After Marrying the Disabled, I Became the Prime Minister’s Wife

Chapter 427

Yan Zheng supported her just in time.

Chu Ruoyan shook her head. "I'm fine..."

Watching her two older brothers locked in a life-and-death struggle in the center of the battlefield, her fingertips dug into her flesh. After a long while, she said with a trembling voice, "Yan Zheng, what if... what if..."

The Emperor understood her thoughts. He grasped her hand and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry. If it really comes to that, I will give Eldest Brother a swift end."

Chu Ruoyan closed her eyes, a tear sliding down from the corner.

By this time, the situation on the battlefield had reached a fever pitch. Several times, Yun Lang tried to throw the medicine, but Yun Zhao dodged it every time.

Thus, he could only resort to a risky maneuver, deliberately exposing a flaw in his defense.

"Second Brother!"

"Pavilion Master, watch out!"

Yun Zhao's sword pierced through his left shoulder, and Yun Lang seized the opportunity to grab his left arm, preventing him from breaking free.

Swish—

A flurry of powder cascaded down. Because they were too close to avoid it, Yun Zhao finally inhaled a small amount.

With a thud, the relentless medicine man collapsed.

Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.

Chu Ruoyan rushed forward. "Second Brother, how are you?"

Yun Lang's entire left shoulder had been pierced through. The freely flowing blood made his red robes look even more bewitching.

He himself shrugged as if he didn't care at all. "It's nothing. I'll go back and have the old man treat it."

Chu Ruoyan breathed a sigh of relief. Yan Zheng, who had followed her up, frowned. "It seems he didn't hold back at all..."

With that sword strike, Yun Lang had lost the use of an arm at the very least.

The latter, however, narrowed his eyes and blocked Yun Zhao with his body. "What are you trying to do?"

Chu Ruoyan hurriedly said, "Second Brother, don't misunderstand. Yan Zheng is just worried. Eldest Brother is only temporarily unconscious right now, but if he wakes up again..."

"If he wakes up again, he'll go on another killing spree and make the capital flow with rivers of blood!" Yun Zihao said excitedly. "Cousins, do you have that much knockout powder to use on him? You'd better hurry back and tell Old Geezer Qin to refine some more—Ouch!"

Before he could finish his sentence, he took a heavy punch to the face. Meng Yang rotated his wrist and snorted, "It's not your place to speak! Shut up!"

Yun Zihao covered his left cheek, his face full of fury, but ultimately afraid of getting beaten again, he kept his mouth shut.

For a moment, everyone felt anxious. Looking at the corpses of Black Crow and the others, they couldn't help but look toward Yan Zheng.

At that exact moment, Xie Zhizhou suddenly drew his sword and slashed at Yun Zhao.

Clang!

Yun Lang swung his fan with his left hand to block him. "What are you doing?!"

Xie Zhizhou said in a deep voice, "If we don't kill him now, who knows how many more people will die when he wakes up! Pavilion Master Lang, I know you are desperate to protect your brother, but he is no longer your eldest brother!"

Meng Yang looked at the unconscious Shadow and couldn't help but speak up as well. "That's right, Pavilion Master. Even Shadow is no match for him. If we let this continue, I'm afraid we'll all be reuniting in the underworld!"

Yun Lang swept a cold gaze over the two of them, his eyes finally landing on Chu Ruoyan's face. "Miao Miao, is that what you think too?"

Chu Ruoyan pressed her lips tightly together, her voice sorrowful. "Second Brother, is there still a way to save Eldest Brother? Can the old man do it?"

Yun Lang remained silent. The old man's medical skills were indeed divine, but he knew absolutely nothing about the voodoo poisons of the Western Frontier.

Aunt Luo said with heartache, "Little Master, if it were any other voodoo poison, this old woman could give it a try. But this Medicine Man Gu... let alone this old woman, even if your maternal grandfather, the former King of the Western Frontier, were to come back from the dead, he wouldn't be able to undo it!"

A dark glint flashed in Yun Lang's eyes. He rushed forward and grabbed the elder by the throat. "Speak! How do you cure the Medicine Man Gu?"

