Chapter 237 - 236
"Why?" Wei Xiang pressed softly. "Why put yourself through that agony if she turns you away?"
"Because even if she looks at me with complete hatred in her eyes..." Wang answered, his voice steadying, "...I need to see her with my own eyes. I need to look at her face and know, without a shadow of a doubt, that she is truly alive and breathing."
Wei Xiang looked at his leader for a long moment before a faint, gentle smile touched his lips. "That is more than enough of a reason."
Wang turned his head, his golden eyes burning through the dim light of the tent toward the distant, towering silhouette of the Supreme Citadel.
"No," Wang whispered into the cold air, his voice heavy with a longing that spanned realms. "It isn’t enough. It will never be enough."
He took a slow, deep breath, letting the cool air fill his chest. "But right now... it is the only thing I have left to hold onto."
Night had settled heavily over the snow-draped expanse of the Silver Leopard camp.
The biting northern wind howled softly through the valley, carrying away the lingering smoke of hundreds of fading campfires.
Most of the weary warriors had already retired to the relative warmth of their canvas tents, leaving only elite, iron-clad guards stationed at regular intervals around the perimeter, their sharp eyes scanning the dark, frozen horizon.
Inside the grand command tent, a single oil lamp burned low on the central wooden table.
Patriarch Wang stood completely motionless before the spread-out tactical map. His broad hands were buried deep within the fur trim of his heavy winter cloak, but he had stopped studying the ink lines and mountain passes hours ago.
His intense, golden gaze was fixed continuously on a single, tiny point painted near the top of the parchment.
The Supreme Citadel.
The sudden, quiet rustle of the heavy tent flap cut through the absolute stillness.
Captain Bren stepped inside, his dark armor coated in a thin dusting of fresh frost. He did not bow immediately; instead, he stood near the entrance, his face unusually grim, his mouth set in a tight, uncomfortable line.
Wang did not turn his head, but his posture instantly rigidified. "Speak, Bren."
"The Citadel’s messenger bird arrived at the forward post ten minutes ago, Patriarch," Bren reported, his voice low and unusually hesitant. "They have delivered an official response."
Wang’s golden eyes flickered, his entire body going completely still. "A response regarding what?"
Bren swallowed hard, clearly dreading the task handed to him. "Regarding your personal request to enter the neutral boundary zone for a private meeting with Lady Lin."
An absolute, suffocating silence descended upon the command tent. The flickering flame of the oil lamp cast long, dancing shadows across the wooden map table.
Wang slowly lowered his broad hands, placing both palms flat against the cold oak wood of the table. "What were her exact words, Bren?"
Captain Bren lowered his head deeply, unable to meet his Patriarch’s eyes. "The message was delivered directly through Captain Ronan’s seal, Patriarch. Lady Lin... she has formally declined the request. She stated clearly that she does not wish to meet with you."
Wang did not move. He did not flinch. He did not let out a sudden rage or slam his fist against the table.
For several agonizing seconds, he stood perfectly still, looking precisely as though he had not comprehended the spoken words at all, as if the cold winter air had frozen him solid where he stood.
Then, very slowly, he closed his golden eyes and took a long, silent breath through his nose.
When he opened his eyes again, the intense light within them was gone, replaced by a quiet, profound emptiness.
He gave a single, faint nod of his head. "I see."
Captain Bren looked up, his face full of deep worry for his leader. "Patriarch..."
"Leave me, Bren," Wang commanded softly, his voice devoid of anger, carrying only a flat, exhausting quietness.
"Yes, Patriarch," Bren murmured quietly. He bowed deeply, stepped backward, and quietly slipped out through the tent flap.
The moment the heavy fabric dropped back into place, sealing the tent once more, the rigid, powerful posture that Wang maintained before his men completely dissolved. His broad shoulders dropped slightly, and he leaned heavily against the wooden map table, staring blankly at the ink lines beneath his hands.
