Chapter 444 Extra: Yi Hongfei x Luo Jining 3

Chapter 444: Extra Story - Yi Hongfei x Luo Jining 3

Luo Jining's few words immediately put the villagers, who were already half-convinced, on guard. Their spoken claims of believing in the Holy Sect sounded more like they were trying to convince others and comfort themselves. But seeing how cleanly the rabbit had died, there was no way they were about to drink that holy water they were holding.

The Penglai Immortal Sect followers' expressions shifted slightly. Their gazes toward Luo Jining were as cold as if they were looking at a dead man, yet on their faces they still maintained that solemn, dignified bearing. "The immortals ferry those with enlightened minds. Ordinary people cannot even seek the immortals' passage, and a mere rabbit, lacking a heart, is even more hopeless."

Luo Jining had long guessed they would say this. "What's this? The gods of our Yu Dynasty preach equality for all living beings—humans can become Buddhas, and demons can ascend too. How come in your version, only believers in your sect can become immortals, and non-believers are worse than beasts?"

Ordinary villagers had never been farther than the nearest town in their entire lives. Their knowledge was limited and their thinking simple, which made them easy to sway.

Seeing the crowd stir, clearly rattled by Luo Jining's words, a flicker of malice flashed in the Penglai Immortal Sect followers' eyes. "Blasphemy! You must be some demon in disguise. Let me reveal your true form and take you down!"

As he finished speaking, all the followers behind him sprang into action. They pulled mirrors, daggers, talismans, curved jade ornaments, and other ritual-looking gear out of their packs. But while the rest were just props, those coldly gleaming daggers were the real deal.

Twenty white-robed followers moved in a patterned formation in the open space—not quite dancing, more like some kind of summoning ritual.

"All that hocus-pocus." Luo Jining was still in the middle of mocking them when the group started closing in around him, brandishing those daggers and talismans at him.

Reacting faster than Luo Jining, the rich kid, were his companions Liuer and Xiaoqi. The two shielded Luo Jining. "Who dares lay a hand on our master's husband! Our general is the Crown Prince's Junior Guardian, personally appointed by the Emperor, and Commander-in-Chief of the Shandong coastal forces!"

Xiaoqi had a sharper tongue than Liuer. Hands on her hips, she cursed, "You think the Jinghai General's Mansion in Weihai is just for show? Touch our master's husband even once, and forget your so-called Holy Sect or evil cult—our general will level all of Penglai!"

A strange flicker passed through the followers' cold, dead eyes. Without warning, they halted their movements. The murderous momentum that had filled the air moments before deflated completely, and there was no getting it back.

"Heaven's way is constant, cleansing all evil. If you keep on your deluded path, you'll face heaven's wrath and bring about your own doom!"

The Penglai Immortal Sect followers left behind one last cryptic remark before pulling out of the village, leaving behind only the iron cauldrons still sitting on the makeshift earthen stoves, which a few bold villagers hauled home.

Funny enough, the ones bold enough to take the cauldrons were exactly the ones who didn't believe in any of that supernatural stuff. They had no faith, so they had nothing to fear—and each walked away with a free iron pot to boot.

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"General, Lord Shen has already sailed back to Yangzhou by boat. What should we do with the Fujiwara Tainaka he brought?"

"Have Ping'an escort him under guard to Licheng and hand him over to Qin Jiao. He'll know what to do with him."

"General, there's movement from Penglai. Those Eastern Japanese have hidden men on the island—five thousand more than the ones we're currently fighting."

"Keep a close eye on all activity around the island. Do these sneaky little bastards think they're the only ones who can hide troops? The troops from Dengzhou, Laizhou, and Jiaozhou are all assembled and ready. If we don't drive them all the way back to the Eastern Wo nation this time, my name ain't Yi!"

Yi Hongfei sat in his chair, looking casual, but his back and shoulders were ramrod straight. His broad shoulders carried a set of heavy silver armor, his white helmet set aside, his red-tasseled silver spear within reach. Without so much as a wasted motion, his imposing, commanding presence was unmistakable, earning genuine admiration from every officer under him.

"General, your husband is here."

In the middle of the military briefing tent, an out-of-place voice suddenly cut through.

Yi Hongfei had been sitting comfortably in his chair, but when it hit him, he jerked his head up. Liuer stood at the entrance of the tent reporting.

The heavy tent curtain was lifted halfway, and looking past it, Yi Hongfei met Luo Jining's searching gaze.

His heart stirred. He strode forward to greet him, the sharp edge he'd shown his subordinates vanishing completely. When he spoke, he was back to his usual teasing tone. "What brings our little Ningning here? Missing your hubby?"