The elder coughed with great effort and said with difficulty, "There is... no cure..."

Yun Lang felt as if his entire body had been plunged into an ice cellar. Chu Ruoyan walked over and gently pried his fingers open one by one. "Second Brother, Eldest Brother... is already gone..."

Yun Lang suddenly lowered his head, his eyes so bloodshot that it seemed as if he would snap her neck in the next second if she weren't his little sister.

Chu Ruoyan did not flinch or avoid his gaze. Looking straight into his eyes, she said, "Second Brother, I know. You told me before that if Eldest Brother hadn't lured the pursuers away back then, neither you nor I—none of us would have survived..."

"You also said that your greatest wish in this life was to find me and Eldest Brother, so we could return to Mount Mei together to see Mother. Even if Mother never wakes up, as long as the three of us siblings are together, it would be enough..."

"I know. I know it all... But Second Brother, we can't go back. Eldest Brother is already dead!"

As the last four words fell, they struck like a bolt from the blue. Yun Lang staggered backward two steps.

A roar of agony tore from his throat, and he shook his head desperately. "You don't know, you don't know!! Why? Why is it that every time something happens, our Yun family has to be sacrificed? Why?!"

Pointing at the heavens, his eyes frighteningly red, he cried, "Back then, on the way back to the Western Frontier, a plague suddenly broke out in the capital, and the Regent was urgently summoned back. That man abandoned Mother and us three siblings to go save his people! And what was the result?!"

"Right after he left, the bandits attacked. Out of our party of one hundred and nineteen people, aside from us and Qiaoniang who saved you, no one survived! Mother was separated from us, and Eldest Brother fought his way out with you and me. He was only twelve at the time! He was only twelve!!!"

Amidst his hoarse and exhausted roars, Yun Lang suddenly grabbed his sword and stood steadfastly in front of Yun Zhao. "I don't care who among you lives or dies! Even if everyone in the world dies, it has nothing to do with me! As long as I draw breath, no one can kill him unless I am dead!"

A dead silence fell over the battlefield.

Who didn't know that the Great Sheng Dynasty of the past was propped up entirely by the Regent alone?

He had nearly lost his life time and time again to save the world, and in the end, he had sacrificed his closest relatives and loved ones one by one. Now, who could force his son to kill his own brother?

Clap! Clap! Clap!

At the sound of applause, everyone turned around in anger, only to see Yun Zihao laughing sinisterly. "My, my, how truly touching. Cousin Yun Lang, Cousin Miao Miao, since it's so moving, I'll be merciful and give you one more piece of information!"

Meng Yang raised his fist to punch him, but Yun Zihao spoke rapidly, "There were a full thousand people besieging you that day! The enemy came prepared, and none of the hundred or so people traveling with you survived. Don't you want to know why only you few children managed to escape?"

"Stop!" Yun Lang shouted, his eyes locked dead onto Yun Zihao. "What do you know? Speak!"

Yun Zihao smiled leisurely and pointed at Yun Zhao on the ground. "Naturally, it's because of your good eldest brother! He lured the pursuers away and was heavily wounded. By the time he came to me, he was already at death's door. I asked him if he wanted to live, but he said, 'Refine me into a Medicine Man, as long as it can save my younger brother and sister.'"

!!!

It was like being struck by lightning.

Chu Ruoyan stumbled back two steps and fell into Yan Zheng's arms.

So that was it. So that was it!

The reason those pursuers hadn't caught up to them was that they had been intercepted by their eldest brother, who had already been refined into a Medicine Man.

Yun Lang's eyes looked as if they would tear open. Gripping his sword, he moved to slash him down. "You piece of trash!!!"

Yun Zihao didn't dodge or hide, laughing triumphantly. "Yes, I'm a piece of trash. Our Prince Jin lineage has entirely died out, so why should your family get to have loving siblings and a happy reunion? Yun Lang, I might as well tell you: Medicine Men aren't that easy to refine. We refined at least ten thousand people, but in the end, only your eldest brother succeeded. Do you know why?"

