Chapter 872 Here They Come

On both sides of the river,

stood three of the four greatest swordsmen of this era;

but with that one word "scram,"

the so-called "Four Greatest Swordsmen" would likely become a thing of the past.

Just as Zheng Fan had been forcibly lumped together with the barbarian prince, General Nian, and Consort Zhong by well-meaning busybodies in the martial world to form a "Four Young Generals" group, the rise of the Prince of the West had rendered that label obsolete;

General Nian had been captured and imprisoned in the Yan imperial palace, the barbarian prince was on the run after the destruction of his royal court, and Zhong Tianlang was still alive and kicking;

but as the only surviving member of the original group, he was constantly being compared to the Prince of the West, which always resulted in awkwardness.

Both were consorts, but Zhong Tianlang's position was bestowed by the imperial family, while the Prince of the West had snatched his princess;

Zhong Tianlang was the heir of the Qian Dynasty's foremost military family, while the Prince of the West had risen from humble origins;

In Liang territory, Meng Gong was the commander, while Zhong Tianlang was just a general, even if he commanded the only cavalry group in the Qian Dynasty, the Prince of the West had long since taken charge of a national war; no matter how you compared them, Zhong was always a step behind.

It was the same with the swordsmen.

Once the gap became too great, they were no longer worthy of being mentioned in the same breath.

They may have once stood together on the crest of an era, but inadvertently, some had surged ahead, while others had fallen far behind.

The Sword Forger and Baili Jian remained silent; a war of words was meaningless at this point.

Whether it was the martial world, the imperial court, or the battlefield, the essence remained: whoever had the bigger fist was right.

But the Sword Forger and Baili Jian did not "scram" as the Sword Saint had ordered.

After exchanging a glance,

they sat down.

Baili Jian picked up a grilled fish he had discarded on the fallen leaves, took a bite, and found it cold. The fish was cold, and the fishy taste was stronger.

"Sigh."

Baili Jian put the grilled fish down, then picked it up again, then put it down again, and finally threw it aside, ignoring it completely.

The pride of the Baili family was not accustomed to facing this kind of powerlessness.

He had practiced the sword since childhood, possessing extraordinary talent, his swordsmanship improving by leaps and bounds;

but he had lost before; after all, everyone grew up step by step, there was always a time of weakness;

Just like when he had fought earlier, and his flaw had been caught by the Sword Saint, which could be considered a loss.

But when the Sword Saint unleashed his "four swords," he had experienced a feeling of helplessness.

A helplessness that transcended simple victory or defeat.

No one could always maintain an otherworldly demeanor; generally, those who seemed to have an otherworldly demeanor were either good at pretending, or… you were too short in front of them.

Baili Jian was using these seemingly unexpected small details to dispel the depression in his heart,

while the Sword Forger beside him sat quietly, seemingly unconcerned about such superficial fame.

Indeed, how could someone who possessed extraordinary skill yet could endure loneliness and conceal their sword truly care about such things?

On the opposite bank,

the Sword Saint sheathed Longyuan and dispelled the three sword intents.

He sat down cross-legged, openly meditating to regulate his breathing; he was indeed very tired.

He sat there until dawn.

"Father, are you hungry?"

Liu Dahu had managed to sleep for a while last night.

He could really fall asleep while his father was sitting in front.

This had nothing to do with whether his father was the Sword Saint or not; after all, for a long time, his father had been just a sickly guard in his eyes.

The Sword Saint nodded and said, "Hungry, and thirsty."

"Then why didn't you call me?"

"You were tired too."

"Heh heh."

Liu Dahu began to gather nearby twigs, using the fire starter he had used to light the Prince's cigarettes to start a fire.

Then, he took off his helmet, washed it carefully by the river, scooped half a helmet of water, put it on the fire to boil, and carefully poured it into his water bag, adding some tea leaves, and handed it to his father:

"Father, it's hot."

"Mm."

The Sword Saint took the water bag and took a small sip.

Then,

Liu Dahu used his helmet to boil some more water, poured some fried flour from his food bag into it, pouring a thick layer;

Then, he added some brown sugar, salt, and pepper;

After that, he kneaded it into a ball with his hands.

