Wearing a dragon robe
Tonight, the capital city entered curfew earlier than ever before. The clanging of heavy armor echoed through the streets, and the cold gleam of weapons reflected on the smooth stone pavement.
The child climbed to the window, his chubby cheeks pressed against the window frame, peeking at the street outside through the barely perceptible gap.
“Mom,” he said, “there are so many big brothers.”
The woman walked anxiously from the other end of the house with small, quick steps, took the child in her arms, and closed the window tightly, sealing the last crack.
The closer they got to Li Letian's residence, the more patrolling soldiers appeared. Five streets away from the mansion, fully armed soldiers began guarding every intersection. The layers of fish-scale armor trembled with the soldiers' breath, each piece reflecting the moonlight.
The moon shone down, silently watching all of this.
There wasn't even the chirping of insects or birds in the streets; it was as if only the sounds of armor and weapons were permitted. On this very night, the solemn order was suddenly disrupted by a series of clattering sounds coming from afar.
The soldiers squinted, looking in the direction of the sound. A horse without a groom was running steadily in the middle of the road.
"They're here, they're here."
“That’s the carriage General Lan was talking about.”
"They're here." The man, whose military rank was clearly higher, gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist, let out a long sigh of relief, and commanded, "Make way, clear the path for the carriage."
The carriage moved forward, and the soldiers naturally dispersed wherever it went. It passed through five intersections and arrived at the gate of the Li residence.
In the vast Li family mansion, only Xiang Wu and Jia Dongye remained standing. In Xin Ruien's eyes, the Li family mansion now resembled a reenactment of the Blood Palace.
Li Letian lay in Xin Ruien's arms, blood gushing from the corner of his mouth like a fountain. His body convulsed repeatedly, each time Xin Ruien could clearly feel it. After several violent rises and falls of his chest, he said, "I'm sorry."
"Don't speak anymore," Xin Ruien stopped him.
Li Letian grasped Xin Ruien's hand for the first time, and after a long while, he said, "There's no chance anymore."
"We still have plenty of time to end all of this."
“Every time it’s my fault,” Li Letian said, the more he vomited blood, and his words became increasingly incoherent. “I shouldn’t have dreamed dreams that weren’t mine.”
Shin Rui-eun could only shake her head repeatedly.
“Zi’an and I went to rescue you,” Li Letian’s eyes gradually dimmed, “but I backed down. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t accept it,” Shin Rui-eun said, biting her lower lip until it bled. “Since you’ve said sorry, then make it up to me with your actions in the future.”
A glint flashed in Li Letian's eyes. His teeth were stained crimson with blood, and his cheeks were a mess of flowing blood. "Is it really possible?" He tried to smile but failed.
"If you're going to try to get away with this, I won't let you off the hook." Xin Ruien was still trying her best, using her inner energy to keep Li Letian's heartbeat going.
“He’s already exhausted.” Jia Dongye glanced at Li Letian and said to Xiang Wu, “Now that you’ve avenged your great grudge, why don’t we call it a day?”
“You have completely merged with this malevolent sword.” Xiang Wu said expressionlessly, “I have seen Wang Wenfang wielding ‘Tsunami,’ but he is not as strong as you.”
Jia Dongye laughed three times towards the sky. "You are also very strong. The Flower Master's record of the Misty Rain Song only has seven forms, but you have eight. You have truly surpassed the previous Misty Rain Pavilion masters." Jia Dongye eliminated his murderous aura and spread his palms, saying, "So it's not worth it for us to fight to the death here."
Seeing that Xiang Wu did not continue his attack, Jia Dongye patiently persuaded him: "I can assure you that given time you can reach a higher level. Today I have helped you a lot. I have killed at least 40% of the people in this courtyard, if not half."
Jia Dongye slowly retreated, and just as he was about to get close to the Calamity Sword, Xiang Wu unleashed a sword intent that knocked all the Calamity Swords out of the sword box.
“If you want the Demon Sword, I can give you half.” Jia Dongye’s face showed no anger, but he calmly said, “I only need ‘Black Wind,’ ‘Volcano,’ and ‘Tsunami,’ the rest are yours.”
Elephants never remain silent.
“I can give you ‘volcano’ too,” Jia Dongye said with a twitch in his eye, “Young people shouldn’t have such big appetites.”
"You're the one who spread the rumor that Jenna and I killed Li Zizhan and Bai Jie, aren't you?"
Jia Dongye gave a disdainful snort and said, "So that's how it is. You're quite the infatuated lover."
The killing intent surged again, and the 'typhoon' emitted a buzzing sound. "I have already surpassed the Flower Master. Even if the Lord of the Misty Rain Pavilion from a hundred years ago were to be reborn, he could not do anything to me!"
