He had expanded the borders of Great Yong, galloped across the deserts, driven away the Rong and Di tribes; to this day, the Tan family still lived under his shade.

Even Tan Rong’s own prestige in the army owed somewhat to that same bloodline.

Everyone said he resembled his ancestor, but only today, seeing this man, did Tan Rong realize that the Tan family’s bloodline was not in him at all—it had been passed entirely into this man’s body.

The illegitimate son born of a woman carrying Wuhuan blood.

Looking at the young man who, surrounded by eleven men, still did not falter—calmly meeting their attacks and even forcing them back—Tan Rong felt a deep absurdity of fate.

“—All of you, stand aside!”

Tan Rong shouted loudly, gripping his long spear and charging forward.

At the instant the spears clashed, Pei Zhaoye felt an unprecedented force surge against him, shaking his tiger’s mouth in pain, his wrist bones numbing for a moment.

“You’ve come to take revenge on me, haven’t you?”

Tan Rong sneered, veins bulging on his forehead, his eyes blazing like tempered fire:

“Yellow-mouthed brat, still wet behind the ears, and you dare call yourself ‘grandfather’ before your ancestor! Today I’ll teach you a lesson in your father’s place, so you’ll know how high the heavens are and how thick the earth!”

The two horses crossed paths; Pei Zhaoye, bending low at the waist to dodge, tightened his abdomen and immediately rose, turning his horse and striking back fiercely.

Sparks flew from the spearheads, clashing with a series of ringing metallic cries.

The generals watching this scene—all veterans who had fought the Wuhuan, even faced that rebel king now ruling the northern lands—were frozen in place like wooden statues.

This young man… could actually fight their general evenly, without falling behind.

The onlookers were already aghast, but for Tan Rong, locked in combat, it was utterly shocking.

He had thought this youth, proud and impetuous, coming alone in pursuit, would be rash and easily provoked into exposing flaws.

Yet unexpectedly, not only did he not lose composure, he grew only fiercer as the battle went on, showing not the slightest sign of fatigue.

It was instead Tan Rong, older now and long seated in high rank, whose strength waned as time dragged on—though at first his might was unstoppable, the longer it continued, the faster his stamina drained.

Pei Zhaoye’s gaze burned like a torch; seizing upon that instant of weariness, he thrust his spear straight into Tan Rong’s chest.

Tan Rong in that moment felt as if his liver and gall were shattered.

Pei Zhaoye frowned.

This spear did not pierce!

The chest guard had blocked this spear for Tan Rong, and Tan Rong used the momentum to flip from his horse, roll several zhang along the ground, and put distance between himself and Pei Zhaoye.

At the same time, the surrounding generals closed in and engaged in struggle.

Pei Zhaoye was furious: “Tan scum! Dare not duel me one-on-one!”

“General!!”

“Cough, cough, cough… I am fine.”

Tan Rong coughed violently for a while, swallowed the metallic sweetness in his throat, and looked heavily at the man who was wrestling and circling with those eleven men.

…Although the earlier great fire had caused many injuries among the men.

But so many soldiers, and yet they still could not stop him?

After a short while, all those soldiers were unhorsed by Pei Zhaoye, grievously wounded beyond rising.

“Tan, Rong.”

Tan Rong watched the man, his body stained with blood and panting heavily, dismount and approach him.

“We could have lived in peace, died old without dealing with each other.”

Pei Zhaoye staggered a step at his feet, then steadied himself.

Those bloodshot, murderous eyes stared fixedly at Tan Rong leaning against a tree, and he slowly drew his sword.

“Why… must you exterminate utterly?”

The white vapor he exhaled dispersed into the woods, and Pei Zhaoye had overdrawn his strength, a needle-like pain stabbing his lungs.

He had envied Tan Xun.

Envious that he could grow up in Luoyang, accompany the princess since childhood, and protect her when she was young.

Without asking to be recognized as any ancestor, without returning to any clan.

When his mother fell ill and the Pei family sat idly by, when he went far to Luoyang seeking a doctor but was refused by the Tan family, Pei Zhaoye abandoned that thought.

