“Not going to make it…?”
For a moment, Qi Changying couldn’t quite understand what those words meant. Or perhaps his mind had already stopped thinking, leaving him unable to react as he should have.
He could only ask somewhat blankly,
“What do you mean by ‘not going to make it’?”
“…”
Looking at Qi Changying’s blank expression, Su Pingbei didn’t know how to explain it in a way that would make the situation sound less cruel and difficult to accept.
Su Pingbei was five years older than Qi Changying. Qi Boming personally trained him for Qi Changying’s sake and he had stayed by Qi Changying’s side as his guard since childhood, protecting his safety and accompanying him as he grew up. Later, when Qi Changying became a vanguard commander, Su Pingbei became his deputy and continued to accompany him into battle.
Although it might not be entirely appropriate to put it this way, Su Pingbei truly regarded Qi Changying as a younger brother and treated Qi Boming as both a teacher and a father.
Now that something like this had happened, he himself had not yet recovered from the shock, yet he had to force himself to remain rational long enough to deliver the news to Qi Changying, then watch him fall apart once again.
Su Pingbei couldn’t bear to do it. He opened his mouth, but for a moment, he couldn’t make a sound or find the words to explain.
It wasn’t until he heard another person’s footsteps behind the screen inside the tent and saw another person’s shadow appear that he finally reacted.
Su Li emerged from behind, wearing his dark-red squad leader’s uniform. He was frowning and performing a calculation with his hands as he walked.
A moment later, Su Li suddenly froze in the middle of a movement, as if sensing something. He lowered his hand and raised his eyes to look at Qi Changying, his gaze already filled with complicated emotions.
“…He’s close to death. If you hurry back now, you might still make it in time to see him one last time.”
Su Li casually spoke the most difficult words in the world on Su Pingbei’s behalf, causing Su Pingbei’s heart to relax for a moment before tightening again.
He was relieved that someone else had answered the question he couldn’t bear to answer, but he was also anxious about the blow this news would deal to Qi Changying.
Qi Changying heard every word Su Li said and successfully understood the full meaning of the sentence.
His body trembled slightly, and before Su Li had even finished speaking, he strode out of the tent.
“Young General…!” Su Pingbei looked from side to side. Before chasing after him, he quickly grabbed a thick cloak from the rack beside him.
He hurriedly lifted the tent curtain and saw Qi Changying heading toward the stables. Just as he was about to follow, something tugged at him, forcing him to stop abruptly.
He subconsciously turned around and saw Su Li standing there with a sour expression, his hand tightly gripping the cloak in Su Pingbei’s arms.
“What happened exactly?”
Actually, Su Pingbei didn’t know the specific details either. After all, he was Qi Changying’s deputy and has been in the Vanguard Battalion beside Qi Changying ever since the war began. He hadn’t seen Qi Boming in a long time, so he didn’t know much more than Qi Changying.
It was only later, when they captured a soldier who had come from the main camp at the rear to deliver the message, that they managed to question him and learn the general situation.
As it turned out, everything could be traced back to the night raid several months earlier.
That night, Qi Boming was struck by two arrows while fighting the enemy. One hit his shoulder, and the other his side near the waist.
For men like them, who spent years fighting on battlefields, receiving a few cuts from blades or arrows was perfectly normal. It was practically an everyday occurrence. So at first, no one took the two arrows particularly seriously, including Qi Boming himself.
Qi Boming had walked through the gates of death several times in his life. In his understanding, injuries of this severity would take no more than ten days to half a month to heal completely. So that night, he first forced himself to continue directing the aftermath while still carrying the two broken arrow shafts in his body. Only when he truly couldn’t hold on any longer did he seek out the military doctors to treat his wounds. After some simple bandaging, he still didn’t rest. He quickly put his outer robe back on and personally went around supervising his subordinates as they counted the losses and casualties.
