The Sound of War Drums

The three drumbeats gradually subsided.

But the county town of Juntun did not quiet down. The flags on the city wall jingled in the wind, and people on the street spoke in hushed tones, as if afraid that if they spoke too loudly, they would attract the filth from the north.

There was a teahouse at the city gate, with four wooden pillars supporting an oilcloth, but the red sun on the horizon shone in, making everyone's face inside look blood red.

Yan Li sat at the back of the teahouse, his back against the earthen wall, looking somewhat dejected, with a unkempt beard and some injuries on his body.

At this moment, he listened intently to the conversation of the tea drinkers around him.

"Did you hear that? It's Guifeng Camp again. I told you yesterday it wasn't a hallucination."

"Will it be three syllables this time too?"

"Three times, that's right, I'm counting."

"Everyone in the camp is dead. Who's beating the drums? The Yan Kingdom's border guards wouldn't."

The tea drinkers spoke in hushed tones, all afraid of ghosts and strange tales, yet they all insisted on mentioning them, as if if they didn't scare their fellow diners, the ghost would come looking for them that night.

An old tea drinker cursed, "Shut up, all of you! There are soldiers in the city. Do you really want to be arrested and questioned?"

"Go ahead and ask, it's not like I'm making things up."

"Guifeng Camp is the closest to us. If something really happens, it will definitely go to Juntun County first."

"We haven't been able to replenish our border troops yet. If the enemy finds out, their cavalry will be at our gates tomorrow. At that point, the soldiers won't have time to worry about us."

"Should we run south?"

The teahouse fell into a deathly silence.

Yan Li looked down at the teacup. The tea had long since gone cold, and the floating leaves clung to the rim of the bowl like a dead insect wing.

He arrived in Juntun County just the day before yesterday.

Back then, his father was still sitting on the edge of the bed in the inn, stroking his white beard as he asked, "Is Xiao Wu's camp far from the county town?"

Yan Li said it wasn't far.

The old man asked again, "Will I be able to see Liu'er tomorrow?"

Yan Li said he could.

He said this with a hint of relief in his voice.

He even thought that his younger brother had been serving in the army at the border for many years, and in his letters he always said that he was eating and sleeping well. If they really met, he would probably be stronger than him, who was a guard.

That very night, news arrived that Guifeng Camp had been wiped out.

All dead.

When those two words struck him, he dared not grieve, but had to try his best to appear unaffected and settle his elderly father in the inn.

After settling in, Yan Li headed north before dawn the next day. Halfway there, he was stopped by a patrol and told that the Guifeng Camp was under lockdown and his family was not allowed to approach.

He used the old trick from Jianghu Mountain and slipped a few silver coins into his pocket.

The silver was stolen from the corpses of bandits on the official road in Beiyang Prefecture a few months ago.

That day, the caravan he was escorting was attacked and chased by bandits. Later, he saw a man in gray blocking the road.

Finally, the man on horseback died, his blood flowing into the grass. The man in gray only took two money bags and left.

Yan Li took the gold and silver from the bandits' clothes, resigned as a guard for the caravan, and took the money back to his hometown to find his father.

Yan Li originally intended to use this money to take his father to the border to see his beloved youngest son, and also to make up for the debt he had owed his family over the years.

Unexpectedly, I heard this news as soon as I arrived at the border.

Worse still, instead of getting leniency, the silver slipped into the soldiers' hands was met with a beating.

The soldier, with a cold face, threw the silver back into the mud: "Go back and wait for your compensation. Don't ask any other questions."

The word "compensation" was like a thorn stuck in Yan Li's heart, impossible to pull out. When Yan Li thought of his father's eyes in the inn, he felt a chill in his chest.

He didn't know what to say when he went back.

They're saying Xiao Wu is dead?

Where is the body?

You say you didn't see it?

Yan Li sat in the teahouse, too afraid to return to the inn, her fingers gripping the corner of the table tightly, completely unable to think of a solution.

At that moment, a commotion broke out outside the teahouse.

Someone shouted, "Demons! Demons have entered!"

"So what if you're a demon? Can't demons drink tea? Does your teacup say it's only for humans?" another voice immediately retorted.

Everyone in the teahouse turned their heads in unison.

Yan Li also raised her head.

The first thing that catches the eye is a round, chubby little demon, which looks like a toad.

The toad demon slammed the token on the table:

"I am Teruyuki, a guest elder of Teruyuki sect! Boss, bring two pots of tea, one of them should be of good quality, you can't neglect my young master."

son?

Yan Li then turned her gaze to the doorway, where a man in gray walked in.

When he entered, the previously chaotic noise in the teahouse fell silent as if by unspoken agreement.

Yan Li stopped holding the teacup.

He recognized him at first glance!

It's impossible for me to admit I'm wrong!

Months passed, but his face remained unchanged, and his eyes were still as cold as ever, as if he were separated from everyone else by a vast ocean.

The stench of blood on the official road that day, the muffled thud of horses kneeling, the twisted faces of the bandits before their deaths—all these memories flooded Yan Li's mind at once.

His throat tightened, and his thoughts were a bit jumbled. His first thought was to step forward and thank him, but before he could even lift his buttocks, he sat back down.

The scene of the gray-clad man killing the bandits is still etched in my mind; the words "ruthless and cold-blooded" seem to be the best description.

Yan Li was somewhat afraid.

The man in gray stepped in, glanced at the tea stall, and paused for a moment when his gaze swept over it.

Yan Li's back tensed up instantly.

Fortunately, the other person quickly looked away, found an empty table, and sat down. The little demon hopped and skipped onto the bench, took a couple of sips of tea from her teacup, then, remembering something, turned to the table next to her and asked:

"Sir, I have a question for you. What were those three drumbeats just now? Have you ever seen them before?"

The old man at the next table changed his expression, looked around, and lowered his voice: "The war drums of Guifeng Camp, even after everyone is dead, the drums will still sound on their own at night. It sounds very eerie."

An old tea drinker nearby couldn't help but interject: "I heard that it's not just Guifeng Camp, but also the three northern camps. The black mist covering the camp makes the horses afraid to get close, and people faint as soon as they get near. Several military doctors from the prefectural city have been carried back."

Zhao Yue's eyes widened little by little as she listened.

"Are they all really dead?"

"Not entirely. A very small number of them didn't die, but they've all been locked up."

"What do you mean?"

"It means exactly what it says. Some say it's to prevent chaos, while others say it means the rest are all melons."

The man in gray finally spoke: "How many died?"

His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the teahouse heard it.

The old tea drinker rubbed his pipe: "The rumor is that, including officers, soldiers, cooks, grooms, and everyone still breathing, most of them were killed. Guifeng Battalion suffered the most; the entire battalion's roster was crossed out in red."

The toad demon asked many more questions afterward. Perhaps it was because of the gray-robed man's aura, or perhaps it was because the sect token had taken effect, but the tea drinkers answered all the questions they knew.

Yan Li listened quietly in the corner. He touched the money pouch in his pocket, where there were still a few pieces of silver left.

These silver coins were given to me by the gray-clad man in front of me.

Although the other party may be a criminal, the kindness shown is genuine.

When Yan Li stood up, her legs felt a little numb, and the wooden stool scraped against the ground with a harsh sound.

Everyone in the teahouse looked over.

Yan Li walked to the table in front of the man in gray and stopped.

He took a deep breath, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed, his forehead almost touching the edge of the table.

"Yan Li greets you, sir."