Chapter 99: An Army That Came and Went

"Pardon me, My Lady, but you want us to turn back?" The general clad in full golden armour looked at Feng Tianfei as if he was staring at a strange creature. "But we are here! We can see the gates of Caroxtel right there!"

He pointed at the tall gates of Caroxtel City; towering a mere twenty to thirty kilometres away from them.

"You want us to retreat without laying siege after coming this far?" he asked.

Feng Tianfei dispassionately nodded her head. "The stars have changed; the empire has already recovered from their moment of weakness. We were too late."

The heroic-looking general speechlessly looked towards the sky. It was currently daytime. For a moment, he wanted to scream, 'What stars!?'

Unfortunately, the words of the Goddess were absolute. No matter how ludicrous or insensible they sounded, he was duty-bound to honour them. Releasing a quiet inward sigh, he slowly asked, "What would you have us do then, my lady?"

"We will turn back and head toward the Scarlet Demon Army. I calculate that a great disaster has befallen the Mu Household armies; they stand at the risk of utter annihilation."

Hearing her words, the general unconsciously blurted out. "Impossible!"

"My calculations are never wrong," Tianfei coldly and curtly replied.

"My Lady, the strength and numbers of the Mu Household faction's armies are second to none. Even if they have suffered complete loss under the hands of the Scarlet Demons, they can't risk utter annihilation."

"The risk exists if a second force lies in wait."

"But my lady, there IS no second force!" rebutted the heroic-looking general.

Feng Tianfei did not immediately reply. A moment later, she mumbled in a voice unheard by anyone other than herself. "There are those that dwell in the mountains."

"My Lady?" said the general, catching a few scant whispers but no words.

"Turn the men back, general. We must make our way to our allies post-haste. We were late once. We cannot afford to be late again." After saying so, Tianfei shut the window in her carriage and disappeared behind the curtains.

The golden-armoured, heroic-looking general stood in stillness. A variety of thoughts and expressions flashed through his mind. He then exhaled heavily and turned around with a scream. "Turn back! Our allies are in danger! We must save them! Turn back!"

---

Atop a battlement on the walls of Caroxtel, Alexandros held a spyglass in his hands and peered at the distance scene with confusion.

His enemies, who had arrived to lay siege to the city, had suddenly turned around and returned the way that they came from.

"Is it a feint? A trap of some kind?" asked Alexandros.

"Perhaps," replied Matthias, previously the Imperial Palace Guard Captain and now the Chief Commander of the South Aislan Empire's armies; he had replaced the traitor Arlo and was now the number one general of the empire. "But I fail to see what they hope to accomplish by doing this?"

Taking a deep breath, Mathias shared his opinion. "In the art of war complied by the ancients, it is said that 'laying sieges are best avoided.' Protecting is easy, laying siege is difficult. Therefore, it is my opinion that the enemy is seeking to use this… strange tactic to draw us out of our walls."

Alexandros did not appear too convinced by his general's counsel. "But they seem to be clearing their camps and packing up their provisions. Not to mention, a portion of the army had already left."

It was exactly this point that had caused confusion and hesitation in the general's mind. "Could it be that there occurred some unexpected problem in their back?"

"It can't be, could it?" Alexandros did not think that this was possible. After a while, he shook his head and ordered. "Order the sentries and scouts to stay alert. Order the men to stay behind the walls and not engage the enemy. If this is a trap, I want to know what it is."

---

On the other side, the heroic-looking general had been expecting to be attacked by the enemies during the period when his armies were busy preparing to turn around and leave. It was this possibility that left him feeling stressed and anxious.

When he had shared this possibility with Feng Tianfei, the latter had reassured the general that their enemies would not dare to attack and that they would be able to retreat safely; provided that they were quick about it.

At this, the general had inwardly scoffed, thinking that the young princess was being too naïve and optimistic.

However, time had proven Feng Tianfei's wisdom to be faultless. Her words had come true; the enemy hadn't made any attempts to stab them in the back.

The heroic-looking general felt both shock and surprise. He then admitted his inferiority against the female heir and redoubled his faith in the future successor of a Sovereign.

Under the South Aislan Empire's wary and watchful eyes, the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction's armies safely retreated into the distance and hastily marched to reinforce their allies at the back.

In the future, when historians revisited this time, they would curse and berate the leaders of the empire of this time for their foolishness and shortsightedness; calling this even the greatest blunder of the empire during the War for Unification.

They argued that had the empire seized this small window of opportunity, then perhaps the great tragedy that shortly followed could have been avoided.

Alas, for the people of this time, this was not known.

---

At the same time, in a different location.

A solitary carriage trekked through a mountain pass. Its driver was a shapely female, dressed in white and wearing a cowl to hide her face. Two steeds, young and strong, trotted casually, as the carriage's only passenger rested comfortably within its plush interiors.