He was the Prince of the West's personal guard, and he also served in the command tent when marching into battle, so he naturally had a lot of odds and ends on him.

After handing the lumpy paste to the Sword Saint,

the father and son sat together and began to eat.

On the opposite bank,

Baili Jian and the Sword Forger had also sat for a whole night.

Baili Xianglan used her sword to catch a few more fish from the river, relit the fire, and began to grill the fish.

Soon, the aroma of grilled fish wafted across to the opposite bank.

Then,

Baili Jian and the Sword Forger each had a freshly grilled fish in their hands.

The Sword Forger looked at the fish in his hand and said with some difficulty:

"I say, Sister, are we still eating this in the morning?"

Baili Xianglan replied, "I can plant some grain now, and wait for it to grow and harvest, and grind it into flour for you?"

"Alright, alright, but what about the spices? Without spices, I can't swallow this fish. Salt, at least, right?"

"I only prepared enough for one meal, used it all up last night, nothing left," Baili Xianglan said coldly.

"Tsk..."

The Sword Forger had no choice but to eat it with difficulty.

At noon,

Liu Dahu began to try to catch fish in the river, but unfortunately, he put in a lot of effort but gained nothing.

At this moment, he began to regret that he hadn't let Chen Xianba come with his father; Chen Xianba was good at catching fish.

At this moment, several fish were thrown from across the river.

Baili Xianglan stood there,

and said:

"Exchange for salt."

"Oh."

Liu Dahu was an honest child, he took out the small bag of salt, opened it, and poured some into the river in front of him.

"..." Baili Xianglan.

Suddenly,

Liu Dahu seemed to realize what a stupid thing he had done, immediately retreated, found another empty bag, put some salt in it, tied it with a stone, and threw it over.

Baili Xianglan glanced at Liu Dahu coldly, picked up the bag, and turned back.

In the afternoon, both sides of the river were grilling fish.

Liu Dahu saw the Sword Forger on the opposite bank throw down the fish as if he had gone mad, pick up a sword, and start gnawing on it.

Of course, he wasn't really eating it, but biting it as if he was venting.

After biting for a while, he threw the sword on the ground; clearly, several consecutive meals of grilled fish had put him in a bad mood.

In the evening, neither side cooked, because no one wanted to eat fish anymore.

The next morning,

Liu Dahu continued to boil water, make tea, and hand it to his father, then made a paste with the remaining fried flour, and the father and son continued to eat it like this.

Baili Xianglan seemed ready to catch fish again,

The Sword Forger raised his hands and shouted.

Baili Xianglan stopped catching fish;

All day long, the other side drank water and ate nothing else.

Another night passed,

In the morning,

Liu Dahu continued to brew tea for his father, this time, after adding tea leaves, he also added all the remaining brown sugar.

The two of them took sips one after another, using the sweet tea to sustain themselves.

On the opposite bank,

Baili Jian sat calmly,

while the Sword Forger was lying on his side, his eyes open, half-asleep.

Liu Dahu didn't understand why they were like this even though they were so strong, but he didn't ask his father.

At noon,

a team of about seven or eight people appeared on the opposite bank, wearing Silver Armor Guard uniforms.

The appearance of those people brought food other than grilled fish, such as white steamed buns.

Seemingly on orders,

Baili Xianglan threw a bag over, Liu Dahu stepped forward, opened it, and found eight steamed buns inside.

"Father?"

"Eat."

The Sword Saint picked up a steamed bun and took a bite directly.

"Father, what if..."

Having been by the Prince's side for a long time, he had naturally learned to be extra careful about what he ate.

The Sword Saint shook his head and said, "They are afraid of death over there, but not to that extent."

This wasn't the Sword Saint being "soft-hearted" or "easily trusting others," but there was really no need.

Besides, Zheng Fan wasn't here;

It wasn't that everyone wouldn't dare to eat the steamed buns if Zheng Fan was here, but that the steamed buns might really be poisoned if he was here.

