Chapter 760: Tired

Chapter 760: Tired

“Aren’t you supposed to be something? Aren’t you crafty and scheming? Didn’t you treat me like a pawn? Couldn’t you even conjure up the dead Siming and the Mountain Ghost? And this is it? This is it? You just die like that? Are you messing with me?”

Hysterical, Li Huowang screamed curses wildly at his surroundings, caring not whether Xuanpin could hear him; he only wanted to vent the emotion inside him, otherwise it would drive him mad.

“What are you strutting about? What right do you have to meddle with the Siming’s moves? You spoke so mysteriously, I thought you had some great power! And this is it? Shameful! Xuanpin! Shameful! You’re a disgrace!”

The furious expression on Li Huowang’s face suddenly shifted, turning into a sneer. “Heh heh heh, you’re tricking me again, aren’t you? You’re faking your death, right? Don’t give me that act! I don’t believe it!! Come out! You can’t fool me!”

“Xuanpin! Xuanpin, come out! I’ve seen this trick from Zuo Wang Dao a thousand times!”

“Senior Brother Li!” Gao Zhijian, his face full of grief, walked up to Li Huowang and grabbed him by both arms as he muttered to himself.

“Senior Brother Li, don’t be like this. Calm down. I know you’re in terrible pain, but—"

“Ha, pain? Who is he to me that I should feel pain? He tricked me again! It’s not the first time! I was ready to settle the score with him this time, and then he just dies like that?”

Li Huowang stood still, laughing in fury. “Is that right, Zhijian? Tell me, is that right?!”

“Why? Why do they just kick the bucket and leave everything to me? I just want to ask: why?!”

Those words included Xuanpin, but they weren’t only about Xuanpin.

Faced with Li Huowang’s outburst, Gao Zhijian didn’t know how to answer. He stood there, watching Li Huowang’s strange behavior.

After the time it takes half a stick of incense to burn, seeing that Li Huowang had gradually accepted the terrible news, Gao Zhijian spoke with grief. “Senior Brother Li, I know you had a grudge against him, but Master Xuanpin never rested for a moment! In places you couldn’t see, he worked and risked his life no less than anyone.”

“You don’t know, but I do. He was badly wounded and never fully recovered, but he never showed it, because he feared you would overthink things and dared not reveal a shred.”

Gao Zhijian slowly recounted the whole story to Li Huowang from beginning to end. “Everything the Fa Jiao has done recently was all a scheme to ambush Master Xuanpin. Their attack on you was just a decoy.”

“Because they knew that while you’re tough to deal with, you weren’t the key. Xuanpin was the one who could gather the Jian Tian Si of all nations, coordinate with the military, and push the Fa Jiao back step by step. He was the most important link to defeating them.”

“So they went for the head. No matter the cost, they had to take Xuanpin and the others.”

“The others?” Li Huowang slowly raised his head. “Besides Xuanpin, someone else died?”

Gao Zhijian’s lips trembled slightly, as if afraid to speak, but finally he slowly said, “The Grand Liang National Teacher, the Later Shu National Teacher, the Qingqiu Director of Astrology, the Grand Liang Director of Astrology—they’re all gone.”

Li Huowang thought he had misheard. He stared at Gao Zhijian in shock. “All dead?”

“Mm.”

Hearing this, Li Huowang’s mind went blank with a buzz. Though he didn’t want to admit it—they had guarded against him, schemed against him, deceived him—yet for all their disagreements, both sides had considered the other allies.

But now, they were all dead. With such a flippant sentence, they were dead. The strongest battle forces in the Jian Tian Si were gone just like that.

For a moment, Li Huowang felt a hollow emptiness. He had always thought that when the sky fell, there were taller people to hold it up. But now he had become the tallest of them all.

It seemed that from now on, he would have to face the behemoth known as the Fa Jiao alone.

Suddenly, Li Huowang felt incredibly, unbearably tired. He collapsed into the blood pool on the battlefield and watched the clouds slowly disperse above him, letting out a long breath.

He suddenly wanted to do nothing at all, to go straight back to Niuxin Village and live his own quiet life. Why should this nearly hopeless burden fall on him? He felt wronged. He felt unjust.

He slowly closed his eyes as if forgetting everything around him. But after a long silence, Li Huowang finally let out another slow breath.

“Since Xuanpin is dead, who’s taking over the Jian Tian Si of all nations now?” Li Huowang asked with his eyes still closed, lying in the blood.

“For now, the Later Shu Director of Astrology is acting in charge. The upper echelons have taken a heavy blow. I fear it would shake the army’s morale, so the news hasn’t spread yet.”

Li Huowang forced his eyes open, using every ounce of strength to sit up from his prone position.

He picked up a broken blade from the ground and thrust it deep into his own abdomen. Roaring, he twisted it savagely.

When he had completely mangled himself, his guts severed, Li Huowang dragged his bleeding body upright, his gaze once more resolute.

Li Huowang bore it in silence. He had no choice. The others were dead; he, the living, had to carry on.

Just as thunder rumbled from distant storm clouds, a courier with four banners on his back rode swiftly toward the imperial guard procession around Gao Zhijian.

“Report~!! Victory at Xuzhong! Victory at Xianyang! Victory at Hulao Pass!”

An old eunuch swiftly took the message from the courier’s hand, read it quickly, and then whispered excitedly into Gao Zhijian’s ear.

The grim expression on Gao Zhijian’s face finally broke into a barely contained excitement. He turned to Li Huowang, covered in blood. “Senior Brother Li! Xuanpin and the others didn’t die in vain! And with your victory here, the Fa Jiao knows they’ve lost! They’ve begun retreating beyond the pass! The Four Qi are reclaimed!”

Matters that could shake morale naturally had to be concealed; news that lifted spirits had to be widely spread. Soon, this report reached everyone’s ears.

On the battlefield, the soldiers who had fought Matuo, regardless of rank or status, shouted with exultation. Their cries surged like waves, one after another.

Everyone felt they were about to win, that they would soon go home, that this great battle would end at last.

They were filled with confidence, completely unaware that their own side had been decapitated.

And Li Huowang, drenched in blood, stood still, utterly out of place amidst all the jubilation.

(The End)