Longzang

Chapter 240 Hatred in the Heart
When the Wu tribe retreated, Wei Yuan did not pursue them. Instead, he ordered a troop to follow and monitor them, and then sent anyone who could move to dig out Xuanwei Liu.

Corpses were carried out one by one, from both the human and witch races, with the witch race having more.

After an unknown amount of time, someone came to report that the bottom layer had been excavated. Wei Yuan was as if waking from a dream and went to take a look.

The bottom layer has been completely excavated, revealing hundreds of human corpses. It's clear that half of them were severely injured and died in the small hall in front of the escape route. The remaining people are scattered throughout this layer, surrounded by the corpses of the witch race.

The disciple from the Heavenly Crafts Hall in charge of the excavation said in a somber voice, "They buried gunpowder in the pillars of each floor. After detonating it, it destroyed all the supports and caused the collapse. Before that, the escape route had already been destroyed."

Wei Yuan listened, his gaze falling on the two corpses.

Below was Yun Feifei, and above her was a young master from a powerful family. He threw himself on top of Yun Feifei, trying to shield her from the falling earth and rocks. But how could he withstand the crushing weight of a million pounds of soil? Thus, his elbows and knees shattered, and both of them died.

This young master from a prominent family was one of the sixteen scions of noble families who had come with Cui Yu. Before the great battle, he volunteered to guard Xuanwei Six. Wei Yuan had originally intended to distribute these young masters and ladies among various units. Having experienced many bloody battles, they had shed their纨绔 (spoiled brat) ways and were capable of standing alone.

Yun Feifei, needless to say, possessed both cultivation and cunning, and was already a formidable figure before meeting Wei Yuan. That's why Wei Yuan entrusted her with overseeing the battle of Xuanwei Six, a crucial position. Yun Feifei had escaped countless life-or-death crises in the past; the Xu family had even tried to capture her for several years without success, so Wei Yuan didn't think anything would happen to her.

The two bodies were then separated and carried to the ground. The young nobleman had died in battle, and his family needed an explanation; this matter was to be handled by Cui Yu.

But looking at Yun Feifei's face, Wei Yuan always felt that something was not real.

Did she plant explosives in the pillars of every floor?
Did she blow up the escape route first?

Did she detonate the explosives herself?

These questions kept lingering in Wei Yuan's mind, making him feel as if he had never truly seen Yun Feifei, or rather, that he knew a completely different Yun Feifei.

If those 10,000 elite troops had been sent back to the surface, the consequences would have been unimaginable. At that time, Qingming's ground forces were already at their limit, with both sides engaged in a massive, bloody battle. If those 10,000 elite troops had joined the fray, Qingming would likely have been the first to collapse. Moreover, if they hadn't died, it was uncertain when Yan Xin would have entered the fray; without his intervention, the battle would never have ended.

Wei Yuan suddenly felt inexplicably tired, a kind of tiredness that came from the inside out, and his heart felt as if a small part of it was empty.

If only he had more troops, if only he could send three thousand more elite soldiers underground, if only he had more muskets…

If only we could give him a little more time...

But there are no "what ifs" in this world, just as there is no turning back on the path to immortality. Once you embark on it, you must go all the way until you perish. Some people leave and you will meet again, but some people leave and never return, like Fang Hetong and Yao Ma. As for those who remain now, we don't know when they will leave.

Wei Yuan reached out and wiped the dirt off Yun Feifei's face. Looking at her still lively and beautiful face, he wondered if she had any regrets when she left.

I think should not be?

A chilling wind swept across the vast land. One by one, vacant-eyed witches appeared everywhere, heading towards Jade Mountain in groups and squads.

The black water boiled, countless black particles rose from it, and then a tree emerged from the water, growing continuously. Its entire body was a deep, bottomless black, making it impossible to determine whether the blackness was an all-consuming void or simply the black trunk of a tree.

A doorway was embedded in its trunk, now tightly shut, with a symbol above it whose meaning was unclear. The tree had only a few branches, with a few lonely leaves hanging from them, moving erratically even without wind, as if they might wither at any moment.

Black energy continuously emanated from the full moon, eventually coalescing into eighteen advanced celestial energies. It was unclear whether this was a reward for the appearance of the strange black tree, or an attempt to soothe Wei Yuan's still bleeding heart.

People from Yong'an and other cities have arrived. They are all mortals, and even with the blessing of the Mist-like Beings, they don't have much fighting power. Wei Yuan deliberately arranged the time for them to enter the battlefield. If they also take up arms, it means that the realm has exhausted all its resources, and it will be a time of mutual destruction.

Now that Wei Yuan has enough Body Forging cultivators at his disposal, he will no longer easily send mortals to the battlefield. In previous battles, even with firearms and fighting underground, it took at least three or four mortals to kill a single member of the Witch Clan.

When the group arrived, they began clearing the battlefield and treating the wounded. They had done this many times before and were now quite skilled at it.

