Me and countless me.

Chapter 622 Guo Jing's End (6k)
Guo Jing understands many things. People always say he is stupid, but he is actually an extremely intelligent person. It's just that because he is smart enough, he sometimes seems very stupid.

Therefore, after exchanging only two sentences with Li Ke, Guo Jing confirmed two things.

The first thing is that Li Ke despises, even loathes, the Song Dynasty emperors and their corrupt officials, just like himself, leaving him no room for maneuver. Moreover, Li Ke is remarkably clear-headed, just as he is, certain that the Song Dynasty is beyond saving.

The second thing is that Li Ke was very confident, confident in his own strength, confident that he could stop the Mongols, and confident that he could win the hearts of the people.

The fact that they received grain from outside the city and openly handed it over to them leaves little room for doubt.

but--

"pity."

Looking at the spirited young man before him, Guo Jing wished he had met him when he was a young man himself. That way, he wouldn't have such regrets now, and he could have joined Li Ke's ranks without any reservations and fought alongside Li Ke, instead of regretting something in his dreams now.

He regretted not staying under Genghis Khan's command and, after conquering the Song Dynasty, turning it into his own fiefdom.

This was not difficult for him. Given his military achievements and abilities, his prestige among the Mongols, and his relationship with Jebe, doing this was not a problem at all.

No longer will they have to face that corrupt court, that foolish emperor, and those teammates vying for power.

But if that's the case, it would be a pity for Rong'er.

Guo Jing closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. At this moment, he lacked the heroic spirit of the Great Hero Guo and the indomitable will of the Young Hero Guo; all he felt was the helplessness of a middle-aged man.

A teenager is considered an adult when they realize they need to shoulder responsibilities, and middle age is when they realize they can't change what they want to change, yet can't rebuild from the ashes, and can only try to mitigate the tragic outcome.

However, Guo Jing still had one thing in mind.

"There are things you should do and things you shouldn't do. Under the ice between the Song and the Mongols, even if you can resist for a while, wouldn't that be creating unnecessary bloodshed... The Song is still... a little more hopeful."

He did not say to the other officials that once the Song emperor died, it would be impossible for Li Ke to fight against two countries, and that it would be better to return and wait for the new emperor to take office. However, Li Ke shook his head.

"I am enough alone."

Guo Jing was taken aback for a moment, then clasped his hands in a fist and bowed.

“Young friend, how can one person possibly stand against a large army? Even if your martial arts are as good as mine, and you can move freely among a hundred thousand troops and kill their leaders, you must know that this cannot solve the fundamental problem. Moreover, the Mongol Yuan Dynasty is not without martial arts masters. Once you are entangled, what will happen to the other places?”

He had considered going alone on horseback, carrying provisions and poison, to poison the army and carry out a decapitation strike. But the problem was that if he did that, the martial arts masters of the Mongol Yuan dynasty would do the same. He knew the situation of the Mongols. Although they were currently fighting amongst themselves, they were extremely sensitive to such matters. Once threatened, they would instantly band together and begin to deal with the situation with their utmost effort.

When the time comes, once Song generals and officials begin to be assassinated by martial arts masters on the border, whether the Mongols or the Song Dynasty will succumb to defeat first is not an answer that needs to be considered.

At worst, the Mongols could retreat to the grasslands, where most martial arts masters wouldn't be able to pursue them. While he might be able to, could he trust that the Song Dynasty court would treat his family well? Would they believe he wouldn't rebel after a successful pursuit? When he returned to Xiangyang to recuperate, would he really not be harmed by those Song officials?

It hasn't been long since Marshal Yue's incident!
Moreover, there are very few experts like him who can move freely in the army. Most experts, if they do not form a formation, can kill at most a dozen soldiers in the army. They will be trapped by ropes and fishing nets because they do not have time to recover their internal energy or they cannot fight with their full strength. They will then be killed by bows, crossbows and spears. Only a top expert can lead the team and play the same role as cavalry.

