Neither wanted to acknowledge that every passing minute brought their farewell closer. Eventually Jin Mulan spoke.
"I'm afraid." It was barely louder than a whisper. Luo He looked at her. She rarely admitted fear. Not on the battlefield.
Not before impossible odds. Not even after suffering terrible wounds.
Yet now... She looked almost fragile. "I'm afraid of being here without you." His expression softened.
He wrapped both arms around her and pulled her close until she could hear his heartbeat again.
"I know."
She buried her face against his shoulder.
"I can fight armies. I can even fight a Transcendent. I can fight until my last breath. But..." Her voice grew smaller.
"...coming back every night to an empty room...that frightens me."
For a long moment Luo He simply held her. Then he kissed her forehead. "This mansion has stood here for countless generations. It carries the hopes of every ancestor who built the Jin family."
"There isn't another person alive I'd trust with it." He gently lifted her chin. "You aren't guarding this home because you're the strongest. You're guarding it because you're you."
"My wife. My greatest source of courage. The person I trust more than anyone else in the whole wide world."
His voice became quieter. "If I leave this mansion in anyone else's hands... I'll worry at least a little. But if it's you..." He smiled. "...I'll know home will be forever waiting for me."
The corners of Jin Mulan's lips trembled into a faint smile. "You always know exactly what to say."
"I usually make it up as I go." He said proudly.
She rolled her eyes. "I have noticed."
He chuckled. She kissed him again. Longer this time. When they finally separated she pressed her forehead against his shoulder once more.
"If you don't come back... I'll come looking for you. I'll drag you home. I'll beat you to death. I mean it." She said coldly.
"So do I." Luo He said casually.
She laughed despite herself. "You really are impossible."
"So I've been told." He chuckled.
Nearly an hour later they finally dressed.
Luo He wore his usual robes. Jin Mulan fastened the last buckle of her armor, every movement practiced and precise.
Together they climbed to the highest wall of the Jin Mansion. The morning wind carried the smell of distant forests across the valley.
Thousands of soldiers saluted as General Jin appeared atop the battlements. Yet neither husband nor wife paid them any attention.
For this brief moment... The world belonged only to them. Jin Mulan stepped forward and embraced him tightly. No words. No speeches. Just warmth.
Luo He rested his forehead against hers before kissing her one final time. "I'll come back. I promise you." He said.
"You'd better." She said but there was no bite in her voice.
"I have no intention of sleeping anywhere more comfortable than beside you." He teased her unrelentingly.
She smiled. "Good answer."
Then... Without looking back... Luo He descended the stone steps toward the waiting Black Cloud Shuttle. He knew himself too well.
If he turned around even once... He might never find the strength to leave. High above the walls, Jin Mulan still remained standing until the black shuttle disappeared into the morning sky.
Only then did she place one hand upon the ancient battlements. Her home. Her responsibility. Her battlefield. And until her husband returned...
Not a single enemy would pass those walls alive.
The atmosphere on Pirate Island was nothing like that of the Jin Mansion. There was no looming sense of danger or desperation, no soldiers anxiously reinforcing walls or preparing for a siege.
The island's commanders considered themselves beyond the reach of the Wu Kingdom. The sea was their greatest fortress, and the Wu Kingdom possessed no navy worth mentioning.
Within the command hall, a large chart of the Northern seas lay spread across a heavy wooden table.
Jin Sang, Jin Su, Xu Mun, several pirate captains, and the island's most senior strategists gathered around the table discussing the upcoming campaign.
The conclusion reached by nearly everyone was the same. The Wu Kingdom would attack the Jin Mansion.
It simply made no sense for them to strike Pirate Island.
The Wu Kingdom was a kingdom of the interior. All of its territory lay deep within the continent, with little access to the sea and almost no naval tradition.
Even if they wished to launch a maritime assault, they possessed neither a proper fleet nor experienced sailors. Any vessels they managed to gather would be ordinary merchant ships, hopelessly inferior to genuine warships.
More importantly, they did not even know where Pirate Island truly was. Pirate Island was merely the name the Jin family or rather Luo He had given it.
