Chapter 48. Break All Ties
Arc 2 : Historical Power Conspiracy Nightmare.
When Cheng Yu woke up, his mind was in turmoil. There was darkness before his eyes, and he had no idea where he was.
He forced himself to sit up, only to feel a splitting headache. Perhaps his awakening was sensed, and Cheng Yu heard the sound of clothes rubbing against each other in the dark, and then a dim light came on.
Everything in front of him made Cheng Yu realize that he was now in a dungeon. He was very familiar with the person standing outside the cell door, but at this moment, he felt a little unfamiliar.
The man was wearing a dark brocade robe, which made his skin look even whiter. His eyes were just as aloof and careless as when he first saw him in the snow.
Ten years have passed, and even though he is the king of Cheng Kingdom, why is this person still so out of reach?
Seeing Cheng Yu just staring at him blankly without saying anything, Du Yan thought that he was still not awake, so he took the initiative to call out: “Cheng Yu.”
Cheng Yu’s body stiffened slightly, and he pinched his brows, realizing that this was not a dream: “Where is this?”
Du Yan was silent for a moment, then told the truth: “Mingfeng Palace.”
Mingfeng Palace is where Du Yan lived when he was still the eldest princess.
Mingfeng Palace has always been the residence of the eldest princess of Yuan Kingdom. It belonged to Du Yan before. After he ascended the throne, he moved out of here. Yuan Ning was used to living in the current place, so she did not go to the trouble of moving here.
The Mingfeng Palace was left vacant, and it was a perfect place to secretly imprison Cheng Yu.
Cheng Yu whispered: “I didn’t know there was such a dungeon in Mingfeng Palace…”
Du Yan found this situation very strange. After Cheng Yu woke up, his reaction was different from anything Du Yan had imagined. He just looked up, and there was no anger or doubt in his eyes, just gloominess and nothing.
“Why?” Cheng Yu asked: “Are words mentioned in the letter true or false?”
Du Yan’s eyebrows twitched slightly, not understanding why Cheng Yu was entangled in this meaningless issue.
He said coldly: “I said you shouldn’t have come. I originally lured you to come here to die, and I didn’t expect you to fall into the trap so easily. Cheng Yu, I will gladly accept the kingdom you have offered me with both hands.”
Having said that, Du Yan did not wait for Cheng Yu to respond and turned around to leave.
“Yuan Yan.”
Du Yan stopped walking away, but he did not look back.
“Is unifying the country so important to you?”
“Yes.”
“In your heart, the ten years we spent together day and night, is there nothing worth reminiscing about?”
Du Yan froze for a moment, and without answering, he walked out of the dungeon and then closed the heavy stone door.
It was not until Du Yan walked out of the dark dungeon that Xiao Ba dared to speak again: “You are not afraid of causing psychological shadows by doing this to the Lord of Dreams. I always feel that if you do this, it will create a new source of nightmares.”
“No. Cheng Yu is a man of great perseverance. How could someone who could become an emperor be defeated by such a small deception and betrayal?”
Du Yan paused, and then, as if trying to convince himself, he added: “And he can’t be locked up in this dungeon for long. Cheng Yu’s disappearance would be discovered by Yuan Ning soon.”
Xiao Ba sighed: “You really put a lot of effort into being a villain. On the one hand, you have to plot against the Lord of Dreams, and on the other hand, you have to get someone to save him.”
Du Yan looked back at the entrance to the dungeon, stared at it for a long time, and finally sighed: “If there is another dream, I really just want to be a pure villain.”
A few days later, the group of envoys from Cheng Kingdom left Yuan Kingdom, with one less person than when they came.
Unfortunately, that envoy who came from afar fell into a well and drowned in the palace of Yuan Kingdom after getting drunk. When he was found, his face was swollen and difficult to recognize. If the clothes on his body were not Cheng Kingdom clothes, he would have been treated as an unknown corpse.
The corpse posing as Cheng Yu was a prisoner with a similar body shape that Du Yan had asked someone to find one in death row prisoners. People from Cheng Kingdom did not know that their king had come here by mixing in the envoy group, so naturally, they did not pursue too much about the accidental death of an insignificant person.
A few days later, under Du Yan’s guidance, Yuan Ning discovered Cheng Yu, who was imprisoned in Mingfeng Palace.
Yuan Ning’s reaction was exactly as Du Yan expected.
She broke into Du Yan’s study without even going through the formalities and asked loudly: “XiongZhang, why did you lock Cheng Yu up?”
Yuan Ning knew about the dungeon in Mingfeng Palace. She was a little curious when she saw Du Yan go in and kept approaching the uninhabited Mingfeng Palace.
Afterward, she sneaked into Mingfeng Palace while Du Yan was attending court and found Cheng Yu imprisoned in the dungeon.
In the ten-foot-square cell, Cheng Yu sat against the wall. When he saw her come in, he just looked up and then looked down at the ground without saying a word.
The dead air around Cheng Yu made Yuan Ning simply unable to believe what she saw, and she only wanted to find out what her XiongZhang really wanted.
So, the current scenario happened.
Du Yan did not deny it, but rather said coldly: “This matter has nothing to do with you.”