Xiang Wu looked around at the mountains of corpses, and finally his gaze fell on Li Letian and Xin Ruien, who was holding him tightly.
"The firelight from the sword furnace is hitting your face." Li Letian's grip on Xin Ruien's hand slowly loosened.
No matter how much internal energy Xin Ruien channeled into him, Li Letian's heartbeat gradually slowed. All she could do was keep talking to him, trying to keep him conscious. "What? Explain yourself!" Xin Ruien said frantically, "Explain yourself!"
"Back in Sword Forging City, the firelight from the forge illuminated your face." Li Letian's lips curled up, his eyes gradually losing focus. "That's when I fell in love with you."
Xiang Wu finally acted. Xin Ruien survived because Xiang Wu wanted to kill her at this moment; he wanted to give Li Letian the deepest despair.
Jia Dongye also sprang into action. Li Letian and Xin Ruien once again became the focus of the battlefield.
In the very end, Li Letian saw the firelight reflecting off Xin Ruien's cheeks. Just like back in Sword Forging City, when he was still an unknown blacksmith, and Xin Ruien was a young lady he would only see a few times in his life. He also heard the sound of a hammer striking a longsword.
*
"Which general's subordinate is this?" A group of about fifty men had gathered outside the city gate of the capital. The soldiers guarding the city wall could not see the military flag, so they asked loudly.
The leader outside the city gate searched around and pulled out a neatly folded banner from the side of the saddle. He slowly unfurled it and pretended to tie it to the spear.
"Whose men are these? So careless. They didn't even bring the flag; they had to tie it to their spears instead," a guard muttered under his breath.
“Yes,” someone next to him chimed in, “and it’s well past the time to enter the city.”
At this moment, the commander, who had been resting on the city wall, rushed out in a panic, not even having time to grab his sword.
The soldiers in front of the city gate waved their spears, and the banner unfurled accordingly.
"Ah," the commander exclaimed upon seeing the words on the flag, "Quickly open the city gate, it's General Wang."
"Commander, we can't open the city gates at this time," the soldier said.
The commander slapped him on the back of the head and said, "Just drive when I tell you to. If General Lan blames you, you won't have enough heads to lose."
The city gates slowly opened, and the fifty men leisurely entered the city. Then, a thunderous roar echoed from the distant darkness. Hundreds, no, thousands of people emerged from the darkness and surged into the capital.
*
The firelight illuminated Shin Ye-eun's face.
Both Xiang Wu and Jia Dongye were defeated.
"This guy has also merged with the Calamity Sword!" Jia Dongye exclaimed in shock, "Who are you!"
"Brother Zian?" Xin Ruien's voice trembled slightly.
The figure enveloped in flames did not respond, but only roared angrily.
"Old man, your eyes are getting blurry." Xiang Wu looked at the tiger's mouth that had been shaken open and said sarcastically, "He has gone into a state of demonic possession and has lost his mind after being devoured."
Jia Dongye spat: "So it's a defective product, no match for me."
As they were talking, a bright light appeared between the Fire Man's eyebrows. "Tsunami," "Volcano," "Hail," "Thunderstorm," "Avalanche," and "Black Wind" flew into the air one by one, five of them arranged around the Li residence, with one in the center. The six malevolent swords and the Fire Man's eyebrows simultaneously emitted a strong light.
Inside the Li residence, all the sword intent vanished in an instant.
The flames on He Zi'an's body dissipated, and his eyes regained their clarity. He saw Xin Rui'en beside him and paused, then softly called out, "Rui'en, I've finally seen you."
Shin Ye-eun picked up the longsword, stood up from the ground, tears welling in her eyes.
The four people inside the house looked at each other. The stench of blood was stimulating their nerves.
“I may not have much time left,” He Zian said. “You’ll have to give it your all, Rui En.”
There was no sword intent, no true energy. What awaited them was the most primal and chaotic battle.
"Eight Directions to Purify the Mind Technique." In the shadows outside the stone wall of the Li residence, Pei Jiangxi sat cross-legged, wholeheartedly maintaining this great formation.
*
On the wall of the Imperial Study hangs the treacherous sword "Earthquake," which Wang Boyu seized from the Prince of Dingxi.
At his desk, Xiang Yu was intently reviewing memorials. Being an emperor was far more troublesome than he had imagined. Zhujian City and several surrounding large cities had suffered from frost damage, and several city lords jointly petitioned the emperor to exempt them from taxes and open the granaries for relief.
Just as she was worrying, there was another noise outside the door, stirring up her thoughts into a jumbled mess. Xiangyu frowned unhappily and looked over.
The bloodied man stepped across the threshold and staggered toward the newly crowned emperor.
"Didn't I tell you to leave?! Why did you come back?!" Xiang Yu roared in fury. He rose from his throne and ran towards the swaying man. He recognized him immediately as Xiang Wu.
