"Where is this? How did we get here?"
"Shen-ye, we're in the Great Wilderness."
"???"
"Listen, Shen-ye. After you fell asleep that day, a spatial rift suddenly appeared in mid-air and sucked us in, along with the Spirit Beasts. When I woke up, we were in this desolate wilderness."
"And the Spirit Beasts?"
"Are you trying to be funny? Of course, we roasted and ate them."
"..."
Ding Buer slowly recounted his experiences over the past month.
After being sucked into the spatial rift, the two of them arrived in the Great Wilderness. Because Shen Zhao was unconscious, Ding Buer could only find a cart and pull him aimlessly towards a civilized area.
Just three days ago, a Northern Barbarians cavalry unit stopped them. Without a word, they beat them up and then forced them to join a large group transporting supplies.
The laborers responsible for transporting the supplies were all civilians captured from the Great Yin's border.
Shen Zhao carefully scanned the crowd around them, then glanced at the fully armed cavalry unit in the distance. He immediately understood that the Northern Barbarians were planning to invade the Great Yin.
However, what surprised Shen Zhao was that Yu Xiyan had only been on the throne for a little over a year. According to the original history, there were still two years before the Barbarian Race invaded the Great Yin and the two countries engaged in a decisive battle.
Could it be that because he hadn't followed the path set by the system, he had triggered a butterfly effect, changing the timing of the war between the two countries?
With the fires of war burning, Shen Zhao, who had been a god of war in his past life, knew what this scene meant.
Countless lives, as insignificant as grass, fell meaninglessly in pools of blood, and countless families were torn apart.
Children would lose the embrace of their parents, becoming orphans. Wives would lose the pillars of their homes, weeping every day. The elderly would send off the young, their sorrowful tears all dried up.
However, in this life, knowing that the flames of war were about to arrive, Shen Zhao felt that it had nothing to do with him.
"Young Master Shen, since you're awake, let's get out of here quickly?"
Ding Buer said cautiously.
"With your strength, one punch is all it takes to handle them."
A smile unconsciously appeared on Shen Zhao's lips as he looked at Ding Buer and said, "Master Ding, you're now at the seventh rank of the Body Tempering Realm. It wouldn't be difficult for you to leave me and go on your own, right? Why have you always stayed by my side?"
Ding Buer said, "To be frank, Young Master Shen, I've had that thought. But, as they say, we're in the same boat, how could I bear to leave you alone?"
"Speak human."
"I don't know the way, how can I run!"
Shen Zhao wore an "I see" expression, continuing to size up his surroundings.
Just as he was pondering how to deal with this group of Barbarian soldiers and make a graceful exit, a seven or eight-year-old girl with a dirty face held out a bowl of hot porridge to Shen Zhao, and said timidly, "Uncle, are you awake? My mother asked me to bring this. Drink it quickly, it's hard to bear when you're hungry."
Shen Zhao looked at the girl's innocent eyes, then at a woman in coarse clothes pulling a cart in the distance, who was nodding at him. He couldn't help but gently stroke the girl's head.
"Uncle isn't hungry, you eat it."
Suddenly, a shout came, "Bastard, who told you to stop, you're courting death!"
Following that, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air, and a thorny whip lashed down.
Just as the girl closed her eyes, a look of pain on her face as she braced for the whip's strike, the expected pain never arrived.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Shen Zhao had firmly grasped the falling whip, his gaze cold as ice as he stared at the Barbarian Warrior's ferocious face.
"You..."
Crack
The Northern Barbarian Warrior spoke the last word of his life, before Shen Zhao sent him flying with a single punch, spinning him around 350 degrees before he slammed into the ground, a bloody mess.
Meanwhile, Ding Buer had already covered the girl's eyes with his hand, saying repeatedly, "Be good, listen, don't look."
The huge commotion quickly attracted the attention of the Barbarian soldiers. Over a hundred riders charged towards Shen Zhao, scaring the civilians who were transporting supplies into crouching down, not daring to make a sound.
"Little girl, go to your mother. Your uncle wants to stretch his legs."
Shen Zhao patted the girl on the back, then cracked his neck. Facing the surging barbarian cavalry, he calmly grabbed his wine flask and took a swig of spirit wine.
"A bunch of bullies! You still haven't learned your lesson after being slaughtered nine times? Then let's make it ten."
Just as Shen Zhao was about to deal with these troubles, a sound like a windstorm and a crimson cloud of dust from galloping horses came from afar.
"It's the imperial army! The imperial army is here to save us!"
Someone in the crowd saw the bright flag with the character "Yin" and immediately recognized it as the border troops of the Great Yin Dynasty – the Hantian Army.
"Kill!"
The leading middle-aged general gave the order, and three thousand iron-clad cavalry swarmed forward.
The Northern Barbarians cavalry were momentarily stunned, but they quickly reacted and charged towards the Yin Dynasty's border troops.
The battle lasted for over an hour. After leaving behind five hundred corpses, the Barbarian warriors abandoned the captured civilians and supplies, fleeing in panic back into the desert.
Seeing the enemy retreat, the border army general immediately dismounted. He clasped his hands towards the kneeling civilians, who were kowtowing to him, and said, "Brothers and sisters, this lowly general, Yue Qing, is late in arriving, and you have been frightened."
"Thank you, General! Thank you, General!"
Upon hearing this, the civilians all wept with joy.
Shen Zhao did not take action, merely standing among the crowd, silently observing the scene.
"Everyone, please follow me into the city first. The Barbarians will surely return. It is not safe to stay here."
Hearing this, the civilians immediately abandoned their supplies and followed the Hantian Army towards the nearest Hanyuan Pass.
Hanyuan Pass marked the border between the Great Wilderness and the Great Yin Empire.
