Enter the City! At Last, a Final Farewell

A group of them disguised themselves as demon soldiers and rode to the eastern camp of the demon race.

The demon guards immediately stopped them.

"Stop! What are you doing?"

"Idiot, we were sent by the marshal to hunt down the human breakout force. We're back to report. If you delay the marshal's important business, I'll slaughter you!"

Lin Junyu lowered his voice and harshly berated the demon soldiers blocking their way.

The demon soldiers did not dare stop them and hurriedly cleared a path into the camp.

Leading 800 Feather Forest Cavalry, Lin Junyu galloped recklessly through the camp of the demon race's million-strong army. The surrounding demon soldiers all turned to look at this force racing through the camp on horseback.

"Which unit are they from? How dare they behave like this in the camp!"

"Idiot, it's none of our business!"

Lin Junyu did not care what these demon soldiers thought. He only wanted to lead everyone out of the demon camp as quickly as possible and reach the gates of Bartley City.

The demon camp was enormous. Lin Junyu led everyone in a frantic charge for ten minutes before they finally reached the exit at the other end.

"Stop! Who are you people?"

The demon soldiers guarding this area had just begun to question them when, before they could react, Lin Junyu charged past on horseback and cut them down. Even at death, they could not understand why enemies had suddenly emerged from within the camp.

"Enemy attack! Enemies are in the camp!"

The demon soldiers who witnessed it immediately shouted, and the entire demon camp instantly descended into chaos.

Meanwhile, Lin Junyu and the others had already rushed out of the camp and arrived at the city gates.

Zichuan Mingyue immediately stepped forward and removed her helmet, signaling the general guarding the wall to open the gates and let them in.

The general stationed there had been about to order arrows fired to kill this demon cavalry force that had dared attack alone, but then he saw Commander Zichuan Mingyue. Looking again at the demon camp in the distance, where a large army had mobilized to pursue them, he immediately ordered the gates opened.

"Open the gates! Close them immediately once everyone is inside!"

The tightly shut gates of Bartley City opened. Zichuan Mingyue led Lin Junyu and the eight hundred Feather Forest Cavalry inside in a steady stream.

By the time the demon army reached the gates, all they could see was the gate slamming shut again. The leader at the front was so furious that he pounded his chest.

"Mingyue, little sister, why have you come back again? And who is this?"

Upon receiving the news, all the commanders of the Southeast Legion came to the city lord's manor's council hall, where they saw Lin Junyu seated in the place of honor and Zichuan Mingyue standing beside him.

"Who is this?"

"This is His Highness the Third Prince!"

Zichuan Mingyue calmly introduced Lin Junyu's identity.

"What? His Highness the Third Prince!"

"Your Highness, why have you come here?"

"What? If I hadn't come, would this elite imperial legion of five hundred thousand men have just waited to be besieged by the demon race and die?"

Lin Junyu took a sip of tea from the table. Though his tone was calm, it carried immense pressure, leaving the commanders at a loss for words. Fortunately, Zichuan Mingyue came to their rescue.

"Your Highness, Prince Lin was assassinated and remains unconscious. None of us commanders dared gamble with the lives of five hundred thousand soldiers, so every action we took was decided through discussion."

"Moreover, although there is a million-strong demon army outside the city, many of them are irregular units, while the demon race's elite legions are few. Even if we fought them to the death on the plains, we could repel them, but our casualties would be severe. Every commander has been considering the Southeast Legion as a whole, which is why we did not leave the city to fight the demon race in a bloody battle!"

"Commander Mingyue is right. We hope Your Highness can understand our painstaking considerations. After all, the Southeast Legion cannot afford any mishap!"

"Enough. Take me to see Uncle Yuan."

Everyone led Lin Junyu to a heavily guarded room, where a handsome, resolute middle-aged man lay motionless on the bed with his eyes closed.

Lin Xingyuan was the younger brother of his nominal father. Ever since they had met after that crisis in his childhood, he had called him Uncle Yuan.

He walked to Lin Xingyuan's side and saw that his face was pale and his life force extremely weak. This was another ability Lin Junyu had developed through the Immortal Gene: he could sense an individual's life energy.

And under his perception, Lin Xingyuan had very little life energy left. It would likely be exhausted within three days.

Lin Junyu stepped forward, gripped Lin Xingyuan's hand, and transferred the inner power of his Light Ripple Art into his body. The inner power cultivated through the Light Ripple Art was universally useful, effective whether for healing wounds or killing enemies.

As a steady stream of inner power flowed into Lin Xingyuan's body, his tightly shut eyes finally slowly opened.

"Y-you're Xiao Yu?"

The moment Lin Xingyuan opened his eyes, he saw a handsome young man holding his hand and continuously sending inner power into him. But in his memory, wasn't Xiao Yu useless at martial arts? How could he possess such deep inner power?

"It's me, Uncle Yuan!"

Hearing the young man's words, Lin Xingyuan slowly revealed a smile. He could feel that his life was nearing its end. The child who had once always followed behind him, clamoring for him to teach him martial arts, now possessed such formidable strength. One of the burdens in his heart was finally lifted.

