Told You, But You Wouldn't Listen

The girl had spoken offensive words to Han Wujing, who was the man of the hour. Amid the angry cursing, the Qu clan servant guarding her from behind raised his leg and directly kicked Lin Qiangqiang. The young girl's knees buckled sharply forward, but she forced herself straight again. *You have to look good in front of Major Qing, Lin Qiangqiang,* she thought through gritted teeth. *Tremble if you must, but whatever you do, don't cry. You're not allowed to cry.* Han Qingyu was now just one step away from at least three Bones of Eternal Life—like the red bayberries hanging ripe on the branches that one year. "Fuck Azure's ancestors eight times over," Han Qingyu suddenly cursed through gritted teeth from his chair. Things were already utterly frustrating, yet he still wanted to struggle a little longer. Beside him, the patriarch of the Luo clan turned to look at him. "Right! Fuck Azure's ancestors eight times over! Hahaha..." The Qu clan began selecting the executioners, and Luo Tianlong took the initiative to volunteer for one. Volunteers stepped up one after another, but there were still fewer than seven. Qu Zongxing stepped down from the platform in person and walked slowly past the side steps. He halted, casting his gaze upon Wu Xu. "You are that surviving Yu clan war slave?" Wu Xu looked at him from his seat on the stone steps. A brief struggle flickered through his heart, but as always, his face betrayed not the slightest ripple of emotion. He nodded. "The Yu clan was wiped out. The old man here was deeply grieved upon hearing the news. Go on up." Spear in hand and sword on his back, Wu Xu stepped away from the stone steps. Yet Qu Zongxing did not leave. He stood in place, his gaze shifting across—skimming past Wen Jifei and landing squarely on Pang Jinghe. *Motherfucker, he really picked me! It's over! It's all over!* Pang Jinghe thought to himself, *If I go up there and stand right in the middle of the plaza, once the blades start swinging, I won't even have a chance to run.* "You..." Qu Zongxing's eyes lingered on him for a moment before he suddenly smiled. He turned around, casually drew a saber from one of his subordinates behind him, and tossed it into the air. "Wujing, you take the last one." Where the saber flew— Han Qingyu rose to his feet, drew the blade from over his shoulder, and with a casual deflection knocked the flying saber right back toward Qu Zongxing's subordinate. Then he walked up before the bluestone platform. He looked around. Only one spot was left. Carrying his blade, he took his stance directly opposite Lin Qiangqiang. Night had begun to fall, but torchlight blazed bright across the plaza. Qu Zongxing returned to the bluestone platform, launching into an impassioned, stirring speech. Lin Qiangqiang looked at Major Qing standing before her. *He really is good-looking.* Lin Qiangqiang wanted so badly to smile at him. And then introduce herself: *"My name is Lin Qiangqiang. I'm nineteen, and I've been with Azure for three years. I've heard every one of your stories...* *"My best friend works at Medical Station 101. Tucked between the pages of her book is a flower you gave her back then. She treasures it so much—she'll only let me look, never even touch it... Could you give me one in the future, too?* *"If... if I get to go back to the Wall of Heroic Spirits one day, and have a little niche of my own."* ...Lin Qiangqiang could say none of it. There were over a thousand people here. They had to be on a mission. Lin Qiangqiang thought, trembling. She took a deep breath, her eyes slowly reddening, bright with glistening tears. "Kill!" Qu Zongxing barked. "Kill!" shouted the crowd below. Lin Qiangqiang squeezed her eyes shut. *Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...* Blade winds whistled before the bluestone platform. Then—*shing!*—a black spear swept across in a straight horizontal bar. *Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!* Metal clashed against metal as five weapons slammed into the Binggu Spear one after another. Wu Xu's feet didn't budge an inch. Glancing left and right, he stood there numbly. An unexpected sight. Tick, tock. After about two seconds of shock and confusion— "What is going on?!" "What are you doing?!" The scene instantly descended into clamorous chaos. "What's your degree of fusion grade?" In the midst of the racket, Han Qingyu spoke, keeping his voice barely above a whisper. Yet Lin Qiangqiang heard him. Startled, she parted her lips, then bit down lightly. "C." "How many seconds to equip a device?" Her lips parted. "Eight." Eight seconds. *So slow.* Han Qingyu furrowed his brows, muttering inwardly. He said nothing more and didn't look at Lin Qiangqiang again, missing the girl whispering to him, "It's okay." In truth, equipping Azure's Ninth-Generation source energy device took an average of about eleven seconds, so Lin Qiangqiang was considered very fast. Had it been the Sixth or Eighth Generation before the linked improvements, taking half a minute to two minutes was entirely normal. There were very few Azure Ninth-Generation devices here, though there were several pairs of Snow Lotus's latest model—God only knew how they had gotten their hands on them. The two were very similar; rumor had it that Azure had copied Snow Lotus for its Ninth Generation. "I just thought of something and told him to block them!" Han Qingyu suddenly announced loudly, drowning out the clamor. Then he looked up, meeting Qu