#247 - For one person, thousands of ghosts are born
“Kill him.”
Wei Yanyu made her choice.
However, none of the people around her dared to act, and they all looked at each other hesitantly.
Although Xu Chengwen had betrayed the Xu family, he was, after all, Wei Yanyu's son and the only direct bloodline of the Xu family.
Obviously, no one was willing to do such a thankless thing.
Fortunately, the former was already dying. If left unattended, he would probably die before long.
“Mo... Mother…”
Her hand, hidden in her sleeve, wanted to reach out several times, but in the end, it turned into a cold sentence.
“I once gave you a chance.”
“I... I…”
Xu Chengwen wailed and crawled little by little to Wei Yanyu's feet, looking up and begging with blood and tears mixed together.
“Mo... Mother, I... I don't want to die, don't want to die…”
“…”
Wei Yanyu didn't speak, nor did she move her gaze away.
She just silently watched Xu Chengwen, who was like a pile of mud, the emotions in her eyes seeming incredibly complex, yet also seemingly empty.
A baby crying for food, a toddler learning to speak, an ambitious teenager, a man in his prime…
As if waking up in a dream, images suddenly flashed through her mind, and bursts of sounds seemed to echo in her ears.
“Wah! Wah!!”
“Mother, the teacher praised me for being smart today!”
“Mother! Mother! My sixty-four meridians are all open! I will definitely become a peerless master in the future, and I will never let you and Father suffer even the slightest grievance!”
“Mother, this jade pendant was carved by my own hands, and a Taoist priest has blessed it. It will definitely protect you!”
“Your son will definitely work harder in the future, only hoping to share your worries as soon as possible!”
“…”
Blood stains the water, the cold wind is like a knife, and having a son now is worse than having none.
The begging voice under her feet grew softer and softer, and the look in Xu Chengwen's eyes changed from unwillingness to despair.
Wei Yanyu just watched helplessly as the latter's life force drained away bit by bit, until he completely lost his breath.
As a mother, she might be able to forgive all the mistakes Xu Chengwen had made.
But as the current head of the Xu family, for the sake of the hundreds of lives in the Xu family, or rather, the tens of millions of people in Jizhou who believed in the Xu family… she had to let Xu Chengwen die.
“…”
“Ma... Madam, the young master, he is already…”
Someone reminded her softly. Wei Yanyu came back to her senses, and the figure in her memory shattered.
Looking around blankly, all she saw was blood and loud noises.
She was silent for a long, long time, and when she spoke again, there was no emotion in her tone.
“Take these people's bodies and follow me to the city wall.”
“Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Outside Jizhou City, the general's platform.
The streamer flag embroidered with a golden dragon fluttered in the wind, as if the dragon on the flag had come to life.
Ning Yongnian stood on the temporarily built high platform with his hands behind his back, frowning, not caring about the situation on the entire battlefield, his eyes only on the tightly closed city gate.
Cast from black iron, mixed with dark gold and obsidian.
Although it was much thinner compared to the several-zhang-thick city wall, such a city gate would require at least several hours for even a second-rank master to break open with random attacks.
Therefore, a direct attack was definitely unrealistic, and they could only outsmart it.
According to the previous plan, this gate should have been opened a quarter of an hour ago, and then the elite of the Imperial Guards would have rushed in, catching the Jizhou army completely off guard.
But why hasn't there been any sign of the South City Gate opening until now?
The situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, and no plan can be executed without the slightest deviation.
But the difference in time now was too long, and Ning Yongnian couldn't help but be suspicious.
Did Xu Chengwen go back on his word?
Or was he discovered?
Judging from Xu Chengwen's previous performance, this son was not a fool, and his actions should not have any flaws.
And Xiang Shiyuan, the only Xu family spy in the court who knew about this matter, had already closed his mouth forever.
So where exactly was the problem?
