Chen Jiuyang sighed, "It was merely to prevent kin from killing each other, to fulfill one person's dream."
"What exactly do you mean?" Lu Jueqing gritted her teeth, blood spilling from her mouth unnoticed. She raised her long sword and pressed it against Chen Jiuyang's neck.
Chen Jiuyang did not dodge. He turned his head, closed his eyes, and sighed with resignation, "Captain Lu, please take a good look... at Da Sha... please..."
Lu Jueqing's body trembled slightly, unsure if it was from her injuries or those two words.
Her eyes fell upon the ghoul.
The ghoul sat at the doorway, its back to her, doing something unknown. After a long while, the ghoul stopped its movements, the ghostly mist around it dissipated, revealing a human figure.
It was her son, Da Sha.
As the two faced each other, Lu Jueqing's eyes finally couldn't help but tremble.
The ghoul turned around, holding a sweater, and walked towards her, offering it.
Lu Jueqing did not move. The ghoul opened its mouth and made a soft, mumbling sound.
"Alas..." Chen Jiuyang's voice rang out, "Captain Lu, it's getting cold, please accept this sweater."
Lu Jueqing, holding her sword in one hand, stiffly and slowly took the awkwardly knitted sweater with the other.
The ghoul knelt on the ground and wrote a line of text on the soft mud with its hand:
"Mother, it's cold. Your son has no money, so I can only knit you a sweater."
Lu Jueqing dared not look at Da Sha. She asked Chen Jiuyang, her voice trembling, "He can read and write?"
Da Sha nodded.
She didn't ask if he could understand her words. Her sword slipped from her grasp, her eyes reddening slightly. "You would kill people to knit me a sweater?"
Da Sha shook his head and wrote on the ground, "I know Mother hates evil as much as she hates enemies. Your son does not kill indiscriminately. The ones I killed had all committed crimes of murder and looting. But Mother, you did not know, so your son acted on your behalf."
Lu Jueqing gritted her teeth and asked, "Even if they committed murder and looting, their lives should be dealt with by the law, not by you."
"They bullied Mother. Mother was injured by them several times and had to recover at home alone. You didn't let me come home to see you because you didn't want me to see blood-stained clothes. Before I died, I was a soldier of the Dragon Country. How could I let my enemies go after death?"
Lu Jueqing could no longer speak. She covered her mouth, tears flowing silently.
"Da Sha, your obsession is resolved. Come with me," Chen Jiuyang said calmly, drawing the long saber from the ground.
Da Sha bowed deeply to Lu Jueqing, kowtowed three times, and left a line of text:
Mother, your son can no longer care for you in your old age or bid you farewell. I hope you take care of yourself and forgive your unfilial son.
A moment after Chen Jiuyang led Da Sha away from the courtyard, he heard the woman weeping softly, followed by sounds of painful guilt.
He sighed softly, all things in the world have their cause and effect.
He had traveled thousands of miles, witnessed the springs and autumns of the world, yet had never seen such a sight.
He asked softly, "Da Sha, do you not hate her?"
Da Sha wrote on the ground, "I did."
"I also thought, for someone like me, born incomplete, was living in this world a kind of suffering? Mother once wanted to drown me, not wanting me to continue living in pain."
"But Mother still raised me, taught me her sword techniques, and sent me to the army, so that I would have the ability to survive."
"Mother took all my wages, but for so many years, she never wore a new piece of clothing."
"Mother saved all the money at home, wanting to find a matchmaker to find me a wife. I remember all of Mother's kindness."
Chen Jiuyang asked, "Da Sha, do you still have any obsessions?"
Da Sha shook his head.
Chen Jiuyang nodded. In the next moment, he took out the Major's insignia of the Dragon Country's Tianqi Legion and asked with a cold voice, "Do you recognize this proof?"
Da Sha immediately stood up and saluted.
Chen Jiuyang retrieved the legion insignia and asked again, "Since you recognize it, let me ask you, how should a Dragon Country soldier who unlawfully harms fellow citizens be punished!"
"If a soldier kills his own countrymen—"
Da Sha immediately knelt on one knee and wrote with his hand, "He should be beheaded and pay with his life, to uphold our Dragon Country's military discipline!"
After writing this line, Da Sha knelt on the spot, offering his neck for execution.
Chen Jiuyang took a deep breath. The military discipline of the Dragon Country was something every soldier actively upheld.
He also thought that everyone who appeared before him was a living person, and behind the three constables whose lives Da Sha had taken, there were three families. If military discipline was not upheld, then these three families might be the next Lu Jueqing to be bullied, or the next Da Sha to avenge his mother. If this was not stopped, tragedy would become a vicious cycle. When would the common people see the light?
Everything was cause and effect. Chen Jiuyang closed his eyes. Although he could not bear to watch, he still brought down his long saber, shattering Da Sha's ghost and letting him dissipate into the heavens and earth.
Chen Jiuyang opened his eyes. Two incomplete characters remained on the ground. He could discern them; they were 'Thank you'.
Is that all? Wanting to shake his heart? Impossible!
A powerful surge of destiny poured into Chen Jiuyang's body. His divine soul became stronger. This was the opportunity that Yan Sheng Dao had spoken of.
Heh.
Chen Jiuyang turned his head. The wind blew into his eyes, and he couldn't help but curse, "Fuck your mother!"
Sheathing his saber, he went back to sleep.
Returning to the city, Chen Jiuyang saw the seaside port in the dead of night, still brightly lit and bustling with people. From afar, moving and melodious singing could be heard.
The spring flowers have faded into autumn red, too quickly.
Alas, the morning rain and the evening wind.
Rouge tears, lingering in drunkenness, when will they return?
Life's long regrets are like the eastward flowing water.
Chen Jiuyang returned to his dormitory to rest and took out Yan Sheng Dao, asking, "Yan Sheng Dao, let me ask you, how did you know of Da Sha's wronged soul's existence?"
Yan Sheng Dao replied, "Da Sha is not a wronged soul, but a heroic soul. Those who possess the destiny of our Huaxia people can become heroic souls after death."
"Heroic souls have spirits. They have paid with their lives for their nation and country, and only then do they have the chance to become heroic souls."
"They fought before death and still guard the Dragon Country after death. This is a heroic soul."
Chen Jiuyang frowned, "Then why have I never seen heroic souls before, yet I encounter them frequently recently?"
"Heaven and earth have yin and yang; within you there is me, and within me there is you."
"Heroic souls exist, but if they are to truly manifest, it is because malevolent ghosts have appeared in the area. Heroic souls, blessed by national destiny, are the best weapon against malevolent ghosts."
"I have been by your side for some time. Currently, the Dragon Country's national destiny is the strongest it has been in thousands of years. By rights, heroic souls should not appear."
"However, the appearance of Wang Juyuan and Da Sha can explain one thing: someone is creating malevolent ghosts in the Dragon Country, devouring the Dragon Country's destiny, which is why the heroic souls of the Dragon Country are manifesting."
Chen Jiuyang immediately thought of many things, a look of horror and solemnity appearing on his face. If what Yan Sheng Dao said was true, then there must be a shocking conspiracy in Su Hang that caused the heroic souls to manifest. At this moment, Chen Jiuyang finally grasped a clue and a trace of the anomaly he felt.