Yuan Ning was completely controlled by anger at this moment, and she spoke irresponsibly: “Cheng Yu is obviously, obviously so good to you, and he even rushed all the way from Cheng Kingdom just to see you…”
Du Yan said: “If a monarch wants to create an empire to rule for thousands of years, it is necessary for him to abandon such useless things .”
“In your heart, is the task of creating an empire so important? More important than anything else?”
“Yes.” Du Yan said: “Gu still has government affairs to deal with. You can leave now.”
Yuan Ning did not move, but said: “XiongZhang, why do I feel that you are different? Since, since you changed from Ah Jie to XiongZhang, you have been different.”
Du Yan paused for a moment: “This is me.”
In the end, Yuan Ning left in anger.
From then on, all her actions were under Du Yan’s control. Yuan Ning took Cheng Yu’s token and left the palace to contact his secret agent in the capital.
Then, one night, Mingfeng Palace caught fire.
Du Yan looked at the flames rising into the sky and realized that Cheng Yu must have escaped from the dungeon.
As for the reason why he burned down the Mingfeng Palace when he left.
Perhaps it is saying goodbye to the past.
Du Yan’s goals had been achieved. He looked at the horizon that was reflected red by the blazing fire but suddenly felt a little depressed.
The scene of playing carefree with Cheng Yu in Mingfeng Palace seemed to reappear in front of him.
This is not the time to be sad, Du Yan still has one last thing to complete.
He turned around, called two trusted guards, and then rode out of the palace.
Du Yan climbed up the city wall and looked at the vast expanse of white in front of him. It happened to snow heavily a few days ago, and the capital was covered in thick snow inside and outside.
The fire in the palace, set against the white snow, made the figure riding away on horseback even more conspicuous.
Du Yan raised his hand, palm facing up, and a bow was placed in his palm.
The person running away in the distance seemed to sense something and suddenly stopped.
He pulled the reins and turned the horse around.
One person stood on the city wall, and the other was outside the city wall, looking at each other from afar.
Du Yan put the arrow on the bow and pulled the bowstring, but Cheng Yu did not move.
Just like many years ago, Du Yan teased Cheng Yu by making him stand under the tree with a teacup on his head as a target.
Du Yan couldn’t see Cheng Yu’s face, nor could he see Cheng Yu’s expression clearly, but Cheng Yu’s dark eyes from many years ago appeared in front of his eyes.
Everything appears as if nothing has changed.
But everything also has changed. The arrow that was not released many years ago flew towards Cheng Yu.
With a snap, the jade crown on Cheng Yu’s head broke, and his long hair spread out in disarray.
The strong wind blew up his hair, obstructing his vision and making the figure of the ruthless man standing on the city wall in the distance blurry.
The fire in the Mingfeng Palace gradually died down, and the sky, which was glowing red, returned to its normal gray-blue color in the winter night.
Cheng Yu felt a little cold on his cheek. He raised his hand to touch it and murmured: “It turns out it’s snowing.”
Having said that, he turned his horse around and galloped away without looking back.
Until the figure disappeared in the vast snow, Du Yan still stood on the city wall. The bow in his hand was empty, but he did not put it down.
“You are still soft-hearted.” Xiao Ba suddenly spoke.
“You think too much. I’m just worried that my vision is bad and I will really kill the Lord of Dreams.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen you take the initiative to change the plan…”
What Xiao Ba said was not groundless. Du Yan was an extremely rational person. He would execute the plans step by step unless there were objective reasons that led to changes in the plans. He never hesitated or showed any weakness.
Du Yan ignored Xiao Ba, as he knew that this reason would not even convince himself.
Prince Yan is an excellent archer, and he can shoot arrows through a target from a hundred paces away. Even the great general Wu Qi feels inferior to him.
How could he accidentally kill the Lord of Dreams?
Du Yan turned around, threw the bow to the guard, and walked down the city wall.
His original plan was to shoot the arrow at Cheng Yu’s shoulder, which would not be fatal and would not cause serious injuries, and it would also completely break all ties from the past.
At the final moment, Du Yan hesitated. At that moment, he raised his hand slightly, and the arrow shot towards Cheng Yu’s jade crown.
Du Yan didn’t want to delve into what that moment of hesitation meant. Everything was a foregone conclusion, and there was no point in regretting what had been done.
However, when Du Yan returned to his chamber, he found something beside his pillow that shouldn’t be there.
He has not seen this string of pendants since Du Yan revealed that he was a man in front of Cheng Yu and returned it to him.
He didn’t understand why Cheng Yu ordered people to leave these pendants here when he fled.
Whether it meant that Cheng Yu had completely severed their past friendship, or if it meant something else, Du Yan was a little uncertain.
Fortunately, everything that happened afterward told Du Yan that his plan was successful.
Former King Yuan Chang and Yuan Jue began to have private dealings with Cheng Yu’s undercover agent who stayed in the capital of Yuan Kingdom. The court was suddenly in turmoil.
A few months later, King Cheng sent an official letter to express his sincerity in the alliance and asked to marry the eldest princess.
Du Yan refused sternly.
After the document was sent to Cheng Kingdom, King Cheng was furious and bluntly said that King Yuan had gone too far in deceiving people.
The alliance between the two Kingdoms was finally broken.
T/N:- See you next week.
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