CALID Chapter 17

Imposter

“Ding dang.”

Amidst the onlookers’ commotion, the Broken Illusion Sword fell to the ground. He Simu suddenly covered her face and wept, crying out, “In Liangzhou, my hometown was slaughtered by the Huqi people. The elders and fellow villagers all died at the hands of the Huqi people. Hearing her speak so arrogantly, I was momentarily blinded by anger… I wish I could kill the villain myself…”

As she was about to collapse to the ground and make a scene, her arm was suddenly supported by a pair of hands, preventing her from falling too dramatically.

Turning her head, He Simu saw Duan Xu looking at her meaningfully. He held onto her arm with one hand and picked up the Broken Illusion Sword from the ground with the other, reinserting it into its sheath.

The Broken Illusion Sword only reveals its edge in the hands of its recognized wielder. Just now, in He Simu’s hands, it was exceptionally sharp.

In a moment of exchange, Duan Xu spoke in a voice only they could hear, “Don’t casually draw my sword. I almost killed you just now.”

He Simu had actually sensed something. When she drew the sword from its sheath just now, Duan Xu subconsciously wanted to attack her, but he restrained himself forcefully. If Duan Xu hadn’t managed to restrain himself—unfortunately, he would have been the one injured.

Tears streaming down her face, He Simu looked at Duan Xu, trembling as she spoke loudly, “Please don’t blame me, General.”

Duan Xu raised an eyebrow, lightly smiling as he reached out to wipe the blood splattered on her face with his thumb, saying, “Miss He is a hero who has contributed greatly to our cause. It’s natural to be angry when faced with injustice. I won’t blame you.”

Pausing for a moment, he whispered, “How did you manage to cry?”

“Biting my tongue.”

“You don’t feel any pain?”

“No.”

“Be gentler on yourself next time.”

As the two whispered to each other, Lin Jun walked over, stomping his foot in anger, “We haven’t even found out how He Yan managed to get into the granary, how can Miss He just kill her like that!”

He Simu held onto Duan Xu’s sleeve, hiding behind him. Duan Xu cooperatively reached out his hand to protect her, then turned his head to smile at Lin Jun, “Interrogating the guard on duty today will yield the same result. Fortunately, the damage isn’t severe.”

He ordered the soldiers to clean up the scene, dispersed the onlookers, and instructed Captain Han to strengthen the guard at the granary. He also ordered the soldier on duty to be brought in for interrogation. Then, he escorted He Simu home as promised, with his arm around her shoulder.

Walking back to the mansion, Duan Xu asked, “Why did you spare her?”

It seemed he also understood the significance of the Broken Illusion Sword.

“Well, you could say I pitied her.” He Simu glanced at Duan Xu and asked back, “General, how did you obtain this pair of Broken Illusion Swords?”

“This is a long story. One day, I met an old man on a bridge in the southern capital…”

At this familiar beginning, He Simu almost rolled her eyes.

“But it’s true,” Duan Xu chuckled. “I met a very young man on the bridge, claiming to be a several hundred years old elder. He suddenly stopped me and gave me this sword, saying that the Broken Illusion Sword is meant to dispel delusions, alleviate human resentment, and those killed by it won’t fall into the evil path but instead immediately reincarnate. If there’s fate, perhaps it would recognize me as its master.”

A young hundred-year-old man.

He Simu fell silent for a moment. If she wasn’t mistaken, this old man had passed away just a few days ago, having lived nearly five hundred years.

Bai Qing, the former palace master of the Xingqing Palace, the Tianliang Star Lord, was the longest-lived mortal in the world.

He was also her mother’s, aunt’s, and uncle’s senior martial brother.

Century after century passed, countless acquaintances returned to dust, originally only she and Bai Qing were left in the world, and now even Bai Qing was gone. Although she wasn’t close to this serious and old-fashioned elder, from now on, she would truly be alone in this world.

She decided to give herself a long vacation and came out for a change of scenery. Unexpectedly, she met this mysterious guy, who had actually received the Broken Illusion Sword from Bai Qing.

Bai Qing was the most accurate fortune-teller in the world. Did he foresee something before he gave the Broken Illusion Sword to Duan Xu? Could it be… he knew that Duan Xu was someone she could form a bond with, so he left this clue to lead her to Duan Xu?

He Simu shook herself. She never liked Bai Qing because his accurate divinations were unnerving.

Duan Xu escorted He Simu to the Lin family’s courtyard, then said he needed to investigate the granary fire incident and took his leave.

