Chapter 101: Everything Is According to Plan

The war ended at last in the defeat of Liang’s soldiers. Worried about his old man’s injuries, Ji Huo did not pursue them too far and instead ordered the troops to withdraw.

“Marshal, they are pulling back,” a soldier reported to Duli Fu.

Duli Fu nodded and gazed toward the distant Lijiang Plain, showing no concern for the outcome of the battle at all. With a faint sigh, he said, “So they say Ji Huo, the second son of the Ji family, has already mastered the Thunderous Blazing Bear Fist, and that his own strength has reached the peak of the first rank. It seems the rumors were true.”

The other generals exchanged looks, surprise flickering in their eyes as one of them worriedly said, “What are we to do, then? One Flying Bear General is already difficult enough to face. Now there is another peak first-rank expert who can also use the Thunderous Blazing Bear Fist. Isn’t Ji Huo, who now commands the Flying Bear Army, a formidable enemy for our Liang Kingdom?”

“No need to panic. So long as Ji Huo has not become a grandmaster, he is no match for Feilian,” Duli Fu said, shaking his head. “And even if there is to be conflict in the future, that will be Feilian’s headache, not ours.”

The generals looked at one another. Fine then. They knew the marshal was unwilling to remain beneath General Feilian, but this was a little too obvious, wasn’t it?

“Enough. Withdraw the army. We return to Liang,” Duli Fu said carelessly.

“Marshal, the Flying Bear General is gravely injured right now. This is the perfect chance to kill him. To retreat merely because of Ji Huo, that is truly...” one general could not help but blurt out.

He stopped just short of saying, Though you came here to slack off, this is too blatant even for me.

Duli Fu shot him a sidelong glance and said with complete righteousness, “As of now, Ji Huo’s record at Heaven’s End Mountain is this: he held back six first-rank experts all by himself, killed the Imperial Preceptor with the sword intent of the Sword Saint, and after that personally slew two more first-rank fighters, not even counting the chaos he caused in the martial world. Can you beat him? I certainly cannot.”

Everyone fell silent.

Indeed, after those exploits spread, the martial world had already crowned Ji Huo the foremost prodigy of the younger generation. Some even believed he was invincible below the first rank and could trade one life for one among those above it—a monstrous talent defying heaven itself.

If no grandmaster appeared, who could contend with him?

At any rate, they could not.

If Liang’s national preceptor had not killed himself through reckless folly, perhaps he could still have managed a sneaky strike against Ji Huo. If Liang’s emperor had not died, he could also have acted personally.

But now Liang had only General Feilian left as a grandmaster, and he was still tied up with matters in the west and could not get away.

“So we just let the Flying Bear General go like this? After all that trouble to leave him so badly wounded?” someone asked with regret.

Duli Fu answered indifferently, “It matters not. The late emperor once said that if this battle could kill the Flying Bear General, that would be best. If not, then let him return.”

The crowd froze.

Before anyone could speak, Duli Fu raised a hand to stop them. “This was the late emperor’s scheme. Even I do not know all of it. Just follow the plan.”

“Yes!” Everyone bowed in unison.

...

As for Ji Huo, after ordering the retreat he hurried to the camp with Xia Ningshang. The generals there looked at him with such intense, almost weeping admiration that they seemed ready to fling themselves at him and kiss him one by one.

Being stared at so pitifully by so many round-faced, mustached, broad-waisted, heavyset generals, Ji Huo felt an inexplicable tightening in some private corner of his soul and nearly thought he had wandered into some strange and unsettling place.

“Second Young Master!” the generals said together, bowing deeply.

Ji Huo cupped his hands. “Gentlemen, the situation was urgent. I had no choice but to take command of the Flying Bear Army. I hope you will forgive the presumption.”

“Second Young Master, you jest. Since you have learned the Thunderous Blazing Bear Fist, you are the commander of the Flying Bear Army. With the marshal absent, you are the highest authority. What urgency could there be? If anyone objects, I, Lu, will be the first to refuse.”

A burly man with a face full of whiskers spoke with a grin. This was Lu Deshui, the Flying Bear Army’s number two. He had followed Ji Xiaoxiong in the campaigns that founded their domain and was one of his most loyal brothers.

