As the voice rose, people fell.
Qin Chang Ge and Yu Zixi both collapsed to the ground.
Li Yuren stood with hands behind her back, first cautiously bending down to examine the two carefully. Seeing their unstable breathing, intermittent and weak – the very symptoms of poisoning – she couldn’t help but smile slightly.
Satisfied, she circled around them, Li Yuren said in a low voice: “Congealing Fragrance Powder – it congeals moonlight into fragrance, inevitably attacks the heart and disperses. Not bad, right?”
She listened carefully to the distant clamor of shouting people and neighing horses, saying softly: “Actually, I should be the one giving thanks. Without you two, how could Li Denglong have died so swiftly? Now that you’ve helped me kill him, the high-ranking generals in the city belong to different factions and will inevitably fall into disputes. No one can control the overall situation. At that time, who could have more reason to take charge of the overall situation than I, the Pure Consort’s envoy who captured the assassins and avenged the general?”
She smiled smugly. “The mantis stalks the cicada while the oriole waits behind. To die for me, Wanyan Yuren, is your honor.”
Gazing toward the Li residence, her smile suddenly restrained somewhat as she said lightly: “Danyun, years ago I swore to mother that for the sake of your peaceful survival in the latter half of life, I wouldn’t kill him… But now, it doesn’t matter. I’ve reclaimed my identity and will obtain power. Once I control Du City, the Pure Consort will send military support to force back Xiliang… In the future I can protect you. This kind of incestuous sin – it’s over now…”
She was momentarily lost in thought for just an instant, then immediately regained her previous composure. Li Yuren bent down to pull Yu Zixi up.
Her hand suddenly stiffened.
On the ground, Yu Zixi’s dense long lashes fluttered slightly as he seductively cast her a flirtatious glance.
Li Yuren abruptly retreated several zhang, staring at Yu Zixi with a pale face. Yu Zixi didn’t attack, lazily sitting up with an enchanting posture, supporting his chin as he sighed: “Sigh… why didn’t you continue speaking? Incest? Sin? It sounds quite legendary.”
He kicked Qin Chang Ge beside him with his toe, frowning: “Are you done pretending? She’s already stopped talking.”
Using her arm as a pillow, Qin Chang Ge lay lazily on the ground, smiling at Li Yuren whose expression had turned ugly, and yawned: “I’m exhausted. Lying down a bit longer would be nice.”
More painfully than Yu Zixi, she climbed up, smiling at Li Yuren whose gaze flickered as she sought a path to flee: “Don’t leave, Miss Li. Mm… let’s call you Miss Li for now. With us two here, you can’t escape. If you’re not careful, you might accidentally injure your beautiful eyes or jade arms or something – that wouldn’t be worth it. Don’t you agree?”
Li Yuren bit her lip. Seeing that escape was indeed hopeless, she had already calmed down, sneering coldly: “Good! Excellent acting!”
Qin Chang Ge looked at the distant city tower shrouded in black smoke, saying quite politely: “You flatter me, you flatter me. Much obliged, much obliged.”
Li Yuren staggered backward in shock, pressing her hands against the wall behind her, asking in a low voice: “How did you discover it?”
“I don’t recall Du City’s spies having exceptional martial arts,” Qin Chang Ge said with a beaming smile. “Yet with one reach of your hand, you restrained galloping angry horses – that requires tremendous strength.”
“A brothel girl who rarely goes out, yet you’re so familiar with Du City’s side streets and back alleys?” This time Yu Zixi responded, smiling charmingly as he glanced at Li Yuren. “I remember that madams always guard their girls quite closely.”
“That fragrance of yours isn’t ordinary fragrance.” The two-person act continued with Qin Chang Ge speaking again. “If I couldn’t even smell that out, I’d have died ten thousand times over by now.”
Slowly pacing over, Qin Chang Ge said leisurely: “Wanyan Yuren, you just mentioned – incest?”
Wanyan Yuren kept her mouth tightly shut, refusing to answer.
“For someone’s sake, you wouldn’t kill Li Denglong because you feared destroying that person’s happiness…” Qin Chang Ge pulled at her collar as if feeling cold, shaking her head. “Don’t tell me that person is the Ninth Lady. And definitely don’t tell me the Ninth Lady is actually Li Denglong’s illegitimate daughter.”
