Ch.13 Already At Each Other's Throats

Wu Zhe Yan ran a thumb across the small cut on the surface of his face and then licked the tiny drop of blood.

Even as he stood in the middle of the battlefield, her attack was the one that had made him feel the hairs on his arms standing in excitement.

Those eagle-like eyes seemed to have turned a few shades redder as his lips curled up ever so hair-risingly. The two people stared at each other for a moment too long as sparks flew silently between them.

Only when the next wave of enemy cavalry began to break through the North’s first defence did he pull his gaze away to focus on delivering death to people who deserved it more.

Well, he has always loved saving the icing of a pastry for last.

The archers of the North who had witnessed the quick exchange between their General and this nameless strategist did not dare to approach her at all. Instead, they held on to the only weapon they had -arrows- and stood there hesitantly, unsure if they should be warier of her or the enemies below.

“Are you not going to work?” one perturbing stare from the God of War was more than enough.

“Y-yes, Lady!” They quickly set up their bow and arrows, but with the person who had managed to injure the General that even hundreds of enemies could not watching their every move, their hands trembled involuntarily and arrows skewed all over the battlefield. Some even nearly missing the head of fellow soldiers.

She felt her eyes twitch. ‘Has the quality of our soldiers fallen this drastically? Exactly who has been overseeing military training after Gao Peng’s retirement? No wonder the North has been swallowing one defeat after another.’

“At this rate, the South doesn’t even need to lay a hand for us to eliminate ourselves.”

The archers hung their heads low. 4 years of war had long taken away most of the original veterans, leaving only inexperienced and undertrained new novices in its wake.

She took one look at the ashamed soldiers and did not criticise them further, merely instructing, “hand them to me. You’re wasting resources.”

“H-huh? I mean, yes!” One of the more shard-minded ones quickly handed both his bow and arrows.

However, Luo Yue only took the arrows into her hands.

“Lady, you’re not going to take the bow?” Xiao Liu asked.

“Don’t need it,” she replied as she broke off the arrowheads. “Xiao Liu, have you ever played the flick stone game?”

“Of course, my Lady! It’s the most popular game in the Capital nowadays.”

“I find it-” she placed one of the arrowheads on her left palm, aimed at the battlefield below, pulled her finger back and then flicked it, “-quite entertaining as well.”

With fallen jaws, Xiao Liu gawked as the arrowhead flew out of her palm faster than it could have from a bow and struck through the forehead of not one, but two enemies on the battlefield.

“…” What kind of sorcery-?!

Luo Yue sat herself on the edge of the tower as she leaned back against a wooden pillar. While Shen Tian Ping helped to break off the arrowheads, she engrossed herself with an entertaining game of flick stone.

“How many are we being attacked by?” she asked.

“Around 2 thousand, Lady She Li,” the soldiers on the tower answered her politely, a complete change from the unwelcoming attitude of the previous night. They had seen enough of her ability to realise that by sending her here, the Emperor was really trying to save them, not rush them to their deaths.

Only 2 thousand for a head-on attack? Her hand paused and her eyes narrowed before she suddenly turned to them. A part of the aloofness in her expression had been taken over by a hint of uneasiness. “How many soldiers are guarding the warehouse?”

“Most of them ran here as soon as they heard that the South had launched a surprise attack…”

“Those fools! It’s a trap.”

At that moment, a loud explosive sound could be heard somewhere in the distance and then, as though the Southern soldiers had received some kind of secret instructions, they quickly retreated, leaving only the Northern soldiers in the dust.

Luo Yue watched the blazing fire in the distance -most likely their warehouse with all their food supply and weapons being devoured- and then gave a long, deep sigh. With this, she has fully grasped the kinds of people she would be working with from now on. A bunch of headless soldiers and… a mad dog. How absolutely amazing.

“Let’s go.” She climbed down from the tower and made her way to the assembly tent.

~~

The curtains to the tent were drawn open as General Wu, along with the 3 lieutenants entered. There, they found that a person had already taken one of the chairs for herself and was staring intently at the sand table.

“The strategist sent by his Majesty…” as the only lady in the camp, she was easily recognised by the lieutenants.

Wu Zhe Yan was the first to stride forward, taking 2 steps more than necessary as his overwhelming figure came too near to her. So near that the smell of blood easily wafted to her nose and every minute detail of his suddenly became all too clear. As annoying as he was, one could not deny that he must have been very well-loved by God to be this… well-chiselled. He was only standing in front of her, and already, her vision had been completely blocked by that person one could only describe as a work of God.

“You’re that strategist?” one strong finger lifted her chin as a smirk graced that already devilishly handsome face. “You’re more interesting than I’ve thought.”

His smirk brought a chill into the room but surprisingly, only the person at the end of his dangerous gaze stood without flinching.

The lukewarm expression on her face was broken when her lips curved into a tight smile as her eyes twitched. She addressed the male standing beside her, “say, Tian Ping, will you cut off his hand?”

“Yes, Lady.” Shen Tian Ping did not need further instruction to draw his sword.

However, the Mad Dog was also a title well-earned and before Shen Tian Ping’s sword could strike down, it was already parried by Wu Zhe Yan’s own giant one.

“A feisty one, aren’t you?” He grinned, still maintaining eye contact with the lady in front of him. He took a good look at her, felt that it would be a pity to get rid of such an interesting person so soon and made up his mind. He let go of her chin and took a seat at the head of the table. “I’ll let you stay on one condition. You-…”

“Denied,” she didn’t even blink as she cut in.

“…”

From the corner of her eyes, Luo Yue could just see the General’s hands tighten. With that dictatorial manner, he must have grown up getting whatever he wanted, she mused with great pleasure. The kind of person least likely to get along with her, who loathed working under anyone else. “You seem mistaken. Now that the warehouse has fallen, you and the soldiers have already lost the upper hand in this battle of endurance. You might have the strength to change the flow of the war but I’m afraid you’re lacking in the brains. Even if the Northern Army wins this time, the sacrifices will be huge. Not unless, of course, you have a strategist like me.”

“A strategist like you, you say,” Wu Zhe Yan cackled; interest piqued by that confidence. Throughout his life, there had only been 2 kinds of people who had shown this kind of arrogance in front of him. One, people who didn’t know they were about to be killed and two, people who were prepared to die. He wondered which of the 2 categories she belonged to. “And what makes you think you’re this indispensable?”

Xiao Liu wanted to roll his eyes. Because my Lady here is the God of War, of course!

Luo Yue, on the other hand, merely tapped the sand table loftily. “Take a guess.”

Only then did they notice that the drawing on the sand -the plan that they had been making in the morning- had been completely erased and replaced by new concise strokes.

“This… this is the City of TianAn!” one of the lieutenants was the first to recognise the layout. Luo Yue had managed to recall everything to the smallest of details and had drawn it out on the sand table.

“So, this is the map of TianAn City.” Wu Zhe Yan crossed his arms as golden eyes stared back unnervingly. The humour in his words did not reach his tone this time. “With such details, if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought our dear strategist here was a spy.”

“What a coincidence. With our great General’s inability at protecting our warehouse, I was also almost under the false impression that you were working for the enemy.”