I won’t leave!” A hint of a smile touched Mo Yun’s eyes as she spoke.

Little Fatty watched Xu Jie with considerable envy, thinking, ’Even a blockhead like Second Brother can land such an incredible woman. Eldest Brother has his goddess. And let’s not even talk about Third Brother—Qiqi is his, Sister Lianyi is his, and Phoenix is his… Okay, forget him. Now it’s just me and that Sui Xiaoshi guy left. No matter what, I can’t fall behind him. When we get back, maybe I should ask my grandfather to go to the Lan Family and propose a marriage?’

Mo Yun then went outside to reassure her personal guards. Xu Luo and the others immediately surrounded Xu Jie, not about to pass up the perfect opportunity to tease Second Master Xu.

At first, Little Fatty didn’t think much of it, but after getting a jab back from Second Brother, he suddenly felt he really couldn’t compare to him.

’Even though how Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law… well, you know… happened for a reason.’

Sui Yan still had his usual cold and silent expression, seemingly completely uninterested in women. While Little Fatty was teasing Xu Jie, he had already gone off to set up the castle’s traps.

Huangfu Chongzhi didn’t join in on the teasing. He sat by himself, thinking of Li Yueru. Not knowing where his beloved was, his heart suddenly grew heavy with melancholy.

After making a few jokes himself, Xu Luo sat down beside Huangfu Chongzhi and asked softly, ”What’s wrong? Thinking about our sister-in-law?”

Huangfu Chongzhi nodded slightly and gave a bitter smile. ”At least Xu Jie gets to keep the woman he loves by his side. But me… sigh. I don’t even know where to begin looking for her...”

”Don’t worry, Eldest Brother. I believe that one day, she will return to your side.” Xu Luo could only offer what comfort he could.

”I hope so,” Huangfu Chongzhi sighed.

Just then, Mo Yun returned. She looked at Xu Jie and the others and said, ”They are all my most trusted followers. I just told them I’m staying here, and they are all willing to remain as well. But… they did propose one condition.”

”What condition?” Xu Jie asked.

Mo Yun gave a bitter smile. ”We were enemies just a short while ago, and now we’re suddenly on the same side. They’re having a hard time adjusting. Thankfully, your people saved them yesterday, so their hostility isn’t as strong as it could be. But they don’t want to be split up and integrated into your forces. They want to keep their unit designation and continue to serve under me.”

”That’s hardly a problem,” Xu Luo said. ”They’re your men, so it’s only natural they’d follow you. We can certainly agree to that request.”

”You… really trust me that much?” Mo Yun asked softly. ”Aren’t you afraid I might do something to bring ruin upon you all?”

Huangfu Chongzhi’s eyes narrowed slightly. Little Fatty just chuckled without saying a word. Xu Jie frowned. But Xu Luo simply laughed. ”Sister-in-law, are you that kind of person?”

”How do you know I’m not?” Mo Yun met the gaze of the handsome young man before her—or rather, ’youth’ would be a more fitting term. Her new status as his ’sister-in-law’ added a hint of challenge to her eyes as she stared at Xu Luo, awaiting his response.

”If you were really that kind of person, you would have married Wu Xiaxian, the celebrated young general of your Great Yan Kingdom, long ago. Why would you have ended up in this situation?” Xu Luo said with a smile. ”Our trust isn’t given lightly; it depends on the person. Take Wei Ziting, who ambushed you yesterday… even though he’s from our kingdom, we would never, ever trust him!”

Mo Yun was silent for a moment before looking up. ”You’re truly worthy of being the core of the Martial Soul Squad, and of being the one who completely changed the world’s perception of you in just over a year. Xu Luo, you can rest assured. Since you’ve called me ’Sister-in-law,’ I, Mo Yun, will never do anything to let you down.”

Xu Luo broke into a happy smile. ”Of course! I never doubted it!”

...

Wei Ziting sat in his chair, watching the man who entered to give his report with a blank expression. ”Have you figured it out?” he asked in a low voice.

”Young Master, the group moves like the wind. We can’t find any trace of where they’re based. However, based on our deductions, they are definitely not from the Da Han Empire! There is no way they could have broken through the defensive line set by the Grand General of National Guardian and swaggered into our territory.”

