Chapter 64 Hatred

Mother, Tongtong, Little Hu... Have I truly avenged you all in this manner?

Tu Chuan closed his eyes. The wails and pleas for mercy within the courtyard had completely faded into silence, leaving only the sounds of the imperial soldiers cleaning up the battlefield.

Had he truly obtained his revenge?

What a pity that, in the end, he was unable to execute the enemy with his own hands and still had to rely on the imperial soldiers...

Indeed, if possible, Tu Chuan certainly wished to kill that beast Li Chuan with his bare hands.

Yet, despite all the years Tu Chuan had striven, even rising to the rank of centurion under Li Chuan's command, he had never found a proper opportunity to strike him down.

Therefore, when Xu Huang informed him today that the Han troops were plotting to eliminate the officers and the most steadfast zealots within the camp, he decisively accepted this mission.

Only now, with his enemy dead and his great vengeance fulfilled, did he lose all sense of purpose, leaving behind nothing but an endless void.

I...

—"Xu Huang, Tu Chuan, my superior summons you both inside."

The messenger boy under the moonlight turned out to be none the exact slender young soldier who had previously claimed to have lowered the rope. Naturally, this man was also one of Su Yao's arranged operatives.

Xu Huang and Tu Chuan nodded, silently following the guide toward the county yamen.

Before even reaching the entrance, Xu Huang heard a majestic, booming voice shouting from within:

"What kind of madness has possessed you this time, lad? Over three hundred men, and you actually thought the two of us could slaughter them all?"

Just two people intending to kill three hundred? Xu Huang felt a shock run through him. Before he could ponder further, he heard Su Yao's signature, chillingly aloof voice reply with utter disdain:

"Mere small fry, could the two of us possibly be worn out from killing? By the way, has Lord Lü's martial prowess regressed lately? When can you ever hope for a promotion if it takes you this long to dispatch such a meager number of heads?"

Su Yao was indeed somewhat dissatisfied. He had originally blocked the doorway perfectly, killing every single enemy that came his way. Who would have guessed that Lü Bu's side would actually show signs of fatigue first, becoming cornered and unable to break free?

Left with no alternative, he had been forced to order the ambushers on the roof to release their arrows and clear out the trash as quickly as possible.

"You!"

Lü Bu was choked with anger. What did he mean by "mere small fry"? These were the most fanatical elite soldiers of the Yellow Turbans!

This brat had charged in with a style that gave the enemy zero quarter, forcing every single Yellow Turban zealot to fight for their lives.

If not for his advantage with long weapons and his secured position in the corner, he, Lü Bu, would genuinely have been nearly overwhelmed by the sheer human tide.

Damn it, this brat's martial might was truly a freakish anomaly, completely unreasonable.

...

"This is..."

The commotion inside caused Xu Huang and Tu Chuan to pause awkwardly.

The guiding young soldier hastily coughed twice and explained, "Our superiors are always like this. The two of you need not mind. Come along."

Shaking their heads, Xu Huang and Tu Chuan quickly arrived at the entrance of the county yamen.

At that moment, a sudden, suffocating wave of blood-iron stench made the two frown, yet compared to the purgatorial scene unfolding before their eyes, it was immeasurably better.

In the glare of the torches, the floor of the county yamen was dyed a deep crimson by blood, strewn with countless headless corpses.

The vanguard of Yang Feng's force within the Bailabo Army—these most elite and courageous warriors—had been utterly wiped out in this single battle, with not a single survivor.

No, there was still one.

Tu Chuan covered his nose and mouth, staring in astonishment at the sole survivor:

—"Li Chuan!"

Li Chuan sat amidst the pool of blood as though trapped in a nightmare, his face ashen, his expression dull, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.

It was only after Tu Chuan called out his name three times that Li Chuan finally snapped back to reality, turning his gaze toward the vanguard soldier who had suddenly vanished within the yamen.

This delicately featured young soldier stood beside Xu Huang, his eyes bloodshot, glaring at him with gnashed teeth.

Li Chuan had no mental capacity left to ponder how this had come to be; upon seeing a familiar face, he simply wailed aloud by pure instinct:

"General, save me! Tu Chuan, save me!"

Save you?

Tu Chuan let out a cold snort, lunging forward with a swift motion. He knocked Li Chuan to the ground, pressed his elbow against the man's neck, drew his blade, and demanded fiercely:

"Li Chuan, do you still remember the one hundred and thirty-one lives of the Shu Family Village!"

