Well, how will I start this, Once there was a love or once upon a time in the kingdom far, far away.....?

No, it should be, A long, long time ago in the unknown dynasty of an old empire in Chonghua. There were two handsome lads that their characteristics are very opposites to each other, but you know the sayings "Opposites attract" or "opposites poles attract", Well that was actually happened to them, just like magnets, right? Or like batteries, if two positives or two negatives the lights will not on. (I'm referring to an old flashlight that use batteries not the chargeable one).

Prior to the story will begin, I'm completing the five hundred words so please keep on reading.

Mo Xi and Gu Mang were best of buddies, they were unseparable but I don't know why Gu Mang turned his back on his country and leave Mo Xi behind.

Mo Xi was full of questions on his mind. Why his closest comrade abandoned him. So let's continue reading to unfold the mystery of their story...

Okay this is the real intro...

Once there was two young bright generals in Chonghua as separate as the Jing and the Wei, as disparate as water from fire.

The one like water was named Mo Xi. A long time bachelor, he had an cold temperament and an austere air. The army had a venture regarding when General Mo would surrender his purity, and it had evolved substantially into a luck that could make any mendicant rich overnight. Mo Xi remained a pillar of Chonghua's fortitude.

The one like fire was named Gu Mang. A perfect gentleman, he had a cheerful personality. If he had unsettled a sack of army wages for every girl he'd kissed, he doubtless would have lost everything he possessed a long time ago, down to the garments on his back. Eventually, Gu Mang deserted Chonghua and became a commander for rival nation.

Before Gu Mang turned traitor, there was a day when he was suddenly possessed by a strange whim. Grabbing a little booklet filled with his own writing, he ran to ask Mo Xi to add a few words.

General Mo's hands were fulfull oflitary paperwork at the time, so he only asked General Gu, "What's in this?"

"All sorts of things," Gu Mang said cheerfully. "Good food, interesting experiences, travel notes, weapon catalogs, and the trifles of life."

Mo Xi accepted the booklet, took up his brush, and dipped it in ink to make his comments.

"I also wrote about you," Gu Mang added with a smile.

Mo Xi's hand stilled as he looked up at Gu Mang. "...What about me?"

"I wrote a little about our past," Gu Mang earnestly replied.

Mo Xi didn't say another word. After staring at Gu Mang for a bit, he lowered those long lashes and expressionlessly inscribed two sharp and icy lines of formal script on the first page.

This book is forbidden. Transgessors will be punished.

At twilight, a light bustle of snow began to fall on Chonghua's frontier, until it slowly covered the ground in a layer of spotless white. The wheels of ponderous carriages and the feet of passerby left uneven trails across the area.

The meat pie vendor Wang Er-mazi shouted with all his strength as his breath puffed out in thick clouds. "Meat pies, meat pies! Fresh from the oven!" He clanged the gong near to his oven as he hawked his goods. "There's nothing thicker than the pies I bake---other than Gu Mang's face! Come here and get your quicks!"

Everyone who heard sniggered to themselves.

This pie booth had been in business for more than ten years, and a several years ago, Wang Er-mazi had sung a different tune indeed. Before he had boasted, "Look here, look here! General Gu's favorite pies! My dear buyers, if you eat them, you'll be just successful and invincible as General Gu---guaranteed!"

An exceptionally equipped cavalry troop leisurely made their way towards him through the swirling snow, led by a lad who looked to be about seventeen. Sumptuously clothed in brocades and furs, he was the portrait of insolence with his handsome and mischievous little face bundled under his thick fur collar.

This youth was named Yue Chenqing, and he was the deputy general of the garrison troops. He was possessed of two extremely terrifying talents. The first was being very agreeable---as the ditty went, "What's the point of getting all mad? If I got sick that would be real bad. No one's happy when I'm mad; it's such a pain and makes me sad." Yue Chenqing understood this concept to a tree, and he hardly ever lost his temper. He was the most good-natured young master of them all.

The second talents was making himself comfortable---as comfortable as possible. He never stood if he could sit, nor sat up if he could lie flat. Yue Chenqing's favorite thing to say was, "I'll drink all the wine I've got tonight and mooch off my bros tomorrow." He never deprived himself when it came to enjoying nice things: he downed all his liquor the day he received it and took women to bed without wasting time on talk.

