In the eighth month of the third year of Heaven-Answering, within Heaven's End Pass, the haggard Sun Yuantai prostrated himself on the ground. Trembling, he received the imperial decree granting the court's rewards, tears streaming down his face.
So long as one was human, one would have desires—some sought fame, some sought profit. Yet fame and profit could not encompass everything.
Beyond fame and profit, some sought an obsession, a form of self-fulfillment.
What Sun Yuantai sought now was precisely that.
Though he, too, had once lost himself in power, after returning to the mountains and forests, he came to understand what he truly wanted.
He sought a dream: a dream in which he devoted himself loyally to his country, while the sage Son of Heaven distinguished right from wrong and showed consideration for him, his subject—a fitting tale of ruler and minister.
Since ancient times, any famous or worthy minister had, more or less, harbored such sentiments.
For they already lacked neither fame nor profit. Those things were merely trappings acquired after they had climbed to the pinnacle of power.
Once one reached the summit, such things became no more than drifting clouds and smoke. What lay outside had already reached its limit, so one turned abruptly from without to within.
Of course, everyone was different. Even after undergoing the same process, what they ultimately became would differ.
Yet what Sun Yuantai encountered at this moment struck directly at the softest place in his heart.
In that instant, the thought arose within him that only by sacrificing himself for the nation could he repay his sovereign's grace.
Thus, old tears streamed down his face. Before this imperial decree, all the hardships, tremendous setbacks, and crushing blows he had suffered these past days no longer counted for anything.
"Grand Marshal,