Chapter 1113: Impartial
Proofreader: Papatonks
“Zhuo Fan! Where are you, Zhuo Fan?”
On the shore of North Sea, devastated from the brutal and bloody battle, the surviving Sea Bright Sect disciples were busying themselves restoring the heavy damage. Only a few people traveled along the shore of the expansive sea, shouting and pleading with tears in their eyes. Luo Yunchang with Shuang’er and their people were searching with a bleak outlook for one missing man.
Luo Yunhai was walking aside, gazing at the vast waters with a heavy sigh, “Brother Zhuo, we finally came to know you’re alive, but where could you have gone to now?”
“A dead man like him always pops out of nowhere and vanishes in the same fashion moments later. He won’t even drop by for a visit. We get that you’re busy but the least you could do is send us words now and then and not keep us heartbroken and always worrying about you.” Wiping her tears, Luo Yunchang chided.
Her sisters consoled her, giving her a handkerchief. Luo Yunhai shook his head, “Sister, don’t feel bad, brother Zhuo has great fortune and I’m sure this time is no different.”
“That’s for the good guys. No evil wicked man ever got blessed with good luck.” Someone shouted in reply.
They all turned in anger at an elegant and lofty girl, her eyes always looking far over the wide sea. She looked cold and sorrowful, but her biting words clearly struck someone when they were down.
Luo Yunchang stared daggers at her and snapped, “What did Zhuo Fan ever do to you? Why are you cursing him when we don’t even know if he’s alive?”
“His fate is no mystery, not when he’s dead.”
The girl sighed, “Everyone knows how strong the sea demon is, and the information we have says that when the sea demon withdrew, only the Invincible Sword’s group got out. That fiend is without a doubt laying crushed under the sea demon’s paw. His sins are heavy, but out of respect for the departed, I will stop here. I only want for no one to follow his example on the evil and bloody path he trailed.”
“Hey, what’s the big idea?”
“Sister Xue, brother Zhuo is gone now so could you at least try to show some consideration?” Luo Yunchang raged, waving her hands around in defiance. Another girl rushed over to placate them, “Did you forget why we’re here? Brother Murong and my father are still missing!”
A man strutted over to the girls, shouting, “Sister Xue, Yan’er, I had no luck finding father and the others. What about on your side?”
The three were also here, searching the rubble.
Murong Xue ignored them and went to look, “Good and evil have always been on separate sides. The devil is gone, but the whole world knows of his sins. You may refuse to hear the truth, but do you think you can stop all people from talking?”
“Wait!”
Luo Yunhai held out her hand to block them. Her eyes glimmered and Luo Yunhai walked to her and looked into the other girl’s flat gaze, “Miss, don’t judge before you understand. Zhuo Fan is my big brother and my Luo clan’s steward. As his brother and Clan Head, I am unable to ignore your blatant slander. You call big brother a fiend with grave sins. Why?”
“You’re his little brother? Well so am I!”
“Take a powder!”
Ouyang Changqing snickered, worming his way in their graces, but Murong Xue glared at him before turning to Luo Yunhai, “I am not talking behind someone else’s back, nor am I insulting the departed. Evil is evil. Since you wish to know his vile deeds, I shall lay them all out for you.”
Murong Xue began with her trip to the central area. When she finished, Luo Yunhai sneered, “Central area is our enemy. Brother Zhuo was besieged on all sides by enemies. Whether in self-defense or attacking, it was all within his right. You call that a crime? In that case, who among the four land leaders, including your Murong clan, is innocent?”
“He involved countless innocents from a merchant group…”
“Those clinging to the powerful should be ready to fall alongside them.”
“But all those lives, gone before their time…”
“Where you see life, I see fairness.” Luo Yunhai retorted, “You call them innocent, the same type of innocent fostered on wealth and power. Could those innocent hands be clean then, never stained with blood and grime? Since they aren’t, then they’re not innocent. You might even say they received just rewards. What’s there to sympathize with?”
Murong Xue frowned, unrelenting, “Sinners as they might have been, not all deserve death, yet so many have died…”
“You don’t get to judge who dies or lives or how much of a sinner one is. What gave you the idea they deserved to live? Brother Zhuo said once, corruption begets corruption. They might’ve just stolen a single needle, but what goes around, comes around. To say nothing of a merchant group, wallowing in profits, their hands couldn’t be dirtier. Brother Zhuo did the world a favor, acting in heaven’s stead.”
“He’s not heaven. Who is he to pass judgment in its stead and harm so many people?”
“Neither are you. Why do you insist on labeling brother Zhuo as evil while calling yourself righteous?” Luo Yunhai matched her at every turn, leaving Murong Xue tongue tied.