However, Wei Yuan noticed a different expression on some people's faces.

Wei Yuan approached a young man and watched as he skillfully rummaged through the body of a dead human warrior, retrieved his belongings, verified his identity, and registered him.

After watching for a while, Wei Yuan suddenly asked, "What are you thinking about?" The boy turned around and saw that it was Wei Yuan. He was startled and quickly bowed, but he did not speak when he heard Wei Yuan's question.

"Go ahead and speak, it's alright."

The boy gritted his teeth, his face suddenly contorting into a ferocious grimace. Pointing at Wei Yuan, he said, "We fight every single day! We've been fighting every single day since this damned realm came into existence! My father, mother, sister, and two brothers are all dead, all killed in battle! It's all your fault. If it weren't for you, we'd still be alive and well in Quliu Town!"

Cui Yu, who was standing nearby, kicked the boy away and cursed, "Is that what you call alive? In Quliu Town, you live worse than pigs and dogs!"

The boy stood up and said stubbornly, "Even if I can't compare to pigs and dogs, I'm still alive!"

"That's what you call living?" Cui Yu laughed angrily.

The boy, having nothing better to do, shouted, "We were born into the mud, we had no choice! Does being born into the mud mean we don't deserve to live? Is it wrong for us to want to live? If I were born into a wealthy family like you, I wouldn't necessarily be any worse off than you! The only reason you can stand here lecturing me is because you were born into a good family!"

Even Cui Yu, who was usually eloquent, was so angry that he couldn't speak. He wanted to draw his sword, but then felt it was inappropriate.

With a loud slap, an elderly mortal next to him slapped the boy hard across the face, then knelt down and kowtowed, saying repeatedly, "This child is not bad by nature, but he has lost his parents and brothers and lacks someone to discipline him. I am willing to take him in and will definitely discipline him strictly in the future!"

Within Wei Yuan's sea of ​​consciousness, the azure energy continued to increase, but several of the thousands of newly added azure energies disappeared again.

Wei Yuan walked up to the boy, stared directly into his eyes, and said coldly, "The war here is not meaningless, and the deaths were not in vain! Whether you understand it or not, the meaning is there. Guards!"

Wei Yuan pointed at the boy and said, "Disrupt the morale of the army and send him to a labor camp. If he survives three major battles, he will be pardoned."

The hard labor camp was originally established by Cui Yu of Xiaoyu to punish offenders. Those in the camp performed manual labor in peacetime and served as soldiers in wartime, fighting in the most dangerous areas. Those who survived three battles could atone for their sins and be released. Furthermore, merits earned in the hard labor camp were still counted and distributed to their families.

The guards dragged the boy away.

Wei Yuan remained silent for a while before saying to Cui Yu, "You see, I'm not a soft-hearted person; it's you who hesitated."

Cui Yu sighed, "I think he wasn't wrong about some of what he said."

Looking at the endless sea of ​​corpses, Wei Yuan slowly said, "Ifs and hypotheticals are meaningless. We were born this way, and there's no changing it. We can only stand where we are and keep moving forward. What he said might be right, but it's meaningless. Some people are willing to live worse than pigs and dogs, while others are not. If everything could start over, I would still move everyone in Quliu Town to the boundary. No matter how many times it happens, it would be the same!"

Cui Yu nodded and said in a deep voice, "It's good that you think that way."

The wind was strong in the realm. The night was not yet over, and the wind was unusually cool tonight, with a chill that went straight to the bone.

Countless living people walk among the dead, not knowing when they too will fall and become one of those lying on the ground, and then be registered by others.

Wei Yuan didn't think the boy was wrong, but in this era, when humanity was still fighting for survival and reproduction, it wasn't enough to simply be without fault.

During the time he established Qingming and stood on the front line against the alien race, Wei Yuan truly understood the predicament of the human race. Behind the seemingly prosperous and thriving world lay the possibility of a crushing defeat at any moment, and the reality that countless people were still being sacrificed and slaughtered to create spectacle.

Just 3,700 years ago, four immortal lords of Taichu Palace died on the battlefield. There was a great cause for them, but perhaps there was also helplessness that they had no choice but to do so.

Wei Yuan harbored no hatred for either the Liao or the Wu tribes. They were born that way, each fighting for their own people. Had Wei Yuan been born into the Wu tribe, he too would have fought to the death for his people.

But Wei Yuan now harbors hatred in his heart!
From the moment Wei Yuan saw Yun Feifei's body, he kept thinking how much better it would be if he had more soldiers. Not even too many, just five thousand, or even three thousand, and she wouldn't have died, and many others wouldn't have died.

But there were hundreds of thousands of troops not far away, some of whom could arrive within half an hour! Yet they remained motionless!

For the first time in his life, Wei Yuan felt such intense, clear, and overwhelming hatred!
He never imagined that what he hated so much was people.

(End of this chapter)