Li Ke naturally knew what Guo Jing knew, so seeing Guo Jing's earnest and persuasive manner, Li Ke knew what Guo Jing was thinking, and so Li Ke extended his palm.

"That's because your martial arts skills aren't high enough or fast enough. Come on, Master Guo, let's lend a hand and you'll see."

Guo Jing originally didn't intend to fight Li Ke, but after thinking about it, he realized that this might be his only chance to persuade Li Ke, so he nodded.

"Alright, Mr. Li, Guo's Dragon Subduing Palm is quite powerful, please be careful."

He was very polite. Although his words sounded sarcastic, Guo Jing was actually hoping that Li Ke would be careful.

After all, he intended to intimidate Li Ke, so he decided to use the move "Regretful Dragon Soaring" instead of directly attacking Li Ke. Instead, he used the aftershocks to bombard Li Ke's side, letting Li Ke know that even a martial artist like him was powerless against the army, thus making Li Ke understand the principle.

After all, Li Ke was too young and inexperienced. Although he overestimated Li Ke to the greatest extent possible, he still did not think that Li Ke was his opponent.

So he slowly began, adopting a stance that anyone could react to, like the Dragon Subduing Palm.

"Master Guo, give it your all! This is not enough."

Li Ke smiled, his inner energy surging, and he imitated Guo Jing's posture of the Dragon Subduing Palm. However, as his inner energy circulated, Guo Jing's expression changed in an instant.

As Li Ke's true energy surged, a white dragon-shaped energy emerged from his body, coiling around him and encompassing his palm. The true energy shooting out from Li Ke's body also caused the dust beneath his feet to be blown away continuously, clearly indicating that he was a person with extremely profound internal strength!
Guo Jing clearly saw that the dust blown by the wind around automatically deflected away from Li Ke within a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters). Others might think that it was due to the surge of Li Ke's true energy, but he knew clearly that it was the zhang-long wall of energy formed by the powerful true energy when Li Ke circulated his internal energy!
"What level of internal energy cultivation this is!"

Seeing this, he was no longer worried about Li Ke's safety, but instead became worried about his own. He channeled all his life's energy into his palms, and his whole body was enveloped in boundless energy!
"Be careful! The dragon that soars too high will regret it!"

Moreover, because Li Ke's power was too overwhelming, Guo Jing no longer dared to be arrogant. He unleashed the "Regretful Dragon" palm strike in an instant, and a sound of dragon's roar and tiger's howl accompanied a powerful palm strike towards Li Ke!

Li Ke also channeled his palm power, gathering all his internal energy and striking Guo Jing's palms with all his might!
The two men's palms clashed in mid-air, and Guo Jing immediately cried out in surprise!
"this!"

He felt an immense and irresistible force enveloping his entire body, protecting him firmly. He knew clearly that this was Li Ke's true energy protecting him. However, in this way, Li Ke's body was no longer protected by any true energy or internal force, and he could only use his physical strength to resist the full power of Li Ke's Dragon Subduing Palm. This was basically a death sentence!

However, enveloped by this powerful internal force, Guo Jing was unable to change his moves and could only watch helplessly as his palms collided with Li Ke's!
In that instant, the terrified Guo Jing thought his Dragon Subduing Palm had struck the ground.

No, it was something even more terrifying. The instant their palms met, Guo Jing's body flew backward, instantly passing over the heads of countless soldiers and crashing into the forest hundreds of meters away at near-sonic speed!

Guo Jing felt dizzy and disoriented. He could clearly feel his body smashing through more than a dozen large trees. Those trees crumbled instantly in front of him like fragile pastries. After seeing Guo Jing fly out, Li Ke lightly touched the ground with his toes. Under the sunlight, without using any true energy, he relied solely on the magnetic field emitted by his own body to fly up and catch up with Guo Jing, who had been knocked away by him!
Yes, because he chose light as the energy source for increasing his internal strength, coupled with his innate special physique, his body has become incredibly powerful at this moment.

In just two months, he was able to withstand being blasted by muskets without harming his body, survive without needing to breathe or eat, and become immune to fire and ice!

