Chapter 132

Chapter 132

Book 3, Chapter 29 (Part 4)

“When I was told that you, Zongzhen, and Helian were all looking for me, there was this one moment inside of my heart when I thought … Why don’t I let all that stuff go and just leave with Helian, and go see you guys.”

Batu had thought that Duan Ling would act the same way he always had and change the subject in order to not reveal too many of his emotions. Little by little, however, he has come to realise that Duan Ling is the one between them who has really changed.

It’s odd when he stops to think about it, but when they met again, Duan Ling thought Batu seemed to have changed, but in reality, Batu hasn’t changed at all. Meanwhile, in Batu’s eyes, Duan Ling seems entirely unchanged on the surface, but inside his bones, it’s almost like he’s become another person.

“Us guys? Who’s us?” Batu says.

“Exactly,” Duan Ling laughs suddenly, continuing, “You’re in Yuan, Zongzhen’s in Liao, Helian is in Xiliang. You guys aren’t together. Who am I supposed to go to?”

Batu stares at Duan Ling intently without a word.

“I couldn’t go anywhere. Dad once told me that when each person is born, there will be things destined for them to do. This is my destiny. I’ve let you down. I’ve let all of you down. You all treat me with the utmost sincerity, yet all I care about is my own survival. I have no other choice.

“And … I think that even after this I’ll continue to let you guys down. I really am … very sorry.”

Batu could never have expected for Duan Ling to say these words to him.

“You’ve changed,” Batu says. “Can’t you tell me anything else? At least let me know that I haven’t waited for nothing all these years. Even if it’s just a lie — just tell me you’ll go anywhere I go. Can’t you just make me happy for a little while?”

“I don’t want to lie to you. And I’m telling you these things because I don’t know what else I can give you.” Duan Ling ponders over this before saying, “And I don’t have anything I can repay you with either. Even I as a person don’t belong to myself anymore. I’m my dad’s son. I’m Great Chen’s crown prince. What do you think I could give you?”

Duan Ling heaves a sigh as he says this; for some strange reason, he’s thinking about Mu Qing. Of course, he wants to repay everyone who’s good to him, but there’s nothing he can give them. It’s the same even with Wu Du.

Batu suddenly manages to comprehend the sorrow that Duan Ling hasn’t voiced aloud.

“You’re just the way Zongzhen’s put it. You’ve all changed. I’m the only one who’s still like a fool, deluded into thinking that I could have a fight with him to figure out which of us is the victor.”

“You haven’t changed. You’re still the same as you always have been … Let’s not talk about this anymore. Batu, how’s your mom and dad? Are they still doing well?”

“Do you remember that year you came to see me and said you’d get me out of the city with her?”

“She left first, didn’t she?”

“She’s dead. Back then, I was inside the house, staying at her side.”

Duan Ling falls quiet. He gives Batu a nod.

Batu stares carefully at Duan Ling. “After my mom passed, the only person I still considered family in this world is you. Back then I wanted you to leave with me. Now that I think about it, that was so utterly naive.”

Batu laughs, shaking his head, finding his past self extremely stupid.

“Let me go,” Duan Ling says, “we’ll have a proper fight to decide the victor. It’s not like you’ll have a use for me even if you hold me here…”

“Who wants to decide which of us is the victor?” Batu replies, “Can you not sound so sure about what I want?”

“Then what on earth do you really want to do?” Duan Ling says with a frown.

“I want to talk to you, just like the way we’re talking now. I’ll take you wherever I go, so I can talk to you whenever. If I want to talk to you then I can talk to you.”

“You have ten days left.” Duan Ling had originally thought that the reason why Batu had asked for ten days and promised to take down Ye by then was that he wanted Duan LIng to come up with the strategy with which to take the city with — to ask Duan Ling to attack his own city, which would be an exceedingly cruel plan. If he’d asked for that, it would make it impossible for Duan Ling to decide whether he should fight or not to fight. If he refuses to cooperate with Batu after those ten days go by, the army inspector will certainly kill him, and hold Batu accountable as well.

He never thought that Batu hasn’t thought of doing that at all; instead, he’s saying, “If I can’t take Ye then I’ll just leave. I still have my own forces in Hulunbuir. Ögedei took my command from me, dispatched me here, gave me a pile of junk equipment and a thousand men — he wants me to help him take down a city? Dream on!”

Duan Ling drops his forehead in his hand, utterly speechless in response to this.

