The Xi Chu capital had already fallen.

Xuanyuan Lige wanted to enter the city!

Yet no sooner had he spoken than an furious voice rang out from afar, “You’ll only die outside these city gates!”

Two figures descended simultaneously atop the towering city gate — none other than Jun Beiyue and Situ Haonan!

And it was Situ Haonan who had spoken!

With their arrival, hundreds of archers surged forward, lining up along the city walls on either side of the gate, bows drawn full and aimed straight at Xuanyuan Lige’s sound-killing troops.

At the same time, Situ Haonan personally drew his own bow, aiming straight at Xuanyuan Lige across the divide!

Jun Beiyue stood with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing that same cold, stern expression as always. Clearly, the Xi Chu capital had already fallen under his control.

He seemed more like a bystander, watching everything unfold with detached, cold eyes.

Facing all this, Xuanyuan Lige only smiled coldly, raising one hand and striking down with a resounding twang, commanding his sound-killing troops to attack!

At once, the thousands of sound-killing soldiers behind him leapt into the air, surging toward the city gate, unleashing wind blades and zither notes as they flew.

The wind blades scattered chaotically, the zither notes just as chaotic, yet their positions and rhythm seemed to follow some kind of formation — disordered on the surface, yet orderly underneath!

That sound made it impossible to focus one’s mind, while those wind blades were nearly impossible to dodge or block!

The sound-killing troops truly weren’t to be underestimated!

Yet Jun Beiyue’s archer corps were no pushovers either, and with the shadow guards arriving to reinforce them soon after, the two sides were quickly locked in chaotic battle.

Powerful as the sound-killing troops’ attacks were, they ultimately lacked the sheer force of Xuanyuan Lige’s own power!

At the very least, Jun Beiyue, Situ Haonan, Yelu Qianqian, and the others could still withstand it!

Just as the two forces plunged into chaos, Xuanyuan Lige strode forward through the air, stubborn as solid rock, determined to enter the Xi Chu capital no matter what.

Jun Beiyue wouldn’t let him succeed, and Situ Haonan certainly wouldn’t let him get close. The two of them shot into the air almost simultaneously, converging on Xuanyuan Lige!

At the same moment, Ziqing arrived as well, bringing Yelu Qianqian with her.

In an instant, the four of them had Xuanyuan Lige surrounded — Situ Haonan and Yelu Qianqian in front, Jun Beiyue and Ziqing behind, clearly there in support.

Xuanyuan Lige’s eyes were as hollow as a bottomless pit, a cold smile perpetually curling at his lips.

He seemed to completely ignore Situ Haonan blocking his path, stubbornly pressing forward regardless.

Situ Haonan didn’t draw his sword right away — instead, unexpectedly, he swung a fierce slap across Xuanyuan Lige’s face!

Xuanyuan Lige turned his face aside, yet Situ Haonan’s fingers still caught him, leaving five red marks across his cheek.

“Xuanyuan Lige, you’re unworthy of being called a man!”

Xuanyuan Lige turned his face away, his long, slender fingers lightly touching the injured cheek, his once-hollow eyes suddenly turning cold. “Get out of my way.”

“You just want to enter the city, is that it? Let me tell you — unless you walk over both our corpses, you can forget it!”

Situ Haonan’s fury flared, and he abruptly drew his long sword. In that instant, Xuanyuan Lige sidestepped, channeling his internal energy to propel himself backward, while simultaneously flicking all ten fingers through the air, unleashing ten wind blades that shot straight at Situ Haonan, each one sharp enough to kill in an instant!

Situ Haonan dodged while pressing forward. Xuanyuan Lige, clutching his zither, snorted coldly, “You’re no match for me — get out of the way!”

“So what if I’m not? We have friends — you have none! Not a single one!”

Yelu Qianqian snorted coldly, letting Jun Beiyue and Ziqing help without the slightest sense of shame — this was the pride she and Situ Haonan shared, a pride Xuanyuan Lige would never understand in his entire life!

The moment Yelu Qianqian spoke, Xuanyuan Lige visibly froze for an instant. But he quickly recovered, saying nothing more, though his gaze had turned chillingly cold.