”Then who are they? Don’t tell me they’re a bunch of mountain bandits!” Wei Ziting’s voice was ice-cold as he struggled to suppress the rage in his heart.

”We suspect… they… they belong to the second son of the Grand General of National Guardian… Xu Luo!” the subordinate finally stammered out after a long hesitation. ”Within a radius of several hundred li, the only person with this capability is Xu Luo. When he arrived at his fiefdom a while back, our family’s men failed in their attack. Xu Luo revealed some of his power then. We don’t know where he got so many elite warriors, but they are all incredibly strong.”

”Can you get any evidence for this?” The corner of Wei Ziting’s mouth twitched, his heart a raging inferno. ’Xu Luo… it’s Xu Luo again! Dammit, is this man my fated nemesis?’

”Well… there’s no proof. And what’s more, they cleaned up the battlefield far too quickly,” the subordinate said, his tone full of resentment.

”What do you mean?” Wei Ziting’s heart lurched. The Wei Family’s private army had suffered devastating losses this time. He was counting on reporting a military victory to salvage something from this disaster. He would claim he had led over a thousand Wei Family soldiers to crush the remnants of Mo Yun’s forces, who had infiltrated the north to cause chaos, and that he had killed three to four thousand enemy troops… That would be a major accomplishment!

’Even though Mo Yun escaped, the heads of her soldiers are still worth a fortune!’

”Well… when we returned to the battlefield this morning, we discovered that the bodies of our men and theirs… had all been… burned to ash!”

CLANG!

The teacup in Wei Ziting’s hand dropped to the floor and shattered into smithereens.

His face instantly turned deathly pale, and his eyes burned with a murderous glare. ”What did you say? Say that again!”

”When we… when we went to collect the enemy heads, we found… the entire battlefield had been wiped clean. Everyone was burned to ash…” the subordinate repeated, his voice filled with bitter resentment.

They had sacrificed so many lives. The Wei Family had mobilized almost their entire private army in the north, and in the end, this was the result. Over ten thousand of their men were dead, and they had… absolutely nothing to show for it!

”How… How is this possible? When could they have done this?” Wei Ziting exploded in fury, grinding his teeth. ”Xu Luo… it had to be you! AHHHHH! I, Wei Ziting, swear that we cannot both live under the same sky! I will not rest until you are dead!”

It was a pity Xu Luo couldn’t hear him, nor could he witness Wei Ziting’s unbridled fury.

This time, the Wei Family had truly paid a terrible price. Losing so many men in one go—even for the Cangqiong Kingdom’s Military Department, a loss of over ten thousand soldiers would be considered a catastrophe.

This single blow had nearly destroyed the Wei Family’s foundation in the northern Cangqiong Kingdom. Now, only a few thousand men remained, and any chance of military honors had vanished into thin air. You couldn’t claim a victory without proof! Wei Ziting had been counting on the heads of those Yan Kingdom soldiers to compensate for his losses.

But now, it seemed it had all been for nothing.

Wei Ziting could barely stay in his seat, his body swaying precariously. Finally, he couldn’t hold it back any longer and spat out another mouthful of fresh blood. ”Why? Why!” he wailed in despair before fainting. ”The heavens are blind!”

From plotting Mo Yun’s ambush to the disastrous end, Wei Ziting had spent over a month on his scheme. From the initial planning to closing the net, he had prepared for everything. He had even calculated what he would do if Xu Luo intervened.

What he hadn’t accounted for, however, was just how fiercely Mo Yun’s remnant unit would fight. It would have been one thing for her to be unafraid of death, but every last one of her soldiers fought with that same reckless abandon!

And Xu Luo’s method of entry filled Wei Ziting with a hatred so intense he wanted to kill himself.

’So cunning! So shameless!’

’Dressing up as soldiers of the Da Han Empire, just to pin the blame on them!’

’Xu Luo… could you be any more shameless?’

Although Wei Ziting had no proof that Xu Luo was behind this, deep down, he was utterly convinced. Besides Xu Luo, there was no one else who could have possibly pulled this off.