The moment he saw this elderly man,

Zhao Qingcang was instantly overwhelmed with mixed emotions.

Thinking back to when he first met this elderly man, he was only in his early twenties, a greenhorn fresh to the world.

It was his teacher who had nurtured him step by step.

In his heart, Marshal Deng Qihe had always been his guiding light, a towering monument that would never collapse.

Over the past thirty-odd years, Zhao Qingcang had still gone to his old mentor's grave every year to pay his respects.

But he could never have imagined that

this elderly man, who should have turned to dust over thirty years ago, would actually appear before him, alive and in the flesh.

He looked exactly as he did in his memory,

except that those eyes, which once shone as bright as stars, were now dim as dead ashes, filled with a deep, unresolvable sorrow.

“Marshal... Deng...”

Zhao Qingcang's lips trembled, his throat dry. It took all his strength to squeeze those words from between his teeth.

His voice was so hoarse it didn't even sound like his own.

Hearing this title, the elderly man sitting by the window trembled almost imperceptibly.

He slowly raised his head to look at Zhao Qingcang, a smile more wretched than crying pulling at his wrinkled face.

“Now, you are the Marshal of Great Xia.”

“A sinner like me is no longer worthy of the title 'Marshal'.”

Qi Zhenyun stepped forward from the side, gently patting Zhao Qingcang's shoulder to signal him to calm down.

“Let's sit down and talk.”

Qi Zhenyun pulled out a chair, gesturing for the two of them to sit, before slowly speaking to completely unveil the past that had been sealed away for forty years.

“After the beast tide in Ximeng City ended, while I sent people to rescue the survivors, I also personally led a team back to those ruins.”

“At that time, the Formation outside the ruins no longer existed, and even the Formation trapping the spirit sealing coffin inside the ruins had been completely destroyed.”

“Only then did we have the chance to see that spirit sealing coffin again.”

Qi Zhenyun's gaze involuntarily drifted toward the silent figure by the window.

“However, Marshal Deng was in a deep coma at the time and showed no signs of waking up.”

“We had no choice but to take the spirit sealing coffin to an uninhabited place to keep it under control, fearing it might harm more innocent lives.”

“It wasn't until the last two years that Marshal Deng woke up from the spirit sealing coffin.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Marshal Deng Qihe chimed in from the side, his voice filled with emotion and guilt.

“This sleep felt like waking up in another lifetime.”

“I also never expected that so many people would lose their lives because of my own selfishness.”

His skeletal hands tightly gripped his knees, his knuckles turning white from the force, his body trembling uncontrollably.

“Sure enough, a Divine Artifact is not something a mortal can covet.”

“The price is just too high...”

Zhao Qingcang shifted his gaze from his mentor's pained face to Qi Zhenyun, his eyes carrying a hint of accusation.

“Since my teacher has already escaped from the spirit sealing coffin, why didn't you tell me sooner?”

Before Qi Zhenyun could answer, Marshal Deng Qihe spoke up first.

“I was the one who forbade him from telling you.”

He raised his head, his cloudy eyes staring directly at Zhao Qingcang.

“Qingcang, I have committed a heinous mistake and caused the deaths of tens of thousands of our compatriots. I am already a sinner for eternity.”

“What face do I have to see you? What face do I have to face the innocent souls who died because of me?”

“If I had known this day would come, back then... I should never have entered that spirit sealing coffin!”

“I should have just turned into a pile of dust!”

He slammed a fist hard against his leg, making a dull thud.

Qi Zhenyun watched this and let out a long sigh.

“Things have already come to this, and the grave mistake is irreversible.”

“Qingcang, to be honest, out of respect for Marshal Deng and my own selfishness, I originally planned to tell you all the secrets only before my death.”

His tone carried a deep sense of apology.

“But the current situation is extremely urgent!”

“In all of Great Xia, you are the only high-Level SS-Rank Professional, fighting a lone battle.”

“After much thought, I decided to bring you to see Marshal Deng, hoping you would invite him to come out of retirement.”

“Extremely urgent?” Marshal Deng Qihe's expression tightened upon hearing this.

“What has happened outside?”

Only then did Qi Zhenyun explain the current situation between Sakura Country and Great Xia to Marshal Deng Qihe in detail.

Every sentence, every word, was like a heavy hammer slamming into Marshal Deng Qihe's already withered heart.

Six SS-Rank Professionals.

Even his old rival, Qinze Taichiro, had been resurrected.

And they even want to resurrect an SSS-Class Professional?

With just these few words, Marshal Deng Qihe instantly understood what a perilous situation Great Xia was currently facing.

He also finally understood what immense pressure this disciple of his, whom he had raised with his own hands, was under.

That face, which had once been full of high spirits, was already deeply etched with the vicissitudes of time and heavy burdens.

Those eyes, which should have been as sharp as an eagle's, were now bloodshot and filled with exhaustion.

“Now Marshal Zhao has already ordered an imminent all-out war with Sakura Country, and we must stop them from resurrecting that SSS-Class at all costs.”

Qi Zhenyun's voice carried a hint of pleading.

“That is why I had to bring Marshal Zhao here, to beg the Old Marshal to fight for our Great Xia once more!”

Zhao Qingcang looked at his mentor, remaining silent.

His lips were tightly pursed, with anticipation in his eyes, but even more so an unspeakable heaviness.

His mentor should have been enjoying his twilight years, yet he had to drag him back into this quagmire of blood and fire.

But he had no choice.

He needed his mentor.

Great Xia needed this former pillar of stability.

The room fell into a long silence.

Marshal Deng Qihe slowly closed his eyes, and only after a long while did he let out a long sigh.

In that sigh, there were too many complex emotions.

And also a trace of relieved understanding.

When he opened his eyes again, there seemed to be a glimmer of light in his cloudy eyes.

“Perhaps...”

“This might be the only meaning for these old bones of mine to have dragged out their existence until now.”

Marshal Deng Qihe's gaze drifted past Zhao Qingcang, as if he saw that bloody battle forty years ago, and those hundreds of thousands of innocent souls in Ximeng City.

“I do not ask to redeem myself through service; I am already a sinner in history.”

“I only hope...”

His voice became firm, each word carrying weight and power.

“Because of my existence, Great Xia's soldiers and those young children can suffer fewer casualties.”

Marshal Deng Qihe slowly stood up, and his skeletal body seemed to stand a bit straighter at this moment.

Looking straight at Zhao Qingcang, his tone was calm and resolute.

“Deng Qihe, willing to fight!”

In the next second, the eyes of the marshal who led Great Xia's hundreds of millions of military and civilians, and who was always as steady as a mountain in public, instantly turned red.

His knees buckled.

“Thud!”

Under the shocked gaze of Qi Zhenyun beside them, Zhao Qingcang actually knelt straight down in front of his mentor.

He did not speak, only burying his head deeply as his shoulders shook violently.

“What are you doing! Get up quickly!”

Marshal Deng Qihe's expression changed, and he hurriedly stepped forward, his skeletal hands firmly supporting Zhao Qingcang's arms.

He wanted to pull his disciple up, but found that the other's body was as heavy as a mountain.

“Qingcang, you have already done very well.”

“You have really done very well.”

“It is I, your teacher, who have failed you. Do not put too much pressure on yourself.”

He forcefully pulled Zhao Qingcang up from the ground and helped him sit on a nearby chair.

“If it were me, I would have made the same decision as you.”

“This time, I will fight alongside you.”