Yang Jian calmly and coolly used her sword to cut his own finger. “May your soul mingle with a drop of my blood. In our next life, may fate bind us together, so we need not slaughter each other as we did in this one.”
Then he hurled it into the fire, where the flames burned alongside the headless corpse of its owner. Her head was carefully preserved to be presented to Emperor Yen. Yang Jian simply waved his hand and ordered the army to withdraw and return to the capital at once.
“The dead are dead; let them take it as payment for their sins. But as for those who have disappeared, I promise I won’t search for them or hunt them down again...”
The suppression and destruction of the Red Moon Bandit Camp, one of the foremost evil martial sects in the martial world, ended far more swiftly than anyone had expected.
Placing the head of the supreme expert known by the title Shadow of the Moonblade upon the execution platform meant that the Red Moon Bandit Camp—one of the martial world’s most deserving targets for eradication—had finally been eliminated.
Now that the savage bandit camp posing the greatest threat to maritime trade had vanished, prosperity beyond all others could not be far behind.
Emperor Yen carefully considered the merits of everyone who had contributed and granted each of them fitting rewards.
A grand banquet celebrating the victories and presenting the rewards was held in the front section of the imperial palace. It was filled with lively revelry, fine wine, exquisite food, dancers, and musicians entertaining the guests from afternoon until nightfall.
Emperor Yen Longxian spoke several words of praise for those who had earned merit, then bestowed generous rewards upon the officials, the nobles, and representatives of various martial sects who had pledged allegiance and cooperated so well in suppressing the most notorious bandit group in the realm.
And, of course, Yang Jian, the Sun General, could not be forgotten—the commander who had led his troops into life-or-death danger, braving the perilous voyage and fighting through the waves and headwinds himself until they reached Death Valley on that mysterious island in the middle of the sea.
Yang Jian was a stern, fierce, and formidable warrior. It seemed as though he had been born without the ability to smile. His entire face was as rigid as a sheet of iron or a slab of stone, and with his deep-set eyes and sharply defined features, no one could ever tell what he was thinking.
His manner was ferocious. He was not merely hard-edged but unshakably resolute, like a towering peak rising steeply into the sky. He also seemed exceedingly proud and cold. Every gesture and movement he made was especially intimidating, and his gaze appeared capable of seeing straight through to a person’s heart.
The severe, awe-inspiring expression on his face was too intimidating for comfort. The way he stared at people made him look like a judge assessing a defendant. At times, even Emperor Yen found himself feeling uneasy. Whenever he spoke with Yang Jian, his heart secretly trembled more often than he cared to admit.
This Yang Jian was practically the heart of the Yan Kingdom. He had earned merit for many years and rendered countless services to the land of Yan. Yet that was a double-edged sword.
Day after day, Yang Jian did nothing but wage war and eliminate threats. Though he was devastating to women’s hearts, he had no woman in his heart.
He had already passed the age of twenty-five.
Other men his age would surely have a wife and a whole household of concubines.
Had he become too deeply obsessed with the affairs of state and the strategies of war?
Emperor Yen therefore presented him with gold, pearls, and ten chests of silk, along with ten chests of jewels and silver, to serve as a stipend and financial foundation for the Yang household.
Then he bestowed the highest reward of the evening for Yang Jian’s leadership in the campaign: an imperial marriage decree binding him to a beautiful woman who was old enough to marry but had somehow remained unmarried.
Because Yang Jian’s influence and skill had grown too great and his power had begun to flourish beyond measure, the imperial marriage decree was created to diminish his brilliance. Thus, the great general was ordered to marry an ordinary young woman with neither rank nor powerful support.
She was the eldest daughter of a seventh-rank official, motherless and ignored by her father: Bai Ming Yue. She had no fiancé or betrothed despite having already turned eighteen. More importantly, she possessed no excessive power or influence. Her personality was weak and pitiful, enough to make anyone ache for her.
General Yang would surely have a difficult time caring for her. Every time he returned to his residence, he would have a heavy burden waiting for him. In the eyes of the sensitive emperor, that would make the throne safe.
Going back to before the imperial marriage decree was issued—
After her mother died, Bai Ming Yue, who had once been the pride of the household, was suddenly stripped of her status. Reduced to the daughter of a former principal wife, she was as good as dead while still alive, because her father immediately raised his secondary wife to rule the inner household. Her younger half-sister then rose to prominence, completely eclipsing the eldest daughter’s radiance.