Chapter 125: A Successful General Comes at the Cost of Thousands of Lives (II)

Long coughed. “I’m telling the truth… Well, in fact… at that moment, I felt that I didn’t know you at all.”

s.h.i.+ was stunned. Then, he recalled his behavior earlier. “You…”

Long blinked, looking very innocent.

s.h.i.+ said softly, “There are many kinds of people in the martial arts world. I can’t just choose to make friends with those whom I like. You… Do you mind?”

Long shook his head. “I don’t mind it. Qingzhou, I just felt that you seemed very happy just now. I’m wondering if you are constraint by me.”

s.h.i.+ was moved by the man in front of him. “How could you think like that?”

“It’s normal, isn’t it? Just now you had a very happy conversation with that man and you laughed a lot. But in front of me, you always behave like a cautious gentleman… In the imperial palace, you should pay attention to everything you do. You can’t do anything that doesn’t accord with your ident.i.ty. It’s really depressing…”

“No.” s.h.i.+ suddenly interrupted Long.

Long was shocked when he was interrupted by s.h.i.+. “What?”

s.h.i.+ shook his head. “No.”

Long looked at s.h.i.+ in confusion.

s.h.i.+ stared at Long, and then explained gently, “I’m not suppressing my nature. I’m not a talkative person. I make friends with some people in the martial arts world with some purposes, and that doesn’t mean I like to live that kind of life. I was born in s.h.i.+ family and received education there. You should know that I’m just like that by nature… In your words, I’m a gentleman.”

Hearing the words, Long immediately held s.h.i.+ in his arms.

s.h.i.+ smiled. Although there were still some people walking on this road, s.h.i.+ didn’t want to push away the man who was holding him at this moment.

Long had a sense of propriety, so he wouldn’t hold s.h.i.+ forever.

After a while, Long let go of s.h.i.+ and finally felt relieved.

“So, the man I see at ordinary times is the real you. Just now… you had to behave in that way, right?”

“Yes.” s.h.i.+ looked at Long tenderly.

Long happily held s.h.i.+’s hand. “Qingzhou… I’m afraid that your life is constraint by me.”

“No, I’m happy to be with you. I’m happy every day,” s.h.i.+ said gently.

“This… Are you sweet talking me, Qingzhou?” Long looked at s.h.i.+ with eyes open wide.

Seeing that s.h.i.+’s ears turned a little pink, Long felt a surge of desire for him… However, Long knew that it wasn’t appropriate for him to do anything on the road, so he controlled himself.

Then, they went back hand in hand…

However, that was the end of peace!

s.h.i.+ was always vigilant. When he felt someone was trying to a.s.sa.s.sinating them, he immediately held Long’s waist and jumped up. The concealed weapons sparked under their feet, which was caused by friction.

Then, more than ten Shadow Guardians appeared around Long and s.h.i.+ to protect them.

Another twenty Shadow Guardians went to fight against the a.s.sa.s.sins.

There were more than ten a.s.sa.s.sins and they looked very powerful.

s.h.i.+ looked very cold. He was holding Long’s hand and staring at the a.s.sa.s.sins.

Long turned his head. Seeing s.h.i.+’s expression, Long couldn’t help holding s.h.i.+’s hand more tightly.

s.h.i.+ also turned his head. He saw the comfort and concern in Long’s eyes, so he smiled. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”

Long shook his head. “I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about you.”

“Me?” s.h.i.+ raised his eyebrows.

“Well, I hope you don’t take it to heart,” Long said earnestly.

s.h.i.+ suddenly felt so warm. It seemed that Long always had a way to warm s.h.i.+’s heart and Long had gradually made him… change into another person.

In fact, s.h.i.+ never looked forward to love. For more than five years before, he just endured it, but he didn’t feel sad.

But, Long’s sudden change…

s.h.i.+ doubted Long at the beginning, but later s.h.i.+ fell in love with him and finally had a taste of love…

That was really a complicated process and s.h.i.+ suffered great changes of mood…

However, no matter how complicated it was, the happiness deep inside was real.

If it weren’t for love, how could s.h.i.+ feel so happy?

When Long and s.h.i.+ was looking at each other affectionately, the fighting on the other side was about to end.

The ten a.s.sa.s.sins were naturally no match for the twenty Shadow Guardians.

Those a.s.sa.s.sins had been defeated before they bothered Long and s.h.i.+.

When all the a.s.sa.s.sins were dying, Zou Qingyuan arrived with some men.

The a.s.sa.s.sination almost happened at the gate of their building. Given the special ident.i.ties of s.h.i.+ and Long, it would be serious if he didn’t bring his men there!

“Qingzhou!” Zou exclaimed.

s.h.i.+ looked over and smiled, “Qingyuan, don’t worry. They’re just some useless gangsters. It’s okay.”

Zou didn’t think that the a.s.sa.s.sins with great martial arts were just some useless gangsters, but since s.h.i.+ said that, he didn’t refute.

Zou had known Long’s ident.i.ty, but he pretended not to know because s.h.i.+ didn’t say anything about that.

After a brief conversation with Zou, s.h.i.+ asked him to leave.

Not all the a.s.sa.s.sins were killed by the Shadow Guardians. Some of them were just arrested but still died. It could be seen that those people were all from the well-trained suicide squad.

“Alas, it’s a pity that the people of Eastern Darkness look just like us. Only the Northern Barbarians look a little different. Otherwise, at least we can know whether these a.s.sa.s.sins came from Eastern Darkness.” Long sighed.

s.h.i.+ paused for a second, and then said, “I have a way to figure out whether these people came from Eastern Darkness.”

“Hmm?” Long looked at s.h.i.+. “What’s that?”

“If we can’t get the information in the traditional way, we can seek help from the martial arts world,” s.h.i.+ said slowly.

Long just came out of Tianji Sect, so he naturally understood what s.h.i.+ meant, but he frowned.

“Tianji Sect?”

s.h.i.+ found that Long didn’t like Tianji Sect for some unknown reason, so he said, “Not necessarily. There are many other organizations.”

Long pursed his lips and said suddenly, “Will Tianji Sect find it out?”

“Maybe they have a way.” s.h.i.+ said cautiously.

Long pursed his lips, “Qingzhou…”

s.h.i.+ looked at Long.

But Long scratched his head and stopped talking.

The Shadow Guardians dealt with the dead bodies on the spot, in a quite cruel way.

Two big trees were cut off and then the dead bodies were piled up together. A special kind of oil was poured on those things. With that oil, even water could burn, let alone two trees.

Soon, all the bodies disappeared.

It cost them about half an hour, but no one appeared on this road during this period of time.

It seemed that other Shadow Guardians were guarding ahead…

Long stared at the burning fire. After a while, he sighed.

“Battles are always accompanied by the cost of human lives.”

Hearing Long’s words, s.h.i.+ fell silent for a moment. Later, s.h.i.+ said softly, “A successful general comes at the cost of thousands of lives. I didn’t understand the meaning of this sentence when I was a child. After I went to the battlefield, I finally understood it.”

“Qingzhou…” Long held s.h.i.+’s hand. “Let’s go.”

s.h.i.+ nodded. “Right.”

Long was not so relaxed as he was earlier, but he still held s.h.i.+’s hand and didn’t speed up the pace.

They went back to the imperial palace slowly.

Back to Qiankun Palace, s.h.i.+ and Long went to change clothes.

It was already afternoon after they changed their clothes and they hadn’t eaten lunch. Neither of them had a good appet.i.te, so they just had a light meal.

After that, Long went to the imperial study, while s.h.i.+ stayed in Qiankun Palace to deal with other affairs…