Xiang Wu fell down, and Xiang Yu knelt down and hugged him. Just like in the countless days and nights before at Senluo Temple, Xiang Yu would always hug Xiang Wu when he dozed off while chanting sutras.
Xiang Wu's emaciated body caused Xiang Yu a slight stinging pain, and only then did he truly realize the changes in Xiang Wu. The chubby, short junior brother from his memory felt strangely out of place in the Xiang Wu he held in his arms.
Blood stained Xiangyu's dragon robe.
"How did things get like this? Who is it?" Xiang Yu hugged Xiang Wu tightly, unwilling to let go. "If you come back now, Li Letian will definitely kill you with all his might. If you had just waited a little longer, I would have been able to deal with him and bring you here soon."
"Senior brother," Xiang Wu said weakly, unable to utter a coherent sentence, "Why did you kill Miss Lin?"
"Because I have to protect you."
"Why kill Miss Lin?" Xiang Wu asked, his eyelids drooping. "If you have to choose, why not choose me?"
Xiang Yu channeled his inner energy into Xiang Wu's chest and said anxiously, "Don't speak, protect your heart meridian."
However, Xiangyu sensed that his junior brother seemed to have given up hope of living and had stopped circulating his true energy.
"What are you doing!" Xiang Yu roared, "Are you going to give up yourself for a woman?!"
The elephant remained unmoved.
"Junior brother, junior brother," Xiangyu pleaded almost desperately, "Listen to your senior brother and protect your heart meridian. As long as you recover, I can build you the Bronze Sparrow Terrace. Then you can have any woman you want in the world. Please listen to your senior brother, okay?"
The stench of blood assaulted Xiang Yu's skull, and he felt as if he were back in the Three Star Cave. He panicked, then became hysterical: "Xiang Wu! Don't you listen to me anymore?!"
A warm current rose from his chest, and Xiang Yu began to vomit repeatedly. His eyes widened as he watched his vomit flow from Xiang Wu's shoulder down his back, mingling with Xiang Wu's blood and transforming into something that made him nauseous and shudder.
Xiangyu cried out, "Why? We were so close!"
Footsteps sounded outside the Imperial Study.
"Imperial physician! Imperial physician!" Xiang Yu's eyes were bloodshot; he looked less like an emperor and more like a madman who had lost his mind. He raised his head and stared at Eunuch Liu, who had just arrived, his eyes bloodshot: "Quickly summon the imperial physician!"
At this moment, the palace also became noisy. The night in the imperial city was as bright as day.
Wang Boyu stood in front of the Imperial Study carrying Liu Gonggong's head, while Xiangyu and Xiangwu embraced each other tightly.
"Your Majesty, I received a secret report that someone is plotting against you, so I have come here to protect you." Blood dripped from Wang Boyu's longsword onto the threshold of the Imperial Study, some flowing into the inner part of the study and some into the outer part.
Xiang Yu simply watched the group of soldiers who had stormed into the royal forbidden area with their swords drawn, expressionless and without uttering a word.
Lan Luoyu grasped Wang Boyu's hand and waited until Wang Boyu looked at her. She said, "Go, your future is about to begin."
Behind them were hundreds and thousands of soldiers standing at attention.
"And you?"
“I’m not going in,” Lan Luoyu shook her head. “We’ll leave you here.”
"us?"
"Jiang Xi asked me to tell you that she has fulfilled her promise. Your master is the number one martial artist in the world, and you are the most powerful person in the world."
What about the others in the Glass Palace?
"You've wiped out the 'Liuli Palace'," Lan Luoyu said with a smile. "As for the others, they'll all go and live the lives they want."
Wang Boyu glanced at Lan Luoyu, then at the men behind him who had risked their lives with him.
"Jiang Xi said not to look for her, and not to look for us either." Lan Luoyu pushed Wang Boyu and repeated, "Go, your future is now in the future."
Wang Boyu was the first to step into the imperial study, and his military officers followed in his footsteps, passing by Lan Luoyu.
Wang Boyu circled around to Xiang Yu's side and saw that Xiang Wushou was holding a broken sword, which had pierced Xiang Yu's heart.
*
The longsword pierced his left chest, and blood flowed continuously.
Pei Jiangxi stared blankly at the man before her. Who was this man, and why was he here? She had no idea.
“I saw it all. It was you who was wielding those ‘malicious swords.’ You lured them here and killed my senior brother.” The man muttered to himself, “I’ve been waiting for you to lose your power, waiting for this moment when you are most vulnerable.”
The moon peeks out from behind the clouds.
Pei Jiangxi noticed the bird pattern on the man's clothes.
Oh, he's Wen Liang's junior brother. Pei Jiangxi remembered.
But what is his name?
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