Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 255 The Devastating Wound

When Yun Ce left Haizhou, it was snowing heavily.

He didn't stay in Haizhou to wait for the snow to stop; he braved the snow and left.

Just as Cao Kun said, he came alone on horseback and returned alone on horseback. A powerful person may be able to act recklessly, but that's all there is to it. If you want to gain real benefits through personal strength, without a powerful force behind you to rely on, what a person can do is very limited.

When the Cao family annexed three provinces, Cao Kun dared to pat Yun Ce on the shoulder and recruit him. His earlier apprehension had long since vanished after they gained control of three or even four provinces.

Often, having a large population and a large territory is a sign of strength.

Once the Cao family has spent time thoroughly integrating the six provinces, their strength should be able to triple again.

Cao Kun stood on the city wall, watching Yun Ce's figure disappear into the blizzard.

Cao Ling couldn't help but say, "His back really looks like a dog's."

Cao Kun shook his head and said, "He's not a dog, he should be a dragon. It's just that this dragon is too lonely and has fallen into shallow waters, where he's being teased by fish and shrimp like you."

He could actually return to the abyss, to Chang'an, where his dragon would have room to maneuver. Unfortunately, he was a stubborn dragon, unwilling to return to the abyss of Chang'an, unwilling to use the abyss's waters, and instead diligently dug the ground north of the Great Wall with his claws, hoping to turn that area into an abyss.

"Ah Ling, arrogant people never achieve great things. Yun Ce is a prime example; he looks down on everyone around him."

Cao Ling frowned and said, "How dare he look down on the eldest young master?"

Cao Kun sighed and said, "He has never respected anyone from the Han Dynasty."

"Including close relatives like the High Priest?"

"Including the High Priest!"

Their words were blown away by the wind as soon as they left their mouths; some went into the sky, some fell to the ground, and like snowflakes, they will disappear when the weather warms up.

No matter how heavy the wind and snow, it couldn't stop the chestnut horse's hooves, and no matter how cold the wind and snow, it couldn't make Yun Ce feel even the slightest bit of cold.

"So, you're saying our Shehuo (a type of folk performance) has no interest in Haizhou's Shehuo?"

Gouzi said, "Last time you were terrified. When you went to the Dragon God Temple in Haizhou at night, Shehuo shrank into a firefly, as if he didn't want Haizhou Shehuo to notice his presence."

Yun Ce sighed and said, "We have to find a way. Only when our Shehuo (a local folk performance) becomes strong can we be considered truly strong. The kind of strength that the Cao family gained by occupying a few more plots of land doesn't really count."

Dog shook his head and said, "There's no way. Unless we can find new high-density energy materials, the radioactive source at Cao Kun's place can no longer provide more energy for Shehuo."

I think the Guifang people should have it, and even the Black Wind King, who gives them a real headache, should have it too. Unfortunately, we don't have the connections.

Listening to the dog's rambling, Yun Ce shook off the snow from his cloak and also brushed the snow off the chestnut horse's head and neck. In this way, the black cloak and red warhorse became much more conspicuous in the swirling snow.

On snowy days, it gets dark exceptionally early. Normally, the chestnut horse could continue its journey even after dark without any problem, and Yun Ce wasn't worried about freezing.

Seeing that it was getting dark, he lost interest in continuing his journey and decided to camp on a riverbank. Of course, the main reason was that he had found a few frozen birds in the snow.

The military camping tent brought from the ancestral land was as useful as ever. The seemingly thin tent insulated against the wind and snow, and the temperature inside the tent rose quickly after Yun Ce lit the small stove.

The dog no longer complains about handling chores like dealing with birds. Yun Ce has been eating a lot lately, and four birds weighing five or six pounds each probably still can't feed him.

So after Yun Ce chopped up the four birds and put them in a pot to make soup, he took out another pot and prepared to steam a pot of delicious rice.

Naturally, firewood can't be used under this pot. The stove in front is for the camping atmosphere, and a faint smell of firewood in the tent is also part of camping.

The smell of firewood was too strong and ruined the camping experience, so Gouzi took out the firecracker and placed it at the bottom of the pot. Even though it was just a small flame, the water in the rice cooker started bubbling in no time.

There was plenty of time, and Yun Ce wasn't in a hurry to eat, so both the rice and the bird soup had to be cooked to perfection to do justice to the snowstorm outside the tent.

The chestnut horse always used its mouth to unzip the tent and stick its head inside. The heat that had just accumulated quickly dissipated. In the end, Yun Ce simply let the chestnut horse into the tent and gave it a bowl of beans to chew on its own.

The chestnut horse went into the tent and lay down, leaving more than half the space and not much room for Yun Ce to turn around. However, he didn't need to. He leaned against the chestnut horse's warm back and waited for the bird soup and rice to cook.

The dog, who had been carrying a rice cooker and being roasted by the folk performance, suddenly said, "Something's here." Yun Ce asked, "Is it edible or not?"

In a single sentence, the power of the king of beasts was unmistakably revealed.

The dog asked doubtfully, "It's somewhere between edible and inedible."

