Showdown, my deck is from the East.

Chapter 1219 "Snowstorm at Yanmen Pass"

After the Golden Crow scorched Yanzhou, the people of Yujing launched a massive invasion, sweeping through the enemy lines with unstoppable momentum.

"Stardust gourds, three coins a string!"

The streets of Chang'an were bustling with activity.

Inside the transparent jar suspended above the cloud-patterned peddler's cart, a canary is pecking at quantum tea grains in a glass cup, each grain bursting open to reveal a half-breath star map illusion.

The glass cups reflected the lights of the teahouses along the street.

Today, the good news has spread, and half the street has gathered here.

Snapped.

I heard the sound of a gavel striking from upstairs.

"In the year of Bingchen (1946), the seven major tribes were destroyed, the head of the Heavenly Demon was hung at the South Heavenly Gate, and Yanshan was restored."

"."

"."

"Wait a minute!" A young man in white put down his teacup. "The seven major tribes were wiped out, and you just say that with a few words? Do you think we're doing this for the Ministry of Revenue to report accounts?"

"That's right, sir. When this battle was raging, you went to great lengths to describe it in detail. Now that everyone has heard about the great victory at Yanyun, they've come all this way just to hear the exciting part, and that's it???"

"If you can't speak, then step down and find someone who can!" The audience was clearly dissatisfied, their emotions running high, and they all chimed in with their opinions.

"Gentlemen!" The storyteller blushed slightly. "Since ancient times, great victories have always been described this way. If you don't believe me, go check the books."

"No way, you've done this so many times already. Today, you're going to tell us the reason why!"

"Please wait a moment, everyone. I'll go fetch something from an old friend." Seeing that he couldn't persuade the crowd and that he couldn't get past this hurdle today, the storyteller had no choice but to beckon a crane to the window and climb up as fast as he could.

A short while later, when the tea was warm, the storyteller returned, carrying something in his hand.

Upon seeing it, the crowd gathered around it, but the object exuded a strong malevolent aura and was also shrouded in a demonic aura.

"Oh ho? Sir, are you going to scare people with dirty stuff?!" A traveling merchant pinched his nose and backed away.

"No," the storyteller shook his head. "These are captured demon army rations."

At that moment, a spring breeze swept through the teahouse, and as it blew over this object, the breeze seemed to suddenly turn ferocious.

As they traversed the arc of time and space, everyone suddenly felt a sense of disorientation.

A thunderous cry echoed in the wind: "The soul will never return home!"

The crowd was completely baffled.

Snapped.

It was the sound of a gavel.

The wind and rain subsided.

The storyteller's voice slowly rose amidst the roar: "I have a story called The Man Who Never Returns. Please listen attentively."

(Cold wind!)
The frost and snow at Yanmen Pass never melt.

The last half of the moldy cake crumbled into dust in Corporal Chen Xu's palm. He licked the crumbs clean between his fingers and stuffed them into the dying boy's mouth: "Swallow this and the reinforcements will arrive."

"Boss, is there really reinforcement?" The boy coughed up blood and ice. "Can we go home? Tell me, what does that Chang'an wine taste like?"

Chen Xu gripped the broken spear tightly, its tip pointing towards the crevice in the pass. A wild grass, watered with blood, sprouted tender shoots amidst the blizzard, the lingering smoke of battle clinging to its blades.

"See that smoke?" His Adam's apple bobbed. "That's a beacon tower in Chang'an. The general is mustering his troops!"

The boy had his back to him and couldn't see, but Chen Xu understood perfectly well.

In his eyes, the writhing tentacles of the Nightmare Clan's spiritual behemoth, the Thousand-Faced Moon, were drawing the frozen remnants of the defenders' souls into threads of light.

Chen Xu saw his comrades suspended in their tumor-like organs, still holding guns and glaring angrily.

The boy had a smile on his lips as he breathed his last.

Chen Xu's vision suddenly distorted as the Thousand-Faced Moon dragged him into a mental prison.

The demons have descended, leaving the land riddled with holes. Even the general is dead; where can we muster our troops?

