The ancestral hall was just up ahead. There were bloodstains all over the walls. Several corpses were leaning against them with multiple arrows embedded in their torso. Their blood had mingled together into pools. There were long, long intestines mixed within the blood as well.

Again, every single arrow had a white tail feather.

It was pitch black inside the ancestral hall. A foreign object seemed to be sitting on the table where the map was. There was also a humanoid silhouette standing against the wall, motionless.

Wei Yuan’s footsteps slowed down even further. He wanted to enter the ancestral hall and take a look, but it felt like his feet were rooted to the ground.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded behind him. Wei Yuan spun around instantly, his spear already infused with Dao energy.

To his surprise, the newcomer was Sun Chao’en. Only his lower body was wearing armor. His upper body was bare and covered in thick, bloodied bandages. In fact, blood was still seeping through some parts of the bandages. His complexion was pallid, and his Dao glow was dim. It was clear that he was severely injured.

Sun Chao’en was dragging a man with one hand. He was wearing a set of military armor, although he was missing his helmet. His hair was disheveled, and he was struggling to keep up with the county magistrate.

Wei Yuan also recognized him. He was the commandant overseeing the auxiliary troops, Wang Delu.

Trailing behind Sun Chao’en were the county assistant, chief of records and more. The civil officials were all clad in armor, and they were all carrying varying degrees of injuries. Wang Delu, despite his disheveled and bloody appearance, was the only one who was almost unscratched.

Sun Chao’en said nothing when he saw Wei Yuan. He walked past him and entered the ancestral hall first. Wei Yuan followed right behind him.

The moment they set foot inside the ancestral hall, an overwhelming stench of blood immediately assaulted their senses. It was so bad they could throw up on the spot!

The dimly lit hall was utterly drenched in blood. It was as if someone had taken great pains to spray every corner with it. Inside the open space, countless severed heads had been stacked into a pyramid-shaped mound! It was the heads of all three hundred militiamen!

A small child’s body was splayed across the table where the map was. She looked to be two or three years old at most. Her murderer had disemboweled her and planted the murder weapon next to her body. It was an exceptionally ornate dagger with a hilt that was inlaid with multiple gemstones. Its design resembled the self-defense dagger commonly carried by nobles of the Northern Liao.

There was a man standing next to the table. A long sword had nailed him to the wall through the chest. His robes had turned purplish black completely, but he could still tell that it was a scholar’s robe.

He, too, was headless.

Sun Chao’en walked up to the corpse and forced Wang Delu to his knees. The commandant twitched in fright at first, but he quickly touched his forehead against the floor again and again while blurting out, “Teacher Fang! It’s my cowardice and fear of death that led me to this mistake! I deserve to die; I am guilty! Please, show me magnanimity and spare me this once!”

Wei Yuan’s head was utterly blank the moment his eyes settled on the headless corpse. At the same time, an intangible, indescribable, yet all-encompassing and icy sorrow slowly spread out from inside his heart. A long time later, when he had finally recovered enough wits to speak u[, his voice sounded so raspy that it caught even him by surprise, “What happened?”

County Assistant Ren explained softly but succinctly, “It was a surprise attack. There were five hundred cavalrymen, and one hundred of them belonged to the Snow Eagle Cavalry. The Snow Eagle Cavalry is the Agula tribe leader’s personal guards. They are recognized by their white helmet and arrow with a white tail feather. They had shown up without any warning whatsoever. They were going to attack the city, but noticing that the county was unprepared, Teacher Fang intercepted them and killed about a dozen of them with his bow. Then, he rode out into battle and cut down several dozen more.”

Wei Yuan was puzzled when he heard this. Since when did Fang Hetong possess the strength to face down a guard of five hundred alone and slay dozens?

Ren Youwei continued, “... Furious, the Liao barbarians dispatched a detachment to besiege Flying Sand Village. Thanks to Teacher Fang’s intervention, the county ultimately managed to mobilize the troops and militia in time to defend the city, preventing a breach. Realizing that the siege was a failure, the Liao barbarians decided to vent their anger and humiliation on the three villages instead. By their tradition, it was going to be a total massacre.

“The situation was critical, and the stronghold showed no signs of moving whatsoever. Seeing the dire situation, Lord Sun disregarded all caution and marched out with the troops to provide relief. During the battle, he took an arrow to the chest that left him gravely wounded and unconscious. According to the chain of command, it fell upon Commandant Wang to direct the battle after Lord Sun fell. A cowardly man, he instead chose to retreat back to the county city with the troops and barricade himself inside. He just watched while Teacher Fang fought to his last breath, and the Liao barbarians massacred all three villages and erected mounds of skulls…

“After waking up and finding out what happened, Lord Sun apprehended Wang Delu and rushed over.”

