Chapter 885: Tian Tian's Dream

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Mm...

Tian Tian rubbed his eyes.

Water?

Had his little Crown Prince brother wet the bed?

Tian Tian sat up, only to discover he was not lying in a bed.

Oh. Right now he should be sleeping inside a tent.

Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he really could make out the outline of the tent beside him.

"Little brother. Little brother..."

For all that the Crown Prince usually acted like a miniature adult and possessed a rather deep mind, when it came to certain aspects of daily life, at first he had genuinely been... adorably helpless.

Back in the palace, eunuchs had always waited on him. Even when he got up at night to relieve himself, someone would be there to help.

But after moving into Prince Pingxi Residence, the Crown Prince and Tian Tian shared a small courtyard.

There were no servants in that courtyard.

So at first, whenever Tian Tian himself got up at night, he would carry the chamber pot over and call his Crown Prince brother too.

The Crown Prince adapted quickly.

Before long, he no longer needed Tian Tian's help.

Whenever Tian Tian woke to relieve himself, the two boys simply went together.

But this time...

Tian Tian called several times.

Nobody answered.

Feeling puzzled, Tian Tian groped his way forward.

His hand found the tent flap.

He lifted it and stepped outside.

Suddenly... a freezing wind swept past.

Even Tian Tian, whose body had been strong and full of fire since childhood, could not help shivering.

Outside the tent was not level ground.

It was a mountain.

Crunch...

Crunch...

Crunch...

A sound came from ahead.

It seemed someone was walking up the mountain.

Gradually, the figure became clear.

Tian Tian saw a woman enter his field of vision.

One hand covered her belly.

She staggered forward.

From her muffled, shortened breaths, he could almost feel the pain she was enduring.

For some reason, the instant Tian Tian saw this woman, his heart clenched.

In that moment... each restrained breath she took seemed like a heavy hammer striking directly against his chest.

The woman did not walk toward Tian Tian.

She headed in another direction.

Tian Tian instinctively chased after her.

He did not know where he was.

He simply felt that he had to catch up.

But the distance between them began growing.

Farther.

Farther.

Tian Tian gradually slowed down.

He looked up at the moon in the sky.

Then at the mountain path beneath his feet.

He felt lost.

When Tian Tian lowered his head again, a mass of black shadow seemed to be weaving and twisting inside the moon above.

Something outside appeared to be trying to force its way in.

Yet it was being blocked.

Below...

Tian Tian's confusion did not last long.

Pshk!

The sound of some object piercing flesh made his entire body convulse.

He started running again.

As he ran, the scenery ahead suddenly dropped away.

The mountain path before him seemed to have become a cliff.

A woman fell from directly ahead.

Tears clung to the corners of her eyes.

At that moment, the falling woman seemed to sense something.

She looked toward him.

Almost as though she truly saw the boy running desperately in her direction.

Her lips moved.

One arm stretched faintly toward him.

She seemed to want to say something.

But just as Tian Tian ran toward her...

Bang!

Everything around him was swallowed by darkness.

Thud!

The sudden disappearance of all light and shadow destroyed Tian Tian's sense of balance.

He fell to the ground.

Then... a man's figure appeared ahead.

Everything before Tian Tian began to distort like ink spreading through water.

A man with white hair and gilded armor walked toward him.

The man looked at Tian Tian.

Tian Tian looked back at him.

Their eyes met.

Yet neither side displayed any particular ripple of emotion.

Somewhere deep inside, Tian Tian already knew who this man was.

After all, Zheng Fan sometimes painted.

Even when building snowmen in winter, he would deliberately make another figure in the shape of a man.

There were no photographs in this age.

But Zheng Fan's artistic skill was enough to reproduce a person on paper almost exactly as he appeared in life.

Even so, Tian Tian did not call out that title.

Though the man stood directly before him, Tian Tian could not force the word from his mouth.

Almost everything he knew about this person came from Zheng Fan's descriptions.

And to Tian Tian... the title "Father" had long since belonged to someone else.

That man played with him.

Whenever that man returned from campaign, before even taking off his armor, he would first come and hug him.

