AUBTN -Chapter 340 The Fall of a Legendary General

Xiao Yuyao lay prostrate on the freezing ground. Her voice was weak, yet every word carried immense weight.

“I do not regret killing him. What I regret… is not leading all of you back to Southern Frontier sooner.”

She lifted her head. On her pale face hung a bleak smile.

“My death means nothing. But my three brothers are all useless fools incapable of carrying any responsibility. If the imperial court sends someone else to take over Southern Frontier, I fear the soldiers will refuse to submit, and chaos will erupt there. The barbarians are watching like tigers eyeing their prey. Once the border defenses collapse, hundreds of thousands of civilians in Southern Frontier will suffer unspeakably…”

Xiao Yuyao stared fixedly at Lin Wei, her eyes filled with deep pleading and unwillingness.

“Lin Wei! In the name of the Young General of Black Wind Pass, I give you my final military order!”

“No matter how rotten this court becomes! No matter what fate befalls the Xiao family! You must, for me and for those brothers who died in battle, protect Southern Frontier! Stabilize the army!”

“Promise me. Promise me!”

Within this devouring royal manor, she had been treated as a discarded pawn, nothing more than a stepping stone. Yet at the final moment of her life—

What filled the heart of this woman, whose hands were stained with her own father’s blood, was still the three hundred thousand soldiers and the land of Southern Frontier she had once risked her life to defend.

Lin Wei knelt on the ground. The towering man now cried like a lost child.

He slammed his forehead heavily against the floor.

“This subordinate, Lin Wei, accepts the Young General’s command! I swear with my life to defend Southern Frontier!”

A violent night wind suddenly rose, sweeping countless pale funeral papers into the air.

Su Hewan quietly watched the scene, her lowered lashes concealing the storm of emotions in her eyes.

【Among all the men in this hall, among all the high officials in the imperial court, not a single one can compare to this condemned woman.】

Standing within the shadows, Shen Jue listened to Su Hewan’s cold yet painfully clear inner thoughts echoing in his ears. The darkness in his eyes grew deeper than the night itself.

After hearing Lin Wei’s vow, a relieved smile slowly bloomed upon Xiao Yuyao’s bloodless face.

“Good. With General Lin’s words… Yuyao can now depart in peace.”

Before the last word had fully fallen—

Xiao Yuyao suddenly raised her right hand and pulled the plain silver hairpin from her bun.

“Fourth Miss!”

“Stop her!”

Lu Yan and Lin Wei shouted at the same time, both lunging forward like arrows released from a bow.

But they were too late.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Yuyao slashed the sharp end of the hairpin across the delicate artery in her pale neck.

Warm, blinding blood sprayed before the cold memorial tablet.

A legendary star of war fell before completing her mission.

Xiao Yuyao’s body collapsed limply backward.

“Fourth Miss!” Lin Wei caught her falling body, his rough hands desperately trying to cover the blood gushing endlessly from her throat.

Xiao Yuyao’s gaze gradually lost focus. Beyond Lin Wei’s shoulder, she cast one final glance at the massive golden nanmu coffin.

A smile of mockery and liberation curled upon her lips.

Then, slowly, her eyes closed forever.

Yu Qing tightly covered her mouth as tears burst uncontrollably from her eyes.

【She was clearly so strong! Why did she have to die?! Just because she was born into this cannibalistic feudal society?!】

Standing beside her, Lu Yan wrapped an arm around her shoulders—

Silently comforting her.

No one had expected the ending to turn out this way.

Lu Yan lowered his eyes, looking at the corpse on the ground that was gradually turning cold.

As the commander of the Imperial Guards, he had seen countless death row prisoners and executed innumerable corrupt officials. But this time, even as he watched the culprit finally brought to justice, there was not the slightest satisfaction from solving the case in his heart.

Only a deep, suffocating sense of helplessness remained.

Meanwhile, an unreadable darkness churned within Su Hewan’s eyes.

