Not long after Mo Xi received the confidential letter from the capital, news of Gu Mang’s imminent return was finally announced publicly by Chonghua’s ruler.
At the same time, Gu Mang’s method of punishment was also revealed—
He would be placed entirely under the authority of Lord Wangshu.
The news spread rapidly throughout all of Chonghua. Though Mo Xi’s army was stationed far in the northern frontier, they learned of it by the third day.
The Northern Border Army exploded with discussion.
Outwardly, they remained solemn and disciplined as always. But once they rotated off duty to rest, nearly everyone was talking about it. Mo Xi saw it all and, unusually, did not interfere.
He thought their unresolved feelings were only natural—
Because the predecessor of the Northern Border Army had once been the invincible Gu Army.
A large portion of the soldiers had fought alongside Gu Mang through life and death. They had been loyal and dutiful, yes—but long ago, they had also sincerely admired their commander, Gu Mang.
Even though the military title Gu Mang had personally assigned them back then was—
The Bastard Army.
This was not a joke.
He was serious.
Before Mo Xi took over, the military registry really looked like this:
Bastard Army soldier Liu Dazhuang
Bastard Army squad leader Zhang Dayan
…
And so on.
At the top of it all was:
Bastard Army Commander Gu Mang
Logically speaking, no one should want to join a unit with such a ridiculous name.
But reality was the opposite.
At that time, Gu Mang was Chonghua’s most decorated commander. Most famous generals had restrictions, burdens, pride, or obligations.
Gu Mang was different.
He had been born a slave.
No father. No mother.
No attachments.
No shame.
And no fear of death.
If all of Chonghua’s commanders stripped and stood in a row, Gu Mang might not have had the strongest physique—
But he would undoubtedly be the man with the most scars.
He was Chonghua’s undisputed beast upon the altar.
Back then, his deputy would often scold him while looking at his injuries.
“You’re the commander. Why are you always charging at the front? Can’t you learn to dodge?”
Gu Mang would only smile.
His dark eyes were bright, his lips soft, his voice smooth like silk.
Good-naturedly, he would coax his angry friend:
“My legs are long, so I run fast. I can’t help it. I’m forced, totally forced.”
As long as he was on the battlefield, war never felt like just blood and ice.
There was laughter too.
And sweetness.
He remembered every comrade’s birthday.
Whenever battle paused, he often led the cultivators under his command into nearby villages to drink and celebrate. Sometimes the locals were crafty and overcharged them outrageously, but Commander Gu never got angry.
Smiling, he would slam down every coin he had to buy meat and wine for his men.
Then he’d shout:
“Eat well, drink well! Stuff yourselves! All of you are my precious darlings! If military pay runs out, I’ll trade something else for you!”
Gu Mang always meant what he said.
Once, he actually stripped off his military robe and armor, tossing them onto a tavern counter in exchange for pear blossom liquor.
The rowdy soldiers burst into laughter and heckled him.
“Commander Gu, we want beef too! Got anything else you can take off?”
At that point, he only had a white inner robe left.
Yet he merely smiled and pointed at them.
“Just wait.”
“No way! Commander Gu, you’re not really going to pawn your underwear too, are you?!”
“That wouldn’t be worth much…”
Gu Mang had no intention of pawning his underwear.
But he truly had nothing left.
So under everyone’s shocked and amused gazes, he leaned over and kissed the pretty young widow selling liquor on the cheek.
The soldiers fell silent.
The widow froze too.
Liquor dripped from her ladle.
After a moment, she snapped back to reality and began chasing Gu Mang around with the ladle raised high.
“Shameless bastard! Taking advantage of me?!”
The whole tavern erupted in laughter.
Amid cheers and jeers, Gu Mang ran around the room while pleading:
“I mean it! I mean it! You’re beautiful! You’re beautiful!”
“I know I’m beautiful!” the widow yelled. “You’re handsome too! But you’re too shameless! Couldn’t you come flirt with me alone at night? Why’d you have to do it in front of everyone? Pervert!”
Even while being chased, Gu Mang shamelessly shouted:
“Yes, yes! I’ll come find you tomorrow night! Tonight works too! Just please reward us with two more pounds of beef, beautiful lady!”
“Bah! Since your camp settled here, you’ve asked me for beef on credit three times already! This is the fourth! Every time you promise tomorrow night—liar!”
The widow’s fist slammed onto a wooden board, cracking it.
The soldiers laughed so hard they nearly fell over.
In the end, Gu Mang really did use his handsome face and repeated promises of “I’ll definitely date you tomorrow” to wrangle two more pounds of marinated beef for his men.
“Commander Gu, you really know how to sweet-talk people…”
“That’s a necessity.” Gu Mang looked smug. “I pass through flowers untouched. My romantic reputation is known across the world.”
With a commander like that, it was no wonder young men once boldly declared:
“Forget Bastard Army—even if they were called the Dick Army, I’d still enlist for Commander Gu!”
A friend nearby looked disgusted.
“You’ve studied the sages, yet you’re this vulgar.”
“Then what elegant name would you suggest?”
“Instead of that word, use ji—as in halting war and resting weapons.”
The boy’s eyes lit up.
“Great name. I like it.”
