Chapter 47

Chapter 47

In the Beixian Mountains, icy winds howled as the valleys were surrounded by the Xian Kingdom. Ever since the central plains of China had lost its central authority four hundred years ago, the Xian Kingdom had distanced itself in the northwest, hoping to preserve its territory. Over the years, the central plains had been in constant turmoil. The Long family of Qidi had received the mandate of heaven and, after a series of battles, had begun to shape a unified empire.

The ruler of the Xian Kingdom could no longer sit idly by, knowing that this was their last chance. If they could defeat the renowned Long Jianlu, who had never tasted defeat, the Xian Kingdom might still have a chance to survive as a vassal state. But if they waited for the Qidi forces to invade, there would be only one outcome: annihilation.

Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the refugees along the Qidi border, the Xian Kingdom mobilized all its troops. First, they expelled the refugees, then engaged Zheng Jia's army, which posed as refugee soldiers, in a direct confrontation. The Xian Kingdom disrupted Qidi's plans, virtually emptying their nest, and using the harsh winter conditions and the strategic advantage of Yuesong Ridge, lured the Qidi army into a decisive battle.

King Huangeng of the Xian Kingdom was already an old man, but he had four sons, all of exceptional quality, and they stood united as brothers.

This time, he personally led the charge, arriving at the outer pass of Yuesong Ridge at the age of sixty-six, still donning armor to fight. With an army of 160,000 men under his command, facing Qidi's 100,000 cavalry, he held the key pass with a significant chance of victory.

Standing atop the high walls of the outer pass, he gazed at the endless ravines in the distance.

If they could repel Qidi, both kingdoms could enjoy two decades of peace. Even though Long Jianlu had conquered nine-tenths of the world and recently eradicated the Liu Kingdom, he knew that Long Jianlu's throne was still unstable. The territories gained from years of warfare needed time to assimilate, and both within and outside the court, many eyed him hungrily. His marriage to a male consort of unknown origins had sealed his fate on the path to destruction.

Both the Liu and Xian Kingdoms had entertained the idea of an alliance with Qidi for years. His journey to the throne could have been smoother.

"Your Majesty," a soldier bowed, "Long Jianlu has arrived. He is currently at the pass of Yao Yue."

Prince Huanliu of Xian led his troops, successfully cornering Zheng Jia within the Yao Yue Pass. Should Long Jianlu march westward with his army to aid Zheng Jia, they would inevitably fall into the vast trap set by the Great Xian.

"The order is given," the monarch instructed, "Assemble our forces in the Three Mountains Plain. I shall engage Long Jianlu in battle."

Xian was renowned for generations as the land of horse breeding. Before the division of the realm, it served as the imperial stable master for the former emperor, controlling the fertile plains west of Mount Yue Song. Now, with their entire elite cavalry of fifty thousand deployed, it was their last resort.

In the distance, cries of battle and the thunders of war drums echoed. The cavalry of Taqi had arrived.

Long Jianlu, having traveled far, charged into the canyon without respite, a grave military taboo. Yet, this seasoned emperor seldom adhered to military principles, relying instead on his intuition.

"Your Majesty!" A Qigu envoy galloped forth, crying out, "General Zheng Jia is sounding the war whistle in the canyon!"

Long Jianlu spoke in a grave tone, "The enemy has been encircling us for too long; both sides are weary. Now is the time to charge from the outskirts and break through their formation, allowing Zheng Jia to ride on this morale boost."

Jiang Xun nodded and instructed, "Reply with a war whistle!"

In an instant, a sharp whistle pierced the gloomy sky as a scout arrow streaked across. Over twenty thousand soldiers from the vanguard launched their assault. Amidst the vast charge, the cavalrymen rode, drew their bows, and shot arrows that flew through the air in parabolas before descending upon the mountain like a rain of death.

Within the canyon, Zheng Jia led his infantry in a fierce attempt to break free. Blood soon splattered across Yao Yue's pass as the battle first reached a stalemate. However, the defending enemy troops were gradually dispersed by Long Jianlu's charge, and the two armies successfully reunited.

"Break through!" Zheng Jia roared, brandishing his iron sword. "Every man who makes it counts!"