Zhuge Changfeng chuckled to himself.
[Clan Head’s statecraft is progressing well.]
He stepped over, encouraging, “Miss, I was once an imperial Prime Minister, and can say with confidence that among officials and merchants, countless people lay dead at their feet. The Murong clan is a righteous clan, with miss only looking at the thousands of casualties and not at the details leading to the disaster. To be honest, in my capacity as his formal opponent and now colleague, I can assure you that Steward Zhuo is fair!”
“Fair?”
Murong Xue mocked, pointing at the thousands of corpses, howling in exasperation, “You call it fair, his vile plan of having so many lives accompany him in death?”
Luo Yunhai cast a cold eye on the bodies, shouting back, “Commander Touba!”
“Present!” Tuoba Tieshan snapped to attention on Luo Yunhai’s side.
“Commander Touba, tell this miss, what was our relationship a dozen years ago?”
“Enemies!”
“And Zhuo Fan?”
“Enemies!”
“Have you met in battle? How did it conclude?”
“In Tianyu’s great war, I suffered a crushing defeat. My soldiers laid to waste, my officers broken, the death toll uncountable. I marked the end of my career.”
“Do you hate him?”
“What hate is there for a soldier to fight on the battlefield that uses his own strength?” Tuoba Tieshan chuckled, then snapped loudly, “Hate is a sign of cowardice. Hate cannot prevail over an enemy. I lost to Zhuo Fan and all he has is my utmost respect. I only think of fighting him again, nothing more, nothing less.”
Luo Yunhai dismissed him, turning a sharp gaze on Murong Xue, “Now you see? On the field of battle, where the fighting is most fierce, it is measured in defeat or victory, and not in casualties. Best be prepared to die the moment you step into the fray, for there is no good and evil, only weak and strong. In this war, the four lands had prevailed over the central area. Regardless of the casualties, we won. This was brother Zhuo’s justice. None shall ever call him vile or evil!
“If you think war is evil, then let me tell you the difference!”
Luo Yunhai flicked his hand and a map appeared before her eyes, “Due to brother Zhuo’s plan, the battle resumed to only northern lands, allowing the other three lands to be safe. Even with the enemy armies entering deep into the three lands, due to brother Zhuo’s tactic, they had always been on the move, not stopping for anything, thus their influence minimal to the people. You’re a leader of southern lands. Now you may return home and see if even a grass was touched.
“Also, even with the war waged on northern lands’ soil, we held the frontline, stopping them from taking any step deeper while our people behind assaulted the Invincible Sword. In between, no civilian had been affected. When the war was over, they were still living their normal lives. Brother Zhuo had come up with the plan, but no innocents have been implicated. This is being impartial!”
Murong Xue’s brow shook hard, muttering, her voice weak, “But his plan caused many people to die. If not for him, even if we lost, there wouldn’t be so many casualties.”
“Miss Murong, weren’t you listening? Brother Zhuo, only let those involved die and not the innocent.”
Luo Yunhai’s sharp stare never left her, roaring, “To be blunt, the war between the four lands and central area is nothing but a battle of interests between us who use these lands’ resources. All the deaths are warranted, for we fought for ourselves. The true cruelty and evil would’ve been dragging the populace into it. They suffer when we flourish, they suffer when we decline. What do they ever get in peacetime? Why should we involve them in wars?”
“It’s the same as driving a spiritual beast-pulled carriage and you find six children playing in the road. If you decide to veer off, you’d be hitting the one child hiding behind a tree. What would you choose? Would you be trampling the children or the other one?”
“I…” Murong Xue was stuck.
“Allow me to help you.”
Luo Yunhai shouted over her, “You only see lives as numbers and would’ve chosen the lone child without fault to protect the six playing in the road. Since they were more, you believe you did the right thing. Here’s where brother Zhuo differs. He would’ve gone over the six children, for they were in the wrong and had to suffer the consequences, instead of having an innocent life take the fall for them. That’s being impartial!
“The same applies to us now. To involve even one innocent life into our war would’ve been the greatest sin. No matter how many of us died from battle, all are within our rights. For we refuse to give what we have. When every man is for himself, what’s there to complain about?”
Rooted on the spot, Murong Xue looked dumbly at Luo Yunhai, words failing her in even mounting a retort.
Luo Yunhai gave her a hard stare, “I know brother Zhuo isn’t a saint by any means, but he is one demon I respect. He never lays his hands on good people, with demons always fighting other demons. To my eyes, he is heaven’s judge in punishing evil. I ask that you keep your insults you have for him to yourself. Your immature understanding of kindness and justice have no use in this world.”