He can even manipulate the faint magnetic field of the human body, and even cover the objects he wants to use with it, making the objects stronger under the influence of the magnetic field and preventing them from being easily crushed by him.

Its regenerative abilities far surpass those of humans, or rather, most living beings. Even if it only has one cell left, it can successfully revive as long as there is enough light.

He can now be called the Great Song Superman. He can actually knock down creatures like the native dragons from the world of A Song of Ice and Fire with just a rock.

Li Ke caught up with Guo Jing, who had been knocked away and was still flying. Seeing the incredulous expression on Guo Jing's face, he asked him the question.

"Do you want to pledge allegiance to me?"

He didn't think Guo Jing was a fool. After all, how could a woman like Huang Rong fall for a fool? Guo Jing was also filled with mixed feelings. He looked at Li Ke, and when Li Ke put his arm around his shoulder and safely put him back on the ground, he looked at the path he had created behind Li Ke.

He couldn't comprehend how humans could possess such inner strength and power, so he looked at Li Ke, remained silent for a while, took a deep breath, and then let out a sudden sigh.

In that instant, he thought of his father, Yang Tiexin, their ancestors, those virtuous people who believed in the Song Dynasty because of him, those who sacrificed their lives, and those who, even so, still wanted to protect the Song Dynasty and hoped that it could govern the world well.

So, Guo Jing opened his eyes, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Li Ke, and then spoke.

“I, Guo Jing… would never betray the Song Dynasty. When Mr. Li arrives in Xiangyang, I, Guo Jing, will definitely fight to stop him, to uphold the loyalty between the Song Dynasty and its ruler. It’s just a pity that Mr. Li’s good intentions will be wasted.”

Li Ke hadn't expected Guo Jing to be so stubborn, or rather, so devoted to loyalty and righteousness, so he couldn't help but speak up.

"Master Guo's ancestors were also righteous men who acted on behalf of Heaven. Moreover, the Song court is so cruel to the people and looks down on you, Master Guo. Why bother?"

But Guo Jing just shook his head.

"Guo, I cannot bring shame upon my ancestors."

Li Ke was quite helpless about this and couldn't help but try to persuade him. He really liked Guo Jing's character. If Guo Jing wasn't a good person, how could Li Ke not make a move on the top-ranked female warrior Huang in the martial arts must-eat list?

So Li Ke immediately retorted.

"Are you just going to watch your family suffer with you? How could you, Master Guo, not know about Marshal Yue's past deeds?"

Guo Jing nodded. He was well aware that once he entered officialdom, it was absolutely impossible for the Song Dynasty not to kill him. But even so, he did not feel that he should betray the Song Dynasty.

He said the same thing to Genghis Khan, and he would say the same thing to Li Ke.

"Death is nothing, but it is absolutely impossible for Guo to betray the Song Dynasty."

"What if I destroy the Song Dynasty?"

Li Ke calmly looked at Guo Jing, and in his heart he understood very well that although many people were clamoring to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, many people in the Song Dynasty did not care about the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, and even the Han people in the north did not care.

For this ridiculous reason, the Liao Dynasty's legitimacy was even stronger than that of the Song Dynasty a long time ago.

However, Li Ke's words made Guo Jing laugh.

"But I believe that Mr. Li would not mistreat the people of the Song Dynasty, would he?"

His smile was so open and honest that Li Ke didn't know what to say. After a moment of silence, he clicked to load the save file.

Therefore—"How could I, Guo, be ashamed of the glory of my ancestors?"

A loyal minister does not serve two masters.

"If Guo were to defect to you, what would become of those virtuous and righteous people who died simply because they believed in Guo?"

"Since Guo is receiving the emperor's bounty, he must be loyal to the emperor's kindness."

…………

"Once I am a subject of the Song Dynasty, I will be a subject of the Song Dynasty for life."

“Mr. Li, no matter how many flaws the Great Song Dynasty may have, it is still my country. No matter how good the dynasty you have established is, it is not the Great Song Dynasty.”