Sensing Lin Xingyuan's life energy rapidly draining away, so quickly that he might not even last a quarter of an hour, Lin Junyu became anxious. Wasn't the inner power of the Light Ripple Art supposed to be suited for healing? Why was it having the opposite effect instead?

But in truth, Lin Junyu was simply too worried. Healing applied to nonfatal injuries; with fatal injuries, it would stimulate the wounded person's latent life potential, allowing them one final burst of clarity before death.

"Xiao Yu, I can't go on. Can you promise me two things?"

"Uncle Yuan, just say the word. I'll definitely do them for you!"

"Ha, child, you've finally grown up. I'm very gratified!"

This child's mother had died early in his childhood, while his elder brother had been busy developing the empire ever since ascending the throne, never paying any attention to the child.

As a child, he had often been beaten and scolded by his two older brothers. Once, when he witnessed it himself, he taught those two insensitive nephews a lesson. Yet the youngest one latched onto him afterward, frequently coming to find him and asking him to teach him martial arts. But he was utterly talentless in martial cultivation. He had already told him so, but the boy refused to accept it, persisting every day, his eyes carrying a stubbornness and tenacity unlike that of other children.

But the boy had given him his trust and reliance without reservation, and he, too, had been moved by him. He agreed to teach him martial arts.

Just when he had been spending his days at the prince's residence teasing that stubborn child who often came to learn martial arts from him, believing he would remain an idle prince forever, he unexpectedly received orders to head to the front lines and establish the Southeast Legion. He was thrilled, excited—his talents would finally have a chance to shine.

He did not bid anyone farewell. There was no one in all of Far Capital willing to truly befriend him whom he needed to say goodbye to, because they all feared his status.

So, on a snowy night, he packed his bags alone, preparing to leave that stifling Far Capital by himself and make a name for himself.

But when he passed through Far Capital's gates and looked back, he saw a tiny figure clinging to battlements taller than himself, bright eyes fixed on him as he sat astride his horse below the city walls.

A man who had always believed that men bled but never shed tears let hot tears fall for the first time in his life. He did not dare look at that small figure again and turned his horse, galloping away.

Yet as he traveled farther and farther from that city he despised, the road before his eyes grew increasingly blurred. Without realizing it, tears had already filled his eyes.

Later, he gradually lost all news of that child. It was as though he had vanished within Far Capital. The only information he received was the gossip circulating among the people: the boy's reputation as a worthless good-for-nothing, and that he had boldly entered the Fragrant Pavilion at a very young age. When he heard that, he had actually laughed. He had never expected that someone so stubborn from such a young age would turn out to be a little lecher.

As for the reputation of being worthless, he did not believe it. Only someone who had spent time with him could know what a world-shaking genius he truly was. Many of the strange ideas in the boy's mind were things he had never heard before, yet upon careful consideration, they seemed entirely feasible.

What had left the deepest impression on him, however, was the boy's bold prediction that the Luminous Empire would one day split apart. The ones to divide it would be the empire's two newly risen clans, the Zichuan Clan and the Flowing Wind Clan. In the end, the Luminous Empire would have only one protector who emerged out of nowhere—the legitimate descendant of a collateral branch of their Lin family.

At the time, he had merely thought it was childish nonsense, and had even scared him by saying he would throw him into an imperial prison.

But after many years of fighting abroad, that childish nonsense from back then had already planted a seed in his heart.

During his campaigns, he often considered the possibility of the empire splitting apart. Combining it with what he had seen and heard in war, he discovered that it was indeed something very likely to happen.

He was horrified and afraid, but then he remembered that this outcome had been foreseen long ago by a child—and that child was the Third Prince, who possessed the right to inherit the empire. His heart eased. Since he could see it coming, he would surely be able to resolve it. As long as he could support him onto the imperial throne, perhaps the future of the Luminous Empire could be changed.

But before any plans or arrangements could be made, an assassination changed everything.

Now, he was about to leave. Everything in this world would no longer have anything to do with him.

"Xiaoyu, cough, cough... The only one I cannot rest easy about is my child, who has just turned ten. His name is Wei Guo. I hope that after I am gone, you can help me take good care of him!"

"Rest assured, Uncle Yuan. I will take good care of him!"

"Good. The second matter is this: I am handing the Southeast Legion over to you. Promise me that you must live well! The glory and future of the Lin Golden Pansy depend on you!"

As he spoke of the second matter, Lin Xingyuan tightly gripped Lin Junyu's hand, his eyes wide as he stared at him, hoping to hear a definite answer. Otherwise, he would not be able to die in peace.

"Alright! I will live well—for humanity, for the glory and future of the Lin Golden Pansy!"

Lin Junyu looked steadily into Lin Xingyuan's eyes. Under Lin Junyu's firm gaze, Lin Xingyuan took a command token from his waist and handed it to him.

Then his body gradually relaxed. He lay down on the bed and slowly closed his eyes.

His life had reached its final moment. He murmured, his voice growing weaker and weaker.

"Live well."

As those words faded, Lin Xingyuan—Prince Lin, the War God of a generation in the Luminous Empire—completed his brilliant and glorious life.

Looking back upon his life, he had not failed humanity, the empire, or his clan. He had failed only two people.