I will make Qin Shi Huang immortal in the Great Qin Dynasty.

The withered hand gripped the hilt of the sword precisely and pulled it outward with force.

Half of the gleaming sword blade had already emerged from its sheath.

She used all her strength to pull the sword out completely, then pointed it at her neck.

Commander Yang reacted even faster than his thoughts.

His left hand had already pressed down on her wrist the moment she gripped the hilt of the sword.

With a flick of her right hand, the sword slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground.

She paused for a moment, then finally burst into tears.

She lay on Commander Yang's lap, her thin shoulders shrugging.

He didn't ask her why she wanted to die.

He doesn't need to ask.

A thirteen-year-old girl was imprisoned in a Xiongnu tribe for six years.

Those questions don't need to be asked.

He simply held a burning fire within him.

The fire was slowly building up and fermenting in his chest.

He gently circulated his energy throughout her body.

It soothed her taut veins that were on the verge of bursting.

It slowly closed her eyes, and she fell asleep in the first peaceful moment after years of turmoil.

He laid her on a soft blanket, covered her with a clean old robe, then stood up and went out of the tent.

He walked to the center of the camp and saw the captured Huns squatting in a row.

Among the prisoners were young and strong men, as well as the elderly, women, and children.

He stood there for a long time, so long that his deputy began to look at him with some unease.

Commander Yang spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Kill. Kill all the Xiongnu people here. Leave no one alive."

The deputy turned around abruptly, his face changing drastically. He stepped forward and said urgently in a low voice, "Commander! This won't do! This violates military discipline! Military orders strictly forbid the unauthorized slaughter of prisoners. If General Meng finds out about this, I'm afraid..."

Commander Yang did not turn around; his gaze remained fixed on the group of prisoners.

"I know the military orders. I know the consequences. But these—" He gestured with his eyes to the prisoners squatting on the ground, "those who have plundered and murdered my Qin people on this grassland, kill them all, leave no one alive."

The deputy opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He had been following this commander for more than half a year and knew that he was always calm and composed and rarely let his emotions control him.

He knew that Commander Yang had been harboring a grudge.

In the past six months, he has never brought up his past.

But every time he rescued people, he would linger in the crowd for a few more moments.

Each time he confirmed that the face was not there, he would stand alone in silence for a while.

The deputy had a vague idea of ​​what was going on.

At that moment, he understood that the fire had never gone out; it had only been temporarily suppressed.

The deputy did not offer any further advice.

He took a step back, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said in a low voice, "This humble general obeys."

Then he turned and walked to the front of the group to relay the order.

The cavalrymen paused for a moment upon hearing this, then began to carry out the order.

The Xiongnu prisoners who were squatting on the ground were pulled up one by one and taken to an open area at the edge of the camp.

Some people started shouting, some struggled, and some knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately, shouting something in the Xiongnu language.

Swords were drawn, blood flashed, and heads fell to the ground.

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, all the captured Xiongnu people were decapitated.

Commander Yang ordered his troops to set up camp at this location.

The cavalrymen had been on the move for more than ten days, each taking turns riding three horses, sweeping, charging, and pursuing without stopping.

Although his physical strength and endurance are far superior to before, he is still not made of iron.

The light cavalry soldiers who had been fighting for days finally had a chance to catch their breath.

Several hours passed, the campfire burned three or four times, and firewood was added seven or eight times.

The night sky changed from deep black to a hazy, almost translucent gray.

A very faint sound came from inside the tent.

Commander Yang immediately stood up, lifted the curtain, and went inside.

He saw that his sister had already sat up, leaning against the tent wall, her hands wrapped around her knees.

He knelt down in front of her, picked up the ceramic bowl that was next to him, and handed it to her.

The mutton soup in the bowl was no longer hot; it was just warm enough to eat, with a thin layer of oil floating on top.

He then placed a stack of dry biscuits in front of her.

She looked down at the bowl of soup, and after a few moments, she slowly reached out and took it.

Her fingers were still trembling slightly, and her grip on the bowl was not very steady.

She held the bowl to her lips and slowly drank a few mouthfuls.

Commander Yang remained silent.

He sat next to her, watching her drink the soup.

The tent was quiet for a long time, with only the slightest noise from the soup being drunk.

Commander Yang spoke only after she put down her bowl.

His voice was much lower and slower than usual.

"The Qin Dynasty has changed. It has changed a great deal."

She lowered her head and didn't say anything, but simply placed the bowl on her lap, her two hands clasped together, gripping the edge of the bowl.

