“Didn’t you hear me tell you to scram? Brothers! Whoever wants that worthless thing can take it!” he said to the rows of guard soldiers standing by the door. Hearing this, Ge’er Jinqin and several ministers felt a shock in their hearts. If Ruo Wen had become so arrogant that he viewed even the imperial seal as a mere stone. This was something countless people had fought tooth and nail to obtain.
However, only silence followed, and no one came forward to take the imperial seal.
“No one wants it? Fine then!” Manhu waved his hand impatiently and turned to Ge’er Jinqin, saying, “You scram too!”
Ge’er Jinqin’s expression turned cold as he stood looking at Ruo Wen. As he raised his head, the blue-robed dancing girl beside Ruo Wen’s expression brightened.
Ge’er Jinqin said, “We shall abide by the terms of the surrender document and retreat to the noble tomb complex. In this life, we have no intention of returning to this palace. At this moment, we especially sing praises to the new king, may he be revered for ten thousand generations!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ruo Wen let out a light chuckle, faint and quick, yet also venomous. It was like a large raindrop suddenly falling on a calm lake surface, and after that raindrop, a torrential downpour would follow.
He said nothing and didn’t even look directly at Ge’er Jinqin.
At this moment, the blue-robed dancing girl leaned closer, her voice coy as she said, “Leader! Ruo Lan also wants a reward!” She knelt before Ruo Wen’s knee, one jade hand suggestively caressing Ruo Wen’s large hand resting on the armrest of the throne.
“Oh? What have you set your eyes on?” Ruo Wen glanced at her.
“I want that pair of sapphires!” As she spoke, Ruo Lan pointed seductively towards Ge’er Jinqin.
— Indeed, there was a pair of sapphires as blue as the sky.
Ge’er Jinqin trembled, frightened, and fell to the ground.
“You… you…” His face turned pale, his words incoherent.
Only those sapphire blue eyes stared at Ruo Wen in terror.
Then Ruo Wen coldly replied, “Gouge them out!”
In an instant, only a piercing scream was heard in the great hall, followed shortly by deathly silence.
In the silence…
Nearly three thousand nobles and officials were moved into the noble tomb complex behind Heyan Mountain.
For a time, no birds flew in the forest, no fish swam freely in the streams.
Several ministers supported the king, whose eyes had been gouged out, as they entered the largest royal tomb in the center. Ge’er Jinqin lay on the bed, his breath feeble, his lips turning black, his body trembling uncontrollably. In his hands, he tightly clutched the royal seal, muttering incessantly.
“None more noble than the Yu Clan… With the royal seal… in hand, the world shall… be in order, by… this… as a warning, I… I must become king!” He repeated these few sentences, apparently from the proclamation on his coronation day!
Sighing, the ministers around felt heartbroken. In the blink of an eye, a dynasty had changed hands. Although such events were not uncommon in history, how many had faced such a demonic catastrophe as Ma Sui today, with the royal palace changing hands in just ten days?
Who could believe it if told, yet it was an undeniable fact?
That night, the area behind Heyan Mountain was unusually bright with lights. White figures knelt all around the tomb complex. What else could they be but the nobles and officials of Ma Sui? Once so glorious, they now faced the sin of disturbing their ancestors’ spirits, forced to share the same resting place. What a transgression.
Three thousand people, dressed in mourning clothes, knelt before their family tombs, kowtowing nine times, begging their ancestors for forgiveness.
The cold penetrated to the bone, as waves of wailing rose and fell, calling for the souls to return to heaven.
“Fire! It’s bad! Fire!”
Just as they were deep in sorrow, a sharp cry came from the edge of the forest.
The white figures stood up, looking around in alarm, only to find that the tomb complex had been surrounded. The encircles all held torches and fire arrows, their eyes fierce! The white-robed people gathered in panic. A thousand pairs of eyes watched the approaching figures. Manhu sat on horseback, his face flickering with wild firelight!
“Burn it all!” At his command, in an instant, thousands of arrows were loosed, and a sea of fire engulfed everything.
The descendants of the Ma Sui royal clan, trapped in the circle of fire, screamed incessantly.
“Ruo Wen! Ruo Wen! You’ve broken the agreement, may you die a terrible death!”
The old ministers of Ma Sui now engulfed in flames, were utterly desperate. They shouted at Manhu.
“Ruo Wen! You are a faithless wretch! You will surely face divine punishment and be utterly destroyed!”
“Yellow Scourge! Even in the underworld, I will watch with open eyes as your flesh turns to pulp and your bones to ash! Today you exterminate our clan, but one day another clan will exterminate you! Such is the cycle of the world! How can it tolerate your wild deceit!”
“Hahaha! Ruo Wen, no questions! Ruo Wen, no return! I’ll be waiting…”
As they shouted, Manhu’s expression turned cold, his eyes fierce. “Shoot them dead!” he ordered.
In an instant, all those who were cursing and shouting were pierced by thousands of arrows, dying miserably amidst the cremation.
The baptism of fire and blood seemed like the smoke of a previous life, returning to the mortal world through Ruo Wen’s cruelty!
Manhu watched this tragic scene with an excited expression, clearly very satisfied.
Seeing that this scorched forest had turned to ashes, with no one left to wail.