In the dead of night in the desert, the wind and snow were no longer obstacles, but rather the best cover for Liu Bingyi. Powered by System 4.0's "holographic concealment module", three thousand Imperial Guards, with their hooves wrapped in thick felt, moved like a silent ink stain. They swiftly infiltrated the outer perimeter of the Xiongnu Chanyu's golden tent, hidden beneath the blanket of snow. The Xiongnu sentries, usually as vigilant as wolves, hadn't had time to see who was approaching before the hidden guards pierced their throats with dragon-patterned darts, leaving them no time to scream. 'Great Khan, the snow outside is too heavy. The scouts I sent out haven't returned in two hours,' said a Xiongnu cavalry commander, lifting the golden tent's curtain and entering. The Xiongnu Chanyu, who was embracing two women from the Western Regions, drunkenly waved his golden cup. 'What's there to be afraid of? The Han people are probably still eating ice in the sand dunes five hundred miles away! Once the snow stops tomorrow morning, we'll march south and sweep them away..." 'Boom!' A deafening explosion abruptly cut off the Chanyu's words. It was Liu Bingyi's replicated 'Heaven-Shaking Thunder', which had landed precisely on the Xiongnu camp's grain pile. Flames shot into the sky and exploded into an eerie red cloud amidst the swirling snow. 'Enemy attack! The Han army is coming!' A piercing alarm tore through the night sky, waking the Xiongnu cavalry from their sleep. They didn't even have time to put on their armour before they discovered, with despair, that the black-armoured cavalry, who had only existed in their nightmares, had already stormed into their heartland.
Liu Bingyi rode his black dragon steed, his white hair glowing with a dark purple hue in the flames. The 'Old Sword' in his hand had fully awakened and was no longer the smooth jade pendant it once was. A crimson blade over ten feet long extended from it, creating a fan-shaped death zone with each swing.
[System 4.0: Combat Mode – 'Awakening of the Warrior's Edge' activated]
Current status: Commander of Ten Thousand Armies
Battle Spirit: 150%
Triggering the 'Blood Sacrifice – Great Wall' passive effect. Effect: Enemy attributes within a hundred paces are reduced by 50%, and friendly units lose pain sensation and gain unlimited stamina. 'Chang Hui, follow me to take the Xiongnu chieftain's head!' Liu Bingyi spurred his horse forward, his entire body resembling a purple lightning bolt as he sliced through the thousand-strong guard blocking his path. This was not merely a crushing defeat by brute force, but the ruthless harvesting of inferior life by a superior. The golden tent curtain was ripped apart by the sword's aura. The Chanyu, Woyanqudi, pushed the Hu woman beside him aside in terror and grabbed his pure gold sword. However, when he saw the young man with dishevelled white hair standing amidst a pool of blood with the golden sword in his hand, it trembled involuntarily. 'Liu Bingyi… you… how could you be so fast?'
'Great Khan, I once said I would use your head as a wine cup.' Liu Bingyi approached slowly, leaving a charred mark on the golden carpet with his longsword. 'The desert wind is too cold; it's not suitable for a pampered fool like you.' 'Kill him! Kill him!' the Chanyu roared, and the last few heavily armoured guards rushed forward desperately. However, Liu Bingyi merely raised his left hand slightly and a ripple of true energy spread visibly outwards. The heavily armoured warriors crashed to the throne made of Han army shields, their bones shattering simultaneously as if hit by a speeding train.'Bang!' The throne, a symbol of the Xiongnu's glory built from plundered spoils, crumbled under this blow.
Liu Bingyi flashed forward, wielding the ancient sword in his right hand like a venomous dragon emerging from its lair. The Chanyu's blade snapped like withered wood the instant it touched the sword. Liu Bingyi seized the Chanyu by the throat and lifted him into the air. 'Your Majesty, please...'
'You just said who would groom your horses?' Liu Bingyi's voice rang in his ears. The next second, a flash of sword light and the Chanyu's head flew high into the air.
[System notification: Main Quest: Beheading the Xiongnu Chanyu — Completed." [Strong Han National Fortune: Devouring the remnants of the Xiongnu national fortune. Han territory expansion progress +10%.'
[Reward: Unlocks weapon evolution – 'Divine Machine Battalion' formation permission."
Liu Bingyi swung his sword, cleaving the massive wolf-head banner representing the will of the Chanyu in half at the centre of the golden tent. The banner slowly collapsed, covering the shattered shields.
In the spring of the eighth year of Emperor Xuan's reign, it snowed heavily all night. As dawn broke, the will to resist had left the tens of thousands of Xiongnu cavalry. Looking at the white-haired emperor, who was holding the Chanyu's head and standing atop the dilapidated golden tent, they dropped their weapons and knelt in the snow as if worshipping a god.