As for patrolling...he'd have his fun, and then he'd patrol.

The frontier fortress at the northern pass had many markets like this, most of which sold things like animal hides, herbal medicines, spirit stones, and slaves. These places weren't terribly interesting, but compared to the bitter tedium of army life, they made for a decent way to pass the time.

"I'll take that seven-tailed spirit cat."

"Go buy that guhuo niao tail feather for me too."

"The tumbleweed at that stall looks good. It'll definitely make effective medicine. Get me ten baskets."

As Yue Chenqing walked, he directed the retinue following him to purchase all sorts of goods. Although the members of the retinue felt uneasy seeing him shirk his responsibilities, they couldn't say much to a deputy general.

Over the course of his walk, Yue Chenqing began to feel a little hungry and looked around for something to eat. He suddenly heard Wang Er-mazi shouting in the distance, his raucous voice ringing through the snow.

"Meat pies for sale! Meat pies as thick as Gu Mang's face! Come here and take a look!"

Upon hearing this sales pitch, a corner of Yue Chenqing's mouth twitched. Aiya, this guy has the guts to use Gu Mang for his own ends? Doesn't he knew that Gu Mang is a taboo subject with our commander, Mo Xi? If Mo Xi heard, we'd all be doomed.

Yue Chenqing led his horse forward and was about to scold the man when the strong, savory aroma of the meat pies hit him in the face. Just as Yue Chenqing's reprimand reached the tip of his tongue, he swallowed it---along with the drool about to drip down his chin.

The stallkeeper Wang Er-mazi looked up. "Officer, a pastry for you?"

"...I'll have one, I guess."

"All righty!" Wang Er-mazi nimbly grabbed a golden-brown pie from the oven with his tongs and stuffed it into an oilpaper bag, which he passed to the customer before him. "Here you go. Careful not to burn yourself. You gotta eat these pies while they're hot!"

Yue Chenqing accepted the piping hot pie and took a crackling bite. Scalding juice flowed out from the crispy golden-brown pastry as the flavors of wheat dough, ground meat, and crushed peppercorn blossomed on his tongue. Their smoky scents filled the air in an instant, and he swallowed hungrily.

"Tastes as good as it smells," Yue Chenqing couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

"Doesn't it? Everyone knows my pastries are the best," Wang Er-mazi bragged in delight. "No matter how famous Gu Mang got way back when, he always came to my stall and ate a batch as soon as he returned to the city after a battle!"

Once he was done boasting, he made sure to add, indignantly, "But if I'd known that Gu asshole would turn out to be a two-faced traitor, I'd have put some poison in those pies and nipped that in the bud for the good of the people!"

"Be careful with that kind of talk," Yue Chenqing said as he chewed. "Also, you'd better change up that slogan of yours."

Wang Er-mazi's eyes widened. "Why's that, Officer?"

"Doesn't matter, just be good and listen to what this officer says." Yue Chenqing took another huge bite of the meat pie, his cheeks bulging. "We'll be going to war with the Liao Kingdom soon, and I'm afraid our troops will be stationed here for a good long time. Watch out. If you keep shouting about Gu Mang all day," he snickered, "you might end up jabbing a certain dignitary right where it hurts."

The dignitary Yue Chenqing spoke of was, of course, their commander: Mo Xi.

Mo Xi, granted the title Xihe-jun by the late emperor, had been born into the prestigious Mo Clan. This clan had produced four such generals, including both of Mo Xi's grandfathers and his father. Having come from such a remarkable lineage, Mo Xi's innate spiritual power was of course extremely potent, and after studying under the cultivation academy's most severe elders, he'd attained the highest rank of general and commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

And he was a mere twenty-seven years old.

Due to his family circumstances, Mo Xi's temperament was as cold and sharp as a knife's edge, and he was ever decisive and determined. His father had often warned him, "Overindulgence will blunt your blades, so do your work and ignore the maids." Thus, Mo Xi was assiduously ascetic and self-discipline, wholly free from corruption. One could have said that he'd lived twenty-seven years without ever making a single mistake.

Except for Gu Mang.

