"Jiuyou is an important place in Zhenhuang. If Prince Yan does not explain his purpose, even if he is the supervising officer, he cannot step forward. I will ask you again, Prince Yan, are you here to examine the prisoner?"
Flags were flying in the sky, and below was cold and silent. The young man's eyes were like ice. He wiped the corner of his mouth fiercely with the back of his hand stubbornly and said in a deep voice: "Get lost!"
With a loud bang, there was another thunderous sound, and Yan Xun's body rolled off the stage again with the thunder!
“Yan Xun!” Chu Qiao finally couldn’t hold back anymore and shouted, “You idiot, are you going to die? Come back!”
All the sounds in the world seemed to have drifted away from him. His ears were ringing and he could not hear a single sound. His eyes were red and swollen, and his face was covered with wounds scratched by dust and rocks. His bloody hands looked as if they had just been soaked in a pool of blood, and his chest seemed to have been hit hard by a huge rock. It seemed like someone was calling him, but he could no longer hear it. His mind was filled with Yan Bei's voice. He seemed to hear his father's hearty laughter, his eldest brother's endless nagging, his third brother and second sister whipping each other and chasing each other, his younger uncle's distant Yanbei long tune, and the sound of horse hooves of his father's subordinates, those uncles and aunts who had lifted him up on their heads and ridden him bullfighting since he was a child.
But they gradually walked away and became unclear. The sky and the earth were pitch black and countless cold voices were clamoring in my mind. They urged him in a low voice, over and over again, "Yan Xun, stand up, stand up, stand up like a man from Yanbei."
Everyone stared with wide eyes, looking at the bloody young man, looking at the former noble of the Celestial Empire, crawling out of the pool of blood again, one step, two steps, three steps. The blood was left on the black stone steps, reflecting the light of the snow, which was so dazzling.
The iron-blooded soldier gradually frowned. He looked at the young man who staggered up to him. He wanted to say something but didn't know how to express it. At the last moment, he still kicked him off the stage.
Suddenly, a soft sob sounded among the crowd. The sound gradually grew louder and the suppressed cry echoed among the poor people. These lowly people of low status and inferior blood, looking at the noble Imperial Square, could no longer bear the sorrow in their hearts. After all, he was just a child.
The nobles pursed their lips tightly, and their cold eyes were slightly moved.
As the cold wind blew, the boy's body became like a pile of mud and he could no longer stand up. Meng Tian, the first marshal of the empire, was a master of martial arts and as strong as a mountain. He once single-handedly killed a cavalry of more than 200 people on the Western Desert Plateau. No one would die faster if they were hit by a punch from him. However, no one knew what kind of power was supporting him, allowing him to crawl up to the Jiuyou Platform bit by bit relying only on his blood-stained fingers.
After kicking Yan Xun down for the last time, the general frowned and finally said to the guards on both sides in a deep voice: "No need to check again, take him down and execute him!"
"General Mengtian!" Wei Jing frowned, stood up and said in a deep voice, "I'm afraid this is against the rules. Shengjin Palace ordered him to perform an autopsy. How can he just be perfunctory?"
Meng Tian frowned, turned around, looked at the outstanding young man from the Wei family, pointed at Yan Xun, and said slowly: "Do you think he can still obey the Holy Order in this state?"
Who would have thought of asking him to obey the Holy Order? Sheng Jin Gong's intention was just to find a reasonable reason to kill him. After the defeat at Northwest Pass, the Empire and the Council of Elders together pushed the blame onto King Yanbei. King Yanbei's family was brutally slaughtered, leaving only this single bloodline.
Yan Xun had been in the imperial capital for many years and had stayed out of the matter, so he could not be implicated. The land of Yanbei has been hereditary for generations. Now that Yan Shicheng is gone, it is only natural for Yan Xun to succeed to the throne. But how can the empire take the risk of letting this wolf cub go west? Thus, this situation was set up. If Yan Xun did not obey the emperor's order, he would be considered to be disrespecting Sheng Jin Palace and being a disloyal minister; if he obeyed obediently, he would be considered to be cowardly and incompetent, a traitor, and an unfilial son. No matter what, it's a dead end.
The empire's move was only to give an explanation to the people of the world and the princes in various places in order to silence their mouths. Who in the court doesn’t know this?
However, such reasons cannot be used as reasons for dissuasion in broad daylight. Wei Jing gnashed his teeth in anger, looked at Yan Xun with hatred, and said coldly: "General Meng, aren't you afraid that the emperor and the elders will blame you for doing this?"
"Whether I blame you or not, I will take full responsibility. You don't need to worry about it."
Meng Tian turned around, looked at the child who was being suppressed by everyone, sighed silently, then turned around and was about to carry out the execution.
However, at this moment, an old voice suddenly sounded. Huang Qizheng, the deputy supervising the execution, slowly stepped forward and said slowly with half-closed eyes: "General Meng, before coming here, Lord Muhe once told you that if things change, I will show this to you."
Meng Tian took the document, took a look at it, and his expression changed drastically.
