Chapter 704: Xie Bi'an

Chapter 704: Xie Bi'an

"Sorry, Jinjiang, you just got here, and I'm already dragging you into something like this."

In the mountains of Liaodong, the accumulated snow was deep enough to swallow a person whole.

This stretch of hills wasn't large, but the terrain was rugged and jagged, perfect for concealment, and not far off was a newly built post road, clearly recent.

Though during his time in the Brocade Guard, Lin Jinjiang had mostly handled hidden agents and informants, he still had basic judgment. He could tell this was an excellent spot for an ambush.

"Brother Xie, if you say that, you're being too distant. Arriving early isn't as good as arriving just in time—I can help out a bit too."

Lying in the snow, Lin Jinjiang's tone carried not a hint of tension. He chuckled softly toward Xie Bi'an, who was no more than a body's length away.

"No need for help. Just watch from the sidelines and help us record the entire ambush process. Maybe this band of outlaws, seen by others as nothing but thieves and villains, can have its name washed clean by your hand."

Xie Bi'an refused Lin Jinjiang's offer of assistance and smiled. "After all, we haven't done anything dirty, yet we've been saddled with a filthy reputation for nothing. That always sits wrong with me."

The snow was silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop, with only the occasional brittle crack of a branch breaking under the weight of snow.

Xie Bi'an's voice spread out, stirring a faint rustling.

Lin Jinjiang's thick, dark brows lifted. As a traveler of the Seventh Order, his senses were far sharper than an ordinary man's, and he immediately caught the sound of suppressed breathing from many sources.

Though his naked eyes saw no figures, Lin Jinjiang roughly calculated that at least a hundred people were hidden around him. And that was only those he could detect—the real number was likely even higher!

Lin Jinjiang's heart leaped with astonishment. When had his superior gathered such a force in Liaodong?

And from the looks of it, they were... outlaws and bandits?!

"If you have questions, ask them slowly later. Right now, we've got business to handle!"

The voice in his ear cut off Lin Jinjiang's wandering thoughts. The biting wind across his face was sharp as a knife, and the sudden surge of killing intent made his hairs stand on end.

At the end of the post road, a cavalry squad was approaching at high speed.

"Finally here..."

Through the image on the desk, Lin Jinjiang saw Xie Bi'an press his pale, thin lips together, then reveal a bloodthirsty grin.

"These men are elite scouts under the Liaodong Zhenfu Army, originally the soldier-order assassins raised by the Liutao Group. In Liaodong, they've been working with Honghu to do things that devour men without spitting out bones. Now that they've killed enough and drunk enough blood, they want to leave? There's no such cheap deal!"

At this moment, Xie Bi'an was like a fierce alpha wolf leading its pack, his eyes blazing with churning murder.

"All of you, grip your blades and spears tightly. If you want revenge, don't hold back later!"

There was no verbal response in the frigid air, but Lin Jinjiang could clearly feel countless racing heartbeats.

This wasn't fear—it was excitement pushed to the extreme.

Screech!

In the midair, a red-eyed bird beat its wings and flew over, circling above the hills to scout.

But the equipment that provided concealment for Xie Bi'an and his men, from whatever source, was exceptionally effective. The scouting bird found nothing suspicious and turned to fly further away.

The cavalry squad, receiving no warning, maintained its speed and raced toward the area.

Boom!

The moment the first scout entered the frame on the desk, a violent explosion followed.

It was as if the earth dragon had turned over. The entire post road shattered in an instant, and the raging flames and shockwave swallowed the whole cavalry squad in the blink of an eye.

Without waiting for Xie Bi'an's order, a storm of metal poured down from the hillside.

Gunfire deafened the ears, tearing through the rolling black smoke. Several caught-off-guard soldier-order fighters were instantly blasted into fragments, the metallic wails filling the air.

Lin Jinjiang rose to a crouch, squinting as he observed the battle below.

"Brother Xie, you're as masterful as ever. I believe this cavalry squad won't hold out much longer..."

"Not yet. These scum are more troublesome than I expected."

Xie Bi'an's expression was extremely grim, his outlook on the situation far from optimistic.

Lin Jinjiang was startled at the words and quickly focused again, then indeed noticed some details.

The ambushed cavalry seemed battered, but the casualties were mostly low-level newcomers, barely initiated. Their overall losses weren't severe, nowhere near collapse.

Clang!

The long blade slid from its sheath. Xie Bi'an raised his arm and brandished the sword, killing intent blazing in his eyes.

"Kill!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Snow erupted in bursts. A group of armored, fierce figures burst forth, wrapped in wind and snow, charging down the hill like hungry tigers.

At the same time, a piercing whine of mechanical hearts soared into the sky, making Lin Jinjiang's eardrums ache.

In the endless expanse of ice and snow, flesh and steel collided savagely!

"Are you ready?"

"Almost. Time: December 17, the fourteenth year of Jiaqi. Location: Tieling Guard, Liaodong Dusi. Recorder: Lin Jinjiang, Seventh Order."

