ZHAO JUREN'S LAST LOVE
Chapters. 31 Dusk on Lantian

"Master, we must preach this return of mister Zhao to His Highness Yan Yue..." Suddenly Li Jin moved on with excitement.

"No. No!" Zhao Juren held Li Jin's shoulder.

Li Jin was stunned, he looked at Zhao Juren in confusion.

"No need to tell Your Majesty if I'm still alive."Zhao Juren continued in a flat voice.

"What..what does my master mean?" Li Jin bought not believing what he heard.

"That which is supposed to die, let it remain dead until the time when it may come back to life." Zhao Juren said softly, that voice sounded strange in the ears.

"Master?"

"Li Jin, we have been fighting together for so long, it turns out that war is not as simple as death. We make no choice for the living to choose. If my death can make this war stop even temporarily, why not? I'm willing to die many times for that." Zhao Juren sighed.

"But what if they really think you're dead?" Li Jin asked with a stutter.

"Li Jin, I have enjoyed how amazing grilled guo fish and Releng sauce are. I even want everyone to be able to feel that hot and cold sensation simultaneously on his tongue and close his eyes for a moment forgetting the world's death." The next sentence Zhao Juren said instead made Li Jin even more confused.

"I knew all along, I was at the forefront of war-worshipping but after nearly meeting the god of death, I was the one who wanted the most to end this nearly centuries-old civil war. We have only uprooted the living people and pinned the honorable word for their deaths in a dozen decades, when it was only to hide our selfishness and greed. Li Jin I have to do something." Zhao Juren put the black hood back on her head with her jaw frozen.

"Sir, I don't understand..." Li Jin tried to digest every word Zhao Juren said.

"I just have to go back to the place where I was revived. I have to meet that person again."

"Who do you want to meet?"

"Xue Xue's..."

"Who is Xue Xue?" Li Jin scratched his non-itchy head.

"People must know something about Niangxi."

"Master?"

"Li Jin, I only asked you to do one more mission?"

"What's that?"

"Tomorrow, make sure my funeral is going on properly. Everyone will bury Zhao Juren."

"But, sir is alive..."

"Zhao Juren has been dead many times. Even since I was born into the world I have been declared dead by my own mother, I have also died in the Guangli hall in the coronation of the Grand Empress, why now do I not follow the world's desire to die and leave my name in the sacred tomb of Zuihou temple?" Zhao Juren smiled in a mysterious grin.

"I'll meet tomorrow night at Lantian's palace after the funeral. Clear Lantian's house for one night, I'll be there and nobody wants to know."

(The Lantian Palace or blue sky palace was Zhao Juren's private residence located outside the Weiyan king's city palace, located on a plain near the Sheng river. The palace was a place that Zhao Juren liked very much when he came home from the battlefield)

Li Jin did not have time to say anything, Zhao Juren turned around and disappeared through the back door of the altar, sneaking up like a ghost.

The greenish-colored mountain in the distance was shrouded in mist, the Sheng river in the distance was like an angel necklace, making the panorama meandering, the spring air was always comfortable.

"Akhs..." Zhao Juren closed her eyes, she had not expected to be able to sit back on the balcony of Lantian's palace, her own home.

Li Jin had vacated the house for the night. All the waiters are back and can be back tomorrow. Only a few guards stood guard at the gate.

Lantian Palace was so quiet, it was quieter than Zhao Juren had ever remembered. But has this house ever been crowded? Zhao Juren grimaced herself. Usually also Lantian Palace only contained dozens of servants and house guards. Who would dare to be there?

Today Zhao Juren freely went around his own house like walking down an uninhabited building, breathing the air he so longed for when he went to war for dozens of days or just traveling around from region to region.

Zhao Juren enjoyed the food available in the palace kitchen, brewed her own tea and sat quietly hanging out on the balcony of her home enjoying the twilight.

The sun sets in the western horizon so orange as if to scoop up the beautiful wilderness. The longer the sky became dark golden, beginning to sink on the horizon line, the earth was covered in a golden orange color.

Zhao Juren's eyes barely blinked at the cold moon that had risen indifferently, the weeds sticking out as high as a kilan from the ground, they have just grown usually in early autumn they are yellow, swinging high and almost parallel to the back of an adult horse, when the wind blows strong in the afternoon it will wobble following the caress of the wind resembling a golden wave, rolling across the earth until it stops at the horizon.

"Just this time I felt so missed by the sight." Zhao Juren took a deep breath. The god of war was no longer staring fiercely at the sky while massaging his forehead while thinking hard how to strategy the next war.

He now only draws and exhales quietly and so freely. No burden at all. Zhao Juren seemed to be living out his death.

"The.trap..."

The sound of footsteps could be heard climbing the stairs, Zhao Juren did not budge from where she was sitting, the cup of tea that was originally steaming warm had cooled down.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer, but Zhao Juren was not at all worried, it was the footsteps of people he knew very well. Li Jin's footsteps.

"Sir..."

Li Jin's voice sounded softly, with no desire to shock Zhao Juren who turned her back casually.

"Has the ceremony finished?" Zhao Juren asked without turning around at all.

"Already, sir..." Zhao Juren replied in a doubtful tone.

"Come here, I want you to brew a new tea for me. The servants are not there, I have to trouble you. I don't want to miss today's change over Lantian. This atmosphere will probably be a long time away from seeing me after tonight." Zhao Juren said as she looked up at the sky.

The forest across the Sheng river grew darker, like a vast black shadow.

"Good, sir." Li Jin said awkwardly. But he did not move from where he stood. Some moments become silent. Li Jin was still in his white clouded linen robe covered in a black coat, just up from the direction of Weiyan Palace.

"Why haven't you left yet?" Zhao Juren finally looked back.

"Puni servant, sir." Suddenly Li Jin dropped his knee on the oak floor. Causing a heavy thud. his head was lowered until the end of his long hair in the pigtail touched the floor.

"What's wrong? Why are you asking me for forgiveness?" Zhao Juren stared at Li Jin sharply, unable to dismiss the tension that had adorned her cold face.

...Li Jin's...