Chapter 808: You must take a bite

Yuan Guangyi straightened up, slightly raising his hand.

The attendants outside the door hurried away.

Soon, several attendants escorted the tightly bound Tengyuan Liangxin inside and pressed him to the ground.

Tengyuan Liangxin's hair was disheveled, his clothes in disarray; though he knelt on the ground, his back remained straight.

Yuan Guangyi glanced at him: "Please, Your Highness, take him away."

Tengyuan Liangxin lifted his head, met his gaze, and gave a self-mocking laugh.

Songyong Zhenjiu raised his head, glaring at Tengyuan Liangxin, his face full of anger: "Tengyuan Liangxin! If it weren't for you urging the general to go to war, how could our Eastern Ocean have fallen to this state?"

"The general and all the ministers present are implicated because of you! All of this is solely your fault!"

Tengyuan Liangxin looked around, his gaze landing on the Great General Seal held by Xiao Ningxun.

He suddenly burst into loud laughter.

Songyong Zhenjiu furrowed his brows: "What are you laughing at?"

"Lord Songyong," Tengyuan Liangxin said, stopping his laughter, looking at him with a cold gaze, "You say I urged the general to go to war?"

"Yes, I was the one who proposed the expedition to High Beautiful."

"But do you think the general didn't want to?"

"You!" Songyong Zhenjiu shouted angrily, "Don't spew nonsense—"

"The things I've done," Tengyuan Liangxin interrupted him, "those mass graves, using High Beautiful people as shields—how could he not know?"

Yuan Guangyi lowered his eyes, saying nothing.

Tengyuan Liangxin flung his messy hair to the side, revealing that face, smudged with grime yet still defiant.

"Songyong Zhenjiu, you've been targeting me all along just for your younger brother, haven't you?"

He grinned: "You guessed right—I gave him poison, which is why he became a mute, paralyzed wreck!"

Songyong Zhenjiu flew into a rage: "You reckless beast!"

Tengyuan Liangxin paid no heed, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the Eastern Ocean officials: "You all put on airs, eager to push all the blame onto me."

"But when I first proposed the expedition, what exactly did you oppose?"

"Is it the war itself? No! What you fear is merely that my Fujiwara family would monopolize the merits, overshadowing your clans!"

Yitiaojianliang's face turned ashen, while Songyong Zhenjiu's face flushed liver-colored.

"Now that we've lost the battle, you rush to sling mud at me—but why?"

Tengyuan Liangxin's words grew sharper: "It's nothing more than wanting to keep his office, his wealth, and his land."

"Have you ever truly cared about the survival of the Eastern Ocean?"

He paused, lifted his head, and his gaze fell on Tuan Tuan in Xiao Yuanhang's arms.

Xiao Yuanhang held his daughter tighter.

"As for Anbei Taiqin," Tengyuan Liangxin stared fixedly at Tuan Tuan, "though he's called the Eastern Ocean's greatest Yin-Yang Master, he's so useless he keeps losing to this five-year-old child!"

"I cut him down with a single blow," he snorted, "his skill was inferior—his death was well deserved!"

The Eastern Ocean officials were all shocked beyond measure; the Yin-Yang Office, which directly answered to the general, had Tengyuan Liangxin secretly kill him?

Tengyuan Liangxin paused, his glare at Tuan Tuan growing more vicious: "I only regret not having killed her myself sooner!"

He gritted his teeth: "Otherwise, how could we have ended up like this?"

Upon hearing this, the faces of the Fierce Kingdom's generals all changed.

Xiao Ningchen stepped forward and slapped him hard across the face.

That slap carried tremendous force.

Tengyuan Liangxin was sent sprawling to the ground by the blow, the corner of his mouth splitting instantly, a trickle of blood tracing down his chin.

Xiao Ningxun calmly drew a handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it to his older brother.

Xiao Ningchen took the handkerchief, carefully wiped his hands, as if he'd just touched something filthy, then casually tossed it to the ground.

"You're saying all this just to beg for a quick death?" Xiao Ningchen looked down at him, voice icy, "You dare speak to my sister like that and still want a painless death? Dream on!"