Perhaps he really was getting old, or perhaps the places where the arrows struck this time were simply too dangerous. Qi Boming’s wounds were difficult to stop from bleeding. They kept reopening and becoming infected, dragging on until the old man’s health deteriorated day by day.
With these two new wounds as the trigger, the old injuries and various illnesses that had accumulated over the years all flared up at once. Before long, they had completely worn Qi Boming down.
In fact, more than a month ago, Qi Boming was already so ill that he could no longer get out of bed.
But with one victory report after another coming from the northern campaign, he did not want Qi Changying, who was charging into enemy cities and cutting down enemies with unstoppable force in the Vanguard Battalion, to become distracted and ruin the excellent momentum and morale. So he kept the news suppressed and told no one outside.
While recuperating from his injuries and illness in the rear camp, he delegated most of the duties that could not be delayed and belonged to the Commander-in-chief of the Armies to Qi Changying, leaving the remaining few to Shen Huarong.
Qi Changying knew that his father had always been in robust health and a quick examination showed that his injuries did not seem serious either. Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the worse. He simply thought that everything came from his father’s expectations and desire to temper him. Little did he know that his father was already bedridden, with neither the energy nor the inclination to deal with those matters.
Something so serious had happened, and it had been going on for so long, yet everyone around Qi Boming tacitly agreed to keep Qi Changying in the dark. They had deceived him so thoroughly.
Even Shen Huarong, who rarely kept his mouth shut, managed to keep the secret this time. It was only today, when he saw that Qi Boming was truly on the verge of death and that, if they continued hiding it, Qi Changying might not even get to see his father one last time, that he hurriedly sent someone to ride through the night to the Vanguard Battalion with the news.
“…Impossible. Something is wrong with this.”
On the way back, Su Li sat on Su Pingbei’s horse. After hearing what he had to say, he immediately objected.
“I calculated Qi Boming’s fate. Although I couldn’t calculate it in detail without his birth characters, his allotted lifespan has not yet run out. His life absolutely shouldn’t end here. Two arrow wounds that didn’t hit any vital organs took his life. Don’t you find that suspicious?!”
Su Li demanded sharply,
“Why didn’t you tell me about something like this sooner?!”
If he had discovered it earlier, there might still have been room to turn things around. But now…
“My lord, we ordinary mortals don’t understand things like allotted lifespans and fate. We never thought to look at it that way. Even if there was something suspicious… we are too dull to have noticed it.”
Su Pingbei explained with difficulty.
“The northern campaign is of great importance. As the Vanguard Commander, the young general has to lead the troops into battle himself. When two generals face each other on the battlefield, a single thought can mean the difference between life and death. There must not be the slightest mistake. Perhaps the Commander-in-chief simply didn’t want the young general to be distracted…”
“Do you think he can concentrate on fighting the enemy now?! The attack on Tianshan is only a few days away. You tell him now that his father is going to die. Do you think making him face all this so suddenly, after keeping it from him until this very moment, is somehow a better approach?!”
Su Li did not know where this sudden anger had come from. With no one else around, he took it out on Su Pingbei.
“I…”
Su Pingbei was being wronged. After all, he only learned the truth this very night himself. He was still completely out of the loop, feeling as though he were in a dream, yet in the blink of an eye, he was treated as the chief culprit and held accountable.
“What do you mean, ‘I’?! Hurry up! Qi Changying has already ridden so far ahead that he’s disappeared from sight, yet you dawdle all day long! You spend every day following him around, but when something this serious happens in the rear camp, you don’t even bother to ask around and feel out the situation! They keep things from you and play you for a fool, and you just let them! What on earth are you capable of doing?!”
The horses galloped forward, the wind scraping across their faces with a bone-chilling cold. Su Li’s hands trembled slightly beneath his cloak, but it was not because of the cold.
As he reprimanded Su Pingbei, another question arose in his own mind.
Why hadn’t he noticed anything unusual…?
