Jiang Qu heard this familiar voice, his eyes widened in shock, followed by an indescribable fear.
He looked up to see a rain of arrows descending upon himself and the Wei Army, while from the snowy valleys on both sides, the ambushed Yan Army erged like bamboo shoots after the rain!
Duoji stepped out from the hidden valley, his flaming red hair spreading out, dancing wildly in the wind and snow, unruly and arrogant.
Gu Chengzhao, dressed in white, squinted his eyes from afar, drew his bow, and shot an arrow, hitting the Wei Army commander’s chest.
Duoji silently watched Jiang Qu struggle desperately amidst the arrow rain, his gaze calm and indifferent.
As if watching an ordinary enemy, as if watching a good show.
Duoji had imagined countless tis about what it would be like when he saw Jiang Qu again.
Would he raise his knife and howl to avenge himself, or angrily question Jiang Qu about why he stabbed the knife into his heart back then, or perhaps, let his heart soften and spare the brother he once cherished the most.
Previously, when Duoji and Gu Chengzhao joined forces to defeat Jiang Qu’s Pseudo Royal Court, Jiang Qu had already escaped in advance, so he didn’t see him.
And now, they finally t again.
When Duoji heard Jiang Qu saying, "I hate that I didn’t really kill this man, letting him live until now," there was surprisingly no hatred or sorrow in his heart, only the sense that Jiang Qu’s life was rather pathetic.
The one who could never let go of that day was Jiang Qu, not him.
"No—why, why!" Jiang Qu blocked the sharp arrows while shouting unwillingly.
He had fled from the Snowfield to the Southern Border, beca a lackey of the Wei Country, was betrayed by Gesang, and after overcoming countless hardships to return here, why was this the ending waiting for him?
He was unwilling, but apart from that unwillingness, he couldn’t change anything.
The flat snowy ground, the howling north wind, and the arrow rain made these already exhausted soldiers turn into hedgehogs one by one.
After the arrow rain, the snow was blood-red, Dingyuan Army soldiers holding short knives charged from both sides, moving like ghosts within the Wei Army’s formation, slashing as they went, filled with a murderous aura; they not only had invincible cavalry but also elusive short-knife infantryn.
Gu Chengzhao, dressed in white, wore no armor, raised his hand, and with a sweep of his long knife, brought down a large patch of Wei Army.
Killing could be done so elegantly, in the entire world, perhaps only Marquis Gu.
However, Young Master Gu is learning this pretentious skill diligently.
When the already unparalleled Dingyuan Army was ambushing successfully at their leisure, Gu Chengzhao appearing here destined this to be a one-sided battle.
This battle ended quickly, as the Dingyuan Army cleaned the battlefield, Duoji hobbled to the restrained Jiang Qu.
"Brother... Brother, I was wrong, I was wrong... Please forgive , I beg you to spare ! I, I am your brother, your most cherished brother..."
Jiang Qu, his only remaining arm twisted behind him, with an arrow in his leg, bleeding profusely.
When he realized it was all over, a sudden epiphany hit him, and he began banging his head on the ground frantically, asking for rcy.
Soon, Jiang Qu’s forehead was bleeding from his self-inflicted injuries, staining the snow a small patch of red.
Duoji looked at Jiang Qu kneeling before him indifferently, his gaze without a ripple, internally filled with sorrow.
Gu Chengzhao walked over leisurely and said, "What, don’t tell , Marquis, you’ve gone soft-hearted."
Duoji shook his head and said, "Marquis, do you know, in our Qiang people’s language, the aning of Jiang Qu is bodhi, Jiang Qu probably always disliked this na, eager to call himself Jiang Di."
Gu Chengzhao pondered, pulling from his sparse cultural knowledge the aning of Jiang Di: "But, Di in the hearts of the Central Plains people, also ans alien clansman; he didn’t like being a Qiangrong, and hated the Central Plains people, haha, how ridiculous."
Upon hearing Gu Chengzhao’s words, Jiang Qu suddenly stopped banging his head and looked up, his face full of blood, frightening.
"Gu Chengzhao, a natural noble like you, how could you understand how hard it is for a low-born illegitimate son like to live! You will never understand!" Jiang Qu growled softly.
Gu Chengzhao said: "Oh? Actually, I didn’t originally want the Marquis title, but thinking that people like you were still alive, this Marquis wanted to kill you for the people."
Duoji’s eyes filled with a tinge of blood, he suddenly reached out, grabbing Jiang Qu’s collar, lifting him completely off the ground.
"I get it, so people are born without a heart, feeling inherently inferior, right, Jiang Qu."
Duoji, though bereft of inner strength, his physical power remained, even stronger than before, easily holding Jiang Qu’s throat.
"Brother... I... don’t..."
Jiang Qu, suffocating, tears mingling with blood on his face, looking absurd and pitiful.
Duoji stared at him, throwing him hard onto the ground.
Jiang Qu coughed, blood spewing out, crying and laughing: "Brother, I, I knew it... you still couldn’t bear to leave your brother... you, rest assured, from now on I will definitely—"
Duoji didn’t listen to Jiang Qu’s words, mildly telling a nearby officer: "Behead this man, and display it to the public."
Jiang Qu’s body froze, incredulously watching the two Yan Country soldiers walk toward him.
He watched with eyes wide open, veins popping, staring at Duoji’s retreating back, opened his mouth but couldn’t say a word.
This ti, Duoji never turned back.
The red-haired man raised his head, looking at the vast azure sky, a tear dropping down his cheek.
"Gu Lan, if it were you, what would you do?" he murmured to himself.
"Zzz—"
"Oh no!"
A strange sound ca from behind, Duoji turned and saw Jiang Qu sohow rush up, raising his neck, crashing heavily onto the scimitar at Duoji’s waist.
Blood gushed as Jiang Qu’s body slowly slid down, a bloodied hand clutching a corner of Duoji:
"I want to die in your—"
He was still wearing Duoji’s Soft Hedgehog Armor beneath his collar.
A few vultures circled above the battlefield, letting out sharp cries.
Duoji watched Jiang Qu’s wide-open, vacant eyes, made no move, rely blinked, hobbling through the snow toward Dingbei Pass.
There, Zhuoma awaited his return ho, she would no longer worry or fear for him.
Gu Chengzhao sheathed his knife, clad in white, without a drop of blood on him, his proud figure gradually fading into the wind and snow.
"Right, old Duo, what’s the aning of your na?"
"...Marquis, my surna isn’t Duo, it’s Ashina, full na Ashina Duoji."
"Then what does Ashina Duoji an?"
"Duoji ans Vajra."
"And the aning of Ashina?"
"Why so many questions, Marquis, Ashina ans Noble Wolf."
"Noble Wolf Vajra?"
"..."
From afar, drifted the voices of two n conversing.
A cause sown a thousand miles away had reaped here.
In the distant south, within overlapping palaces, a baby’s cries pierced the silence of the palace halls.
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