That man liked scratching his cheeks with his beard.

No matter when or where, whenever that man looked at him, his gaze always carried a gentle smile that came from the heart.

Whenever the Crown Prince addressed that man, he called him "Godfather."

But Tian Tian always called him "Father" or "Dad."

The Crown Prince had a biological father.

Otherwise he would not be Crown Prince.

Tian Tian also had a biological father.

After all, he still carried the title Heir Prince.

He was the Heir Prince of Jingnan.

Not the Heir Prince of Pingxi.

But inside his heart, he had a father.

That father had not gone far away to the west.

That father had always been right beside him.

So when Tian Tian saw this so-called "biological father"... his throat turned hoarse.

In the end, he still could not force out that title.

Instead, he pointed toward the direction the woman had gone.

"She... Mo... Mother... she... Mother... save her. Save her. Go save her!"

Compared with his inability to call the man "Father," the word "Mother" came out much more easily.

It was not because the three "mothers" in his household treated him poorly.

It was simply that the word "Mother" carried a different meaning.

The white-haired man did not head where Tian Tian pointed.

He walked in the opposite direction.

"Mother... is over there... over there... save her... save her!"

Tian Tian continued shouting.

He believed this man should go save her.

But the man kept walking farther away.

From somewhere in that direction came the clash of armored cavalry and weapons.

Thousands upon thousands of elite soldiers seemed locked in slaughter.

Again and again, they roared:

"Victory to the Prince! Victory to Great Yan!"

"Victory to the Prince! Victory to Great Yan!"

From the other direction came a woman's shrill screams.

The two kinds of sound intertwined around Tian Tian.

Tian Tian stood there woodenly.

Confusion filled his heart.

Then came anger.

Black Dragon Banners began flying down before him.

Every banner was mottled with blood.

And that blood... belonged to his mother.

Later... he saw that man again.

The man held a Black Dragon Banner in his arms and knelt there.

His armor was shattered almost beyond recognition.

He had clearly just survived an unimaginably brutal battle.

He was dead.

And even in death... he still embraced that banner.

At that moment, Tian Tian's expression twisted.

The anger that should have been natural suddenly seemed to jam.

The Black Dragon Banner.

That man.

The man holding the banner.

His figure began constantly shifting.

One moment, he was that man.

The next... he was Zheng Fan.

And Tian Tian's expression kept changing with him.

Yet some force inside this dream seemed to be pushing everything relentlessly forward.

Buzz!

In an instant, Tian Tian sensed resentment.

Terrible resentment.

Yet that resentment did not affect him.

It was an extremely strange sensation.

You were furious.

You hated.

And yet... you remained completely clear-headed.

Emotion had somehow become an external wound inflicted upon the body.

It no longer echoed naturally from the heart.

"Do you hate?"

A voice came from somewhere and asked him.

"I don't hate..." Tian Tian answered inside his heart.

But what came from his mouth was:

"I hate!"

"Do you want to destroy it?"

"Why..."

"Yes!"

Scenes and shadows flashed past Tian Tian one after another.

He seemed to see countless people.

He seemed to experience countless events.

But everything moved too quickly.

There was no time to distinguish any of it clearly.

"Heh. Who would have imagined that the mighty Heir Prince of Jingnan would one day stand against Great Yan, against this Black Dragon Banner!"

Tian Tian turned his head.

The voice sounded somewhat familiar.

When he saw the heroic general in silver armor, that familiarity became stronger.

He had seen this man before.

No.

He had spent time with him before.

"It should have ceased to exist long ago."

The voice that answered... was Tian Tian's own.

At present, Tian Tian seemed trapped inside this body.

He could think.

He could feel everything.

Yet he could not control a single movement.

"So long as I, Chen Xianba, stand here, this dragon banner will never fall!"

Big Brother Ba?

Was it Big Brother Ba?

Tian Tian finally recognized the man before him.

But how had Big Brother Ba grown so old?

He even had a beard.

Behind Chen Xianba stood a lame man in a python robe.

"Heh-heh-heh. Ai-yo, ai-yo, what kind of mess is this? Who could have imagined that Great Yan's Zhenbei Army would one day face the remnants of the Jingnan Army head-on?

