“‘To live, one must be a hero...’” Sean Walker murmured, repeating this line of poetry—this poem should not exist in this era; it should appear hundreds of years later, during the Southern Song’s retreat, when the poetess Li Qingzhao, in her grief and anger, composed it. The poetic form of this verse also does not belong to the Han or Jin dynasties; this type of five-character regulated verse developed from the short songs sung by the Hu people, and only in the Tang dynasty did it formally become a poetic form. At that time, it was called the “Northern Song.”

But Sean Walker could not possibly know any of this. He only felt that, at this moment, as everyone stood on the north bank of the Huai River, as the Han people were at the edge of hell, as the refugees on the shore desperately sought a way to survive, the poem recited by Isaac Hall was just too fitting. It expressed contempt for the Southern Dynasties’ cowardly peace, and also embodied a fearless resolve toward an unknown fate.

At that time, due to the Hu people’s bloody massacres and brutal oppression—what is now called the great ethnic integration—the northern Han population had dwindled to six or seven million, leaving behind a land of desolation. Eric Stone once designated tens of thousands of square kilometers south of Handan in the Central Plains as a hunting preserve, a preserve so vast that it set a Guinness World Record in all of human history. At the same time, Eric Stone decreed that Han people were not allowed to throw even a single stone at wild animals; otherwise, it would be considered “offending the beasts,” punishable by death.

The status of the Han people was actually lower than that of wild animals, while Eric Stone, living in the luxurious palaces of the Tang, laughed and said, “My family, father and son, have always been this way. Unless the heavens collapse and the earth splits, what is there to fear?”

On the very day that Isaac Hall met with Sean Walker, the Han people suffered yet another massacre. Eric Stone’s subordinate, the Qiang leader John Young, and the Di leader Henry Pope, dissatisfied with Dylan Stone for killing Seth Stone and proclaiming himself emperor, decided to support Charles Stone as emperor. Since Dylan Stone’s main military support was Martin Stone, John Young and Henry Pope issued proclamations throughout the land, calling on all Hu people to kill Martin Reed and exterminate all Han people in the country. This was the infamous “Order to Kill the Han.” Under this order, the Di, Qiang, and Murong Xianbei joined forces to launch yet another round of slaughter in the Central Plains.

“Where to go?” Isaac Hall was also asking himself this question in his heart.

The Five Hu would kill each other, Hu and Han would kill each other, and this chaos would last for more than three hundred years. Now, it was only the beginning. The Central Plains were experiencing the most difficult moment for the Han people. After more than forty years of continuous slaughter by the Hu, the Han had become a minority in the north. The Han people, under heavy oppression, were about to let out their final roar. In this war of vengeance, the Eastern Jin court also joined the side of the Hu, helping to massacre the northern Han. For decades to come, the Central Plains would become a pool of blood.

“Everyone heads south, but I alone will go north,” Isaac Hall made his decision in just a moment.

“North? Why north?” Sean Walker asked in surprise.

“I have a foundation in the north—come, gather the people, we’ll head north, toward the coast. I have a boat waiting there for us,” Isaac Hall did not explain much. He pointed to the sky and marked the day, making a solemn vow: “I swear: my land, my sky, my country, my people, will not be easily disgraced; Heaven above, earth below, let them bear witness. By the appointed day, I will repay blood with blood, tooth for tooth!”

Facing this hell before him, Isaac Hall’s blood oath was filled with a fierce and savage determination. Sean Walker was momentarily stunned after hearing it.

This did not conform to Confucian thought. Confucianism values the way of forgiveness, believing that one should win others over with virtue; as long as one cultivates inner sagehood, even the strongest enemies will bow in submission. This is the principle of “inner sage, outer king, governing with hands folded.” With a simple gesture of respect, the enemy would naturally surrender. How could this man named Isaac Hall so brazenly shout the slogan “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”?

So be it! After all, he had already died once; this life was already sold to the other party. He would let him take him to the ends of the earth. As long as he could escape this killing field, as long as he could “beg for life” in this chaotic world, nothing else mattered.

After his brief daze, Sean Walker immediately shouted loudly, “Villagers, do you still have strength? Come with us, head toward the coast—there is food there, there are boats, we will take everyone away from this place. If you can move, move! Let’s go, let’s go!”

At Sean Walker’s call, a few people slowly stood up from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Gradually, these people gathered under a large tree. There were not many—just over a hundred, all of them men.

Born in troubled times, these people’s lives were as cheap as grass. Whenever an army came, they were the ones to be plundered. The army would kill those they disliked to intimidate the survivors. The lucky ones who survived would be taken to the army’s territory, where their only value was to work like oxen and horses. In some Hu territories, they were even food during times of famine. They had become numb to such experiences. When someone stood up and said he was willing to lead them out of this graveyard, they felt neither joy nor sorrow, only numbly following the crowd, crossing prefectures and counties.

Meanwhile, the great chaos in the northern continent reached its climax at this moment. Martin Stone led seven thousand Han troops to confront the two hundred thousand-strong allied army of the Qiang leader John Young, the Di leader Henry Pope, and the Jie-Zhao leader Charles Stone. The seven thousand Han soldiers utterly defeated the two hundred thousand Hu coalition. After this victory, Martin Stone captured Charles Stone alive and executed all thirty thousand captured Jie soldiers by burying them alive.