Chapter 199: War is About to Begin

Chapter 199: The Drums of War Are About to Sound

"Mom, I'll head back now. You rest well."

Under the soft moonlight, Si Lu forced a smile as he bid farewell to an elderly woman.

"Alright, my little Lu needs to take care of himself." The old woman reluctantly touched Si Lu's face. "Don't frown. Little Lu looks prettiest when he smiles."

"Yes, little Lu will listen to Mom." Si Lu made his "smile" even more pronounced as he spoke, though the elderly woman before him couldn't see his forced expression anyway.

"Alright, run along now." The old woman fumbled and pushed Si Lu out. "Once the sun comes out, it'll get hot."

"Yes, Mom, you..." Si Lu's voice choked up as he smiled. He looked at the old woman's graying temples, deep guilt in his eyes. "Take care of yourself. I'll come see you again in a few days."

"Go on, don't worry. I can manage on my own." The old woman simply thought Si Lu was reluctant to leave her, and without thinking much of it, she shooed him out the door.

The moment Si Lu stepped outside, the smile on his face vanished instantly. Wu Tuyin, who had been following him the whole time, had watched Si Lu's emotions shift the entire way.

"No need to make such a long face. The Lord didn't go for the kill." Wu Tuyin's cold voice rang in Si Lu's ears. "At most, within a month, her eyes will recover."

"Wu Tuyin, you're a monster!"

Recalling the sight of his mother just now, Si Lu felt a sharp pain twisting in his chest. "If you have any grievances, take it out on me! Why the hell did you poison my mother?!"

Si Lu's eyes blazed with hatred at that moment, as if he could rip Wu Tuyin apart limb from limb on the spot!

Earlier, Wu Tuyin had brought Si Lu and Qin Jiao back to Mengqin together. Qin Jiao was then taken to meet his biological father, while Si Lu had been kept locked in Wu Tuyin's tent. Si Lu had been locked up for three days, until just now when Wu Tuyin said he would bring him to see his mother.

Si Lu actually found it strange, because Wu Tuyin was acting too calm.

The Wu Tuyin he knew had always been fiercely principled and vindictive. This time, he clearly knew that Si Lu had defected to Qin Jiao and the Prince of Lingnan, yet he hadn't reacted at all—which was clearly off.

It wasn't until they arrived before the familiar felt tent that Wu Tuyin suddenly said, as if it were no big deal, "By the way, your mother's gone blind."

"What?" When Si Lu heard Wu Tuyin's words, his vision went white, and he almost stumbled. It took him a long moment to finally react. "Wu Tuyin! It was you? ...You did this!"

"Little egret." Wu Tuyin didn't deny Si Lu's accusation. "You're the one who betrayed the Lord first. Think of this as a small warning."

The man raised his hand to stroke Si Lu's face, pale as a sheet, his voice low and rough. "If there's a next time, it won't just be her eyesight your mother loses."

Wu Tuyin caressed Si Lu's face gently, over and over. From a distance, the two looked like a pair of celestial lovers, locked in an intimate embrace, but only Si Lu himself knew how much hate, pain, and regret he was feeling right now!

The grief of love and hate tangled together was like a dull blade, sawing away at Si Lu's soul. Love and hate tore at him from both sides, passion and pain twisting together madly, driving Si Lu nearly to madness.

For a moment, Si Lu felt sorry for himself.

Why does loving someone hurt so much? Why does hating someone bring so much grief?

Si Lu really couldn't figure it out.

And then, the next second—

"Bang!"

Not able to make sense of it, Si Lu turned and slammed his head hard against the wall beside him.

"What are you doing?!"

Wu Tuyin hadn't expected Si Lu to do that and hurried over to press his hand against Si Lu's bleeding forehead.

"Wu Tuyin, why do you torment me like this?"

Si Lu's eyes were full of anguish, the wind tearing his mournful voice apart. "If you want revenge, then just kill me! Let's stop this tangled mess!"

