Chapter 281: White-Clad Six Halls, Mourning Ninth Army

The severely injured Luo Tianying had already been picked up by a fighter jet and rushed to the temporary base in Jin City.

Qin Tianxuan, Wutian, and the others immediately rushed to the base.

On the way, Qin Tianxuan laid out his deduction.

“After the grand tournament the day after tomorrow, Luo Qilin is a guaranteed victor in their eyes. Once he defeats me, he’ll become the most prestigious Celestial King in the Battle Department!”

“That’s why the Daqin Royal Family and the Divine Doctor Ye Family have to control Luo Qilin.”

“But Luo Qilin is a scion of the Luo Family, after all! If they let the Luo Family grow too powerful, what does that make the Daqin Royal Family? All their efforts would have been for nothing!”

The men were horrified. “So to control Luo Qilin, they’d go so far as to have him annihilate his own family with his own hands?”

Qin Tianxuan’s expression was grim. “This plan kills two birds with one stone for the Daqin Royal Family. First, by using Luo Qilin’s hand, they eliminated a threat. Luo Tianying has been putting the Luo Family’s affairs in order lately and was on the verge of taking full control. They didn’t want him to succeed in taking over the Luo Family.”

“Second, they’re using this as an opportunity to get leverage on Luo Qilin. He murdered his own kin—an unforgivable sin. As long as the Qin Race has this evidence, Luo Qilin will have to be their loyal dog!”

‘How could people be so vicious!’

For straightforward warriors like Wutian and the men of the Night Emperor Army, who were used to the open battlefield, such insidious plots were utterly shameless.

As for the members of the Intelligence Hall and the Ten Thousand Realms Hall, a conspiracy like this crossed a fundamental human boundary. They found it utterly despicable.

But it also served to fully display the strength and ruthlessness of the Daqin Royal Family.

They arrived at the base.

Lingsu of the Celestial Medicine Hall, who had arrived ahead of them, appeared, wiping sweat from her brow.

She shook her head sadly at Qin Tianxuan. “Luo Tianying’s heart and lungs are severely damaged. He’d already lost too much blood by the time he was rescued. He’s only holding on by a thread. I’m afraid he won’t make it through the night.”

Gu Qingzhi came over as well, also wiping away sweat. “It’s horrible. The patient has sixty-seven knife wounds. The fatal injuries are two bullet wounds, right through the heart and lungs. Not even an Immortal could save him now.”

A muscle in the corner of Qin Tianxuan’s eye twitched. He strode into the base.

Luo Tianying lay on his back in the emergency room, tubes running all over his body.

In a final burst of lucidity, he raised his hand. He had seen Qin Tianxuan.

“All of you, wait here!”

Qin Tianxuan quickly changed into an isolation gown, disinfected himself, and stepped into the hospital room.

Luo Tianying’s eyes were vacant, his fingers trembling.

A pang of sorrow hit Qin Tianxuan. He walked over and grasped the man’s hand. “Tianying, is there anything you need to tell me?”

“S-Sir… I’m sorry. You gave me so many resources, and I still failed!”

A sudden surge of life seemed to return to Luo Tianying. He bit through the tube in his mouth and gasped for air.

Hearing this only made Qin Tianxuan feel worse. “It was my mistake. I should have assigned you a security detail.”

Luo Tianying slowly shook his head, his voice growing clearer. “I… I was planning to take control of the Luo Family… and present it to you. I wanted to follow you and achieve something great! But it’s a shame… this must be my fate. I… I was such a good-for-nothing before.”

Qin Tianxuan didn’t know how to comfort him.

Seeing the wounds that covered his body, rage burned in Qin Tianxuan’s heart.

Luo Tianying’s voice began to fade, his breathing growing ragged. “I spent the first half of my life as an ignorant, profligate playboy. If I hadn’t met you, Sir, my life would have been a complete waste.”

His hand began to tremble. “Sir… I’m not going to make it. If I have the chance to be your brother in the next life, I swear I’ll accomplish something great to show you!”