“Why?”

Tan Rong, knowing today was the end of a hero and that no life remained, laughed loudly:

“The blood that flows in you, do you not know what kind of blood it is? Do you not understand? The Tan family has been loyal and upright for generations, and the Tan ancestors drove out the Rong and Di, famous generals irreconcilable with the Wuhuan!”

“That you were not strangled to death when you were born is already mercy bestowed, and you still dare to probe your origins, to seek the Tan family’s gate, to beg the palace physician for treatment for your lowly mother, you even want to enlist—”

Tan Rong looked at him coldly.

“Pei Zhaoye, I am not afraid to tell you, when you were fourteen, I ordered the officer to cross your name off the roster, you in this life will never go to the battlefield to win military merit!”

“Have I been blind? Your vicious nature is ineradicable, now you occupy a mountain and make a business of beheadings, are you not just the same as your Wuhuan forebears? Born a thief-bone! If you are not eliminated, do you want the whole world to know that the current Minister of the Interior’s knees have produced such a rebellious son!”

“Kill me then! Kill me today, and tomorrow you will be the traitorous villain who personally slew a serving general of the current court, and all under heaven may execute you! Your Hongye Stockade will be trampled flat by my elder brother, and your crimes will be forever nailed in the history books, brat, do you dare kill me!”

Bones trembled, blood boiled.

He did not wish to listen any further, Pei Zhaoye raised the cold sword high, the icy blade’s light shone in his bloodshot, murderous eyes, and also swept across the faces of the men lurking in the woods.

This man was already at the end of his strength, the moment was now!

As he swung the sword downward, the whine of arrows and the snap of lassos came from deep within the forest.

Pei Zhaoye’s expression stiffened, he turned and cut down the arrows, but in an instant a lasso tightened around his neck, the hemp rope constricted, instantly depriving him of all his strength.

Tan Rong immediately kicked the long sword from his hand, and his already ashen eyes instantly gleamed.

Someone has come to save him!

“Don’t loosen! Mount up and drag him! He is immensely strong, drag him until he is completely powerless!”

Tan Rong endured the sharp pain and shouted loudly, the men hiding in the woods immediately coordinated.

He vaulted onto his horse and spurred it to run, yet as soon as he put forth effort, he was suddenly pulled down from his horse by another hand.

The foot soldiers turned back in alarm.

The man’s face flushed, veins bulging as he held the rope, and astonishingly in such a situation he still managed to drag him off his horse!

“Trash, get away!”

A great general stepped forward, seized the rope, wound it firmly around his arm several turns, and spurred his horse into a gallop.

The hooves thudded heavily on the ground, that dark-clad figure was instantly dragged out dozens of zhang!

The bedraggled Tan Rong was helped up, the man who aided him stared in astonishment as if never having seen him so disheveled.

After a long moment he collected himself, bowed his head and said:

“Your subordinate came by Madam Guo’s order to rescue the general! Madam saw the fire at Yixian Valley shooting into the sky and suspected an ambush, so she ordered us to come to support the general, unexpectedly it was indeed as Madam foresaw.”

Tan Rong this time had truly escaped death, overjoyed beyond measure, he grabbed that soldier’s shoulder and slapped him hard.

“So that’s how it is! So that’s how it is! Madam truly foresees things as if by divination! Without Madam, I would have had no chance of surviving this time!”

After the rapture, Tan Rong finally looked toward the figure on the plain.

He slowly suppressed his smile, on his rough, heroic face a certain dark mood settled.

“Don’t drag him to death, bring him back, we still must exchange him for Wan Commandery’s three hundred thousand shi of grain.”

The galloping horse at last came to a halt.

The man dragged behind had both hands already mangled and bloodied, unconscious, yet still clutching the rope tightly, preserving a last breath for himself.

Exactly the same as when he was fourteen.

Tan Rong glanced at this scarred wolf cub, limping, and in the dim light, headed toward Madam Guo who waited outside the main camp holding a lantern.