"And who could have imagined that I, this Heir Prince of Zhenbei, would ever have the chance to face the Heir Prince of Jingnan across a battlefield?

"Ai.

"Xianba.

"Do it.

"Today, this Prince will clean house on behalf of Father, Uncle Tian, and Great Yan!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

From ahead, a mass of Zhenbei Army iron cavalry charged forward.

Behind Tian Tian, another group of riders roared and surged out.

Two of the finest cavalry forces in the world smashed directly into one another.

Men fell.

Horses overturned.

At that moment, grief filled Tian Tian's heart.

These riders should have gathered around Father.

No.

They should have just returned from campaign under Father's banner.

Yet now... their sabers were plunging into one another's bodies.

Chen Xianba launched himself into the air.

He roared:

"If you hadn't been in the rear calling these Jingnan remnants to rebel, I would have crossed the Qian River long ago and destroyed Qian completely! How could Qian possibly have been allowed to keep dragging out its miserable existence?

"Traitor! Die!"

Chen Xianba's hammer descended with heaven-shattering force.

"Big Brother Ba... Big Brother Ba..."

Tian Tian also shot into the sky.

Then he saw what he was holding.

A broken saber.

A terribly familiar broken saber.

He knew that blade too well.

He had wiped it clean for his father more times than he could remember.

This was...

Wuya.

But why was Wuya in his hands?

Where was Father?

Where had his father gone?

And why... why was he fighting Big Brother Ba?

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Their weapons and bodies collided in midair with thunderous force.

Then both men dropped back to the ground.

"Wuya... You're still colluding with Chu slaves!"

Chen Xianba roared and charged again.

The two sides plunged once more into battle.

Blood qi shook the air.

The force of the duel made the heart tremble.

After they fought for a long time, several other armies suddenly appeared from another side of the battlefield.

With them came a host of powerful experts.

"Break out!"

Tian Tian gave the order.

"Protect His Highness the Heir Prince!"

"Protect His Highness and break out!"

They had lost.

They had been defeated.

Tian Tian saw himself walking through a forest.

Blood kept dripping from his body.

"Yo, what happened here? What happened? Good heavens, you're hurt this badly? Ai, ai, ai."

A familiar voice came again.

Tian Tian opened his eyes.

Gou Moli stood beside his bed.

Behind Gou Moli stood a man in black armor.

"Don't panic. Don't panic. The Chu army hasn't arrived yet. Besides, this Dog of yours can still gather another two hundred thousand Savage cavalry under my banner. Heh-heh-heh. We'll fight our way back. We'll fight our way back and wipe out that rebel Yan!"

"Pfft!"

Tian Tian coughed up blood.

His consciousness fell into chaos.

He tried to wake.

Tried to open his eyes.

And when he finally managed to do so... he saw a battlefield that had only just finished its slaughter.

He lowered his head.

His saber... had pierced someone's chest.

Chen Xianba.

Chen Xianba was dead.

Dead before him.

Dead by his hand.

Behind Chen Xianba, a battered Black Dragon Banner swayed on the verge of collapse.

"Big Brother Ba... Big Brother Ba..."

Tian Tian's expression remained utterly indifferent as he pulled Wuya from Chen Xianba's body.

He stepped over the corpse.

With one slash... he cut down the Black Dragon Banner.

Behind him, soldiers of the Jingnan Army shouted for vengeance for the Old Prince.

Savage riders cried out for the stars to protect them.

Chu troops were forming ranks.

There were even troops from Qian.

Far away... a bald Barbarian man covered from head to toe in glowing runes had strung the heads of one man and one woman onto the pole of the Barbarian royal standard.

Tian Tian recognized one of those heads.

It belonged to the lame Prince from the previous scene, the one who had called himself the Heir Prince of Zhenbei.

He did not recognize the woman's head.

"Ai, that fellow was truly hard to kill. Practically no different from Tian Wujing back then."

An extremely sinister voice came from beside Tian Tian.

He saw a man in cyan robes with an ugly, vulgar face staring gloomily at him.