Luo Jining had mentally prepared himself for the teasing before arriving, but he hadn't expected Yi Hongfei to be this shameless—carrying on like this in front of all his subordinates. He could already see several rugged-faced officers barely holding back their laughter.

His temple twitched. Luo Jining grabbed Yi Hongfei and dragged him toward the tent next door. "Let's talk inside."

Yi Hongfei didn't budge. When Luo Jining turned back to glare at him, he said with a half-smile, "That's Ping'an's tent. Isn't mine right in front of us?"

Yi Hongfei cleared everyone out of his tent, then let his hands wander shamelessly toward Luo Jining before getting swatted away a few times.

"Lend me some men." Luo Jining didn't stand on ceremony. He had no martial skills himself, though he didn't really need to borrow anyone—he already had plenty of skilled fighters around him.

Yi Hongfei raised an eyebrow. "That's how you ask for a favor?"

Luo Jining wasn't about to indulge him. "Doesn't that cult spreading its nonsense all over Weihai have something to do with you? I'm helping you here. Instead of kowtowing to me in gratitude, you're putting on airs?"

"So I've done my husband wrong after all." Yi Hongfei hooked a finger through his belt. "Our Ningning is so virtuous, even thinking to share his husband's burdens. In a moment, I'll have Ping'an dispatch a small squad of soldiers for your disposal."

Luo Jining clapped a hand over his belt, looking wary. "Talk is talk—keep your hands to yourself in broad daylight."

The military strictly forbade wine and women, and as commanding general, Yi Hongfei naturally wouldn't violate that rule. But teasing Luo Jining was always entertaining. He pulled Luo Jining into his arms and whispered by his ear, "But I miss my husband so. I wonder how I might cure this lovesickness..."

Luo Jining's whole body went numb at what followed. He jumped out of Yi Hongfei's arms, bristling. "Damn it, can you not be so... so..." He couldn't even say it—he had more shame than Yi Hongfei. "Don't you dare go too far!"

His purpose for coming had been accomplished anyway. Luo Jining wanted nothing more than to get out of that tent and away from that lecher. He bolted out, chased by Yi Hongfei's booming laughter.

With men under his command, Yi Hongfei had expected Luo Jining to launch a ruthless, decisive campaign. Instead, the guy became obsessed with challenging the cult head-on. Wherever the Penglai Immortal Sect's followers went, he followed, analyzing their scams for the common folk from a sharp modern perspective—almost like a consumer rights crusader.

The cult followers wanted to kill him on sight but couldn't defeat Luo Jining's numerical advantage. And if they didn't kill him, they couldn't deceive a single villager. Moreover, their purpose for infiltrating Weihai seemed to have been exposed, forcing them to become even more vigilant.

But no matter how remote the village they chose to preach their Holy Sect, Luo Jining would always find them. As time went on, the cult followers gritted their teeth and persisted, but the people of Weihai had already been successfully educated by Luo Jining, treating this sect that had made a name in Penglai as nothing but a joke.

People are most prone to first impressions. The people of Penglai, deeply poisoned by the Penglai Immortal Sect, weren't quite to the point of having their minds controlled, but they had been conditioned to regard the sect as true gods, obeying their every word and tolerating not a single word of criticism.

When Yi Hongfei first brought Luo Jining to Weihai, he hadn't suffered losses on the battlefield, but had been caught off guard by several spies disguised as ordinary Penglai citizens. Fortunately, he'd discovered them in time and prevented them from passing information to the Eastern Japanese.

Weihai was tightly guarded by Yi Hongfei, but the Eastern Japanese were cunning, skilled at infiltration, and their features resembled those of Yu Dynasty people. Many had secretly crossed over in earlier years and married into coastal communities. If they truly wanted to hide, catching them all was impossible—they would simply resurface years later. Having Luo Jining handle it had produced unexpectedly good results.

The Jinghai General's Mansion was even more heavily guarded at night than during the day. Shadow guards and garrison soldiers patrolled in rotating shifts for the first and second halves of the night, with a small gap in between that could be exploited.

In the bedroom, Luo Jining slept soundly on his stomach. An oil lamp burned in the outer room, casting a faint glow into the bedroom without disturbing his sleep.

Yi Hongfei wasn't returning tonight. Luo Jining had thrown open both bed curtains and claimed the entire large bed for himself, blanket wrapped around his upper body with one hand and one foot exposed—so fair and luminous they seemed to glow. He couldn't hear the faint sounds from the rooftop at all.

