#274 - The Battle of “Standpoint” (Part 2)
"Master."
"Half an hour ago."
Kyoto, the Liu Manor.
At the end of Zi Shi (11 PM - 1 AM), the manor courtyard was densely packed with people standing and kneeling. Hundreds of torches blazed, their light reflecting off the blades of swords, red armor, and the faces of those present, some cold and others pale. The light dispelled the darkness, but not the chill.
When Wang Er hurriedly ran in from outside and whispered a few words into Wei Xianzhis ear, Liu Zhongchun already knew the result of his desperate gamble.
"I understand."
A huge weight lifted from his heart, Wei Xianzhis raised his head again after a long while, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
There was surprise, anger, relief... and a hint of pity.
He slowly spoke, confirming Liu Zhongchuns guess.
"Lord Liu, your men are all dead."
"..."
"Alas."
Lines of age furrowed his forehead and the corners of his eyes, and his temples were streaked with gray. Even his back seemed to hunch slightly at that moment.
Liu Zhongchun sighed softly and nodded self-deprecatingly.
"Lord Wei, I guessed as much."
"Mm."
Wei Xianzhis expression remained unchanged, and he slowly raised his right hand.
"Lord Liu, then you should also have guessed the fate of the Liu family."
"The fate of the Liu family?"
Liu Zhongchun gave a wry smile, watching Wei Xianzhis hand rise higher and higher, and then...
"Thump!"
Like an old beggar on the street, or like a towering mountain collapsing with a crash.
Liu Zhongchun's knees buckled little by little, and he slowly knelt at Wei Xianzhis feet amidst countless astonished gazes.
As the head of the Liu family, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in purple robes.
In his life, Liu Zhongchun had only knelt before his parents, the ancestors of the Liu family, and Ning Yongnian.
But now he was kneeling before his former mortal enemy...
This kneel undoubtedly disgraced the Liu family and stripped him of all his dignity.
"Master! How could you do this!!"
"We would rather die! We are not afraid of death!!"
"The Liu family cannot afford to lose such face!"
"Master!!"
"You're confused!!!"
"Lord Wei, this old man knows that he is doomed to die, and also knows that, according to the law, no one in the Liu family can live..."
"However, if these people really die, the Liu family will truly be without descendants..."
"This old man does not ask you to spare them, only to leave a spark of incense for the Liu family..."
Liu Zhongchun trembled as he pointed to a swaddled infant in the arms of a woman, the infant crying loudly with all its might.
"Lord Wei, this child was born less than two months ago."
"He will certainly not remember today's events, and in the future, he can no longer bear the surname Liu."
"Just, just let him live..."
"..."
Hundreds of members of the Liu family were only begging for a single infant to have a chance to live.
This was perhaps the only situation Liu Zhongchun could think of that Wei Xianzhis might agree to.
However...
The right hand suspended in mid-air suddenly fell, and hundreds of long sabers behind him simultaneously tore through the air.
"Clang!"
The uniform movement turned into a uniform sound.
In the desolate sound of metal clashing, the Embroidered Uniform Guard's specially made wild goose-wing sabers cut through skin, flesh, and bone, instantly beheading hundreds of men, women, and children.
"Wah!!"
"Wah!!!!"
The infant's solitary cry echoed through the night sky, a heart-wrenching fear.
The swaddling clothes embroidered with the words "Peace" fell from the woman's arms into the pool of blood. One of the Embroidered Uniform Guards raised his saber and paused above it, looking up at Wei Xianzhis at the same time.
The human heart is always made of flesh.
Perhaps this Embroidered Uniform Guard had killed countless people, but when faced with such a weak and innocent life, he still felt a pang of unbearable sorrow.
"L-, Lord, this..."
"Kill it."
Wei Xianzhis replied emotionlessly, while drawing his saber and looking down at Liu Zhongchun, who was weeping with tears.
"Lord Liu, cut the weeds and eliminate the roots."
"I'm sorry."
"..."
A flash of cold light crossed Liu Zhongchuns neck, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard behind him gritted his teeth and stabbed the wild goose-wing saber down fiercely.
"Thwack!"
"Thwack!"
"..."
The loud crying stopped abruptly, and the vast Liu Manor was now completely silent, with only the crackling of the burning torches drifting in the air.
In the fifteenth year of Tianji, on the third day of the fourth month, early summer, a direct line of the Da Ning Liu family was completely wiped out in the capital.
