Broken Jade - Chapter 142

Chapter 142

Sheng Zhaoning placed the Imperial Jade Seal and the edict back into Wei Heng’s hands.

The elderly ministers of the Cabinet gazed at that final edict through tear-blurred eyes.

If Wei Heng survived today, the legitimate line of Great Wei would be preserved.

If he died, Great Wei would fall into the hands of a usurper and forever lose its rightful path.

Wei Heng knelt and bowed deeply before the Emperor of Wei, pressing his forehead to the floor.

Father and son bade each other farewell.

With the nation in peril, every moment they delayed exposed Great Wei to further turmoil.

The Imperial Jade Seal weighed heavily in his hands.

It was… their final hope of survival.

All the Imperial Guards stationed outside the bedchamber were sent to escort Wei Heng out of the Imperial Palace.

Rain poured down beyond the doors, as though the heavens themselves were weeping.

Sheng Zhaoning took Wei Heng by the hand and ran with him along the narrow palace road, heading east.

For the first time, the road seemed impossibly long. No matter how fast she ran, she could not reach its end.

The torrential rain blurred her vision and soaked through their robes, streaming from the hems.

The chill seeped deep into her bones.

The sounds of the rebels storming the Imperial Palace came from close by. Battle cries rang through the air as palace servants fled in every direction, screaming in panic and streaming past them.

Sheng Zhaoning clung tightly to Wei Heng’s hand. The faint warmth in his palm flickered feebly, as though it might vanish at any moment.

An indescribable panic filled her heart.

“Your Highness, over there!” one of the Imperial Guards shouted.

Sheng Zhaoning’s fingers tightened. She looked up and saw a corner of the secret passage entrance beneath the easternmost palace wall, barely visible behind thick shrubs and tangled vines.

Her heart lurched. In a panic, she searched for Wei Heng’s gaze.

Yet for some reason, the man before her seemed to be drifting farther and farther away. She could no longer even make out his face.

The Imperial Guards rushed forward to clear the entrance.

At that same moment, the rebels broke through the palace gates. The sounds of slaughter were now right in their ears.

Overwhelming terror threatened to swallow her whole.

She did not know where such fear had come from. They were standing right before the secret passage. They were only one step away from survival…

Sheng Zhaoning trembled all over, her face deathly pale. The warmth in her palm was rapidly fading.

Suddenly, she was pulled into a broad embrace.

“Don’t be afraid.” Warm breath brushed her ear.

She could feel Wei Heng holding her with all his strength, pressing her completely against his chest.

Sheng Zhaoning closed her eyes and wrapped her arms tightly around him in return, desperately trying to feel the warmth of his body.

But beneath the relentless downpour, there was only bitter cold surrounding her.

“Wei Heng…”

Sheng Zhaoning’s voice caught and trembled. It was as though only by calling his name could she fill the void inside her heart.

In the distance, the rain extinguished the flames, sending towering columns of smoke into the sky. They merged into the heavy clouds as the deluge engulfed the mortal world.

The clash of weapons drew closer by the second.

At last, the weeds and shrubs were hacked away, revealing what should have been a long, dark passage beneath the wall.

Instead, all they saw was an entrance packed from top to bottom with countless stones.

The secret passage had been blocked…

“What happened here?”

“The passage is blocked!”

“It’s filled with stones! We don’t have time to clear them!”

Sheng Zhaoning stared at the countless stones packed tightly together. In an instant, she plunged into utter despair, struggling with no hope of survival.

Behind her, hoofbeats were closing in, one step at a time.

As if sensing something, she raised her head and looked back.

Through the curtain of driving rain, a jet-black warhorse passed through the shattered defenses and slowed to a halt before her.

Her reddened gaze crept upward, passing over the blood dripping from the heavy spear, the hand gripping it so tightly that veins bulged across its back, and finally falling into a pair of eyes as dark and lightless as the endless night.

Wei Yi had fought his way here.

Sheng Zhaoning could not describe the crushing despair of that moment. Her entire body went rigid with cold. Heaven and earth fell dark and silent, and every trace of color vanished before her eyes.

Mounted high above her, Wei Yi stared down at her with icy eyes.

He saw her hand clasped tightly with Wei Heng’s. He saw the terror in Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes.

He had thought his heart, filled entirely with hatred, would never stir for her again. Yet the moment he saw Sheng Zhaoning, it plummeted heavily in his chest.

The Imperial Guards raised their swords and fought back, but how could a force of only a few dozen stand against the thousands of elite troops behind Wei Yi?

“Your Highness, go!”

The commander of the Yulin Guard charged to the front, fighting desperately to hold the enemy back.

Sheng Zhaoning had no time to think. She turned, pulled Wei Heng with her, and ran in the opposite direction.

She did not know how far they ran. Perhaps it was not far at all.

It was only a short stretch of road, yet it felt as long as an entire lifetime.

Then the black horse blocked their path once more.

Sheng Zhaoning staggered. Something in her mind snapped.

