By the time the fighting had continued for several hours, the battlefield had ceased to resemble anything human.
The air itself had become foul. Blood soaked into the mud until every step produced a wet, nauseating sound.
And countless bodies covered the ground so densely that there were no places where soldiers could barely find solid earth beneath their feet.
Fresh blood carried its metallic stench through the air, mingling with sweat, mud, smoke, and the foulness left behind by men who had lost control of their bodies in utter terror or death.
Some corpses had already begun to swell beneath the heat of the day. Others lay facedown in the mud. Flies had begun gathering around the dead.
The first men killed that morning had already begun to change by the time the fighting reached its later stages. Yet Jin Mulan walked through it as though it were nothing.
Her armor was stained. Blood had dried across her sleeves and cheek. Her hair was disheveled, and the beautiful woman who had once seemed almost untouched by the ugliness of war was now surrounded by corpses.
She did not hesitate. A soldier rushed toward her. Her spear flashed. He fell. Another came. She killed him as well. There was no disgust on her face. No trembling. No hesitation.
Only focus. That was what made the sight unsettling.
Jin Mulan was beautiful enough to belong in a palace rather than on a battlefield.
Yet beneath that beauty was something far more frightening. A warrior who could stand knee-deep in blood and corpses, breathe the stench of death.
And still continue fighting without allowing any of it to slow her down. She was not merely surviving the battlefield. She had become part of it.
Day Six: The Reunion
Luo He landed inside the Jin mansion just as Jin Mulan came down from the wall. For a moment, he almost failed to recognize her.
Blood covered her armor, her hair, her cheeks, even the edges of her lips. The metallic stink of blood clung to her so heavily that it seemed to follow her like a disgusting shadow.
Her armor was scratched and dented, and beneath the gore was the really unmistakable smell of a battlefield that had been fought over for days.
Then she saw him. Immediately her expression broke. Jin Mulan leapt from the battlement instead of bothering with the stairs.
She landed heavily, crossed the courtyard at a run, threw her arms around his neck, and clung to him with startling force.
Luo He barely had time to react before she kissed him. He returned it briefly before pushing her back just enough to look at her.
"You look horrible." He said coldly. Her expression immediately collapsed. "And you smell even worse." He said rather indifferently. Her eyes became strangely dull. Luo He stared at her.
"How many?" He asked grimly.
She swallowed. "I... stopped counting."
"How many?" He asked again.
"At least three thousand." She answered.
Luo He's expression changed instantly. Pride replaced every trace of disgust.
"That's my wife." He said proudly.
He caught her hand and pulled her toward the inner courtyard. "Come on. We're discussing this somewhere private." He dragged her away.
Jin Mulan followed him for several steps before suddenly dragging him into a study and shutting the door behind them.
She immediately began removing her armor piece by piece. The shoulder guards, the chest plate, the gauntlets, her movements urgent and desperate.
Before Luo He could fully process what was happening, she had stripped away the worst of it. Blood still stained her skin. The battlefield smell still clung to her.
But she had stopped waiting. "You're still disgusting." He said, running his hand along her collarbone.
"Sorry husband." She said solemnly.
"And you still smell like shit and blood. Just like death is supposed to smell."
"I know that husband." She replied.
She caught his hand and pulled his robe away.
"But I really don't care." She said.
Then she kissed him again. This time there was no hesitation.
Luo He removed his own inner robe, similarly bloodstained and filthy from being in constant contact with her. They didn't bother cleaning.
They simply came together, still carrying the smell of the battlefield, still stained with evidence of the thousands she had killed just this morning.
What followed was brief, intense, and desperate. The kind of reunion possible only between two people who had spent days wondering whether they would ever see one another again.
Jin Mulan rode him first, her movements aggressive and hungry. She kept her hands intertwined with his, their fingers locked together even as her body moved against him.
Luo He lasted only 3 minutes before his release came, his breath ragged against her shoulder. "I was waiting for you." She whispered, not stopping her movements.