When you're not in the same circle, there's no scruples about what you do.

This was probably that pure "comrade" relationship.

Liu Dahu also took a steamed bun, took a bite, and the joy of chewing a white steamed bun after being hungry for so long was so happy that it brought tears to his eyes.

But Liu Dahu still muttered as he ate;

"The steamed buns are so small, and there's no filling. I want steamed buns with shredded radish and meat filling."

The steamed buns of Jin East, under the Prince of the West's almost stubborn insistence, had developed into a specialty;

It was clearly a habit of calling them by the dialect name from Zheng Fan's hometown in his previous life, but here, it had become a cultural confidence.

Not just white steamed buns, but also filled ones, with shredded meat, and that's all we call them here!

The father and son each ate two, leaving the rest.

Liu Dahu drew water to wash his father's hands.

On the opposite bank,

the Sword Forger shouted:

"Brother Yu, leave!"

After the duel a few days ago, the Sword Saint told them to "scram," but they didn't.

Today, the Sword Forger told the Sword Saint to leave, but the Sword Saint was the same, he didn't respond and didn't leave.

After a while, the Sword Forger shouted again:

"Brother Yu, does it have to be like this? You owe that one too much, really."

The Sword Saint said to Liu Dahu, "What should you do after eating someone's steamed bun?"

Liu Dahu nodded, stood up, walked to the river, and shouted to the opposite bank, "Thank you, Uncles, for the steamed buns."

The Sword Forger sighed and sat back down.

At dusk, dozens more Silver Armor Guards came to the opposite bank, and after nightfall, several bonfires were lit.

Liu Dahu also lit a fire, roasted the remaining steamed buns, and the two of them continued to share them.

Another night passed.

In the early morning, Liu Dahu was awakened by the sound of horses' hooves on the opposite side. He opened his eyes, sat up, and saw that another hundred or so people had come to the opposite side, all wearing Silver Armor Guard uniforms.

In fact, the Silver Armor Guard was originally one of the Twelve Guards of the capital, the name of an army;

But later, it was reorganized by the Emperor into the Imperial Guard, becoming spies.

In essence, they were still an army.

Liu Dahu began to draw water and boil it, but the tea leaves were gone.

The Sword Saint took the water bag, took a small sip of hot water, and said:

"Do you think it's very boring?"

"Ah?" Liu Dahu was a little confused, "Father, what's wrong?"

"Father asks you, do you think it's very boring?"

"Why did Father suddenly ask me this?"

"Because Father wants to know." After a pause, the Sword Saint added, "Because Father himself suddenly feels it's meaningless."

"Father, I originally thought I could witness the earth-shattering battle between you and the two Uncles."

Liu Dahu smiled a little embarrassedly when he said this.

"And then, did I disappoint you?"

"No, I think it's because I'm here that I'm dragging Father down."

The Sword Saint shook his head and said, "You have never been a burden to Father, not in the past, not now, and… never will be in the future."

"I'm stupid, I can only do these little things for Father, when my younger brother grows up, he should..."

"You are also my Yu Huaping's son, in fact, Father is the same as other fathers, on the mouth, may say something, but his own son, is always the best.

In this life, some people can walk very high, some people probably wander for a lifetime, but no matter how high you walk, the sky is higher than you.

In fact, there is no need to care about standing high or low,

Stand tall,

And call it upright."

"I understand."

"It seems that you didn't choose to practice swords with Father, it was the right thing to do." The Sword Saint looked to the opposite bank, "This martial world, is really meaningless.

Especially recently, I just witnessed a battle where ten thousand people went to their deaths;

Looking at the present,

Although Father is not good at music, I also know that such a high pitch, is really not suitable for the present.

But things in this world are like this.

Some people are in the midst of war, some people are petty.

It's not about the right or wrong of the latter, it's just their own choice, but when the building is about to collapse, they have no face to lament and miss anything."

"Father, I don't quite understand what you're saying."

"If Father tells you to leave, will you leave?"

"Father, where can I go alone? This is after all the Qian Dynasty, I'll just stay with Father."

