Chapter 1927: Chapter 20: Pride
Even when their homeland and nation no longer had any chance of victory, even when there would never again be reinforcements from the rear.
They still possessed the courage to draw their weapons and fight to the death.
Who is this General?
His name is—Lie!
The aloof Divine General suddenly burst out laughing, laughing with unrestrained abandon; the White Tiger’s roar shook the world. General Xue likewise laughed wildly, wanton and arrogant—that was the true Xue Qingcang.
In the end, the two of them erupted together in a mutual strike to the death.
The White Tiger’s roar, the final battle formation, unfurled all its might.
High above the firmament, the starlight suddenly blazed bright.
The streaming radiance of the Western White Tiger Seven Stars flowed down from the vault of heaven.
A clash in which nearly every soldier and every commander had been pushed to the limits.
When the body has reached its limit, when the Weapon’s blade has curled, when the arrows are spent, the bolts all broken—what decides the final victory, the final Weapon.
Is will.
The shriek of the heavy spear drowned out the Fierce Tiger Sky Shouting Halberd.
The heavy spear, reckless of all else, almost brushed past the Fierce Tiger Sky Shouting Halberd, then suddenly thrust forward, stabbing through General Xue’s mechanisms. Yuwen Lie gripped his Divine Weapon in both hands and let out a long howl, his Jin Qi surging in a violent shock.
The Mechanical Man shattered; General Xue let out a faint sigh.
Yuwen Lie panted in great, heaving breaths.
The White Tiger Dharma Form held its head high, bathed in starlight.
The spirit that belonged solely to the White Tiger Sect reappeared.
He had lost his will to fight, been defeated upon the battlefield, even his very Star Fate seemed to have fallen into another’s hands; yet his arrogance remained. In the end, Yuwen Lie completed the reclaiming of his self.
A life of lofty pride, carried through from start to finish.
The resolve of the White Tiger Sect was never something that needed to be dictated by any so‑called Heavenly Mandate. As that unruly White Tiger’s roar resounded, General Xue’s body burst apart, turning to dust; that dark‑gold Divine Weapon, the Fierce Tiger Sky Shouting Halberd, fell to the ground.
Yet Yuwen Lie still stood there, his body ramrod straight.
Fan Qing looked toward Yuwen Lie in the distance, gritting his teeth; the heavily wounded Li Zhaowen clenched the Weapon in his hand.
General Xue had exhausted his Divine Charm and been squarely defeated by Yuwen Lie.
Yuwen Lie gripped the heavy spear in his hand, his foot planted on the Fierce Tiger Sky Shouting Halberd, the heavy spear’s butt embedded in the ground. His gaze was icy; the Jin Qi above the Nine Heavens still seemed terrifying. The White Tiger crouched there, the overbearing majesty of a top‑ranked Divine General in all the world looking down on all beneath him.
Even in Fan Qing’s heart, there was the faintest thread of chill and fear.
Within that stern and awe‑inspiring might, the morale of the Qilin Army suffered a tremendous blow; only because the army’s spirit still held did their fighting will not scatter. They did not retreat. Fan Qing ground his teeth, intent on holding this line at all costs.
Even if he were to die beneath Yuwen Lie’s spear, he had to hold this front fast.
Yet, for some reason, Yuwen Lie—
From beginning to end, did not continue attacking them.
Several breaths passed; Li Zhaowen said softly, "He... is dead."
Fan Qing froze. He looked at that Yuwen Lie who still stood where he was, grasping his battle spear; the man who had led the great army to intercept the Qilin Army with General Xue at its head, had fought a death‑battle for over twenty days without once retreating, five days and five nights of defiant slaughter—the final battle between the two White Tiger Sect leaders.
General Xue’s Spiritual Charm had been exhausted and dispersed.
Yuwen Lie, too, was dead...
The only one who, even in death, still gripped his Weapon and stood there unyielding, that Divine General—above the firmament, the starlight shone bright, then in the next instant, the radiance of the White Tiger Seven Stars sank into utter darkness.
The wind howled; it was as if all present heard the proud roar of a White Tiger.
Yuwen Lie’s battle robe billowed.
It seemed a White Tiger phantom blazed forth from his body, then shot up into the sky.
Never again to return to the human realm.
Ying · White Tiger Sect, Divine Might General, Duke Jingwu, Yuwen Lie.
Fell in battle upon the killing fields.
His strength exhausted, and died.
The Tiger Barbarian Cavalry fought to the very end; Fan Qing lost an arm; Gongsun Huaizhi and seven other battle generals died in this fight. The Qilin Army here suffered battle losses of three in ten, a full fifty thousand casualties.
And the army led by Yuwen Lie fared even more tragically; this engagement, later deemed the hardest battle by those who came after, saw both sides possess the highest level of fighting spirit and Military Soul, and a resolve that allowed no retreat—and indeed, neither side ever did retreat.
Yet even with Yuwen Lie fallen in battle.
The remaining Great Army of Ying Country still did not choose to surrender.
Li Zhaowen and the others had to carry out the next step in the campaign; after General Xue’s Divine Charm sank once more into slumber, they took over command of the battlefield. But once slaughter had reached this level, the martial valor of the generals had already surpassed the strategist’s cunning; so‑called command no longer truly existed.
On this grim and murderous field of war.
One‑armed Fan Qing, the gravely wounded Yuwen Hua, and Yuwen Tianxian met each other’s eyes in silence.
Fan Qing said quietly, "Yuwen Hua, Master Yuwen Tianxian... concede..."
Yuwen Hua and Yuwen Tianxian regarded him in silence.
On Yuwen Tianxian’s solemn, impassive face, he replied, "You have done very well. But I have already told you: upon the battlefield, there is no private friendship."
"Fan Qing, this is the battlefield!"
"Have you forgotten how I taught you?"
Tears streamed down Fan Qing’s face; at last he bowed his head to the ground in the礼 of a disciple to thank his teacher.
Yuwen Tianxian gripped his Weapon, and in the end, did not surrender.
In the end, he too fell in battle upon the killing fields.
In this battle, of the legion under Yuwen Lie’s command, near total annihilation—deaths approached four in ten, the rest all grievously wounded. In the midst of the slaughter, once their strength was spent, they collapsed unconscious upon the blood‑soaked field.
The Yuwen Family’s battle generals numbered thirty‑seven in all.
The eldest forty‑seven years, the youngest at the age of twenty.
All died in battle and gave their lives for the country.
Not one surrendered.
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