Chapter 1231: Chapter 239: Upheaval (2/2)

After Zhang Duo shattered the mountain rocks on both sides, he did not hesitate for a moment, using a concealed passage he had previously left nearby and masking his presence, he left Xiyun North Mountain with the remaining forty-eight iron-armor colonels of the Divine Martial Mansion.

They continued to hide their presence until Wang Anfeng and the others had left, and only then did they remove their armor and put on the attire of herdsmen. They led the camel caravan and covered their faces with rough and simple headscarves, leaving only their eyes exposed. In no time, they transformed from battalion warriors into a passing caravan.

Even with camels, the colonels of the Divine Martial Mansion could still skillfully control them. The camels chewed on seemingly endless dry grass as they pulled the carts, slowly moving in another direction. Along the way, they remained silent, with not a word spoken amongst them, only the jingling sound of camel bells echoing far in the desolate desert.

Half an hour passed as the colonels journeyed, one of them grabbing a water pouch to take a sip, surreptitiously looking back at Zhang Duo behind him.

Zhang Duo had changed out of his now-old yet well-maintained Mingguang Armor, appearing as weak as one would expect at his age. His hair had turned completely white, pale as the scorched grasslands. His resolute face was now lined with wrinkles.

Now, he leaned against the goods on the cart, his eyes closed, gritting his teeth with such force that the veins on his temples stood out, pulsating like a discontented serpent. He muttered curses under his breath, and occasionally, the hand not resting beneath him would suddenly tremble, clenching tightly.

That hand was still strong, as if grappling with an invisible opponent.

The men who were once colonels of the Divine Martial Mansion kept their silence, retracting their gaze, urging the camels onward. Their faces no longer youthful, as the winds and sun of the Western Regions aged them significantly, and they already were over forty—a time of life when dreams should no longer be.

No one spoke as the camels pulled the cart, traveling onward until they arrived in a city with low earthen walls. They found a place to stay, and the forty-eight men hastily grabbed some food, eating it quickly. Even before dusk fell, after their daily martial arts training, they went to rest.

Zhang Duo lay on the bed, seemingly falling into a deep sleep, dreaming of that kind-hearted softie, of the past at the Divine Martial Mansion, of someone loudly challenging him to arm wrestle, promising to lend him the grand flag if he won, and there was…

Outside, the moonlight seemed to flicker for a moment.

The old man’s eyes opened, his gaze clear, looking at the dark and low room. He suddenly spoke:

“You seem a bit slow in coming.”

In the night, it was unclear when someone had sat beside the stone table, vaguely visible as a tall man with a dense beard reaching his chest. He spoke softly:

“You held back when you made your move today.”

Zhang Duo turned over and sat up, raising an eyebrow at the words, and said:

“Held back?”

“If I knew how to hold back, you wouldn’t be stuck at this realm forever.”

The man with the thick beard pressed, “But you didn’t have your subordinates form a military formation to share the pressure from that person for you.”

Zhang Duo paused in silence, shook his head, and said, “In such a clash, they can no longer play a decisive role.”

The man with the lush beard raised his eyes and said, “I’m quite curious, since you no longer value their strength and function, why do you still keep them by your side?”

Zhang Duo did not answer, but the visitor seemed to already understand the reason, and said with realization, “It seems I asked a particularly foolish question.”

Then he scrutinized Zhang Duo, his gaze sweeping across Zhang Duo’s face and body, “Judging from your appearance, did it happen again today?”

“The Hall Master has already told you, that even you cannot accommodate so much ‘scenery’ within your heart’s world. You can’t bear it.”

“Even though you possess a Grandmaster level state of mind, and the impact each shadow leaves on you is small.”

“But accumulating these impacts together, even you can’t ignore it entirely. Originally it occurred once a month, now it probably happens every three to five days? If it continues like this, you will completely lose yourself, becoming a madman.”

Zhang Duo merely responded coldly.

“Whether I can bear it is not for you to say.”

The man gave a cold snort, in the moonlight revealing himself as an older man not younger than Zhang Duo, with a robust build and impeccable muscle tone. He stood up, pacing back and forth several times, his tone slightly agitated, “Truly worthy of you.”

“But I don’t understand, they’re already dead, what’s the use of your persistence?!”

“Give it up, what those people left behind doesn’t even count as a shadow. Even if the Hall Master allows you to retain the lingering thoughts on those weapons in your heart’s world forever, so what? They’re just shadows without self-existence, not even a shadow of a shadow.”

The elder couldn’t resist grabbing Zhang Duo’s collar, shouting, “They’re dead, they’ve been dead for twenty years.”

“Life, aging, sickness, and death, you can’t keep them!”

Zhang Duo brushed off the elder’s hand, his expression calm, speaking each word distinctly, “They’re not dead, they’re all still here.”

“As long as I don’t admit it, they’re all still alive, living here.”