For Mo Xi, Gu Mang was like ink on paper or mud in snow, the suggestive smear of blood left upon the pristine white of a gentleman's bedsheets.

He was the stain on Mo Xi's life.

After nightfall, a clarion melody pierced the skies in the barracks of the frontier fortress. The opera singer's voice was languid and slow as it drifted, ghostlike, across the frost.

"Rain falls soft over Yuchi Pavillion; sun shines down on Jinni Hall. Let wine and music flow for all; mean, although their lives may seem, matters of ants are not so small..."

The soldier guarding the deputy general's tent looked left and right, the very image of a startled quail. At the sight of a tall, black-clothed silhouette approaching, he couldn't help but pale and lift the tent flap in panic. "Uh-oh! Bad news!" he cried.

"What's up?" Inside the tent, Yue Chenqing yawned atop the general's seat of honor and opened his eyes, propping his chin on his hand.

"Aiya! Look at the time! Deputy General, you should hurry and go on patrol---stop watching this show."

"What's the rush?" Yue Chenqing said lazily. "There'll be plenty of time after I'm done." Then he turned to the performers in the tent. "Don't just stand there, keep singing."

The music floated up into the clouds, the singer's voice like a faint silken ribbon drawn out high and long. "In the shade will a kingdom rise, a lifetime's work etched in his eyes. Qi Xuan's teaching only partly gleaned; when will the east wind wake me from this dream?"

"Aiya, my dear Deputy General Yue, my good deputy general, please stop their singing," the personal guard said anxiously. "What on earth is all this?"

"Life is brutish and short, so we should find our joys where we can." Yue Chenqing happily chewed on his fingernail. "Otherwise, our days would be sorely lacking in spice."

"But if Xihe-jun sees a display like this, he'll get angry again..."

"Xihe-jun isn't here, so what are you worried bout?" Yue Chenqing chuckled. "Besides, Xihe-jun stalks around looking dour all day long. He doesn't put any effort into cheering himself up. He's a grown man but he still throws a fit if he hears me tell a dirty joke---how exhausting would it be to try and keep him happy?"

"Deputy General." The guard seemed close to tears. "Lower your voice... Please..."

"Hm? Why?"

"Because, because..." The guard's gaze flitted toward the gap in the tent flap. "B-because..." he stammered.

Yue Chenqing sprawled out on the general's seat and even plopped Xihe-jun's silver fur coat on his head. "Did Xihe-jun spook you guys?" he laughed. "Why're you stuttering as soon as you say his name?" Yue Chenqing signed. "Then again, Xihe-jun sure is something. He's the one who wants to live like a monk, but he makes us all suffer in boredom alongside him. Look, in our whole company, there's not even a single female dog."

This was true. In all of Chonghua's military, the branch under Xihe-jun had it hardest. Although the troops under his command didn't lack for food or clothing, the man himself was boring and strict, just as Yue Chenqing said. It would have been fine if Xihe-jun merely insisted on personally avoiding carnal pleasures, but he forbade his subordinates from seeking out of fun with girls as well.

Yue Chenqing clearly found the situation hilarious---he held back his laughter to sigh with a wholly feigned seriousness. "He's got everything going for him, except for the fact that he's way too controlling. Look, he's an obsessive clean freak overthinker with no hobbies or interests to speak of. What a waste of that handsome face."

The guard looked like he was watching a disaster unfold before his eyes. "Young Master Yue, stop talking..." he blurted out.

But Yue Chenqing didn't stop. In fact, he became even more excited. "Don't you feel pent up, like you're about to burst? Heh, while he's away, I'm gonna take the chance to cut you some slack. Tonight, let's have the brothers go have all the fun they like! We'll open the gates and host a beauty contest by the bonfire! I want to crown the prettiest girl in the nearby villages---"

"You want to crown who?"

A man's low voice cut through from outside. The tent flap lifted with a swish, and a tall man walked in, clad in silver armor that flashed like frost.

His uniform was proper and neat over his wide shoulders and slender waist, and his long legs were wrapped in military boots of black leather. His refined and elegant features made an indelible impression as he looked up with icy-sharp eyes. This was none other than the Xihe-jun whom Yue Chenqing had been having fun mocking---Mo Xi.

Why had Mo Xi come back now?!