Wei Heng stepped in front of her. Facing the towering warhorse, he looked up at the man in the saddle and said, “Wei Yi.”

He called him by name.

For a moment, the image of their former brotherly affection and respect, concealed beneath the illusion of peace, seemed to appear before them once more.

Wei Heng might have been wary of him, but he had never truly regarded him as an enemy.

When it came to Wei Yi, he could never summon any real hatred.

On the contrary, he had always felt an inexplicable sense of kinship with him.

If he had not realized that Wei Yi and Zhaoning once had feelings for each other, and if they had never been drawn into a struggle for the throne, perhaps they truly could have been brothers who shared a deep bond.

Wei Yi stared at him coldly and likewise spoke his name. “Wei Heng.”

A strange tension passed among them.

Now that the outcome had been decided, Wei Heng had calmly accepted it.

As long as the realm could know peace and prosperity, he would have no regrets, no matter who ultimately ruled it.

But still…

“Wei Yi, let Zhaoning go. The struggle for the throne has nothing to do with her.”

This conflict had always been between the two of them. She should not be dragged down with him.

Victory and defeat had been decided. Wei Heng did not fear death.

All he wanted was for Sheng Zhaoning to be safe.

A sword was tossed at his feet, splashing through the rainwater.

The meaning could not have been clearer.

Wei Yi wanted him dead.

Sheng Zhaoning watched as Wei Heng picked up the sword and drew the blade. Without the slightest hesitation, he raised it to his throat.

Only when the blade was about to slice through his neck did Sheng Zhaoning suddenly come to her senses.

“No!”

She threw herself forward like a madwoman and knocked the sword away.

The sword clattered to the ground, and Sheng Zhaoning snatched it up.

Now fully aware of what was happening, she flung the sword aside and dropped to her knees before Wei Yi’s horse. Again and again, she slammed her forehead against the ground.

Her skin split open. Blood mingled with the rainwater, dripping down and spreading across the earth.

Sheng Zhaoning’s voice was hoarse. “Wei Yi, I was wrong. Please… please spare him.”

She had been wrong. She should never have left Liangzhou. She should never have fallen in love with Wei Heng.

She should never have betrayed Wei Yi.

If she had never left, if she had willingly remained at Wei Yi’s side, even if it meant spending the rest of her life trapped in desolate darkness, never to see the light again, would she have been spared this heart-rending agony?

If Wei Yi had not come to despise her so bitterly, if his towering rage had not extended to Wei Heng, then perhaps Wei Heng would never have been driven into such a hopeless situation.

Sheng Zhaoning found herself swallowed by boundless darkness once more. She truly believed she had been wrong, utterly and unforgivably wrong. Even ten thousand deaths could not atone for it.

“Please, Wei Yi…” she wailed in anguish.

Wei Yi swung down from his horse and advanced on her one step at a time.

His footsteps stopped before her.

He crouched down, picked up the sword lying beside her, and held it out in front of her.

Lifting her chin, Wei Yi smiled cruelly. “Only one of you can live.”

A vicious darkness filled his eyes, one that threatened to destroy everything.

Sheng Zhaoning had long since reached the point where she would willingly die for Wei Heng. The moment Wei Yi uttered those words, he already knew what her answer would be.

Yet he still refused to give up. This was his final test.

But the words had barely left his mouth, before either Wei Yi or Wei Heng could react, when Sheng Zhaoning seized the sword, turned it toward her own chest, and plunged it down with all her strength-

Wei Yi’s eyes widened. Nearly frantic, he struck the blade aside.

Even so, its tip carved a deep, bloody gash across her chest.

Wei Yi clamped a hand around her wrist with enough force to crush it.

“Do you really love him that much?” Wei Yi demanded, his eyes red.

“Yes,” Sheng Zhaoning said.

She loved him. No one could force her to deny it.

She wrested the sword free and slashed it toward her own neck. Just as she was about to put an end to everything…

Wei Yi seized her wrist viciously. Using the force of her own movement, he wrenched her arm backward and drove the sword behind her.

With a sickening sound, the blade pierced a heart.

The sword sank into the chest of Wei Heng, who had also lunged forward to stop her.

A deafening roar exploded inside Sheng Zhaoning’s head. She stared at the sword in her hand in disbelief, the vivid red blood searing her eyes as her mind went utterly blank.

The hilt was still clenched in her hand, cold and heavy.

She had driven this sword into Wei Heng’s chest… with her own hands.

Darkness washed over Sheng Zhaoning’s vision in waves. Her ears rang, and all the blood in her body seemed to stop flowing at that very instant.

Before her, Wei Heng’s body lost its strength and slowly collapsed.

“Wei Heng!”

Sheng Zhaoning stumbled and crawled toward him, screaming his name.

Blood. Blood covered the ground, mingling with the rain and spreading in crimson rivulets.

She cradled Wei Heng in her arms and helplessly pressed her hands over his wound, but blood kept welling between her fingers, an endless stream that would not stop.

Tears drenched her face, cold as they mingled with the rain.

