Укротитель зверей

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He finally turned to look at me. The grassland was open and the sun shone down intensely, so bright and dazzling that I couldn't see his face clearly.

"I have urgent business to attend to. The two countries have gone to war, and this grassland is not safe. The old farm owner and the others will take you to Mongolia for temporary refuge. I will come to find you after I have finished my business."

All I could do was shake my head.

He frowned, walked up to me, and whispered, "You promised me."

I stared at him, speechless, completely bewildered by what he was saying.

When did I ever agree to let these people take me with them?

His brows furrowed even more, but he didn't say another word. He simply bent down and tied something around my waist.

When I looked down, I saw the gold thread, the long, thin black chain, hanging neatly around my waist, making a jingling sound with every movement.

"Take this with you, just in case."

I was terrified and panicked, grabbing the chain and trying to pull it down. He had already straightened up, and then I heard the white horse neigh loudly; it turned out he had leaped onto it.

He must have gotten quite used to riding this white horse; as soon as its master mounted, its mane shook, its front hooves lifted, and it looked ready to gallop away.

I tried to grab him, but my body was grabbed by many people, leaving only my hands to reach forward. In my haste, I couldn't grab anything.

He looked at me from his horse, the sunlight behind him blinding. Everything seemed so close yet so far. Then I heard the sound of the wind, mixed with three low, hoarse words—it was him speaking.

He said, "Wait for me."

The white horse's flowing mane brushed against my fingertips. I tried my best to close my fingers, but all I grasped was emptiness. Before my eyes were only the backs of a person and a horse, rushing away from me and disappearing into the white light.

Volume Four: Song of the Ends of the Earth

I. Abandoning the camp

1

I stood there alone for a long time.

Eliza, always emotional, stared at the direction where Mo Li had disappeared, even more reluctant to leave than I was. Gebu ran off to help feed the horses, while only Sangza patted me on the shoulder.

“Brother Mo is meticulous and skilled in martial arts, so you don’t need to worry too much.” Seeing that I didn’t answer, he added, “We will take good care of you for him.”

I had a constant buzzing in my ears and didn't know what he was saying, but seeing his lips moving, I finally nodded.

Sanza then gave me a big smile and patted my shoulder harder, making me stumble.

So enthusiastic!

I know Mo Li has made the best arrangements. Whether it's returning to the Holy Flame Sect headquarters or investigating the mysterious person behind the elders, these are extremely dangerous things. My martial arts skills are not good enough, and following him would be useless and would only cause trouble.

He said, "I have many things to do. If I have to leave you temporarily, you must wait for me to come back."

I should trust him. Besides, with the war underway, being in any country or on the border between two countries would be fatally dangerous for me.

I gazed in that direction and slowly tightened the corners of my mouth.

What can I do? Turn the tide? Save the collapsing edifice? Extinguish the flames of war in an instant? I am just someone who cannot even guarantee my own safety; staying by his side would only cause more trouble.

Sanza was still talking. The buzzing in my ears gradually subsided, and I heard him asking me if I wanted to choose a horse, and if I needed someone to ride with me. I slowly turned my head and met his eyes.

I winked at him, then forced a smile, and my own voice rang in my ears.

I said, "Thank you, I can ride a horse."

This time he didn't laugh, thinking I was being very well-behaved. He didn't pat my shoulder again, but just patted my head.

Sanza and I traveled north. Sanza said that the Mexicans burned his pasture, and all the other pastures on the grassland that were unwilling to hand over their horses were also destroyed. Large numbers of horses were sent to the army to equip the cavalry, and the vanguard of the Mexicans had already broken through the fortified city and entered the interior.

As I listened, I couldn't help but interject with another question, "Who is the current ruler of the Kingdom of Mo?"

Elizabeth rode beside me on her horse. Hearing this, she turned her head and said, "It's the new king. After the old king died, the original crown prince ascended the throne. I heard that he was originally going to marry a princess from the Celestial Empire, but unfortunately, the princess died on the way to her wedding. If she had lived, maybe there wouldn't have been a war. Father, don't you think so?"

Sangza shook his head. "The new ruler of the Mo Kingdom is fond of war. He has annexed several small tribes on the northern border in just one year since he ascended the throne, and he is also eyeing the Southern Dynasty covetously. It is not surprising that he has launched a war."

Eliza glanced back in the direction where her family's ranch had once been, sighed with a somber expression, "Why is there a war? Poor horses."

Sanza comforted his daughter, "Everything will be alright when we return to our homeland. Mongolia is vast, and there will be even more horses."

Elizabeth cheered up and spoke to me again after a while: "Actually, that princess was also very pitiful. She died at such a young age."

I listened quietly the whole time, and then I replied to her, "It's better to die than to marry that kind of person."