At first, Yue Chenqing was struck dumb. When he came back to his senses, he shuddered, bundling himself up tighter in the furs. "General Mo." Deputy General Yue put on a show of being pitiful. "Why didn't you tell us you'd be coming back earlyyy----ahh!"

This "ahh" was due to Mo Xi, who, finding his whining unbearably disgusting, chose to summon a sword of spiritual energy and fling it a hair's breadth from Yue Chenqing's cheek.

Having narrowly avoided decapitation, Yue Chenqing scrambled up from the general's seat. "Xihe-jun, how come you're so violent?!" he demanded, pushing his hair out of his face.

"You're questioning me before I've had a chance to question you? Tell me, why are there women among my troops?" Mo Xi shot a glance at the petrified songstresses before turning back to stare at Yue Chenqing. "You brought them here?"

Yue Chenqing initially wanted to keep complaining, but he quailed the instant he met Mo Xi's eyes. "...Don't be like that. I was only listening to a song, okay? A famous song from Lichun. Does Xihe-jun want to hear it too?"

Mo Xi's expression was cold and annoyed. "Obscene music," he said irritably. "Drag them out."

Thankfully, he didn't end that sentence with, "And have them beheaded."

Yue Chenqing went back to whining as he curled up atop the general's seat, the picture of misery. "You're so cold-blooded and heartless. I'm going to tell my dad you were mean to me."

Mo Xi glanced at him. "You can also get out."

Yue Chenqing was struck speechless.

After Yue Chenqing left in sulky silence, Mo Xi sat down alone in the tent. Stripping off his black dragon-skin gloves, he pressed pale, slender fingers to his temples and slowly closed his eyes. In the lamplight, he looked almost ill, his complexion sickly and pallid. That, paired with the restrained ruthlessness that always lingered in his eyes, made him look even more worn-down. He looked as if many things weighed on his heart.

Not long ago, he'd received a secret letter from Chonghua's imperial capital of urgent importance---a missive personally written by the current emperor of Chonghua and affixed with a blood seal that only Mo Xi could open. After this letter was delivered, Mo Xi had to read it three times over to be sure he hadn't misunderstood.

Gu Mang was returning to Chonghua.

Even now, the letter was tucked away in Mo Xi's coat, warmed by the heat of his chest, pressed where his heart beat strong and steady. Gu Mang was returning to Chonghua. This news was like a thorny bramble caught in his ribs, and it filled him with a prickling pain.

Mo Xi furrowed his brow, striving to suppress his black mood, but in the end, that burning rage still poured out. His eyes snapped open as a long, leather-clad leg kicked out and overturned the table in front of him with a loud crash.

"Aiya, General Mo!" The guard keeping watch outside the tent leaned in through the flap, uneasy with fear. "Please calm yourself. It's only natural to play around at Young Master Yue's age! It's this subordinate who failed to appropriately handle the matter and neglected to stop Young Master Yue from listening to that opera. If you want to punish or blame anyone, you only need to say so, but by all means don't make yourself sick..."

Mo Xi whipped around. In the dim light, his eyes were like sparkling flame. "Get out."

Silence.

"No one is allowed inside without my express permission."

"Yes, sir..."

The tent flap lowered again, leaving a terrifying stillness on either side. The only sounds were the wall of the northern winter's wind, the movements of soldiers in the distance, the soft crunch of snow beneath military boots, and the whinnying of the warhorse in the spirit beast encampment.

Mo Xi turned his head to state down at the mulberries rolling across the floor. It was as if those berries were the heads that Gu Mang had personally plucked off these past few years.

He wondered how this person---who had committed so many cruel, wicked, and vile acts; who had betrayed his country, comrades, and friends; who had earned an evil reputation, blood debts, and deep hatred---could have the courage to return.

How could Gu Mang have the nerve to return?

Mo Xi collected himself. Only after making a great effort to calm his mind did he take out the letter, worn ragged from repeated reading. The emperor had written in his upright, elegant hand.

The Liao Kingdom wishes to declare an armistice. To demonstrate their sincerity, they will escort the traitorous general Gu Mang back to the capital.