“I only told him that earlier to delay things for several days. Once the Khitans in the north are done fighting, and your underlings bring people over here to search for you, I’ll steal you away in the chaos and take you to Hulunbuir. It’s that simple.”

Duan Ling howls in fury, “I’m not a thing that belongs to you!”

“You’re a person that belongs to me, not a thing. Sleep. Aren’t you sleepy? We’ve been running around all day.”

The climate in the mountains, while the seasons change from summer to autumn, is often chilly at night. Batu thus throws another army blanket over to Duan Ling, indicating that he should wrap it around himself before he goes to sleep. How can Duan Ling ever fall asleep? Batu is actually meaning to take him northwards. Once they’ve gone past the Great Wall and arrived where the Mongols usually live, amidst terrain they’ve long habituated, it’ll be even more difficult for Wu Du to find him.

Since it’s getting dark anyway, he must find some way to get out of here. He didn’t dare try anything during the daylight hours, but that was because he made too obvious of a target, but it’s much easier to escape at night.

Batu lies down next to Duan Ling without saying a thing.

“Hey,” Duan Ling asks him, trying to figure out what he’s thinking, “You’re just going to go to sleep?”

Batu says impatiently, “If you’ve got something to say you can tell me later. We’ve plenty of time.”

Batu hasn’t any idea at all how strong Wu Du is; Duan Ling lets out a breath of relief — looks like Amga’s information wasn’t detailed enough, or perhaps he didn’t want to admit defeat and therefore didn’t give an honest report of what Wu Du is capable of.

“What happened to the dagger I gave you?” Batu asks.

“Lang Junxia took it. The Cai Dog probably has it.”

“Yeah?” Batu hmms, and says, “Then forget about that. I’ll make you another one.”

Duan Ling doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry. “Didn’t you want Chen to cede territory? Why don’t you tell me the terms with which you’ll help me get rid of the Cai Dog, so you can make me cede territory to you when I’m back at court? Batu, I’m telling you now, there’s no point even if you hand me to your dad or to Ögedei. Not an inch of Great Chen’s land will be ceded to you.”

“Duan Ling, stop deluding yourself. Who’d want to get rid of the Cai Dog for you? I can’t even thank him fast enough. If he hasn’t taken your place, do you think I could have caught you outside Hejian?”

Taken aback, Duan Ling is speechless for a beat before asking, “Then what are you taking me to Hulunbuir for?”

“Nothing!” Batu says impatiently. “To live! Can’t you go to sleep? Are you quite done?!”

“I can’t fall asleep tied up like this!”

“If I untied you it’ll be your turn to murder me. Amga told me that you carry a centipede on your body.”

Duan Ling thinks, no wonder you were so quick when you took off my silver armour.

“And you touched me anyway? Aren’t you scared about dying?” Duan Ling recalls that there was a moment earlier when Batu was nearly bitten by the Golden Crow.

“Then I suppose I’d die.”

Visit wuxiaworld.eu for extra chapters.

He’s had one conversation with Batu and it feels like he’s had them all — even back when they were in the Illustrious Hall, the conversations between them have always been entirely pointless, and it’s never changed over the years. Duan Ling waits for a little while before asking, “What else did Amga say?”

Batu is so irritated that he gets up, turns over, and stuffs a rolled up piece of cloth into Duan Ling’s mouth.

Duan Ling is shocked for a beat before he starts making noises behind the gag.

Batu takes the cloth out. “Are you going to keep talking?”

Duan Ling can but stop talking. Batu pushes Duan Ling over a little bit so he’s leaning against the inside of the tent, and he turns over to wrap his arms around Duan Ling from behind, one leg thrown over him just like the way they used to sleep in the Illustrious Hall when they occasionally shared a bed.

Stuck with his hands tied together, and not daring to speak, Duan Ling listens for Batu’s even breathing. It seems he’s in deep sleep now.

Batu is essentially a hot stove, and in great shape besides, so the inside of the blanket gets dreadfully hot, making Duan Ling break a sweat. It’s not until the latter half of the night when he’s beyond exhaustion that he finally falls asleep.

Not long after he falls asleep, there’s a sudden bellowing in the distance followed closely by the warning gongs of the Mongolian army. The entire military camp is instantly roused.

“We’re under attack by the Han!” Someone is yelling.

Before Duan Ling manages to get up, Batu has turned to his side and kicked Duan Ling to the farthest corner of the bedding, grabbed his sabre, and charged outside. With a sudden loud boom, the entire encampment has started to burn.