…………

"Even if the Song Dynasty is about to perish, it should at least leave behind a legacy worthy of being remembered by others..."

Guo Jing looked at the sky, at his own impending doom, while Li Ke also looked at the sky, at the sky he was seeing for the hundredth time since his save file was reloaded.

In the first hundred attempts, he used various methods, even reading save files from two months prior a few times, developing Dadu while communicating with Guo Jing. However, his main goal was to optimize his speedrun process and reduce some problems in developing Dadu.

But in the end, Li Ke returned to the save point because there was nothing left to improve in his gameplay. Moreover, through these hundred save reloads, he finally understood that Guo Jing's moral standards had truly reached a point where there was nothing to criticize; he was the ideal version of himself that many great scholars imagined, a truly—

'A loyal and honest scholar-official'.

Moreover, it's an extremely difficult plot-driven death, the kind where reloading a save doesn't help.

But for Li Ke, who possesses a modern mindset and a relatively more flexible view of the world, it can only be said that Guo Jing is indeed an idealist.

Even now, he still has hope for the Song Dynasty, and he still hopes that the Song Dynasty can get better, and can get better like a genetic mutation.

Li Ke couldn't call him stupid because of his idealism, but he could only say that he was blindly loyal.

But Guo Jing ignored Li Ke's complicated gaze and continued speaking with a smile.

"...I don't want future generations to only think of a bunch of corrupt officials when they mention the Song Dynasty, and to only curse the Song soldiers for being incompetent, without seeing that there were still Song soldiers and subjects who wanted the Song Dynasty to unify the world and create a great cause that would last for thousands of generations."

After speaking, Guo Jing looked at Li Ke and clasped his hands in a fist salute.

"Therefore, Brother Li, I really cannot join your ranks and become your subject. Now, all I can do is lead the troops back to the Great Song Dynasty. I can't help you with anything else."

Guo Jing's words were very sincere, but Li Ke was speechless because of his stubbornness.

Li Ke placed his hand on the save file, but in the end he gave up. Guo Jing had already said so, and even called him brother, so what else could he say?

"But if that happens, Master Guo, I'm afraid your death is not far off... Blind loyalty is not a good thing."

But Guo Jing just smiled.

"They shouldn't be that stupid."

Li Ke had nothing to say, so he handed the envelope he had prepared before loading the save file to Guo Jing.

"It seems that the only thing I can do is send your wife a letter, asking her to remarry me after you die, bringing her daughter with her. After all, you'll be dead by then, and you won't be able to see what I do to your wife and daughter, and even if you did, you wouldn't be able to stop it."

But Guo Jing just laughed. He could tell that Li Ke was joking, and his ultimate goal was still to provoke him into not returning to the Song Dynasty.

"Don't say this in front of Rong'er. With her personality, she might take it seriously. Besides, if that day really comes, as long as the bloodline of my Guo family is preserved, I won't think there's anything wrong with her remarrying to whomever she wants. After all, the dead shouldn't be sacrificed by the living."

Guo Jing's last words were somewhat sincere, leaving Li Ke speechless.

After all, Guo Jing was truly honest and kind. The fact that he said that proved that he really didn't care and genuinely believed that as long as Huang Rong ensured that Guo Polu wouldn't change his surname, he would only wish her well if she remarried.

However, both of them knew that, given Huang Rong's personality and Guo Jing's feelings for her, it was theoretically impossible to get her to remarry.

The probability is zero!
Li Ke believes that Huang Rong will remarry, but he should believe that Xiaolongnu will fall in love with him at first sight and think of him while practicing martial arts!
After laughing, Guo Jing clasped his hands in a respectful gesture, accepted Li Ke's letter, and bid farewell to Li Ke.

"May we meet again someday!"

"Goodbye! Remember to explain to those officials the significance of how I sent you flying, otherwise, you'll surely be in trouble, Master Guo!"

Guo Jing quickly led his troops away, despite strong opposition from the leading official, who believed that Guo Jing had only exchanged a palm strike with Li Ke before flying into the grove with him.

