I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

The corridor was quiet.

Gu Yan leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and felt the power within her body.

That power was even more immense than before he entered the ward; the spiritual energy surging through his meridians was like a boundless ocean.

It is very close to SSS.

Combined with the inherent characteristics of the Mirror Flower Seal, his current combat strength is no weaker than that of someone newly entering the SSS rank.

He clenched his fist, then relaxed it.

The feeling of becoming stronger was wonderful, so wonderful that he became somewhat greedy for it.

But he knew that wasn't enough.

The Black Tide continues, the defenses are still crumbling, and more and more people are dying.

He needs greater power.

He opened his eyes and walked towards the end of the corridor.

The morning light shone through the window and fell on his back, casting a very long shadow.

......

It's another new morning.

It was at this moment that the communications soldier ran up the city wall.

The young soldier, panting, saluted.

"Deputy Commander Gu, Commander-in-Chief Xuanyuan requests your presence. He says he has found you some helpers."

Gu Yan composed herself, turned around, and walked down the city wall.

The morning light fell on him, illuminating the dust on his military uniform clearly.

He walked through the camp towards the command post.

The road was lined with tents for treating the wounded and refugees queuing for porridge. He walked quickly without stopping.

Xuan Yuancheng stood at the entrance of the main hall of the command post, his missing arm sleeve swaying gently in the wind.

He heard footsteps, turned to look at Gu Yan, and his gaze lingered on him for a moment.

"You've gotten a lot stronger."

Xuan Yuancheng's voice was calm, but Gu Yan could hear a hint of surprise beneath it.

"You're much better than when I first met you."

"it is good."

"It's better to be stronger."

"The defense line needs combat power like yours."

Gu Yan didn't reply, but simply asked.

"Where's the helper?"

Xuanyuan Cheng turned to the side and gestured with his chin toward the main hall.

Gu Yan stepped inside.

The main hall was dimly lit, and two elderly people sat in armchairs.

A man with white hair and beard, wearing an old-fashioned robe that had been washed until it was faded, held a feather fan in his hand.

The other one also had a full head of white hair, wore a dark gray suit, and stood ramrod straight.

Zhuge Yuntu, Fu Yunshu.

The moment they saw Gu Yan, the pupils of both old people contracted sharply.

Zhuge Yuntu's hand holding the feather fan froze in mid-air. Fu Yunshu stood up abruptly from her chair, swaying as if something had struck her chest hard.

"Master Gu... Master Gu."

Fu Yunshu's voice was trembling.

The old man, who once ruled the Fu family and was a powerful figure in the Great Xia Dynasty, had trembling lips and his eyes reddened instantly.

"You're still alive."

"You're still alive."

Zhuge Yuntu slowly stood up.

He looked older than he had three years ago, and his back was more hunched, but the light in his eyes remained.

He looked at Gu Yan for a long time, then sighed very softly.

"it is good."

"OK."

"It's good that you're alive."

"This old man's bones have finally seen you again before he closes his eyes."

Xuanyuan Cheng leaned against the door frame, his eyes flickering.

He glanced at the two elderly people, then at Gu Yan, his tone indifferent.

"Since they're all old acquaintances, I won't get involved in catching up."

"The two seniors volunteered to come to the seventh line of defense."

"With them there, the pressure on the defense line will be less."

"You guys chat."

He finished speaking, turned around, and left.

The main hall fell silent, with only the breathing of the three people remaining.

Gu Yan looked at the two elderly people in front of her, feeling as if something was stuck in her throat.

When he wrote his will at Windsor Manor three years ago, he never imagined he would see them again.

Fu Yunshu walked up to him and placed her wrinkled hands on his shoulders.

Her hands were trembling slightly, but her strength was steady.

"Master Gu".

"The Fu family wronged you back then."

"It's my fault, this old woman, for wronging you."

Her voice was hoarse and deep, each word sounding as if it had been dug out from the deepest, deepest place.

"That child, Wanqing... I switched her with Shiwei back then."

"Shiwei is someone I brought back from the English royal family; Wanqing is the true bloodline of the Fu family."

"For the sake of the family's interests, I had Shiwei take on Wanqing's identity and sent Wanqing to the countryside."

"Later, when Wanqing was found, I didn't dare to tell the truth."

"I'm the one who ruined those two sisters, and I'm ruining you too."

Gu Yan was stunned.

He recalled Fu Shiwei's stunningly beautiful, Western-looking face, and the way Fu Wanqing cried her heart out in her adoptive parents' arms, saying, "I am nothing."

All the answers to the mystery were hidden in the old man's heart.

"Wanqing never blamed me."

Fu Yunshu's eyes welled up with tears, but she didn't let them fall.

"She always smiled and always said that Grandma must have had her reasons."

"But the more she acts like this, the more upset I feel."

"Master Gu, I don't ask her to forgive me."

"I only ask for one thing."

"Let me die on the battlefield."

"My old life can still protect the Great Xia from a few more calamities."

"This is the only thing I can do for her."

Gu Yan reached out and grasped the old man's hand that was resting on her shoulder.

That hand was cold, with prominent knuckles, like a branch dried by the wind.

"Chief Secretary Fu."

His voice was very soft.

"Wanqing wouldn't want to see you die."

"She said that what she wanted to do most was to take you back to the Fu family's old house after the war ended and plant a new ginkgo tree in the yard."

"She said you like ginkgo the most."

Fu Yunshu's body suddenly stiffened.

She looked at Gu Yan, and tears finally rolled down her face, streaming down her wrinkled cheeks.

She didn't wipe it, but simply shook her head very lightly.

"That child...that child."

Zhuge Yuntu listened quietly to everything.

He shook the feather fan in his hand and walked up to Gu Yan.

His eyes held a mixture of relief, emotion, and a very faint trace of guilt.

"Gu Yan".

He didn't call him Master Gu, he just called him by his name.

"The decision regarding the secret location in the South China Sea was made by me back then."

"Later, when you got into trouble, I resigned from my position as Grand Secretary to take responsibility."

"For the past three years, I've thought about this every day: if I hadn't let you go back then, would you still be alive and well now?"

"But when I saw you walk in just now, I suddenly changed my mind."

"Because you are alive, and you have become stronger."

"Great Xia needs you."

"The world needs you."

Let bygones be bygones.

"My old bones, like Elder Fu's, have long been prepared to be buried in this land."

Gu Yan looked at the two old people.

They were all very old, with completely white hair and hunched backs.

But they stood there, in the command post of the seventh line of defense, like two old trees that refused to fall in a blizzard.

They knew they would die, but they still came.