"Even if he is dead and unable to move, the obsession in his heart will not extinguish. Even in death, he wants to protect you! Yun Miao, if you want to send your eldest brother off, why don't you dig out his heart and take a look first? Even though he has lost his sanity and been reduced to a walking corpse, the shadow of his desire to protect you is engraved on every piece of his soul!"

Chu Ruoyan felt a metallic taste in her throat and spat out a mouthful of blood. Yan Zheng's eyes instantly turned fierce, and he suddenly drew his sword and hurled it over.

The sword pierced Yun Zihao's chest, and blood sprayed out wildly, but he was still screaming like a madman, "Kill! Kill! Didn't your father abandon you for the sake of the world back then? Do it again, do it again! Yun Miao, kill the eldest brother who wants to save you. Isn't this what your family is used to doing—mm, mmm!!"

Meng Yang gagged him. Yan Zheng looked at her with deep concern. "A'Yan, don't listen to his nonsense. How old was he back then? How could he possibly have the ability to refine a medicine man!"

Yun Zihao's mouth was stuffed, making muffled sounds. Chu Ruoyan, her face deathly pale, shook her head. "No... he had the elders by his side, they could also refine medicine men... Eldest brother did it to save us, he..."

Before she could finish speaking, Yun Zhao, who was lying on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes.

Everyone retreated in horror. Yun Lang cried out in grief, "Eldest brother!"

But he couldn't hear him at all, charging at the crowd like a violent storm.

Yan Zheng kicked his sword up with his toe and went to meet the attack. Chu Ruoyan bit her lower lip tightly and suddenly rushed forward.

"Your Highness!"

"Empress!"

Amidst the gasps of alarm, Yan Zheng turned to save her, but Yun Zhao beat him to it, slashing his sword straight down toward Chu Ruoyan's face.

The edge of the blade sliced off a few strands of her bangs. The young woman neither dodged nor hid, just looking up at him. "Eldest brother."

The cold gleam of the sword stopped an inch from her cheek, the gust of wind from the strike blowing her dark hair backward.

Amidst a chorus of sharp intakes of breath, Yun Zhao halted his hand. His hollow eyes still held no emotion, yet he remained motionless as if frozen in place.

Chu Ruoyan cried even harder.

Yun Zihao was right. Even if he was dead, even if he had completely lost his sanity, his physical instinct would not harm her.

She raised her hand and stroked her eldest brother's long-cold cheek. "Eldest brother, I'm sorry..."

Yun Zhao had no reaction.

"Everyone has the right to want you dead, except me. But now, it seems I am the only one who can get close to you..."

Yun Zhao still had no reaction.

Chu Ruoyan gave a bitter smile. "I know you can't hear anything right now, but I still want to tell you, Eldest brother, I am Miao Miao. I'm married. My husband is Yan Zheng, the best man in the world. We even have children, twins. Look..."

As she spoke, she tried to take Yun Zhao's hand.

For the first time, the medicine man did not resist, allowing her to guide his hand to rest over her lower abdomen.

Thump, thump...

Beneath the fabric, a steady heartbeat seemed to transmit through her body.

Clang. The sword in Yun Zhao's hand fell to the ground.

Yun Zihao, the elders, and the others widened their eyes, unable to believe that a medicine man would voluntarily relinquish his sword.

Yun Lang, however, had bloodshot eyes and was sobbing uncontrollably.

He remembered their childhood, right after Miao Miao was born. Their eldest brother adored her so much that he lay by the bed, saying over and over again that he would protect such a cute little sister for the rest of his life.

At that time, their mother laughed and said that their little sister would marry someone in the future, and her eldest brother couldn't protect her forever.

He still remembered his eldest brother saying very seriously that they must choose a good husband for their little sister, so that her husband could protect her in his stead.

His words had become a prophecy.

Their little sister truly had a husband to guard her side, but their eldest brother could never return...

"Aunt Luo, Eldest brother dropped his sword. Does this mean he—" Chu Ruoyan looked at Aunt Luo with wild joy. The latter couldn't bear it and turned her face away. "Little Master, a medicine man has long been devoid of heart and emotion. Even if he abandons his sword for a moment, the next time he sees blood, he will still..."