As if caught off guard by Si Lu's words, Wu Tuyin's green eyes went dark, and he stayed silent for a long time.

The bright blood soaked Wu Tuyin's hands completely red, yet he didn't seem to notice. After a long while, he spoke again, his voice grave and firm: "Si Lu, the Lord won't kill you."

Under the moonlight, Wu Tuyin wrapped his arms around Si Lu, his tall frame completely swallowing Si Lu up. Their shadows merged, blurry and tangled together.

"The Lord just wants you to obey."

Those were the last words Si Lu heard Wu Tuyin say.

"Why do you want me to obey?" Si Lu leaned against Wu Tuyin like a puppet, the night breeze rustling his robes but unable to breathe any life into him. "Am I really that important to you?"

"Very important." Wu Tuyin answered without a moment's hesitation.

"Then..." Si Lu opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he stopped himself.

"Then what?" Wu Tuyin was displeased. "Keeping something from me again?"

Wu Tuyin wouldn't let it go, and Si Lu couldn't avoid it, so he just said it outright: "Then can you let Qin Jiao go and not start a war with the Tianyuan Dynasty?"

Si Lu pushed Wu Tuyin away and looked at him with a complicated expression.

Although he had been confined in the tent these past few days, he had still caught bits of news from outside. Under the current circumstances, war between Mengqin and Tianyuan was unavoidable. Si Lu didn't want to see the two nations clash and the people suffer. He wanted to talk Wu Tuyin out of it, but he also knew deep down that Wu Tuyin wouldn't listen.

Even if Wu Tuyin said he was important, compared to power and the world, the weight of a little egret like him was still too light.

"No." Sure enough, Wu Tuyin refused Si Lu. "Mengqin will win this war, no question."

"Why?!" Si Lu suddenly stepped back from Wu Tuyin. "Why must there be war? A nation, no matter how great, that loves war is doomed to perish—don't you get that?"

"A true hero has grand ambitions. If everyone cowers and hesitates, how can the world ever be united? What would be the point of that?" Wu Tuyin said arrogantly.

"And what about the common people?" Si Lu retorted loudly. "Once war breaks out, have you thought about the people? After great armies march, famine is bound to follow. How are they supposed to live then?"

"Once the drums of war beat, sacrifice is inevitable. That cannot be avoided."

Wu Tuyin naturally knew that once conflict erupted, blood would flow like a river across the land. But throughout history, which hero hadn't risen up bathed in blood, stepping over countless corpses?

Great achievements require sacrifice. Heroes need blood to sanctify them.

So sometimes, sacrifice is a kind of glory too.

"You're just...!"

Si Lu was left speechless by Wu Tuyin's stubborn logic. Countless tangled emotions wrestled in his mind, full of contradictions and pain.

"Enough. The wound is bleeding more. The Lord will take you to get that treated."

Wu Tuyin noticed the blood seeping more heavily from Si Lu's forehead and was just about to pull him over for bandaging when a guard in black suddenly rushed in, breathless, to report:

"Sovereign! Something's wrong! The Chieftain... he's dead!"

The guard knelt on the ground, his whole body trembling slightly as he spoke.

"Dead?" Wu Tuyin's green eyes flew wide with fury. "That old bastard's dead?"

"Yes, yes." The guard replied with his head lowered, his voice trembling. "Just now, Ha He took advantage of the night to retaliate against the young man you brought back. He didn't hold back and nearly killed him. Prince Lier arrived in time to save the young man, but somehow word of this reached the old Chieftain. He flew into a rage and coughed up black blood right then and there. By the time the High Priest arrived, the old Chieftain was already beyond saving."

"Wulige!!" Upon hearing the guard's report, Wu Tuyin suddenly roared in fury. "How could you dare to die!"

Si Lu knew about Wu Tuyin's conflicted and complicated feelings toward his father. Seeing Wu Tuyin starting to lose it, he quickly grabbed him and ran forward. "Hurry back!"

What if—Si Lu thought, just what if—

What if they could still change things by rushing back in time.

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