After the Great Yin Dynasty took power, they specifically built this pass to defend against the invasion of the Barbarian Race.
After Shen Zhao entered Hanyuan Pass with the refugees, he saw the open spaces filled with civilians who had come to take refuge from the war. They were currently sitting in a circle, numbly watching the people coming and going.
"So many people," Ding Buer said, seeming to feel something. "The natural disasters had just started to improve, and now there's war again. When will the common people ever have a good life?"
Shen Zhao found an empty spot on his own and silently drank his liquor.
Were ordinary people in the cultivation world suffering?
Of course, they were!
Survival was far more difficult than one might imagine.
They not only had to guard against foreign invasions but also against the evil cultivators' remnants. They also had to be careful in serving those high-and-mighty cultivators; a single misstep could lead to death.
Just as he was thinking this, a group of cooks pushed carts towards the refugees.
"Food's ready."
The next moment, the originally numb refugees swarmed the cooks, scrambling to reach out their hands, fearing they would miss their share.
After a long while, the refugees sat back in their corners, each holding a coarse steamed bun and a bowl of thin gruel, eating and drinking.
Shen Zhao and Ding Buer had not gone to scramble for food.
Seeing this, he knew immediately that Hanyuan Pass was severely short of food.
The problem must lie with the border army's commander, Huang Tianhu.
Huang Tianhu, as the commander of the border army, commanded an army of 500,000 soldiers. He was practically a local tyrant in the northern region.
In his previous life, after Shen Zhao dealt with the Pang family, he immediately rushed to the border, cleverly seizing the border army's military power and plotting to poison Huang Tianhu, who intended to rebel.
Now, although the Pang family had fallen, Huang Tianhu, who was closely connected to them, had not been removed.
And Huang Tianhu had long harbored rebellious intentions. The news of the Pang family's downfall must have reached his ears, prompting him to collude with the Northern Barbarians to overthrow the Great Yin Dynasty. Otherwise, there was no explanation for why the Northern Barbarians would have launched their troops two years earlier than in his memories?
After sorting out the logic, Shen Zhao was relieved about everything that was happening.
But so what? He no longer had any ties to the Great Yin Dynasty; why bother getting involved in this mess?
What he should do was leave here and meet up with Su Yunying and the others.
While Shen Zhao was deep in thought, a voice rang out in his ear: "Didn't you guys go to get food just now?"
Looking up, Gu Yunxiao was standing right in front of him, holding two steamed buns and smiling.
"Heh..."
Shen Zhao took the buns and gave one to Ding Buer.
Ding Buer immediately and sensibly ran over to the refugees, leaving space for Shen Zhao and Gu Yunxiao.
Gu Yunxiao sat directly beside Shen Zhao: "Shen Zhao, I didn't expect to meet you here."
Shen Zhao: "Young Master Gu, you look well. I didn't think a favored son of heaven like you would be wandering around this borderland."
Gu Yunxiao laughed: "I've been ordered to come and oversee the military. In a few days, perhaps a great battle will break out here. I'm quite nervous."
Shen Zhao leaned his head against the wall and looked at the sky: "The Great Yin's military power is imposing. Surely the 500,000 border troops won't be afraid of those Barbarian armies?"
Gu Yunxiao was silent for a long time, then suddenly said, "Shen Zhao, do you know why this war broke out?"
Shen Zhao didn't speak, listening silently as Gu Yunxiao continued.
"The Northern Barbarians' Khan wanted Cousin Xiyao to marry into the Great Wilderness, but His Majesty refused. That's why the Northern Barbarians decided to launch a punitive expedition, sigh..."
Shen Zhao said directly, "She did the right thing. Relying on marriage alliances will never maintain peace. The war between Great Yin and the Northern Barbarians would have broken out sooner or later."
"But now is really not the best time for war to break out. The disaster in the south has just been brought under control, and preparations for this war are insufficient. The court won't be able to gather enough military funds in a short time. Furthermore..."
Gu Yunxiao paused, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.
"Huang Tianhu seems to be colluding with the Northern Barbarians, intending to subvert the Great Yin's country."
Shen Zhao immediately interrupted him, "Young Master Gu, what's the point of telling me all this? I'm not a member of the court."
Gu Yunxiao: "Come on, Shen Zhao, stop messing around. I should have guessed your identity a long time ago. You're the Emperor's husband, you..."
Shen Zhao interrupted him again: "Shh... Don't speak nonsense. What husband of the Emperor? Where did you hear these rumors? Aren't you afraid of losing your head?"
Gu Yunxiao was stunned, and his emotions suddenly became somewhat out of control: "Shen Zhao, didn't you say you liked the Emperor very much? I heard the Empress Dowager mention it when I was a child. If you married into the royal family, you would be devoted to the Emperor for life.
But why did you run away the day the Emperor ascended the throne? You clearly have that kind of strength. As long as you married into the royal family and became the Emperor's husband, you could definitely help her a lot. Don't you think you're being irresponsible like this?"
"I've never even met the Emperor, what's with this 'like'? Have you ever seen me alone with her? Can you stop believing everything you hear and slandering me out of thin air!"
Gu Yunxiao was immediately speechless.
"You should know that the Emperor is very averse to this arranged marriage. Do you think she'd be happy marrying someone who doesn't love her?
Rather than tormenting each other, it's better to let go early. It's a good thing for everyone."
"But Your Majesty is the ruler of a country. You're making her lose face; it's embarrassing! How can you bear to see her upset?"
"How could that be? Maybe your ruler is overjoyed and rolling around on the ground."
After saying this, he stood up, preparing to leave.
"Shen Zhao!"
Gu Yunxiao called out to him.
"You want to live your own life, and I won't stop you. But before that, could you come with me to see someone?"
"Who?"
"Come with me, and you'll find out."
-----------------------
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