Lu Deshui’s talent was not especially high. Even after Ji Xiaoxiong gave him every secret favor, every backdoor advantage, and a mountain of medicines, he had only reached the second rank. Still, that made him the strongest person in the Flying Bear Army after Ji Xiaoxiong. Unfortunately, he had just been sent flying by Duli Fu’s spear, and blood was still seeping from his kidneys.

With that one statement, the matter was settled.

“Exactly, exactly! The Second Young Master inheriting the Flying Bear Army is only proper and rightful.”

“If not for the Second Young Master and this young lady just now, I fear none of us would have made it back.”

“Many thanks to the Second Young Master for saving our lives!”

The rest of the generals chattered over one another, their eyes burning as they looked at Ji Huo. If he so much as nodded, they would probably hoist him up and seat him in the marshal’s chair.

Ji Huo cupped his hands again. “Gentlemen, time is short. I should go see what has happened to my old man.”

“Yes, yes, of course!”

“We were just too excited to see the Second Young Master.”

“Second Young Master, this way, please.”

Ji Huo and Xia Ningshang were surrounded and escorted toward the marshal’s tent. As for Xia Ningshang, the generals barely spared her a glance. Their eyes kept roaming over Ji Huo instead, and they even made appreciative tsking sounds under their breath.

Ji Huo: “...”

Xia Ningshang found the Flying Bear Army rather fascinating. She had long heard of this army, and she had never expected that on this trip to the Central Plains, she would even have the chance to wander through its ranks.

As she looked around, a voice as thin as a mosquito’s buzz suddenly reached her ear. “Do you feel that something is a little off about the Flying Bear Army?”

She glanced at Ji Huo in surprise. This fool was still chatting and smiling brightly with the generals, though she could see cold sweat beading on his forehead.

“It seems fine to me,” Xia Ningshang replied, also compressing her voice with inner force and sending it privately to him.

“But why do I feel as though there are dangers everywhere here...” Ji Huo’s voice came back almost at once.

Oh?

Xia Ningshang lifted a delicate brow. The corners of her mouth rose despite herself as she said gleefully, “If something truly does happen, Young Master Ji, be sure to call me over so I may watch closely and broaden my horizons.”

Ji Huo: “...”

His mouth twitched slightly, and then he asked, “By the way, General Lu, isn’t the Flying Bear Army supposed to have one hundred thousand men? Why were only thirty thousand sent out just now, while the remaining seventy thousand stayed behind?”

Lu Deshui gave a bitter smile. “Because the marshal felt that dealing with a second-rate man like Duli Fu did not require so many men, so he led only thirty thousand in the charge. Who would have thought the other side had already formed their battle lines, and then our marshal suddenly collapsed and fell unconscious. We could not find the reason no matter how hard we investigated.”

“Our thirty thousand men charged straight into their encirclement, and that is how it came to this.”

Ji Huo was shocked. “Wait, is my old man always this way when he fights battles?”

Lu Deshui said in a low, resigned voice, “Second Young Master, I thought so too at first. But later I realized the Flying Bear Army was simply too ferocious. There was no need for any grand strategy at all. We just charged in and finished the job. In all these years, we have never once suffered a loss.”

They only set up their formation so plainly because they had already seen through your reckless style and knew you would charge headlong into it. I looked at Liang’s formation earlier; there was not a hint of deception in it. They were simply gambling that you would come straight at them.

Seeing the expression on Lu Deshui’s face as though he had swallowed something awful, Ji Huo’s heart moved. He understood at once and said with a smile, “General Lu, we have already formed some suspicions about my father’s collapse. We came here for that very reason. The enemy acted in secret, and everything happened so suddenly. No blame can be laid on anyone. You need not reproach yourself.”

Lu Deshui looked ashamed and cupped his hands. “Thank you, Second Young Master. I understand.”

Nearby, several other generals threw an arm around Lu Deshui’s shoulders and laughed. “Come now, Little Shui, no need to be so fussy. Since the Second Young Master has said so, do not keep worrying over it.”