Lin Jinjiang spoke into the image. "The man I'm meeting today is also my former superior, the chief banner of the Brocade Guard in Inuyama Castle, Japan region: Xie Bi'an."

The image flipped. Xie Bi'an sat casually in a chair, the background behind him a pitch-black wilderness and a sky studded with stars.

"Alright, we can begin."

After saying this, Lin Jinjiang, who should have been leading the conversation, inexplicably fell into silence, his gaze vacant.

It had been three hours since the snowfield ambush, but Lin Jinjiang still hadn't fully come to terms with the close-quarters bloodbath that followed.

It was a brutality and cruelty he had never experienced before.

He had seen the ultimate boiling-over self-destruction of mechanical hearts, seen the horror of white bones being torn out, seen arms severed at the elbows yet still using teeth to tear at steel and iron with savage ferocity.

"It seems you're still not quite used to it. That's my fault. Back in the Japan region, I shouldn't have kept you planted as an informant in Osaka Castle."

Snapping back to reality, Lin Jinjiang looked at the calm expression on Xie Bi'an's face in the image and suddenly felt a sense of unfamiliarity.

Now Xie Bi'an had a short, neat haircut, a stubbly beard, his once fair skin rough and ruddy, his brows deep-set, and his eyes unusually sharp, making people instinctively avoid meeting his gaze.

He sat lazily in the chair, yet exuded a tangible bandit aura.

Not the kind that bullied the countryside and oppressed the people, but the kind that was fearless, reckless, and ferocious.

As if sensing the strangeness in Lin Jinjiang's eyes, Xie Bi'an smiled and spoke: "Do you find it strange?"

"Strange about what?"

"Why I became an outlaw."

Lin Jinjiang was silent. He did indeed have such a question in his heart.

After all, the man had once been the chief banner of the Brocade Guard in the Japan region. Though not a particularly grand status, Xie Bi'an's inherent pride was well known to everyone.

Now that the Brocade Guard had turned to ashes, despite his bond with Li Jun as a comrade-in-arms, Xie Bi'an had no need to come to Liaodong and become a bandit chief.

"Before I came, I went to Sichuan and saw Brother Fan. He's now the helmsman of the Hunshui Paoge."

Lin Jinjiang spoke slowly. "I take it your thinking is the same as his?"

"That calf and I are nothing alike. Don't think because he's ugly, everything he says is true. That bastard doesn't have that much chivalrous spirit. It's just that Brother Jun used to be a Hunshui Paoge in Chengdu Prefecture, so he had to give it a try no matter what. And he kept shouting that he had to secure the helmsman position, just so he could get one over on Brother Jun."

Xie Bi'an laughed heartily, exposing all of Fan Wujiu's secrets down to the very last detail.

"As for me, I don't have as many tricks up my sleeve as he does. The reason I returned to Liaodong is just one: the disparity."

Lin Jinjiang frowned slightly, unable to fully grasp the other's meaning.

"Because of Brother Jun?" Lin Jinjiang asked tentatively.

"How could that be? I, Xie Bi'an, am not so conceited as to think that."

Xie Bi'an paused, a faint glimmer of recollection rising in his eyes.

"Do you remember when you first saw Chen Qisheng and Zou Sijiu and the others, what their Sequence ranks were? They were probably only at the level of six or seven, right? But now? They've become the originators of a Sequence, commanding awe across the land."

"Of course, I don't mean to envy them; I just feel that I've let myself down."

Xie Bi'an said with self-deprecation: "Although I am no longer a Perceptionist of Sequence Seven, having been promoted to an Intelligence Officer of Sequence Six, aside from my mind becoming a bit sharper and more sensitive to certain information, there has still been no substantial change. I still can't be of much help, and instead can only hide in the Mohist Academy as a protected good-for-nothing. So rather than pitying myself, it's better to come out and do what little I can."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jinjiang couldn't help but smile knowingly. Regardless, this pair, once the fearsome Black and White Duo in the Japanese region, still had the same temperament.

Neither liked to live under someone else's roof, nor did they want to become a burden.

But in truth, Lin Jinjiang also knew another secret behind Xie Bi'an's return to Liaodong.

When in the Japanese region, Xie Bi'an had once promised someone that he would bring her to see his hometown.

Though that person was far away, the promise remained unchanged.

Moreover, Liaodong was now the region in the entire empire where Dao Sequence demon cultivators appeared most frequently.

Although he was very curious, Lin Jinjiang really didn't have the courage to dig deeper into that story. Instead, he asked, "Brother Xie... ah, this title doesn't roll off my tongue smoothly. How about I just call you Commander? Is that alright?"

Unlike the casual ease he had when facing Fan Wujiu, Lin Jinjiang had always been very reverent and even somewhat fearful towards his immediate superior, Xie Bi'an.

After all, compared to using brawn, using brains was more frightening.

"If you, Commander, left the Mohist Academy and returned to Liaodong because you couldn't stand the disparity, then why did you choose to become a righteous army?"

"Righteous army? I can't bear those two words."

