Dozens of years ago, the legend of an immortal riding a dragon into the capital spread. After that, according to legend, that emperor was taken away by the immortal. Every emperor after that used the name and posthumous edict of the previous emperor.

'Those who survive will be summoned and employed, those who die will be mourned and recorded, and those who are imprisoned will be released and reinstated first.'

Yan Song was beheaded, and all those demonic priests were expelled.

The corrupt practices of the previous dynasty were abolished. Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng were appointed as ministers, and Qi Jiguang and Yu Dawei were appointed as generals.

After driving out the pirates, the sea ban was abolished, and private individuals were allowed to trade with the East and West Oceans.

Employing people without suspicion and revitalizing the nation was the New Deal.

Although there were times when he had thoughts of indulgence, he had personally witnessed the scene of that celestial being riding a dragon. Whenever he felt slack, a faint chill would rise in his heart. He would immediately cut off those distracting thoughts and leave the scabbard of that talisman sword in his bedroom, constantly reminding himself.

But all of this had nothing to do with the retired old man.

In a village in Yiwu, Zhejiang, an old man bought a pot of wine and listened to the wine seller talk about the affairs of the court, saying that the nation was prosperous now. In previous years, there were no more pirates. It was really good, but the pirates were gone because of General Qi's Qi Family Army back then.

Speaking of this, the owner was also beaming, saying that before the Qi Family Army, the generals everywhere felt that the people of Zhejiang had no backbone and could not fight. When General Qi was born, he slapped these people in the face, letting the world know the power of the Yiwu people.

The people of Yiwu felt that the general who led them south to wipe out the pirates and defended against the Tartars on his back was the unparalleled famous general in the world. The other generals who were praised so much could not even carry General Qi's shoes. The old man listened intently, and only remembered to go back when the warm wine had cooled down.

General Qi, he still remembered that heroic and spirited man.

But it was a pity that he was transferred later, seemingly because of concerns about having too many soldiers. Alas, those big shots were always like this, but it was said that the general had a good life later, seemingly because the matter of that immortal was not long ago, and the officials in the court had restrained themselves a lot.

Later, the Qi Family Army was stationed in the north and quarreled with the soldiers in the north.

In the end, also because of the influence of the immortal riding a dragon, everyone took a step back. The old Qi Family Army returned to their hometowns with glory, but it was a pity that this famous army was eventually buried in history, but the old man did not care about this.

They stood up back then not for the sake of being famous in later generations.

Being able to drive away the pirates and keep the country safe was the best.

Holding a bowl of wine, he returned home. When he got old, he didn't like cold places, so he liked to sit in the sun, feeling warm. He sat in his yard, drinking wine and watching the road in front of him. Several peasant boys walked away laughing and playing, talking about the operas they had heard.

The old man squinted his eyes, took a sip of wine, and thought of when he was the same age, he met that teacher, and finally learned a saber technique from him, and relied on the basics of this saber technique to get into the Qi Family Army.

Heh, all the way to today, he had seen too many comrades die by his side.

He declined the appointments of the Qi Family Army and General Yu, unwilling to become a military officer based on the military merits he had accumulated. How could he use the things exchanged for the deaths of his comrades to become an official and a general? When he got old, he only wanted to die in his hometown, nothing else.

After coughing a few times, the old man ignored his poor health and slowly drank his wine, hearing a knock on the door and a gentle voice from the front:

"Excuse me, can I have a glass of water?"

"Coming..."

The old man staggered to his feet. His left leg exerted force, dragging his weak right leg to open the door.

Outside the door was a man with white hair. The old man had some problems with his eyes. He had experienced too much toxic smoke and dust during those years of fighting. When he got old, he couldn't see clearly, but he just thought that he was also an old man. He turned around, took water, and handed it over.

The guest drank water and heard the sound of Wuju opera from afar.

The old man hummed softly, tapping the armrest of the chair with his hand, echoing the rhythm.

The guest said, "...Is this Wuju opera?"

The old man smiled and said, "The guest knows? Yes, Wuju opera. When I was a child, I grew up singing this tune here. At that time, our biggest ambition was to save money and find a girl who sings opera to be our wife."

"Of course, the adults didn't like this idea, although they probably had this plan when they were young."

"Now, so much time has passed... I can't sing the new Wuju opera anymore."

The gray-robed, white-haired guest smiled gently.

The old soldier looked into the distance and sighed:

"It's a pity, I don't know how long I can live this life."

"How many more times can I listen to the Wuju opera of my hometown? Every time I hear Wuju opera, when I think of this, I feel a little uncomfortable."

The guest said softly, "There will be many times."

The old soldier laughed loudly. His laughter seemed to disturb a fatal wound in his heart. He coughed violently, his face pale, with a hint of green. He sighed, "What the guest said sounds nice, but I know my own affairs."

"When I was young, I knew a doctor with very good medical skills."

"I learned some medical skills, so I know that my life is not long. It will be gone in a blink of an eye. This is very normal. Haha, I fought too hard when I was young, leaving a lifetime of hidden injuries. Now I only have two wishes."

The old man leaned back and murmured:

"One wish is also a regret. That is, I didn't kill enough pirates in this life!"