He had known this outcome was entirely possible. He had spent hours telling himself to prepare for her cold rejection, reminding himself of the painful reality that he had left her behind in a world of danger.
Yet, intellectually knowing a blade might strike you did absolutely nothing to dull the agonizing sting when the steel finally pierced your heart.
A soft, familiar voice drifted from the darkened corner of the tent. "You knew deep down that she might say no, Wang."
Wang did not startle. He slowly turned his head to see Wei Xiang leaning against a wooden support pillar near the rear entrance, his dark cloak blending into the shadows.
"When did you walk in here?" Wang asked softly, his voice devoid of its usual commanding presence.
"Just a few moments ago," Wei Xiang answered gently, stepping forward into the dim circle of lamplight.
Wang turned his face back toward the map table, looking away. "Then you heard Bren’s report?"
"I heard enough," Wei Xiang confirmed softly.
Wei Xiang walked over to the opposite side of the table, looking across at his leader’s pale, quiet face. "Are you angry with her for choosing this?"
Wang shook his head slowly, side to side. "No. I am not angry."
"Are you deeply disappointed?"
Wang remained completely silent, his eyes fixed on the parchment beneath his hands.
Wei Xiang let out a quiet, sympathetic sigh. "That silence is a clear yes."
Wang offered a tired, humorless smile, his golden eyes dull in the lamplight. "I have zero right to be disappointed, Wei Xiang. I cannot possibly blame her for making this choice."
"You could blame her if you wanted to," Wei Xiang pointed out gently. "You marched an entire army across realms to reach her."
"No," Wang interrupted, his voice suddenly firming up with an absolute, undeniable truth. "I have no right. I disappeared completely from her life when she needed strength the most. I left her to face terrifying storms entirely alone. I have absolutely no right to demand a single thing from her now, nor do I have the right to expect her forgiveness."
Wei Xiang studied his leader’s pained expression carefully. "Then what do you intend to do now, Wang? Will you order the army to break camp and march home?"
"No," Wang answered plainly. "I will do nothing."
Wei Xiang frowned slightly, confused. "Nothing? What does that mean?"
"It means I will simply wait," Wang said, his voice dropping into a quiet, unshakeable register.
Wei Xiang’s frown deepened. "Wang, you have already spent endless months waiting in agony. How long do you truly intend to sit in this snow?"
"I will wait as long as it takes," Wang replied simply.
"Even if weeks pass and she never comes down from that mountain?" Wei Xiang pressed, searching his face. "Even if she gives birth to those children and decides to stay in the Citadel forever?"
Wang slowly lowered his golden eyes, staring at his calloused hands resting on the map. "Then I will still remain right here, waiting."
Wei Xiang fell into a quiet, heavy silence, looking at the man across from him with a mix of awe and profound sadness. "You truly, deeply love her, don’t you?"
A complicated, painful expression crossed Wang’s handsome face. "I don’t even know how to properly define what I feel anymore, Wei Xiang," he admitted softly, his voice tight.
"The guilt and the devotion are so tangled together inside my chest that I cannot separate them."
He stopped speaking, his broad fingers slowly curling into tight fists against the wooden table. "All I know is that the exact moment I learned she was still breathing... the moment I knew she hadn’t perished in the dark... I wanted nothing more than to see her face again."
He looked up, his golden eyes raw with emotion. "Not to claim her as mine. Not to drag her back to a life she didn’t choose. Not to demand she fulfill some ancient bond. I simply wanted to stand before her and know, with my own eyes, that she was truly safe."
Wei Xiang gave a single, understanding nod of his head. "I understand that feeling completely, Wang."
Wang looked at him, surprised. "You do?"
"I do," Wei Xiang said softly. He stepped around the map table and sat down on a wooden chest, looking up at the low ceiling of the tent. "When I first encountered her in the Lower Realm... she was utterly terrified of everyone and everything around her. She didn’t trust a single soul, and she had every reason in the world to be guarded."