Spring had already arrived, and the northern grasslands were no longer covered in snow. Rather, there was a sense of life all around.
The soft green pastures of the steppe were mentally refreshing, and the transparent and clear rivers winding across the meadow stirred the heart.
White clouds hung low in the sky, the heavens almost within reach.
But for some reason, Yan Liuyuan kept getting the feeling that the sky was all gloom on the way back. The dark clouds did not dissipate at all.
It wasn’t until the moment he saw Xiaoyu that the dark clouds in the sky suddenly dispersed. Sunlight penetrated through the dark clouds and covered the ground, illuminating the abyss.
Initially, when Xiaoyu saw Yan Liuyuan, she felt he had changed into a different person. But when he saw her, he immediately changed back to his usual self.
For Yan Liuyuan, Xiaoyu was his solid anchor. As long as his anchor was still around, he would not get lost in the ocean.
In front of her, he was no longer a god or a young lord of the steppe. He was just Yan Liuyuan.
“Big Sister Xiaoyu, my brother is still alive,” Yan Liuyuan said softly as he sat in the royal tent.
Xiaoyu, who was sewing Yan Liuyuan’s clothes, froze. She turned around and looked at Yan Liuyuan. “Wh-Where is he?”
Yan Liuyuan removed his black faceplate and said, “But I didn’t go and look for him.”
Only the two of them were inside the royal tent. Xiaoyu could see a hint of sadness in Yan Liuyuan’s expression. She said, “Is it because you’re afraid?”
Yan Liuyuan suddenly started talking about something else. “Big Sis, you know about my power. In the past, I would always experience backlash whenever I used it.”
Xiaoyu said with a gentle expression, “The first time I realized you had a superpower was when all of your brother’s bones were broken. At that time, we were held hostage by the Yang Consortium’s troops and forced to perform manual labor. You would fall down every day until your face was bruised and swollen, while those who were cursed by you ended up falling to their deaths.”
“Mhm.” Yan Liuyuan nodded. “The backlash from those curses was very straightforward. Whatever curse I wished upon others, a corresponding backlash would befall me. But it’s been different since the battle in the valley. After the ground started splitting and the cracks on the ground spread out, I did not suffer any backlash at all. It was as though the split ground had undone the shackles on my body. Every time I use my power now, the shackles break a little more.”
When Xiaoyu heard this, she did not respond immediately. Instead, she just listened quietly as Yan Liuyuan continued.
Yan Liuyuan said, “The cracks on the shackles are like gaps in the void. They’re constantly expanding. It feels like there’s some kind of will summoning me to become a part of it. No, to be more precise, it’s summoning me to take over that immense will. Only when I return to your side do I feel the cracks slowly knitting together, and only then do I regain more of my… humanity.”
“Liuyuan, you’ve already unified the grasslands. Don’t use your power anymore,” Xiaoyu softly said, sitting down across from Yan Liuyuan.
“Mhm, I’ll try my best to control myself,” Yan Liuyuan promised.
“What are your plans for the future?” Xiaoyu asked.
Yan Liuyuan stayed silent for a long time. “Thousands of innocent people died in the massacre of the city during our raid on the South this time, and some of the women there were violated by the Khoton tribe. I don’t know how to face him anymore. I don’t know how to tell him that his closest brother has become the type of person that he hates the most.”
“But you should know that even though he wants you to be a good person, he definitely won’t abandon you just because of something like that. Have you ever thought about how hard he’s trying to look for you? You know your brother’s character too. As long as he doesn’t see you, he’ll keep looking for you until the day he dies,” Xiaoyu said.
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Yan Liuyuan stopped talking.
Xiaoyu looked at Yan Liuyuan and realized it was not Ren Xiaosu he could not face but himself.
Back in town, Liuyuan would always imitate Ren Xiaosu’s tone when he spoke. He would do whatever made Ren Xiaosu happy.
This child had always had an inexplicable admiration for Ren Xiaosu since he was young. He only saw Ren Xiaosu as his role model and wanted to become someone like him.
But in the end, he ended up becoming the type of person his brother hated the most. Yan Liuyuan was afraid.
“Big Sis, give me some time.” Yan Liuyuan said, “I’ll go and check on the incident that happened at the salt pool first.”
With that, Yan Liuyuan put on his black faceplate again. By the time he walked out of the royal tent, there were already countless tribesmen waiting for him outside. Hassan led the horse to him while Bulan Zir got down respectfully to act as his footstool.
This was the treatment for a god.
Yan Liuyuan first checked on the victim’s injuries. Nearby, Bulan Zir confirmed, “They’re all slash wounds, and it was likely inflicted by a heavy sword. The force of the slash was so great that it almost cut the victims in half. Their ears were also cut off like it was for some ritual.”
Yan Liuyuan nodded and said, “Are there any survivors? Did you see who killed them?”
“No, only these 12 people went to the salt pool to harvest salt. All of them are dead,” a tribal chief said.
Kirghiz Yan knelt next to the corpses. “The slash wounds are all inflicted on their front sides, so it shows that no one tried to escape. They’re the bravest warriors of the steppe. Master, should we head north to take revenge for them? I, Kirghiz Yan, am willing to be the vanguard.”
“Let’s give our warriors a sky burial first,” Yan Liuyuan said calmly.
Afterwards, a few hawks flew down from the sky and landed next to the corpses as though no one was around. The surrounding tribesmen all knelt. To the nomads, if the corpses of the deceased could get eaten by the hawks, it meant their souls would gain entry to the sky realm.
But for sky burials in the past, the deceased would always have to be taken out into the grasslands where they would have to wait for up to seven days. It was never as magical as what was happening in front of them right now.
To those present, this was a funeral Yan Liuyuan had personally arranged for his tribespeople. It was a baptism by the gods.
Yan Liuyuan spurred his horse towards the salt pool as several hundred warriors rode close behind him.
When they arrived at the outer perimeter of the salt pool, Yan Liuyuan could already see the bloodstains ahead.
In the vast whiteness of the salt pool, the purplish-brown bloodstains were extremely eye-catching. Yan Liuyuan asked, “Were the corpses found here?”
“Yes, Master,” a nomad answered.
“Have any of you seen those people from the north in recent years?” Yan Liuyuan asked.
“No.” Bulan Zir shook his head. “Actually, the ones who were most active in the northern territories should be our Bulan tribe, but we’ve never seen them before.”
“That’s strange then.” Yan Liuyuan said, “Why did those people suddenly come south, and they even got so close to our territory too?”
At this moment, a black figure appeared at the salt pool out in the distance. Hassan instinctively moved forward and led his men to stand guard in front of Yan Liuyuan.
Yan Liuyuan watched from his horse as the other party slowly approached. Then he said calmly, “They’re here.”