Qin Tianxuan gripped his hand tighter. “Tianying, you already are my brother!”

The light was fading from Luo Tianying’s eyes as he mumbled, “Tell… tell Big Brother Wang Hou… that I’ll have to take him up on that drink… in the next life.”

Outside the room, tears welled in Wang Hou’s eyes. He, too, had been a playboy from a wealthy family, taken in by Qin Tianxuan, and had finally become the Marquis of the God of Wealth Hall.

But Luo Tianying’s fate was not to be the same.

BANG!

The door to the isolation room burst open. Qin Tianxuan flung it wide and rasped, “Bring me wine!”

The strongest liquor from the Northern Domain Battle Department!

Wang Hou and the others each took a cup. They raised them in a toast to Luo Tianying on the hospital bed, then downed the contents in one gulp.

This tragic yet heroic scene brought Lingsu and the other young women outside to tears.

“To have one true friend in life is enough!” Luo Tianying used the last of his strength to raise his hand in a crooked military salute. “Thank you, my brothers, for seeing me off!”

His breath hitched, his life fading. With a trembling hand, he pulled an envelope from his robes and shrieked, “Qin Wanchun! Steward Qin! Luo Qilin! I’ll be waiting in Hell for you two sons of bitches!”

With his last breath, Luo Tianying’s eyes shot wide open, frozen in an eternal glare. He had not died in peace.

SMASH! Wang Hou shattered his glass and wiped fiercely at his tears. “Sir, Tianying and I were the closest. Let me be the one to avenge him!”

Wutian clenched his fists. “Tianying may have made mistakes in the past, but he followed the Sir. That makes him one of ours in the Northern Domain. As the head of the Martial Venerable Hall, I’ll do it!”

They were all seething with rage.

Qin Tianxuan abruptly raised a hand. The men immediately stood ramrod straight.

“This vengeance is mine,” Qin Tianxuan said, suppressing his grief and rage. With a trembling hand, he opened the envelope Luo Tianying had left behind.

This was the evidence he had died to obtain.

The mastermind, known as Steward Qin: Qin Wanchun!

The commander who personally ordered the slaughter: Luo Qilin!

Qin Tianxuan took one last, long look at Luo Tianying’s un-restful dead eyes, then turned away, his voice filled with sorrow. “Give him a grand burial!”

He walked out of the base, step by step.

Beneath the starry sky, there was only silence, punctuated by the chirping of insects.

It had been many years, since the Northern Domain had risen to prominence, that he had sent off a subordinate with such sorrow.

Wutian and the others had matured over the years; they no longer needed his personal guidance to prop them up.

In the Northern Domain Battle Department, under the Night Emperor, once a brother, always a brother!

No matter what Luo Tianying had done in the past, tonight, he had been murdered as a subordinate of the Northern Domain Battle Department!

Qin Tianxuan spun around.

Outside the base, the Six Halls and the Ninth Army had already assembled.

“Issue the order! The Six Halls will wear white. The Ninth Army will wear mourning colors!” Qin Tianxuan slowly raised his hand. “All War Generals of the Northern Domain, Captain-rank and above, are to assemble tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, you will follow me to the Martial Arts Arena!”

The Six Halls and the Ninth Army accepted the order with a roar that shook the very ground.

「The next day—one day before the decisive battle at the Martial Arts Arena.」

Luo Tianying was laid to rest. Wutian, along with Wang Hou and the others, personally presided over the funeral.

Qin Tianxuan bathed, changed his clothes, and secluded himself behind closed doors.

「On the third day.」

All War Generals of the Northern Domain, Captain-rank and above, gathered north of Jin City.

Across the land, three thousand sets of armor, all a stark, plain white, came into view.

Dressed in white and mourning colors, they marched toward the Martial Arts Arena, their killing intent so palpable it seemed to shake the heavens and the earth.

Meanwhile, at the Xingtian Martial Arts Arena, the curtain had already been raised.