Zongxing's piercing glare. "Alliance Chief Qu, I believe it is ill-advised for us to directly oppose Azure or enter into head-on conflict right now. Azure wields tremendous power, and it's only thanks to organizations like Snow Lotus checking them that a balance is held. Under these circumstances, I believe what we ought to do is lie low, play all sides, and slowly pursue our growth within the cracks." Han Qingyu felt a bit sheepish even saying it. Although he had already made preparations that were reluctant and unwilling yet utterly necessary, he still wanted to struggle—to strive desperately. Because without question, by keeping up the act, they would stay closest to the Bones of Eternal Life. Even if they truly had to start hacking people down, this was not the right time. If they started cutting right here, in all likelihood he wouldn't even touch the bones—there were simply too many people. "Makes sense," Wen Jifei nodded approvingly, then turned to Pang Jinghe with a wry smile. "What do you think?" "Makes absolute sense!" Pang Jinghe exclaimed loudly. The same sentiment rippled across the stone steps on all sides. Except for the war slaves who remained dead silent, nearly the entire crowd was whispering among themselves, discussing Han Qingyu's words. The vast majority expressed agreement. "It does make sense." The voice came from atop the bluestone platform. The entire plaza fell silent, looking toward Qu Zongxing. Qu Zongxing's gaze swept over the crowd before settling back onto Han Qingyu. "Wujing, what you say makes great sense... Therefore, silence them. We cannot allow these people to go on living. Kill!" As the word "kill" left his mouth, he brought the edge of his hand down in a resolute chopping motion. "Qu—" "No more words! Kill! Consecrate our banner with blood, burn the corpses, and erase all traces!" "..." With this twist and this sheer resolve, even Han Qingyu was dumbfounded. Nearly everyone in the plaza was trying to process this logical backflip. "Since when is this old bastard so damn logical?!" On the steps, Wen Jifei muttered dazedly, "Holy fucking shit." Pang Jinghe's head was buzzing, completely disoriented. "So what now? Are we gonna start hacking each other?" He was keeping watch over Han Qingyu's bag—a not-too-large, somewhat elongated bag. Knowing that whatever lay inside had to be extraordinarily precious, Pang Jinghe had kept it cradled tightly in his arms, both yesterday and tonight. In his arms, the bag suddenly twitched. *Huh? An illusion? Was it just me shivering?* Then the bag twitched a second time, and a third. The movement was slight, but it was unquestionably moving. Pang Jinghe turned his head dumbly, pinched a fold of Wen Jifei's sleeve, and tugged it. When Wen Jifei turned around to look at him, Pang Jinghe silently pointed at the bag in his arms. "Need to hit the latrine? Go ahead," Wen Jifei said. "Just leave the bag on the ground." Pang Jinghe stammered, "I... you guys..." "Go," Wen Jifei said with a smile. With that smile, Pang Jinghe understood. *I'm gonna live!* Old Pang was so overcome that he nearly burst into tears. Hastily setting the bag down, he scrambled to his feet and headed toward the exit of the plaza. Reaching the exit, Pang Jinghe stopped and looked back. "What about you? Come with me! Didn't you say you needed to piss just a moment ago?" Wen Jifei turned to look at him and chuckled. "I'm fine. My kidneys are strong." With that, he waved his hand to shoo Pang Jinghe away. Then he turned back, eyed Qu Zongxing on the stage, and let his hand rest on the long bag tucked behind his hips as he settled in to wait. *By the way, a village square counts as a plaza too, right?* Hardly anyone noticed this exchange on the side steps, as the attention of the entire crowd was fixed on the center of the grounds. In the middle of the grounds, beneath the bluestone platform, Wu Xu's spear remained raised. Han Qingyu stood about seven or eight meters away, his chin tilted slightly upward as he stared at Qu Zongxing. The order had not been carried out; he had been staring like this for a short while. "So he still disagrees?" "The guy is truly stubborn." "Yeah, if it were any of us, who'd dare stare down Alliance Chief Qu like that? The order was repeated, and he still won't do it." Hushed murmurs rose and fell across the crowd. "*Ai...*" Han Qingyu suddenly let out a long sigh. Then, amid the quieted crowd, he looked at Qu Zongxing and said, "Hey, what is it with you? Why won't you listen when people talk to you?!" The entire plaza went dead silent. Because the tone of Han Wujing's words was simply too bizarre. It felt like *how can you be so unreasonable and impossible to talk to?*, or like an elder who had exhausted every ounce of patience, only to end up weary and exasperated, finally losing their temper over someone failing to live up to expectations. And facts proved their impression was spot on. Because right then on the grounds, just as Qu Zongxing's expression darkened with wrath and he raised a pointing finger at Han Wujing—before he could even utter a word— Han Qingyu added another sentence, his tone even more helpless and disappointed: "I tried talking to you nicely, but you just wouldn't listen." The moment the words fell, gasps of astonishment erupted. Simultaneously—*hum!*— With Han Qingyu at its center, a blast wave whipped up billowing dust, surging toward the surrounding spectator stands. Every flame across the plaza flickered and dimmed for an instant.