Wanyan Yuren’s face turned deathly pale as she pressed tightly against the earthen wall, her lips compressed into a line, as if afraid that opening her mouth would let certain dark secrets burst forth.
“The Ninth Lady is deeply beloved by Li Denglong. You feared that if Li Denglong were killed, she would lose her beloved and be bullied by other concubines. Or perhaps you couldn’t bear to disappoint someone’s trust – presumably that person holds extraordinary meaning for you…” Qin Chang Ge said lightly. “Now you believe you’ll become Du City’s ruler, with the Ninth Lady under your protection, making it no longer matter whether she has a husband, right?”
Yu Zixi made two tsk-tsk sounds from the side, saying: “That explains it…”
“What’s your relationship with Wanyan Chunzhen? What’s your relationship with the Ninth Lady?” Qin Chang Ge had already approached Wanyan Yuren, probing her expression.
“I and…” Halfway through her words, cold light exploded. Wanyan Yuren’s hands, which had been pressed against the earthen wall behind her, suddenly flew up, bringing with them a pair of cold-gleaming short swords extracted from within the wall, stabbing directly toward Qin Chang Ge’s chest!
“Clang!”
At extremely close range, Qin Chang Ge spun her body rapidly, dodging left and right, brushing past the short swords with hair’s-breadth precision. Instead of retreating after avoiding the swords, she advanced. Black silk fluttered as it coiled around the short swords, wrapping them two or three times into a butterfly knot – a slip knot at that. With a snap, she pulled the slip knot, and the short swords automatically coiled around Wanyan Yuren’s neck.
Yu Zixi, who had been sitting lazily without moving, said quite boredly: “You’re playing dirty tricks with him? You’re like a great-grandchild encountering the master thief ancestor.”
“Tsk tsk.” Qin Chang Ge examined the wall that appeared completely normal. “You’re truly a cautious person, even hiding short swords in the courtyard walls. A nice method, unfortunately useless against me.”
She reached out to intimately embrace Wanyan Yuren, saying: “Isn’t this a perfect time for heart-to-heart conversation? Please allow me to invite Miss Yuren for a visit to the Daliang main camp!”
“How about visiting my humble abode for free first?” Someone smiled as they joined the conversation. “I’ve been waiting for you two for quite some time.”
The tremors from the city gates grew more intense, shaking even the ground within the city slightly. The acrid smoke of gunpowder filled all of Du City, making noses sting. Flying stones whistled overhead across the sky above the city gates, crashing heavily to the ground and creating deep craters amid billowing gray smoke. Judging by their force and quantity, Xiao Jue had deployed all his catapults.
Within less than half an hour, Xiliang archers had fired 100,000 arrows at Du City, using swift thunderous volleys to suppress the already panicking resistance atop the city walls. Then, battering rams below carried massive logs requiring three men’s arms to encircle, viciously charging toward the heavy city gates. Countless Xiliang soldiers braved attacks of boiling water, rolling stones, torches, and flying arrows from above, erecting scaling ladders and holding shields as they climbed desperately toward walls far higher than ordinary fortifications. The blue-black city walls crawled densely with human heads – as one batch fell, another immediately covered them. Soldiers rolling forward under wide shields continuously buried gunpowder at the wall’s base. Often they would be shot dead by cold arrows partway through, but others immediately continued the work. Those infinitely destructive fuses, after ignition, sparked and hissed their way toward the thick city walls, like giant hammers boldly pulverizing large areas of the lime-mortared blue bricks. Under internal and external assault in chaotic circumstances, this second greatest city of Northern Wei, whose walls were reputed to be impregnable even to birds, finally began gradually crumbling under the fearless challenge of Xiliang soldiers.
On battlefields, flesh and blood aren’t called flesh and blood; human lives aren’t called human lives. In the seething killing ground where steel, iron, blood, and fire interweaved, amid tide-like waves of battle cries, human figures swarmed chaotically atop Du City’s walls in panic. The army that had lost its commander, lacking a strong coordinator and unified clear command, began falling into confused helplessness. Generals of various power factions each had their concerns. Seeing the fierce offensive atop the walls and feeling fear, none wanted to commit their direct subordinates to the front lines, using their men’s lives to fill the merciless war machine. They began considering preserving their strength – Xiao Jue didn’t execute prisoners, leaving paths to survival. As long as they had troops under their command, regardless of dynastic changes, there would always be opportunities for advancement.
