Wugu Lu lay in the icy stream, his consciousness blurred by the excruciating pain and blood loss, the murky water mixed with thick blood plasma constantly choking him.
Through a crimson field of vision, he saw that familiar figure.
At that moment, Li Ru nimbly dodged a giant crossbow bolt that whistled past and nimbly climbed a steep cliff at the edge of the valley. His movements were clean and swift, showing no trace of the sluggishness usually associated with a frail strategist.
He finally understood, completely understood.
The so-called "support" over the past five years, every "victory through danger," and this "path to survival" leading to true hell are all carefully woven poisonous traps by this Han Chinese!
Everything was for this day, to bury the last remaining blood and bones of their Wuhuan tribe completely in this cold Baima River!
"Heh...heh..."
Wugu Lu let out a hoarse, bellows-like sound from his throat. With the last of his remaining life force, he struggled to raise his head. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the disappearing figure on the rock wall. His eyes held the deepest resentment and a trace of sorrowful understanding in his gaze.
“Li...Ru…”
He used the last breath in his chest, his voice weak as a sigh, yet carrying a deep-seated curse that even the waters of the Three Rivers and Five Lakes could not wash away: "You are so vicious..."
Before he could finish speaking, a stray arrow shot from above the valley, with a "thud," accurately pierced Wugu Lu's forehead!
This once mighty and invincible Wuhuan leader suddenly stiffened, the light in his eyes went out abruptly, and his head tilted limply to one side.
Li Ru, who had climbed to the top of the rock face, paused almost imperceptibly.
Li Ru glanced back one last time at the body in the valley below, which was quickly covered by blood and debris, his gaze as indifferent as if he were looking at a roadside stone.
Without hesitation, he turned around and disappeared completely into the jagged rocks and sparse shadows of withered trees above the cliff, as if he had never been there.
...
The stench of blood in Baima River was so strong that even the howling north wind could not dispel it.
As the sun sets and the last wisp of smoke from the flames of resistance dies down, the valley finally returns to deathly silence, leaving only carrion vultures circling low and emitting eerie cawing.
A troop of elite Xianbei cavalry, their armor stained with blood, their expressions fierce yet weary, escorted a massive palanquin crafted from a single log and covered in a magnificent snow-white bearskin, as it slowly entered the vast graveyard that had just fallen silent.
A figure sat upright on the palanquin.
Sandalwood.
He wasn't particularly tall or imposing, but he exuded a sense of solemnity and grandeur, like a mountain.
His face was as if carved by a knife and axe, with cold and hard lines, and a high nose bridge like an eagle's beak.
What's most captivating are his eyes, deep beneath his thick eyebrows, with rare light brown pupils, like frozen amber in winter, cold, sharp, devoid of any human emotion, as if they could pierce through the skin and look straight into the soul.
He wore a fur robe made from a single, rare white wolf king pelt, the tips of the fur gleaming with a cold, silvery light in the somber daylight.
Tan Shihuai sat casually, one hand resting on his knee, his fingers long and strong with large knuckles, clearly capable of drawing a hard bow.
He calmly surveyed the layers upon layers of Wuhuan corpses in various poses in the valley. The frozen stream was covered with dark red ice, and the thick, unyielding stench of blood and death in the air seemed to have no effect on him.
"Your Majesty, we have found Wugu Lu."
A Xianbei commander rode up, dismounted before the palanquin, knelt on one knee, and said in a respectful voice with a barely perceptible tremor, "He was shot in the middle of the eye in the lower reaches of the valley and is dead."
Tan Shihuai didn't even lift his eyelids, only giving a faint "hmm".
The fate of a loser is not worth his utmost attention.
Tan Shihuai's gaze, like that of a circling eagle, continued to search through the mountains of corpses and seas of blood for another, more intriguing target.
That Han strategist who advised the Wuhuan and repeatedly thwarted his plans!
"Your Majesty!"
Another scout galloped up: "A Han Chinese has been spotted outside the valley! He claims to be Wugu Lu's strategist, named Li Ru! He says... he has top-secret matters to present to the king in person!"
"Oh, so his name is Li Ru?"
A slight smile finally appeared on Tan Shihuai's icy face, and his fingers, which were resting on his knees, tapped almost imperceptibly.
Tan Shihuai slowly raised his head, his light brown eyes looking towards the valley entrance: "Please ask him to come over."
"yes!"
The scout agreed and quickly retreated.
A moment later, a thin figure, escorted by the hostile gazes of the Xianbei cavalry, walked step by step toward Tan Shihuai, stepping over frozen blood and debris.
Li Ru's old robe was even more tattered, covered in mud and dark brown bloodstains. His face was still pale, but strangely, he didn't look as disheveled as when he was fleeing.
He lowered his head slightly, his steps steady, as if he were traversing not mountains of corpses and seas of blood, but an ordinary courtyard. He only stopped when he was ten steps away from Tan Shihuai's carriage, where the Xianbei guards' gleaming curved swords were crossed to block his way.
He slowly raised his head.
The moment he looked up, a completely different aura erupted from his thin body, like a dormant volcano suddenly awakening.
The humility, forbearance, and gloom that he had previously displayed to the Wuhuan people vanished in an instant, and his back stood straight, like a pine tree that does not fall in the wind and snow.
His pale face was replaced by an almost arrogant calm. His deep, pool-like eyes, now unmasked, were sharp as an eagle's and as unfathomable as a frozen abyss, meeting directly into the pair of light brown eyes on the palanquin that could freeze one's soul!
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
