To be frank, Ye Shikai was initially quite worried that the soldiers would lose their fighting spirit due to homesickness. The farther they were from home, the more they missed it, and over time, morale was bound to drop. Especially since most of Ye Shikai’s subordinates were fellow townsmen or from the same county, they had fought their way out of encirclements together, losing so many fellow brothers along the way. The ones left were constantly hovering on the edge of life and death, and gradually, they seemed to have become numb to death.

At times like this, as the commander, Ye Shikai had to boost the army’s morale, but the premise was that he must let the brothers see the "dawn of hope" of returning home.

"Brothers, are you willing to trust me?"

"We trust the General."

"General Ye has led us to the north and south wars, never losing. This time, I still trust the General."

Everyone responded one after another. They all trusted Ye Shikai, just like they were willing to rise in arms with Ye Shikai against the Qin initially.

"Good, I thank my brothers here." Ye Shikai clasped his hands in salute and bowed, saying, in such chaotic times, hearts are unpredictable. The most precious thing is trust, and the highest degree of trust is entrusting one’s life to the person you trust. Ye Shikai carried this weighty trust with him, walking heavily.

At the camp gate.

"It seems you are managing well." Mi Wen, leading her guards, came directly to Ye Shikai’s camp. She hadn’t notified him beforehand, and Ye Shikai was surprised by her sudden arrival.

"Why are you here?" Ye Shikai asked in return.

"I came to have a look... at my troops. What, do you have any objections?" Mi Wen’s tone changed, and the generals around Ye Shikai were quite displeased. In the blink of an eye, they had become Mi Wen’s "subordinates", naturally feeling a bit dissatisfied, especially since Mi Wen was a woman. Ye Shikai had no intention of belittling her, but in the ancient mindset, it was rare to see women as "lords".

"Of course not, you are the lord. Whether to deploy or order is your freedom." Ye Shikai’s tone was somewhat perfunctory. After speaking, he intended to turn around and leave without waiting for Mi Wen to speak.

"Stop." Suddenly, Mi Wen stepped forward to block him.

"What else do you have?"

"Firstly, as your lord, is this the perfunctory attitude you use to speak with me?" Mi Wen said coldly. Ye Shikai rolled his eyes, knelt on one knee, and clasped his hands.

"What are your orders, my lord?"

"Enter the tent with me, I have something to discuss with you."

"Yes."

Ye Shikai nodded in agreement and gestured to the generals behind him, signaling them not to follow.

Inside the tent.

"Just now in front of everyone, I underestimated you; it was my discourtesy." Ye Shikai knew that now, Mi Wen, as a "lord", must have authority. Otherwise, she would inevitably be underestimated. Even if he had a good relationship with Mi Wen, he should be respectful to her in front of the generals.

"It’s good that you know."

"So, what exactly do you want to discuss?" Ye Shikai pursued.

"You’ve been here for more than ten days. When will you set off for Changsha?" Mi Wen got straight to the point and asked directly.

"Let’s wait a little longer, there’s no rush."

"It’s not feasible. The current situation in the Southern County is very urgent. I’ve already received intelligence that a large number of Qin troops are gathering in Nanyang, intending to head south. It won’t be long before we may have a great battle with the Qin Army. Now in the Southern County, I have less than fifty thousand troops. If the Qin Army arrives, we will be at a disadvantage. So we must return to Changsha immediately, recruit soldiers, and train troops."

"Alright, you are the lord; I will follow your orders. Later, I will instruct Man Cang to lead all the camp soldiers to set off for Changsha."

"So, does this mean you don’t intend to leave now?"

"I have some matters to attend to here."

"No, you must set off with the troops as well." Mi Wen directly refused, her attitude very firm, leaving no room for negotiation.

"I know you’re here waiting for Shangguan Jian. I’ve already ordered that if he arrives in the Southern County, the local general will inform him of your itinerary." Mi Wen advised.

"You don’t understand, Shangguan Jian took on the task of diverting the Qin Army by leading a hundred riders to protect our large group’s retreat. Now he’s missing, how can I ignore that?"

"Those who achieve great things do not bother about trifles."

"So, the one who achieves great things is you, not me. And I never said I could achieve great things." Ye Shikai waved his hand. He didn’t have the ambition like Mi Wen; all he wanted was to protect his family and brothers.

"You..."

"Mi Wen, you are the lord; the one to achieve great things is you, not me. You have great kindness to me, so as your subordinate, I am willing to seize cities for you and gallop across the world. But if I take off this battle armor, then I am a commoner with no ambitions."

"So you are going to disobey military orders now." Mi Wen stared at him, her voice icy.

"What do you want to happen?" Ye Shikai unhurriedly turned to look at Mi Wen. Suddenly, he felt a chill-inducing killing intent. Since losing his Inner Strength, he was somewhat unfamiliar with this feeling, but upon feeling it again, he instinctively reacted.

It was Mi Wen.

In the blink of an eye, a sharp sword had already swung towards Ye Shikai, so fast that even if one stared with wide eyes, they couldn’t clearly see its movement.

Bam.

Ye Shikai drew his sword, blocking the blade.

"What are you doing?" Ye Shikai said coldly. Indeed, the one who drew the sword and thrust was none other than Mi Wen before him.

"So you are a cultivator as well. The first time I saw you, I felt something was off about you. It seems you have recovered your Inner Strength." Mi Wen sheathed her sword and said lightly.

"So you were testing me." Ye Shikai replied. Now it seemed his earlier speculation was correct. Mi Wen was indeed a cultivator as well, and her cultivation seemed high. As a member of the Chu State’s royal family, she must have had ancient cultivation books by her side and easy access to cultivation resources.

"How did you recover your Inner Strength?"

"It was indeed a blessing in disguise. Someone once told me that it’s not impossible to repair the Dantian, but it requires enormous energy, which is not something a few cultivators can achieve. This time, to save the people, I accidentally fell into a meteor crater during a fierce battle. That meteor contained immense energy, which helped repair my Dantian. After recovering my Inner Strength, I then broke through the Qin Army’s encirclement. Otherwise, I would’ve died in East County." Ye Shikai explained in detail. Now that he talked about it, he still felt lingering fear.

"Had you not gone to save the people, you wouldn’t have encountered this opportunity." Mi Wen said softly, then changed the subject, looking at Ye Shikai.

"I really want to see your real skills."