They began restraining their armies, quietly withdrawing their forces from the city gates. At all four gates, defensive strength began weakening.
As the generals abandoned defense due to selfish motives, the common people knew they had to defend their homeland. After the armies slunk away or began passive resistance, the citizens spontaneously rushed to the city walls, using their own bricks and tiles, roadside stones and wooden planks, raising those iron spades, knives, and axes – implements normally used for tending vegetable gardens – to hack at Xiliang soldiers climbing the city walls.
In times of war and chaos, the most loyal are not necessarily those who receive great favor from the court. The expansion of power only makes people more selfish; gold and silver cannot buy a sense of belonging. It’s the poor who better understand love for their land.
A general was about to rush down from the city wall to discuss surrender terms when he saw Northern Wei citizens with disheveled hair, blood-streaked faces, and kitchen cleavers going to kill people. He felt slightly ashamed and offered his sword, only to receive a “ptui!” and a thick glob of spit!
The general froze, angrily saying: “Go die then!” He turned and rushed down from the city wall.
He left one step too early, missing the sight behind him: Xiliang soldiers suddenly emerged in numbers many times greater than before, all fearlessly charging toward whatever sharp weapons came at them. Behind them, atop the city walls, a handsome man in golden armor and black robes leaped onto the wall like an angry cloud.
As soon as he appeared, Xiliang soldiers immediately swarmed around him in groups, using their own flesh and blood to block every angle from which he might be attacked, causing the man to curse repeatedly: “Get away! Get away!”
With a whoosh, another black-armored man climbed up, also surrounded by a team of soldiers. That man shouted: “Block them! Block them!”
At this moment, the Northern Wei general had already rushed down from the city wall. If he had seen this scene, he would surely have understood something. If he had grasped it and seized this opportunity, perhaps the history of Du City, even of Northern Wei and the entire realm, would have been rewritten.
Unfortunately, he failed to seize the opportunity. The entire command class of Du City failed to realize that at this moment, Xiliang’s commander and deputy commander were still trapped alone within the city, while the Xiliang Emperor, for this very reason, had climbed the city wall himself regardless of consequences.
The only one who seized the opportunity was that Northern Wei commoner who had spat on him.
He raised his kitchen cleaver and charged directly at Xiao Jue – no other reason than that he was the most obvious target.
With a smack, the black-armored man, General Shen Shao, rushed forward first and kicked the citizen away.
He was furious – raging fires burned within him! What was wrong with this world? It was bad enough that General Jian Ling went to assassinate the enemy commander, but why did Prince Jing’an, as the supreme commander, also secretly follow along? Was being an assassin fun? Fine, those two weren’t present, but surely His Majesty should remain at the main camp overseeing the overall situation? Instead, he was the first to rush up the city wall! This forced him, a dignified general, to personally climb city walls to protect the emperor, leaving the army below to be commanded by a sickly, disabled man – and His Majesty still said it was fine, no problem! Fighting a battle like this was simply absurd!
The commanders were being absurd. Shen Shao cursed them ten thousand times in his belly, but could only follow closely with deadly determination. There was no choice – these few people who bore Xiliang’s national fate didn’t value their own lives, but he, Shen Shao, couldn’t ignore them.
“Smack!” Another sound as he kicked away that particularly tenacious citizen who had climbed up from the ground and pounced again for the second time.
By now the city walls had been occupied by Xiliang soldiers who had desperately climbed up in endless streams. Northern Wei soldiers had either died in battle or dropped their weapons in surrender. Only that group of Northern Wei citizens holding hoes, kitchen cleavers, and stools still refused to leave the walls. That cleaver-wielding youth who had been kicked away twice by Shen Shao rolled on the ground, got up again, and charged wobbily toward Xiao Jue for the third time.
He had been kicked into semiconsciousness, only maintaining the subconscious persistence of his original belief in killing enemies. The youth’s face was ghastly pale, his expression dull, the somewhat blunt cleaver held crookedly above his head looking rather comical. Yet all the soldiers couldn’t help but stop their actions, staring transfixed at the youth’s eyes – that gaze was grief-stricken and heroic, burning with blazing fearlessness and the kind of persistence that would rather die than fail to protect those he wanted to protect.
