Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 292 A Good Person is an Indeterminate Form
The once prosperous and powerful Chang'an has now become a prison for many, and a hell for many. For Wu Tong, the current Chang'an is a purgatory beneath hell.

Many times, Wu Tong fantasized about how wonderful it would be if she went crazy or died.

However, his consistently clear mind repeatedly prevented him from descending into madness.

Although Wu Tong prides himself on being clear-headed and methodical in his actions, in the eyes of others, he has long since gone mad. It is precisely these methods, forbearance, persistence, and hope that have forced the upright and honest Wu Tong into becoming a villain with no moral bottom line and no personal integrity.

In just two short years, he kept lowering his moral standards. At first, it was only for the sake of the big picture. Seeing the Grand Marshal fighting with the Emperor, he felt that as long as they could determine a winner, the Han Dynasty would be stable and people would be able to live a life free from worries about food and clothing.

Therefore, even though he witnessed so many human tragedies in Chang'an, he chose to turn a blind eye for the sake of the future and hope.

Next, in order to ensure the survival of the Panxinglou group, after the Grand Marshal's victory, he was forced to participate in the siege of the emperor's remaining forces. Although many of the targets of the siege were not necessarily bad people, on the contrary, many of them were former highly respected officials who simply insisted that they were the emperor's subjects and refused to bow their heads. As a result, they were secretly executed by the spies in Panxinglou, and many of them had their entire families killed.

At this point, Wu Tong already considered himself a heinous criminal. However, when He Junnian appeared in his office and asked to occupy half of the Panxing Tower to do some small things that would benefit all mankind, Wu Tong, intimidated by He Junnian's power, agreed.

When he learned that He Junnian and his men had collected many children with excellent aptitude in Chang'an and were evilly implanting nails into their heads to create the newest Tiger Legion warriors, Wu Tong felt an overwhelming pain, resentment, despair, and shame that almost made him want to slash at He Junnian...

It was that damned calmness and rationality that made him loosen his grip on the knife handle.

Even his unconscious display of hostility allowed He Junnian to easily strangle two spies.

Watching his two brothers fall to the ground, their mouths gushing out large amounts of foamy blood—blood that had filled their lungs and then flowed out again—he could only watch them die, having sworn to live and die together. He had to respectfully see He Junnian off.

For the Han Dynasty, for the people, for future prosperity!
Although Wu Tong appeared calm at the time, after He Junnian left, he used a knife to smash all the furnishings in the government office, feeling that these furnishings were a testament to his great humiliation.

Now that the Climbing Star Tower has been burned down, and the den of demons built by He Junnian has been completely destroyed by fire, Wu Tong thought this was an opportunity, an opportunity to kill He Junnian, and pleaded with the old priest.

The old priest refused to see him, no matter how much he begged. Wu Tong then bit off his left pinky finger as a vow, asking the Grand Marshal to send troops to kill He Junnian.

Everyone thought He Junnian had left Chang'an, but Wu Tong knew that He Junnian had not left. He was still in Chang'an, hiding somewhere. As long as he killed enough Gui Fang people hiding in Chang'an, He Junnian would definitely appear.

Yun Ce was unaware of Wu Tong's behavior. If he had known, he would have told Wu Tong that when one is weak, one should hide oneself properly and slowly grow stronger, instead of rushing to offer up one's last bit of strength as a sacrifice and submit to a powerful force.

The consequence of doing this is that you may not be able to achieve your goal, but you and your meager strength will be completely devoured by the powerful forces, leaving nothing behind.

Because from the day you pledge allegiance to a powerful force, the decision-making power rests with them, not you. Once you relinquish that power, their primary concern when making decisions will be their own interests, not your baseless demands.

Therefore, after the Grand Marshal dispatched his iron cavalry into Chang'an, the cavalry was not only to kill the Guifang people, but also those who had come to attend the banquet of the Crown Prince's wife in Changsha.

The sounds of fighting outside were incessant. Because of its remote location, no one had come to the two-story building, which gave Yun Ce time to give the little girl another bath.

It wasn't that he wanted to bathe the child, but the child was just too filthy. Bloodstains had soaked through the child's clothes, and because the bloodstains hadn't dried quickly enough, they had begun to rot and smelled terrible.

Huo Wudi was very clever, but she used all her cleverness on how to save her life. She was extremely bad at things as simple as a girl being clean.

Unfortunately, Yun Ce was a bit of a germaphobe and couldn't tolerate sharing a room with such a filthy person who reeked of stench.

He found a pot and prepared to boil a pot of water.

While boiling the water, he first used cold water to wash the bloodstains off the little girl's head and body. This stuff could only be washed with cold water; if hot water was used, the protein in the bloodstains would be cooked, and the smell would be...

