The above was just fantasy.
He seemed to react to her voice, suddenly turning around, raising the Yueying blade horizontally, slashing directly at her. Lie Yunhua neighed miserably, having a small piece of its crest sliced off by the sharp blade-wind. Xin Mei felt a sharp pain in her shoulder—his blade-wind had actually cut a gash in her shoulder!
Xin Mei tumbled off the horse’s back and ran, faster than a rabbit.
Si Lan, watching dumbfounded nearby, couldn’t help shouting: “Where are you going?! The General’s awake!”
She looked around frantically, found a relatively reliable boulder half a person’s height, and quickly hid behind it before saying: “I’m finding a place to hide for a bit. Lu Qianqiao seems to have gone completely mad.”
Huh?! She came to this battlefield of near-certain death precisely to live and die together with the General! At a time like this, shouldn’t she be crying and throwing herself forward to embrace the General tightly, loudly calling the name of the General who had lost his reason?!
Si Lan was frantic: “That’s just him not yet adapting to the War Ghost’s immense power! If you go over, he might regain consciousness!”
Xin Mei peeked out to look. Lu Qianqiao was still randomly killing people with his blade. She immediately pulled her head back. Staying with him was one thing, but being killed by him was another matter entirely. This was obviously symptoms of complete madness—going over there would be seeking death.
“Call his name! He can’t hear anyone’s voice, but he’ll definitely hear yours!” Si Lan still wouldn’t give up.
Uh, call him over, then have him raise his blade to chop them both into mincemeat?
Xin Mei looked at him with difficulty: “Are you… possessed by Official Zhao?”
Si Lan instantly went rigid like being struck by five thunderbolts.
“If this awakening succeeds, Young Master will have successfully passed through his transformation ordeal!”
Li Yan had somehow also ended up standing on the boulder, speaking with heartfelt joy.
Xin Mei looked up at him: “Why are you hiding here too?! Aren’t you going to stop him from killing people randomly?”
Li Yan was stunned: “Young Master is awakening. How could I have the ability to stop him? He can kill as many as he likes—it doesn’t matter if he kills them all.”
“The people he’s killing include His Imperial Majesty’s troops too! Aren’t you working for the Emperor?”
Li Yan’s face showed a cold expression: “Except for the heavenly gods, War Ghosts never truly serve anyone.”
…But if he killed everyone here, he’d come kill the few of them next, wouldn’t he?
Xin Mei felt her heart beating fiercely. She quietly extended half her body—Lu Qianqiao was already far away from her, soaked in blood from head to toe—other people’s blood.
Many people surrounded him but didn’t dare approach, watching in horror and silence as he howled miserably, as if enduring tremendous pain. The Yueying blade was gripped tightly by him, its edge chipped from cutting too many people, striking the ground heavily again and again, each strike splitting a narrow, deep pit.
Was he… in great pain right now?
She looked down at her hands—her palms were already full of sweat. She had never seen Lu Qianqiao like this, completely unapproachable, with only the War Ghost instinct for frenzied slaughter. Could it be… she really had to rush over with earth-shaking momentum to embrace him like Si Lan said, then call his name again and again with a voice like a cuckoo crying blood?
…So disgusting. Better forget it.
The Yueying blade was suddenly raised high. Lu Qianqiao made a throwing motion, his target—the white tent on the distant hilltop! That seemed to be peasant leader Wu Shuang’s camp, right?
The long blade was shrouded in a layer of blood-red radiance. Released from his grip, it made an extremely sharp, piercing whistle, shooting out like a red meteor. Just like when he killed the tiger demon, the blade seemed to possess its own life, flying up and down around the tent, reducing it to shreds in the blink of an eye. Along with the shreds, chunks of flesh and blood exploded—presumably the people who had been inside the tent.
“Constant Victory King! It’s the Constant Victory King!”
The peasant soldiers began to stir. Everyone knew the person in the tent was Wu Shuang’s younger brother, the self-proclaimed Constant Victory King, Wu Yi. The second leader died without a sound—the blow to them was too tremendous. Even Wu Shuang was stunned for a long time before suddenly coming to his senses, spurring his horse to turn and flee: “Retreat! Temporarily retreat today!”
The demoralized peasant soldiers scattered like birds and beasts, retreating a full thirty li. The Battle of Jiaoping Pass on August 6th—a small victory.
General Bai Zongying rode over with a complex expression. Lu Qianqiao stood quietly in place, neither shouting nor killing, having become a dull stone person again, raising his blood-stained face high, staring vacantly at the sky.
“General Lu…”
Bai Zongying had only said four words when Lu Qianqiao suddenly swung his blade toward him. Bai Zongying’s loyal aide immediately rushed forward to block, was cut in half with one stroke, and fell to the ground with a wretched cry.
“You… what are you trying to do?!” Bai Zongying was so frightened he tumbled off his horse and fled backward crawling.
The long blade was raised again, this time aimed at his fat face.
“Lu Qianqiao!”
A young woman’s voice suddenly came from behind. Lu Qianqiao’s hand raising the long blade abruptly paused for an instant.
Under everyone’s gaze, Xin Mei picked up a large stone from the ground and hurled it at him with force: “Stop going crazy!”
“Thud”—the large stone accurately struck this crazed General Lu on the back of his head. The long blade slipped from his hand, and he pitched forward to the ground.
“What did you do?!” Si Lan nearly fainted as well.
“Uh, I just wanted him to quiet down…” For once, Xin Mei felt guilty.
He was indeed quiet now—very quietly, he had passed out.