Chapter 230: Let them try, let them come
He hesitated, watching her with something like pity. "But... a few of them are still out there. They’re trying to regroup—trying to start another fight."
Hua Jing didn’t respond at first. Her mind was a hollow echo, her gaze locked on the empty space where Zhao Yan had been.
Then slowly, she turned to meet Wei Ling’s eyes.
Her lips twitched, a ghost of a smile flickering across her blood-smeared face. But it was not a smile of relief or peace. It was a cold, fierce thing—a promise written in the curve of her lips and the icy gleam of her eyes.
"Let them come," she said, her voice low and steady. "Let them try."
She straightened her shoulders, her chin lifting as she took a deep breath. The weight of grief was still there, but beneath it burned something else—a hard, relentless fire.
"I will go to war myself," she said softly, her voice almost a whisper. "And I will end it."
Wei Ling froze, stunned by Hua Jing’s declaration. She—whose grief still bordered on collapse—had just vowed to go to war herself... and he had expected words of defeat, not defiance. Her steel‑edged promise rang louder than swords.
He took a steadying breath and slowly nodded. In that small gesture, he offered more than agreement—he gave her permission to keep standing, to stay in the fight. He had served Zhao Yan from the day the prince was old enough to grip a sword. His loyalty ran deeper than blood, and seeing his friend and master dying at his feet tore at him. Yet he couldn’t let grief win now—not when Kaya’s resolve burned brightest at her hardest moment.