The general stood on the stage for a long time, and finally turned his head, looked at Yan Xun with a heavy face, and said slowly: "Prince Yan, please don't be stubborn. Whether it is yes or no, you just need to nod. They are all your fathers, brothers and relatives, and only you are most qualified to identify them."
Yan Xun's body was pressed to the ground, and he no longer looked like the heroic Prince of Yanbei in the past. He looked like a ghost crawling out of hell, full of bloodthirsty hatred and murderous intent.
Meng Tian looked at the boy's stubborn eyes, finally sighed helplessly, and said in a deep voice: "Since Prince Yan disobeyed the order, don't blame me for handling it impartially. Come, drag him up!"
“Wait!”
The wind blew back, dark clouds rolled, and a crisp sound suddenly rang out. Everyone turned their heads to look, and suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the direction of the Purple Gold Gate. A woman in white ferret clothes and black hair rode over and said slowly, "I'll check it out!" "Mother?"
The young man in the pool of blood suddenly turned around and looked at the woman sitting high on the horse. The woman's white dress was whiter than snow, her sleeves were like clouds, her black hair was scattered behind her, like the finest black satin from the Song Dynasty. Her bare face was as white as a lotus, her eyes were as gentle as the clear spring water on the top of a snowy mountain, and even the slightest crow's feet at the corners of her eyes looked gentle and peaceful.
The woman dismounted and walked straight to Yan Xun. The guards on both sides seemed to be stunned, and no one stepped forward to stop her.
The woman held Yan Xun's head up, gently wiped the boy's bloodstained face with her white sleeves, and smiled warmly, "Xun'er."
Yan Xun's tears instantly fell. This young man who had never frowned in the face of thousands of troops before, burst into tears. He tightly grasped the woman's sleeve and asked loudly: "Mother, why? What happened?"
"Xun'er," the woman gently wiped the blood from the corner of his eye and asked softly, "Do you believe your father?"
Yan Xun choked up and nodded, "I believe it."
"Then don't ask why," the woman said softly, holding the child in her arms, her eyes sweeping calmly over the nobles on the execution platform one by one, "In this world, not everything can be explained clearly. Just like tigers eating wolves, wolves eating rabbits, and rabbits eating grass, there is no reason to explain it."
"Mother!" Yan Xun suddenly turned his head and looked coldly at the nobles in luxurious clothes. He spoke in a cold voice, "Is it them? Is it them who harmed Yanbei?"
The young man's eyes were as sharp as ice and snow, piercing through the flying snow mist in an instant. At that moment, all the imperial nobles shuddered almost at the same time. They looked at the beautiful woman with a face as ethereal as an orchid. She smiled calmly and wiped away the tears from the child's eyes. "Xun'er, don't cry. Children of the Yan family shed blood but not tears."
"General Meng, let me perform the autopsy. Those above are my husband, son, daughter, and my loved ones. I believe that there is no one in this world who is more qualified than me to do this."
Meng Tian's brows were tightly knitted together, and there were dark undercurrents surging in his eyes. Looking at the beautiful woman without makeup, the empire's most ruthless soldier was suddenly speechless. Those turbulent past events rushed through his mind like a tide.
He still remembered the early spring of that year when he, Shicheng, and the man whose name he could not even call out now, met an extraordinary woman by the clear water lake in Bian Tang. They were still so young at that time. The girl was paddling the boat, wearing a lake green dress, with her trouser legs rolled up, revealing a section of her white jade-like calves. She laughed and shouted at the three dumbfounded boys, "Hey! You three big guys, do you want to get on the boat?"
In a blink of an eye, thirty years have passed. There have been so many bloody storms, so many killing expeditions, and so many cunning conspiracies. The three of them have worked together and fought their way out of the thick black fog, shoulder to shoulder. At that time, they might not have known that they would be facing such a situation thirty years later. If they knew, would they still be so sympathetic, so united, and so willing to risk their lives to share weal and woe? Was everything that had been done in the past just to allow them to raise their swords and chop off each other's heads in the future?
Meng Tian sighed slowly and said in a low voice: "You shouldn't have come."
"He said that he would not restrict my freedom in the imperial capital. As long as I don't leave Zhenhuang City, no one will stop me. General Meng, this is an imperial decree, you can't disobey it. Just like when you led the troops to attack Yanbei, you did it whether you were willing or not."
The woman lifted the hem of her skirt and walked up to the platform step by step. Her movements were so light, but her footsteps on the ground seemed so heavy.
"Mother!" Yan Xun was extremely anxious. He immediately stood up and was about to rush forward, but before he could take a step, he suddenly fell to the ground and groaned in pain.
Chu Qiao saw this and immediately rushed out of the encirclement of the soldiers who had stopped trying to stop her. She ran forward a few steps, supported Yan Xun's body, and asked nervously, "How are you?"
The snow was falling heavily, the north wind was howling, the hawks were crying, the ground was covered with blood, tattered flags and collapsed braziers, and millions of eyes were watching the back of the woman who walked step by step towards the Nine Nether Killing Land. The long wind blew up her skirt, and she seemed to be flying away like a white bird hovering in the strong wind.