Her voice choked with sobs, unable to continue. The young woman froze for a moment, stumbling backward in a daze.

"Yes, it was my wishful thinking..."

A pair of large hands firmly supported her. Chu Ruoyan closed her eyes for a moment, then suddenly raised her voice, "Send Eldest brother off!"

A trace of heartache flashed through Yan Zheng's eyes as he replied softly, "Alright, close your eyes."

Yun Lang's eyes practically split open as he tried to rush over, but Meng Yang held him back tightly. "No! You can't! Miao Miao, you can't kill him, he is our eldest brother!!"

Chu Ruoyan turned her head and asked sorrowfully, "Is he still?"

Yun Lang shuddered and looked up. There was not a single trace of emotion on his older brother's face.

He stood there like a wooden stump. Once he started moving again, he would turn back into a tireless killing machine.

He had clearly said before that in this life, he wanted to be a prince who led troops into battle. Yet now, not a single enemy had died, but their own people were bleeding like a river...

"Second brother, my bond with him is not as deep as yours, but I know that if he still had consciousness, if he could still make his own choices, he definitely wouldn't want to live like this... Do it!"

Chu Ruoyan shouted hoarsely. Aunt Luo cried out, "Burn him with fire! Otherwise, once the medicine man Gu worms crawl out, who knows how many more people they will harm!"

The imperial guards immediately brought up firewood, acting with extreme caution, terrified that Yun Zhao might suddenly rise up and kill people.

But ​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌‍unexpectedly, he was incredibly quiet by the Empress's side.

When everything was ready, Yun Lang fell to his knees in agony. "No!!!"

If he was burned, he would turn to ash and smoke. Not even the last sliver of a memory would remain.

Yan Zheng looked at Chu Ruoyan worriedly, only to see that at this moment, she was actually more resolute than a man.

He could only support her as she struggled to kneel down. "Eldest brother, to have you as my brother in this life is Yun Miao's greatest fortune. When we meet in the underworld one day, your little sister will apologize to you again! Light the fire!"

A spark ignited, and then engulfed Yun Zhao with the momentum of a prairie fire.

The medicine man had no heart and felt no pain, but the Yun siblings felt as if the fire was burning their own bodies.

Turning to ash, inch by inch.

Yun Zihao widened his eyes. Even at this moment, he couldn't seem to believe that Chu Ruoyan would actually kill Yun Zhao!

No, this is impossible!

Clearly, as long as she protected Yun Zhao, as long as she wanted to save her eldest brother, then the many lives lost at Yun Zhao's hands would chill the hearts of the generals and even shake the foundation of the royal family!

By then, Yan Zheng's throne would be unstable, and he would still have a chance to usurp the throne. But why did she take action?

How could she be so ruthless?

The last trace of flame in the field died down. Yun Zhao, along with the medicine man Gu, completely dissipated in the wind.

Yun Lang suddenly opened his mouth and vomited a mouthful of bright red blood. Lifting his sword, Frost Snow, he walked expressionlessly toward Yun Zihao.

"No, no! You can't kill me!"

Yun Zihao screamed in terror. Yun Lang turned a deaf ear and stabbed him with his sword.

He struck ruthlessly, every thrust piercing deep into the bone, yet intentionally avoiding vital spots so as not to take his life.

Yun Zihao screamed repeatedly in pain, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Yan Zheng! Do you not want Yan Xun's corpse anymore? Don't you want him to rest in peace?"

Yan Zheng's brows sank, and he said calmly, "Don't worry. Even if you don't speak, you still have so many subordinates here. If we torture them one by one, someone will eventually confess."

After speaking, he waved his hand, and Meng Yang immediately dragged all the men away.

Yun Zihao finally realized he was going to die and begged for mercy in terror, "I was wrong, I was wrong! Cousin Miao Miao, for the sake of our shared clan and ancestry, please ask your second brother to spare me this time..."

Chu Ruoyan didn't say a word. Suddenly, her body trembled, and she collapsed.

"A'Yan!"

"Miao Miao!"

"Empress!"

Amidst a chorus of exclamations, someone pointed in terror at her feet and said, "Blood! There's blood flowing out!"