Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 88

No More Hu Le in This World

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The change in front of them froze both of them.

The air in the hall fell silent for a moment.

An eerie silence.

Thick blood gushed from Hu Le's lips, landing on the dark blue eunuch's uniform and staining it a dark red. This sword was a spirit-piercing sword, and when it pierced into a demon, it would crush the demon's soul as a way to stop a demon with a high level of Tao from resisting.

Li Lianhuai had used this sword against Hu Le countless times, sometimes piercing his legs, sometimes piercing his arms, sometimes piercing his abdomen. None of the wounds were fatal, but no matter where he pierced, the cold and arrogant fox demon would be silenced by the pain of a broken soul and lose the ability to resist.

He always said he wanted to kill him to compensate for his suffering, but he never actually did, probably because, as he said, the most painful thing in the world was to suffer worse than death, so he kept him half alive for the fun of torturing him.

This time, the sword in his hand did not go astray, and he did not waste his strength on redundancy, but penetrated his heart steadily.

Hu Le's face was white with pain, but the smile on his lips was unrestrained. He looked down at the silver sword glowing in his heart, the blood falling on the hilt, adding a brilliant colour.

The demon-killing sword really lives up to its name, it hurts everywhere, but it hurts the most in the heart.

Li Lianhuai jerked the silver sword back, and for the first time in a long time, his face was cold and surprised as blood gushed out from Hu Le's heart, splashing his face and eyes, even his eyelashes were red, and he blinked reflexively.

"Li Lianhuai... are you satisfied..."

“I said... I will not let you get away with it, I will die, but I will not go back with you..."

Hu Le's body shook, his heart inexplicably filled with pleasure. With each word he said, a lot of blood gushed out of his mouth, but that did not prevent sarcasm from appearing in his jewel-like blue eyes.

Unable to hold on, he fell backwards and landed in Xuan Long's arms, who instinctively caught him and murmured, “Hu Le..."

Why was this happening?

Wasn't everything just fine? Hu Le said he was going to pack his things and that he would leave here with him when the time came...

Why...

Even with Xuan Long's arms holding him up, Hu Le's body slid downward without strength. Xuan Long lowered him gently to the ground, wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve, and said in a clumsy, low, soothing voice, "Don't be afraid... I'll go find Yan Yuan and ask him to ask Hua Niang to save you. It will be fine..."

With that, Xuan Long got up, barefoot in his profane clothes, and was about to run out in a daze, when Hu Le raised his hand to grab his trouser leg and strained his voice: “A'Po..."

Xuan Long's body froze and he turned back to look at him.

Hu Le smiled at Xuan Long. His smile was different from that of Li Lianhuai, his icy blue eyes were dotted with stars, he must have liked someone very much to have such a gentle look.

"Don't go..."

"I have many... many things to say to you..."

Xuan Long slowly bent down, his body unsteady, the only way was to kneel: "Wait until I go and find Hua Niang to come, then you can talk, there are still many days ahead."

Hu Le grabbed the hem of his shirt, his eyes moist: "Don't... wait until you find Hua Niang, it will be too late..."

"... It's too late." Xuan Long whispered back.

Hu Le laughed: "It's too late..."

Everyone in the room knew it was too late.

Dragon scales and dragon blood could save a seriously injured person, but they did not have the ability to make the heart heal itself.

To change one's fate against the heavens required a great price, a price that Xuan Long had already paid for Yan Yuan, and now he had nothing left but the child in his womb and Hu Le who accompanied him.

He could not afford to lose either of them.

Xuan Long bowed his head, held Hu Le's hand, and spoke very low and muffled, "We agreed to go out together and live a life apart from the world."

Hu Le held Xuan Long's hand with all his might, but it was only a slight amount of force. At the last moment, he still struggled to smile, hoping to smile more beautifully and give his A'Po a good last impression.

“A'Po, I'm sorry... I'm afraid, I'll have to break my word..."

“I can't join you... to take care of the baby, growing up..."

"... But I did it... I said I would protect you... until I die..."

"......"

What Yan Yuan has never done, Hu Le has done. Along the way, in fact, this world was not as cold as he thought, at least from the beginning to the end, this little fox was sincere in treating him with sincerity, never leaving him and staying with him.

But why did the heavens treat him so cruelly, robbing him of his only remaining warmth... Is it true what the elders of his clan had said when he was young, that he was born as a lonely star, destined to die alone and miserable, and that if anyone came near him, they would be killed by him...

If that was the case, he would have preferred that Hu Le had not known him in the first place, that Hu Le had treated him with the same cold eyes as the rest of the living creatures, that Hu Le had not treated him so well, had not blocked the sword for him, had not left him to live alone in the world.

He would rather it had been himself who lay here.

"...... No." Xuan Long's throat twitched, a slight 'gurgle' sound coming from deep in his throat, one that came only from the depths of grief, as if old broken bellows were wailing.

"I'll feed you my blood… it will definitely save your life."

He lowered his head, and the wrist that peeled back his lapel was shaking imperceptibly. He rawly gouged a freshly grown dragon scale off his heart, leaving an uneven hole, and a lot of blood gushed out of the wound in an instant...

