Peace Order

"Sir, you are leaving?"

Li Guanyi looked at the letters on that table.

The purple-eyed strategist smiled and said, "When I first met you, I already said it: our lineage is one of struggle. Now that the realm is pacified, there are no more enemies, no more rivals; the Golden Age of Taiping is about to arrive."

"In a world with no opponents, there is naturally no place left for us to wield our Martial arts."

"It is time to retire into seclusion. These letters are for the remaining old comrades of the Qilin Army and the Heavenly Strategy Mansion. After all, we did once share the same field of battle. But you, my Lord, you are..."

Li Guanyi said, "What if I say it is not over yet?"

Breaking Army was taken aback.

"Where are there still enemies?"

Li Guanyi stretched out his hand, pointed at himself, then pointed at the world outside. Breaking Army stared, puzzled. Li Guanyi slowly spoke of what he had just seen, and said, "We have only just entered Taiping. It will take at least ten years for the realm to truly fall into order, and already such things have appeared."

"Our enemy has appeared once more, Sir."

Li Guanyi said, "It is no longer a concrete foe like Chen Dingye or Jiang Wanxiang, no longer born of womb or hatched from egg, but generated out of transformation."

"It will reappear in the relations between people. After we have crushed foreign states, these things we abhor will gradually sprout again, taking root and growing anew upon the bodies of our own fine soldiers."

Breaking Army was a towering talent under heaven; he understood what Li Guanyi meant. Pressing down on those letters, he said:

"Your Majesty, has our struggle ended?"

Li Guanyi replied, "It has only just begun."

"So that is how it is."

The purple-eyed, young strategist, still at his peak, questioned the mightiest Emperor. He let out a faint laugh, then asked, "Then, within ten years, twenty years, thirty years, can we win this struggle?"

The Emperor answered, "We cannot."

"Perhaps, even throughout my lifetime, we must contend with this enemy. Things will grow better, but you and I shall not live to see the day when we have utterly vanquished ’it.’"

Breaking Army said, "Even so, you would still wage war against it?"

Emperor Qin stretched out his hand and said, "Yes."

The serenity and majesty of Emperor Qin dispersed; what stood here once more was that razor-sharp warrior. He reached his hand towards Breaking Army, promising a second, never-ending dream. Smiling, he said, "Since this body has already come this far, then let us dream yet another great dream that can never be fully attained."

"Sir, will you travel with me?"

Breaking Army looked at the Emperor before him and suddenly laughed aloud:

"How would I dare disobey!"

With a sweep of his sleeve, he brushed all the letters on that table into the brazier. The flames roared high, like that scarlet Qilin Cloud Pattern Big Banner, the Qilin Cloud Pattern great flag billowing and unfurling.

The founding ceremony of the realm was, at last, inaugurated.

There was fire in Emperor Qin’s gaze. He did not wear the Emperor’s Imperial Robe, but a suit of ink-dark armor. He set aside the crown and Imperial Robe prepared by Nan Hanwen, picked up the scarlet Qilin Pattern Civil and Military Sleeves battle robe, stroked the sleeves, and smiled faintly.

With a sudden shake, he turned; the sleeves of the robe rolled like surging waves.

Like the mighty river of Jiangdong flowing eastward, it draped itself upon Emperor Qin.

It was high-spirited youth, it was vast and mighty resolve.

"Come. Let us found a realm!"

He strode out in great steps. As he walked forward alone, the purple-eyed strategist smiled and inclined his head, then followed to his side. Yue Pengwu’s expression was solemn, he too wore armor and battle robe, accompanying Li Guanyi as he gradually mounted the steps: the silver-haired Stargazer Magician, the young Long Wind Tower Master, Yan Daiqing, Wen Qingyu, Fang Ziqiao, Li Zhaowen, Yue Qianfeng, Chen Wenmian...

These people all, one after another, followed behind Emperor Qin, watching that back.

They continued walking forward.

They were still young; they carried blazing fire in their hearts.

Like the newborn sun at dawn, fierce and radiant!

When he set off, he was alone; when he walked to this end, many, many people were already at his side. Standing upon the high platform, Li Guanyi looked ahead at the scarlet Qilin Pattern banners rolling and billowing, burning between heaven and earth. He drew in a deep breath, gazed upon the smiling faces of the common folk, and his expression grew gentle.

All that he had walked, all that he had seen, all that he had fought, all that he had hewn down along the way.

Those old comrades one by one, those mighty foes one after another, those battlefields one upon the next, all rolled into the scarlet, flame-like Big Banner. The sound of the Nine Cauldrons resounded throughout all corners of the realm. Emperor Qin took a deep breath, his voice solemn:

"Today we raise this platform, to inform Heaven and Earth, to inform the people."

"The world is one state under Heaven; there shall be no more war and chaos!"

"We shall change the reign title, and name it—"

"[Taiping]!"

After an instant of breath-held silence.

Cheering burst forth, clamorous and soaring. The flourishing era of Taiping began. This was, of course, beautiful; yet at the same time, the corrosion of time also began. Emperor Qin leaned on his sword, looking at those scarlet Big Banners and flags, his sleeves billowing; his expression was calm and tranquil.

He seemed to be standing upon the tide of reincarnation.

Behind him were comrades-in-arms, were brothers; before him was the vast torrent of the realm and the age.

Has our struggle ended?

No.

Our struggle—

has only just begun!

(The End)