Long Jianlu, clad in black armor and wielding a spear, charged into the canyon like a massive wheel, bellowing, "Zheng Jia! You can't make it!"

Zheng Jia felt both anger and absurdity. Mounting a horse, he followed Long Jianlu's charge. Long Jianlu rode his towering steed, crushing everything in the canyon like a tank, then burst out the other side. The cavalry held an almost absolute advantage against infantry, and the defenses in the canyon began to crumble.

The Xian army sounded their horns, retreating in an orderly manner.

In the rear, where Jiang Xun was, the retreat was signaled. Long Jianlu led his troops out of the canyon, only to see a massive army rolling in like a dark cloud on the distant San Shan Plain.

"Hold the charge with me!" Huan Geng's aged voice thundered.

He raised the Emperor's Sword high, and behind him, the fluttering cloaks of the tens of thousands of cavalry formed a red cloud as they charged towards Yao Yue's pass.

Jiang Xun immediately commanded, "Raise the spears in the rear! Hold the line! We must hold!"

The Taiji army beat their war drums again. The black cavalry fell back but stood firm, guarding the pass. Long Jianlu turned and shouted, "Assemble the remaining center troops, and follow me through Yao Yue Pass!"

The Taiji army found themselves under attack from both sides, but Long Jianlu had anticipated this. If they could break through the pass and regroup, they would gain time to seize the strategic point and deal a heavy blow to Xian.

Now it all depended on whether Qi Jun could seize the Yao Yue Pass. Archers from the Xian Kingdom began firing from their elevated positions, while the prince himself took to the battlefield, crying out, "Fight to the death! Do not retreat!"

If they failed to capture the pass, Long Jianlu and his cavalry would be trapped in the canyon.

This battle was the most brutal in the past four years, with both sides giving it their all. The canyon was almost entirely filled with the corpses of soldiers, blocking the way forward.

"How much longer, Your Majesty?!" Jiang Xun turned back and shouted.

The first line of defense had already been breached by the advancing Xian forces, and the royal army was hurriedly forming a second wave of resistance. For Qi Kingdom, there was still a chance to retreat even if they lost this battle. But for the Xian Kingdom, defeat meant annihilation, and so their soldiers fought with their lives on the line.

The defenses before the Yao Yue Pass were crumbling, with archers falling from the heights. At the same time, Huan Gong's troops were pushing Long Jianlu's royal cavalry deeper into the canyon.

—In that moment, an explosion echoed alongside the triumphant horn announcing the capture of the pass.

At the mouth of the canyon, Long Jianlu led his cavalry in a charge through the Yao Yue Pass.

Behind them, a massive fireball plummeted into the Xian ranks!

Yaoguang rode forth, and the sky was engulfed in flames and thunderbolts. Amidst the deafening roar, the Xian soldiers looked up in disbelief.

Huan Geng was covered in blood, his lips trembling as he witnessed this scene. Fireballs fell one after another, engulfing thousands of cavalrymen in flames. When the lightning struck, the battlefield was left with dark craters. Then, a massive snowstorm formed, beginning to swirl rapidly across the field, sweeping away nearly ten thousand cavalrymen in two circuits!

Horses screamed in mid-air, and cries of agony echoed everywhere. Even the bravest warriors couldn't help but feel a chill at the might of this divine power...

Yet, the Qiqi Kingdom's cavalry snapped back to their senses, shouting, "It's the Empress!"

"It's the Empress—!"

Many soldiers who had fought in the war against the Liu Kingdom had seen the wrath of heaven before. Their morale soared, and with the sound of drums urging them on, they charged fiercely towards the enemy!

The Xian nation's army was utterly powerless. The moment Yaoguang appeared on the battlefield, he mercilessly pronounced the end of this country with a four-hundred-year history. They were mere figments in his imagination, and he was the sole god ruling this world—erasing them was as effortless as annihilating ants. The cries of horses and soldiers, burning in flames and plummeting to the ground, were but scenes in his delusions.

Perched atop the Yao Yue stronghold, Long Jianlu gazed at the raging thunder and blizzard in the distance, as fiery spheres whizzed past all around.