The Sword Saint nodded, "You beg them, maybe they won't let you die, they'll let you live."

Liu Dahu immediately said, "Then I'd rather die, the Prince said, everyone is bound to die, either heavier than Mount Tianduan or lighter than a feather."

"Father remembers that when he first said this, it didn't seem to be called Mount Tianduan, what mountain was it called..."

The Sword Saint thought for a while, and said:

"Later, he also said that he would have the opportunity to rename a mountain to make it up."

"Hmm?"

"Heh, what are we talking about, do you know why Father has been sitting here for so many days? Doing nothing, just sitting?"

"I know, Father is here to hold back the two Uncles on the opposite bank, and also to attract the Qian Dynasty's Silver Armor Guards, Father is using himself as bait to cover for the Prince."

Liu Dahu's "stupidity" was only felt compared to Chen Xianba, it didn't mean that the child wasn't really smart.

"The Qian people's Silver Armor Guards are powerful." The Sword Saint said, "That Zheng kid has said more than once that he must find a way to quickly build up his Embroidered Uniform Guards, at least to be able to compete with the Silver Armor Guards."

In terms of espionage, the Silver Armor Guard was really much more powerful than the Qian Dynasty's regular army.

In comparison, the Yan Dynasty's Secret Intelligence Division, restricted by the scale and time of development, and because of the matter of Du Juan plus the death of the palace Eunuch, had not really grown up.

This time when the Qian Emperor went on an expedition, the Silver Armor Guard, as the Emperor's personal army, had actually brought out most of its elite, and the rest had almost been wiped out in Shangjing City.

To a certain extent, when the Yan army attacked Shangjing City, the Silver Armor Guard did resist to the end.

This was the Qian Dynasty, if Zheng Fan wanted to successfully escape, in fact, the Qian army had little to do with it, as long as he was not surrounded, not pre-controlled, it was difficult to eat him;

But if there were existences like the Silver Armor Guard who specialized in searching and probing, things would be different.

The Qian Emperor had made up his mind and wanted Zheng Fan to die, so the Silver Armor Guard was naturally sent out, who would lead them?

The Sword Saint's gaze fell on the opposite bank.

Who else could it be?

Perhaps the two on the opposite bank were really helpless, because their strength forced them to have no choice but to choose this kind of stalemate, and then, more and more of the Silver Armor Guards who were originally invested in the search were gathered here.

The purpose of gathering was very clear.

He had said that he had the ability to drag two to their graves;

Then the other side was thinking of adding manpower, not much, a few hundred Silver Armor Guards would be enough to change the situation, after all, those two were not vegetarians.

With a crowd of people who were fearless in the front, the space for them to act while protecting themselves was very large.

The Sword Saint ridiculed himself, "Just like that Zheng kid, if you don't have enough strength, use numbers."

The Prince of the West was always timid and afraid of death, a Sword Saint-level expert had to live next door to the Prince's Mansion, a zombie had to lie under the Prince's Mansion, and inside and outside the Prince's Mansion, there had to be Embroidered Uniform Guards, outside Fengxin City, there were two garrisons of troops, which were actually to protect him.

Once, when there were no strong people like the Sword Saint around him, after seeing that there were such strong people in the world, Zheng Fan's idea was very simple, I'll pile people up to death!

Some more Silver Armor Guards had gathered on the opposite bank, the scale was already hundreds.

Baili Jian and the Sword Forger had already stood up, some of the Silver Armor Guards had already begun to cross the river from the upstream and downstream, the river was not wide, and the water was not deep.

In addition, on the side of the father and son, there were also figures flickering, obviously, a group of Silver Armor Guards had already surrounded them from there.

"Brother Yu, do you say you lost or gained?" Baili Jian asked, stepping on the river surface.

The Sword Saint didn't get up, he was still sitting, and answered:

"Living people are always calculating gains and losses, how meaningless, just be happy."

"Then what about your son?" The Sword Forger asked.

"It's good to die with my son, isn't it?"

"Tsk tsk, don't worry, I'll take your son." The Sword Forger said, "We are, after all, sympathetic to each other, I'll do my best for the last time."

