CALID Chapter 27

Contract

In fact, He Simu was just trying to call out Duan Xu, but he was really awakened by her. His stiff body collapsed like rapidly melting glaciers. It was as if he had finally begun to feel the pain, slumping down on the ground, breathing heavily with exhaustion.

Under the flickering firelight, the wilderness seemed like a mythical hell. Duan Xu lowered his head, his expression unreadable, and his voice steady but weary: “There’s still a long way to go, but I’m already… very tired.”

He finally admitted he was tired.

He Simu thought she believed he was someone who thrived on pushing himself to the brink of death. It turned out he could also feel tired.

After this seemingly despondent speech, Duan Xu suddenly raised his eyes. Despite being blood-stained, his eyes held a faint glimmer of exhaustion, yet they were still bright.

He suddenly said, “You want to make a deal with me, want my five senses, and promise to return them to me on time. But that’s because you haven’t experienced having five senses. Once you understand colours, flavors, sounds, and temperatures, can you endure gaining and losing them repeatedly? Will there come a day when you take away all my senses, only to keep me alive at the bare minimum, turning me into a living dead?”

It was remarkable that he could still remember this deal at this moment.

He Simu remained silent for a moment, then said lightly, “Perhaps, forget it, let’s not make this deal. If you don’t hurry back to the capital to find a doctor, you’ll die here.”

Duan Xu met her gaze for a moment, then smiled faintly. It was a quiet smile without a trace of madness. He reached out to He Simu in a playful tone, saying, “Give me a hand, pull me up, and I’ll agree to your terms.”

He Simu raised an eyebrow, wondering what madness the young general was up to again. She said, “Seventeen…”

“Call me Duan Xu.”

She didn’t understand the significance of his insistence on this false name, only saying, “Duan Xu, are you still clear-headed?”

“Very clear-headed, it’s quite interesting.”

Duan Xu’s hand hung in the air, and he smiled slowly, “I bet when that day comes, you won’t be able to bear it.”

A firework bloomed in the night sky between the two, booming loudly. Duan Xu’s blood-stained hand was illuminated, vividly red like a burning flame, with a barely noticeable tremble at his fingertips.

Whether it was excitement or fear.

He Simu looked at him for a long time, gazing into the clear but unfathomable eyes of this mortal.

This reckless, daredevil gambler who never considered the consequences.

She smiled faintly, “Okay.”

She reached out her hand, pale with deep purple veins winding delicately beneath the greyish-white skin. With these cold and lifeless hands, she grasped Duan Xu’s warm, bloodied hand, staining her own with his blood, inch by inch tightening her grip.

The cursed Ming Pearl flew out, hovering above their clasped hands. It absorbed a drop of blood from each of them, merging them together into the grooves of the talisman’s pattern, instantly activating it.

From then on, he would be the one connected to her fate.

He Simu lifted her hand to pull Duan Xu up from the ground. He really didn’t use any strength, lazily allowing her to pull him like a kite. Then, leveraging the momentum, he stumbled and leaned against her.

Though taller than her, he bent over to bury his head in the crook of her neck. Sticky blood coated her clothes, his forehead pressed against her cold skin.

He put all his strength onto her, as if tying his life to hers.

“What are you doing?” He Simu didn’t push him away, just asked lightly.

“Am I abnormal?” Duan Xu muttered.

He Simu knew what he was talking about. She replied, “Does killing in a frenzy count as abnormal?”

Killing excited Duan Xu.

It wasn’t until just now that He Simu realized she had seen in Duan Xu’s eyes on the battlefield a suppressed excitement, the very thing he was holding back.

He seemed to have experienced years of extensive killing, to the point where murder had become an exciting incentive for him, plunging him into a state of physical and mental frenzy, difficult to control.

Perhaps deep down, he yearned for slaughter.

This kind of slaughter once pleased him.

In the long years that only heaven knew of, everything he experienced had become ingrained in his bones.

After a moment of silence, Duan Xu said to her, “Just before Junior Brother Fifteen died, he said to me… You are also a monster, you can’t escape.”

He Simu didn’t answer. In the biting cold wind, Duan Xu’s body trembled slightly as he slowly continued, “Sometimes I don’t know if I’m a normal person disguised as a lunatic, or a lunatic disguised as a normal person.”

He Simu chuckled lightly, with a hint of disdain. She finally reached out her hand to pat him lightly on the back.

“You’re leaning on the most abnormal person in the world, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Duan Xu fell silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled softly. He reached out, somewhat recklessly, to embrace He Simu’s back, and said cheerfully and calmly, “You’re right.”

He Simu patted his back casually, “Don’t get too familiar, let go of me.”

“Aren’t you curious who I am?”

Duan Xu didn’t obediently let go of her. His entire being relaxed as if opening a long-sealed door, and he calmly whispered in her ear, “My name is Duan Xu. My grandfather was a famous literary figure. When I was born, he was watching the Spring Opera, so he named me after a character from the play. My grandmother was a princess from a previous dynasty. My family has been scholars for three generations, part of the Duan clan of the Southern Capital. I lived in the Southern Capital until I was seven.”

Here it comes again.

He Simu frowned, about to interrupt his rambling, but listened as Duan Xu continued with a smile, “Then, when I was seven, I was kidnapped.”

He Simu’s hand paused on his back.

