Chapter Nine: The Left Bank of the One Against Ten Thousand Section Twelve: Farewell to Shaoyuan

Chapter Twelve: Farewell to Shaoyuan

They had been married for a long time. Bai Xing was no longer shy around him, and she helped him into his clothes and dried his hair. Then she quickly handed him the letter.

“No hurry. Let us go back to the city and read it with your sister. We’ve all been waiting too long.”

“Mm.”

On the way home, Bai Xing rode with him on Black Dragon, and as they dashed across the steppe she sang out at the top of her voice the entire way.

Bai Yue was already waiting at the gate. When she saw them arrive, she hurriedly helped Bai Xing dismount. “Has Great Rovi sent word?”

“Mm.” Bai Xing raised the letter. “Jingxian said all three of us should read it.”

When the three returned to the estate, Bu Jingxian sat sipping hot tea and told Bai Xing to open it.

After reading, Bai Yue laughed with delight. “As you expected, this council is surely about marching on Zhou.”

“Great Rovi has long kept silent. Today Zheng has once again spread rumors that its king is coming to Zhou to bow before the Son of Heaven as a vassal. Great Rovi has already considered crushing Zhou and restoring his prestige, but he feared that if he destroyed Zhou it would only be helping Zheng. Now that he hears the king is returning, how could he bear it? Zheng’s move is nothing but bait to draw the Black Wolf Tribe into wiping out Zhou.

“Ao Pan is young. The king of Zheng cannot wait until after his death to claim the throne; this is a desperate move, and therefore a forgivable one.”

“Ao Pan has written three times in the past six months, always begging your help. We have finally found our moment.” Bai Xing was visibly pleased as well. She knew that if they marched against Zhou, the Evening Glow Tribe would gain the greater part of the profit. They might even cast off their label as barbarians in one stroke.

“Only… I worry we cannot carry it all ourselves.”

“That may be unlikely. Since Zheng has spread that rumor, Great Rovi will certainly want to lead troops himself and capture the Zheng king alive. He will not let someone else take that merit. Yet the king will never go to Zhou’s capital, and the Zheng troops there will not trade the Black Wolf army for pointless bloodshed. They would welcome the chance for the Black Wolves to storm the city, fail to find the king, and then rage through innocent slaughter.”

“Then we shall see if you can restrain them.”

“I am certain.”

“I’ll have arrangements for a feast tonight. We will celebrate properly.”

“All right. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Gladly. My husband is the most extraordinary man.” Bai Xing said, moving close to kiss him, then turned away to oversee the preparations.

Bai Yue also rejoiced. “Now you are, apart from Great Rovi himself, the most powerful Rovi among the Black Wolves. At the time of truce there were thirteen Great Rovis. In half a year of scattered fighting, only six remain. They truly fought well—very well indeed.”

Then Bai Yue asked Bu Jingxian with fresh hope, “If this really becomes a campaign against Zhou, you should be made a king by the Son of Heaven, shouldn’t you?”

Bu Jingxian did not want to disappoint her, but he could not deceive her either.

“I doubt it. Great Rovi will be sealed as king. I could not be enthroned as a king; at most I might become a marquis.”

“Why?”

Each time the topic came up, Bai Yue grew vexed like a child and refused to face the facts before her.

“Do not. Be patient. From marquis to king is only a matter of time, but after one is king one cannot return to the rank of marquis. Become a marquis’s wife first, and then in time, a king’s consort.”

“I know I cannot share equal rank with Great Rovi. Marquis’s wife is enough. Anyway, I am certain the day will come when I can wear the phoenix robe.”

“You have asked me several times why you are so eager to be a king’s queen, and you have never answered.”

“When that day comes, I’ll tell you.” Bai Yue resolved to keep her secret. Bu Jingxian could only accept it helplessly.