"Chang Hui, bring all those taller than cartwheels here." Liu Bingyi stood on high ground, letting the wind and snow tousle his white hair. His eyes held no joy at the victory, only a cold, settled emptiness. "I will carve an indelible 'Han' character into this grassland."
Although the head of the Xiongnu Chanyu was still hanging from the broken beams of the golden tent, the roar of the Han Empire's massive war machine could not be muffled by the desert snowstorm. Liu Bingyi did not stop at this decapitation. He stood in the centre of the tattered golden tent. Before him unfolded a holographic map of the battlefield, projected by System 4.0. On the map, the blue dots representing the scattered Xiongnu tribes moved like startled birds to the north and west, while the red dots representing the Han army were poised to attack from five directions.
'Your Majesty, the Chanyu is dead and the Xiongnu tribes are scattered. If we withdraw now, new wolves will emerge on the grasslands within three years.' Chang Hui wiped the blood from his face, his gaze fixed intently on Liu Bingyi. The latter, with his white hair slightly raised, pointed to five nodes on the map. 'Withdraw? No. What I want is for the grasslands to have no more 'tribes', only 'Han people'.
[System 4.0: Intelligence Module — Causal Locking Activated]
Battlefield Report: The Right Wise King's Xiongnu tribe has been spotted attempting to conceal their movements by using a valley storm, thirty miles to the northwest.
Handling recommendation: guide the left flank of the Xiongnu army in order to execute a flanking manoeuvre. The ambush is expected to be completed in ten minutes. In this vast network, the Xiongnu fear not swords and arrows, but the omnipresent 'hawks'.
Wang Changqing and his group of promoted inspectors from humble backgrounds have already donned Xiongnu clothing and learned the Xiongnu language fluently. They infiltrated the still-hesitant tribes, using the system's 'lie detection module' and 'incentive algorithm' to incite infighting: 'Stop looking! The Right Wise King has already sold your pastures to the Han people.' Wang Changqing squatted beside a tribal chief's fire, casually gnawing on meat. 'This is the Han Emperor's personal amnesty decree. As long as you lead your men to kill the hold-outs, this territory will be yours — provided you become a vassal state of the Han Dynasty.' 'Under the "lower dimension" of intelligence warfare, many Xiongnu tribes had already disintegrated due to internal strife before engaging the Han army.' Three days later, five large armies converged like five steel fingers at the foot of Mount Junji. The remnants of the Xiongnu, who had planned to use the terrain for guerrilla warfare, discovered to their despair that no matter which mountain pass they hid in, the Han army was waiting for them at the exit half an hour beforehand. "This is unfair..." A Xiongnu nobleman on his deathbed looked at the mechanical hummingbirds flying overhead. His eyes were filled with bewilderment. "Can the Han emperor really see our breath through the stars?"
Liu Bingyi stood on a steep hillside, his white hair fluttering in the cold wind. In his mind's eye, the blue dots representing the enemy were disappearing one by one. Each one signified a slight increase in the fortunes of the Han Dynasty. When the five armies had converged before the sacred fire altar at the ancestral home of the Xiongnu Chanyu, the backbone of the grasslands had been utterly broken.
Carrying his old sword, Liu Bingyi walked up to the stone altar dedicated to the Kunlun god. Rather than destroying the altar, he had a massive stone tablet brought over. Using his longsword, he carved four powerful characters onto the tablet: 'From this day forward, the grasslands no longer need the Chanyu.'
He turned to the kneeling Xiongnu princes and nobles, his eyes cold as ice. 'I will establish the Anbei Protectorate here. Those willing to assimilate into Han culture will be given seeds, while those unwilling will be given burial grounds. There can only be one sun in this world, and that is me.' [System notification: five-pronged approach mission successfully completed.]
[Reward: The Western Regions-Northern Desert Joint Defence System has been unlocked and the Han Empire's overall intelligence capability has increased to 500%.'
On the northern slopes of Mount Junji, the wind and snow suddenly stopped, leaving behind an overwhelming silence. The last of the Xiongnu elite, the 'Wolf God Guards', who had been personally trained by successive Chanyus (rulers), were escorting the remaining members of the royal family when they were blocked at the bottom of a steep valley by five hundred iron cavalry led by Liu Bingyi. The "Wolf God Guards" had all drunk the "blood of berserk beasts"; their eyes were bloodshot and their bodies emanated a nauseating bloodstench. This was the Xiongnu's strongest demonic power, their last trump card for centuries of national destiny.