On battlefields between enemy nations, when swords meet and forces are evenly matched, you cut my throat and I stab your belly – be as ruthless as necessary. However, facing such a citizen who was essentially powerless as a trussed chicken, the soldiers suddenly all remembered their own younger brothers at home, or youths of similar age in Xiliang.
They silently withdrew their raised weapons, with some stepping forward to try pulling the youth away.
More citizens saw the situation here and rushed over en masse.
Shen Shao grew anxious. With a “ptui!” sound, the saber on his back flashed brilliantly, creating a curtain of light that fiercely descended toward the youth’s head.
The kitchen cleaver clanged to the ground.
Just as the youth was about to die under the blade, a hand suddenly reached over, quickly and steadily grasping Shen Shao’s arm.
Shen Shao’s blade could no longer advance even an inch.
Atop the city wall, the man in golden armor and black robes stood with his back to the dawn’s faint light, his countenance solemn, his long eyebrows thick and black, soaring as if they could ascend to the ninth heaven.
He stared at Shen Shao with displeasure, saying: “What are you doing? Using a great saber against a kitchen cleaver?”
Shen Shao’s face reddened as he said sheepishly: “This boy is fierce…”
“We don’t want your false kindness, you evildoers!” The youth who had fallen to the ground with blood trickling from his mouth raised his head viciously, glaring at Xiao Jue and Shen Shao, shouting loudly: “You’ll kill us all eventually anyway, steal our land, grain, wealth, and relatives! You Xiliang dogs!”
On all sides, Northern Wei citizens blocked by soldiers began shouting loudly, their voices filled with hatred and hostility.
“Fight them to the death!”
“Soldiers are all no good!”
“They say Xiliang soldiers eat human flesh!”
…
“You’re so fiercely trying to deal with me – is it because you have someone you want to protect?” Xiao Jue wasn’t angry. He stood with hands behind his back, looking at the youth, his handsome features showing dark eyes. “Are you also afraid they might perish under the iron cavalry of the enemy army about to enter the city?”
The youth froze, clearly struck by Xiao Jue’s words, saying angrily: “You drink human blood and eat human flesh, killing like grass! All the citizens along your path – Yu City, Dingyang – you’ve slaughtered them all!”
Xiao Jue suddenly burst into loud laughter.
Standing in the morning sun atop the city wall’s battlements, amid the brilliant red clouds and golden sunlight filling the sky, he raised his head in long laughter that could halt passing clouds.
The Northern Wei citizens stared transfixed at this moment – this man bathed in golden sunlight, heroically handsome with extraordinary divine presence. A thought flashed through all their minds:
How could such a person be the demon who drinks human blood and eats human flesh, as our soldiers described?
“My apologies, but I have no interest in human blood or human flesh. In my eyes, Xiliang citizens and Northern Wei citizens are all people, and even I myself am a person.” Xiao Jue laughed heartily, turning to look at the youth. “Everyone is the same – we all absorb heaven and earth’s essence, all drink from the eternal seas, all walk upon this vast land, all watch this same sun rise in the east and set in the west.”
He pointed toward the brilliant rosy clouds on the horizon, the blazing sun wheel with fierce radiance, and the god-like figure beneath the sunlight whose clothes fluttered as he stood with radiant spirit. The loyal youth seemed to half-understand his words, only feeling that His Majesty’s speech had extraordinary imagery, each word like wind and thunder, possessing transcendent realms. He couldn’t help feeling awed, yet within that awe arose even greater inspiring energy, his blood boiling with intense excitement.
At such a time of promise, following such a promising lord, swallowing clouds and rainbows, commanding the four seas, drawing carved bows to shoot white deer – this is how a man’s life should be!
Your Majesty is destined to be lord of the nine provinces!
Shen Shao’s blood surged with excitement. He couldn’t help but step forward to say something, but saw His Majesty suddenly bend down, pick up the fallen kitchen cleaver, and hand it to the dazed youth, smiling: “I understand you. You have people you want to protect. For their sake, you’d risk your life, facing Xiliang’s great army of ten thousand soldiers and cold blade light with just a kitchen cleaver.”
He smiled deeply, looking toward Du City’s interior with concern, worry, and longing, saying softly: “I also have someone I want to protect. I would also risk my life for her. If you can face Xiliang’s great army with a kitchen cleaver, why can’t I? So I’m going to fetch her personally.”
