In order to become a Heroic Spirit, I had no choice but to cause trouble in history.

Xiang An sat in the main seat of a room, while a minor official from the county sat to his side. The official didn't dare to look at Xiang An and was trembling with fear, his head bowed.

"You mean, Han Xin has surrendered to the Han and is now leading an army to attack both Qin states simultaneously?" Xiang An rested one hand on his knee, frowning as if deep in thought.

"Yes, yes... The Han army has now split into two routes, one heading north and the other east, seemingly intending to..."

Xiang An's armor had not been cleaned and still bore dried, frozen alien blood, emitting a foul odor and looking extremely ferocious.

"Alright, alright, you can go now. I never said I was going to kill you, what are you afraid of?" Xiang An waved his hand impatiently, shooing the minor official away.

"Yes, yes—thank you for your great kindness, sir!" The minor official was overjoyed and ran out in a panic.

The minor official was gone, but Xiang An gritted his teeth in anger.

"So much nonsense!"

Peng!

The table in front of him was smashed into pieces by Xiang An. He took several deep breaths to catch his breath.

Liu Ji rebelled, the State of Han and Changshan responded, the Three Qi were in turmoil, Han Xin attacked the two Qin states, and Xiang Yu marched out of Western Chu. These are all the events that have happened in the past two months.

"We need to get back to Western Chu quickly. My elder brother shouldn't be in Pengcheng right now. We need to find out where he went..." Xiang An imagined a map of the Central Plains in his mind, closing his eyes to think. "If everything went smoothly for my elder brother, he should have crossed the river by now. But Han and Changshan are interfering, and there are also the three Qi states on the flank. It definitely won't be that easy... Chengwu, or Yongqiu, my elder brother should be in that area now."

"But something's not right," Xiang An frowned again. "What about the three kings of Jiujiang? If Ying Bu and Wu Rui's group were helping to keep them in check, those small kingdoms in the north wouldn't be able to act so recklessly."

"To put it bluntly, it's just a prefecture..."

Xiang An pondered for a moment, then stood up and walked towards the door.

Suddenly looking up, he saw the white horse standing at the door raise its head towards him.

Xiang An was taken aback, then quickly walked over.

"You're getting fairer and fairer. Are you more confident now?"

Xiang An jokingly said to Tuan Chi.

"Humph, hoo hoo—"

Tuanchi snorted and flicked the long, soft mane on his neck, seemingly proud, showing no trace of his former gloomy and inferior appearance.

"The Blue Horse is truly amazing. In a little while, you'll be almost completely white."

"Let's go outside the city."

"...Let's go home."

Xiang An looked north, towards the direction of the Great Wall, and murmured to himself.

"Let's...go home."

......

A thousand-plus people is not a large target, and the small number of people allowed for a swift action. Two critically wounded soldiers who could not be saved chose to end their own lives and are now hanging beside their horses. When they return to Pengcheng, Xiang An will arrange for them to be buried.

Foreign tribes are to humans what pests are to food. Xiang An chose to lead these veterans to the northern pass to fight against foreign tribes for the sake of the Central Plains and its people.

But upon their return, Xiang An and his army were met with slander and curses.

Xiang An became a villain whom everyone wanted to kill, and the soldiers who followed Xiang An to kill the foreign tribes also suffered stigma.

Xiang An knew who did it, and he had no intention of letting them get away with it.

"If you call me a villain, then—"

"I'll play the villain for once."

"I'd like to see how you're going to kill me."

------------

Chapter 960 Time waits for no one

Pengcheng, the capital of Western Chu.

A small team of one thousand people entered the city through the freshly melted snow; it was none other than Xiang An and his men, whom they had not seen for nearly four months.

Xiang An tossed his armor, stained with black blood, to his servants and went into the city. He had already gathered a general understanding of the situation outside, and now he needed more detailed information.

"Zhongli Mei, didn't you go on the expedition with the King?"

Many generals were taken away by Xiang Yu. As a warlike king of Chu, Xiang Yu had a large number of generals under his command, many of whom were well-known, such as Xiang An, Xiang Lu, Zi Juan, Ji Bu, Long Ju, Chen Ping, Zhongli Mei, Jiang Chun, and Wei Hao. Xiang An had previously taken Xiang Lu, Zi Juan, and Wei Hao away when he attacked the northern barbarians. It seems that all the others were taken away by Xiang Yu or assigned tasks by him. Xiang An only found Zhongli Mei in Pengcheng.

"General, you're finally back!" Zhongli Mei was overjoyed to see Xiang An. "The King left an order for me to tell you to go to Chengwu immediately after your return. He's waiting for you there to discuss matters!"

"Chengwu? Isn't it Yongqiu...?" Xiang An frowned. "It seems my brother is facing considerable resistance..."

"How many soldiers are still left in Pengcheng?"

"Reporting to the General, including the city garrison, there are a total of 24,000 men!"

"That's settled then. We'll muster the troops tomorrow morning, and you'll come along too!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

......

Xiang An still had considerable influence and prestige within Western Chu, at least among the middle and upper echelons of the scholar-official class.

