At dusk, the setting sun was like blood.
On the battlefield, where the smoke of war had not yet dissipated, corpses lay strewn everywhere and blood flowed like rivers.
The capital of the Li Kingdom had its city gates wide open.
The once bustling streets were now a scene of devastation, with the corpses of soldiers and civilians mixed together, and blood flowing into streams.
The people fled in panic, and homeless children sat on the ground, futilely shaking their long-deceased relatives beside them.
"Father, Mother, wake up, I'm scared, boohoo..."
The Kingdom of Le was destroyed, and its people became slaves of a conquered nation.
At this moment, a young woman dressed in a red palace dress stood on the high city wall of the capital.
Her expression was sorrowful, tears streaming down her beautiful face. Even from a distance, one could feel the overwhelming grief and despair emanating from her.
My father and mother are dead, my elder brother the crown prince is dead, and many soldiers and civilians are dead.
Her home is gone.
The man who led the army to destroy her country was her husband, the one who said he would protect her for the rest of his life.
The prince of Chen Kingdom, no, he'll be the crown prince soon.
"Xi'er, what are you doing? Get down there quickly, it's too dangerous there."
Outside the city gate, a handsome man in brocade robes looked panicked, his phoenix eyes filled with fear.
He reached out his hand to the woman on the city wall: "Xi'er, stand back, I'll come up and get you, let's go home."
"Home?" Yan Xi gave a bitter laugh. "Where is my home? Do I even have a home anymore?"
"You've destroyed my home. Qi Yu, look at this devastation! This is my home. Where are you taking me?"
Qi Yu's face was full of pain: "Xi'er, you will always be my wife. Even if I have done some things to wrong you, my feelings for you are real, I swear."
"Don't be impulsive. I'll explain all this to you in detail later. I have my reasons, and you'll gradually understand."
Yan Xi closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face.
"There is no future. All that remains between us is a blood feud. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have..."
Yan Xi took two more steps forward, her whole body swaying precariously.
Qi Yu roared, "Xi'er, don't be impulsive! You said you would stay with me for life, have you forgotten?"
"Qi Yu, don't bring up the past anymore, it just makes me feel disgusted."
"I was blind to have let a wolf into the house. I am a sinner to the entire Li Kingdom. Do you know how much I hate you?"
Qi Yu looked pained. The last person he wanted to hurt was Yan Xi, but he had no other choice.
Only by destroying the Li Kingdom can he secure his position and obtain the crown prince's throne. Only then can he be with Yan Xi forever.
"Xi'er, the destruction of the Li Kingdom is only a matter of time. If it's not me, it will be someone else. Your father promised me that he would not implicate you."
"Come back with me, and I'll do everything I can to make it up to you. Let's start over, okay?"
Yan Xi gave a bitter laugh: "I am a cursed princess of a fallen kingdom, unworthy of the noble Crown Prince. I will stay here and guard my country, and I will not go anywhere else."
Yan Xi opened her arms and looked at Qi Yu's deathly pale face.
"Gods above, Princess Yan Xi of Li Kingdom has failed her country and her people, and now she will atone with her death."
Yan Xi leaped into the air, her red palace dress fluttering in the swift wind, its vibrant colors reflected in Qi Yu's pupils.
"No...no..."
Qi Yu ran wildly, stretching out his arms to catch Yan Xi, but only managed to touch the hem of her clothes.
The sight of vast expanses of bright red drove Qi Yu to the brink of madness.
"Xi'er, I was wrong. Please don't leave me. In this world, you are the only one who is good to me. I can't live without you. Please don't go."
Yan Xi stroked his face with one hand: "Qi Yu, I regret it. If I had known this would happen, I should have... when we first met."
Qi Yu froze, looked down, and saw a dagger stuck in his heart.
Yan Xi's voice was icy cold: "...I'll kill you."
Qi Yu ignored his own injuries and hugged Yan Xi tightly: "It's okay, I'll die with you, don't even think about leaving me."
Yan Xi's hand fell limply to her side. If she could, she would pay any price just to bring her family and the people back to life.
She never understood why, despite its strong military and abundant talent, the Li Kingdom suffered so many unexpected setbacks and ultimately lost to the weak Chen Kingdom.
In the months since the war began, Lebanon has been plagued by natural disasters, including floods and plagues, resulting in the deaths of countless civilians and soldiers.
The neighboring Chen Kingdom, however, remained completely unaffected.
On the battlefield, the Li Kingdom's food supplies would inexplicably catch fire, and the enemy always seemed to know their battle plans in advance, yet they could never find any spies.
Qi Yu was invincible, as if possessed by a god of war.
The people all say that the Li Kingdom has been punished by heaven, which is why it was destroyed.
Some sorcerers even said that Yan Xi was a cursed star, a jinx, which is why she attracted divine retribution.
Yan Xi didn't believe in these things, but she really didn't understand why the Li Kingdom had come to this point.
As her soul left her body and ascended, Yan Xi heard a faint voice.
"Hmph, a mere lowly mortal dares to lay a finger on my Li Ye. This is what will happen to him."
Yan Xi looked up and saw a fairy-like woman in white standing on the clouds, looking at her with a delighted expression.
She was very beautiful, with a haughty expression, and moved her fingers slightly.
Rivers in Lebanon burst their banks, houses collapsed, and crops spontaneously combusted, turning the country into a living hell in an instant.
Countless people died in the disaster, and the survivors knelt on the ground, kowtowing and repenting, begging God to forgive them.
They kowtowed and admitted their mistakes, but they had no idea what they had done wrong.
Yan Xi understood; this was the source of "divine retribution."
"Stop! Stop! They'll die!" she screamed desperately.
The fairy in white, with an innocent air, tilted her head and giggled: "Just ants, they're dead, so what? What's there to regret?"
"However," the white-robed fairy said, "they didn't have to die, it's all because of you."
"Why? What did I do wrong?"
The white-clad fairy's smile vanished, her voice twisted with resentment.
"You lowly mortal, how dare you lay your hands on God Li Ye, and even make him fall in love with you and become obsessed with you? Don't you think you deserve to die?"
"No, I don't know anyone named Li Ye."
"Qi Yu is the God of Li Ye. He was sent to the mortal realm to undergo tribulation. He shouldn't have fallen in love. It's all your fault, you bitch. He failed his tribulation."
Yan Xi found it all absurd.
Is Qi Yu actually a celestial being? He only came to the mortal realm to undergo tribulation.
But she's just a mortal, what does she know?
It was these immortals' pointless games that led to the destruction of her country and the loss of her home, driving her to despair and suicide.
On what grounds?
"Did you bring all the disasters to the Kingdom of Le?" she asked.
“That’s right. Who told you to be the princess of Li Kingdom? You’ve angered me, so you should pay the price.”
"Those ants are right, you're a jinx, they were all killed because of you."
Yan Xi's soul trembled with pain, and her hatred almost made her soul disappear.
"Are you sad? Are you heartbroken? That's right. I felt just as sad when I watched you and Li Ye being all lovey-dovey from heaven."
"You should thank me for answering your questions, otherwise you would die without understanding what you did wrong. I'll let you die knowing the truth."
She laughed smugly: "But what good will it do you even if you understand? Once you cross the Bridge of Helplessness, you still won't remember anything, haha."
Tears of blood streamed down Yan Xi's face as she said, word by word, "I want you dead."
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