'Liu Bingyi! You destroyed my royal court; you annihilated my race. Today, even if the Eternal Heaven falls, I will drag you down with me into the abyss!' The dishevelled Xiongnu high priest stood on the altar, frantically offering sacrifices with the blood of hundreds of prisoners of war. As the high priest chanted, a dark red hurricane rose from the valley floor. The bodies of the Wolf God Guards instantly swelled, their skin cracked and black hair as hard as steel needles grew out.
[System 4.0: Alert!] [Interference detected by extraordinary power.]
Target: Xiongnu Blood Sacrifice Forbidden Technique
Combat Power Assessment: Enemy individual combat power has increased by 1000%.
System suggestion: Host, please activate 'True Dragon Descends' mode. Current national fortune reserves are sufficient to support the release of peak combat power.
Liu Bingyi dismounted slowly, unfastened his black dragon robe and casually tossed it aside. The robe tore apart in the wind, revealing the 'Overlord's Armour', composed of purple-black flowing light. At that moment, Liu Bingyi's white hair defied the heavens and the purple light in his eyes transformed into flames that erupted forth. 'I have waited for this moment for far too long. When Pingjun left, I could not stop fate. Today, I will show this desert what it means to defy the heavens!' The first Berserk Wolf God Guard hurtled towards Liu Bingyi like a black meteor. Liu Bingyi didn't even look up, merely taking a step forward. The moment the sword was drawn, time seemed to stand still throughout the entire canyon. [Skill: Sword Domain – Reincarnation Severance] – a semi-transparent purple ring rapidly expanded from Liu Bingyi's centre, freezing the berserk warrior in mid-air. His body was neatly split in two at the brow; even his internal organs were shredded to dust by the violent true energy. Liu Bingyi moved. His speed surpassed the limits of human retinal perception. To the guards and the Xiongnu, his figure disappeared from the battlefield, leaving only streaks of blood-red sword energy, each a hundred feet long, cutting the valley floor to pieces. With each streak of sword energy that swept past, dozens of Wolf God Guards were cut in half at the waist; their proud, beastly bodies were as fragile as paper in the face of the awakened Old Sword.
'Sacrifice! Take my life too!' The high priest screamed as he merged into the crimson hurricane. The hurricane coalesced into a gigantic, winged, blood-red wolf phantom whose roar was deafening enough to shatter ordinary eardrums. Its massive claws, capable of tearing through space, were aimed directly at Liu Bingyi's crown. Liu Bingyi sneered and charged into the air instead of retreating. His left hand lashed out and System 4.0's 'Ten Thousand Heavenly Thunders' manifested as a tangible chain that bound the wolf's throat. 'A mere barbarian demon dares to call himself a god before me?' Liu Bingyi's right hand, holding a sword, blazed with light, seemingly dyeing the entire night sky purple. He leapt, landing on top of the wolf's head. The sword pierced the evil god's phantom. With a mournful howl of despair, there was an explosion. The blood-red wolf exploded, and Liu Bingyi emerged from the blood mist. His white hair danced wildly in the wind as he gripped the high priest's head in his right hand, his fingers clenched. The wind died down and the snow fell.
There were no more Huns on the valley floor. Liu Bingyi stood leaning on his sword. The ground beneath his feet had been sculpted down by three feet by his inner energy. His breathing was steady; the purple light of his armour swallowed the bloodstains and his white hair radiated a solitary, sacred glow in the moonlight.
[System notification: Main Quest: Side Quest 'Martial Intimidation' Overachieved.
[Evaluation: Great Han War God (Combat Power Reached the Highest Dimension in the Current Plane). National Fortune Settlement: The Hunnic spiritual totem has been completely shattered, and the host's prestige has reached the "Summit of the Gods".Five hundred Imperial Guards slowly knelt at the entrance to the valley. They were subjects and believers who had witnessed a miracle. Liu Bingyi looked up towards Chang'an. Following this extreme outburst of violence, the remnant of Xu Pingjun's soul within his consciousness had become stronger than ever before and could even be heard murmuring softly: 'After this battle, no one in this world will dare disobey my orders.' Liu Bingyi sheathed his old sword and the purple flames in his eyes gradually receded to reveal a deep blue.
'Pingjun, I will take you back to the palace now. This time, no one can stop you.'
