Ch.32 Lonewolf, The God of War’s Personal Troop

~Meanwhile~

The lady leaning against the Late Emperor’s gravestone did not seem to know how shocking her action would seem to any other person.

“I met a guy,” she spoke lightly as she watched the floating clouds spread across the vast sky.

“He is detestable,” she felt a need to clarify her distaste furthermore.

“They call him the Mad Dog,” she paused, then nodded. "I am in full agreement."

Despite only being greeted by a cold blanket of silence, the lady continued this conversation as though ‘he’ was there listening. “Do you know what he asked me?”

Luo Yue remembered the first night they had spent together having that drinking contest. After a while, with half-lidded eyelids, Wu Zhe Yan had stared straight at her, ceased his eyebrows and tilted the head that had started to grow heavy.

‘Hey, kitty,' he had blurted out of the blue. Those golden eyes had bore through her soul and a most unexpected question had left his mouth. 'Exactly who are you mourning for?'

“Isn’t he a weird one?”

Luo Yue turned away from the sky and looked down at her clothes instead. The white robe that was softly fluttering in the wind brought a bittersweet laugh from her lips.

“How… did he know?”

The God of War who had once donned in nothing but black now only possessed a wardrobe of white robes. It had been this way for the past 5 years but it was not a detail that even those who knew her would easily catch. Yet, he had realised with a glance.

She wore nothing but white. Because that... was her way of mourning for the one person who had been her world.

She did not like how effortlessly he had seen through her.

Luo Yue made up her mind to stay as far away from him as possible.

She caught the sound of twigs breaking under a pair of shoes and turned her head towards the stone stairs. When she saw the person who had just arrived, Luo Yue gave a disgruntled complaint. “It was unnecessary to inform the old man of my return. I only came to take a quick look and then I’m going straight back to my peaceful life on the mountain.”

The Gifted Scholar, Xu Shi Jing, merely chuckled, knowing that despite her words, she must have been quite pleased to meet Eunuch Liu. He asked instead, “did you have a pleasant time meeting General Wu?”

“A pleasant time?” immediate scorn came from the God of War. She frowned and accused, “you sent me there on purpose knowing that our personalities were going to crash, didn’t you?”

“I thought the two of you would become friends.” A small tilt appeared on his lips and the Gifted Scholar looked ever refined and gentle. As though even the most corrupted of darkness would not be able to leave a stain on the soft radiance he was emitting. “That must have been a miscalculation on my part.”

Finding it useless to argue with him, Luo Yue pushed herself up and after one last glance at the gravestone, started to descend the flight of stairs. She had guessed that Xu Shi Jing’s presence now was an order from the Emperor.

5 years later, it was finally time to meet the new Emperor of the North.

“Yue, do you really have no plans to re-enter court affairs?” Xu Shi Jing asked as he followed behind.

The God of War had never held an official position. She had been the freest person with no sort of title chaining her down. With just the name ‘God of War’, she had been allowed to command any troops, and even her words in court had carried a lot of weight. It was an unheard-of situation and an unspoken authority granted by the previous Emperor. And that almost blind trust had caused countless commotions and uproars. Almost everyone had been wary of the power in her hands. However, with the achievements that she had managed to rack up time and again, who would have been able to stand out and say anything to her face?

Now, with the current Emperor so blatantly unwelcoming her presence, she would rather not involve herself in this muddy water again. Besides, there was no point in doing so anymore.

“With you there, there won’t be any need for me.”

“Still, there are some things that only you would dare bring up in court.”

“I am enjoying my quiet days.”

“That is indeed a well-deserved rest for you.”

“Mn, and I plan to return right after this.”

“Are you not even planning to visit the Lonewolf?”

Luo Yue stopped.

The Lonewolf was a name that seemed to have disappeared along with the God of War. However, now that rumours about the God of War were rising once again, the name ‘Lonewolf’ was also starting to come up more frequently.

Lonewolf, the God of War’s personal troop.

That was a name that would remain firmly etched into the history of the Northern Kingdom for centuries to come.

The Lonewolf were undefeatable, just like the master they followed. They stood at the very top, with a shinning radiance that seemed to surround them wherever they went. In the eyes of the Northern soldiers, they were unprecedented beings capable of achieving anything and the only people qualified enough to stand beside the God of War.

Extremely grateful to be on the same side, they had always been treated with tremendous reverence, respect, and admiration among the soldiers. Their enemies, however, were not as lucky. Despite the small number, their overwhelming presence was one that had always dominated the battlefield. In every war that they had participated in, their name had razed across the field, demoralizing enemies even before the warring bell tolls.

The God of War’s personal troop cannot be defeated; that was something that had already been etched into the minds and souls of their enemies and friends alike.

They, were the pride of the North.

However, interestingly enough, they were the only military troop that consisted of not just the Northern citizens but people from all over the four kingdoms. A group of people of unmistakable talents and distinct personalities. An unruly group of fighters who had been brought together to one place for one surprisingly simple reason. Because their fateful encounters with the God of War had led them to be completely charmed.

That... was the origins of the Lonewolf.

Perhaps it was her charismatic character or her unworldly fighting skills. They had desperately wanted to know more about the figure behind the mask, wanted to make her acquaintance and had tagged along so closely that they had even followed her through countless wars.

