Li Guanyi knew very well that this battle, destined to be engraved in the annals of history and to end the great clash between the Central Plains and the Turkic, could, in this era, only be the foretold final war of the Central Plains.

That battle would be a head-on slaughter, staking everything on Ying Country’s accumulated foundations.

In this final battle to end a chaos of several hundred years, both sides would hold nothing back; after sweeping aside the foreign foe, they would pile everything they had onto the battlefield and, in the fiercest of postures, complete the unification of the realm.

"First annihilate the Western Regions, then pacify the grasslands; let the states of the Central Plains hack each other apart, and in the end, with a battlefield of a million men, bring to a close the eight-hundred-year line of the Red Emperor—then the momentum by which the realm is won will be open and aboveboard!"

"Through a thousand autumns and ten thousand ages, there will not be the slightest doubt."

Li Guanyi raised his head; at this moment he suddenly, in a daze, became aware of a certain flavor of history’s years and vicissitudes flowing on. The moonlight poured down like white water, like the ceaseless passage of time itself.

He was someone living in this era, yet it was also fated that in later generations’ histories he would be reduced to a few short lines. How would those to come look back upon this battle of extraordinary meaning? And how would they look upon this cold, quiet moonlit night before the decisive war?

Li Guanyi cast from his mind that trace of melancholy and desolate feeling.

He merely thought that, after the battle of the Central Plains, the realm would recuperate and rest.

That Taiping age, which for hundreds of years uncounted heroes and great men had long yearned after, was at last not far away. He even, at times, would think: no matter who won or lost that final battle, in the end it would still be days of peace.

But later, when he watched the people of Jiangnan, he would again feel that this kind of thought of his was a kind of irresponsible, insufficiently courageous way of evasion; even a Prince Qin who had campaigned for ten years would sometimes have instants when he was not so resolute.

Yet once he turned his head and looked at the human world of cooking smoke curling up over Jiangnan, that spirit of his which was about to loosen would once more firm up. That part of him belonging to ordinary people was forged and hardened, put on armor and helmet, contended upon the killing fields, and made itself look, in the eyes of others, like a hero.

Li Guanyi felt that he had always still been that same sort of person.

The youth who could be happy for several days over half a roast goose shared with his aunt, then feel a twinge of heartache because they had spent too much money.

He was only learning to pretend to have a hero’s appearance.

Li Guanyi gripped that Jiuli Divine Weapon and looked at the edge of the blade, newly honed bright, in which his eyes were reflected. Children must pretend to be adults, adults must pretend to be reliable, and then pretend to be the heroes of their own lives. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The world is just like this.

On this road of his, he could not afford to lose.

From thirteen years old to now, he was already twenty-two. Walking all the way to this point, so many people had died; he could not lose. Under such circumstances, in the young Prince Qin’s heart there finally arose a sense of "if not me, then who."

Even now, though foreign enemies had already been swept aside; even now, with the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the west broken and the wolves sealed at Juxu; with the Eighteen Tribes pacified in the south, the fleeing defeated pursued, Chen shattered and Jiangzhou entered, the southwest stabilized and Jiuli taken—days of Taiping were already before his eyes.

Yet it was absolutely not the case that, whoever won, would be able to obtain Taiping.

Rather—

If we are not the ones to win, then this realm is not yet at peace!

In the great trend of the world, if not us, then who.

Only this word "us" was by no means to be understood as it had been in the past.

All living beings are me.

The common folk make up the one.

On the steel of that Jiuli Divine Weapon, a dark golden radiance rose, bright and clear, flowing over the originally ink-black blade. Faintly, beneath the dense, hidden Military Evil Qi, there emerged a special kind of Qi Fortune, akin to that of the Chi Xiao Sword, yet entirely different.

The Sword Spirit of the Chi Xiao Sword: "..."

The Sword Spirit let out a burst of sword sound, with a feeling of being both ashamed and enraged at discovering its own role had been overlapped.

The Fierce Tiger Sky Shouting Halberd quivered, its steel cry like a fierce tiger’s roar.

As though laughing wildly in ridicule.

Li Guanyi raised his hand and tapped both Divine Weapons; only then did they quiet down again.

Li Guanyi put the Divine Weapons away and gazed into the distance.

"So, the final battle..."

By then, General Xue would surely step onto the battlefield as well.

Jiang Su already knew of General Xue’s existence; at that time it would be very hard to achieve the effect of striking where the enemy did not expect. The last battle would inevitably be that sort of open, life-and-death slaughter, with real blades and real spears, both sides straining every sinew in plain sight.

Once the Warlord had finished forging the Jiuli Divine Weapon, the Fierce Tiger Sky Shouting Halberd could be given to General Xue to wield, adding three more degrees of divine might to this battlefield.

But Li Guanyi suddenly, keenly sensed that something was wrong.

"This time the Divine Weapon was roused and shows signs of having completed its forging. In a certain sense that’s a good thing, but why would the Jiuli Divine Weapon’s steel suddenly undergo a change at this moment?"

Looking at this Divine Weapon, transformed after being touched by the Military Evil Qi, Li Guanyi’s eyes drooped slightly; faintly he already had a few guesses. Since it required the very pinnacle of Military Evil Qi to complete this metamorphosis, that also meant—

That just now, the martial baleful aura billowing between heaven and earth here had grown three degrees thicker.

What event could have such an effect?

In an instant, Li Guanyi made his decision. Taking up the Jiuli Divine Weapon, he strode into the army camp, and with a sweep of his sleeve, Jin Qi surged forth like a wave of air, like a heavy hammer of wind, thundering down upon the war drum of the main camp.

With a boom, the drum’s sound shook and spread in all directions.

"Pass the order—whole army, make ready!"

"The Great Khan is about to break out!"

...

The bright moon was clear; moonlight, like silver, poured down between heaven and earth.