Hu Le breathed hard and watched Xuan Long's actions, coughing furiously in anxiety. His entire chin was stained red with blood, and the place where he was hit by the sword was even more miserable.

Xuan Long's palm caught the blood from his own heart, clenched into a fist and brought it to Hu Le's lips, the blood dripping out through the gap in his fist: “Hu Le... drink it..."

Hu Le frowned and weakly looked away, "If you hurt yourself again... I will be angry..."

Xuan Long: "...... Don't be angry."

Hu Le, who could not afford to be cruel to him, immediately softened his heart and turned his head to look at him again. Seeing Xuan Long's eyes blurred, he smiled, "Don't cry... I am willingly…"

"I'll be fine if I die... as long as you and the baby are fine..."

"Who told me to like you..."

"To love a living being is to be willing to give everything for them... just like you did for Yan Yuan..."

Xuan Long: "...... Stop it."

Hu Le lay on his back, looking up at the void of air above him, his vision gradually becoming somewhat scattered: "What is to be said... it will be too late if I don't say it."

"In fact, I lied to you... nine tailed foxes do not have nine lives, that is all folklore, not to be taken seriously..."

"Look... I have sacrificed my life to save you, isn't it better than that dog emperor... I want to book you for the next life, can I?..." Hu Le looked at Xuan Long with hope.

Xuan Long: "... Okay."

As if relieved, Hu Le closed his eyes and smiled breathlessly, "Then I am satisfied..."

"If there is another life... I will definitely find you before that dog emperor and not let you be cheated."

Xuan Long: "... Okay."

The blood that was lost was quickly taking away what little body heat Hu Le had left, and he was getting sleepy. It turned out that death was like this.

It wasn't really that scary, it was just that once he fell asleep, he would never see Xuan Long again, let alone have a chance to see how cute his baby was, and there was much resentment in his heart.

But more than that, Xuan Long's greatest wish was to live in peace.

Holding on to his last breath, Hu Le lifted his thousand-pound eyelids and said, "When the time comes, you will take Xiao Zhanzi and hurry away, far away..."

The hand hanging at his side moved and fished out a white paper butterfly from his simple belt and handed it to Xuan Long: "This is the guiding butterfly. When you get out, find a way to get a little spiritual power and use it to ignite the butterfly... It will lead you, to find the way to the fox clan..."

"When you get to the fox clan... look for a granny named Barbara ...... you can say that I asked you to come for medical help... she is one of the elders of the fox clan and watched me grow up with my brother, she will help you..."

"......" Xuan Long was silent as he wiped the flow of blood from the corner of Hu Le's mouth.

Hu Le gently clasped his wrist and laughed, "Don't wipe it... it won't get clean... take it."

Xuan Long looked down in a daze at the bloodstained paper butterfly in his hand and reached out to take it.

Hu Le relaxed, dropping his feeble hand, his voice lowered once more: "Don't take revenge for me... you and the baby, living safely, is the best..."

"I used to kill a lot of people and do a lot of evil... This may be the retribution, so consider it as returning a life to those dead souls..."

Xuan Long: "... You are the best fox in the world."

Hu Le was pleased to hear him praise him, and the smile at the corners of his mouth widened a few notches. Soon, it shrank to a limited size again, by a margin visible to the naked eye.

He spoke softly:

“A'Po... I'll go first."

"Goodbye."

"Hu Le..." Xuan Long called him softly.

Hu Le just looked at Xuan Long and slowly closed his eyes, the smile on his lips completely dissipating with the closed blue eyes.

He lay quietly on the ground, wearing the eunuch's clothes that Yan Yuan had forced him to wear in order to humiliate him, and stopped breathing.

From today onwards, there would be no more Hu Le in this world.

All the things from their encounter replayed in his mind... the cold and arrogant fox demon who had first met him, the fox demon who had hurt him with a whip, the fox demon who had hugged him and rambled on all night about his sadness, the fox demon who had taken him to the radish spirit for medical treatment, the fox demon who had roasted chicken for him to eat, the fox demon who had stolen fish for him to eat, the fox demon who had defended him with all his might.

The one who laughed, the one who made trouble, the one who was happy, the one who was sad, the one who shed tears, all eventually melted away into the lifeless man lying before him.

He was still so young, having spent only 200 years in the world. He was so much younger than him, and when they were together, it was Hu Le who took care of him more.

From this moment on, the only person in the world who had treated him well, from beginning to end, with all his heart, was no longer there.

No matter whether it is a demon or a god, when they die, their bodies turn into countless tiny specks of fluorescent fire, some inky, some red, some purple. Hu Le was blue, as beautiful as his eyes.

His body first became somewhat transparent and then rose up in a beam of blue specks of light. Xuan Long witnessed him disappearing in front of him, reaching out his hand and lightly touching the blue light that was actually untouchable, and tears dripped from his eyes.

"Hu Le..."

Those blue lights seemed to be alive as they circled around Xuan Long and finally dissipated into the air, never to be seen again.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Happy Thanksgiving for those who celebrate it!

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: September 27, 2022