None of the surrounding islands appeared under those names on official maps. Luo He had deliberately renamed every island under Jin control.
Ensuring that anyone searching for them would first have to determine which island was which. Even if enemy scouts reached the coast, identifying the correct destination would consume a lot of their valuable time.
The more the commanders discussed the situation, the more confident they became. Only Luo He still remained unconvinced.
After quietly studying the naval map for several minutes, he finally placed a finger upon Pirate Island. "They'll come here."
The room gradually fell silent. Several officers exchanged puzzled glances.
Jin Sang frowned. "Why would they?"
Luo He calmly looked around the room before answering. "Because this island is the Jin family's greatest lifeline." He slowly traced the surrounding sea routes with his finger.
"As long as our merchant fleets continue sailing, food, steel, medicine, and reinforcements will continue arriving. The Jin Mansion can survive a siege only because this island keeps supplying it."
He paused before continuing.
"If I were commanding the Wu Kingdom, I wouldn't waste my efforts attacking only the walls of the mansion. I would sever the artery feeding them."
The room became noticeably quieter. His reasoning was simple. Even if the Wu Kingdom surrounded the Jin Mansion with tens of thousands of soldiers, the siege could never truly succeed while the sea remained open.
Supplies would continue arriving through Jin Sang's fleet, and the Jin family would never be completely isolated. To force a surrender, Pirate Island had to fall. It was the only logical target.
"But they have no fleet," one strategist objected. "They'll find one." Luo He replied.
He explained that the Wu Kingdom did not require true warships. Merchant vessels would be sufficient. They could purchase them, seize them, or hire them from foreign traders.
Their purpose would never to stablish naval supremacy but transportation. Those ships would carry soldiers. A few ballistas would likely be mounted upon the decks.
Archers will be stationed along the rails, and the hulls will be reinforced with timber to withstand arrows. They would be slow, cumbersome, and poorly armed.
But they would only need to accomplish one thing. Land soldiers on Pirate Island.
If even a few thousand elite troops successfully reached the island, the situation would become dangerous.
The island's defenders were primarily sailors and pirates. They excelled at naval combat but were not trained to withstand prolonged sieges against disciplined infantry.
Worse still, nearly every important member of the Jin family had already evacuated there. If Pirate Island fell, the Wu Kingdom would gain exactly what it desired the most right now. Hostages.
The Jin family would suddenly be forced to negotiate. No one in the hall had considered the possibility from that perspective.
Luo He then picked up a piece of charcoal and began marking several routes across the sea. He identified the safest channels between reefs.
The currents which were most suitable for transporting heavy ships, and the coastal waters where enemy fleets would likely resupply.
"If I commanded this invasion," he said quietly. "These are the routes I would choose." Jin Sang carefully studied every line.
Rather than waiting behind their walls, Luo He proposed the opposite strategy.
They would carry the battle into open waters.
The farther from Pirate Island the enemy fleet was intercepted, the fewer ships could slip through and the less chance enemy soldiers had of ever reaching the shore.
The sea itself was the Jin family's greatest weapon. Wu elite soldiers were among the best infantry in the war between the two kingdoms.
They fought in disciplined formations, relied upon cavalry charges, and excelled in organized warfare across open ground. None of those advantages existed aboard a ship.
Rolling decks destroyed formations. Horses became useless. Large shield walls collapsed into confusion.
Meanwhile experienced sailors, on the other hand, lived upon moving decks. Boarding actions, climbing rigging, balancing during heavy waves, and fighting in confined spaces were second nature to them.
A naval battle favored Jin Sang overwhelmingly. If the Wu fleet could be intercepted before reaching land, their chances of victory were excellent.
Even if the enemy abandoned their ships after defeat, returning home would be nearly impossible. They would likely seek the nearest friendly coastline instead.
Landing somewhere within Yue territory before marching overland to reinforce the armies besieging the Jin Mansion or the capital city of Yue.
Either outcome favored the Jin family far more than allowing Pirate Island itself to become the battlefield. Jin Sang remained silent for a long time.