"Shu, Shu Family Village? What is that?"

Tears streaming down his face, Li Chuan shook his head frantically, shrieking at the top of his lungs:

"Tu Chuan, don't do this! General, save me! Help me!"

Xu Huang averted his gaze, looking toward Su Yao.

He saw the young general, bathed in blood, looking calmly on with steady eyes. Holding two curved blades that still dripped with blood, Su Yao merely watched the unfolding events with an indifferent expression, his thoughts inscrutable.

Over there, Tu Chuan was already trembling with rage at Li Chuan's words.

There was nothing more agonizing in this world than such a reality.

The tragedy that had crushed Tu Chuan's world like a falling sky was nothing more than a long-forgotten past to this enemy.

To Li Chuan, those one hundred and thirty-one lives in the Shu Family Village were merely a casual fire set along the way, a nameless village of no consequence.

"I don't know, I really don't know! Save me, save me! I don't want to die!"

"You don't want to die? Then my mother, Tongtong, Little Hu—did any of them want to die? When they begged you to show mercy and spare their lives, did you let even a single one of them go?"

Tu Chuan pressed the tip of his blade against Li Chuan's face, tears falling as he spoke with bitter hatred:

"You didn't! You didn't spare a single one! You killed them all! Now I demand you pay with your life!"

With that, Tu Chuan raised his blade high and brought it down fiercely!

Clang—

This fatal strike to execute his enemy was actually blocked, and the one who intervened was none other than Su Yao.

"Ge, General, what is the meaning of this?!"

Tu Chuan's face flushed crimson. Eager as he was to slay his enemy, he lacked the sheer audacity to act presumptuously before this god-of-war-like general.

Yet he could not comprehend it: since this general had deliberately spared Li Chuan and summoned him inside, why stop him from taking his revenge?

Let alone Tu Chuan, who lacked understanding; even Xu Huang, wearing an awkward expression, could not comprehend it. And what of Lü Bu, who clutched his neck as he breathed heavily, or the numerous subordinates of Su Yao present at the scene? Which of them could possibly make sense of it?

Each of them wondered inwardly what outrageous stunt this eccentric youth was about to pull now.

Only the despairing and broken Qu Shuai, Li Chuan, lying upon the ground, wailed and pleaded as though grasping at a straw, babbling that he would serve as an ox or a horse if only his life were spared.

To this, Su Yao merely kicked him in the head to shut him up, then cleared his throat twice:

"Tu Chuan, is it? I ask you, what do you plan to do after killing him?"

What to do?

Tu Chuan was baffled. When he accepted this mission to win Su Yao's trust, he had laid bare his entire past, naturally revealing his intentions to the general as well:

"This humble man wishes to return to being a farmer, hoping the General might grant a patch of meager fields to spend the rest of my days in peace."

Yes, this was his plan.

Tu Chuan had never intended to use the betrayal of these men to achieve glory or success; his goal from beginning to end was solely vengeance.

And just moments ago outside, believing his grand revenge accomplished, that overwhelming sense of emptiness had only fortified his resolve to depart.

The imperial court, corrupted...

He had witnessed far too many atrocities committed by corrupt officials. Had the imperial court not turned a blind eye or even actively fueled the flames, they would never have been driven to the desperate path of a destroyed family.

Yet the Yellow Turbans were equally dark...

He knew not what these Yellow Turbans were like when the Heavenly General was alive, but now they were merely lawless bandits.

For their general's hegemony, for their own purses, and for expanding the scale of their forces, they murdered, set fires, plundered grain, and forced destitute commoners to enlist and follow them.

And in these few years of fighting alongside the army, Tu Chuan's own hands had long since been stained with blood.

Tu Chuan was weary. For the sake of revenge, he had lost far too much. Now that his great vengeance was fulfilled, he desired nothing more than a few mu of poor land to live out a simple life facing the soil, never again to mingle in this chaotic era.

"Seclusion?"

Su Yao smiled faintly.

"Do you believe that killing him constitutes true revenge?

Do you suppose that possessing a few mu of meager land will allow you to preserve your life?

Do you think this chaotic era is something you can escape simply by wishing to? What is to stop another identical tragedy from befalling you?"

Tu Chuan was dumbfounded. He had not expected that this decisive and merciless general would suddenly lecture him with such specious, grand principles:

"Could it be that this humble man... should not kill him?"