When Xu Luo saw Zhou Bo, he was taken aback. He didn't recognize the man before him and had no idea why this person, covered in blood and grievously wounded, had come looking for him.
But Xu Jie recognized him. With a look of surprise, he stared at Zhou Bo and said, "What is he doing here?"
"Second Master, this man said he was looking for the Young Master, that it was a matter of life and death. Seeing his severe injuries, this subordinate took the liberty of treating him first."
"Mm, you did well. Go collect a reward of ten taels of silver later!" Xu Jie said casually, dismissing the perceptive guard. Then he looked at Xu Luo and said, "Something might have happened to Mo Yun!"
"Hm? He's one of Mo Yun's men?" Xu Luo asked, surprised. "But why would he come looking for us? Mo Yun's remaining forces... shouldn't they all hate our guts?"
"Let's wait for him to wake up first," Xu Jie said, his expression grave and his brows tightly furrowed.
Huangfu Chongzhi came over and had Zhou Bo swallow an Elixir. Soon, the young general's eyes fluttered open. He first took a sharp breath and then tried to struggle into a sitting position.
Huangfu Chongzhi said from the side, "Your injuries are severe. If you move around recklessly, I'm afraid you'll suffer serious long-term consequences!"
"Young Master Xu, I beg you, please save my general!" Zhou Bo pleaded, looking at Xu Jie with bloodshot eyes. "Any later, and I'm afraid my general... she'll be dead!"
Seeing that Zhou Bo was looking at Xu Jie, Xu Luo instantly understood. The Young Master Xu he wanted to see... was Xu Jie, not him.
Xu Jie asked in a heavy voice, "You recognize me?"
Zhou Bo nodded forcefully. "The day we ambushed that merchant caravan, someone among us recognized you, Young Master. We gradually figured out your identity later. To be honest, if my general wasn't in trouble, I would never have come to you, even if it killed me. I will never forget how you plotted against us that day, leading to our miserable state now!"
Xu Jie nodded. "That sounds more like it. But what makes you so sure I'll help you save your general?"
Xu Luo, Huangfu Chongzhi, and the others nodded discreetly to the side. 'Good,' they all thought. 'Xu Jie hasn't let his emotions cloud his judgment and rush off to muster troops for a rescue.' After all, besides the five of them, no one else knew that Xu Jie had a secret crush on Mo Yun.
Now, here was Zhou Bo, covered in blood, brazenly showing up to ask his supposed enemy, Xu Jie, for a rescue. No matter how you looked at it, the whole situation reeked of something strange.
Who knew if this wasn't some kind of elaborate ploy?
"Because the one who ambushed my general is Wei Ziting!" At the mention of this name, Zhou Bo gritted his teeth, his face filled with hatred. He looked at Xu Jie and said, "Young Master Xu, we learned of the relationship between you five brothers and the Wei Family long ago. Originally, we planned to use that connection... to throw the Northern war into chaos. But we never expected those two insidious villains, Sheng Lin and Cao Yi, to actually be Wei Family men! They worked together to set a trap, baited my general, and then dispatched a huge number of ambushers to surround us. Now... the remnants of my general's forces are still holding on desperately. Any later... I'm afraid... I'm afraid it will be too late!" Zhou Bo said, his face a mask of anxiety.
"I can't get involved in this!" Xu Jie said, looking at Zhou Bo with a calm expression. "First of all, your general is my enemy to begin with. She came from the Southern region to the North with ill intentions. For that reason alone, I have no obligation to help you. Second, the relationship between my brothers and the Wei Family is our own business and has nothing to do with anyone else. As for them ambushing your general... to put it bluntly, they're just ridding the people of a menace!"
"Young Master Xu!" Zhou Bo cried out in panic. The situation had been urgent, and the only person he could think of, the only one who came to mind... was somehow Xu Jie!
It was true. For the longest time, Mo Yun's entire remnant force had held a deep-seated hatred for Xu Jie and his four brothers. Even though any means were fair during a war between two nations, they still felt they had been too cruelly deceived.
But as the situation became irreversible, they journeyed from the Southern region to the North. After hearing many stories about the five Xu brothers, the resentment many in Mo Yun's remnant force felt toward them had lessened considerably.
'They're sons of high officials in the Cangqiong Empire, from a Military Family. During the war, no matter what they did, it wouldn't be considered excessive in the eyes of their own people. To us, they're enemies for trapping us like that, but to the people of the Cangqiong Kingdom, they're great heroes!'
Although this reasoning was still hard to accept, it gradually spread among Mo Yun's remnant forces.
But reasoning was one thing; in their hearts, most of them still bitterly hated Xu Jie and the others. If Mo Yun hadn't been plotted against this time, Zhou Bo would likely have died before even thinking of asking Xu Jie for help.
The reason he sought help, aside from Xu Jie's group being the only people he could think of at the time, was more importantly because they had learned of their identities. They believed that only this group could possibly rescue Mo Yun!
Xu Jie waved his hand dismissively. "Regarding this matter, forgive me, but I am powerless to help!"
