Chapter 256: The Demon of the North Wind Seeks Peace

【"Tuoba Hongyan!"】

【Unexpected—another familiar face!】

【You gave a slight nod.】

【Behind you, the eunuch Yu Xu's voice rang out: "Prince Yan summons Tuoba Hongyan!"】

【At this command, the outer order officer stepped forward immediately.】

【Lu Yu, standing nearby, let a faint smile appear on his face.】

【Tuoba Hongyan—this name was no stranger to him; as Tuoba Shuyi's son, they had crossed paths during the great northern battle between the two armies.】

【He had escaped Lu Yu's grasp several times, leaving a deep impression.】

【At Mount Zhongnan that year, Tuoba Hongyan delivered Tuoba Shuyi's message.】

【According to the silver mercury's secret report, Tuoba Hongyan, while serving as a hostage in Daqing's capital, married eight concubines yet fathered not a single child.】

【After being summoned by the Empress Dowager into the imperial palace, he vanished as if evaporated.】

【Until today—he reappeared in the north!】

【Outside the great tent!】

【Rows of guards stood in formation, blades glinting coldly.】

【Tuoba Hongyan paced anxiously, clearly having waited a long time.】

【He worried the Young Protector would not appear, ruining his father's grand plan.】

【He also feared facing the Young Protector himself.】

【Tuoba Hongyan had fled in haste from the capital's palace, taking a pre-prepared secret tunnel out of Chaoling City.】

【Indeed!】

【Everything unfolded exactly as Tuoba Hongyan had foreseen: the moment the Young Protector stepped into the palace, the Emperor's and Empress Dowager's fates were sealed.】

【Just like in the old wars—each time the North Wind and his father believed victory was certain, Lu Chen always turned the tide.】

【Since then, whenever the Young Protector was involved, he became thrice as alert.】

【As expected, inside the palace, the Emperor and Empress Dowager were eliminated.】

【Yet!】

【Tuoba Hongyan felt no relief from surviving.】

【Instead, his heart swelled with nostalgia and reluctance—not for those eight wives.】

【Tuoba Shuyi refused to leave heirs in the capital, even aborting pregnancies, because he knew he could not control his own fate—how could he let his child suffer such a fate?】

【His child should fly freely across the grasslands!】

【In the glittering illusion of his hostage life, Tuoba Hongyan gradually lost himself—helpless, yet desperate to escape.】

【Like a prisoner trapped in luxury.】

【With this turmoil in his heart, Tuoba Shuyi rushed back to the North Wind.】

【Back to the old capital, where the streets were filled with fellow tribesmen wearing hats, and tall North Wind women walked familiarly past.】

【Back to his father's leopard pavilion—where his father still ate raw meat, slept on brushwood, and tasted gall.】

【It seemed nothing had changed!】

【His father remained as cold as before.】

【Even so!】

【Tuoba Hongyan's heart still trembled with excitement!】

【"Father, your son has returned!" Tuoba Hongyan held back his tears.】

【Then!】

【A few days later, news reached the North Wind.】

【Molo has come!】

【Molo is the elder brother of the North Wind's most revered god, "Changsheng Tian." Once the supreme deity, he fell into corruption, became a monster, forged hell, and brought death to mortals.】

【Molo—the monster in North Wind myth who devours the earth—is the origin of all demons. His image is deeply etched in their minds, symbolizing disaster and terror; he devours sheep and horses in the night, rides the gales and snowstorms across Mount Qilian!】

【His appearance means apocalypse!】

【But myths are myths—they cannot exist in reality!】

【Then who, in the North Wind, is this Molo?】

【Tuoba Hongyan knew well.】

【Who else in this world could the North Wind call an apocalyptic disaster?】

【Only one man.】

【Lu Chen, commander of the Lu Army.】

【Years ago, the Lu Army marched north across the Yellow River, winning battle after battle, advancing with unstoppable force.】

【Finally!】

【The Lu Army reached the northern capital; the roads to Liaodong and Hao Zhi behind the North Wind were cut off—only one step remained before the North Wind's annihilation.】

【War is cruel—the North Wind lost half its able-bodied men; every household now had widows; today, one man must marry three or four wives.】

【Wives lost husbands, children lost fathers, mothers lost sons.】

【Our women have lost their luster; our livestock no longer multiply.】

【The North Wind people feared and hated the Lu Army.】

【They called this army demons, and Lu Chen, its commander, they saw as Molo.】

【Lord of Demons, ruler of Hell!】

【Those wars not only emptied the North Wind's treasury—they shattered its backbone. The people had never felt death so close; that terror and helplessness burned deep into their souls.】

【Now Lu Chen has returned—with three hundred thousand troops.】

【The North Wind was thrown into panic.】

【Some cried that disaster had come—that the North Wind would perish.】

【The North Wind's capital was called Huanglong Fu; after Tuoba Shuyi seized power, he renamed it "Chengtian," meaning "to receive heaven's mandate."】

【Yet today, Chengtian was shrouded in chaos.】

【Prices soared; essentials like rice and salt were scarce, their costs skyrocketing to unbelievable levels. Some even considered fleeing the once-prosperous capital, returning to their ancestral lands in Liaodong and the grasslands.】

【Some declared disaster had arrived and the North Wind would fall; others insisted this was only a temporary hardship—if united, they could overcome it.】

【The capital was in turmoil!】

【So.】

【The next day, Tuoba Shuyi ordered that anyone singing mourning songs be beheaded; he restored rice and commodity prices, decreeing death for those who hoarded or inflated prices.】

【In the afternoon!】

【Beneath Chengtian's imperial palace, Tuoba Shuyi led tens of thousands of soldiers clad in sackcloth, holding memorial plaques of North Wind heroes, slowly marching down the palace streets—each step heavy, solemn, and tragic.】

【Silently conveying their bone-deep hatred for the Lu Army.】

【On the palace terrace, Tuoba Shuyi faced the ten thousand citizens of the capital, his voice fierce and resolute:】

【"We swear to crush the Lu Army—to perish with the North Wind! If the North Wind falls, Tuoba Shuyi will be the first to die as vanguard!"】

【"In the North Wind, there are no cowards—only warriors who die fighting!"】

【These words echoed through the crowd like thunder.】

【Below the stage, Tuoba Hongyan stared at his father's fearless figure, his blood boiling—as if he had returned to his youth, to his first day on the battlefield.】

【Unable to contain his passion, he raised his arm and shouted into the crowd: "Changsheng Tian will protect us! We are children of Changsheng Tian, proud sons of the boundless grasslands!"】

【The crowd erupted in cheers!】

【That night, after the rally ended, his father summoned Tuoba Hongyan alone.】

【Tuoba Hongyan, heart pounding with excitement, pleaded: "Father, let me lead the army—let me fight the Lu Army to the death!"】

【Tuoba Shuyi said: "Take my letter. Go to the Lu Army and seek peace."】

【Tuoba Hongyan froze.】

【Wasn't it only death and battle this morning?】

【How could it be peace now?】

(End of Chapter)