Zhang Duo pointed to the spot of his heart, the other elder’s breathing was somewhat heavy, “Twenty years, twenty years you’ve spent collecting the weapons left on the Divine Martial Mansion’s battlefields, begging the Hall Master to project the lingering thoughts of those weapons’ owners at the time of their death into your heart.”

“I know those shadows exist, but you understand, they are just shadows without thoughts, without memories, incapable of making choices. Rather than saying they’re the reflections of those deceased, it’s more likely they are your personal heart-demons.”

“With one’s own strength, bearing so many reflections.”

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll end up going mad?”

Zhang Duo said coldly:

“It is a choice I made voluntarily, and I will bear the responsibility for what I’ve done.”

“I know the outcome better than you do.”

“Lastly, tell the Hall Master of the White Tiger Hall that I have completed what I promised, and remind him that after acquiring that sword, he should imprint the shadow of the Great Marshal’s spirit into my heart.”

The old man was stunned and said, “The Master of the Divine Weapon?”

“What you did earlier has already brought you down from the peak of the Third Rank to your current realm. To harbor the Master of the Divine Weapon, even you, wouldn’t survive three months!”

Zhang Duo said lightly:

“Three months is enough.”

He caressed his chest, and as long as he closed his eyes, he seemed able to once again see the scenes of twenty years ago, all the memories so vivid, without a hint of fading. The Great Marshal, Li Qidao, Du Chengren, Duanmu Xingyun…

So vivid, so real, as if within reach, but precisely because they existed so clearly, he could not accept that everyone had abandoned them, as if they had made a silent transaction, taking the benefits and choosing to remain silent, to forget them.

Among those who gave up were even comrades once fighting side by side, fearless in the face of death.

Even those who were abandoned acknowledged such a future trajectory, bearing arms, silently dying on the battlefield, only to be scorned by the people they saved, vanishing without getting a glimpse of the hometown they protected.’

He couldn’t accept it.

Zhang Duo took a deep breath and said:

“I was once a great bane to the Divine Martial, but in the end, I failed to protect the marshal, nor could I protect the Divine Martial.”

“But at the very least, I want those guys to ‘see with their own eyes’ their descendants; to let them ‘see with their own eyes’ the current Great Qin. Although I find this world filthy enough behind the scenes, those guys are different. I don’t agree with their ideas, but at least, I will send them back.”

“I promised to send them home.”

“To let Duanmu Xingyun see his daughter getting married, let Bai Yanghui witness the scenery of Jiangnan, Lai Xiuwei always stubbornly wanted to eat a bowl of his mother’s yangchun noodles, and I need to let the Great Marshal personally see his grown-up child…”

“This is the reason I have lived until now.”

“For this, I would stop at nothing.”

The old man behind him, who tried to dissuade him, fell silent, stepped back two steps, his face showing a moment of struggle as if finally making a decision, suddenly burst forth, and in the instant when Zhang Duo, injured from today’s battle, had his state decline, closed in, and stabbed out with the dagger in his hand.

Zhang Duo’s expression changed abruptly, swiftly sidestepped to avoid the fatal wound, turned and snatched, gripping the dagger tightly. The two exchanged dozens of swift moves within a square inch, then stalemated. Zhang Duo stared fiercely at the old man in front of him.

“You…!”

The old man gritted his teeth to exert force, his bones and muscles trembling like thunder, said:

“Indeed, martial arts seek the purity of the mind; your mind has too many impurities, even your perception is not sharp enough.”

“If it were the Grandmaster of Great Qin, Zhang Duo, from twenty years ago, this move would render me powerless.”

Zhang Duo’s hair and beard bristled like an enraged tiger, he said:

“He reneged?!”

The old man gritted his teeth to exert force, his heart deeply resentful that even now, Zhang Duo still harbored that foolishly incomprehensible act of suicide, shouted aloud: “You know, the words spoken by the Hall Master are never reneged!”

“The Hall Master will definitely exert his full strength to fulfill your last wish; he is already adjusting his state, just because at this moment, you are still considered his subordinate, even if the next moment you would rebel, would leave, at this moment, he will fully support you.”

“Reneged? How could the Hall Master possibly renege?”

“However, suppressing the spirit of the Divine Weapon for twenty years, as is known the highest-ranked Divine Weapon, you understand that the Hall Master’s body will certainly be severely injured.”

“You have your persistence, and I also have my own things that must be done.”

“I’ll bear the name of betrayal alone, Zhang Duo, you may sleep here now. I once regarded you as a friend; after this matter is settled, I will immediately go down to atone to you.”

Zhang Duo widened his eyes, his hair and beard disheveled like an enraged lion, but today he had suffered some injuries, plus the originally settled heart’s shadow violently erupted during the clash, and gradually lost control over his body amidst the continuous fight.

The dagger slowly stabbed into his body, yet he still refused to fall, his eyes wide with anger.

“You… dare not!”

The last in his vision was the erupting shadows of the Colonels of the Divine Martial Mansion.

Then he fell into darkness.

PS: Here’s the second update today……

The standard chapter length is 3,200 words, as above~