Gu Mang is of our Chonghua and once enjoyed our trust. Instead of repaying that trust with loyalty, he turned traitor for his own gain. For the past five years, he has plundered his mother country, ravaged the peace of his native land, slaughtered his former comrades, and forsaken his past friends. Such crimes cannot be pardoned.

In ten days, Gu Mang will return to the city in shame. With the need for vengeance so widespread, we cannot make a decision alone and urgently write to each noble lord for comment.

General Mo, although you are guarding the nation from afar, you are a trusted aide of ours. Therefore, your timely advisement is sincerely requested.

With regard.

Mo Xi stared at the secret missive for a long time, then burst out into mocking laughter. Traces of bitter pain and deep hatred gradually appeared on his face.

Should he be killed, or kept alive for some other use?

At this point, Mo Xi didn't want to care anymore.

He and Gu Mang had their fights and their grudges; they'd talked of their dreams and shared wine from the same bottle. Over the course of being acquainted for more than ten years, from the days of their youth to the unfathomable changes later on, they'd weathered countless hardships together. Gu Mang had been his companion, his rival, his shixiong, his comrade-in-arms---and in the end, Gu Mang became an enemy he was meant to slaughter.

Their relationship had been doomed to fragility since the beginning. After Gu Mang turned traitor, Mo Xi broke off with him completely, turning his back without hesitation on years of friendship. Nowadays, when people spoke of them, they probably all said something like, "General Mo and Gu Mang? They're as incompatible as heaven and earth, water and fire, a saint and a savage. Even love rivals would get angry at the sight of the other, let alone those two fighting on opposite sides of war. They're sure to be at each other's throats for the rest of their lives!"

Deeply distraught, Mo Xi refused to think on this matter any further. Taking up the brush, he held it poised above the paper. Halfway through the word execute, his hand shook. Ink soaked through the silk paper.

The faint sound of a clay xun started up outside of the tent. Some little brat must have been feeling homesick; he filled the entire encampment with melancholy yearning as pale frost dusted the grounds.

Mo Xi fell into a momentary daze, his black eyes flashing with an unreadable light. In the end, he cursed softly and flung down the brush to grab the secret missive. Flames burst from his palm, reducing the letter instantly to ash.

As the ashes danced in the air, Mo Xi exhaled, forming them into a messenger butterfly that could travel a thousand miles.

"This subject once protected and recommended Gu Mang, and thus must bear blame for his treason. As for the trial, this subject should avoid suspicion and abstain from comment." He continued in a measured tone. "Mo Xi of the Northern Frontier Army wishes Your Imperial Majesty well."

He lifted his hand, and the spiritual butterfly swiftly flew off.

He gazed in the direction in which it had disappeared, thinking to himself that, with this, his decade-long entanglement with Gu Mang was finally settled. Gu Mang had murdered so many Chonghua soldiers and broken the hearts of Chonghua's people; now that he had outlived his use and the enemy kingdom was sending him back, the officials of the court would of course rush to take revenge.

But Mo Xi had to stay at the frontier for another two years. It appeared that he wouldn't be able to watch Gu Mang's execution.

Enemies, nemesis, adversaries. These were the final conclusions others would one day draw from their relationship.

His face devoid of expression, Mo Xi thought perhaps no one else would ever know that he and Gu Mang, who appeared to be incompatible, irreconcilable enemies---

Had, in fact, slept with each other.

Perhaps no one would believe it even if he said it out loud. Their ascetic and disciplined General Mo had one pinned Gu Mang to the bed and taken him ruthlessly. This immaculate saint had lost control on top of Gu Mang, sweat dripping down his chest as desire inflamed his eyes.

As for the fearsome warrior Gu Mang, who seemed to have been born from the fires of war? Gu Mang had been fucked to tears in Xihe-jun's bed, parted his soft lips in a plea for Xihe-jun's kiss, and allowed Mo Xi to leave smudged marks across his rugged and muscular body.

They were enemies, separated by a chasm of accumulated hatred only death could resolve. But before this had come to pass, before they had parted ways, these two youths had once been passionately entangled---until love became one with desire. Until they were loath to part.

Not long after Mo Xi received the secret missive from the capital, the emperor of Chonghua finally announced the news of Gu Mang's return, along with how he would be punished: Wangshu-jun would be granted complete control over him.