They had seen Qi Boming after he was injured. At the time, he had even exchanged a few casual barbs with him. If Qi Boming’s injuries were serious enough to wear down his life, how could he have failed to notice anything unusual when they had spent so much time together at such close range, in such a natural manner?
Although Su Li had not yet formally taken over the position of Shenguan and could not be considered a true Shenguan, he could no longer be considered human either.
He possessed an exceptionally high talent in this field to begin with, and after reaching the half-step Shenguan stage, his perception of death had become even sharper. If someone’s allotted lifespan were truly about to run out and their death were near, he would definitely be able to smell the scent of death on them.
That scent was extremely distinctive. As long as it appeared and existed, even if it was so faint and thin that it was almost like air, Su Li could never overlook it.
Even without judging by smell, the faces and wounds of those whose allotted lifespans were nearly over would be shrouded in the aura of death. There was no way Su Li could have been so blind as not to see it.
If someone died without Su Li having smelled or seen anything, there could only be one explanation…
They had died an unnatural death.
But if, as Su Pingbei said, Qi Boming was not murdered or died in an accident, and his body was instead gradually worn down by his arrow wounds…
Where exactly was the problem?
Su Li clenched his five fingers into a fist, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.
The rear camp and the Vanguard Battalion were neither too close nor too far apart. After leaving camp, they could reach their destination in half an hour at a gallop. However, a light snowfall had begun that night, and the weather slowed the horses somewhat. Su Pingbei’s horse was also not as fast as Qianshan, and it was carrying the weight of two people. As a result, Qi Changying left them far behind, and it took them a full hour to reach the Commander-in-chief’s tent.
By the time they arrived, it was already the middle of the night, yet many people in the camp were still unable to sleep.
The soldiers held torches and crowded around the Commander-in-chief’s tent, surrounding it so completely that not even a drop of water could pass through.
With Su Pingbei’s help, Su Li struggled to push his way through the crowd, using every bit of strength before finally squeezing through.
Panting, he did not even have time to brush the snow off his head and body before lifting the tent flap and barging inside.
Outside, the crowd was packed together like a sea of people. Inside, however, did not have so many people keeping watch. Apart from Qi Changying and several of his uncles, only Shen Huarong was there.
The arrogant old man, who always loved bickering and arguing with Su Li, no longer had the strength to glare at him and bristle with anger. His face was ashen, and he looked much older and thinner than before in the dim candlelight.
He lay there and, upon hearing the commotion outside the tent, slowly turned his eyes toward Su Li.
At this moment, Su Li finally believed that neither Su Pingbei nor the messenger soldier were exaggerating. Qi Boming was indeed terminally ill.
At that very moment, only he could see that the aura of death wrapped around Qi Boming had grown so dense that it was almost indistinguishable from that of a corpse. It seemed that he really had reached the end of his strength.
“His birth characters… Who knows his birth characters?!”
Su Li had no time to think further. He grabbed an old man standing nearby.
“Hurry up! Give me Qi Boming’s birth characters!”
The tent descended into chaos. Some people tried to shove Su Li away, others chattered over one another, saying that he should be thrown out. Still others tugged at them, trying to mediate and calm everyone down. Only two people remained motionless from beginning to end.
One was Qi Boming, lying on his sickbed.
The other was Qi Changying, kneeling beside the bed.
Su Li eventually managed to obtain Qi Boming’s birth characters. Instinctively, he reached toward his waist for yellow paper and cinnabar, only to find nothing. Only then did he realize that he had left in such a hurry that he had not had time to bring anything with him.
“Paper! Find me a sheet of paper!”
Without cinnabar, Su Li simply bit his finger open.
“Hurry! There’s no time left!!!”
“Stop making a fuss, you little monkey…”
A hoarse voice came from the bed. Qi Boming looked at Su Li and called him “little monkey” as he always had, but every word was weak and hollow. He no longer had his usual imposing presence.
After speaking, he seemed to sigh.