Looking out into the blue sky, the Milky Way scatters faint stars.
If they had known what would happen today, neither Liu Yuanshan nor Liu Zhongchun would have provoked the Wei family in the slightest.
It is a pity that there is no such thing as "if only I had known" in this world.
Just like Yun Lian at this moment.
The torrential rain was like a curtain, with countless water-colored threads stretching from the sky to the earth.
"Whoosh!!"
"Whoosh!!"
As two palm prints, one gold and one white, mixed with endless power, shot towards her, Yun Lian knew that she could no longer live.
In that short moment, she had no time to resist or say anything.
She didnt even know why these two strangers were trying to kill her.
Nor did she know if the heavenly lightning she had triggered at the cost of her life had killed the murderer who had killed her husband.
Yes.
Even if Wei Changtian and Qin Zhengqiu did not make a move, Yun Lian would have died when this heavy rain ended.
If Wei Changtian had known about this, he would probably have greatly regretted wasting five hundred system points for nothing.
But now he probably wouldnt have another chance to feel "annoyance"...
"Bang!!"
"Bang!!!!"
With two loud noises, one after the other, the two palm prints fiercely pierced through Yun Lians chest. Splashes of blood gushed like surging waves, instantly disappearing into the torrential rain.
[Ding!]
[Detected that the host has killed the Child of Destiny "Yun Lian"]
[The host has plundered all of her luck, rewarding 1500 system points]
[Detected that the host is not associated with the "Heavenly Dao" of this world and cannot enjoy luck bonuses. The luck belonging to "Yingyu" will now be distributed in the form of a special divine power]
[Congratulations, host, you have mastered the special divine power "Separation"]
[Separation: Special divine power, can induce rain, snow, thunder, and wind, the effect of which depends on the user's realm. Cannot be purchased, can only be obtained through specified methods]
"..."
A series of system prompts sounded in his mind, indicating that Yun Lian was indeed dead.
A red fish with wings appeared in the night sky, swimming with its long tail into Wei Changtians dantian, with Yun Yan and Huanglong, which were obviously smaller, each occupying a territory.
And at this moment, Wei Changtian finally knew the direction of Yun Lians Heavenly Dao luck blessing.
The path of disaster was similar to his previous guess.
After being stunned in place for a long time, he shook his head and walked to Yun Lian's side, who had returned to her original form.
A cyan-red fish.
Seeing such a big fish in the dense forest of Jiuding Mountain was actually a bit ridiculous.
However, neither Wei Changtian nor Qin Zhengqiu laughed. They just looked in the direction that the fish's eyes were looking.
Underneath a protruding boulder was a skeleton that was mostly rotten. Although the surrounding rain was torrential, it was hardly rained on.
Without a doubt, this must be Wu Tianqing.
"Grandpa."
Looking up at the night sky, Wei Changtian suddenly said:
"Why don't we bury them together."
"Mm."
Qin Zhengqiu nodded and sighed softly: "Alas, no wonder Wu Tianqing said that back then..."
"Huh?"
Wei Changtian turned his head in confusion and asked, "What did he say?"
"..."
Qin Zhengqiu seemed to be lost in memories, and after a long while, he silently began to explain:
"Changtian, back then, the White-Clothed Wu Tianqing was a well-known figure, but he suddenly disappeared from the Jianghu fifty years ago."
"No one knew why, only that he had left a letter to a good friend, and one sentence in the letter should have been about the reason..."
Qin Zhengqiu said with emotion.
And these words, Wei Changtian had actually heard from Yang Liushi.
"Wu Tianqing said... Someone wants to know the taste of love, hate, and affection in this world, so he will fulfill that person."
"Now that I think about it, that person should be Yun Lian."
"..."
Fish cannot live without water.
Wei Changtian originally thought that Wu Tianqing and Yun Lian were in a relationship of "mutual dependence", but he didn't expect it to actually be that of "water and fish".
But none of this mattered anymore.
Yun Lian really knew what love, hate, and affection tasted like now.
"Boom!"
Another purple lightning bolt struck the distant mountain peak, and the electric light disappeared in an instant.
Ancient and modern hatreds, in thousands of ways, should only separation and reunion be sorrow and joy?
Alas.
The love stories of the mortal world are always long and short.
Long to the point of vicissitudes of life, Yin and Yang, and the next life cannot be fully explained.
Short to the point that it seems that it can be finished in the time it takes for this thunderclap.