The Sword Saint nodded, "Then I'll try to take Brother Baili with me later."

Even if the Silver Armor Guards came and surrounded the place, the Sword Saint still had this arrogance, if he couldn't drag two to their graves, then he would try to drag one.

"Hehe." Baili Jian laughed, "I should have said that first."

Baili Jian and the Sword Forger began to slowly move forward across the river, behind them, Baili Xianglan was also like this;

On the periphery, the Silver Armor Guard's encirclement was gradually shrinking, and bows, crossbows, and shields had already formed a formation.

The Sword Saint reached out and stroked his son's head, and asked:

"Do you blame Father?"

"I don't blame you, Father is good to me."

"Your father, I, didn't expect that I would be willing to do this for him.

So ah,

What your Grandma said was right,

The good things others do for you, the favors you owe, accumulate over time, and you have to pay back with your life.

Your father, I, at least have the false name of a Sword Saint, but in the end, in fact, I'm no different from those wandering knights, who are bought with a pot of wine and three or two pieces of meat."

"Father…do you regret it?"

"I don't regret it."

"Father, there's something I've never told you."

"What is it?"

Liu Dahu unfastened the side chain of his armor and took out a... red stone from inside.

The advancement on the Wangjiang River made the magic pill suddenly change from being a drag to being in the front row. This advancement brought about all-round changes, such as the convergence of aura.

In the past, the Sword Saint could detect the magic pill, but now, as long as the magic pill didn't reveal its aura, it could completely hide itself in front of the Sword Saint.

But, when the Sword Saint saw this red stone, a look of surprise appeared on his face;

He certainly knew what this red stone meant to that Zheng kid.

Even if he wasn't fighting, he would never leave this stone when he went out, it was his, the strongest and last security guarantee.

But now, it appeared in his son's hands.

"The Prince forced it on me, I… didn't dare to disobey." Liu Dahu said with some fear, "Father, the Prince, is a very wise man, you may think you deceived him, but the Prince may just be pretending to be deceived by you."

The Sword Saint took a deep breath,

Even though Baili Jian and the Sword Forger were pressing closer and closer, and the Silver Armor Guards' formation had already taken shape;

But the Sword Saint still didn't pay any attention,

Instead, he reached out and touched the red stone. The stone even turned over a few times, as if it was showing off: You didn't find me, did you?

"He's changed." The Sword Saint said.

"Father, are you talking about… the Prince?"

"Do you still remember the Lin Opera Troupe in Chuzhou City, the actor who played the Qian Dynasty's Emperor Taizu."

"I remember."

"She is acting, and isn't he acting?" The Sword Saint laughed, "But the difference is that she can only really act, when she takes off her costume and leaves the stage, she is no longer him.

And he, when he doesn't want to act anymore, he really is."

The Sword Saint looked around,

And said with emotion:

"Your father, I, am still burdened by these small favors accumulated over time, this time, he is suddenly carrying a debt of eight thousand lives.

Hehehe..."

The Sword Saint laughed,

His sudden laughter

Made the three people on the river stop at once.

Made the Silver Armor Guards who were surrounding them also pause.

"It's good, after he has children, he has something to gloat over."

The Sword Saint finally stood up, Longyuan in hand.

Liu Dahu held the red stone in his left hand and clenched his knife in his right;

At this moment,

From the periphery, there was a sound of vibrations, and faintly, black-armored knights could be seen galloping towards here.

The red stone in Liu Dahu's hand stood up, and then swayed left and right.

"Yo, Brother Yu, is this really going to play a big drama of master-servant love, your Prince is here to save you, haha, just right, I..."

While laughing,

The Sword Forger couldn't laugh anymore.

Because black-armored knights appeared in the southeast, northwest, and north.

This meant that,

It wasn't the fleeing Yan army led by that Prince,

It was the… main force of the Yan army that had broken through Shangjing City!

A tall man with a bare upper body,

Waving his axe,

While running, he shouted with excitement and anticipation at the same time:

"My Lord, I'm coming, I'm coming!"

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