The news spread like wildfire across all of Chonghua. Although Mo Xi's army was stationed all the way on the northern frontier, they nevertheless found out a mere three days later.

The Northern Frontier Army exploded. On the surface, they were as solemn and calm as ever, but during breaks between patrols, almost everyone started weighing in. Mo Xi saw it all, and for once, he didn't stop them.

He thought it perfectly normal that these soldiers would feel dissatisfied---after all, the Northern Frontier Army had once been the invincible army of Gu. A healthy majority of the soldiers had once risked their lives alongside Gu Mang. Their feelings about him were extremely complicated. Though their loyalties remained unquestioned, they had once wholeheartedly sworn allegiance to their commander Gu Mang---even though that same Gu Mang had once dubbed them the "Wangba Army."

Seriously---that wasn't a joke. Wangba as in "tortoise," and wangba as in "bastard." Before Mo Xi took over, this army's roster had read like this:

Liu Dazhuang, Soldier of the Wangba Army.

Zhang Dayan, Squad Leader of the Wangba Army.

...

And so on and so forth, bastards all the way down the line.

First on the list had been: Gu Mang, Commander of the Wangba Army.

Logically speaking, no one would want to enlist in an army with such a vulgar name, but that concern hadn't borne out. At the time, Gu Mang had been the most illustrious general of Chonghua. Most of the well-known generals were constrained by their own challenges, obligations, or pretentions---but Gu Mang was different. He was slave-born; he had no father or mother, no worries or cares, no ego to lose, nor any fear of death.

If all of Chonghua's noble young masters took of their clothes and stood in a row, Gu Mang might not have been the most mascular, but he definitely would have had the most scars. He had fully deserved the title of Chonghua's "Beast of the Altar."

In those days, Gu Mang's deputy had always reprimanded him at the sight of his wounds. "You're the commander -- why do you always run to the front? Don't you know how to dodge?"

Gu Mang would smile. His dark eyes were very bright, and his lips looked very soft. His voice was naturally smooth as silk as he cheerfully mollified his angry friend. "My legs are too long; I have no choice but to run fast, no choice at all."

His very presence seemed to bring laughter and sweetness to the battlefield, as though such places could be more than freezing cold and crimson blood.

He remembered every one of his comrade's birthdays, and between battles, he often took the cultivators from his camp to make merry and drink wine in some little village. Sometimes, they'd be met with crafty villagers who charged sky-high prices, but General Gu never got angry; he merely laughed and tossed all his money on the table in order to buy his soldiers wine and meat.

In the end, he'd yell, "Eat up, drink up! You'd better all stuff your faces and eat your fill! You're my precious darlings---if there's not enough money, I'll pay in other ways!"

Gu Mang was a man of his word. He traded fur coats for wine and spirit jade for meat, and once he took off all his military robes and armor and tossed them on the bar in exchange for nü'erhong rice wine, at which point the army thugs started laughing and heckling him, "General Gu, we want beef too. Do you have anything else you could take off?"

By then, he'd already stripped down to a single snow-white robe, but he still laughed and pointed at them. "Just you wait."

"No way! General Gu, you wouldn't really take off your underwear too!"

"That can't be worth very much..."

Gu Mang didn't plan to take off his underwear, but it was true that he didn't have anything left. He bit his lip in thought, and before everyone's amused and shocked expressions, he scooched up to the pretty, widowed proprietress and planted a kiss on her cheek.

The soldiers all stopped talking and stared. Even the widow was stunned speechless, drops of wine plinking off her ladle. It took her a moment to snap back to her senses and start chasing after Gu Mang, ladle held aloft.

"Shameless! You awful flirt!"

Everyone roared with laughter.

Amid the thigh slapping and sympathetic wincing, the widow chased Gu Mang around the entire room. "I'm serious! I'm serious!" Gu Mang cried, begging for mercy as he ran. "You're beautiful! You're beautiful!"

"I know I'm beautiful! You're not bad-looking either, young man! But you're way too fucking shameless! Couldn't you sneak out here alone and kiss me at night? Why'd you have to do it in front of so many people?! Pervert!"