She had found each and every one of them annoying at first. Then, amused by how they could easily make friends with each other over a hearty laugh around the campfire. So, even people who had known each other for the first time could form such a tight bond. That was the first time she had understood how friends were supposed to be made.

They were noisy, but their outgoing nature must have rubbed off on her; she found herself less bothered by their presence. Then, as time went on, they had even held a ceremony to swear on their brotherhood and declared their unchanging loyalty to her. To which she had taken a look at the group of people kneeling outside, deadpanned and went back to sleep.

Until… they had started pouring out the wines. She had had no choice but to receive their offerings then.

Like the rest of the world, most of them had never even once seen her face but that did not seem to hinder them at all. They did not mind as long as they were enjoying themselves. They insisted on calling themselves the Lonewolf. Her Lonewolf. A group of people who moves alone yet with connections as strong as a pack of wolves. Each one of them was vastly different yet they had all gathered under the moon and that was Luo Yue.

*Luo Yue = Fallen/Falling Moon

A lot of them had been roaming the Jianghu before meeting her. Then, they had decided to settle down and had joined her in her fight. Not for her country, nor for the people, but only for the pleasure of standing on the same battlefield as the God of War.

Their movements were completely different from ordinary troops, and it seemed only Luo Yue was capable of commanding them. They were awfully arrogant and obstinate people but in front of the one person they had sworn loyalty to, they gave her their unconditional trust and would follow her even to the end of the world.

The God of War's personal troop was the one force that enemies prayed they would never meet. They were too coordinated, too loyal, too strong and most of all... they were impossible to counter. After all, the Lonewolf’s varying weapons of choice had always been the biggest headache. There were the usual arrows, spears and swords, then, there would be others with nunchucks, walking sticks with poisoned needles, sharpened hammers and all sorts of unimaginable things. Well, what else could be expected? Their master was using a fan.

And then, there was this lunatic who would go around lining up the fallen soldiers because he could not stand the mess on the battlefield.

Luo Yue considered Xu Shi Jing’s words and then shook her head with a grimace. She knew full well how much of a ruckus they would make if they found out that she had finally come out of her seclusion. Just thinking about the lot of them was giving her a headache. “Chang’e is still waiting for me on the mountain.”

“I’m afraid they have already caught wind of your return,” Xu Shi Jing said. “I understand you have no intention to fight anymore but I doubt that will hardly deter their faith and loyalty to the God of War.”

“Loyalty…” she paused, remembering the words of the dead Southern Commander. “I heard there’s a traitor.”

“A traitor?” Almost everyone knew how extremely loyal those in the Lonewolf were. They had always been the subject of envy and admiration even among the army. It was almost unimaginable to think that a traitor would really come out of the God of War’s personal troop. If it really was true, one could only imagine how big of a blow that would be to her. He looked up to see that she was being perfectly serious and asked earnestly, “Yue, do you need my help?”

“You already have enough on your plate. I do not intend to let the words of a dying man sown doubt inside the troop, but I also cannot leave it alone. I’ll have Tian Ping look into this secretly.”

~Meanwhile~

As Wu Zhe Yan walked out of the court, the sunlight reflected off his shiny armour. He felt even more confused about her identity than he had been when he had entered the court.

Wu Zhe Yan was never one to hold such a constant interest in someone, but Luo Yue remained as intriguing as the first time he had met her. Like an unsolved puzzle, a half-written poem or an unfinished painting, he could not help but get curious.

His mind wandered back to his previous conversation with her black eagle. So, if it had really been telling the truth, then who else could she be? And why was the Emperor this wary of her?

“Leader, welcome back!” Wu Zhe Yan was enthusiastically greeted by a huge group of armoured men. “As expected of the Leader. You’ve completely turned the situation around!”

“More importantly, Leader, there’s been a shocking rumour floating around during your absence!” they excitedly gathered around him and whispered.

“A rumour?”

“Yeah, did you know that the God of War has left seclusion?!”

“The God of War, Luo Yue?” Wu Zhe Yan’s eyebrow piqued in interest. The God of War was a mysterious figure even among the Jianghu fighters. Well-known for being an unmatched martial artist who was single-handedly guarding the North’s last line of defence, he was someone whom many fighters had wanted to test their strength against. Wu Zhe Yan was no exception. He had thought that he would be able to meet the rumoured, faceless God of War when he had first entered the Imperial Court, but their paths had not been meant to cross.

“It’s crazy! Everyone thought he must have died 5 years ago when all news about him disappeared into thin air. Then, a rumour that he was recently seen in LanLing Village a few weeks ago suddenly came out of nowhere.”

“That’s about the same time you left the Capital, Leader. Did you really not see him on your way to TianAn City?”

Wu Zhe Yan did not remember seeing anyone. “No.”

“It can’t be helped. The God of War left in secret, and no one knows why but it seems like none of the officials was allowed to talk about him so there was almost no information at all. But one of our members’ friend’s brother’s wife’s friend’s grandmother happens to be a citizen of Lanling village. Apparently, the God of War settled the situation there overnight. I heard the notorious Immortality Token even made an appearance! That’s a national treasure!”

“If the God of War has really resurfaced,” Wu Zhe Yan mused in anticipation.

“Then, it’s only a matter of time until we meet.”