Chapter 32 Xie Linyuan's injuries were gone...

Xie Linyuan was shot by an arrow.

His face turned deathly pale, and he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. He knelt on the ground and burst into laughter.

His tall, dark hair and red hairband were lifted by the wind, brushing against Xie Linyuan's blood-stained profile.

He knelt on the ground, spread his hands, and looked down at his hands, which were covered in blood. He thought of the girl covered in blood.

When he carried her out, his hands were covered in her blood...

Blood……

Xie Linyuan burst into maniacal laughter, which grew louder and louder.

More arrows were shot at him.

He seemed oblivious to everything.

"General!!!"

Although Qingshan and Chen Ling arrived in time, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse due to the injury of their commander, and the once-victorious situation was instantly reversed.

"The general has been hit by an arrow!"

"The general has been hit by an arrow!"

"The general has been hit by an arrow!"

The news spread quickly throughout the smoke-filled battlefield. Xie Linyuan was their backbone; with their commander wounded by an arrow, their morale, which had just been greatly boosted, immediately collapsed.

The momentum of their victory was reversed. Although they were not defeated, they did not launch another attack after Chen Ling and Qingshan protected Xie Linyuan during their retreat.

The war ends here.

Wu Zizhuo squinted at the lingering smoke in the distance, then laughed again.

"Xie Linyuan, if you're lucky enough to survive this time, what about next time...? Will you be able to escape then...?"

"Su Muying still owes me a debt of gratitude."

Wu Zizhuo remembered the promise Su Muying had made to him.

He also knew that she must be in Anzhou City.

If he wants her to repay that favor, whatever it may be, she will definitely do so.

Even if it means... Xie Linyuan's death.

——

Xie Linyuan was already covered in wounds, and now he was hit by multiple arrows, his back was almost full of arrows, and one arrow pierced his chest and heart.

Basin after basin of bloody water was carried out. After treating the wound, the military doctor kept lamenting that if the arrow had been even an inch off, the wound would have been fatal.

Xie Linyuan remained unconscious, surrounded by people who all looked grave upon seeing his further injuries.

Qingshan stared at his master, his hands clenched into fists, and said, "I heard what that scoundrel Wu Zizhuo said to my master."

Everyone in the room looked at Qingshan, and Chen Ling quickly asked, "What did that scoundrel say? I clearly saw the general about to cleave that scoundrel in two, so how could he have been hit by an arrow later?"

Qingshan frowned and said, "I heard that scoundrel mention Miss Su again... He also said that Miss Su was killed by the master, that it was because of the master that Miss Su set herself on fire... and the master's child."

"Bullshit bastard!" Chen Ling couldn't help but shout angrily, but then remembered that their general was still injured and unconscious, so he could only shut up in frustration.

Upon hearing this, Xie's mother burst into tears again.

The people inside sighed repeatedly, all feeling that their general was truly possessed.

All for that woman, he's gotten himself into this state...

He was barely recognizable as a human being, his entire body covered in wounds, not a single patch of healthy skin.

Their general has fought so many battles over the years, yet he doesn't have this many wounds.

Chen Ling thought and thought but really couldn't understand how their general could have turned into this because of that Miss Su, when they had won such a great victory.

They were hit by so many arrows? How could those worthless arrows have even scratched their general before?

In his opinion, their general wasn't hit by an arrow, but rather possessed by an evil spirit!

Chen Ling didn't understand why things had to come to this just because of a woman.

In the past, when they won battles, border governors would send beauties to their general in droves, but the general never even blinked. Instead, he would chase them all away and almost behead the governor, which made the governor never dare to send them again.

Why is everything like this now that I've met this Miss Su?

...

Chen Ling knew nothing of those things and truly couldn't understand them. His mind was only focused on war; he simply didn't grasp these matters. He racked his brains but couldn't figure it out. Finally, at his wit's end, he gritted his teeth and said:

"Or, shall we call a monk to come and take a look?"