This pervert ran about in utter chaos, yet he made sure to shamelessly shout, "Yes, yes, yes, I'll come over tomorrow night---or I can stay here tonight, as long you give us another two catties of beef. Please, dear miss."

"Pah! You've already asked me for beef on credit three times since you've been stationed here, and this is the fourth! Every single time, you say you'll come over 'tomorrow night'! Do you think I'm gonna fall for your tricks?!" the widow yelled back, her little fists punching the wooden bar so hard it cracked.

The army ruffians were laughing so hard they were about to fall over. No matter how indignantly the widow spoke, in the end, Gu Mang was still able to use his pretty face and the promise of "coming over tomorrow" to secure another two catties of marinated beef for his brothers.

"General Gu, you sure know how to win people over..."

"Of course I do," Gu Mang said smugly, preening with delight. "I've gone through thousands of beautiful flowers---everyone knows of my exploits."

With a commander like that, it was no wonder a youth in those days grandly declared, "Who cares if they're called the Wangba Army? Even if they were the Jiba Army, I'd enlist in the Cock Army for General Gu!"

His friend standing next to him turned up his nose. "Aiya, you read your classics in vein, I see. How vulgar."

"How would you make it elegant?"

"If you're going to go with the Jiba Army, why not call it the Ji Ba Army? Ji Ba as in 'cease battle.'"

"What a good name!" the youth exclaimed in admiration. "I like it."

"No way---I just made that up. Who would like a name like Ji Ba? Wouldn't you find it embarrassing? Go ahead and try it if you don't believe me. Even a dog would get mad at you if you called it that."

The youth laughed. "Never say never. Just because something doesn't exist now doesn't mean it won't in the future. If even an imperial army can be named Wangba, I don't think it's impossible that something else might be called Ji Ba in the future."

Fortunately, Gu Mang didn't hear this discussion---otherwise, he might have slapped the table with a triumphant yell and changed his title to "Gu Mang, Commander of the Ji Ba Army," thereby making all his subordinates suffer alongside him.

Amid the cruelty of war, only a little madman like Gu Mang would be inspired to joke around. In addition to dubbing his troops the Wangba Army, he also personally crafted their flag, creatively cutting a tortoise out of a jade-green banner, complete with a very realistic little tail. He cast a spell on the flag, and with every incense time that passed, the tortoise roared, "Wangba, Wangba, Chonghua's pride, a mighty name known far and wide!"

In short, it was extremely embarrassing.

The first time Gu Mang rode out to battle with this flag, the enemy general nearly laughed himself into an early grave. Nevertheless, before the day was out, Gu Mang's Wangba Army had reduced the hundred-thousand-strong opposing army to a sobbing mess.

Gu Mang fought many more battles after that one, both large and small, and came away victorious every time.

As a result, during the years that Gu Mang was a general, the enemies of Chonghua would pale at the glimpse of a tortoise's tail. The sight they dreaded most was, perhaps, that of a little tortoise flag raised up over the smoke of the battlefield as General Gu rode out, cleared his throat, and introduced himself with absolute seriousness:

"This humble one is Gu Mang, General of the Wangba Army. I'm here to learn from your honorable selves."

Failing to defeat this young cultivator was shameful enough. Even worse was having to snivel through one's report to one's emperor: "Wahh, this subordinate is truly incompetent and failed to defeat the Wangba Army!"

It was the stuff of nightmares.

As for Chonghua's soldiers, although Gu Mang was outrageous and mischievous, his charisma was unsurpassed. Many people revered him in those days, and some even took his nonsense "shitty names keep you safe" mantra as gospel. In accordance with the trend, many babies born during that time had the misfortune of being given "shitty names":

Chu "Strong Root" Genzhuang.

Xue "Iron Pillar" Tiezhu.

Jiang "Aching Balls" Dantong.

When Mo Xi took over the Wangba Army, the first thing he did was change its ridiculous name. He would never allow for his entry on the military roster to become "Mo Xi, General of the Wangba Army." Absolutely not!

And so the Wangba Army was renamed the Northern Frontier Army and assigned to Mo Xi's command. The dark humor that had stood up to spilled blood and the smoke of war crumbled away, much like Gu Mang's glorious reputation.