His eyes closed and seemingly asleep, Wuzhi suddenly sat up straight. His argent eyes fiercely glowed with a mysterious light and a profound, immortal-esque feeling settled over the youth.

"Halt!" he shouted, ordering the female driver to stop the carriage. He then immediately alighted the vehicle and dazedly walked until he was some distance away.

Baixue, having followed him in silence, softly asked, "What's the matter? Are you having another episode?"

Over these past few weeks, Wuzhi had suffered many 'episodes,' wherein he would suddenly become agitated and strange. Sometimes, he would suddenly laugh and mutter some inexplicable nonsense; sometimes, he would suddenly cry and curse nonexistent people; sometimes, he would begin singing and dancing; and sometimes, he would remain completely still and stare blankly into space.

Honestly, every time Baixue witnessed Wuzhi undergo an episode, her heart would wrench from worry. The only way to recover from these episodes was through self-harm, and the young scholar had mutilated himself at least a dozen times in the past week alone!

What was worse was that the episodes were random and inexplicable, and most importantly, the 'rest' period between each episode was getting shorter and shorter. Baixue understood the serious implications that this held and knew that if the matter wasn't resolved soon, Wuzhi might very well die!

Strangely, however, the scholar seemed content in suffering in silence and refused to share any information whatsoever about these episodes with her. And not only that, but he also refused all her attempts at helping him; seemingly intent on bearing this heavy burden by his lonesome.

Baixue felt betrayed and was greatly angered by his obstinate refusal. Refusing to share his knowledge with her was alright; it was acceptable that some cultivators had secrets that they could not share with even their closest companions. However, to also refuse her aid and attempts to help made her feel that Wuzhi did not trust her. It was this lack of trust that caused her the feeling of betrayal.

Baixue was not a very social person. She was reticent, quiet, and aloof. Even back home at her sect, she was known as the 'Frost Princess,' who refused interaction with even her fellow sister-disciples. As a result, she had very few 'friends,' and even few with whom she could casually converse.

Wuzhi was the first person with whom she felt comfortable and sociable. She genuinely enjoyed her conversation with him and found it easy to share with him her true thoughts and considerations. Moreover, unlike the other men who only seemed keen to get inside her pants, Wuzhi treated her as a normal and intelligent companion.

Unlike men, women had much difficulty in forging 'true bonds' of friendship and sisterhood. This difficulty was even more exacerbated when this friendship involved a member of the opposite gender; so much so that most people considered it impossible.

Not every man sought every woman for the sole purpose of sex. Not every woman sought every man for the sole purpose of romance. It was possible for a man and a woman to be friends and just that.

Wuzhi and Baixue were such a pair; or at least, that's what the latter believed.

However, when her attempts to help her friend in solving his issue were met with refusal and unwillingness, it made her question this bond. Could it be that Wuzhi found her unreliable or untrustworthy? Would it have been different had she been a man?

She knew that such thoughts were nonsensical and knew that the scholar wasn't such a person. However, she was still unable to fully shake off such thoughts.

After a particularly intense argument over this issue a few days ago, Baixue had vowed to cut off ties and abandon the scholar. In the end, she had not followed through with her words; neither was she that heartless nor did she want their relationship to end on such a note.

Now, seeing him undergo another 'episode,' Baixue once again stepped forward to help. "Please ask me to do something. I cannot simply stand aside and watch you suffer like this."

Expecting to be denied and ignored once again, Baixue painfully shut her eyes, not wanting to watch her friend mutilate himself. However, against her thoughts, Wuzhi voiced out a request.

"Slay those steeds and bring their blood to me. Quickly," he urged, sitting at the very edge of the cliff with his eyes staring unblinkingly towards the heavens.

Baixue stood dazed for less than a second before moving to accomplish his strange request. She did not understand why he had requested such a thing but still wordlessly obeyed while thinking that it could perhaps help him dull his suffering.

Less than ten seconds later, Baixue returned to Wuzhi's side, her hand holding a pouch filled with fresh blood. The scholar wordlessly acknowledged her and dipped his hands into the pouch. He then began drawing in the air with the blood.

'Drawing in the air,' sounded impossible to do, however, Wuzhi had mysteriously managed to accomplish this very same task! Mysterious characters and symbols crowded the air as they appeared and disappeared with each stroke of writing.

Baixue watched in shock as Wuzhi continued with his mysterious activity. In less than a minute, the pouch of blood within her hands had been emptied and over a thousand mysterious characters and symbols had appeared and hung in the air.

Just as she was about to rush back and refill the pouch, Wuzhi raised a hand to stop her. "The calculations are complete," he said.

The whole of Wuzhi's eyes were colored in silver with its light spilling out of his eye sockets. A strange smile hung on his face as he cheerfully remarked, "The final battle shall take place on the Plains of Trigo, three-hundred and thirty-three kilometres southwest of the city of Mirano. There, the final victor and future Hegemon of the continent will be chosen."

"Such is the will of the heavens!!" He broke out into loud laughter.