"The general may truly be possessed. Let's have a Taoist priest perform a ritual to exorcise the evil spirit; perhaps that will help..."

Qingshan glanced at him quietly.

Chen Ling shut her mouth.

The army doctor was still there. He stroked his goatee, sighed, and said, "The general wasn't possessed by an evil spirit. He suffered a tremendous shock, and his internal organs couldn't handle it. His blood surged, causing him to vomit blood. The excessive grief also impacted his mind, leading to hysteria. He's highly susceptible to hallucinations, which gave others an opportunity to strike him with an arrow..."

"If that girl is no longer alive, and the knot in your heart cannot be untied, then you must never mention it again. Otherwise, who knows what will happen next when it flares up, or what self-harming things the general might do..."

"These physical wounds are easy to heal; they're not life-threatening, and they'll eventually recover. But this emotional wound is much harder to cure..."

"If you're trapped inside and can't get out for the rest of your life, that's just how it is."

The room was deathly silent.

Later, Xie Linyuan's injuries never healed.

Old wounds haven't healed, and new ones are being applied.

He was repeatedly trapped in his own inner demons, unable to break free.

He repeatedly cut his own skin with a knife, watching the blood flow out, and the pain eventually turned into a strange pleasure.

Every time Xie Linyuan cut open the flesh with a knife, he would think of Su Muying, whom he had once imprisoned.

You could hear her crying and pleading.

They would see her hugging herself and hiding in a corner, and they would see her covered in blood.

It goes on and on, without end.

He will never see that girl holding a flower branch again after the spring rain.

In the end, he even developed a strong addiction to self-harm.

He wanted to repay her for all the pain he had caused her.

That's how it should be, that's how it should be.

If that happens, can she come back?

Can you come back...?

——

Xie Linyuan ceased his external campaigns and began constructing defensive fortifications.

When the imperial court sent troops to attack, he only defended the city. No matter how the enemy tried to provoke him, he kept the city gates tightly shut and simply handed the city over to Chen Ling and Qingshan.

The cities he conquered began to recuperate, and so did Anzhou.

He amassed troops in Anzhou, using Anzhou as the boundary, dividing the Great Liang into two separate regimes.

Then, he organized his soldiers to start clearing land and farming, and began to connect with other towns and cities to conduct trade. The Liang Kingdom, which had not had peace for a long time, gradually became prosperous and powerful.

No one dared to mention the name Su Muying again.

No one dared to mention that Miss Su again.

They thought their general had forgotten the girl Su and was no longer possessed.

Mother Xie also thought... that her son had forgotten Su Muying and was slowly getting better, no longer going mad.

Therefore, Xie's mother continued to suppress the news that Su Muying was alive.

Days passed by.

During the day, Xie Linyuan trained his troops and handled official business in an orderly manner, dealing with each matter one by one.

He became increasingly silent. His black hair, which used to be tied high with a red ribbon, was now hanging down, loosely half-tied with a single red silk ribbon. His skin seemed even whiter, exuding a snow-like coldness. His peach blossom eyes were also frozen, no longer possessing any tender shimmer.

The former flamboyance, unrestrainedness, and even arrogance have all turned into utter lifelessness.

No one knew that beneath Xie Linyuan's usual elegant white robes lay terrifying, gruesome wounds.

At night, he would relive those painful experiences.

The wound never healed.

And so, three years passed.

Spring, summer, autumn, and winter, the four seasons turn, and another spring has arrived.

That year, the locust flowers in Anzhou bloomed exceptionally well.

A gust of wind blows, and tiny white petals float in the air, fluttering down like a white snowfall.

When a petal drifted onto his desk, Xie Linyuan stopped writing.

He looked up, and a sudden gust of wind blew in his face, making the strands of hair that fell to his shoulders flutter. A flurry of locust blossoms drifted down onto his window frame and landed on the Xuan paper on his desk.

