LIGHTNOVELONLINE Hu… Hu…
Zeng Lu, who obstinately held onto his bloodied sword despite having exhausted himself so much that he had to be supported by his son, looked at the Great Tang flag flying at Shule’s highest point, and tears started streaming down his eyes.
“I never thought…” He cried so hard as if venting decades of indignation. “I never thought I would live to see this day!”
The older ones around him started weeping too.
Just then, someone screamed, “A ghost!”
The rebels were too focused on fighting the war, whereas the ghost horsemen had been weaving in and out of the battlefield like specters, so hardly anyone got a good look at them. Even those who noticed it thought that they were merely wearing masks.
It was only at daybreak that they started realizing…
Those cavalrymen aren’t humans but white-haired skeletons!
That sent them spiraling down into panic!
“Ghosts in broad daylight!”
“Run!!!”
“Save me mummy!”
The rebels were scared out of their wits. They couldn’t understand how ghosts were roaming around in broad daylight!
Now they thought back on it, they recalled the Tibetans screaming something about vengeful spirits coming after them, though they had shrugged it off. They thought that the Tibetans were from the atrocities they had committed.
It turned out that wasn’t the case. They really meant it!
Shit, the Tang army has returned as vengeful spirits!
The crowd looked at the skeletons and the bloody bone blades they wielded. Without any hesitation, they dashed into the nearest house and locked the doors. They peeped through the cracks of the windows to keep tabs on the situation.
Their hearts plunged into a whirlpool of shock and fear.
They might have fought together not long ago, but it didn’t change the fact that these were vengeful spirits! What if the vengeful spirits went after them after they were done dealing with the Tibetans?
Expecting vengeful spirits to be rational was the same as expecting a bear to be civil!
“Bad news, General Zeng!”
A few people rushed up to Zeng Lu, who was still basking in their difficult victory. Their faces were pale, and their bodies wouldn’t stop trembling.
“What’s wrong?” Zeng Lu sniffled before asking with a hoarse voice.
“Those Tang soldiers are vengeful spirits!”
These brawny men were so frightened by the Tang army’s true face that they cowered like little quails.
“I saw it with my own eyes! It isn’t a mask. Their faces are only left with bones, and there are flames burning in their eye sockets!”
The rebels on the city walls also scrambled down.
“General Zeng! Skeletons! It’s all skeletons outside! There’s no end to them!!!”
“They are demons!”
The rebels’ mood plunged from heaven to hell.
Last night, the Tang soldiers were still heroes charging into Shule to free their people from their suffering, but the spell broke at daybreak. All of a sudden, they turned into vengeful spirits who wanted to drag everyone down to hell.
“…” Zeng Lu was bewildered.
Vengeful spirits? Skeletons? What are these people saying?
Just then…
Tak tak tak!
The clobbering of horse hooves sounded from the corner of the street. Twenty cavalrymen were heading in their way.
“General Zeng!” The rebels anxiously tried to drag Zeng Lu away. “You need to leave right now! The vengeful spirits are heading over! It’ll be too late if we don’t escape now!”
But it was too late.
Skeletons swarmed the streets before they knew it, blocking all their paths of escape.
The clobbering of the horse hooves crescendoed as the cavalrymen drew closer.
“What are they planning…” one of the rebels murmured nervously.
By this point, everyone had somewhat realized that all the Tang soldiers were undead, except for their dashing young general. Those peeping out from nearby houses gasped in shock.
Tak tak!
The sounds of the horse hooves reverberated through the rebels’ bodies with hammer strikes. They were even more nervous because they didn’t know what to expect from this situation.
Shu Yichao stopped before the rebel army and alighted from his steed. He looked at Zeng Lu. “A yellow exclamation mark?”
“…” Zeng Lu’s son nervously held Zeng Lu’s arms tighter.
But Zeng Lu pushed his son aside and staggered up to Shu Yichao. His vision was turning blurry.
“Father!” Zeng Lu’s son exclaimed.
The rebels froze up.
General Zeng, what are you doing?!
That dashing young general might look human, but someone who associates himself with a bunch of vengeful spirits is anything but harmless. General Zeng, you shouldn’t provoke him!
The of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.
Much to the rebels’ surprise, Shu Yichao didn’t bite Zeng Lu’s neck and suck his blood, or grab his skull and siphon away his soul.
Zeng Lu grabbed Shu Yichao’s sleeves and gently stroked it as if it was a rare treasure. Then, he started weeping quietly. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
“I never thought I would see our Han wear again.”
He couldn’t hold himself back anymore and broke down into tears. Some of the older rebels also started sobbing.
Under the Tibetans’ tyranny, they weren’t allowed to keep their robes and hairdo. They were forced to observe the Tibetans’ culture, and they were made to shave their hair and change their wardrobe. Seeing the clothes from their homeland stoked their sadness and nostalgia.
“…” Shu Yichao fell silent.
“…You are a grown man. You should draw your sword and slay those barbarians after suffering humiliation!” a ghost horseman angrily bellowed. “Stop weeping, you meat-choking wastrel! You look pathetic!”
“…” Zeng Lu was stunned.
It was not because of the insult itself but because of how familiar the insult sounded.
He lived with his seven siblings back when he was still a child.
Once, he got in a fight with his siblings over lamb meat. He grabbed the largest piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth, but he nearly choked himself to death as a result. Since then, his father had always referred to him as ‘meat-choking wastrel’ when scolding him…
Could it be…
“Father?”
Zeng Lu turned to the ghost horseman with a dazed look. The latter was glaring at him, but his hands were trembling.
“Is it truly you, father?!” Zeng Lu’s tears poured out. He rushed forward and grabbed the ghost horseman’s hand, refusing to let it go. “Wuuu! I-I…”
He was so choked up with feelings that he struggled to enunciate properly. “It has been so hard all these years!”
“…” The ghost horseman hesitantly looked at the sobbing Zeng Lu, but in the end, he still reached out and patted Zeng Lu’s head. “You have worked hard.”
Zeng Lu cried his heart out.
It was a while later before he remembered something and pulled a few youths over. “Here, father. These two rascals are your grandsons. Second and Fourth, greet your grandfather.”
Zeng Lu looked around, and it was only then that he belatedly noticed the frightened looks on his brethren’s faces.
“This…” He raised his voice and shouted, “My fellow countrymen, you don’t need to fear these people. They aren’t vengeful spirits! They are our ancestors’ souls! Our ancestors couldn’t bear to watch our suffering anymore, so they came to the mortal world to help us!!!”
As he spoke, he got choked up with emotions once more and started crying again.
It didn’t take long for the others to recognize some of the ghost horsemen.
The Anxi army had been stationed in Shule for a long time. They had relatives, friends, and descendants here. The Tibetans might have purged this place many times, but there were still Tang descendants here.
This land wasn’t just Great Tang’s territory; it was their homeland!
“A-are you Ah Gong?”
“Third Gramps, is it you?!”
“Captain Wei? It’s me! Do you remember me?”
“Big Stone? Hahaha! I bet you never thought that I’m still alive!”
The bittersweet reunions between the living and the dead filled Shule with crying noises.
Those hiding in the houses hesitantly walked out to welcome their kin with hugs, smiles, and tears.