Chapter 397: Hero

A will!

Fools, you children don't even know what the letter and words represent.

It represents the loss of a vibrant life, once this letter is opened again after being sealed!

It represents heart-wrenching agony!

It represents a regret that you can never repay.

We did the same back then, fooling around. Of our comrades whom we've teased or teased us back then... seven or eight out of ten of them are no longer here in this world now!

Yet, we who survived, we've never forgotten even now, the devastation we witnessed when we represented our brothers, our platoon, to send their belongings, wills, and pensions back to our late comrades' homes.

We all read those wills before they got sealed. We didn't feel anything then, only thought that it was fun and hilarious.

However, when they were actually torn open... when we saw the familiar words again, the tears were unstoppable, like a broken dam.

When you've experienced it once, you won't want to snatch anyone's will, ever again.

Each will is like a dagger stabbing into your own heart.

You fellows who are making so much noise now... you will soon know that the merry laughter today will bring you a lifetime of longing and heaviness!

When these comrades take a slash for you with their bodies, when they take an arrow for you with their heads, you will suddenly realize how precious today's laughter is - how heart-wrenching and how memorable it shall be.

Laugh, have fun; we won't interrupt you because this might be the last day you can joke around with these brothers in your lifetime.

After today, there might never be merry laughter anymore.

There were a lot of new blood that were unhappy with the veterans. It had been a long time coming.

These old ones acted so arrogantly just because they had fought a few wars. When the young ones came closer, they ignored them. How dare they?

Since the veterans ignored them, the new blood did the same.

However, such discontent would dissipate with a stark realization after the new blood went through a few wars and became veterans themselves.

The battlefield was a terribly realistic place.

There were actually reasons behind the veterans' various behaviors. It was not that they were ignoring them, or they did not want to make friends - they dared not. Having to constantly say goodbye to friends were constant blows to their emotional state...

When one lingered long enough in the battlefield, one really would not want - dared not want - to make any more friends!

Only by making one's self-cold and distant could one's heart be protected.

...

Each empire was making preparations and waiting to pounce. The aggressive aura was evident and formidable.

Yutang's border was brimming with a fighting spirit, patriotism surging within everyone; there was no fear regarding their foes' imminent approach.

In spite of this, Yutang's imperial court was grim, dark and ominous.

The emperor was hard-pressed during this time while Old Marshal Qiu Jianhan often stayed awake through the night with his brows permanently locked in a frown. The latter could not share his worries with outsiders, not even the emperor.

He was the only one in this world who knew that Supreme Wind, who could manipulate the battlefield, was perhaps... not in Yutang at this moment!

He did not know where he had gone to! This was what mattered the most.

Furthermore, from how bold and daring the other empires were setting off their troops, it was not difficult to infer that they might have conspired and trapped Supreme Wind. That would explain their reckless border invasion, intending to wipe out Yutang once and for all!

This highly probable inference weighed down the old marshal, so much so that he felt suffocated by it.

If it were really so, things were looking bad!

Yet, where had Supreme Wind gone to at this critical juncture?

Besides, it was impossible that Supreme Wind did not know a thing, given the aggressiveness displayed by the four empires. However, nothing was hinting at his return to assist them. This was highly suspicious indeed.

Would this become an unsolved mystery?

"Trigger all four nations' spies!" Qiu Jianhan ordered, "Collect all information on unusual activities. Clues must be found regardless of the price and be used to track down Supreme Wind's current whereabouts!"

He paced to the window and gazed at the bright moon that hung in the sky, murmuring, "Hopefully you'll return in time! Otherwise, this war... Yutang's current predicament... we won't walk out of this one unscathed!"

At the break of dawn on the same day, the Empire of Yutang's emperor, Yu Peize, announced a nationwide dictum.

"Yutang does not owe anyone! Yutang has never been a money-making tool for anyone and this should not be a basis for others to initiate a war to conquer the world!"

"Generals from the four empires have requested to partake in the celebration in Yutang previously. For this, the five empires have signed the letter of credence of peace. The agreement that there will be no war before the new year still rings in the ear and stays fresh in our sights. Now, all four nations have unfaithfully dishonored the agreement. The letter of credence is but a joke! Unscrupulous is none other than being so! Backing out on one's word is even more revolting!"

"Yutang has never feared war! Yutang has never crumbled! Promises, we shall observe! Dignity, we shall wear! Friends, we shall welcome! War, we shall fight!"