A spear flew from the side, and a black-cloth-wrapped head burst apart. Blood and brain matter splattered, dripping down the eaves like a night rain.

Yi Hongfei sat on the rooftop, his throwing arm still extended. Before and behind him lay more than thirty corpses. Liuer went to pull the spear from the ground where it had embedded—one hand couldn't budge it.

Two hands... still couldn't budge it.

Her husband, face cold and silent, came over, and together the couple pulled it out and handed it to their master.

Yi Hongfei wiped the blood from the spearhead with a cloth, then asked in a low voice, "How many have come over these past few days?"

Liuer calculated. "Reporting to the General, counting those outside the mansion, one hundred and twenty-four assassins in total."

Yi Hongfei tossed aside the cloth and stood, spear in hand. "Ah, then the timing is about right. They've been hopping around long enough—time to close the net."

He vaulted down from the rooftop, spear never leaving his hand as he carried it straight into the bedroom. "I'm going to sleep for a bit. Have Ping'an muster the troops and come wake me when they're ready to enter the city."

"Yes!"

Yi Hongfei removed his outer robe and slipped under the blanket. Luo Jining instinctively slid his cold-chilled feet between Yi Hongfei's legs, curling up against him in search of warmth.

Yi Hongfei placed him against his chest to warm him. The uneven scars covering it were ugly, yet in this moment they seemed tender. "Not complaining about the heat and pushing me away anymore?"

"Luo Jining, no matter who you are, you will never leave my side."

No one answered Yi Hongfei's words. After a moment, another steady breath joined the room, the two intertwining, utterly intimate.

Yi Hongfei began using iron-fisted tactics to purge the Penglai Immortal Sect followers in Weihai, burning anyone they caught at the stake in public.

His exact words were—since they claim to deliver others to salvation, they should surely be able to deliver themselves. Burn them, and maybe they'll ascend to immortality right then and there.

The Penglai Immortal Sect had such an overwhelming reputation in Penglai that cracking down on them from the start would have backfired, stirring unrest among the common folk. No one understood better than Yi Hongfei, a general seasoned by years of battle, that war hits the common folk hardest.

When people are restless, they cling harder to vague, otherworldly beliefs. Peaceful times raise chanting monks; chaotic times spawn demons and heresies.

After cutting off the Eastern Japanese's means of stirring up the people, news came from Licheng that Fujiwara Yasunaka had slipped out of Qin Jiao's hands.

"Tomorrow I'm leading the troops to attack Penglai." Yi Hongfei toyed with a gilded waist token. His big hands, knuckles prominent, made the token look like a toy.

Luo Jining said, "Oh." He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say.

Come back soon?

Huh, what nonsense.

Still, he was a bit curious—did a brute like Yi Hongfei actually trade trash talk with enemy generals on the battlefield?

Luo Jining imagined Yi Hongfei on horseback facing the opposing general, both with thousands of troops at their backs, cursing each other out in the middle of the battlefield. The corner of his mouth twitched into a weird smile.

"Just one 'oh'?" Yi Hongfei pulled Luo Jining to his side and bent down to fasten his own waist token onto Luo Jining's belt.

Luo Jining examined the token curiously. "Penglai's not far from home. You'll be back in five or six days tops after the fight. What else do you want me to say?"

Yi Hongfei clicked his tongue. "I hear Penglai's a blessed place—men and women both have slim waists and long legs, tons of gorgeous people. You're not scared I'll bring a couple back?"

He finished tying the token and looked up to find Luo Jining staring at him, eyes shining.

Yi Hongfei: "..." He wanted to slap himself twice. Why'd he have to go and open his big mouth?

"Ahem." Luo Jining cleared his throat. "You'll be gone that long, I'm honestly a little worried. How about I come along?"

Yi Hongfei gave a stiff smile. "Ningning rarely cares about me this much. If I said no, wouldn't that be rude of me?"

Luo Jining set off with Yi Hongfei, all excited. Sitting in the carriage, he thought it over, then suddenly pulled aside the curtain and called out to Yi Hongfei on horseback: "Hold on, Yi Hongfei, did you purposely trick me into coming to Penglai?"

Yi Hongfei's horsemanship was superb. He pulled off a tricky backbend, leaned over to Luo Jining, gave him a quick peck, then straightened back up. "How could I ever trick Ningning? You're willing to come to the battlefield with me, through life and death—your husband's so touched."

Luo Jining wiped his face with a handkerchief, looking disgusted. "Your husband? You act like a husband? As a general, can't you watch your reputation?"