The Thousand-Faced Moon, a satellite-sized body, stretched across the sky and stood before Chen Xu.

It was time. Chen Xu pulled out the rusty sword, corroded by insecticidal acid.

It is usable.

At least this old guy is much stronger than my broken body.

With all his might, he bit off his own index finger and used the bone fragment to carve the words "Until Yan and Yun are recovered, my soul will not return home!" on the sword.

The sword's edge shone brightly.

then
Then no.

What Chen Xu didn't know was that the spirit of the garrison was exactly the appetite of the Nightmare Clan, and the Nightmare Clan's grain officer, Thousand-Faced Moon, was making military rations!

The soldiers died, but their spirits remained; these incorruptible provisions were used to feed the army.

These military rations can be preserved for tens of thousands of years, and before they enter the belly of the demon, they will be trapped on the same day of death for thousands of years.

Charge! Charge at the demon army!

Countless times, the boy fell before Chen Xu.

Billions of times, they charged towards the cage.

The cycle repeats itself endlessly, never ending well.

Only with such vitality and energy can the Nightmare Clan be fed and watered to their heart's content.
Until the passage of time, the covenant of all races was established.

As time passed, a generation went by.

However, the snow and wind at Yanmen Pass remained unchanged.

"Boss, is there really reinforcement?" The boy coughed up blood.

"See that smoke?" His Adam's apple bobbed. "That's a beacon tower in Chang'an. The general is mustering his troops!"

"Boss, General, cough! The General's reinforcements have arrived! Reinforcements have arrived!!!"

"Yes, yes, it's here, it's here," Chen Xu continued stuffing ice shards into his mouth, his voice choked with emotion.

There's no need to look back; the Thousand-Faced Moon has surely arrived.
"Boss! Look!"

Chen Xu vaguely saw the solid ice on the ground reflected in the sky, reflecting a giant bronze tower carved with hundreds of birds that had broken through thousands of years of wind and snow and appeared between the planets.

What kind of military might was that?
The Duke of Zhou's generosity and the people's loyalty to him.

Bronze Sparrow Terrace!
Yes, just like the Bronze Sparrow Terrace described in the poems!
Military music played, and thousands of knights leaped down on tigers and leopards.
Reinforcements! The reinforcements from Chang'an have really arrived!
A cavalryman stepped past Chen Xu, his roar echoing like a tiger's. The massive body of the once invincible [Thousand Faces Moon] was torn apart by the gale-force winds generated by the heavy cavalryman; the difference in mass between the two was simply unimaginable.

"Kid, do you still have any strength left?!" Chen Xu roared.

"Ahem. Boss, there's more!"

"Draw your swords! Charge!"

When they were young, two butterflies, one large and one small, took flight and chased after the lancer.

In the year of Bingchen (丙辰) and Jiazi (甲子), the Heavenly Tiger Cavalry broke through Yanmen Pass. At that time, thousands of golden butterflies circled around the spear and lingered for a long time, which could be called a celestial phenomenon.
-
The Man Who Never Returns)
The book is finished.

The musicians began to sing the lyrics.

Knowing the pain of national subjugation and the extermination of their people, they never sang "The Song of the Rear Courtyard".

Don't believe me? Listen:

"Why shouldn't a man carry a Wu hook and take over the sixteen prefectures of Yan and Yun?"

Do not say that a prosperous age has no tragic souls; ten thousand spirits burn like torches, illuminating the star-studded hill.

Suddenly, a golden rain swept across the street outside the window.

The room was completely silent except for the sounds of wind, rain, and music.

The fragrant tea in their hands seemed to carry a hint of vicissitude and rust as it was drunk by everyone.

After finishing his song, the young man in white put down his teacup and opened his folding fan.

"The tea is too weak, let's switch to wine."

"Sir, which one would you like?"

"Red as blood, fierce as fire, a pot of the nation's blood, I invite all of you present to toast the great victory of our soldiers today, and also to mourn the eternal damnation of our Chinese people!"