"I was too honey. I haven't slept in two straight days, I've missed you so much."
"Everyone said you wouldn't come back, but I trusted you all the while." Mulan muttered against him.
"I always come back." He uttered proudly.
She continued grinding against him, and within minutes, he was ready again. This time they switched positions. She faced the wall, her back to him, and he took her with an urgency that matched her own.
Eleven minutes later, they both reached completion together. Her gasping "Husband," him burying his face in her hair despite the blood still matted there.
They stood for a moment afterward, his arms wrapped around her from behind, her head tilted back against his shoulder.
"We have to go back," she whispered.
"I know we should. Give me a minute."
"The siege won't wait." She said.
"I know that too." Luo He replied.
But neither moved. His hands remained on her waist. Her hands covered his.
They stayed like that, breathing together in the quiet study, pretending for just a few more seconds that there was no war outside. And it's all about them.
Finally, Jin Mulan turned in his arms. She kissed him once more, gently this time, more tenderly, before stepping back.
They dressed quickly, their movements practiced and efficient. Within thirteen minutes, they were both back in armour.
Both back to looking like soldiers rather than two people who had just stolen a moment from hell itself. When they came back to the wall, no one commented on their brief absence.
They simply retook their positions as though they had not left. The battlefield greeted them immediately.
Broken shields, splintered wood and shattered weapons covered the ground between the castle and the enemy camp. The air still carried the heavy mixture of blood, mud, sweat, smoke, and death.
Jin Mulan stood at her post, her spear in hand, watching the enemy camp for any signs of another assault. Luo He climbed onto the battlement beside her.
Then, to the astonishment of several nearby soldiers, he simply rested his head against her shoulder. Jin Mulan glanced sideways at him.
"Tired?" She asked.
"Two nights." He muttered.
She understood immediately. For Luo He, a bed without someone beside him had never quite counted as sleep. So she said nothing.
She simply adjusted her position slightly, allowing him to rest more comfortably against her, her free hand reaching down to hold his.
Below them, thousands of soldiers prepared for the next assault.
Above them, the two of them sat together on the wall as though they were some where completely different.
His head on her shoulder, their hands intertwined, her armor still carrying faint stains of the thousands she had killed in his absence.
For a brief moment, amidst the blood and smoke and ruined siege works, Luo He finally felt that he had reached home.
And Jin Mulan, watching the distant enemy camp, knew that whatever came next, she would face it knowing her husband had returned.
That was all that mattered.
Day Six & Seven: Army that Didn't Break
Elder Zhoung understood the condition of the Jin family's army. They were utterly exhausted. Their special ammunition had been depleted.
Their numbers had fallen to roughly half of what they had been at the beginning of the siege. Most of the surviving soldiers had barely slept since the fighting began. They were already at the edge.
So Elder Zhang did not give them an opportunity to recover. He stopped launching massive assaults. Instead, he began harassing the castle continuously.
A few hundred soldiers would advance with a shield formation. Then another group would approach with ladders. A battering ram would appear beneath another section of the wall.
Bowmen would fire for a while before retreating. Then, before the defenders could relax, another contingent would appear somewhere else.
There was no great assault to repel. That was precisely the point. There was simply no rest. Throughout the sixth day, the harassment continued.
Morning became afternoon. Afternoon became evening. Even after darkness descended, the attacks did not stop. Whenever the defenders thought they might finally sit down, another group appeared beneath the walls.
Whenever they lowered their weapons, another shield formation approached. Whenever they attempted to rest their eyes, the sound of ladders, footsteps, shouting, and bow strings would drag them awake.
Elder Zhoung was not trying to storm the castle. He was trying to make the defenders surrender it themselves. He believed the Jin army was already at its limit. A few more hours. Perhaps one more night.
Eventually, their exhausted minds would conclude that surrender was preferable to dying. But the Jin soldiers never surrendered. Because he was almost right except for one final X factor.