Chapter 181:
“Forget these days’ experiences, forget all of this,” Lu Ziyan looked into her eyes, staring at her eyes without blinking, and said: “Do you believe me? I will definitely clear your name for you.”
……This she believed.
Xie Wanning nodded dazedly.
She finally had a reaction. Lu Ziyan forced a stiff smile from the corner of his lips, took her hand, and walked out.
On the deck, torches were lit, illuminating everything brightly.
Dozens of Jin Kingdom generals and soldiers had their backs to this side, mouths gagged, knees bound, kneeling on the ground.
Ming Feng held an iron whip, lashing it one whip after another on these people.
Seeing them come out, he paused his actions, knelt on one knee, and pleaded guilty: “The Jin Dynasty came with one hundred and three in total. Seventy-eight were executed on the spot. This subordinate is incompetent, allowing Jin Wuji and two death warriors to escape.”
Lu Ziyan looked toward that row of men, that word ‘they’ still echoing deeply in his mind.
He swallowed the sweet metallic taste in his throat and asked: “The rest are all here?”
“Yes!” Ming Feng said: “They have already been interrogated. These people, including five maidservants, are all death warriors trained by Jin Wuji.”
Training even one death warrior is extremely difficult. Their absolute loyalty and martial power are not weak. Losing a hundred people here is no less than cutting flesh, even for the crown prince of the current dynasty.
Lu Ziyan stood against the wind, gripping the young lady’s hand tightly beside him, and said coldly: “Chop them all into minced meat. Do not leave a single one alive.”
“Yes!”
Xie Wanning still naively thought this was just harsh words. After all, chopping more than twenty living people into minced meat was not only cruel but also quite difficult.
Until she heard Ming Feng, who took it in stride, accept the order and rise, commanding the generals and soldiers behind him.
A cleaver half a man’s length long was carried by a deputy general and smashed onto a Jin Kingdom man with his back to her. Splattering blood flowers seemed to mix with bone fragments, some carried by the wind straight to her face.
Only then did she realize that ‘chop into minced meat’ was literal.
So, this was not harsh words.
What he said about chopping into minced meat really meant chopping into minced meat.
Her expression was dazed, as if she were frightened silly.
Lu Ziyan finally snapped out of his rage.
It was indeed inappropriate for a pampered young lady to witness such a bloody scene.
But she had already endured half a month’s hardship; if he didn’t vent ruthlessly…
He frowned, momentarily at a loss.
After a while, he put his arm around her shoulder, pulled her into his embrace, and asked: “These people have unknown amounts of Han people’s blood on their hands. Death by a thousand cuts is not excessive. Do you want to try doing it yourself?”
“…” Xie Wanning swallowed. She recalled the scenes at the Hot Spring Villa, the bullied maidservants, the servants hacked to death by random blades.
“Actually, it’s not only Jin Dynasty people who deserve to die.”
On that day, those who swung the butcher knife at their own people were mostly Han people.
They committed crimes on their own land, even more vicious and arrogant.
Lu Ziyan understood what she meant, gently patted her shoulder, and soothed softly: “No rush. We’ll deal with them one by one. Those people will all die.”
Those who acted directly, those who schemed behind the scenes, and those who stood by and watched…
He would not let any of them go.
In the end, Xie Wanning did not act herself; just watching this bloody slaughter made her want to vomit.
Lu Ziyan did not force her, only saying: “When I catch Jin Wuji and vivisect him, you can make the first cut.”
With that, he ordered softly: “Seal off this lake area along the route. Post reward notices in nearby prefectures and commanderies. Once Jin Wuji’s whereabouts are discovered, capture him alive!”
Jin Wuji could not escape.
Since he dared to venture deep alone, he would leave his life with the Great Khan.
He would not let him die too easily.
Death by a thousand cuts would still be too lenient for him.
Chop him into meat paste one cut at a time, then throw him to feed the wild dogs.
This was the best way for a crown prince of a nation to die.
Lu Ziyan thought seriously: In his past life, how did Jin Wuji die?
In his past life, Xie Wanning’s death buried all of Lu Ziyan’s kindness and reason.
At first, he lived like a madman refusing to accept reality, desperately trying to wake her.
At that time, he was just a minor Marquis of Wuyuan. He needed power above tens of thousands to mobilize the nation’s strength to seek capable people and hermits.
Forcing the palace against his own father—he did not hesitate for a moment.
But she would not wake. He sought countless enlightened monks and tried every method, yet she would not wake.
Later, he went completely mad and hated everything in the world.
Imperial Consort Shu, the First Prince, and Lu Xiyao had long been subjected to extreme punishment, hanging on by a thread in torment.
So, the ones next to face his mad revenge were the several madams of the Lu Family, toward whom he had once felt endless guilt.
Liu Manrou, whom he had personally promoted to proper wife, and that child; the second wife’s concubine Er Xia.
These people—he demoted them again and again, crushed them repeatedly, yet felt those punishments were far from enough.
He was already living worse than death, so they naturally should not fare better and could not live more happily than him.
Later on, he found that bloodshed and slaughter could make him feel a bit better, like drinking poison to quench thirst. He began warring everywhere.
Leveling the Jin Dynasty was easy; Jin Wuji was not even a proper opponent.
Every time he breached a city, the butcher knife swung down. He killed too many, blood flowing into rivers, as if only slaughter could ease his pain.
In his past life, he let Jin Wuji die painlessly. In this life, he would make him suffer a thousandfold.
Otherwise, how could he vent the hatred in his heart.
How could he wash away the humiliation his Wanwan suffered.
Trapped in prison for over half a month, her neck wounded and bleeding profusely, then witnessing a bloody slaughter after rescue— that night, Xie Wanning developed a high fever.
Her body had always been healthy; when she rarely fell ill, it came fiercely.
Her whole body seemed possessed, lips parting occasionally to mutter nonsense.
Lu Ziyan sat bedside, occasionally lifting a handkerchief to wipe her sweat.
The old doctor came again to take her pulse.
Lu Ziyan dismissed everyone and asked gravely, “How is her body?”
The old doctor knew no martial arts and had not set foot on the deck that evening; no one dared spread the news, so he knew nothing of those events.
Hearing this, his hand on the pulse trembled. After a long while, he said softly: “The young lady was frightened, plus excessive blood loss from the wound and exposure to cold, allowing evil qi to enter her body. With proper care and warming for a period, she can recover fully.”
“She…” Lu Ziyan paused, looking at the young lady on the couch with sweat-dampened temples, and said: “Is there any deficiency elsewhere in her body?”
The old doctor was puzzled and dared not ask details. To be safe, he said cautiously: “The young lady has a good foundation and is young. Even if her body suffered some loss, it can be nursed back.”
……That was good.
Lu Ziyan closed his eyes briefly, held Xie Wanning’s hand, and said: “Go write the prescription.”
The old doctor breathed a huge sigh of relief and hurried to the desk, pen flying as he wrote two prescriptions.