“Don’t die. Ah Heng, don’t die…” Her words came in broken fragments. She could not even form a complete sentence.

Her hands were soaked in blood.

His blood was still so scorching hot that it seemed ready to burn through her palms, yet the warmth of his body was slowly fading away.

Sheng Zhaoning looked at him and finally broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. “Save him! Someone, please save him!”

She clung to him helplessly, pleading for someone to save him. But when she looked around, all she saw were Wei Yi’s cold, merciless eyes and the expressionless soldiers of the black-armored Liangzhou Army.

What was she supposed to do?

Her Ah Heng…

What could she do?

Sheng Zhaoning held him as tightly as she could. Yet even locked in each other’s arms, she could feel them being torn apart, little by little.

Wei Yi’s expression was taut, as though the sight before him was painful to behold.

He approached with measured steps and looked down at her.

“Didn’t you foresee this ending the day you left Liangzhou and entered Capital City?”

Wei Yi gave a cold laugh and ruthlessly exposed her identity. “A Shadow Guard of the Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion. Shadow Ten.”

He stripped away her disguise and laid bare, one by one, every purpose that had brought her to the capital.

Sheng Zhaoning had hidden in Capital City behind a gentle, harmless facade. She had fooled everyone and deceived Wei Heng into falling hopelessly in love with her.

And she, too, had lost herself in that false dream.

She had truly begun to think of herself as the “Lord Sheng” praised throughout the imperial court.

If Wei Heng had known everything, if he had known she belonged to the Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion and had even approached him as part of a plot to seize the throne, would he still have loved her enough to willingly die for her?

Sheng Zhaoning’s heart clenched violently.

She instinctively tried to cover Wei Heng’s ears, but her hands trembled, and she could not loosen her hold on him even an inch.

Her face turned deathly pale as terror consumed her. She could not bear for him to learn the truth about her this way.

She did not even dare look into his eyes, afraid she would find shock, disappointment, and fury there.

But Wei Heng merely struggled to raise his hand and wipe the tears from the corner of her eye. Smiling, he said, “Don’t cry. I already knew.”

He had figured it all out long ago.

When they had faced danger in Jizhou, she had been far too calm. There was also the male identity she had deliberately assumed, the medicinal powders and blades she always carried, and the practiced ease with which she had set a broken bone without so much as flinching…

With clue after clue laid before him, how could Wei Heng possibly not have known?

He had never exposed her. He had never let on that he knew.

If Sheng Zhaoning chose not to tell him, he would never ask, even if it took a lifetime.

But she had been willing to tell him.

On Ghost Festival Night, she had already wanted to reveal the truth to him, hadn’t she?

Yet how could he bear to make her tear open her scars again and recount that blood-soaked past?

Sheng Zhaoning did not need to lose herself in memories she could never escape.

She only needed to remain untainted, safe, and free from worry.

That alone… was enough.

Wei Heng felt his limbs growing stiff and cold.

His consciousness began to fade, and the colors of the mortal world slowly dimmed.

That sword had pierced his heart. It hurt so much, and he was so cold, yet he continued to smile. With the last of his strength, he said, “Thank goodness… you get to live.”

Ningning, you must live well.

May you know peace and joy.

May you live free from worry.

At last, Wei Heng’s consciousness began to dissolve. Little by little, the strength left his hand, and it slipped downward.

It fell heavily to the ground.

At the very end, Wei Heng simply gazed at her. He kept looking at her, a smile in his eyes, until they slowly closed…

Sheng Zhaoning refused to let him go. She held him in her arms and picked up the hand that had fallen to the ground. His palm was already cold.

The torrential rain engulfed her, as though all the endless suffering of the mortal world had closed around her.

Sheng Zhaoning could no longer make a sound. Tears streamed down her face and mingled with the rain until there was no telling them apart.

She held him as the last of his warmth slowly faded. She wept, then smiled, gently rocking him in her arms.

As though he had merely fallen asleep with his head in her lap.

How could he fall asleep so quickly and leave her awake all alone?

But she did not know any lullabies.

No one had ever sung one to her.

Ah Heng, how much longer are you going to sleep?

Please, don’t sleep anymore.

Wake up and teach me. I’ll sing for you…

Scenes from the past surfaced one after another in her mind.

Sheng Zhaoning sank into darkness, unable to wake.

She did not know how long she had been asleep. She only knew that her dreams held everything she refused to forget for as long as she lived.

It had been so long since she had last dreamed of him.

In that torrential rain, he had died in her arms, never to breathe again.

Wei Yi had ordered his men to tear him from her embrace and drag him away. They had hung his corpse from the city wall before throwing it into a mass grave, leaving it to be devoured by stray dogs.

Sheng Zhaoning had been taken prisoner and lost all word of him.

After returning to the imperial court, she had used every means at her disposal and searched everywhere, yet she could not find even a scrap of his clothing.

Just like that, Wei Heng vanished from her life.

And thus, she and her beloved… parted forever.