These people were all followers of Xiang Yu, and even Xiang Liang, who rebelled against Qin Er Shi. They ate from the same pot with Xiang An along the way, so they must know what kind of person Xiang An was. Xiang An had no conflicts with these people; he was a very approachable person. It was precisely because of this that these people admired Xiang An and were willing to obey his orders when Xiang Yu was not around.

No one would dislike a general who is capable of winning battles and kind to his subordinates.

Xiang An returned from Zhongli Mei's residence and, together with Zijuan, settled more than a thousand veterans. He instructed Xiaoye to make sure to deliver the keepsakes of the deceased veterans to their families.

But Xiang An received something.

"What is this?" Xiang An looked at Liao Ye with a puzzled expression.

He was holding a very strange mask, which looked somewhat like a Nuo mask, but more bizarre and ferocious. It was clear that the craftsmanship of the mask was quite good.

What's even more intriguing is the material of the mask—it's clearly made from a foreign material.

"Reporting to the General, this was made by Lao Ye and me." Wei Hao walked over from the side, having just taken off his blood-stained armor. Despite it being the dead of winter, he was covered in sweat and smiled at Xiang An.

Xiang An's eyes were filled with doubt.

Liao Ye, this nine-foot-tall man, stood to the side, fidgeting like a woman.

Just then, Zijuan came over and said, "Second brother, let me explain."

She rolled her eyes, pushed Liao Ye aside, took the hideous-looking mask from Xiang An's hand, and without saying a word, pressed it onto Xiang An's face.

"Ugh?"

"Let's give it a try first."

Xiang An did not resist. These people were all his family members. Even Wei Hao, who was not considered family, was his confidant. These people would not harm him, except for Xiang Yu.

Xiang An looked at the three people from behind the mask, touched the mask, and found it wasn't too heavy and fit well.

The material might not have been tanned, so it smells a bit.

Wow! This looks pretty good!

"It seems like I'll definitely have more momentum when breaking through the formation!"

"I feel this could be improved..."

Xiang An removed his mask and looked at the three people with a hint of helplessness: "What are you doing? Why did you give me this mask?"

“Xiao Ye has been fighting alongside us for quite some time now, and he’s discovered something.” Zijuan took back her mask, a smile on her face. “Second Brother, you’re serious and steady enough, but you’re a little too fierce and ruthless.”

"Old Ye said that when he was charging into battle with you, General, he wasn't so afraid if he was on the opposite side. He always felt like something was missing, so he collected some things from those beasts and made this mask to make up for this little deficiency." Wei Hao picked up where Zijuan left off, pointing to the mask in Zijuan's hand. "How about it? Scary enough, right?"

Point Guard Here

Xiang An was somewhat amused and exasperated: "No... am I really like what you're saying? If I'm not scary enough, why would I need to be so scary?"

"And this mask smells awful, Xiao Ye, didn't you wash it?"

Liao Ye's eyes widened: "Huh? Didn't you wash it?"

He snatched the mask from Zijuan's hand and ran away in a flash, his face flushed.

Xiang Lu, holding his helmet, stretched and leaned closer to Xiang An, saying, "Are you setting off to find your older brother tomorrow? Where is he now?"

When the conversation turned to business, Xiang An's expression became serious: "Zhongli Mei is still in Pengcheng. I asked around, and he's in Chengwu now... I originally thought we could reach Yongqiu."

"The resistance is considerable..." Xiang Lu sighed. "Should we must muster the troops tomorrow morning?"

"Okay." Xiang An nodded, looked at Zijuan, and said to Xiang Lu, "Fourth Uncle, Xiao Si and I are going to the North Camp to check on the situation. We'll leave this place to you for now. Also, Wei Hao, you two take care of things here first."

"This subordinate obeys your command!" Wei Hao said solemnly, clasping his hands in a fist salute.

"Alright, go on, time waits for no one." Xiang Lu waved his hand, knowing that in such a private setting he didn't need to be so formal in his bowing.

Time waits for no one...

Xiang Lu closed his slightly tired eyes for a moment, as if he was recalling something.

Recalling... something.

Xiang An and Zi Juan left, heading towards the northern camp. There were many things to prepare for the expedition, and as the general, Xiang An had to do some things personally.

Turning her head, she saw Wei Hao, the unfortunate kid still looking in the direction Xiang An and Zi Juan had left, his eyes filled with a look that was easy to understand.

"Look, look, still looking? There are plenty of things we need to do." Xiang Lu rolled his eyes. "Besides, it's no use looking, it's impossible."

"I..." Wei Hao scratched his head, looking grief-stricken, but two seconds later he became dejected.

"Yes, that's impossible..."

It's definitely impossible. Zijuan never looked at him with the eyes of someone looking for a partner. She looked at him with the eyes of a comrade-in-arms or a colleague. So he can only have unrequited love for the rest of his life.

Moreover, Zijuan and the General...

What are they really thinking?

Xiang Lu looked at Wei Hao, who was deep in thought with his head down, and stopped talking, going about his own business.

He walked with his eyes closed, seemingly lost in thought.

Time waits for no one, and judging by the days, it's almost here.

Throughout history, how many heroes and great figures have fallen before the passage of time...?