"On a certain day of a certain year, I brewed tea from my treasured collection, making a common folk snack of tea eggs."
"Common man! Common man!"
"So furious I was, wishing to lash him with a spear!"
"Angered, we sparred."
"Let this matter be."
Li Guanyi grinned, as he could sense the rage and malevolence of Duke Chen from five hundred years ago, as well as the playful smirk of General Xue, Old Xue, from the script.
Li Guanyi suspected that if it hadn’t been for General Xue’s presence, with Duke Chen’s martial skills, strategic thinking, and a base sufficient to lead a thousand-man army, he would have revolted long ago, whether in an era of peace or not.
Li Guanyi noticed that the text in the Mountain and Water Scroll ended abruptly, with what seemed like words from a long separation.
Slower and more composed than before.
’Curse Old Xue for disturbing my great cause!’
’Now I am old and upon seeing my reflection in the bronze mirror today, my temples have turned white. Having fought all my life, I’ve reached the pinnacle but never pursued the illusory realm of Martial Arts Legend. It seems impossible to make that step now.’
’However, having dominated and maneuvered through a lifetime, I have no regrets.’
’Today I went out and saw the common folk living and working in peace, and it dawned on me that with him and me around, there has astonishingly been no war in the Central Plains for sixty years, one hundred years of great peace. Troops on the border have not been disturbed by an alien tribe for long, and there was that old man squatting in my corner again, whom I lashed in anger with my spear.’
’Although I cursed him, I suddenly felt that such a world wasn’t so bad after all.’
’With a breakthrough in my mental state, my divine ability encompassed heaven and earth. Knowing that my life was nearing its end, I did not wish to die on my bed.’
’I invited Duke Xue to venture out and fight to the death.’
’All the heroes in this world are but ants; only he can kill me, only he is fit to kill me.’
’People like us should not die on our beds. I should die on the battlefield, fall with horses clashing below, spears striking amidst.’
’Before the duel, I went to the chasm and uprooted all the grown medicinal herbs then replanted them.’
’It was as if I was slaughtering my past self—the violent me, the belligerent me, the brave me, the warlike me, the ambitious me—one by one, till finally I was clear and transparent, without a speck of dust.’
’I now know my heavenly mandate, that peace will last at least two hundred more years.’
’These rare herbs will mature in one hundred years, become greatly useful in three hundred years, reach perfection in five hundred, and will be supreme in eight hundred. If by then a foolish sovereign arises, a scheming ruler, and my Central Plains no longer hold the upright and commanding spirit, one may go there.’
’Raise the Divine Army swiftly, whip the world into obedience, and uphold the great Tao.’
’In conquering the world, I waged more than a hundred and thirty battles, never defeated in any of them. I do not know how many princes and nobles have died under my spear. My horse has trampled countless corpses of the common folk. In the end, I realized a true Divine General can spare the common folk from the battlefield.’
’I have written down the Military School’s profound meaning here, and you, descendants, must remember it firmly: "Know that the military is a tool of calamity, to be used as a last resort by the world."’
’These herbs, this canyon that harbors exotic beasts, this is my final spear thrust.’
’From this place, leading to the future, may it quell the chaos of the world!’
’Though I die, I may still gallop through times of strife—isn’t that delightful?’
’Even if it’s a descendent of my own Chen family that causes trouble, please eliminate them with a Mountain Shattering strike!’
’I wish for peace in the world, may generations to come never see war!’
’Chen Baxian, this is my final statement.’
At this point, the brush strokes end, no longer bearing any semblance of the murderous aura of Military School, just pure, vast, and magnanimous expressions of the spirit of the Divine General who ruled the world five hundred years ago, still carrying an indescribable command and majesty despite the passage of time.
Li Guanyi released a breath.
A region scattered with five-hundred-year-old treasures, capable of rapidly creating high-level martial artists, and filled with exotic beasts—even possibly the gorge where the dragons of the Red Emperor once made their pacts—the information was staggering, and Li Guanyi had to rub his temples just to digest it all.
This place could completely transform the art of war.
Li Guanyi suddenly recalled General Xue’s mention of a secret hoard left by the White Tiger Sect, a hidden cache from two Divine Generals who were friends as well as foes for a lifetime five hundred years ago, but whose legacies could be perfectly integrated.
Sufficient to forge a terrifying elite force that could surpass the Iron Futu, the Golden Scimitar Cavalry, the Night Rider Cavalry, Tiger Barbarian Cavalry, and the Great Halberd Soldiers, if led by a Fighting General adept at breaking through enemy lines, capable of toppling fortresses and commanding respect wherever they go.
There’s even the mature Red Dragon within that secret realm.
The landscape painting turned out to be written in two separate parts. Without the Mystic Turtle Dharma Form, Li Guan would have never discovered the location, let alone have seen the landscape painting. He suspected that the painting required certain special conditions to open—perhaps something like the bloodline of Emperor Chen.
The Mystic Turtle poked its head out, staring at Li Guanyi with wide eyes.
Li Guanyi thought to himself, ’Do you want to go to one of those valleys where it will benefit you?’
The Mystic Turtle eagerly nodded its head vigorously.
Li Guanyi pondered, suddenly suspecting that there might be something special inside, somehow karmically connected to the Mystic Turtle? Still, according to Duke Chen’s records, that valley already harbored the Red Dragon, Qilin, Qiongqi, and many other exotic beasts.
Attracting so many exotic beasts and growing numerous treasures and spirit materials, there’s likely some extremely formidable treasure within. Li Guanyi thought to himself, "Good, when there’s an opportunity, I must find this place."
After all, he would soon be leaving Chen Country.
All these titles of Founding County Knight and various dukedoms, the fifth-class honors—none of these were important to Li Guanyi. Having witnessed the heroes and overloads of the world in the capital of Chen Country, it was time for him to leave. Speaking of which, if there were Qilin eggs, could there be a Fire Qilin elder there?