Wei Yuan listened numbly to his explanation from the start until the end. Suddenly, he caught a flash out of the corner of his eye. The dagger planted next to the girl’s body was emanating clear mystic energy. So, he went over to it and grabbed the dagger, pulling it out of the table. The blade of the dagger was almost completely coated in blood.

A scene began playing before Wei Yuan’s eyes. It showed the front gate of a village; probably one of the villages behind Flying Sand Village. Several hundred Liao cavalrymen wielding curved sabers were herding the villagers out of their home. A group of Liao riders were standing by in the clearing, and they were obviously different from the average Liao cavalrymen. They were all riding white horses that were two chi taller than the average Liao warhorse at the minimum. Their scabbards and armor were white-colored as well. The tail feathers of their arrows were also painted white.

There was an exceptionally handsome black horse amidst the group of white horses. Not a single speck of odd color could be found on its coat. Its rider was an exceptionally tall Liao youngster. His hair was shaved on both sides. The rest were braided into dozens of small plaits and gathered into a single topknot on top of his head. His skin bore a bronze hue with a metallic sheen, and his nose resembled that of humans. His features were undeniably handsome even by human standards.

The youngster examined the villagers from his lofty position. Most of the villagers were elderly people, women, and children—only a handful of them were able-bodied men. When everyone had been herded to the clearing, a Liao cavalryman pushed a cart wheel over and set it upright at the center.

This was a Liao tradition. During the slaughter of an enemy village, anyone taller than a wheel was killed, while those shorter might be spared. This custom originated from ancient nomadic hunting practices where only adult members of a large herd were hunted, sparing the young. This ensured that new herds would emerge in subsequent years, sustaining the hunt.

The wheel was taken from the village. It was slightly shorter than the ones normally used by the Liao, meaning that only four or five children were going to survive this massacre. If this was a Liao wheel, then two more could’ve survived.

A woman carried a boy over to the wheel and measured his height. When she discovered that the wheel was just a tad taller than her boy, she was so overjoyed that she burst into tears. She then pushed her boy toward the other side of the clearing, hard. The boy did not know better and tried to return to her side, bawling. However, the woman gave him a vicious slap to the face before pushing him away again.

Moments later, everyone had performed the test. A large group of villagers knelt on one side of the clearing, while five children stood on the other. In reality, one of the children was slightly taller than the wheel, but the Liao riders did not seem to care. The mothers of the children stopped fearing and waited for death to take them.

Everything was ready. One order, and the butcher’s knife would descend upon everyone’s neck.

The Liao youngster on the black horse dismounted and walked over to the wheel. He looked at the gathered villagers with cruel, cunning eyes like a predator toying with its preys. The corners of his mouth curling into a vicious grin, he declared, “You set the wheel wrongly!”

He then kicked the wheel over and ordered, “Kill everyone who’s taller than the wheel!”

The butcher’s knives lifted and fell, and the first ones to fall were none other than the five children. On the other side, the villagers broke into a chaotic riot immediately. The children’s mothers also screamed and wailed like crazy as they rushed toward their fallen kids with all their might. However, they were all killed one after another.

Everyone was dead in just the blink of an eye. Then, the Liao cavalrymen started severing their heads one after another.

In the scene, the Liao youngster walked toward Wei Yuan before pulling out a dagger, slipping it back to his waist. It was none other than the dagger planted on the table.

That was where the recording ended.

The Liao youngster had purposely left it behind for those who came after.

Wei Yuan was expressionless, but his hands were shaking a little. It was then he noticed another item sitting in a pool of blood beneath the table. He went over to it, brushed aside a dried, stiff organ, and picked up an envelope. The letter inside the envelope was completely soaked in blood, but the ink used to write it was darker than the blood and so just barely legible.

The handwriting was extremely sloppy, clearly the product of a hasteful scrawl. Despite this, every stroke radiated a fiery, unyielding courage that always pressed forward, never faltering.

To my younger brother, Wei Yuan:

This older brother of yours is not very bright. Despite having forged his Dao Foundation for twenty-seven years, he has not progressed an inch, and he never will. On the other hand, you come from a distinguished lineage and possess extraordinary talent. It is my great fortune to have made your acquaintance, my worthy little brother.

Remember the time you spoke of the Three Immortalities? When the sages established virtue, they were looking toward eternity. Despite exhausting my life, I remain far from attaining such heights. That is why I have only written Establishing Merit and Establishing Words. I know that these are crude works, yet this is the extent of my talent. Now, the barbarians are upon us in full force, and I, lacking both ability and learning, have no strategy to repel the enemy. For the sake of the people, for the sake of our homeland, I can only sacrifice this broken body and do my utmost.

Luckily, this foolish older brother of yours has one last essay under his sleeve. I call it: Die Trying.