"Locust blossoms..."

"Locust flowers".

In the past, he would stay up all night and stare at her. In his dreams, she would often call out "Huaihua".

Is it a flower from her hometown?

Xie Linyuan lowered his eyes and stared at the locust flowers on the table, lost in thought. He looked at them for a long time, and after another gust of wind blew by, he put down his pen and walked out of the mansion.

Xie Linyuan walked in the direction the locust blossoms were blowing.

He couldn't explain why he did so; perhaps he just wanted to go and see her hometown, to see the flowers she liked.

For the past three years, he has lived a lifeless, zombie-like existence, where day and night, spring, summer, autumn and winter are no different to him.

He hasn't seen the sun in a long time.

He wanted to see Anzhou, the city where she grew up.

Perhaps, there will still be traces of her.

On this spring day, Xie Linyuan followed the direction from which the locust blossoms came, and eventually, he arrived at a small village full of locust blossoms.

The village is called Huaihua Village, and locust trees can be seen everywhere. Under the locust trees, several children are happily picking up the fallen flowers on the ground, shouting that they want to go home and ask their mothers to make locust flower cakes.

Xie Linyuan stood there and stared for a long time.

Now he no longer has the deep-seated ferocity and murderous aura he once possessed, so the children are no longer afraid of him. Seeing that he is particularly handsome and always standing there, they will run over to ask him what he needs and who he is looking for.

Xie Linyuan smiled, tears welling up in his almost withered peach blossom eyes. He shook his head and simply said, "I want to find someone, but the person I'm looking for is gone forever."

The child, puzzled, scratched his head and asked, "How can I not find it...?"

The little girl was about to say something when a beautifully sculpted child, whose gender was indistinguishable, came over and pulled her away.

"Oh dear, my mom said, don't talk to strangers! There might be bad people!"

"Tao Tao, come here quickly, let's pick more together. My mom wants to make locust flower cakes, I'll share some with you later, my mom's are so delicious..."

"Great! I'll help you, let's pick them up together!"

The little girl's eyes lit up when she heard there was food. She immediately forgot about the handsome adult and happily ran off with the other child.

The child, with his delicate features, was clearly a boy from his voice.

Xie Linyuan turned to the side, his gaze lingered on the little boy for a moment, then he looked away and walked away.

For some reason, he followed the locust blossoms to an even more remote place.

The locust flowers here bloom even more profusely, and when the spring breeze blows, it looks like thousands of piles of snow are rolled up.

Xie Linyuan wandered aimlessly, like a lost soul, not knowing where he was. When a petal suddenly drifted down and landed on his eyelashes, he blinked and reached out his hand. The petal landed in his palm, and Xie Linyuan stopped.

The spring breeze was gentle, and the fragrance of flowers was delicate. He stood there, stunned and at a loss. When he looked ahead, his withered peach blossom eyes shattered completely, and tears of blood flowed out without warning.

Under the locust tree not far away, in the swaying, warm spring sunshine, a woman dressed in green, her long hair tied up in a simple red braid and hanging down, stood.

She wore no makeup or adornment, yet at this moment, her smiling face as she squatted down to pick up locust blossoms was so bright and beautiful, so vibrant and lively.

That color is unmatched by any other color in the entire spring.

Suddenly, the image of the girl holding a flower branch after a spring rain, which he hadn't dared to think about for a long time, flashed before his eyes again.

The figure gradually overlapped with the one he saw before him.

In an instant, Xie Linyuan's long-stagnant, frozen blood suddenly boiled and churned like magma or a giant wave, about to burst through his chest.

His blood was surging, and his snow-white, cold skin finally regained some color, like a peach blossom that had bloomed again, so beautiful that it shone with vibrant color.

Xie Linyuan seemed to have come back to life.

However, the next moment, when he realized who he was seeing... Xie Linyuan took several steps back.

He actually... he dared not approach her anymore.