Retreating while cradling his zither and plucking at it, he didn’t unleash any wind blades this time — instead, the zither’s tone turned strangely eerie.

Yelu Qianqian, whose mental fortitude was weakest among them, immediately felt a splitting headache. Situ Haonan and Jun Beiyue both sensed something was off too!

Only Ziqing felt absolutely nothing at all!

Ziqing immediately pulled Yelu Qianqian behind her, kicking Situ Haonan’s long sword forward, the blade thrusting straight at Xuanyuan Lige’s fingers with fierce precision!

She would never use sound-killing techniques against him, but she had plenty of other ways to disrupt his sound attacks!

Facing Ziqing’s assault, Xuanyuan Lige could only dodge, never counterattacking!

This woman — he would never use his zither against her. Why, even now, did she still not understand that he would never raise a hand against her?

Ziqing’s sword strikes had undoubtedly disrupted Xuanyuan Lige’s zither playing. Jun Beiyue watched with narrowed eyes, having never actually engaged directly himself the entire time.

He and Situ Haonan had agreed — today, he was merely there to assist.

Yet, seeing how Xuanyuan Lige kept yielding to Ziqing this way, an inexplicable surge of fury suddenly welled up in his heart!

He lunged forward abruptly, pulling Ziqing back, seizing her arrow with his other hand, and in a flash, split Xuanyuan Lige’s zither clean in two!

Almost simultaneously, Jun Beiyue delivered a vicious kick, so fast and powerful that Xuanyuan Lige couldn’t dodge it at all, taking the blow head-on and being sent flying straight off the city wall!

Jun Beiyue’s martial skill had long since surpassed Xuanyuan Lige’s by an entire level — in truth, even without Ziqing’s intervention, Jun Beiyue alone could have destroyed Xuanyuan Lige’s zither before his mind could be ensnared.

It was precisely Xuanyuan Lige’s deference toward Ziqing that had thoroughly enraged him.

His woman needed no man’s deference!

Jun Beiyue didn’t pursue further, wrapping one arm around Ziqing and gazing coldly from a distance. Ziqing, too, had no intention of intervening any further.

Just moments ago, standing so close, she’d known — Xuanyuan Lige’s wound was severe enough to be fatal.

In truth, if this man absolutely had to die, what she wished for most wasn’t for Yelu Qianqian to kill him, nor for herself to do it, but for Jun Beiyue to be the one.

Jun Beiyue was his true rival for life, wasn’t he?

Dying at a worthy rival’s hand was, in its way, a fortunate thing.

Ziqing watched from a distance, feeling neither pity nor hatred, her face nearly expressionless.

She watched Xuanyuan Lige collapse against the base of the Xi Chu capital’s walls, blood gushing ceaselessly from his mouth;

Watched his long, slender, once-beautiful fingers press against the ancient stone wall of Da Qin, forcing himself to stand, forcing himself into the air — determined, even in death, to die within the city.

Yet before he could even reach the gate, Situ Haonan and Yelu Qianqian had caught up to him. Yelu Qianqian still held the broken sword.

That broken blade drew closer and closer, nearly plunging into his thin back — yet Xuanyuan Lige showed not the slightest sign of defense!

Perhaps he hadn’t noticed at all, his entire being fixed on the city gate he’d longed for over twenty years.

Or perhaps he’d noticed all along, simply too far gone to care.

“Xuanyuan Lige, pay with your life!” Yelu Qianqian snorted coldly, raising her hand and thrusting the blade down with all her might!

In that instant, Ziqing closed her eyes — she truly closed them, in the end.

If she didn’t watch, perhaps it would be as though nothing had happened at all.

When her eyes had been open, watching him, there had been such despair, such hatred — yet the moment she closed them, she found herself unable to stop remembering his once-clean smile, always tinged with a trace of helplessness.

Ziqing couldn’t help but grip Jun Beiyue’s hand tightly, about to open her eyes again — but just then, she suddenly heard Yelu Qianqian cry out, “Ahh…”