Tengyuan Liangxin struggled to his feet from the ground and knelt upright again.

Xiao Yuanhang regarded him for a moment: "I won't kill you."

Everyone was stunned.

Xiao Yuanhang said calmly: "It is said that, for the warriors of the Eastern Ocean, nothing weighs heavier than family honor."

"Good, very good. I will have you conveyed to the capital in a prison cart, along the way having people beat drums and gongs to proclaim your crimes to all the Eastern Ocean's people."

"Then, have your emperor strip the warrior status of your Fujiwara family and execute you publicly in the streets."

The Eastern Ocean's people all felt a jolt in their hearts.

Tengyuan Liangxin lifted his head toward Xiao Yuanhang and burst into loud laughter again: "Fine! Prince Ning, you're ruthless!"

"The victors become lords, the losers become bandits—I have nothing more to say!"

He swept his gaze over all the Eastern Ocean officials once more, eyes fervent, voice hoarse: "Although I have fallen today, a hundred years from now there will still be those in the Eastern Ocean who remember me, Tengyuan Liangxin!"

"If it weren't for the Fierce Kingdom's meddling, the copper and iron mines of High Beautiful would long ago have been entirely ours, the Eastern Ocean's!"

"First gain a foothold in High Beautiful, then the Eastern Ocean can gradually expand its territory."

He looked at Xiao Yuanhang: "By then, your Fierce Kingdom will submit beneath the feet of the Eastern Ocean!"

"This island is too small," he shook his head vigorously, "too small! It cannot contain the legacy of the warrior's way!"

His eyes burned with near‑mad light as he turned to the Eastern Ocean officials: "You lot deserve nothing more than to waste your lives trapped on this tiny island, guarding that pittance of stipend and land, ending in mediocrity!"

He seemed about to spew the last fire from his chest, shouting wildly: "And I, Tengyuan Liangxin, have given my all for the Eastern Ocean! My name will be forever remembered by warriors!"

Xiao Yuanhang waved his hand, voice calm as ever: "Take him away; as I said, send him off to the capital at once."

Xiao Ningxun added: "On the way, stuff his mouth so he can't spout nonsense and corrupt hearts."

"Yes!" Two Goryeo soldiers stepped forward, one on each side, lifted Fujiwara Yoshinobu and dragged him off the ground, pushing him outward.

Fujiwara Yoshinobu did not struggle, and laughed loudly again.

Yuan Guangyi sat kneeling in silence, his gaze fixed on the wood grain where the Grand General's seal had been placed.

Xiao Yuanhang touched his daughter's little head: "Don't be afraid, dad is here."

"I'm not scared," Tuan Tuan shook his head, "Dad, this person is so pitiful."

"Huh?" Xiao Ran's face was shocked: "Little one, who are you saying is pitiful? Fujiwara Yoshinobu?"

Chen Hao also looked puzzled: "Tuan Tuan, didn't you understand what he said?"

"I understood!" Tuan Tuan nodded vigorously, "He even dreams of snatching other people's things; if he can't take them, he's not happy, right?"

Feng Zhou scratched the back of his head: "Seems… that's what it means. But Alliance Leader, what kind of pitiful is that?"

"When he spoke just now, he thought he was absolutely right!"

Tuan Tuan, face full of seriousness: "So his mind is sick! It's especially severe!"

"His family must have completely ignored him, didn't find a doctor to treat him early, which made him this crazy, so that's why I said he's so pitiful!"

The crowd: "…"

At the same moment, in the Yin‑Yang Hall.

Liu Guiyan sat dejectedly in his own room, lost in spirit.

Kamakura Castle fell! The Immortal Envoy did not die! That Prince Ning also didn't die!

On the contrary, Fujiwara Yoshinobu was captured, and Anbei Taixin died.

How could this be possible?

Their life or death has nothing to do with me, but I still couldn't avenge you! Cheng Lang!

She remained silent for a long time, took the Golden Snake out of her bosom and placed it on the table.

She gently touched the scar on the Golden Snake's back, murmuring, "Your blood is useless to her."

"Could it be that you must bite once to put her to death?"