Caught without warning, Wu Jinliang was shaken to his core. Reeling from the ambush while watching the enormous execution blade fall, he did not know whether to look after himself or Shi Chun. No outsider could have understood how he felt at that moment.
His mind went blank in an instant, crying out inwardly, It's over!
He truly believed it was over-that Shi Chun was finished, and he was finished along with him.
He also felt some regret. Why had he come out to watch at a time like this? Surely one of them going down was better than both falling together.
People were like that. Until they hit a wall, they never knew the meaning of regret.
On and below the platform, everyone watched in utter silence. Only the swish of the great execution blade falling plucked at their heartstrings.
The tremor of the sliding blade traveled through the supporting beams into the groove, where the row of prisoners could feel it clearly against their necks. This time, Shi Chun was truly driven to despair. He had finally learned what it meant to be undone by his own cleverness.
Kneeling behind him, Granny Qi watched Shi Chun's backside twist and struggle, a thousand feelings swirling through her heart. She had never imagined that hitching herself to that fellow would cost her life as well.
Most of those executed earlier had been Royal Court personnel guilty of dereliction. Only now had the outsiders' turn come. Watching the blood flow in rivers, many of the Bai clanspeople and Extreme Fire Sect disciples awaiting execution trembled. Every fall of the blade made them feel as though blood had splashed onto their faces.
The smell of blood at a time like this, and the sensation of approaching death, made some of them want