Our cavalry traveled day and night, sometimes eating and drinking on horseback. At night, they would gather the horses together, light a fire, and sleep. The men would take turns keeping watch to prevent any accidents, including Gebu, who carried a long curved knife at a young age.

I know all of this is necessary. Sanza said that Montenegro is north of Mexico. Although we are passing through remote areas, there is always a section of the road that has to run close to the Mexican border, and the closer we get to there, the more complicated the situation becomes.

The so-called complex situation is not due to the rugged mountains and treacherous roads along the border, but rather to the people.

We encountered more and more refugees, mostly from other ethnic groups, all ordinary people, carrying their only possessions, with elderly people and children, struggling to leave the country.

Several days had passed since they left the lush grasslands, and the border was a desolate scene. Before them stretched endless, barren sand. The refugees lacked sufficient food and water, and some collapsed on the ground as they walked. Others took advantage of the chaos to loot, killing and stealing, leaving their bodies discarded on the main road. Most of the dead died with their eyes wide open, their bodies beginning to rot, their empty eyes still gazing up at the sky.

Sangza was experienced in traveling and had prepared plenty of food and water on the grassland. He also had the women in the group cover their heads and faces to keep them on guard day and night. Most of the refugees were traveling in the opposite direction from us, but some stopped to ask us for food and exchange a few words.

Everyone was puzzled and asked us why we were heading north, because it was a desolate wilderness with nothing there.

I glanced at Sanza, and he gave me a slightly mysterious smile. Remembering his amazing ability to find his way, I remained silent.

I trust the person Mo Li trusts.

Among the refugees were some Mexican faces, mostly wounded, struggling and staggering along. I guessed they might be deserters fleeing the battlefield. They concealed their skin color because if discovered, they would be brutally beaten to death by angry members of other ethnic groups. I once witnessed a group of people beating a dying Mexican man; he was nearly dead when I saw him, his tattered military uniform peeking out from under the rags covering his body.

My saddle was a little loose, so I stopped and tightened it myself, falling behind my own group. When the beating happened, I was already some distance away from the group. I remember screaming on my horse because seeing a corpse by the roadside is one thing, but seeing a living person tortured to death is another. Instinctively, I wanted to jump off the horse, but my hand was grabbed. I turned around and saw Gebu's face.

He was supposed to be urging me, but instead he just said with a gloomy expression, "Ignore him."

I had never seen such a terrifying expression on a child's face before, and I was taken aback. He then said, "That person is Mexican."

"But……"

“He may have burned down my house and killed my friends,” he said through gritted teeth.

My heart sank. When I turned back, the person was already a bloody mess, clearly beyond saving.

I have experienced some human tragedy over the years, but I could not remain calm in the face of this scene. For the next two days, I could only cover my face tightly with a veil, including my eyes, as I did not want to see any more tragedy.

We walked cautiously along the border for two days, encountering some patrolling soldiers along the way. However, the country was fully engaged in a war with a powerful southern nation, leaving only the old, weak, and disabled soldiers in the north. This place was also a remote wilderness, and the refugees didn't offer much in the way of profit, so the soldiers paid little attention to the pedestrians on the road.

Sanza knew all the shortcuts and alleys. Our large group only encountered two or three stragglers. When questioned, Sanza simply slipped some money to them, and we easily got rid of them.

Two days later, Sangza led us into the no-man's-land. At first, we walked through barren, desert land, with nothing but emptiness in all directions. It truly looked like a desolate wasteland. However, Sangza led the team with a clear goal. We camped on the ground at night and started our journey at dawn. We had enough food, so although we were tired, we didn't find it too difficult to endure.

—At least it's better than seeing those corpses the whole way.

On the third day, the seemingly endless horizon finally began to undulate, and a canyon could be seen in the distance. Upon seeing this, even Gebu, whose face had been gloomy the whole time, brightened up.

Someone cheered loudly. Sanza smiled and said, "We'll reach Montenegro once we cross that canyon."

I knew Sangza was an old hand at finding his way, but to be able to find the right direction in such a dead end was truly an amazing skill. He probably noticed my surprise and began to explain.

"What? You didn't expect there to be a road here, did you? It's been over a decade since I first crossed this canyon. In the blink of an eye, I've grown old."

I nodded, then thought for a moment and said, "This is the way back to your hometown, you'll always remember it."

Sangza was funny. He laughed heartily as I said that, and then said, "Han Chinese have also come here. Several thousand of them slept in the open and endured hardship even more than we have."

"Han people?" This time I was really surprised.