"Are you going to wash me clean and then cook me?"

"Okay, first raise your arm so I can wash the blood out of your armpits. That way, it won't have a strange taste after cooking."

"Okay, there are some in the cracks of your buttocks too."

"You can wash yourself here."

"What?"

"Because you are a girl."

"I saw you washing that fat kid's bottom."

"That's my son." "If you had a daughter, would you wash her bottom?"

"It's fine before she's three years old, but after that, it's her mother's job."

“My mother never washed me.”

No wonder you're such a filthy person.

After washing for a long time, Yun Ce finally managed to clean the bloodstains off the child. Seeing that the hot water was ready, he tested the temperature with his hand and, finding it just right, put away the firecrackers and put Huo Wudi into the pot of hot water.

Cold water can wash away bloodstains, but not dirt. After using half a bar of soap, Yun Ce looked the child up and down and decided that the child was still worth keeping.

He took out two pairs of underwear that he had never worn before from the Dragon Ball. The four-legged shorts looked like a little skirt on Huo Wudi. As for the waistband, Yun Ce sewed two straps on it and shrunk the waistband so that it wouldn't fall down. As for the top, it was made from another pair of Yun Ce's underwear.

It's very simple. Just make a hole in the crotch area, put the little girl's head through it, and let her arms come out from the pant legs. That's how you make a shirt and pants for the child.

In early spring, such clothes are not warm enough. When he saw that Huo Wudi had started to have a runny nose, Yun Ce had no choice but to offer up his bearskin vest.

Time flies when dressing up children, especially when dressing up a little girl like Huo Wudi who is beautiful enough to fit everyone's aesthetic standards. The more Yun Ce dresses up, the more addicted he becomes.

Yun Ce laughed like a fool until the child put on a bearskin cloak, bearskin boots, and a bearskin hat and started wiggling around the fire.

When Heng Ji smiled at him like that before, he punched her hard. Now, when Huo Wudi smiled at him, Yun Ce's eyes were practically bubbling with joy.

This is another level of allure, belonging to the innate instinct of carbon-based life forms. This instinct is specifically used to deal with adults or adult beasts. Ultimately, this allure forces adults and adult beasts to willingly serve them, even at the cost of their own lives.

Yun Ce has plenty of time. After all, it takes time to see changes after the burning of Panxing Tower. The current change is that the Grand Marshal's army has entered the city. Hopefully, this variable will force He Junnian out.

He Junnian, hiding in the shadows, is truly terrifying. But once he appears in the light, no matter how terrifying he is, Yun Ce is confident he can find his weaknesses and exploit them.

When it got dark, Yun Ce was hungry, and so was Huo Wudi. This time, Yun Ce wanted to use a folk fire to cook a pot, but the fire refused to come out, so Yun Ce had no choice but to use an open flame.

Actually, using an open flame feels better than using a folk fire. This is mainly because the folk fire floats lightly on the bottom of the pot, and its color has a bluish tint, which makes the two-story building always seem eerie.

With firewood, these problems don't exist; it only brings warmth and light.

The hot pot between Yun Ce and Huo Wudi was very rich in ingredients. Huo Wudi would often shout with joy when she scooped out a piece of beef, a piece of tofu, or a sausage from the pot.

As dusk approached, the spring rain in Chang'an began to fall once more. When it was completely dark, the rustling sound of the rain falling to the ground was like the footsteps of a demon.

"You actually found a meatball?"

"Yes, it smells delicious, and it bursts with juice when you bite into it."

"Oh, those were beef balls I made when I had nothing to do before. I used two iron bars to pound the beef into a paste. I thought I had finished them all, but I didn't expect there was still one left."

"It really smells delicious. I was going to share half with you, but unfortunately, my mouth wouldn't listen."

"Oh, that's totally understandable. When I eat something delicious, I don't want to share it with others."

“Me too. I hid one of the cakes you gave me in Izumo Castle. Later, when my mother and brother had no food, I didn’t take it out either.”

"Aren't you afraid of being killed outside?"

"As long as they don't come in, I'm not afraid."

"That's absolutely right. We should just wait it out and not worry about the sky falling and the earth collapsing the next moment."

Just as Yun Ce was scooping out a piece of beef jerky that had been overcooked and was chewing it with gusto, a person fell through a large hole in the roof and landed with a thud not far from the fire.

When Zheng Tianshou, feeling dizzy and lightheaded, looked up at the two people, one big and one small, by the fire, he thought he might be seeing things. He rubbed his eyes hard to make sure he wasn't mistaken, then scrambled over to the hot pot, scooped out a large bone meant for the broth, and began to devour it.

(End of this chapter)