"His Majesty found an immortal who descended from heaven and appointed him as the Imperial Preceptor. The Imperial Preceptor brought many things with him, including grain seeds that could yield more than thirty bushels per mu, iron shoes that could make horses run faster, and a cultivation technique that could allow people to achieve immortality, called the Yuanli Guiding Technique."

He paused, glancing at her reaction.

"I've started cultivating too." He tried to keep his tone light, as if sharing something joyful. "I'm now at the Yuan Disciple realm. My strength has reached ten thousand jin. After living for almost thirty years, I've finally gained the ability to contend with this grassland. My lifespan can reach a thousand years; I still have many days to live."

Her fingers twitched slightly.

He continued, filling in the gaps in her life by telling her about the years she had been gone.

With the availability of high-yield grain varieties, the people of Qin no longer went hungry.

With a school, children can read and recognize characters.

With the new steel mill and textile machines, people's lives are much better than before.

Then they talked about the Qin army, whose light cavalry had been equipped with saddles, stirrups, and horseshoes, making them more than ten times stronger than before.

Each of the Imperial Guards was clad in armor weighing 500 jin (approximately 250 kg) and carried an iron hammer weighing 800 jin (approximately 400 kg). They could crush the bluestone slabs with their footsteps.

This expedition to the grasslands is to completely annihilate the Xiongnu, so that the northern border of the Great Qin will no longer be disturbed.

He spoke slowly and in great detail.

He was afraid she didn't know that the world had changed over the years, afraid she still thought the outside world was still a place of war and chaos where human life was cheap.

He wanted her to know that those dark and hopeless days were over.

"These changes were all brought about by the Imperial Advisor."

Commander Yang's voice held a newfound seriousness. "The Imperial Advisor is a celestial being descended to earth; he knows everything and can do everything. He taught everyone the art of guiding Yuan energy, and he is the one who brought about the great Qin Dynasty to its present state."

"Once we return to Qin after the war, you'll also be able to cultivate the Yuan Power Guidance Technique. Then, my brother and I can be together forever, for thousands of years, and never have to be separated again."

His gaze remained fixed on her lowered head, and she still did not raise her head.

The tent was quiet for a while.

"Once you're feeling better, we'll go to Qiyuan Hall."

His tone was as if he were talking about something that didn't need further discussion. "That's a place specially set up by the Imperial Preceptor. The people there are all focused on cultivating Yuan Power Guiding Techniques. They don't care about worldly affairs or politics. They only think about how to improve their Yuan Power Guiding Techniques all day long."

"The Imperial Preceptor said that Qiyuan Hall is the foundation of the future of the Great Qin Dynasty, and all those who truly want to cultivate will eventually go there."

"Once we return to the Great Qin, we'll go to the Qiyuan Palace together, focus on our cultivation, and not ask about anything else."

"No one cares what we did in the past, and no one will ask us what we've been through."

He didn't tell her that he had ordered the massacre of all the prisoners that day.

If this matter is reported, his military career may come to an end.

He might not be able to take her back to Qin as an officer and give her a decent place to settle down and a secure future.

He was just talking about Qiyuan Palace, just saying that he and his sister could go to that place together and let go of everything from the past.

Every word he said was true.

Qiyuan Palace does exist, the Yuanli Guiding Technique can indeed allow people to cultivate to a lifespan of a thousand years, and the Great Qin is indeed heading towards a future that he wouldn't have dared to imagine a few years ago.

He just didn't say it aloud; he himself needed that place to settle down.

He had already broken the rules of the military.

Regardless of whether this order will ultimately be investigated or not.

He can no longer return to the state of a soldier who only needs to follow orders.

He needs to move to a different place and live a different way.

That place only cared about cultivation; Qiyuan Palace was the escape route he had prepared for himself and her.

She remained silent.

She placed the empty bowl on the ground beside her, then picked up the stack of dry biscuits, broke off a small piece, put it in her mouth, and chewed it slowly.

She didn't look up at him, didn't nod, and didn't respond to his words.

But she did not shed tears, nor did she touch the sword at his waist again.

She just sat there and slowly, bite by bite, ate the biscuit he had placed in front of her.

Commander Yang watched as she put the last crumb into her mouth.

I watched as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve, picked up the bowl, got up, and walked out of the tent.

He went to the stream to wash the bowls clean, then walked back to the tent entrance.

He glanced at the figure still sitting against the tent wall inside, then turned and sat down outside the tent.

Place your hands, one on top of the other, on your knees and tilt your head back slightly.

Looking up at the brightening morning sky above.

He let out a long breath.

It was about to dawn.