Xie Bi'an shook his head and chuckled: "What I do is just small-scale, hardly presentable. If we're talking about a righteous army, perhaps only the Blood-Robed Confucian Sequence from Jinling City in South Zhili deserves that title."

The words 'Blood' and 'Confucian,' originally poles apart, together formed one of the most dreaded forces nowadays.

It was the Confucian Sequence of the Academy faction, following Zhang Fengyue.

Before the upheaval erupted, these Confucian Sequence practitioners had been hidden away by Zhang Fengyue in Confucian temples across the empire, serving as teachers instructing students.

Now, having cast aside the brush and taken up the blade, they revealed an extremely ferocious side, assassinating members of the official lineage of magnates and high-ranking military Sequence officers in the Ming army, while also clashing covertly with Honghu, disrupting their false 'uprisings' and promoting the thought of disorder.

"It seems you approve of their anarchism?"

"It's not a matter of approval or disapproval. After all, if disorder is to be realized, there would be no place for me in Liaodong either. To survive, I'd probably have to flee outside the homeland."

Xie Bi'an laughed: "But comparatively, I'd rather see this empire completely collapse, to see what this land would become without the emperor."

"But the current situation is not optimistic."

Lin Jinjiang said in a grave tone: "I've traveled all the way from Shu, and all I've seen is the pursuit and desire for Sequences, spreading like a wildfire out of control."

"The great clans are sparing no effort in recruiting and training private armies; the imperial military is issuing mechanical hearts and providing modifications to recruits; even Honghu is spreading Sequence rituals. Not to mention that after the Millet Dream Ghosts are born through possession, they will do everything to break into Sequences."

"Perhaps because of the turbulent situation and the precarious lives of the common people, even genes have become unusually restless, and the difficulty of breaking into Sequences seems to have become lower and lower. Nowadays, breaking the lock to enter a Sequence is no longer a great joyous event like 'a carp leaping over the dragon gate'; ordinary people have long been used to it."

"Sequence practitioners are increasing, yet those willing to follow anarchism are few and far between. If Headmaster Zhang truly intends to achieve 'severing the connection between heaven and earth' through war and slaughter, it seems hopeless now. Moreover—"

Lin Jinjiang asked with bewilderment: "Even the Blood-Robed Confucian Sequence under his command are still Confucian Sequence. These people are willing to shed their blood and sacrifice their lives now, but when it comes to eliminating themselves, can they still bring themselves to do it?"

"Seems you've indeed seen a lot on your journey."

The northern wind was fierce and biting, so strong that even the stars in the sky couldn't keep their eyes open.

Starlight was sparse, the surroundings dark; the faint glow from the documents on the desk couldn't illuminate Xie Bi'an's face.

"But if you want me to give you a precise answer, I don't have one either."

Xie Bi'an looked up and exhaled a misty white breath. "I have even more doubts in my heart than you do. This turmoil has killed so many people, yet it seems to have done nothing but intensify the world's desire for Sequences. Sever the connection between heaven and earth? The path between heaven and earth is clearly becoming wider and wider."

Suddenly, upon hearing this, Lin Jinjiang felt a spark of insight flash through his mind, but it vanished in an instant, elusive.

Just as he was lost in thought, Xie Bi'an's sigh rang out by his ear: "Of course, it could also be because our Sequence ranks are too low. Not only are our words insignificant, but our vision is also too shallow to understand what others are truly plotting."

Xie Bi'an joked: "You, a Miscellaneous Sequence, excel at observing commoners' sentiments and discerning the warmth and coldness of human relationships. I, a Named Sequence, pride myself on being a debater of all matters and a grand observer of the world, yet in the end, I don't even have the qualifications to understand. How frustrating."

"There's also the benefit of not understanding—at least we can focus on the tasks at hand with peace of mind."

Lin Jinjiang, having failed to reach any conclusion, simply cast aside all stray thoughts and asked with a smile: "If in the end we can still live in this land, Commander, what would you like to do?"

"How about we get Lord Ma and set up a place together? I'm a great singer; ending my days amid revelry, song, and debauchery—sounds pretty good when I think about it."

"Fine by me, but I have to be the boss. I'm better at this than you all."

"Then it's settled."

The wind grew more urgent, as if anxious to hasten their departure.

Xie Bi'an stood up and said seriously: "No one knows if there will be a tomorrow, so don't overthink things. The mountains are high and the road is long; don't leave any regrets for yourself."

Lin Jinjiang, also rising, gazed at the figure gradually disappearing into the wind and snow, his expression one of loss.

The Commander, once the most bold and unrestrained, now urged him at parting not to die.

The Commander, once the most meticulous and thoughtful, now told him to leave no regrets.

Times change; he himself was traveling over mountains and rivers, but weren't they also people on the road?

Life is a journey; all are travelers.

Clang!

The sound of breaking into a Sequence echoed in his mind like a swaying wind chime, but Lin Jinjiang remained calm, carefully placing the documents into his bosom.

"Next stop, North Zhili."