"Enough," Long Jianlu declared gravely. "Enough, Yaoguang!"

In a fierce roar, Long Jianlu shouted, "Stop! Yaoguang! Don't massacre—!"

Flames erupted beyond the canyon, followed by a blizzard that swept toward their own ranks. The Qi nation's soldiers paled, panicking and shouting as they fled. No one could withstand the power of a deity. The war drums were blown away, and Jiang Xun scrambled down from the platform. In the next instant, a colossal fireball hurtled towards the Yao Yue stronghold, obliterating it completely.

"Beware, Your Majesty!" The soldiers rushed forward at the risk of their lives, pulling Long Jianlu down from the stronghold.

Yaoguang rode a warhorse from the army, holding the jade branch that had been fused with Long Jianlu's sword. The branch shimmered with an ethereal glow, channeling the purest and most fundamental power of this world, igniting a blazing inferno from which countless fireballs erupted, swirling through the heavens. It was as if a surreal celestial phenomenon was unfolding, with the nine scorching suns from ancient myths descending upon the earth.

"Yaoguang!" Long Jianlu rose to his feet, seeing Yaoguang pass through Yao Yue's gate. He called out, "Where are you going?"

Yaoguang, still clutching the jade branch, paid no heed. Long Jianlu mounted his horse and swiftly pursued, closing in on Yaoguang.

Yaoguang charged towards the outer gate beneath Mount Yuesong. With a thunderous crash, the stone gate descended – the legendary barrier guarding the western lands, said never to be breached.

"Loose the arrows!" someone yelled from atop the outer gate.

Arrows shot out like shooting stars from the city walls, aiming directly at Yaoguang, who was riding alone.

Long Jianlu roared, "Empress! Watch out for the flying arrows!"

The millions of arrows heading for Yaoguang suddenly halted mid-air and, in a swift turn, raced back in the direction they came!

Unfortunately, Long Jianlu lacked the power to divert them. In an instant, he was struck by an arrow while still on his horse, causing his steed to collapse and the emperor to be thrown off.

"Yaoguang!" Despite his own arrow wound, Long Jianlu struggled to his feet and rushed towards Yaoguang on foot, shouting, "It's too dangerous! Stay away from there!"

But the enemy had no chance to launch another volley of arrows. As Yaoguang waved the jade branch in his hand, a massive fireball whistled towards the Outer Gate. The unbreachable stone wall, which had stood for a thousand years, crumbled under the first impact. The subsequent fireballs that followed turned the western frontier's first line of defense into an inferno.

With the Outer Gate collapsing, Yaoguang's fury was far from spent. The earth began to tremble!

The entire plain experienced a cataclysmic upheaval as mountains tumbled, crashing down with a deafening roar, turning high peaks into deep valleys that were then buried beneath countless trees and soil.

Yaoguang reined in his horse, stopping in his tracks. Fifty paces away, Long Jianlu stood, staring in awe at Yaoguang. Between them, a massive chasm had opened up due to the earthquake.

To the west, the vast expanse of land stretched endlessly, and at the horizon, beneath a crimson sun, lay Changchuan, the capital of Xian Kingdom.

Long Jianlu, with arrows piercing his shoulder and waist, limped slowly towards Yaoguang with his injured leg.

"I was wrong, Yaoguang," Long Jianlu said. "Come back with me."

Yaoguang didn't even turn to look at Long Jianlu. After a moment, he lifted the green branch once more. It radiated a brilliant light that shot up into the sky. The clouds dispersed, revealing a scarlet hue at the edge of the firmament.

A meteor blazed through the atmosphere, trailing a fiery tail as it plummeted towards the earth.

"Cease! Cease!" Long Jianlu roared. "Yaoguang! Stop this instant! Changchuan holds four hundred thousand lives—!"

Yaoguang remained composed, gazing up at the sky. Long Jianlu bellowed, "Stop it—!"

With all his might, Long Jianlu dashed towards Yaoguang, ready to tackle him. But just as he neared, Yaoguang's reactive force pushed him aside soundlessly, sending Long Jianlu crashing back to the ground.

The meteor drew closer, stirring up a hurricane. Long Jianlu yelled, "No—!"