Yun Ce scooped a piece of bird meat from the pot and put it in his mouth. After moving his mouth a couple of times, he spat out a small bone and casually said, "Between edible and inedible, that's a spirit or monster."

Ignore it. If he doesn't bother me, I won't bother him either.

That's how strange things are in this world; whenever you say you don't want trouble, trouble always seems to find you.

Just as Yun Ce was preparing to pour a full pot of bird soup into the rice cooker for a delicious meal, his tent was overturned by a huge claw, which then casually tossed the tent aside.

Yun Ce, who had just poured bird soup into the rice cooker, stared blankly at the tent that was being tossed about by the strong wind until it rolled into a dense forest, at which point he finally turned his gaze to the dark figure in front of him.

Feeling the scalding rice cooker rapidly cooling down, Yun Ce put it down in frustration and continued staring at the huge black shadow in front of him.

The dog picked up a still-burning piece of firewood with its tentacles and threw it into the air. Only then did Yun Ce realize that the dark figure in front of him was actually a bear spirit.

This was only the second fully-formed bear spirit that Yun Ce had ever seen.

He felt he was peacefully camping in the snow, enjoying life, and hadn't offended the bear spirit. He couldn't understand why it had overturned his tent.

Just as he was about to kill the bear spirit and use its skin to rebuild a campsite, the bear spirit's knees buckled and it actually knelt down in front of him.

Just as Yun Ce was about to let it go because it was relatively polite, the bear spirit's massive upper body pressed down on him.

Yun Ce quickly retreated with the pot in his hand, watching as the bear spirit's enormous body extinguished the campfire.

At the same time, Yun Ce also saw an extremely tragic wound on the bear spirit's back.

The wound is described as gruesome mainly because it is gaping open like a huge mouth, revealing the bare white bone and teeth inside. What is most tragic is that the wound keeps opening and closing, as if it is crying out its miserable state.

The bear spirit must have fallen into a deep sleep.

The chestnut horse retrieved the rolled-away tent from the woods. Yun Ce inspected it and found that the tent wasn't too badly damaged, so he re-pitched it next to the bear spirit. With such a large mountain of flesh blocking the wind, Yun Ce felt he should first save his bird soup rice.

The snow continued to fall, and it was falling very heavily. According to Yun Ce's estimate, such heavy snow should have caused a disaster. This was not the kind of snow that should fall in a place blessed by the Shehuo festival.

The charcoal fire was heating the bottom of the pot, and the bird soup inside was bubbling away.

Bird soup with rice tastes best when it's freshly mixed. If you reheat it, the rice, which was originally steamed just right, becomes soft and loses its chewiness.

Yun Ce glanced at the bird soup rice, then at the sweet-smelling bear spirit with its head resting against the tent entrance, and finally at the dark red charcoal fire. His eyes lit up. He handed the pot to Gouzi, then leaped onto the bear spirit's back. A moment later, he returned with a beautiful piece of tenderloin with a ring of fat in his hand.

Gouzi quickly sliced ​​the pork tenderloin into thin slices and placed them one by one on the charcoal fire. The fatty pork tenderloin curled up when it came into contact with the charcoal fire. Yun Ce urged Gouzi to add the seasoning while using a spoon to stuff the bird soup rice into his mouth.

After eating half a pot of bird soup with rice, the dog's tentacles brought a golden-brown slice of roasted meat to Yun Ce's mouth. As soon as he opened his mouth, the meat went in. After a few swirles with his tongue, it was cut off by his teeth. Yun Ce chuckled and ate the delicious meat into his stomach.

The roast meat was served, and Yun Ce naturally ate a mouthful of bird soup with rice and a mouthful of meat. By the time Yun Ce finished the whole pot of bird soup with rice, there was hardly any roast meat left. After finishing the last piece of meat, Yun Ce patted his belly with satisfaction and said to the dog, "It's been a long time since I've eaten so comfortably."

The dog said, "Your body is still severely depleted and needs a lot of nourishment. Although the meat of this bear spirit does not contain much energy, it is still far superior to ordinary food. You should cut off more and save it to eat slowly."

Yun Ce patted his belly and said, "We've already cut it three times. Wouldn't it be impolite to cut it again? After all, this guy is still alive."

The dog shook its tentacles and said, "It already has such a big wound on its back, so it doesn't matter if it gets a little bigger. You wait here, I'll cut off a little more. You need to make up for the loss properly, otherwise when you go back, your wife might not even recognize you if she sees that you've aged several years."

Yun Ce watched as the dog left the Dragon Ball, its eight legs quickly climbing onto the giant bear's body. Soon, it returned, bringing back about a hundred pounds of meat, though the meat wasn't as beautifully cut as the ones Yun Ce had previously prepared.

Before they knew it, the wind and snow stopped, and the full moon peeked out from behind the clouds, illuminating the earth brightly. Yun Ce was curled up in his sleeping bag, leaning against his chestnut horse, sleeping soundly. The giant bear's body was covered in snow, but there was a wound in the snow that was even more tragic and heartbreaking than before, silently accusing the full moon.

　No matter what I say, it's just an excuse. I won't give a reason, but in short, it was my fault. I'm sorry. Please give me some time to adjust. Thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)