Chapter 1786: Chapter 77: Imperial Decree and Entrustment

"Just go to the place where you wish to go."

"Even if it is like the poison of Qi Fortune, it is enough to support such a frail body and rush to the final battle... With the great vow ahead, whether Li Guanyi wins or we win, it ultimately won’t be too long."

Jiang Wanxiang murmured in his heart, then looked at these two famous generals, his aged eyes lowered, Divine Charm hidden within, yet he didn’t know what he was thinking about, finally sighing.

He first instructed Yuwen Lie to wait outside. Yuwen Lie remained silent, bowed, and left.

Jiang Wanxiang gazed at He Ruoqinhu, his voice calm and gentle, as if in casual conversation, saying:

"Qinhu, how many years have you been with me?"

He Ruoqinhu replied respectfully: "I was seventeen years old when I started campaigning under Your Majesty’s banner, conquering all directions. Now my hair is white, and upon a brief calculation, it’s been forty-seven years."

"Forty-seven years, forty-seven years..."

"It truly is a long time."

Jiang Wanxiang was assisted to sit down, his voice warm with a smile, saying:

"Your family and maternal clan are both great families of the world, and with numerous entanglements in the court, this is natural. Being born to a great family, a renown general, repeatedly achieving military prowess, and having a magnanimous and clear disposition, people naturally gather around you."

"However, I have one more thing to tell you."

He Ruoqinhu replied respectfully:

"Please, Your Majesty, bestow it."

Jiang Wanxiang looked at He Ruoqinhu: "You are composed and consider the greater picture, but there is too much involvement around you. As a pillar of the state, you must know what the true greater picture is; do not be swayed by all these identities and connections."

"Lest you make a misstep that results in irreparable consequences."

He Ruoqinhu was stunned. Although he prided himself in not being bound by his origins, friends, and kin in court, he nonetheless replied respectfully, bowing: "I will keep Your Majesty’s words in my heart."

Jiang Wanxiang watched him for a long time, saying: "Very well, as a pillar of the nation, you must not treat yourself lightly."

"Withdraw, and summon Yuwen Lie to come in."

"As you command!"

He Ruoqinhu left, and Yuwen Lie entered. Having lost an arm, he now had a mechanical structure, and the wildness he used to have gradually faded; yet the inner pride remained as before. He bowed, saying: "Your Majesty."

Jiang Wanxiang gazed at this general who wasn’t really young, saying:

"Though you are proud, sometimes you need to take a step back."

"Yet you cannot maintain pride alone throughout."

"...Heh, though maintaining pride alone throughout is indeed something you can do, I still hope you can step out of your past self and move towards farther horizons."

"Gao’er, I entrust the general to you."

Yuwen Lie silently saluted, saying: "Yes."

Jiang Wanxiang’s face seemed to show fatigue, he waved his hand, saying: "Just go down; let this old man rest here for a while."

Yuwen Lie nodded and left.

Jiang Wanxiang was left alone here, surrounded by silence. He raised his head to look far away, sensing the twisted Qi Fortune of the Red Emperor over eight hundred years, extending his hand, seemingly because his body was about to die, his palm could distinctly feel the presence of Qi Fortune.

He took a deep breath, gradually taking control of the Qi Fortune accumulated over eight hundred years of the Red Emperor’s court, that which was once glorious, once dazzling, now rotten like fierce poison, perceiving the body again in this posture of drinking poison to quench thirst.

Swallow it all.

Master it!

Then watch helplessly as this damned eight hundred years of twisted Qi Fortune corrodes this body.

Consume Vitality, shatter flesh.

Sever the name behind him, sacrifice the life before him, seeking neither position nor fame, only seeking victory, leaving only the wild flame to support this frail body, rushing to what generations of comrades and ministers have longed for, the Unification of Daying.

So many have already fallen behind him.

He cannot give up, nor can he stop.

To give up at the final battle would be the most disgraceful betrayal to everyone and himself.

Even if his bones are lost after death, even if he falls into Abyss Purgatory, even if his name is ruined after his body, even if he stakes everything in this life, struggling, distorting, rushing towards victory.

His fists clenched, his hair white and thin body gaunt, eyes like flames, his heart like Azure Dragon.

As if shouting at himself in his youth.

"Win!"

"Jiang Wanxiang!!!"

In later history books, many historians did not understand why Jiang Wanxiang chose this moment to make the Red Emperor abdicate. Some say he wanted to break through the arrangement of name at the end and become a true emperor, but there are also those who say that someone like him, who rose from being an illegitimate child to ultimately dividing the world in two.

He once actively led the autumn hunt during Tianqi 11th year, autumn, and the subsequent fragmentation,

Such a person, he cared the least about any titles.

He was like an unwearied Azure Dragon or fierce tiger, swallowing the vital point of Central State, extracting all underlying strength before the final battle, grasping everything that could increase the odds, and then betting everything on the final battle.

This ruler, receiving mixed praise and blame, was indeed like Jiang Su, monarch and minister as one, with their dispositions alike; they cared not about their own lives or their reputation behind them; their eyes were fixed only on victory.

He was already too old; he was already about to lose his grip on the sword.

More than life and death, he valued the future; he wanted to step onto the battlefield before everything happened.

However, the world’s heroes are not just one person.

That night, in the Red Emperor’s palace, Ji Zichang was silent for a long time, the night was heavy, the elite from Ying Country surrounded and controlled the Red Emperor’s palace completely, and even at night, it was brightly lit.