He has been reincarnated through countless worlds, adorned with billions of mythological terms!

"Your Highness," his voice remained steady, "do you know what you're saying?"

"I know."

"Do you know what it means to be loyal to the prince?"

"I know."

"Do you know what it means in the court for the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards to be loyal to the Prince?"

"I know."

Yun Yi answered "I know" four times in a row without the slightest hesitation.

Yue Dan looked at him and remained silent for a long time.

Then he spoke, his voice carrying a complexity he himself was unaware of:

"Your Highness, give this humble general a reason."

This is exactly what Yunyi was waiting for.

"Because I can make you stronger."

Yue Dan frowned slightly.

He was forty-five years old, had fought half his life, and had more wounds on his body than he had died.

Get stronger?

He's past that age.

"Commander Yue," Yun Yi took a step forward, looking up at the man who was much taller than him, "you joined the army at eighteen, beheaded the enemy chieftain at twenty, and defended a lonely city for seven days and seven nights at twenty-three."

"You've fought for twenty-seven years, and you have no fewer than forty scars from swords and arrows on your body."

"Your knee was seriously injured, and the pain keeps you awake at night, especially on rainy days."

"Your left shoulder was pierced by an arrow, and you still tremble when you lift heavy objects."

Yue Dan's expression changed.

Even his personal guards were unaware of these matters.

How did the child know?

"Your Highness..."

"You don't need to know how I know," Yun Yi interrupted him. "I only have one question for you—"

"If I told you I could heal your old injuries, bring you back to your peak condition at twenty, and make you even stronger, would you believe me?"

Yue Dan remained silent.

Of course he didn't believe it.

How can a 20-year-old wound just heal?

But looking into Yun Yi's eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say "I don't believe it."

Those eyes were so clean.

He was so clean that he didn't look like a ten-year-old child.

"Your Highness..."

"Commander Yue," Yun Yi suddenly smiled, "look at me."

Yue Dan subconsciously looked down and met those eyes.

Then he froze.

Those eyes—those eyes that should have been innocent and childlike—suddenly revealed an indescribable light.

It's not the reflection of candlelight.

It's something...deeper.

Like stars.

Like an abyss.

Like the night sky he had seen countless times when he was young and stationed at the border.

Deep within Yun Yi's eyes, countless points of light seemed to slowly flow and converge into some mysterious and profound pattern—

The Eye of Destiny.

"Yue Dan," Yun Yi's voice became very soft, yet every word seemed to strike directly at his soul, "Do you believe me?"

Yue opened his mouth.

He found himself unable to say "I don't believe it."

I wasn't forced.

It was more of an instinctive, almost submissive feeling—like the emotions that welled up in his heart when he first met the emperor at the age of twenty, facing the man sitting on the dragon throne.

No, it's even more intense now than it was then.

But the one in front of me is just a ten-year-old child.

"I……"

You don't need to answer now.

The light in Yun Yi's eyes faded, returning to their clean and clear state, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

"I'll only ask you one question—"

He took a step forward and looked up at Yue Dan:

"If the Great Yan is in trouble, will you protect it?"

Yue's pupils constricted slightly.

"Protect."

"If Father is in trouble, will you save him?"

"save."

"If I'm in trouble—"

Yun Yi paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately:

Are you going to go or not?

The tent was so quiet that you could hear the candlelight flickering.

Yue Dan looked at the child in front of him.

For seven years, he has watched this child come to the training ground every day, rain or shine.

Over the past seven years, he has watched this child grow from a three-year-old to a ten-year-old, from a novice to a skilled swordsman, and from a stumbling horseman to riding with ease.

For seven years, he watched as this child memorized the names of half the Imperial Guards, and remembered each soldier's hometown, preferences, and the number of people in their family.

He never said anything.

But he kept watching.

At that moment, the child stood before him and asked:

Are you going to go or not?

Yue Dan remained silent for a long time.

Then he knelt down on one knee.

"This humble general, Yue Dan, is willing to die for Your Highness."

【Ding--】

[The loyalty of the important figure "Yue Dan" has been detected.]

Loyalty: 65 → 90

[Due to the "Destined by Heaven" effect, Yue Dan's luck improves, and opportunities increase.]

[Your expansion has triggered "Imperial Star's Blessing"—Current faction: 1 core general, physical strength +50%.]

You have gained the allegiance of the Grand Commander of the Imperial Guards and command of 30,000 Imperial Guards.

The nation's fortune increases by 300 points daily.

Yun Yi gasped as he looked at the words "300 points added daily".

Three hundred points.

A full three hundred points.

For a long time, he painstakingly accumulated a little bit of national fortune, which he cherished like a candle flame in winter, fearing that it would be blown out by the wind.

Now, the loyalty of just one commander of the Imperial Guard is worth more than all the torment he has endured in the past.

As for loyalty—

It jumped from 65 to 90, a leap of 25 points.

This is not progress, but a qualitative change.

And that +50% physical strength—

His body, which he had painstakingly honed day and night, suddenly advanced to a higher level due to a system notification.

But he came tonight wanting far more than that.

"Commander Yue."

Yun Yi reached out and helped him up, his voice as steady as an ancient well, "I told you, I can make you stronger."

Yue Dan stood up, his gaze complex.

Twenty years.

A twenty-year-old wound can't be healed so easily.

But just now, when those eyes looked at him, he seemed to be nailed to the spot, unable to move.

"Your Highness, the last general..."

"Don't move."

Yun Yi raised his hand and gently pressed it against his chest.

Yue Dan froze.

It wasn't because of how strong that hand was—how much could the hand of a ten-year-old child weigh?

Rather, it's because—

A warm sensation slowly flowed into my body from where the hand had touched me.

Like snow melting in spring, it silently soaks into the frozen earth.

Like an old scab falling off, new flesh quietly grows out.

Like when he was twenty, he was still a spirited young man, full of inexhaustible energy—

That long-lost feeling is back.

The excruciating pain in my knees that used to flare up in the rain has disappeared.

The old injury on my left shoulder that used to make me tremble when lifting heavy objects has also disappeared.

Yue Dan's pupils dilated sharply.

"Your Highness...this..."

"Don't speak."

Yun Yi offered no explanation, nor did he pause—

He directly allocated 300 points of national fortune, adding them all to his account.

The warmth lasted for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Then, Yue Dan sensed that something was wrong.

It wasn't the kind of "something's not right" that comes with the healing of an old wound—it was something else, something more intense and turbulent.

It was as if a river was bursting forth from the depths of his body.

"Your Highness—"

Before he could finish speaking, his voice caught in his throat.

Because his body began to glow.

It's not a metaphor; it really is shining.

A pale golden halo emanated from beneath his skin, first faint, then growing brighter and brighter, until it illuminated the entire tent as if it were daytime.