Duan Xu went on, “The Huqi people kidnapped me, threatening my father to trade intelligence with them. At that time, political struggles were at their fiercest. My father not only refused the Huqi people’s demands but couldn’t let anyone know they had such leverage over him. So he told them they had the wrong person, that they hadn’t kidnapped Duan Xu, the third son of the Duan family. The real third son of the Duan family was sent back to our ancestral home in Daizhou to accompany our grandmother.”

“The third son sent back to Daizhou was the fake Duan Xu.”

“The Huqi people were deceived. They thought they had the wrong person. I took the opportunity to escape, ended up on the streets of Danzhi… and then was chosen by the leader of Tianzhixiao, who was selecting disciples. They didn’t know my background. After apprenticing at fourteen, I blinded my master and fled back to Daliang, reclaimed my heritage, and was given the name Shunxi. My father arranged the ambush on the way back from Daizhou to the Southern Capital, to make the fake Duan Xu disappear and bring me back.”

“That’s who I am. I am Duan Xu, also known as Duan Shunxi. I’ve never lied to you. Look, this time I’ve… turned bad luck into good.”

Duan Xu spoke calmly, even playfully, laughing as if he were a triumphant child.

He Simu remained silent. Countless soul lights rose from the tents of Danzhi, merging into the sky like rebellious currents, while the fireworks over Shuozhou City alternated between joy and sorrow, creating a grand and absurd scene on earth.

Blood dripped from Duan Xu’s fingertips. He finally let go of He Simu’s back, but this time, He Simu held onto him.

He was slipping to the ground, and if not held, he would have fallen.

Just as he embraced He Simu, Duan Xu had already exhausted his last bit of strength.

He Simu held onto this guy who had collapsed weakly against her, sighed deeply, and said, “Not only a little fox, but also a little troublemaker.”

Finally, He Simu sat on her Ghost King lamp pole, with Duan Xu sitting by her side leaning against her shoulder, as they were carried towards Shuozhou City by the Ghost King lamp. Duan Xu closed his eyes, seeming to fall asleep yet still somewhat conscious. He mumbled, “Your Highness the Ghost King… what’s your other name?”

He Simu clicked her tongue twice, absentmindedly stroking the Ghost King lamp beneath her.

Usually, she wouldn’t tell mortals her name, and even among evil spirits, only the Left and Right Marshals dared to call her by her name.

But this was the person she was about to seal the senses for.

“He Simu, He from He Simu, Simu from He Simu.”

Her interpretation made Duan Xu chuckle softly.

As the long night waned, the dawn broke gently like misty light melting the boundless darkness.

In the golden sunlight, Duan Xu parted his parched and cracked lips, and slowly said, “He Simu, happy New Year, may you be safe every year.”

He Simu was momentarily stunned, then responded with a faint smile, “Duan Xu, Duan little fox, may you turn bad luck into good and live a long life.”

Her gaze fell on the broken illusion sword at Duan Xu’s waist, the scabbard stained with blood, unsure if it was from fifteen or from Duan Xu.

The fifteenth was killed by the broken illusion sword, but at least he would have a new life without resentment.

She had been wondering why the broken illusion sword recognized Duan Xu as its master, and at this moment, she finally thought of the answer. It wasn’t because Duan Xu was not a cultivator and lacked spiritual power, nor was it solely because of his strong destiny and extraordinary talent that surpassed ordinary people. The broken illusion sword chose him because it wanted to save him.

This sword, which is compassionate, both kills and redeems. It passed from Bai Qing’s hands to the hands of this young man because it wanted to redeem him, so it recognized him as its master.

It redeemed him, covered in blood and frost.

Han Lingqiu and Meng Wan informed Wu Shengliu of Duan Xu’s plan. On the New Year’s Eve of that year, they launched an attack when a fire broke out in the Danzhi military camp. The Danzhi army, without a leader, fell into chaos, retreating step by step and being driven out by the Tabai forces for miles, retreating from Shuozhou in defeat.

The siege of Tabai City was thus lifted.

The battle lasted until morning. When Wu Shengliu and his men returned with the army, they saw someone standing on the city wall.

It was a young man dressed as a Huqi, covered in wounds and soaked in blood. He smiled and waved at them in the morning light, then took out a head from the cloth bag at his waist and hung it on the city gate.

It was Awoqi’s head.

Their chief, who had infiltrated the enemy camp, set fire to the camp, assassinated the commander-in-chief, ensuring that his soldiers did not have to fight to the death and return victorious, allowing the people of the city to celebrate a lively Spring Festival without realizing the danger.

Wu Shengliu suddenly dismounted from his horse and knelt on the ground.

He did not issue any orders, but as he did, all the captains, lieutenants, centurions, and soldiers dismounted one after another, kneeling on one knee in the morning light. Countless suits of armour glimmered with a cold silver light, like waves surging over the sea.

Duan Xu’s eyes flickered.

“Tabai Army, respectfully welcomes the general.” Wu Shengliu shouted loudly.

The soldiers behind him joined in shouting with Wu Shengliu, their voices thundering like an avalanche, surging towards Duan Xu on the city wall. Duan Xu held onto the wall, barely managing to stand straight. He thought he just needed to take a bit more pain-relieving medicine to feel better.

Then he smiled softly.

He Simu had asked him why he risked himself alone. He said it was because the Tabai Army wasn’t truly his Tabai yet.

But at this moment, the Tabai Army finally became his Tabai.

Author’s Note: Everyone guessed it! Duan Xu is indeed Duan Xu!