"Don't you know? That was the Ji family army of the Southern Dynasty! They launched a surprise attack from afar, circling around to the rear of the Mo Kingdom and setting up camp right outside the canyon. I even guided them there. That General Ji was truly a formidable warrior; people called him the Flying General. He drove the Mo Kingdom into a series of defeats, almost causing them to lose even their capital. It's a pity he was later recalled by your Southern Dynasty emperor, and I heard he died unjustly in prison, is that right?" He moved his white eyebrows and sighed with great regret. "Your Han emperors are truly strange. If they don't use someone like that, who will they use to fight?"

As I sat on horseback, listening to every word he said, my palms gradually grew cold and sweaty, and I could barely hold onto the reins.

With his hometown in sight, Sangza relaxed and became more talkative than usual. Without waiting for my reply, he continued, "Speaking of which, Brother Mo also knows this place. As soon as I mentioned it to him, he understood and trusted me to take you there."

As he said this, he turned to look at me again, immediately froze, and his voice became tense, "Ping An, what's wrong? Are you feeling alright?"

I haven't looked in a mirror for a long time, nor have I had the chance, but I know in my heart that the bumpy ride of the past few days, the cold and damp nights spent sleeping in the open, and the hellish sights and sounds along the way have already worn me out. But all of this is nothing compared to the sting that these words have brought me.

In this desolate wilderness, thousands of people traversed mountains and valleys, traveling day and night. Who among them did not have parents and children? Who would not want to stay in the beautiful and lush Jiangnan region? But a war brought them to this place.

I still remember what my elder brother said to me in the grand hall. He said that Ji Feng came from a military family and had fought on the frontier with his father and brothers since he was fifteen. On the battlefield, he had defeated enemy generals amidst thousands of soldiers and had never lost a single battle. The illustrious name of the Ji family was known throughout the land.

I looked ahead and saw yellow sand filling the sky, staining my eyebrows and making my eyes bitter.

This illustrious reputation was earned through countless deaths on the battlefield, countless bones piled high; and this illustrious reputation, which has been eroded by countless bones, was ultimately lost to the fickle nature of the imperial family.

Does Ji Feng know this place? Has he been here before? What were his feelings when he looked at me, sitting under the shade of a tree in the Imperial Garden, my moods so unpredictable? And what were his feelings when he watched the Mo Kingdom cavalry march straight in, lining up all the way to the Ten Mile Pavilion in the capital?

"Peaceful?" Sangza was still looking at me with worried eyes.

I didn't answer him, I just lowered my head, as if I could never straighten my neck again.

Did I do something wrong?

I thought that by blindfolding myself and shutting my ears to follow them, I could escape the war and forget my past self. But the sudden sense of shame made even this dead princess feel ashamed.

2

As the saying goes, "Looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death," and although the canyon seemed close at hand, by the time we actually got there, the sun had already set.

Sure enough, there were old campsites outside the valley, abandoned for who knows how many years. They were originally just simple places built with wood and stone, and now they are just ruins everywhere, with nothing to see.

“We’ll rest here tonight.” Sanza jumped off his horse, grabbed the reins of my little red horse with his strong hand, and couldn’t hide his joy.

"Isn't it just a matter of crossing the canyon?" I had been feeling down all day, and I was still a little listless.

We've traveled through the night many times these days, and given these herdsmen's eagerness to return to Mongolia, Sanza's decision is truly surprising.

He shook his head and pointed to the dark canyon entrance, saying, "We Mongolians call this canyon Latsobu, which means devil. It's a huge labyrinth, and many people who go in never come out again. Even though I know the path, it's still very dangerous at night. We've come all this way, so it's best to be careful. We can go in when it's bright tomorrow."

I thought about it for a moment and then said, "That's why those people say this direction is a dead end, isn't it?"

Sangza nodded and pointed in that direction, "Listen."

I listened intently, and the evening wind blew through the canyon, bringing a sobbing sound that gradually grew more shrill in the depths, with faint ghostly wails and howls.

I shuddered, which made Sangza laugh. "Don't worry, don't worry, it's windy at night, but it will be better during the day. Tomorrow we'll walk across in one go and be out of the valley before nightfall."

We spent the night in the abandoned camp. The men still took turns keeping watch, and a circle of horses was tethered around the perimeter. After days of traveling, not only the people but even these sturdy horses were exhausted. They silently lowered their heads to graze, occasionally letting out a low neigh, which only made the surroundings seem more desolate.

I stayed in the most remote corner of the barracks, which was already half-collapsed, with only four walls remaining and a large hole in the roof. This was the most intact of all the remaining rooms.

They treated me like a fragile object the whole way. They were very careful with me during normal times, and when we rested, there was always a group of people hovering around me and watching over me. It was the same tonight, with footsteps coming and going outside the wooden house.

At first, I couldn't sleep at all in such a terrible environment, but I got used to it. Even if there were a few people around me, or even a pack of wolves, I could sleep soundly until dawn without opening my eyes. But that night, I just couldn't fall asleep as soon as I lay down.