The afterglow of the desert hunt had barely faded when Liu Bingyi's iron cavalry crossed the final Xiongnu psychological barrier — Mount Langjuxu. This sacred site was believed by the Xiongnu to be the closest place to the Eternal Heaven, a holy place for sacrifices and prayers. For centuries, countless Xiongnu chanyus had commemorated their victories at this spot, believing that the Han people's footsteps could never reach this desolate, god-blessed land. Today, however, the snow-covered mountains were torn apart by black armour, and Liu Bingyi rode his black steed, his white hair fluttering in the wind like a waving banner. Looking up at the towering mountain peak, his double pupils were devoid of awe and filled only with the chilling glint of impending revenge. "The High Priest said there is a god here," he said. Liu Bingyi sneered, the ancient sword in his hand emitting a low, resonant sound. 'Today, I will see if the god in this mountain can withstand my great fire.' Rather than rushing to set the fire, Liu Bingyi ordered a huge blue stone to be brought and placed on the most prominent cliff of Langjuxu Mountain. Then he uttered a single word: 'Carve.' Wang Changqing immediately led several craftsmen from the Azure Eagle Division up to the stone.
Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Xun, used this mountain to offer sacrifices to heaven and to pacify the barbarians. Wherever rivers flow, that land becomes Han territory.
Every word was deeply engraved into the stone tablet and the soul of the grasslands. This was no longer simply a military occupation, but the complete overthrow of one civilisation by another.
System 4.0: Epic Quest: Sealing Langjuxu Achieved! National Fortune Amplification breaks historical threshold, activating the Eternal Buff of the Great Han Dynasty.' System notification: The Xiongnu tribe's fortune has been reduced to zero. The host may now perform the final clean-up procedure. "Set it on fire!" Upon Liu Bingyi's command, the 'System Divine Phosphorescent Fire', which had been buried throughout the mountainside, detonated simultaneously. This flame, a fusion of modern fat-burning technology and spiritual power, remained undisturbed by snow and was intensified by the wind. In an instant, the sacred mountain, worshipped by the Xiongnu for hundreds of years, transformed into a colossal torch, illuminating the dark night of the far north. The sound of the wolf totem, accumulated over centuries, could be heard collapsing in the flames.
The Chanyu's battle exploits, carved into the mountain rocks, and the shamanic artefacts, enshrined in the grottoes, all turned to ash before Liu Bingyi's eyes.
'Your Majesty, this fire will burn away the very roots of the Xiongnu,' said Chang Hui, her voice trembling as she looked at the crimson light filling the sky.
'What I want is to sever their roots.' Liu Bingyi stared expressionlessly at the flickering flames. 'Without the sacred mountain, they are merely refugees. Without faith, they can only be my slaves. This world needs no two sacred sites for sacrifices.' Just as the flames reached their zenith, he dismissed his attendants and stepped alone into the shadows beyond the firelight's reach. With the system's blessing, a chilling aura rose within three feet of him, preventing the flames from advancing any further. In the flickering red light, the figure that was 90% materialised in his mind — Xu Pingjun — took a step out of the illusion. Blessed by the aura of the burning sacred mountain, her remnant soul briefly gained a near-real form.'Bingyi...' Wearing simple, elegant clothes that were incongruous with the carnage and flames, she looked at the burning mountain, a flicker of pity in her eyes.
Liu Bingyi, trembling, reached out his hand; his white hair looked somewhat withered at that moment. 'Pingjun, look. I've fought my way here. No one in this world can bully us anymore. I burned their gods and used their national fortune as fuel to rebuild your body, okay?' Xu Pingjun gently shook her head, her ethereal hand stroking Liu Bingyi's face from a distance. 'You've grown old and suffered too much. This fire burns so coldly.' The burning of Langjuxu lasted seven days and seven nights. When the flames died down, the entire mountain had turned from pristine white to charred black. Liu Bingyi took one last look at the ruins, carrying his old sword. [System Notification]: 'The main storyline of the Western Regions and Northern Desert has completely ended. The final reward, the Resurrection Container – Divine Essence Crystal, has been fully condensed.'
[Host's Current Status: Due to excessive depletion of national fortune, life force is being lost and the process of irreversible ageing has begun.]
'Send the order back to court.' Liu Bingyi mounted his horse. Against the backdrop of the scorched mountains, his white hair appeared even more desolate and domineering. 'The day the army returns will be the day the empress is crowned. Send an edict to Chang'an ordering all officials to leave the city and come out to welcome me. I will bring back not only the land of the Xiongnu, but also the eternal sun of the Han dynasty.'
The biting winds of the northern desert were subdued that day; even the drifting clouds seemed to freeze over the ruins of Mount Langjuxu. Beneath the charred mountain, the sounds of battle had ceased and were now replaced by the clanging of thousands of pieces of heavy armour. The massive, circular formation of the five Han armies, like an iron Great Wall, had pinned down the remaining eighteen Xiongnu tribal princes and their fifty thousand elite troops within a ten-mile radius of open ground.