"If I have the opportunity, I really want to kill them directly in their old nest and set a fire."

"Killing them once is not enough, I want to kill them a second time, a third time!"

"The second wish is to see the teacher from back then... I want to thank him properly. When I was young, I didn't know how powerful he was. Now that I think about it, if it wasn't for the last saber technique he demonstrated to me, I might have already become a skeleton. How could I have come back?"

"If I can meet him, I have to kowtow to the teacher a few times."

"Not for anything else, just because of this saber technique, I personally saved many comrades. In previous years, I personally watched them get married and have children, and have grandchildren. It is more enjoyable than killing those pirates, but, how is it possible to see the teacher again in this life..."

The gray-robed, white-haired man was silent for a while, and said softly:

"It doesn't matter."

"No need to thank."

The old man's action of raising his head to drink suddenly froze. He turned his head stiffly. His eyes, which could no longer see clearly, widened, seeing the gray robe and white hair, the jade hairpin in the white hair, exactly the same as back then. The old soldier's palm seemed to realize something, and his palm trembled violently:

"...Tea... Teacher?"

"Yes."

The clear voice in his memory had become gentle and deep, and he whispered with a smile: "Long time no see."

"You've gotten old too."

The white-haired old soldier seemed to have a surge of strength. He staggered to his feet, grasping the white-haired man next to him tightly, seemingly unable to believe it.

That hero who had accompanied the entire Qi Family Army on expeditions south and north, fighting across thousands of miles. That fierce general who had personally killed the heads of a dozen Japanese pirate captains with a battle saber on the most tragic battlefield of Pyongyang, covered in blood, establishing the merit of being the first to ascend, after being stunned, actually smiled with tears in the corners of his eyes.

It was rare in the world to see an old friend when he was old.

Regardless of the teacher's obstruction, he staggered and bowed down, smiling with tears in his eyes:

"Teacher... you're back."

"To be able to see you again... I have no regrets."

"It's just a pity, it's just that I saw you at the end..."

He murmured in the end:

"It's a pity, if there is an afterlife, how good would that be."

Perhaps because of drinking, or perhaps because the excitement triggered the outbreak of hidden injuries, the divine light in the old man's eyes gradually dimmed. He had killed all his life, but his face was peaceful and tranquil, like a kind old man in the village teasing children.

When he was young, he played with his companions in the countryside.

After growing up, he went on expeditions south and north, fighting across thousands of miles, defending his country, and establishing the merit of a fierce soldier.

Dying in his hometown in his old age was not a loss, not a loss...

The white-haired man reached out to help the old man who had bowed down. A trace of sadness appeared on his face, and then he raised his head, looking at the old man who had closed his eyes sitting on the chair. What had bowed down was actually a battle soul. He was silent for a long time, reached out and closed the old man's eyes.

And that battle soul left the body at the moment of death, with a tendency to be devoured by the fierce aura and turn into a vengeful ghost. He reached out and took out a broken sword from the old man's arms, and then waved his sleeve, allowing the battle soul that had left the body to fall on the broken sword, suppressing the fierce aura with the aura of weapons.

Just this process had already consumed too much soul power, and his memories gradually disappeared.

And the fusion of the weapon and the battle soul, when it stabilized, instead became the most glorious moment in the old man's life. That was a man who looked thirty years old, with a simple and honest face, and a fatal injury in his chest and abdomen, which was the hidden injury that led to his death.

The broken sword fell to the ground, and the battle soul fell asleep in it.

The white-haired man looked sad, and after a long time, he muttered to himself:

Originally, I noticed that my death was approaching—it seems that Ming Chu slept for some reason and woke up after decades, beheading the emperor, the dragon energy backlash, and now it has come to the final ending. I originally planned to go to Tianmu Mountain, to start where it started and end where it ended, but I never thought that I would see the end of an old friend.

He waved his sleeve, allowing the broken sword to fly into the mountains.

One day, if there is fate.

They will meet again.

The white-haired man staggered towards Tianmu Mountain, but suddenly stopped. Some children were playing and frolicking by the roadside, and on the other side of the river, stood a girl in white, those children were innocent and lively, but the girl in white was very quiet.

Her eyes fell on the white-haired man.

There seemed to be a spiritual light flowing in her eyes.

At that moment, the girl in the eyes of the white-haired man actually had a few more indescribable graceful feelings, like the female immortal ancestor who drove the heaven and earth ten thousand immortals, like the venerable god surrounded by the goddess of Tianchi in Tianshan Mountain. The eyes of the dying man narrowed slightly, recognizing the woman.

"...Queen Mother of the West?"

The girl in white pursed her lips and smiled, with a graceful and generous temperament.

"We meet again."

ps: Today's second update... Thank you Da Gu Dong Gua Tang for the ten thousand reward, thank you~

Yuan of the Tang Dynasty is dead.

This is from the Ming Dynasty.

There will only be two updates today, everyone go to bed early, I'll recover some blood first.

It's already 1.7 million words, and it is estimated that in the future, there will be at most three or two updates alternately, with quality as the main focus. There are still 1.3 million words left to reach the goal of not collapsing at 3 million words.