“…Seriously? I was joking. Who would like a name like that?”
Thankfully Gu Mang never heard this discussion.
Otherwise, who knew whether he would have slammed the table in approval and renamed himself:
Commander Gu Mang of the Ji Army
Dragging every soldier down with him.
War was cruel.
Only a lunatic like Gu Mang could joke with battle itself.
Not only had he named the army the Bastard Army, he personally designed its battle flag.
It was green.
Cut into the shape of a turtle.
Complete with a lively little tail.
He enchanted the banner so that every fifteen minutes, the turtle would loudly shout:
“Bastards, bastards! Heroic and bold! Spirit reaching the heavens! Shaking the world!”
It was deeply humiliating.
The first time he marched to battle with that flag, enemy commanders laughed themselves sick.
Less than half a day later, their hundred-thousand-man cultivator army was chased into miserable defeat by Gu Mang’s Bastard Army.
After that, Gu Mang won battle after battle.
Soon, the nations opposing Chonghua turned pale at the sight of turtles.
And the thing enemy cultivators feared most was likely this—
Smoke-filled battlefield.
Tiny turtle flag raised.
Commander Gu riding out on horseback, clearing his throat, and solemnly introducing himself:
“Ahem. Greetings, brother. I am Gu Mang, commander of the Bastard Army. I’ve come to learn from your skills.”
Losing to a young cultivator was already humiliating.
Even worse was returning home sobbing to report:
“Wuwuwu… this subordinate was useless. I was powerless against the Bastard Army!”
A nightmare.
To Chonghua’s soldiers, Gu Mang was reckless and wild, yet irresistibly charismatic.
During that period, countless people admired him.
Some even embraced his absurd philosophy of cheap names are easier to keep alive.
As a result, many babies born during those years were tragically given crude names.
The naming trend looked something like this:
Chu Genzhuang
Xue Tiezhu
Jiang Dantong
So after Mo Xi took over the Bastard Army, the first thing he did was rename the damned unit.
There was no way in hell he would allow his military registry to read:
Bastard Army Commander Mo Xi
Absolutely impossible.
So the Bastard Army became the Northern Border Army, placed under Mo Xi’s command.
That dark joke that had laughed in the face of blood and smoke ended together with Gu Mang’s glory.
The little turtle flags shouting “Bastards, bastards, heroic and bold” vanished forever from the battlefield.
Everything became solemn again.
No flowers.
No sweetness.
No one trying to remember even the most insignificant name.
No commander leading soldiers into rowdy nights of drinking.
War returned to pure brutality.
Cold.
Merciless.
Winter without end.
Perhaps because of this, even though most of the Northern Border Army now hated Gu Mang deeply, their feelings toward him differed from ordinary civilians.
Especially the veterans of the old Bastard Army.
Whenever they said Gu Mang’s name, there was always a trace of dazed nostalgia in their eyes.
“Ah… never thought he’d end up like this.”
“Lord Wangshu is notorious for cruelty. If His Majesty handed Gu Mang to him, things don’t look good.”
“He’s definitely going to die horribly…”
A tyrant may not always be hated.
But a traitor is someone everyone wants dead.
Only the old Bastard Army veterans still muttered about things unrelated to hatred.
Eventually, one older veteran sighed.
“He was such a good man… If that thing hadn’t happened back then, maybe he wouldn’t have…”
“Shh! Lower your voice! You want to die?!”
The veteran jolted sober instantly.
The soldier beside him warned:
“We serve under Commander Mo now. The person he hates most is Gu Mang. You know his temper. If he hears you, neither of us is leaving tonight in one piece.”
“…You’re right. I got careless after drinking.”
Silence fell around the bonfire.
Everyone stared into the flames, each lost in thought.
After a long while, someone muttered:
“People change. I guess this was just Commander Gu’s fate.”
“It’s been years. Why are you still calling him Commander Gu?”
“Oh… right. Gu Mang. Gu Mang.”
Night on the frontier was silent.
The bonfire crackled, bursting into golden sparks brighter than stars.
The slightly drunk veteran lay on the ground with his arms behind his head, gazing at the starry sky.
He murmured softly, only for himself to hear:
“To tell the truth… I joined the army because of Gu Mang. I even drank with him around a campfire once. He had no airs at all. Back then… when I saw him smile, I thought… if I could die fighting for him one day, that would be a worthy death. Who would’ve thought he’d end up…”
Like this.
Once the birds are gone, the bow is put away.
After the enemy finished using Gu Mang, they sent him back to Chonghua as part of peace negotiations.
He had seen glory and ruin alike.
One wrong move turned him into a traitor.
And there was no way back.
What is self-destruction?
What is reaping what one sows?
This was it.
Still, miserable as his fate was, he had brought it upon himself.
And so all of Chonghua eagerly awaited Gu Mang’s ending.
Beheading.
Death by slicing.
Boiling.
Dismemberment.
Even little girls barely old enough to speak lisped after the adults:
“We can’t let this bad bad man go.”
Thus, Gu Mang—
Once Chonghua’s heroic commander.
Mo Xi’s fated enemy.
The legendary man known as the Beast Upon the Altar—
At long last became, to everyone’s satisfaction—
A man no one dared speak of without hatred.