The Xiongnu nobles, who had once ridden across the grasslands at will, regarding the Han as sheep, now had their hair loose and their upper bodies bare. They were bound with thick hemp ropes and knelt on the cold, frozen earth with their foreheads pressed against the soil. They trembled uncontrollably from extreme fear and the bitter cold. Liu Bingyi sat beside the enormous 'Feng Langjuxu' stele, not on the dragon throne but on a slab beneath a captured golden banner bearing the severed heads of Xiongnu wolves. His white hair stood out starkly against the northern sky. He placed his old sword across his lap; the bloodstains on its scabbard had dried to a dark purple. 'Your Majesty, all the leaders of the eighteen Xiongnu tribes have been brought here.' Chang Hui strode forward and knelt on one knee. 'Make them raise their heads,' said Liu Bingyi coldly. The eighteen Xiongnu princes trembled and straightened their backs. When they saw the cold glint in the white-haired emperor's double pupils, their last shred of will to resist completely collapsed. 'Emperor of the Great Han, we are willing to surrender.' The leading old prince pleaded in broken Chinese, his voice hoarse: 'We are willing to offer all our cattle, sheep, land and women. As long as the flame of the Eternal Heaven does not die out, we are willing to herd horses for the Great Han for generations.' Liu Bingyi fell silent for a moment, then suddenly let out a soft laugh.
The laughter echoed through the vast desert, but the cold made one's bones ache. 'Herding horses? My Great Han has no shortage of men to herd horses.' He stood up and slowly walked towards the group of princes, treading on their dignity with each step. 'I don't want your cattle, sheep or slaves. From this day forward, there will be no more 'Chanyu' or 'Left and Right Wise Kings' on this grassland. Your names will be recorded, and your warhorses will bear my mark. Anyone who dares to call themselves 'Hu' again will have their entire tribe wiped out of this land.'
[System 4.0: Pressure Settlement — [Emperor of the Ages] Prototype Formed
Current achievement: Completely ended the century-long northern border troubles since the Qin dynasty.
National Fortune Feedback: Territorial integrity has reached 100% and the Great Han has officially entered the 'Prosperous and Flourishing Age' stage.
Cost reminder: The host's divine soul has been excessively depleted and the resurrection array within the sea of consciousness has reached its critical point. The surrender ceremony marks the beginning, not the end, of Liu Bingyi's "Hegemonic Way" rule. He turned to look at the "Azure Eagle Division" members behind him who had been transformed from street thugs into ruthless officials.
Wang Changqing chuckled, a ruthless glint appearing in his eyes. 'Your Majesty, rest assured that I am highly skilled at this kind of "root-cutting" work. I guarantee that, in three years' time, the first word uttered by the children on the grasslands won't be 'Ata', but 'Your Majesty'."
This was an example of Liu Bingyi's ruthlessness; he sought not only to conquer the body, but also to crush the spirit of a people through administrative means.
After the surrender ceremony, Liu Bingyi ascended Mount Langjuxu alone. The Han army covered the entire mountainside and roared, 'Long live the Emperor!', their voices echoing through the heavens. In that moment, Liu Bingyi's achievements and prestige surpassed even those of Emperor Wu of Han, establishing him as a pivotal figure in Han history. Yet he stood silently, his fingertips gently stroking the snow-white hair at his temples.
'System, you say... this is what I wanted?'
[System 4.0 (Auxiliary Mode): Your Majesty, you have accomplished a feat unmatched in a century. Your name will be etched on the backbone of human civilisation.'
'But my hands are so cold.' Liu Bingyi looked at his fingertips. At the moment of surrender, he felt the last vestige of life within him being forcibly drained and transformed into the destiny of a stable empire. In order to resurrect the woman who had vanished into the past, he sacrificed himself to the statue of 'Great Han', and in the void, he vaguely saw the figure of Xu Pingjun.
She stood amidst golden wheat fields, watching with concern his blood-stained dragon armour and lust for power.
In late spring of the eighth year of Emperor Xuan's reign, news reached Chang'an of the surrender of the northern deserts, plunging the entire capital into seven days of jubilation. People spontaneously lined the streets, burning incense to honour their ancestors, and their cries and laughter mingled in the air. Meanwhile, Liu Bingyi slowly embarked on his southward journey, leading his now legendary white-haired iron cavalry. In his hand he clutched the Divine Essence Crystal, a resurrection opportunity condensed from the last vestiges of fortune from the sacred mountain of the Xiongnu.
'Pingjun, when I return to Chang'an, no one will be able to stand between us, not even fate.' A purple demonic fire reignited in his eyes, exuding an arrogance and loneliness befitting an emperor who had transcended all living beings.