"If I hadn't struck him from behind, would you really have killed him that easily?"

Bang!

Wuya swept sideways.

The man in cyan robes was sent flying.

"Annoying."

The man clenched his teeth.

He was furious but did not dare speak.

Strangely... despite being smashed away like that, he did not appear injured.

"Enough. Yanjing is just ahead."

A voice sounded.

It carried supreme authority.

Tian Tian desperately wanted to turn and see who had spoken.

But he could not control this body.

It seemed this body instinctively disliked the person behind him.

No.

Not merely that one person.

It disliked the entire group.

Because after that commanding voice spoke, another voice followed:

"The main Yan army has already been destroyed here."

The majestic voice said approvingly:

"You have worked hard."

"For Great Xia."

"Yes.

"For Great Xia."

A towering capital suddenly appeared ahead.

Vast armies covered the land around it.

The city was under complete encirclement.

Then, from above... a woman's voice swept across the sky.

Inside the city, an ancient roar answered, as though echoing from an age unimaginably far away.

A woman dressed entirely in white descended like an immortal cast down from Heaven.

She let out a long cry:

"This old lady has already severed the life force of that guardian Pixiu in Yanjing!"

The majestic voice sounded again:

"You did... very well."

Finally... the voice gave an order:

"Attack the city."

Woooooo...

War horns sounded.

Countless soldiers began scaling the towering capital.

From that moment onward, Tian Tian felt as though his vision was never again touched by another color.

Only red.

Thick red.

Stinking red.

Pungent red.

The killing continued for a very long time.

From beneath the walls... to the walls themselves... into the city... across the streets... over rooftops... outside the imperial palace... onto the walls of the Imperial City.

Bang!

At last... they broke into the Imperial City.

Tian Tian walked forward with his saber.

He was searching.

Searching for his target.

He passed a palace garden containing a beautifully tended vegetable plot.

A great many crisp green cucumbers grew there.

He plucked one.

Without washing it, he bit directly into it.

For an instant... a familiar feeling returned.

Just then... a eunuch in red robes flashed past him and charged toward someone behind.

"Protect the Master!"

"Protect the Master!"

The eunuch was trying to capture the leader by striking directly at the commander.

Or perhaps, with the greater collapse already inevitable, he simply wanted to bite the enemy viciously one final time.

Tian Tian did not stop him.

He did not turn around to help.

In fact... he smiled.

It almost seemed as though he genuinely hoped this so-called "Master" would be killed.

What use was there keeping someone like that alive?

A useless thing who occupied some supposedly righteous position and, apart from knowing how to talk, could accomplish nothing.

The guards ahead were cut down by Tian Tian.

At last... stepping along an imperial path slick with blood... he reached the doors of a great hall.

He raised one hand.

Pushed the doors open.

His gaze traveled from the golden floor of the hall upward.

He saw the steps.

He saw the dragon throne.

He saw... the Emperor seated upon the dragon throne... wearing Great Yan's black dragon robes.

"Crown Prince little brother!"

Wuya rose.

Tian Tian charged the throne.

"Die!"

"No!"

...

"No!"

"Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Dad is here. Dad is here. Son. Son..."

Tian Tian opened his eyes.

He discovered Father holding him tightly in his arms.

Demon Child floated nearby.

Beside them... his still very young Crown Prince brother was staring at him with a face full of nervous concern.

Zheng Fan stroked his son's back.

He pressed Tian Tian's face against his own.

In the dream, Tian Tian's face had long since been covered in tears.

And Zheng Fan's face... was wet with tears too.

Earlier, when Demon Child noticed something was wrong and entered, she had been unable to wake Tian Tian from the nightmare.

Seeing his son lying there with such agony twisted across his face...

Zheng Fan's heart had felt as though it were being cut apart.

"Son, what happened? Son..."

"Dad... I had a nightmare."

"Then tell Dad. What did you dream about?"

"I dreamed... I dreamed..."

Tian Tian reached out.

He wrapped his arms around Zheng Fan's neck.

Then murmured:

"I dreamed that after Dad had little brothers and sisters... you didn't want Tian Tian anymore."

[End of Chapter 885]