That night the Evening Glow lands rang with celebration. The Evening Glow Tribe had long held the wind of authority, but Great Rovi’s summons to this war council had made their status publicly acknowledged. The whole tribe celebrated. From then on, their place on the Great Grassland was established; whenever people of Evening Glow met strangers, they could hold their heads high and command respect.

Three days later, Bu Jingxian rode Black Dragon, a thousand-mile horse, and in two days reached the territory of Great Rovi of the Black Wolf Tribe. At the gate, the guards, learning who he was, hurried him inside.

Seeing that eight men were already seated in the tent and more than twenty stood around, he said, “I am late. Forgive Great Rovi.”

“Take a seat and speak.”

Great Rovi studied him for a long moment. He had not expected the man so handsome and full of vigor to be Leftbank Rovi, whose fame was that he was an enemy to ten thousand.

“Someone—pour wine for Leftbank Rovi.”

Bu Jingxian lifted his cup and toasted those in the tent, and they drank it dry.

Great Rovi introduced everyone as is customary, then spoke directly. “I have gathered you all to discuss the matter of attacking Zhou.”

The other RovI had already heard of it. They had already reached agreements with Great Rovi, including the division of spoils. Only after hearing of the change in conditions on the eastern steppe did they invite Leftbank to join consultation: first, how many soldiers to send; second, how the loot would be divided.

Bu Jingxian said, “This is my first time in a matter of this scale. I do not dare offer objections. If all of you judge that Zhou must be punished, then I will send troops and fight.
As for the spoils, our clan is newly rooted and has never yet made court to the Rovis assembled here. In this battle, my clan asks for no loot at all. Consider it a welcome gift at this meeting, merely a slight proof of our feeling.”

Everyone present was startled, and all were delighted. They had expected him to claim the lion’s share. For him to renounce spoils and still send troops exceeded all expectation.

“Will Leftbank Rovi keep his word?”

“I stand before Great Rovi and all of you. I dare not speak falsehood.”

“Excellent! A man of true spirit. We accept him as a friend.”

Several Rovis lifted their cups together in toast and drank dry.

Great Rovi privately reckoned Bu Jingxian’s move as strategy. He believed the young man was simply avoiding drawing too much attention too quickly and therefore preferred to give up present gains for broader recognition. Once he had given such gifts, no other Rovi would willingly become his enemy. This only made Bu Jingxian seem all the more ambitious—and dangerous.

“Good! I will also drink to Leftbank Rovi, and take this brave man for a friend.” Great Rovi drained his cup with him. Then he said, “Since Leftbank is so frank, our support force need only be fifty thousand. I trust none of you object?”

All of the Rovis voiced no objection.

Bu Jingxian hurriedly added, “Since we are helping, I dare not hold back. I can contribute one hundred and fifty thousand men. That is plenty, and no more. I have accepted your goodwill and that of all of you, but the Evening Glow Tribe cannot allow anyone to accuse us of not giving all in the Black Wolf Tribe’s great cause. Great Rovi, please allow me this.”

“Good! Leftbank is indeed generous. Another cup for you!”

The Rovis lifted their cups and drank together.

“On the third day of the coming month, at midnight, cross the river and gather on the eastern bank. Stand ready. No one here must be late.”

Everyone promised.

With the matter of troop deployment settled, beef, lamb, and hot wine were brought in. Great Rovi summoned Shaoyuan Rovi.
Bu Jingxian had long heard that Great Rovi had come to admire him. Meeting him again, he saw that Shaoyuan looked much sturdier than before: gold armor, gold-edged blade, fox-skin robe, a face alight with confidence and swagger; no longer the timid, unkempt figure from North Spirit Mountain.

Shaoyuan had changed in more than appearance.

He had already advanced Soul-Splitting to the ninth layer, and soon seemed close to breaking through the tenth. Body: 1000, Inner Strength: 20, Spirit: 10, Essence: 6.

