"Wine... give me wine..." The muddled voice mixed with the wild winds of the desert, Wang Shunchen mumbled in a daze, but there was no response. A peculiar sound in the desert’s voice stirred something within him, making his heart inexplicably restless, and his mind unsettled. Follow current novᴇls on novelFirｅ.net The sound was sharp, like a blade scraping across an icy surface. It also resembled the sound of the most outstanding rider of the Western Regions, galloping on a swift horse, swinging a long whip, its tip carrying a blade cleaving through the void with a piercing sound. It seemed as if someone was shaking his shoulders vigorously, shouting loudly: "...■■■■■■!!!" In his bloodline, it felt as if needles made of iced shards were forming, the kind of terror seeming to stretch from memory to today. Wang Shunchen suddenly awoke, sitting up abruptly, panting heavily to calm his palpitating heart and his parched thirst. Grabbing the teapot, he didn’t care when the tea was made, he just lifted it to his mouth, gulping it down. A refreshing sensation spread throughout, finally bringing relief. Wang Shunchen murmured the words from his dream. The words were so familiar, yet he couldn’t recall them no matter what. It seemed as if the impact of those words was too great for him, causing him to forget subconsciously. Unwilling, reluctant, and unable to remember. His eyebrows drooped, carrying a sense of desolation, feeling lethargic all over. The great Commander, the one who led them to conquer the world, had passed away, as if the past decades of battling for the world, pulling the bow until arms tore, fingers and palms soaked in blood, were all just an illusion. The bravest generals and marshals were harmed by everything he protected. Like a mentor, like a father, the strategist plotted everything, and the king, who once called him brother, wielded the butcher’s knife—it was absurd, too absurd. So-called loyalty and bravery were nothing but a dream. In those days when the Taiping Army fought in all directions, sustaining their hearts was not merely the pursuit of wealth and glory, but more so the Commander’s wish. The heart of the whole army rested with the Commander, and at its peak, the Taiping Army was unmatched in the world. Yet the Commander left the world in the most absurd and undeserved manner. Thus, this fierce military soul collapsed. The days of yore became a joke. Wang Shunchen rose, walked to the window of his hut in Daqi Village, looking far into the distance from above. Faintly, he saw banners fluttering—it was the elite cavalry of the Qiang people, their cavalry positioned between heavy armor armored cavalry and light cavalry. Equipped with long spears, bows, and eight short spears on one side. When charging with the force of the army, they would hurl the short spears, and these specially weighted spears were extremely dangerous in such situations, the nemesis of heavy armored infantry and cavalry. They excelled at raid attacks, adorned in fine scale armor, felt war robes. Wearing helmets decorated with feathers. Gathering there, a vast oppressive mass, Wang Shunchen squinted, seeing the murderous aura of thousands of Qiang cavalry converging, transforming into military might. The Western Regions’ battle formations, such large tribal forces, also had methods akin to the Central Plains battle formations, centralizing everyone’s murderous aura. Wang Shunchen remained silent, looking at the battle bow hanging on the wall. He reached out to grasp it, reminiscing how in his thirties he followed the Commander into battle. Now older, his hair grayed at the temples, grasping this bow, his tiger eyes slightly opened, the qi mechanism converged, transforming into a Dharma Form. Yet collapsed at the last moment. The Commander died at a palace night banquet. His mental state collapsed, feeling that the days of old were but false illusions. His status fell from one of the world’s top battle generals and Grandmaster archer cavalry commander to the pinnacle of the Sixth Layer Heaven, unable to easily summon a Dharma Form, nor could he unleash the feats of the past when at the city gate, one man with one bow shot over three thousand arrows. Single-handedly suppressing an entire vanguard army. Wang Shunchen chuckled self-mockingly: "This heart is dead, what else can be done!" "Though armed with bow and arrow, if there is no reason to draw the bow, what use is it?" Previously, he went to tell the village chief of Daqi Village, saying: "These Qiang people, presumably come for me. Though my heart is already dead, they only feel safe if my body is dead too." "So please let me go out alone to solve this problem!" The old village chief refused, his beard and hair raging like a white lion, saying: "This village’s brothers, our fellows unwelcome in the Central Plains Martial World, have bonds of friendship here. They come here because they respect our Daqi Village. Since we have sheltered you, we will not abandon you now." "Are you looking down on us?!" Wang Shunchen remained silent for a long time. He had stayed out of the tumultuous winds of the Central Plains for too long, knowing that on this land of chaos, there was never a lack of so-called noble lords and princes, nor a lack of heroes rising with swords amidst the chaotic era. But because of the Taiping Duke’s death, he drifted aimlessly for a long time, uninterested in matters of the world and the Martial World, only wishing to drink himself to death amidst the sands. Initially, he heard that in the Northern Domain, there was a Taiping Army supporting the Taiping Duke’s son, which made him rejoice. But unexpectedly, Yuan Shitong and Xue Tianxing, these two bastards. Somehow found someone claiming to be the Commander’s son. They even sent people to invite him to lead the mounted archer army again, which nearly drove Wang Shunchen to shoot those envoys into a pulp. After this, he lost hope, ceasing to care for the affairs of the world and the Martial World. He only heard amidst the sandstorms, the winds rising, speaking of wars fragmenting the Central Plains, heroes contending for power. It seemed there was something about Jiangnan being taken. And something concerning Marquis Qin Wu, which he paid no heed to.