Chapter 231 - Smile

Yang Xian waited.

Yet there were no words. What he could see was only his deranged self slowly disappearing. The same smile was still formed on the corner of his dream self as if he was feeling relief.

Relief that the reality differed from what this 'Yang Xian' had had seen.

Bang!

Yang Xian woke up with a start. He glanced around and saw the familiar furniture in his tent. His brows furrowed as he looked at his hand. There was faint nails' mark on his palm as if he had been clenching his hand tightly for a long period of time. Thankfully, there was no blood on his hand but it was close. 

'What is that?'

Ruffling his long hair, Yang Xian sighed. He felt that he might be under stress lately and think too negatively. However, he knew that the decision he made would be the same if he were to be put in the same situation as his dream self, the decision he made might be extremely similar.

Only his reaction with Wei Liuying might be a bit different…

Getting out of his bed, Yang Xian glanced out of his tent. For some reasons, he felt glad that whatever he dreamed before didn't occur in real life. If it had happened, he was sure that he would lose his mind because he couldn't bear with losing so many of his important people in just a matter of days and having all of his plan that he had worked years thwarted in such a short period of time.

'That's why, I can't lose.'

A glint appeared within Yang Xian's eyes. He had to be more prepared for what would happen in the future. If something happened to those around him, he knew that he would be very angry and might not be able to act rationally anymore.

"Strategist Yang! Have you felt better?" a soldier rushed in when he saw Yang Xian walking out of his tent.

"Yes." Yang Xian nodded. He looked at the soldier for a moment. "Is Lady Gao still alive?"

"Pardon?"

"I'm asking whether Lady Gao is still alive."

The soldier was looking at Yang Xian with bewilderment, but he still responded politely. "Yes, Lady Gao had returned back to Prince Ji Sheng City with His Highness a few days ago."

"You may leave."

Ignoring the soldier's puzzled look, Yang Xian only felt glad that whatever he saw just now was nothing more than a dream. There was no need for him to think about it too much. He just needed to be more careful so that what happened inside his dream would not happen in the real life.

'I can't possibly start doing investigation on Ji Shu. It's too dangerous,' Yang Xian thought to himself. However, he knew that if Prince Ji Shu was truly trying to use the tribes people, the future wouldn't be peaceful at all.

There might be some unwanted wars occurring because of those people making mess.

'I'll start my investigation soon.'

Yang Xian cleaned up his belongings and then ordered the soldiers to prepare for their return. It was time for him to return back to Dong Shan City and reunited with the others. After seeing that dream, he wished that he could see his friends again to confirm that they were still alive.

…

Time passed swiftly.

The two groups of soldiers met in the middle of the way. There was only one main road towards Dong Shan City when it was already fairly close, so the two were bound to meet with each other. Though, if the timing was wrong, they might have missed each other.

"Strategist Yang, there's a group coming from the West."

"I can see them," Yang Xian replied. The group of soldiers were using the familiar armors that belonged to Prince Ji Sheng's army. In addition, the faces at the forefront was familiar to him.

Wei Liuying was leading the group calmly. Upon seeing her healthy complexion and faint smile on her lips, Yang Xian felt relief and happiness. She was still the same as before and didn't lose her confidence. There was no fear and distraught in her eyes like what he had seen in his dream.

'As I thought, she's better looking this way.'

"Strategist Yang," Wei Liuying greeted and cupped her hands when they were near each other.

Yang Xian nodded and waved his hand. His hand signal told the soldiers that they were to form a group again and that they were going to travel to Dong Shan City together. Swiftly, the soldiers moved in orderly manner.

"How's the battle?"

"It's good. I'm borrowing Shan Yi a bit, so he might be a bit annoyed," Wei Liuying admitted.

Yang Xian nodded. "It's fine. I'll give him a share of profit…"

"He already gain a lot from robbing the carriages."

This time, Yang Xian was silent. If he were to offer Shan Yi more money, it wouldn't be that appropriate. The resources that Shan Yi had gathered so far would be more than enough for the gang to live peacefully for the time being.

"I'll just tell him that if want to know the real reason, he had to pay me," Yang Xian finally settled after thinking a bit.

Wei Liuying was stunned then laughed lightly. It seemed that if Shan Yi tried to inquire the real reason, he would have to be ready to pay the price.

Seeing Wei Liuying smile happily, the corner of Yang Xian's lips also curled up slightly. "Let's hurry a bit more. We're going to Dong Shan City as fast as possible."

"Yes!"

…

From that position, it took them two days to reach Dong Shan City. The journey was relatively smooth with no more mishap occurring in the middle of the journey like before. 

"Dong Shan City can be seen," Yang Xian said as he pointed to the front. "You can stay behind and stay with…."

"I'm a strategist, so isn't it also my job to make sure I know what I'm supposed to do?" Wei Liuying asked back, blatantly refusing Yang Xian's attempt to make her only rest and did nothing.

Yang Xian looked away and sighed. "Fine."

"Didn't you take me in because you'll need help?"

"We did but not in everything."

"It's still good if I can learn how to interact more with other people and so on," Wei Liuying replied placidly. She passed a glance to Yang Xian. "Don't you think so?"

This time, Yang Xian chose not to reply anymore. He controlled his horse leisurely as they entered the city. With the token that he had from Prince Ji Sheng, there was no one who would dare to stop him from entering the city.

The two of them met with the governor first as Yang Xian arranged the soldiers' location to stay for the night. It was already evening, so making the trip immediately to Prince Ji Sheng's City would be unwise.