Despair washed over Zhou Bo's face, and he gave a bleak smile. "I knew it... I shouldn't have held out any hope for you. Fine. My general probably wouldn't want me begging like this, nor would she ever want your help. I was being foolishly sentimental. And now I've walked right into a trap. Kill me or torture me, do as you please."
With that, Zhou Bo sighed. "I'll leave you with one last piece of information. Wei Ziting didn't just bring his troops here to ambush my general. His real target is you!"
"Nonsense!" Xu Jie sneered. "Still trying to sow discord with your lies at a time like this? I refuse to believe you don't know whose territory the North is!"
Zhou Bo said, "Believe it or not, that's up to you. In any case, as far as the public knows, Wei Ziting is still in the Imperial Capital. The men he's leading aren't real soldiers, either. They're the Wei Family's privately raised army."
At that moment, Li Yu, who had been standing outside without speaking, suddenly said, "Second Master, the Wei Family does indeed have a private army in the North. We only know of its existence, but we haven't been able to find its specific location or get any more information."
Xu Luo glanced at Huangfu Chongzhi, who raised an eyebrow slightly. Looking at Xu Jie's cold expression, Huangfu Chongzhi chuckled. "It shouldn't be too hard to just rescue the Female General."
Zhou Bo shook his head, his face dejected. "My general would never abandon her brothers-in-arms to escape alone. Otherwise, she would have had a better chance of getting away than I did!"
"Well, that won't be up to her," Xu Luo said with a smile. Then he turned to the eager Boss Tang and the others. "Gather the men. We're going to watch the show!"
"Yes, sir!" Boss Tang, Li Yu, and the others replied, their faces alight with excitement as they went to prepare.
It wasn't that they were particularly eager to rescue an enemy general. Rather, the mere mention of the two words "Wei Family" was enough to get their blood pumping. Of course, mixed in with that excitement was something more... hatred!
"Third Brother..." Xu Jie said, looking at Xu Luo and shaking his head. "You can't do this!"
"Heh, I'm no saint. All I know is that you want to save her, too. And that's enough for me!" Xu Luo said, then glanced at Zhou Bo. "You just stay here and recover!"
With that, he led the group out of the room, leaving Zhou Bo alone on the bed, completely bewildered. He still had no idea how the situation had turned around, but he felt there were hidden meanings in everything they'd said.
But no matter what, their willingness to act meant his general now had a glimmer of hope.
A wave of exhaustion washed over him, and Zhou Bo could no longer hold on. He closed his eyes.
...
"Mo Yun, you might as well surrender! I promise I won't kill you!" Dressed in full armor and mounted on a black warhorse, Wei Ziting looked majestic and imposing. He stared at Mo Yun within the encirclement, his expression cold and arrogant. "If you keep resisting so stubbornly, the only way out for you is death!"
"Pah! You son of a bitch! You want me to surrender to you? Fine. Get your ass over here and fight me one-on-one. If I lose, forget surrendering—I'm all yours!" Mo Yun sneered, looking at Wei Ziting with contempt. "Do you dare?"
"You... you bitch! You don't appreciate a kind offer when you hear one! You think Master Wei is actually interested in you?" Wei Ziting glanced at Mo Yun's slender figure beneath her armor and swallowed, then sneered, "Master Wei is only interested in military achievements! Your head is worth infinitely more than your body! A duel? Why would I duel you? Victory is already in my grasp, while you... General Mo Yun, you're a bird with broken wings. Only a fool would duel you!"
As he spoke, Wei Ziting burst into laughter, his voice full of smug satisfaction.
'This is a battle where I can finally hold my head high!'
'A conspiracy? This is strategy! Besides, so what if it's a conspiracy? Could Xu Luo and his group have earned so much merit in the Southern war without using their own plots and schemes?'
'Fortune's wheel has finally turned in my favor!'
'I never thought the day would come when I, Wei Ziting, would be so lucky!'
Wei Ziting's heart was as sweet as honey. He had secretly left the Imperial Capital and come to the North with the sole intention of getting revenge on Xu Luo!
The men sent by his family had failed. The assassins from the Fengyue Building had failed. It seemed even a force belonging to either the Crown Prince or the Sixth Prince had failed as well!
Wei Ziting refused to believe that Xu Luo's luck would hold out forever. More than that, he couldn't stand to see the man who had repeatedly humiliated the Wei Family continue to live so well in this world.
So, he had come.
What he hadn't expected was that before he could even deal with Xu Luo, he would manage to hook such a big fish. He was simply overjoyed, ecstatic.
"It would be best to capture this woman alive," Wei Ziting said to the men beside him. "At the very least, we must bring back her corpse! I want all those blind fools in the Imperial Capital to see that Master Wei is in no way inferior to Xu Luo!"
"Heh..." A cold laugh came from across the field. Mo Yun looked at Wei Ziting with utter scorn. "You're not inferior to him? No, you're worlds apart! A hundred and eight thousand miles apart! You're not even fit to touch a hair on his head! I lost to them, and I accept that defeat wholeheartedly. But to lose to a cowardly little villain like you? I wouldn't accept that in a million years! You want my corpse intact, is that it? Don't even dream of it. Don't you ever give me a chance to get close to you, or I'll self-destruct and take you with me!"