Eternal Life: I Have the Favor System

"I lost an arm! Sending me back empty-handed is a death sentence! Do you want me to starve?"

"This can’t be happening! I joined the army with my cousins. They all died fighting the Turkic forces. How am I supposed to face my uncles?"

"My wife is waiting for me to return home in glory! Without my pay and my military status, won’t I have to go back to doing forced labor?"

"Sir, could the Holy Emperor have made a mistake? We marched through the Hundred Thousand Mountains overnight, fought one against ten, and wiped out the Turkic Headquarters! How can he treat us like this?"

"I should have died on the battlefield. I dragged one leg all the way back here, and for what?"

"Holy Emperor, you can’t be so heartless!"

"The Holy Emperor must have been deceived by treacherous officials! Let’s go to the Imperial City and appeal to him directly!"

After the Imperial Eunuch finished reading the emperor’s directive, the soldiers of Wolf Valley Pass fell deathly silent, as if their very hearts had been crushed. Then, an uproar of voices erupted.

Some wept uncontrollably.

Some seethed with righteous indignation.

Some burned with fury.

Some were utterly heartbroken.

One disabled soldier, unable to accept this outcome, ended his own life with a single stroke of his blade.

"Commander Chu, the Court can’t do this to us!"

"We charged into battle and rendered distinguished service for the Court! Aren’t they afraid of disheartening everyone in the land by doing this?"

"Grand Commander Lin, we are all your men! We beg you to seek justice for us!"

"I won’t accept this! I won’t accept this! I’m going to the Imperial City to appeal to the emperor!"

"I want to see the Holy Emperor! He must have been deceived by treacherous officials!"

...

The soldiers, losing control, swarmed around Chu Lingguang and Lin Shirong.

"Eunuch, are you certain this directive came from the Imperial City?"

Lin Shirong asked.

Questioning a Holy Decree was a capital offense.

But looking into the more than two thousand pairs of eyes, Lin Shirong couldn’t bear it.

"It was written by the Holy Emperor himself and bears the Jade Seal."

The Imperial Eunuch, sympathizing with the soldiers’ plight, handed the Holy Decree to Lin Shirong.

"How could this be?"

After examining it carefully, Lin Shirong was completely stunned.

"Chu, this..."

Lin Shirong felt that Chu Lingguang might know the reason.

Of course, Chu Lingguang knew.

At that moment, he was using all his strength to control the Spiritual Power within his Star System, wishing he could rush to the Imperial City, have the emperor torn apart by five horses, and hack Zhang Xuan into a million pieces.

It didn’t matter whether Yuanchu Mountain had instructed the Court to do this.

The Court had repaid their kindness with cruelty, disregarding the lives of its soldiers. Such cold-blooded, cowardly incompetence did not deserve to exist.

"Yuanchu Mountain!"

Chu Lingguang had lost all illusions about Yuanchu Mountain. He no longer saw entering Yuanchu Mountain to cultivate as an honor. He now saw it only as a place of cruelty and heartlessness, devoid of compassion and honor.

If it had only been aimed at him, he might have been able to endure it.

But to make more than two thousand soldiers with illustrious military records suffer alongside him—to be discharged and sent back to their farms, stripped of their pay, and forever barred from military service—was to reduce them to commoners again.

They would not only face heavy taxes but also have to perform forced labor.

"Chu!"

Lin Shirong called out to Chu Lingguang several times.

Chu Lingguang looked at the crowd, his eyes shot with blood, his entire being radiating the savagery of a starved wolf.

He knew that if he went to Yun Hong right now and revealed Qin Yu’s identity, the Court might retract the directive and allow the soldiers to return home in glory.

He himself might even be given an important position. Even if he couldn’t enter Yuanchu Mountain to cultivate, he would likely be promoted and ennobled.

However, without Qin Yu, the crisis in Yunchuan City would never have been resolved. He would never have achieved such a great victory, and neither he nor his two thousand soldiers would have made it back to Wolf Valley Pass.

So, even in these circumstances, Chu Lingguang could not betray Qin Yu.

But seeing the desperate, anguished eyes of the soldiers who had nowhere to turn for help, a powerful, malicious impulse surged within him. He wanted to kill. He wanted to turn the world upside down in a tide of slaughter.

"Commander Chu?"

The soldiers sensed that something was wrong with Chu Lingguang’s aura, and the noisy crowd gradually fell silent.

Only then did they realize that Chu Lingguang was also a victim of this injustice.

THUD!

Chu Lingguang fell to his knees before the crowd.

"Commander Chu!"

The men panicked and dropped to their knees as well.

"I’m sorry!"

Chu Lingguang couldn’t explain the situation to them, nor could he betray Qin Yu.

He walked back to his tent and summoned Ma Zhong. "I amassed a fortune when I wiped out those pirates," he said. "Help me distribute the money among the brothers."

The pirates of Xiazigou had millions of silver taels and over a hundred thousand taels of gold. Chu Lingguang had used a portion to reward the soldiers of Black Bear Island, taken another portion for himself, Xuanyuan Jinkang, Zhang Baofu, and a few of his Captains, and only handed the rest over to the Court.

Chu Lingguang was not a selfless man.

He had his own selfish desires.

So young, it was impossible for him not to be tempted by money. He had planned to build a manor one day, to let himself become a bit more worldly, to have three wives and four concubines like other high-ranking officials.

But now, his heart was in turmoil.

He had no appetite for such desires at the moment.

Filled only with a burning rage, he yearned for slaughter.

Wealth and women were like passing smoke to him now.

"Commander Chu, the brothers feel this is unfair to you!"

Ma Zhong said, kneeling.

"Tell the brothers to take the silver and leave Wolf Valley Pass as soon as possible. They are not to linger here. Tell them not to mention to anyone that they were soldiers of Wolf Valley Pass, and more importantly, not to mention my name to anyone!"

Chu Lingguang instructed.

The Court was harsh and ungrateful. Chu Lingguang worried they would get into trouble if they mentioned him.

"Just tell me, why did the Court do this?"

Ma Zhong asked, sobbing.

"I’m the one who dragged the brothers into this."

"I’m sorry."

Chu Lingguang left behind a stack of previously cashed silver notes totaling over two hundred thousand silver taels. On average, each soldier would receive over one hundred taels of silver.

This sum was nothing compared to the blood they had shed.