General to the Battlefield, Lady with a Broken Heart

Dusk had arrived, and the scenery at the horizon remained as it had always been, without change.

Long Miaoming lowered her head in disappointment; it seemed that Beautiful Brother would not return today either.

Long Miaoming picked up a stone nearby and carved another mark into a tree on the side.

Every day Long Miaoming waited, she would leave a mark on this tree, and now there were over three hundred marks densely packed upon it.

As it turned out, without realizing it, she had already waited for Beautiful Brother for more than three hundred days.

She still remembered that during the Start of Autumn last year, Beautiful Brother had led his troops to war, and now it was once again the season where late summer turns to autumn, yet she still had not seen his return.

Most of the people living here had come to know Long Miaoming.

Whether it was heavy rain, wind and snow, scorching sun, or thunder, there was not a single day that Long Miaoming did not wait for Luo Bai’s return, and not a single day she did not keep watch here.

She only hoped that one day, one day she could see Luo Bai’s figure at the edge of the sky.

Unfortunately, disappointment followed day after day.

“I am not afraid of thunder when I sleep now, and the food I make is edible. Beautiful Brother… when are you coming back?” Long Miaoming looked at the horizon and murmured to herself.

She prepared to go back, turning her head as the setting sun dragged her long shadow across the ground, making her look lonely and humble.

Suddenly, another shadow appeared on the ground, and like her own, it was stretched very, very long.

Long Miaoming froze; she felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with this shadow.

Suddenly, she remembered something and jerked her head back.

She had thought a countless number of times about the way they would meet again, but never had there been one as real as this.

The wind blew, and the maple leaves scattered.

Across a grove of fiery maples, he gazed from afar at the one he had been longing for.

Long Miaoming saw the person behind her, the one she had yearned for day and night.

“Girl, I am back…”

Luo Bai held back tears, looking at Long Miaoming with a smile.

The red robe behind him was riddled with a thousand holes, and his only remaining hand held his armor.

“I, I am not dreaming, am I?”

Long Miaoming covered her mouth in disbelief, but tears swirled uncontrollably in her eyes.

Luo Bai smiled.

“Silly girl.”

Long Miaoming could no longer restrain herself; she ran through the forest of fiery maples wailing and threw herself into Luo Bai’s embrace.

The armor in his hand fell to the ground.

Luo Bai hugged Long Miaoming dotingly; since he only had one arm left now, he could only embrace her by dropping his armor.

The white cloth on her head fell off, and the pair of dragon horns that Long Miaoming never forgot to hide even while sleeping were thus exposed.

“Your arm… where is your arm…”

Long Miaoming sobbed uncontrollably.

She clutched Luo Bai’s empty right sleeve.

Indeed, in the snap of a finger, time passes in an instant; living beings are in turmoil, and the general fights across the world.

But alas, he had failed the devoted heart of the lady who waited so bitterly.

Spring went and autumn came, summer cicadas and winter moons, yet nothing was as it was in those years.

Behind Luo Bai, figures walked over one by one from the horizon.

The lingering sunset stretched their shadows long across the ground.

They all stopped behind Luo Bai, quietly watching the two people tightly embracing before them.

Near the city, someone passing by the gate saw this scene.

“They are back! They are back!!”

Someone shouted excitedly everywhere, even dropping the mushrooms from their basket onto the ground.

Luo Bai released Long Miaoming, untied his cloak, and draped it over her small head.

“Stupid girl, your horns are showing.”

Long Miaoming froze, then hurriedly reached for her head.

Sure enough, she did not feel the white cloth that wrapped her dragon horns.

Then, then this was seen by Beautiful Brother…

Long Miaoming cautiously raised her head and glanced at him.

Luo Bai only patted her small head.

“Let us go back.”

Long Miaoming felt relieved; Luo Bai did not hate or fear her because she had dragon horns.

“Generals and soldiers, we return home!”

Half a month ago.

“Truly quite the courage.”

Situ Mo looked at the rebel army’s direction of march on the sketch and could not help but sigh.

“It is a pity; if a talent like this cannot be used by our Heavenly Dynasty, it is better to eliminate him.”

He was Luo Bai’s opponent this time, Situ Mo, the General Who Stabilizes the North of the Heavenly Dynasty, often called the God of War.

But since he stepped into this war, he had, for the first time, questioned his title as the God of War.

The opponent’s troops numbered no more than a hundred thousand, mostly miscellaneous soldiers and peasant soldiers who had received no training—they could even be called a motley crew!

Meanwhile, in his own hands were the elite troops of the Northern Heavenly Dynasty, thirty thousand standing, twenty thousand in reserves, claiming to be seven hundred thousand, who once broke a million rebels at North City.

He originally thought that facing this opponent would merely be an effortless destruction.

But Situ Mo suffered a great loss in the first encounter.

The interlocking iron horses, catching a turtle in a jar, the eight-trigrams soul-bewildering formation…

His opponent used practical actions to teach him a lesson: never underestimate any opponent.

It was from this moment that the true contest between the two sides began.

Gradually, Situ Mo also discovered Luo Bai’s weakness, which was a lack of gambling spirit.

If there was not an eighty percent certainty in a battle, Luo Bai would not fight it.

It was precisely because this weakness was discovered that the scales of victory began to gradually tilt toward Situ Mo’s side.

Although it seemed Situ Mo was losing more now, his advantage was very obvious: they had more people.

According to this rate of consumption, Luo Bai’s side would definitely be the first to be exhausted.

Overall, they still had a great advantage.

And in Situ Mo’s eyes, the opponent did not dare to leave the city.

Once they left the city, whether to flee or attack, it would be equivalent to seeking death because an enemy with infantry as the main force meeting the fierce Northern Iron Cavalry in an open area would simply be a slaughter.

Shrinking back into the city was their only way to survive.

Yet, just tonight, his opponent—that commander as delicate as a girl—voluntarily left the fortress he relied on for survival.

It was almost as if he were seeking death.

“General, what should we do?”

A soldier asked Situ Mo for instructions.

“Beat the drums, deploy the troops!”

Situ Mo stood up; over fifty years old, he was still a skilled hand at traversing the battlefield.

“This time, this general will personally meet this Commander Luo.”

The two armies had already set their formations.

Whether it was Luo Bai or Situ Mo, both stood in their positions, looking at each other from afar.

This was the first time since the war began that Luo Bai had brought his soldiers to meet Situ Mo on the frontal battlefield.

In the past, it was because his strength was insufficient; now, it was because he was forced by necessity.

Luo Bai, with only one hand left, looked at Situ Mo.

His right hand had been hit by a poisoned arrow in a previous battle, and because medical treatment was not timely, he was forced to cut it off.

Now, he could not grip a sword, nor could he hold a drumstick.

But what could be done about it? He could not retreat.

He must fight this battle.