Great Dao Lord through Deducing Myriad Arts

Chapter 210: Chapter 185: Army Enters the City, Three Days Before Sheathing Swords

Let’s begin with the contextual analysis:

[Step 1: Contextual Analysis]

Literary genre: This appears to be a Chinese fantasy/historical web novel, possibly in the wuxia or xianxia tradition, with darker themes.

Language style: Formal narrative with colloquial dialogue, includes some violent and mature content.

Tone: Dark, grim, tragic, with themes of revenge, despair, and moral decline.

Plot keywords: Family decline, revenge, poverty, abuse, murder, military occupation

Characters:

- Wu Liangchen (武良辰): Male, appears to be the protagonist or a main character, observed Yan Yuhe’s situation

- Yan Yuhe/Yuhua (严雨荷): Female, former noble lady fallen on hard times, forced into prostitution, suffering from illness

- Yan Zongtai (严宗泰): Male, Yan Yuhe’s brother, alcoholic, abusive, steals from his sister

- Erya (二丫): Mentioned briefly, possibly a young girl accompanying Wu Liangchen previously

- Pan Wei (潘威): Male, Third Village Chief, leader of the military force taking over Dinghai City

Now I’ll proceed with the translation while following all the specified rules:

[Step 2: Integrated Translation and Polishing]

The text describes a tragic situation where a once-noble family has fallen into ruin. Yan Yuhe, a former noble lady, is now working as a prostitute and is being abused by her alcoholic brother Yan Zongtai who steals the money she earns. Wu Liangchen, who apparently has a grudge against the Yan family, comes to potentially kill them but feels pity for Yan Yuhe’s situation. After he leaves, Yan Yuhe murders her brother during a thunderstorm. The Chapter ends with troops from Cyan Cloud Mountain occupying the city.

Let me start translating section by section:

Yan Yuhe froze, thinking she might have reached into the wrong place. Not giving up, she checked once more, but the result was the same.

The spot where she had kept her money pouch was now completely empty.

Her already emaciated face gradually filled with disbelief, and then her entire body began to shake violently as if having a seizure.

The money was gone.

As for who had taken it, that was obvious without asking.

And this wasn’t the first time.

Previously, whenever Yan Yuhe earned any money, it would be swindled away by her brother Yan Zongtai.

Back then, Yan Zongtai had made it sound good, claiming he would find a doctor to treat her illness. Instead, he had immediately spent the money his sister earned selling her body on alcohol.

Since then, Yan Yuhe had completely lost trust in him.

She knew that the brother who once loved her was already dead, gone along with the rest of the Yan family.

What remained now was merely a walking corpse.

So she had hidden her money away, yet somehow it had still been stolen.

Now Yan Yuhe felt a sharp pain piercing through her already numb heart.

Just then, the sound of unsteady footsteps came from downstairs, accompanied by slurred mumbling.

"I... I’m the... the young master of the Yan family. Who... who dares to bully me?"

"I have money, I have... money, you all..."

Upon hearing these sounds, Yan Yuhe suddenly shrank back.

She knew Yan Zongtai was drunk again.

And whenever he was drunk, he would invariably cause trouble, even beat her.

Yan Yuhe’s body still bore bruises from his previous beatings.

But she quickly calmed herself.

Because she had nothing left to lose now.

Compared to her previous life of luxury and comfort, she now seemed to be living in hell.

And if she was already in hell, what was there to fear?

At that moment, Yan Zongtai burst through the door, stumbling in. Seeing his sister, he began to snicker.

"How... how many clients did... did you take today?"

Yan Yuhe stood by the bed, coldly demanding, "You stole my money?"

Yan Zongtai let out a loud drunken belch and slurred, "How can you call it stealing? I’m just borrowing it temporarily."

"That was my medicine money, you beast! Give it back!" Yan Yuhe shouted fiercely.

Yan Zongtai was stunned by her rebuke, then his face twisted into a vicious expression. He raised his hand and delivered a resounding slap across Yan Yuhe’s face.

"Damn it, getting cocky, are you? You filthy whore! Working as a prostitute in this house—don’t forget this place belongs to me! I haven’t even charged you rent yet!"

As he spoke, he unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks.

Yan Yuhe collapsed to the ground. Her wounds, which had just begun to heal, reopened, causing her to vomit several mouthfuls of blood.

But Yan Zongtai didn’t care at all. He only stopped when he was out of breath.

Then he viciously threatened Yan Yuhe, who was curled up on the floor: "Remember, from now on, all the money you make goes to me. Otherwise, I’ll beat you to death!"

With that, Yan Zongtai fell onto the nearby bed and immediately began snoring loudly.

Yan Yuhe lay motionless on the floor. Despite it being the height of summer, the floorboards were still cold.

But Yan Yuhe seemed completely unaware, lying on her side with vacant eyes staring out the window.

She couldn’t understand how everything had changed like this.

Just a year ago, she had been a beloved young lady from a wealthy family. Now, in the blink of an eye, she had fallen to selling her body to survive.

And her once spirited and proud brother had completely succumbed to alcohol, becoming a beast.

She suddenly laughed, a frenzied, maniacal laugh that clearly showed she was on the edge of collapse.

Just then, she noticed a figure outside the window.

A young man who often appeared in her dreams was now standing silently in the night, watching her.

Those deep eyes held a hint of pity.

At first, Yan Yuhe thought she must be dreaming.

It was only a moment later that she realized this wasn’t an illusion but reality.

This excited her. She struggled desperately to reach the window, then spoke with a voice trembling with excitement.

"Kill me, please kill me!"