“General Duan,” He Simu stopped Duan Xu, who was about to leave. She stared into his eyes, smiling slightly. “I behave strangely. Aren’t you afraid that I might really be with the Duke Pei, or someone from the Dan branch?”

Duan Xu’s deep, bright eyes blinked, and he said seriously, “Would you be someone who takes orders from others? From what I see, with that rebellious nature of yours, you’re a girl who wants to make her own decisions.”

His brows and eyes curved slightly, his smile too dazzling.

He Simu squinted slightly.

Just now, Duan Xu said in front of the people that the fire was promptly extinguished, and most of the provisions were saved. But in her eyes, Duan Xu was just comforting the people.

Under that fire, saving one-fifth of the provisions was already fortunate. In such a besieged situation, Duan Xu could leisurely stay behind closed doors, relying on the city’s high walls, thick walls, and sufficient provisions. Now, with the granary ablaze and heavy losses, the crisis-ridden capital was in even deeper trouble, and she didn’t know how much longer it could hold on.

This young general still laughed as if he didn’t understand the ways of the world. He Simu, who hadn’t been to the mortal realm for many years, found the living people she encountered lately increasingly fresh. The brain inside this perfect skull was truly unfathomable to her.

She didn’t inquire further and bid farewell to Duan Xu before watching him disappear into the lively crowd buying New Year goods on the street. Then she called out, “Du Zheng.”

This was the name of the wandering soul that Yan Ke helped her find.

A young man’s ghost floated behind He Simu. Since he had just died recently, logically he should be an unconscious wandering soul and not have turned into a vengeful spirit. However, He Simu specially gave him enlightenment, awakening his consciousness.

“Du Zheng, from Daizhou, you served the old lady of the Duan family of Daizhou before, and later became a follower of Duan Xu. In the eighth month of the Tianyuan Year Five, you died after being robbed on the way to the southern capital from Shunzhou’s ancient Tang.”

Du Zheng knelt on the ground, bowing as he replied, “Reporting to the king, that’s correct.”

“Did you just see clearly? The one who spoke to you, was he the third son of the Duan family you served, Duan Xu?”

Du Zheng stood up straight, looking towards the direction where Duan Xu had disappeared, confusion evident on his young face.

“The young master just now? Although many years have passed, this humble servant could still tell that he wasn’t the third young master.”

“Then was he one of the robbers who attacked you?”

“Neither… This humble servant has never seen him before.”

As expected, all the oddities about Duan Xu could be explained—he was an impostor, not the legitimate son of the Duan family with three generations of prestigious officials. Instead, he might be a member of the Huqi people. Watching him eagerly help Daliang fight and happily blow up the Huqi people, it was unclear what deep-seated hatred he held against his homeland.

He Simu fiddled with the jade pendant around her waist, asking, “Where is the real Duan Xu?”

“This humble servant doesn’t know. When this humble servant died, the robbers were chasing after the young master to kill him, but this humble servant doesn’t know what happened in the end.”

He Simu nodded and said, “You may go.”

Du Zheng bowed and disappeared in a swirl of green smoke.

….

Upon Duan Xu’s return, he immediately interrogated the people on duty at the granary that day. The granary was a crucial location, so besides the Lin family servants who originally patrolled and protected it, additional troops were allocated to guard it. However, now it had been set on fire by a deranged courtesan, which was highly illogical.

The leading supervisor, Xiao Xie, knelt on the ground, crying bitterly. He said he took pity on He Yan, so he took her in. Who knew she would drug him, steal the keys and layout of the granary, and then sneak into it while he was asleep, unaware of how she managed to evade the patrols.

Duan Xu folded his hands under his chin, calmly looking at Xiao Xie below. He Yan was originally from a wealthy family, and her father was once a low-ranking official in charge of supervising construction, so she was very knowledgeable about architectural structures and knew how to set fires that were hard to extinguish. Additionally, she clearly knew the patrol schedules of both the Lin family and the military.

There was no denying one thing: there was a spy among them who secretly directed He Yan to do all this, intending to force them to surrender due to a lack of provisions.

“Miss He suddenly came out and killed He Yan. I feel there’s something fishy about this. Could it be that she wanted to kill her to silence her?” Wu Shengliu said.

Duan Xu shook his head. “It wasn’t her. She didn’t know about the granary’s defenses.”

“But why did she want to kill…”

“I was there at the time, and I could have stopped her. However, I anticipated that the traitor would allow He Yan to expose herself, naturally not letting her know too much. We wouldn’t obtain any valuable information from her. If He Yan died, it would relax his vigilance.”

