No musical instrument could produce a decent sound in Gu Yun’s hands. He was now fixed in between steel plates, there was not enough breath, his voice was a little shaky. The fingers on the flute's holes were left running like a wild horse, the tune was all over the place, it should have sounded amusing.

But at this time, the sound of the flute was swept in the wind, wrapped in the sigh of the one departing from west of Yang Pass*, unexpectedly twisting into an unspeakable feeling of desolation. No one was able to laugh.

*referring to the poem entitled "Seeing of Yuan'er on a Mission to Anxi" by Wang Wei(701-761), translated by Bill Porter. The full line is "West of Yang Pass there's no one you know", and it is a farewell poem, hence the unspeakable desolation.

Gu Yun's waist and back were fixed straight by Miss Chen's steel plate — like a beam that would never collapse — with two damaged Wind Slashers on his back... neither of them were his own.

Chen Qing Xu, who was accompanying the army, listened to the flute echo far and near from behind, whispered her sentiment, "Talk not of the glories of awards and nobility*..."

"Talk not of the glories of awards and nobility," Gu Yun flew past her, his next words completely going off tangent. "My heart is as bright as crystal ice in the jar of jade*, ha ha ha."

Chen Qing Xu: "..."

Being interrupted, she could not remember the second verse for a moment!

*from the poem 己亥歲二首 by Cao Song, The next verse was "A general's victory is built upon ten thousand rotting bones."

* from the poem 芙蓉樓送辛漸 by Wang Chang Ling. This line has all along been considered a masterful line to express a pure and noble heart

Gu Yun marched like the wind. With the medical expert, Miss Chen, accompanying them, there was no concern about the steel plate coming off. Having just left the territory of Zhili, they had already been attacked by two waves of insurgent groups. Neither one was large scale, scattering instantly, running away as soon as there was contact like several wild probing dogs.

"Just after leaving the capital city, we were already being tailed." Shen Yi said to Gu Yun, "I have dealt with them before, they are cunning and are familiar with the territory. They would flee the moment they realized they could not win, then would soon cling to their opponent again. It was very annoying. I heard about the news of the siege in the capital when I came here. In such a rush, I was furious about their clinginess."

Gu Yun replied with an 'ah' and handed Shen Yi his Qian Li Yan. "I'm afraid their amateur strategist had studied for a few days."

Shen Yi: "What?"