Ning Yongnian's frown deepened, until Li Huaizhong beside him suddenly reminded him softly:
“Your Majesty, there has been a change on the city wall.”
“Hmm?”
Hearing this, Ning Yongnian fixed his eyes and looked over, and the next moment his face instantly turned extremely gloomy.
Only to see that the red figures that were originally engaged in fierce fighting on the South City Gate were gone, and all that could be seen were dense yellow armors.
Without a doubt, the Jizhou army had suddenly strengthened their defenses on this side, forcibly clearing a section of the city wall.
However, this alone was actually nothing.
What really caused Ning Yongnian to react so violently was the dozen or so figures hanging high on the poles.
Their limbs hung down weakly, and their bodies were covered in bloodstains, obviously all dead beyond dead.
And the head of the corpse in the middle was also hung up with a rope, seemingly intentionally for him to see.
Both unexpected and expected, it was Xu Chengwen.
“Crack! Crack!”
Ning Yongnian didn't move, but the wooden railing around the general's platform shattered inch by inch.
He suppressed the anger in his heart and looked carefully, and then he found the woman standing under Xu Chengwen's corpse.
Underneath the woman's feet were the Imperial Guards who were still attacking upwards with all their might, and there were explosions of fire on both sides.
However, she turned a blind eye to all of this, only calmly looking towards this side from afar.
“Wei Yanyu!”
Ning Yongnian roared and roared in his heart, his gaze gloomy, like a sharp arrow shooting straight over.
The two people's gazes collided in mid-air amidst the flames of war, although they could not see each other's expressions clearly, the emotions contained within were even more different.
But one thing could be confirmed.
That was that from this point on, neither of them would leave any retreat for the other or themselves.
Until one side was completely destroyed.
“General Zhou.”
After a few breaths, Ning Yongnian suddenly turned his head to look at a man in golden-patterned black armor beside him.
The man's name was Zhou Xiao, and he held the official title of General Zhenxi. He was originally the main general of this pacification army.
“Your Majesty! This humble general is here!”
“…”
“The South City Gate will not open. Sound the gong to withdraw the troops.”
No matter what, Ning Yongnian had always maintained the ability to think calmly.
Now that the plan had failed, they definitely could not continue to attack recklessly. They had to wait for the follow-up troops to arrive before making further plans.
“Yes! This humble general obeys!”
Zhou Xiao felt that they shouldn't be fighting like this, so he immediately cupped his fists in response, turned around and jumped off the general's platform to arrange the withdrawal of troops.
At this time, as a gust of cold wind blew past, the emotions in Ning Yongnian's heart had gradually returned to calm.
The battle tonight had only lasted for more than half an hour. Although there were many casualties on both sides, they were only a drop in the bucket in the overall battle situation.
After planning for so long, it was undoubtedly a pity that they failed to take Jizhou City in one fell swoop.
But this was just the beginning…
He took a deep breath and looked up at the city wall again.
But this one glance made Ning Yongnian freeze again.
Only to see that Wei Yanyu had a tattered and ragged tooth flag in her hand at some point. Although the flag was covered in bloodstains, the word “Ning” in the center was particularly obvious.
A spark of fire lit up, and then began to spread, engulfing the tooth flag in the blink of an eye.
This fire looked very small from a distance, but it seemed very big.
Wei Yanyu's indistinct face was reflected in the fire. Even though the flames burned her sleeves and scorched her originally fair arms until her flesh was torn, she did not let go… until the word “Ning” on the tooth flag turned into pieces of black ash flying in the fire.
The flying ash rose with the wind, hitting Xu Chengwen's corpse, which was still hanging on the pole, shattering into pieces.
Ning Yongnian could no longer see Jizhou City at this time, nor could he see the battlefield of slaughter.
He only seemed to see countless new ghosts being burned by the flames and soaring into the sky, and then circling and falling in the obscure and dark sky of the underworld, where the sun never shines.
There is only one chapter today, don't wait, everyone.