He laughed heartily, patting his waist, then kicked away the alarmed Shen Shao who tried to stop him, shouting sternly: “At this moment in the city, no matter how many people hate me or want to kill me, it doesn’t matter, because I’m much stronger than you. I still have excellent martial arts and a fine sword. What reason do I have not to protect her?”
Laughing, he raised his long legs and leaped up, shooting through the city wall like a meteor arrow, instantly disappearing below the high walls. His voice could be heard from afar: “General Shen, you’re responsible for properly explaining and implementing our army’s consistent military regulations of ‘not disturbing the people, not looting’ to Northern Wei’s military and civilians. When I return, I want to see Du City functioning normally!”
“Today’s drama is quite bizarre indeed,” Qin Chang Ge laughed somewhat helplessly. “How is it one ring linked to another, endless and without conclusion?”
“The mantis stalks the cicada while the oriole waits behind,” the opponent sat gracefully on the wall, with a row of strong bows and crossbows behind her unceremoniously pointed at everyone in the courtyard. “I prefer being that final oriole.”
“Whether you’re the final one, who can say for certain? Worldly affairs change in myriad ways – the previous moment’s winning situation can instantly become total defeat.” Qin Chang Ge smiled fully. “Don’t you agree? Your Ladyship Pure Consort?”
Atop the wall, the gorgeous woman wearing purple brocade precious lotus robes and flying phoenix glass hairpins maintained her beautiful posture in a manner that should have been unseemly but was magically graceful. Amid the city’s gunpowder atmosphere, she smiled steadily: “I think the ones facing total defeat are you – Prince Yu, General Zhao.”
Completely unconcerned that the opponent had revealed their identities, Yu Zixi lazily leaned against the wall, saying: “Wanyan Chunzhen, Wanyan Yuren is also within your firing range.”
“I know.” Wanyan Chunzhen smiled amiably, her gaze turning toward Wanyan Yuren as she said gently: “Yuren, thank you very much for being willing to sacrifice yourself for sister’s imperial cause. Rest assured, in the future Martyrs’ Temple, your three-animal sacrificial offerings will certainly continue for generations.”
Wanyan Yuren’s face turned ghastly pale, staring incredulously at the Pure Consort who smiled so gently. Qin Chang Ge began applauding: “Excellent! Excellent! Truly shameless and ruthless to the extreme!”
She sympathetically patted Wanyan Yuren’s shoulder, her face full of pity: “Poor you, lurking in Du City for her sake, being a double agent for her sake, risking your life to help her gain Du City’s military authority by plotting Li Denglong’s death, yet she tosses you away like an old rag. This sister of yours is truly remarkable.”
Wanyan Yuren’s body trembled, her teeth chattering audibly. Wanyan Chunzhen’s expression remained unmoved as she smiled leisurely: “What’s so remarkable about Du City? I never intended to take Du City at all. If Xiao Jue wants to come, let him come. The most powerful armies in the city have quietly withdrawn from Du City under my command after Li Denglong’s death. My wanting Du City and its previous resistance were all just to create an illusion.”
She smiled while supporting her chin, looking toward the city gates, laughing softly: “Are you thirsty? Want some water? Du City’s water has all been poisoned with toxins on my orders through Yuren. It will take effect in two hours… The Xiliang army must be very thirsty, right? Emperor Xiao must be very thirsty, right? Drink, drink…”
Her tone was gentle, her smile beautiful, her eyes full of longing. She even lightly performed a drinking gesture.
Qin Chang Ge and Yu Zixi exchanged glances, their eyes horrified.
This woman was insane!
She was using Du City as bait, making Du City’s million citizens burial companions to poison Xiliang’s 800,000-strong army! She wanted Xiliang’s entire force to be annihilated here!
Her chain of schemes was extremely vicious – the Xiliang army, facing clear fields and cut water supplies, had to send people to eliminate Li Denglong; using borrowed knives to kill, taking advantage of this to win over and transfer military power; poisoning the water sources of the power-depleted Du City; the hungry and thirsty Xiliang army would enter the city after victory, seek water sources, and then face total annihilation.
Everyone’s actions had been calculated and used with perfect precision by her borrowing force against force to fulfill this insane extermination plan.
Du City would become a dead city with hundreds of thousands of corpses!
The exhausted Xiao Jue, with just one sip of water, would meet his downfall, burying both his grand plan to unify the realm and his young life in Du City!