【Is this really how it ends?】

【A brilliant military star who should have shone dazzlingly on the battlefield against foreign enemies… yet she was trapped to death within the schemes of this confined household.】

【She used patricide to defy fate, and suicide to preserve the Southern Frontier. Tragic and heroic… yet utterly powerless.】

Su Hewan let out a long sigh in her heart.

【Xiao Yuyao… if there is a next life, may you be born into a peaceful and enlightened age where you can openly wear armor and stand beneath the sunlight.】

Shen Jue’s movements paused slightly.

Across the dim candlelight, he gazed deeply at Su Hewan.

A peaceful and enlightened age?

A self-mocking smile curved at Shen Jue’s lips.

Did such an era truly exist in this world? One where birth and gender did not matter, and only talent was valued?

He had survived for so many years amid the darkness of imperial power struggles, long since accustomed to greed and treachery.

He no longer believed that such a flourishing age could exist.

But he wished that, in the future, he could create such an age for her.

“Take away the body.”

Shen Jue’s cold voice shattered the deathly silence in the mourning hall.

“The case is solved. The true culprit has been punished. It’s time for us to return to the palace and report.”

Lu Yan gave one last deep look at Xiao Yuyao lying on the floor. He tucked the dark-gold tiger tally stained with blood into his robes, then strode out without hesitation.

Two days later, in the Imperial Study—

The young emperor sat upon the dragon throne, staring at the dark-gold tiger tally resting atop the imperial desk. His youthful face was filled with shock and conflicted emotions.

“So the Prince of Zhennan not only stole his own daughter’s military achievements, but had also been poisoning her for years? And the loyalty of the Southern Frontier’s three hundred thousand troops was actually tied to a woman?”

The young emperor felt as if his entire worldview had been overturned.

Shen Jue stood below the steps with his hands folded inside his sleeves, bowing slightly in respectful posture.

“Your Majesty, that is indeed the case. Xiao Yuyao committed the unforgivable crime of killing her father to seize the tiger tally, yet even at death’s door, her heart remained devoted to the Southern Frontier’s defenses. It leaves this minister deeply moved.”

“Although the tiger tally has now been recovered, the Southern Frontier is leaderless. The three legitimate sons remaining in the Xiao family are all incompetent wastrels. If the court rashly strips the Xiao family of military authority and sends a new commander, I fear the army’s morale will collapse, giving the barbarians an opportunity to invade.”

The young emperor frowned tightly.

“Then according to the Regent Prince, what should be done?”

Shen Jue glanced sideways toward Lu Yan beside him.

Lu Yan immediately stepped forward and cupped his fists, his voice booming like thunder.

“This minister believes stabilizing the Southern Frontier should take priority! Deputy General Lin Wei has followed Xiao Yuyao for many years. He possesses tremendous prestige within the army and is wholeheartedly loyal both to the court and the Southern Frontier.”

“I propose that Lin Wei temporarily assume the position of commander of the Southern Frontier, holding half of the tiger tally while guarding the borderlands!”

“Allowing a deputy general to directly take power?” the young emperor hesitated.

“And what about the Xiao family…”

“Your Majesty is benevolent,” Shen Jue smoothly interjected, a meaningful smile lingering at the corners of his lips.

“After all, the Prince of Zhennan was imperial kin. Publicly, we shall announce that the prince was assassinated, and that the culprit was a Southern Frontier rebel hidden within the manor. Xiao Yuyao, meanwhile, died heroically while trying to protect her father.”

“In this way, the imperial family’s reputation remains intact, while the army’s morale is also stabilized.”

Shen Jue paused, a sharp glint flashing through his narrow eyes.

“As for the Xiao family’s eldest son, Your Majesty may issue a decree allowing him to inherit the Prince of Zhennan’s title and graciously permit him to remain in the capital to enjoy a life of comfort.”

“A prince without real authority or troops is, to Your Majesty, merely another mouth to feed.”

A promotion in name, but a stripping of real power.

The young emperor’s eyes lit up instantly, immediately understanding the intentions behind Shen Jue and Lu Yan’s proposal.