Yan Yuhe had completely abandoned her desire to live.

She only wanted to end this nightmare of a life.

And dying at this person’s hands would be the happiest thing possible.

But Wu Liangchen didn’t move.

He had come to the Yan residence intending to kill Yan Zongtai.

After all, he had never forgotten their past grudge.

He hadn’t acted before because he had been with Erya, which had made it inconvenient.

Now that he had the opportunity, of course he had come.

But he hadn’t expected to witness what had just occurred.

Though he harbored enmity toward the Yan family, Wu Liangchen now found it difficult to follow through.

Especially regarding Yan Yuhe.

Seeing her fallen to such a state, Wu Liangchen truly felt a touch of pity.

This had nothing to do with being soft-hearted; it was simply human nature.

As for Yan Zongtai...

Wu Liangchen saw no meaning in killing a drunk man.

That would only help end his suffering.

So Wu Liangchen changed his mind. He looked once more at the woman with the crazed expression, then turned and left.

Yan Yuhe panicked and tried to open the window to chase after him, but it was too late.

In the blink of an eye, Wu Liangchen had vanished.

She could only stare dejectedly at the night outside, but gradually her eyes grew more animated.

She certainly knew Wu Liangchen hadn’t come to see her.

He had very likely come to kill both her and her brother.

But she was still happy.

Because she had noticed that hint of pity deep in Wu Liangchen’s eyes.

And it was this trace of compassion that gave her the courage to live on.

Just then, the wind suddenly picked up outside.

As it rose, it immediately howled through the swaying branches and rushed in through the broken windows.

BANG BANG!

The poorly secured windows clattered loudly in the wind.

Then large raindrops began to fall.

The days of oppressive heat were finally dispelled. Yan Yuhe felt her spirits lift, and her mind grew clearer.

She turned to look and saw Yan Zongtai still snoring heavily, completely unaware of what was happening.

A flash of ruthlessness crossed her eyes. She staggered downstairs, first ate the few pieces of dried meat she had hidden away, then gulped down some water, finally feeling some strength return to her body.

Then she began searching around the first floor...

Yan Zongtai vaguely heard thunder outside in his hazy state. He opened his eyes slightly and saw the fierce wind and rain outside, with lightning flashing and thunder roaring as the downpour cascaded like an overturned celestial river.

But he only glanced briefly before the effects of alcohol washed over him again, and he fell back into deep sleep.

Thus, he remained unaware that a figure had quietly crept upstairs and was now standing beside the bed.

CRACK! A flash of lightning illuminated the room. In that brief moment of light, Yan Yuhe suddenly raised a rusty short knife in her hand and slashed down fiercely.

With a thud, the knife struck Yan Zongtai’s neck.

But because of her physical weakness, Yan Yuhe’s blow didn’t cut very deep, so Yan Zongtai didn’t die. Instead, the pain woke him up.

"You filthy whore, I’ll..." The severe pain in his neck made Yan Zongtai curse violently.

But just then, Yan Yuhe delivered another fierce blow, striking Yan Zongtai’s face and instantly destroying one of his eyes.

"AAAAAH!" Yan Zongtai screamed in agony, trying to rise and fight back, but the alcohol had weakened his body, so despite several attempts, he couldn’t get up.

Meanwhile, Yan Yuhe grew increasingly excited, her knife falling again and again, each strike splashing large amounts of blood.

At first, Yan Zongtai could still scream and beg for mercy, but gradually his voice weakened, his struggling body slowly stiffened, and finally he fell silent.

But Yan Yuhe showed no sign of stopping. She continued to mechanically swing her knife, striking blow after blow.

Blood sprayed everywhere, even dotting her face.

Just then, another flash of lightning struck, and the intense light finally allowed her to see clearly the scene on the bed.

Yan Zongtai lay mutilated in a pool of blood, already dead.

"HAHAHAHA!" Yan Yuhe threw back her head and laughed, but her laughter soon turned to weeping.

"Brother..."

"I’m sorry!"

Of course, Yan Zongtai could no longer respond. Only the sound of windows rattling in the storm echoed through the small building.

The next day, after the rain had stopped and the sky cleared, some men secretly came to North City, having heard rumors and hoping to taste the pleasures of the former Yan family young lady.

But they found the place empty, with only a mutilated corpse on the second-floor bed silently telling its tale.

These men fled in terror, scared out of their wits.

Logically, a death should have prompted an official investigation, but where were officials to be found these days? People could barely take care of themselves, let alone concern themselves with a corpse in the residence of an already fallen noble family.

So the incident didn’t cause any ripples and was soon forgotten.

Perhaps only the tavern workers who sold alcohol noticed Yan Zongtai’s disappearance, as he had come to buy alcohol daily but had never appeared again after that heavy rain.

However, even this curiosity didn’t last long, because soon even these small taverns operating out of alley dwellings closed down.

Because on the day after the heavy rain, troops from Cyan Cloud Mountain arrived outside the city and began to enter.

The entire process met almost no resistance, proceeding so smoothly that it left Third Village Chief Pan Wei somewhat incredulous.

But this was quickly followed by wild elation.

Because after taking the city without bloodshed, the northern territories of Great Yan were effectively under their control.

This was a great achievement that Pan Wei couldn’t help but be excited about.

Equally excited were his subordinate soldiers.

After all, the reason they had risked danger and worked tirelessly to attack Dinghai City wasn’t for the mountain stronghold, but for themselves.

So they rushed into the city, one after another, and spontaneously began a celebration.

Far from stopping them, Pan Wei directly issued an order:

"Three days of freedom. After three days, sheathe your swords!"