The most surprising thing for Bu Jingxian was that Shaoyuan’s meridians were also threaded with colored light, a talent like his own. Even more puzzling, the aura on Shaoyuan’s meridians was nearly twice as broad as Bu Jingxian’s. Shaoyuan had not trained long, yet he had reached this level of cultivation, and Bu Jingxian could not understand it. Back at North Spirit Mountain he had known Shaoyuan had no natural talent of the kind that made a fool’s luck seem like destiny; by all logic he could not have reached such a height without someone’s help.

Shaoyuan had also brought a beautiful woman. As soon as he sat, one hand slipped repeatedly into the front of her garment. Other Rovis laughed. “Great Rovi’s tiger-cub is still the same. Is this Lady Ladada, the great beauty of the Leda Tribe?”

Shaoyuan, smiling, said to the woman in his arms, “Look—everyone here knows your renown.”

The woman looked down, mortified to see several Rovis staring at the spot where Shaoyuan’s hand kneaded the fabric over her chest, yet she could not refuse him. She was too embarrassed to speak. The Rovis laughed and raised their cups.

“Ladada has been married not long. She has not yet grown used to Shaoyuan Rovi yet, eh?”

After everyone drained a cup, Shaoyuan noticed the extra man and asked Bu Jingxian, “Father, this is Leftbank Rovi of the Evening Glow Tribe?”

“Shaoyuan Rovi, honored,” Bu Jingxian bowed.

The woman in Shaoyuan’s lap finally lifted her face to look at Bu Jingxian. He was handsome and not the fierce villain the rumors had made him into. She could not imagine this was truly the Leftbank Rovi of the Twilight Sect, feared by ten thousand.

Shaoyuan watched him for a while. He had long hated handsome men; at North Spirit Mountain most of the handsome men had bullied him, and he had come to believe that beauty meant a cruel heart.
Yet when he looked at Leftbank, a warmth stirred unexpectedly. He could not help but lift his cup and say, “To Leftbank Rovi.”

They drank, then Shaoyuan added, “Come to my camp tonight for roast whole sheep. I have beauties waiting for you. Let us be friends.”

“We are already friends.”

The Black Wolf people are plain and blunt, without the convoluted formalities of the Seven Great Kingdoms, and Shaoyuan too was that way—he never spoke in circles.
Great Rovi was happy. “Two men feared by ten thousand have become friends. It is a good thing. Drink again!”

After they had eaten and drunk enough, Bu Jingxian was led to the guest pavilion to rest. When he awoke, dusk had already deepened into night. Barely had he sat up when he heard Shaoyuan’s call from outside.

“Leftbank Rovi, are you awake?”

He stepped out and saw Shaoyuan bringing in his black-dragon mount with several attendants.

“Come to my great tent for wine. I have beauties to receive you.”

The Black Wolf Tribe fields sixty-five thousand? Wait correction: they had six hundred and fifty thousand soldiers in total, and Shaoyuan alone commanded one hundred thousand. Great Rovi trusted him deeply.

Shaoyuan’s own main pavilion lay on the most crucial river-character plain in all Black Wolf territory, only fifty li away from Great Rovi. Any foreign incursion had to cross that plain, and if unrest broke out within, troops could be shifted there in moments.

Within Shaoyuan’s pavilion, ten women attended him. Four were wives he had taken in the past six months, each famed among the Black Wolf for beauty. The other six were slaves, though they too were naturally striking and not far behind his wives.

Shaoyuan sent two women to accompany Bu Jingxian in drinking, but he quickly declined.

“Leftbank Rovi does not like beautiful women?”

Shaoyuan widened his eyes in disbelief.

“I do. But I like my own women. Any other woman attracts me less than a roasted whole sheep.”

“Your women must be beautiful indeed.” Shaoyuan ordered the drinks and food to be brought. “Roasted whole sheep is the most delicious.”

After Bu Jingxian had shared a few cups with him, Shaoyuan suddenly asked him an utterly unexpected question.