"Today, I, as the emperor, declare war on behalf of Yutang! All of Yutang's people should bear this responsibility and fend off the enemy together, until the very last breath! Be it man or woman, young or old, healthy or handicapped, everyone has the responsibility to enlist in the military!"

"Before I die, the empire is eternal; before Yutang dies, the nation is forever in fortune! Before Yutang's people die, the spirit of this nation remains!"

"With my blood, my border is secured! With my life, my Yutang is strengthened!"

The injunction spread throughout Yutang swiftly.

The officials and messengers whipped their horses in a frenzy, pasting the dictum everywhere that was visible to the eye!

"With my bones, my border is secured! With my life, my Yutang is strengthened!"

This mantra instantly became the most popular slogan among Yutang's citizens. Crowds gathered at the recruitment spots in each city.

Countless youths queued up with determination and certainty in their faces. Everyone was responsible for the prosperity and fall of their country. They would secure their Yutang with their lives!

At the registration counters, there were also bouts of senior citizens, women, and children. They watched as their son, their husband, and their father turned around to look back at them with each step taken. Slowly, yet so resolutely, they walked forward to report their name and receive a number before being told where they should be heading to report for duty and join the training. Then, they came back to them holding the number, still wearing the same determination.

A young wife gazed in a stupor at her husband whom she had always taken as a useless man.

Her husband was soft like he never had a temper. No matter how overboard the other's words were, he would never get angry. He was even more subservient to his wife. She had always been the decision maker at home while her husband took the stance as listener and follower.

She had always thought that her husband was not manly. That was right, he was not manly; it was not that he was lacking manliness. He was not one bit like the other men who spoke loudly and harshly, who walked flamboyantly with wide strides, who ate and chewed with mouths wide open.

However, when the country was in danger and when the village's men kept silent, it was her seemingly weak and mild husband who enlisted in the military without consulting her for the first time ever!

"I am mild-tempered and have never argued with anyone in my life. I've become a pupil to my master when I was young and learned mystical Qi skill, but I've never shown it to anyone. I thought I'd pass this life like this - to be simple is to be happy, to be peaceful is to be lucky. However, now that our country is in danger, I am going!"

"With my life, I shall secure my Yutang!"

The young wife's eyes were rimmed red.

She was stricken with the realization that her husband, whom she had chastised countless times, was her greatest hero!

Truly her hero!

She had never felt safer than she did now. She had always felt a lack of security then; was that only an illusion?

As she watched, her husband held the number and walked over back to her with the usual mild friendliness on his face. He looked like he had done her wrong, lowering his head and murmuring, "I hope you don't blame me... The rise and fall of a nation, the border invasion by the enemy... the country is on shaky grounds... I know that you don't like me. I'll pen our divorce papers when we go back. If I don't come back..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the young wife had covered his mouth with her soft hands, saying gently, "Speak no more. Since I'm married to you, alive - I belong to your family as a person; dead - I belong to your family as a ghost. The ancestor's burial site will have my place, you can't run away from it!"

The wife's gaze was unprecedentedly soft and affectionate, etched with deep love. "I now know that my man is a hero! I've known it a little late, but... it's never too late, is it?"

The man smiled innocently, with a scratch of his head. "I'm no hero. People like the Nine Supremes Lords, Marshal Tie, Marshal Fu, Old Marshal Qiu and others; those are the real heroes."

"Of course they are, but in my heart, you're the greatest hero of them all!"

The wife walked back holding her husband, almost slipping into his embrace seeing as to how small she was. "When we get home... we'll make love... I don't care about anything but the fact that you're going to war... you at least have to leave someone to keep me company..."

The young wife's face was as red as burning coal.

"I'll wait for you, whether alive or dead!"

When they got back to their village, the young wife's chin was lifted high in pride.

Facing the women whom she had always chatted with, those who always praised their husbands and lowered her husband as a useless man, she was radiant like never before; she wore a sense of superiority that came from the core, she felt invincible as she looked down on all of them.

My husband is a hero!

My husband is not afraid of anything, he speaks with his actions!

My husband is a warrior who fights for his country!

Those in your homes are but useless men!

When the country is in danger, your large size of seven or eight feet is but a waste, your muscles are but a waste, your energy and strength is but a waste!

What's so mighty about controlling the village? If you're so mighty, go to the battlefield and kill the invaders!

Our country is in crisis, our country is about to be conquered, but all of you are willing to be cowards! I despise all of you!

Hmph!