He didn't understand martial arts, so he had no idea how impressive Li Ke's attack was. So even though Guo Jing told him how amazing Li Ke's attack was, and he reported it accordingly, things still went wrong.

The first problem is that many of the soldiers Guo Jing brought have deserted!

They fled to Li Ke's place just to have enough to eat and wear. Guo Jing looked at these deserters without saying anything. Given his personality, he would never chase after these deserters who were only looking for food, so he let them go.

He also handed Huang Rong the letter Li Ke had given her. Although he hadn't read it, he could guess what it said, but he still gave it to Huang Rong and let her read it alone.

But Huang Rong didn't look at it with anyone. Instead, she opened it open generously in front of Guo Jing, revealing a line of words inside.

"General Guo is determined to die for his country. If he goes to the capital, I urge Madam Guo to stop him! Moreover, the Song Dynasty court will certainly not spare General Guo. They will definitely harm him upon his return! Be careful! Take good care of yourself!"

Huang Rong was immediately shocked and looked at Guo Jing.

"Husband, what does this mean?"

Huang Rong didn't think Li Ke would be stupid enough to write something so nonsensical, so Guo Jing must be hiding something from her. After thinking about it for a while, Guo Jing told Huang Rong everything that Li Ke had said to him.

Huang Rong didn't care about the joke Li Ke made about marrying her and her daughter in Guo Jing's description. Although she didn't like it, she knew that Li Ke was doing it for Guo Jing's own good. As Guo Jing's wife, she knew very well that what Li Ke said was definitely not a lie. So now she cared more about something else.

"Are you really going to kill yourself?"

Guo Jing smiled.

"That's nonsense. As for the Song Dynasty harming me, that's even more impossible. With Li Ke as a check, the Song Dynasty royal family isn't stupid. Why would they panic? I still want to see the child in your womb get married and have children."

Huang Rong thought about it and realized that this made sense, so she felt relieved and didn't say anything more. Instead, she helped Guo Jing handle military and political affairs.

but--

"Ha, that traitor Li's attack was enough to obliterate hundreds of feet? Does Guo Jing think we're fools? This fellow truly harbors rebellious intentions!"

In a small room, the ministers and the emperor, who truly held the future of the Song Dynasty in their hands, looked at Guo Jing's report and expressed that they did not believe a single word of it.

What grain that can mature in a month, what wheat ears that are double, what a single strike that can destroy an area of ​​hundreds of feet, what one person that can hold off tens of thousands of troops, what Li Ke that made Muqali submit by relying on his own strength.

In their eyes, these battle reports were no different from those of other Song generals!
Even worse!

Coupled with Guo Jing's previous actions, the eyes of everyone in the small room suddenly revealed murderous intent.

"It seems that Guo Jing truly harbors rebellious intentions..."

The ministers and the emperor, who truly held the fate of the dynasty in their hands, looked at the intelligence before them, exchanging glances. Finally, it was the emperor who spoke.

"What reason could we give him to leave Xiangyang... and what are the chances of success..."

He couldn't tolerate Guo Jing's disobedience. If Guo Jing had actually fought Li Ke, he would have accepted it. But Guo Jing didn't fight at all. He simply stayed in the grove with Li Ke for half a day. Moreover, the intelligence said that there was a dragon's roar when the two fought!

Then, the eunuch standing behind the emperor spoke up.

"If he were left alone in the city, the imperial guards and the army would have a 70% chance of killing him. But if he were given poisoned wine and inhaled incense... and then surrounded and killed by the guards of various families, the imperial guards, and the army, then there would be a 100% chance of killing him!"

The emperor nodded and looked at his ministers.

"so be it."

So, in the second month after returning from Li Ke's capital, Guo Jing received a series of orders to lead troops and collect provisions.

Li Ke also welcomed an unexpected guest, someone he never expected to come and seek refuge with him.

Kublai Khan!
Kublai Khan, Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty!
(End of this chapter)