Time seemed to slow down in an instant. Long Jianlu transformed back into his knightly form, clad in a windbreaker and wearing a Fedora hat that was now swept away by the gale. The massive meteor crawled across the sky above them.

In the next moment, he morphed into the Devil King, exerting every ounce of his strength to soar towards the meteor.

The unexpected transformation happened in a blink of an eye. Even Yaoguang didn't have time to react as Long Jianlu intercepted the meteor, redirecting it towards the earth with a thunderous crash.

Time returned to its normal pace. The meteor's impact generated shockwaves, sending sand and rocks flying. Day turned into night as a sandstorm raged, engulfing everything in its path.

Bloodied from head to toe, Long Jianlu, in his Devil King form, struggled to walk through the dust towards Yaoguang. "I... Yaoguang... So... This is how it is." His body flickered, alternating between the Devil King, the Emperor, and the Knight. "Finally, I see you again, Yaoguang..."

Yaoguang stared blankly at Long Jianlu.

In the end, Long Jianlu regained his memory, and when he looked at Yaoguang again, his gaze had changed.

"Yes, that's right," Long Jianlu muttered. "That day, your pendant was glowing too. Does its glow mean that you're about to leave?"

Yaoguang looked down at his own pendant. The story had reached its conclusion – Long Jianlu had unified the land, and from then on, no one in this continent would be his match.

And with the conclusion came his return to the real world.

"Yes," Yaoguang said. "Because this is just a story, not reality."

He finally revealed the truth to Long Jianlu.

"A story?" Long Jianlu murmured.

"A story," Yaoguang replied. "You are a character I created in my narrative."

"I don't understand," Long Jianlu said slowly. "Are you the god of this world, and all the worlds I've lived in before?"

Yaoguang: "I am a writer, Long Jianlu. I create stories. Everything you see here is merely a scene within a tale, and you are a character in this story."

Yaoguang stood up, surveying their surroundings, where sand swirled around them, obscuring the sky.

"Whether it's your identity as an emperor, a knight, or even a demon king," Yaoguang continued, "they are all part of my design. They serve as my passport to traverse my world and the narratives within my books."

With that, Yaoguang held up the hexagonal pendant for Long Jianlu to see.

Long Jianlu knelt on the ground, looking up at Yaoguang with a profoundly bewildered expression.

"I only thought you... were a god."

"No, not just a god. To be precise, I am a creator. Everything you see, everything you perceive, even yourself," Yaoguang said gravely, "is my creation. Your childhood, your life, your personality, who you love or don't love – all stem from my design."

Long Jianlu's lips trembled slightly, as he struggled to find words.

Yaoguang continued, "You hid my pendant, trying to keep me trapped within your story. That was quite excessive, Long Jianlu."

Long Jianlu stared blankly at Yaoguang.

Long Jianlu knelt while Yaoguang stood, and then Yaoguang began to ascend slowly into the air. The pendant radiated a brilliant glow that stretched for miles— signaling the end once more.

"Do you still love me?" Long Jianlu asked.

But this time, he didn't reach out towards the light.

"had you not hidden the pendant," Yaoguang looked down at Long Jianlu, "I might have truly kept my promise to stay with you here. But now, it's no longer possible... Farewell, Long Jianlu."

In the next moment, a flash of light blinked, and the sandstorm dissipated entirely.

"Yaoguang!" Long Jianlu cried out, struggling to his feet and rushing towards the light with abandon.

The radiance condensed fiercely until it vanished into a single point, akin to the universe returning to silence and emptiness, leaving only Long Jianlu standing on the dust-filled earth, facing the barren world from which the Creator had departed.

Before him stretched a life that echoed with loneliness until the end of his days.

Yaoguang returned to reality from the brilliance, his gaze fixed on the two lines on the screen:

"But at this moment, Long Jianlu knew nothing. He stared, dumbfounded, at the young man on the other side of the river, whose chest..."

"...adorned with a dainty, luminous hexagonal pendant, reflecting the shimmering radiance of the cosmos above..."

- Volume III: The Emperor - Conclusion -

# Volume IV: The Scholar