Yi Hongfei's lips curved upward. "In the first half of my life, I suffered all I needed to. Marrying you was for my own enjoyment. Who cares what anyone else thinks?"

"I'm not saying others will affect you... whatever." Luo Jining gave up struggling. The man only ever heard what he wanted to hear.

The Eastern Japanese attacked Licheng, and Qin Jiao beat them back. Yi Hongfei seized the opportunity to occupy Penglai, cutting off their retreat. Caught in a pincer, the Eastern Japanese army of a hundred thousand was crushed before they could even get to the sea.

The Eastern Wo commander Fujiwara Masamune was a capable general. He made a quick call, leaving three senior generals with ninety thousand troops to hold off Qin Jiao and Yi Hongfei, while a light-infantry general put on his armor to pose as him back at camp. In reality, Fujiwara Masamune himself had secretly slipped off to Weihai.

Weihai was Yi Hongfei's territory, but Fujiwara Masamune had hidden a small squad near the ferry.

His trusted man brought him word: because Yi Hongfei's husband had accompanied him to the front, he'd left almost nothing in reserve—besides his main forces, every personally trained loyalist was protecting Luo Jining. Weihai was practically an "empty city."

But Fujiwara Masamune never made it onto the ferry to return to Eastern Wo, because Yi Hongfei was waiting for him at the dock.

"You set up contingencies in both Weihai and Dengzhou, but I figured you'd pick Weihai to board a ship. Know why?"

Fujiwara Masamune understood the Yu language but couldn't speak it himself. He stared coldly at Yi Hongfei, prepared to fight to the death.

Yi Hongfei tossed Fujiwara Yasunaka's severed head before him and tightened his grip on his spear. "Because you people love to go around in circles. Too bad the more you circle, the less sense it makes."

Seeing his brother's head treated so callously, Fujiwara Masamune showed little grief. He slowly drew the long, gracefully curved tachi from his waist. "I've heard you're the adopted son personally trained by Nie Chuan, and that you betrayed him. A lowlife like you beating me—I don't accept it."

At the mention of Nie Chuan, Yi Hongfei's eyes grew darker. His spear angled toward the ground, gleaming with cold silver light. "Don't accept? Then I'll beat you until you accept!"

Fujiwara Masamune had only a dozen trusted men left, while Yi Hongfei's forces had already surrounded the entire dock. That he chose to fight Fujiwara Masamune personally was to grant him a dignified death.

Luo Jining watched from the rear, surrounded by a host of household guards and hidden protectors. He strained forward anxiously, but couldn't make out what was happening, only fretting helplessly.

"Husband, don't—" Worry.

Xiao Qi's words were cut off as Liu'er stopped her with a shake of her head.

If the general knew how much his husband cared for him, he'd surely be overjoyed.

The clash of metal rang out endlessly ahead. Luo Jining thought of the fierce scars on Yi Hongfei's body and froze for a moment. When he snapped back to attention, Yi Hongfei's spear had already pierced Fujiwara Masamune's throat.

The salty sea breeze tousled Yi Hongfei's hair. His frame stood tall, shoulders broad, waist as narrow as a wasp's. In that moment, he was utterly unlike his usual self—a killing aura filled the space between heaven and earth.

With a flick of his spear, Fujiwara Masamune's body crumpled to the ground like a rag doll. Yi Hongfei didn't spare it another glance, merely raising a hand to wipe the blood from his cheek. When he turned, his gaze landed directly on Luo Jining, the killing intent in his eyes not yet faded.

Luo Jining's heart pounded violently at that look, adrenaline surging. Even though he'd always been deeply annoyed at being pinned beneath Yi Hongfei, he had to admit—the man looked absolutely magnificent in battle!

Leaving his men to handle the aftermath, Yi Hongfei galloped back to Luo Jining's side, already reverting to his lazy, carefree demeanor. A loose smile played at his lips. "I know Ningning must be crazy about me, but with so many people watching, how about we head home first? Once we're home, you can look all you want—even strip me bare and stare."

Same old flavor.

Luo Jining pointed at the bloody hole in his arm. "Why don't you bleed out and die already?"

"Ouch." Yi Hongfei let out an exaggerated cry and yanked Luo Jining close. "Ningning, I'm in so much pain. Come blow on it for me."

Luo Jining said impatiently, "Blow my ass. Am I some immortal whose breath heals? Go home and call the army doctor."

Yi Hongfei sat behind him, arms wrapped around him, smile deepening.

Luo Jining didn't need to say it. Yi Hongfei could see it—he loved him, just as deeply as Yi Hongfei loved him.

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