Duan Xu ordered Han Lingqiu, who was in charge of the granary’s defence, to investigate the leakage of defence arrangements, while Lin Jun also stated that he would inspect the Lin family servants who managed the granary to see if anyone else was involved besides Xiao Xie.

But compared to finding the traitor, there was a more urgent matter at hand.

Duan Xu stood up from his seat and looked at the people below. These were the military officers who had followed him all the way from Liangzhou: Wu Commander, Captain Han, Meng Wan, and Lin Jun, who had assisted greatly in Shuozhou.

He remained silent for a moment, then smiled as usual and said, “I have blocked the news, but I don’t want to hide it from you all. The remaining provisions in the city are only enough for our military and civilians to last another thirty days.”

Because Duan Xu was smiling so carefreely, the scene took on an inexplicable strangeness. Clearly, it was an extremely critical piece of news, but it sounded like he casually mentioned today’s weather.

Wu Shengliu widened his eyes, wanting to speak out but hesitating. He remembered that Duan Xu was the type who didn’t understand the severity of the situation and always smiled. So, he could only say in a sullen tone, “We can always fight to the death with them outside the city, killing more Huqi people would be worth it!”

Duan Xu waved his hand and chuckled, “It’s not yet time for the fish to die and the net to break.”

Wu Shengliu thought about it. Indeed, Duan Xu was always cunning and had one trick after another. From Liangzhou to here, he had prepared to break the net several times, but he had never succeeded once.

Duan Xu turned around and walked to the map of Shuozhou hanging in the camp. Pointing his finger towards the eastern side of the city, he said, “Before the enemy arrives, I sent someone to explore the terrain and found a hidden path on the sunny side of Peng Mountain. It is high enough for horses to pass through and wide enough for five people to walk abreast, leading directly to the rear of the enemy camp. There’s a saying, reciprocation is necessary. They burned our provisions, so we’ll take their provisions as compensation.”

Wu Shengliu’s eyes lit up, but then he hesitated, “Will this… work?”

“Whether it works or not, we must try. It’s better than sitting idly by, right?” Duan Xu smiled brightly.

Lin Jun bowed and said, “Huqi people transport provisions through several cities in the north, and we also have relatives from the Lin family stationed in the north. I’ll try to use carrier pigeons to contact them and see if they can help monitor the movement of the grain carts.”

Duan Xu nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Lin, for your efforts.”

After some discussion and assigning tasks, when everyone dispersed after reaching an agreement, Han Lingqiu stopped Duan Xu.

“General.”

Duan Xu turned to look at Han Lingqiu, his eyes flickering, and he nodded, gesturing for Han Lingqiu to speak.

They walked to a secluded spot near the military camp. Han Lingqiu seemed somewhat hesitant and said with some gritted teeth, “General, you asked me to thoroughly investigate the incident of the granary being burned. I had some unclear issues before, and I still want to ask for your guidance.”

“You may speak.”

“General… how did you anticipate the Huqi people’s ambush when blasting the Guan River?”

Duan Xu smiled brightly, patting Han Lingqiu’s shoulder. “I thought it was something serious. But it’s actually quite simple.”

“The chief commander of the Hulan Army, Awoqi, who led reinforcements, has always had a bad relationship with the main commander of the Yuzhou battlefield, Feng Lai. After meddling in the succession dispute of the Danzhi royal family, with each side supporting a prince, they became archenemies. Now, the situation on the Yuzhou battlefield is deadlocked, and Feng Lai, already unable to save face, cannot afford to let Awoqi’s efforts be credited to someone else.”

“I led the army to advance into Shuozhou, occupying the prefectural city, and used the allegory from the Cangyan Scripture to deceive the Danzhi defenders, which had already angered the Danzhi royal court. If Feng Lai could reclaim Shuozhou Prefecture and obtain my head on a platter, not only would he undermine Awoqi’s prestige, but he would also gain a significant achievement for himself. So, I calculated that he would attack us before Awoqi’s army arrived, and I had Meng Wan keep a close eye on their movements, ready to detonate the prepared explosives when they crossed the river.”

Duan Xu explained in detail and clarity. Although he didn’t inform his subordinates of his schemes in advance, he was always willing to answer questions.

Han Lingqiu listened quietly, then raised his gaze to Duan Xu and tightened his grip on the sword at his waist.

“I have spent many years on the border, but I have never heard of these things that General has mentioned. General, why do you have such a deep understanding of the Danzhi affairs on your first visit to the army?”

Looking at Han Lingqiu’s puzzled yet determined gaze, Duan Xu chuckled, speaking in a calm and slow tone.

“Captain Han, are you suspecting me?”