Those little tortoise that had shouted and yelled "Wangba, Wangba, Chonghua's pride, a mighty name known far and wide" were like an absurd and fleeting joke. They were never seen on the vast battlefield again.

The army's existence became a solemn one. There were no more flowers or nectar; no one who would strive to memorize any of the lowly soldiers' names; no one to take the men out to make merry; no one to buy them cheap wine with the clothes off his back. Battle regained its absolute and pitiless severity.

An eternal winter had arrived.

Although most of the Northern Frontier Army hated Gu Mang nowadays, perhaps that past was the reason they couldn't feel quite the same way ordinary civilians did when they spoke of him.

This was especially true of those old soldiers who'd fought in the Wangba Army with General Gu. Every time they said his name, a hint of something unreadable rose in their eyes.

"Ah, I really, really didn't expect him to end up like this."

"Everyone knows of Wangshu-jun's cruelty. I'm afraid it's an awful sign that His Imperial Majesty is letting Wangshu-jun deal with him."

"He'll definitely die a horrible death..."

A man of ambition wasn't necessarily disliked, but a traitor was certain to be universally reviled. Only when these veterans of the Wangba Army gathered did they murmur about things that had nothing to do with hatred.

As the night wore on, some of the ones who were getting on in years finally lost all enthusiasm. "Ah, what a good man he was... If only certain things hadn't gone the way they had, then he wouldn't have---"

"Shh! Be quiet! The nerve, to mention such things---do you want to die?!"

The old soldier shook himself out of his reverie with a yelp. As he realized what he'd nearly let slip, the drunken sparkle in his eyes vanished, and he couldn't help but shudder.

The other soldiers continued chiding him. "Now we're working under General Mo, and Gu Mang is the person he hates most in the world. It's not as if you don't know his temper---if he heard you, none of us would live to see morning!"

"Ah, you're right, silly me, getting confused as soon as I start drinking..."

The soldiers sitting around the fire pit fell silent and stared blankly into the flames, each of them lost in their own thoughts. After a long time, someone else sighed and said, "But everyone changes, I suppose. All we can say is that this is General Gu's fate."

"How many years has it been? Why are you still calling him General Gu?"

"Oh, right, I mean Gu Mang."

It was a still night at the frontier fortress. The bonfire crackled, bursting with a stream of golden sparks more dazzling than the stars.

The tipsy old soldier lay on the ground with his head pillowed on his arms. He gazed up at the starry sky and the twinkling Ziwei Stars, the jut of his throat bobbing as he muttered a few words no one else could hear. "Ah, to be honest, it was only because of Gu Mang that I enlisted. I once even drank with him around a fire. He didn't put on any airs, either. Back then...back then, as I watched him laugh, I thought---if one day I could die for him in battle, it would be a good way to go. Who could've known he would end up..."

Meeting such fate.

Gone are the birds, discarded lies the bow.

After making use of Gu Mang, the enemy nation was offering him as part of a gift of peace and giving him back to Chonghua. This man had lived through many turns of fortune and seen much of the world's beauty, but a single wrong move had left him a traitor. What was done was done; there was no going back.

Was this what it meant to reap what you sow? To be the architect of your own destruction?

Returning to the topic at hand---although Gu Mang had come into a cruel fate, he had only himself to blame. It satisfied the people to see him unwanted by either side. For a while, almost everyone in Chonghua eagerly awaited Gu Mang's end.

Whether he was to be beheaded, given death by a thousand cuts, boiled alive, hacked to pieces, or drawn and quartered---even a little girl who had just learned to speak could lisp sycophantically after the adults, "We can't go easy on that disgwaceful pighead."

Thus, Gu Mang, General Gu, Chonghua's former heroic commander, Mo Xi's archenemy---the legendary man who had once been praised as the Beast of the Altar---had so pathetically become a "disgwaceful pighead."

*nü'erhong rice wine - a rice wine named after a tradition where wine brewed at a daughter's birth is left to age until her weeding, then tasted as part of her dowry.

*The Ziwei Star, or Polaris as it is known in Western astronomy, is considered the celestial equivalent of the emperor.

*Gone are the birds, discarded lies the bow - a line from Records of the Grand Historian: Clan of Gou Jian, King of Yue by Sima Qian. Refers to the desolate fates of those who have outlasted their use.