Wu Du is here! Duan Ling thinks, How did he get here so quickly!? This is great! But there aren’t even four thousand soldiers split between Ye and Hejian, so how come it sounds like there’s a huge army outside? It sounds like there are nearly ten thousand people out there!

“Wu Du —!” Duan Ling yells at the top of his lungs, “I’m over here!”

Batu charges in barefooted, and without a word he gags Duan Ling with a cloth.

With a loud “boom”, something collapses the tent entirely; a huge flaming beast crashes into the tent and topples the wooden stake in the centre of the tent, then the tent itself is set aflame, turning into raging flames wrapped around a charging beast.

It’s a bull! Duan Ling understands now — a hundred flaming bulls have charged into the Mongol camp in the middle of the night, and it also seems as though they’re covered in some sort of armour. The Mongolian soldiers are slashing at them with their sabres, but they’re somehow not doing any damage to these charging bulls.

Batu grabs Duan Ling and tries to roll out of the way, but they’re both kicked by the bull. Batu turns over and lies down on the ground; he nearly gets trampled. Duan Ling finds a sabre on the ground nearby someone must have dropped, and rapidly grinds its edge against the rope wrapped around his hands. He frees his hands and grabs Batu, dragging him aside so he’s out of the path of the charging bulls.

Duan Ling pulls the cloth out of his mouth and yells, “Wu Du! I’m over here!”

Batu suddenly tries to flip Duan Ling onto the ground, but Duan Ling is prepared for this; he uses both hands to block him with a martial arts move his father taught him. Batu flips over and straddles Duan Ling’s waist, using wrestling-level strength to flip him, then with one arm wrapping around Duan Ling’s waist and another covering his mouth, he starts running towards the stables with Duan Ling in his arms.

All of a sudden Batu is in so much pain that he cries out uncontrollably — Duan Ling has bitten his right hand bloody and raw. He immediately chops at the back of Duan Ling’s neck with his palm, but as he does, there’s a flash of metal behind him.

“Don’t kill him!” Duan Ling shouts.

Duan Ling swings the curved sabre he’s holding towards the light and turns the Lieguangjian aside with a ring of metal, but the sabre is now in two pieces. Wu Du though has already made his way to Duan Ling; their faces are almost pressed up against each other. He’s still wearing the same cold and unfeeling expression, but he touches his lips to Duan Ling’s as lightly as a dragonfly skidding across the water before rapidly retreating with Duan Ling in his arms.

Batu pulls a long spear off the weapons rack, spinning it around in the air before he turns and pushes it from his waist out, and with an urgent whistle through the air, the spear sweeps towards Wu Du. But with a turn of his arm outwards, Wu Du has moved even faster than Batu, and he’s locked his arm around the spear and charged before Batu!

In this one advance and one retreat, Wu Du has essentially predicted his enemy’s move before it’s made, as though Batu was the one who rushed into it!

Batu abandons the spear at once and attempts to fight it out with Wu Du on brute force alone; Wu Du meets him palm to palm, and soundlessly their qi internally crash into each other. Batu falls backwards immediately, blood and qi billowing inside his chest like a wave, and he almost spits out blood.

Wu Du doesn’t waste any more time on him after that. He whistles for Benxiao, who charges towards them.

“Go!” Wu Du says, picking up Duan Ling and getting on the horse. Benxiao turns around and gallops out of the sea of flames.

“How did you know I was here …”

Duan Ling only manages to get out half a sentence before Wu Du shouts without answering him, “Get down!” And leaning on top of Duan Ling to press him tightly against the horse, he flattens them against Benxiao. The Lieguangjian in Wu Du’s left-hand flashes, killing everyone in sight, blood splattering in every direction.

Benxiao comes to a sudden halt. Wu Du shouts again, “You steer the horse! Head to the right!”

Duan Ling wraps his arms around the horse’s head and leans to the right; Benxiao comprehends his meaning and charges towards the rear of the Mongol army. Right now, the Mongol army is still getting an archery unit together to fight the second round of flaming bulls charging at the tents, but they could never expect that two men and a horse are suddenly running towards their back.

With a swing of the Lieguangjian, Wu Du opens up a bloody path. There are arrows flying all over the place. As Benxiao is charging into the enemy formation, another group of flaming bulls are running at the tents at full speed with fires on their backs. Duan Ling lets out a wild shout, and as it looks like they’re about to crash into the bulls, Wu Du sheathes his sword and puts his hands around Duan Ling’s head to protect him. They go along with Benxiao as it crashes all over the place, galloping freely. Just like that, they charge out of the formation of the raging bulls.

I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