“Life and death are determined by fate… Stop fighting it…”
At a time like this, Su Li had no inclination to argue with him. But when he heard those words, he seemed to be provoked and suddenly shouted,
“This isn’t your fate… This isn’t your fate! Hold on! You’re not allowed to die!”
“…” Qi Boming sighed once more.
Perhaps he felt there was no point in continuing to argue with Su Li, so he turned instead and struggled to raise his hand, gently patting Qi Changying.
“…The northern campaign cannot be without a commander. I’ve already written a letter recommending you to His Majesty… Ah Ying, you were the one who proposed the northern campaign from the very beginning. You’ve handled all the arrangements, large and small, and planned formations and led troops. Although you haven’t officially held the title of Commander-in-chief, you’ve already been carrying out the duties of one. It is only right that this commander’s seal be handed to you… But you’re still too young. I’m afraid people won’t accept you. I originally wanted to hold the formation for you for a few more years, until you were older, steadier, and more… Unfortunately, I won’t live to see that day…
“But Ah Ying, you’ve done far better than I ever expected. As long as you have real military achievements to your name, you don’t have to fear what others say.”
“After I’m gone, the commander’s seal will inevitably pass to someone else. If His Majesty is willing to heed my final words and choose to trust you… that would be an exceedingly rare opportunity. You must not disappoint His Majesty’s expectations.”
“If His Majesty chooses the safer option and gives the commander’s seal to your uncles, who are older and more experienced, don’t be disappointed or lose heart… Just keep doing what you ought to do. Follow the Commander-in-chief’s arrangements and orders, handle every task that comes your way well, and continue to build up your experience. Protect the Qi family army, protect the dynasty and its people, ease His Majesty’s burdens, bring honor to the Qi family, and… remember your original intention. You are doing this for the common people…”
Qi Changying knelt with his head lowered, his entire being showing a trace of numbness and desolation.
He nodded slightly and answered in a hoarse voice,
“Yes…”
“The Central Plains… have suffered under Chaosu for many years. Since the previous dynasty, our territory has been repeatedly invaded. The border prefectures have been lost and recovered, recovered and lost again. The people have endured endless suffering and been forced from their homes.”
“Only… only by completely subduing Chaosu can we put an end to the war… But how difficult that will be! If there is anyone in this world who can accomplish it… I believe that person is you.”
“Much of the time, I don’t believe in the Mandate of Heaven. Yet sometimes, I desperately hope that the Mandate of Heaven is real… Ah Ying, you were born… born to… But you must… conceal… your brilliance…”
Qi Boming’s words became increasingly difficult to make out. They came in broken fragments, and he was almost unable to catch his breath, only managing to piece together a few incomplete words.
Su Li listened to these words while also hearing the increasingly intense and rapid pounding of his own heart.
Su Li threw back the cloth someone had torn from the hem of their garment and cursed at them. Su Pingbei risked the charge of disrespecting the Commander-in-chief and turned the commander’s tent upside down, and only after much difficulty did he finally find the paper Su Li wanted and hurry back.
Su Li snatched the crumpled sheet of paper from Su Pingbei’s hand. His hands trembled slightly with anxiety. He placed the paper against the armor on Su Pingbei’s back and smeared the blood from his fingertip across its surface, drawing hurried, messy characters.
After that, he quickly formed hand seals and performed the ritual, folding the paper into a triangle and holding it near the candle stand.
The flame licked the corner of the paper.
A wisp of white smoke slowly drifted out.
But Su Li could not fully sense that wisp of smoke.
Because Qi Boming’s voice had grown fainter and more indistinct.
“Ah Ying, you are… your father’s lifelong…”
The last word, “pride,” remained only as a vague breath of sound.
The candle flame inside the tent suddenly flickered.
The aura of death, now completely overwhelming, spread through the tent. All the sensations brought by the arrival of a newly dead soul instantly flooded Su Li’s senses.
The smoke that had just risen from the corner of the paper dispersed.
