Outside Bian City, the Mo Family Army and the Xiling forces stationed within engaged in what seemed like ritualistic daily confrontations. The Mo Family Army’s leaders were all young people under thirty, and no matter how hard they tried, they could hardly make any impact on Long Yang’s defenses. However, during these relentless daily attacks, Long Yang gradually sensed the taste of conspiracy. Yet he couldn’t figure out what exactly the Mo Family Army was planning.

“Old General, the Mo Family Army is challenging us outside the city again,” Lei Tengfeng strode in, his voice grave as he looked at Long Yang who sat contemplating behind his desk. Though they hadn’t gained any decisive advantage over the Mo Family Army in recent days, Lei Tengfeng was fairly satisfied with the current situation. He wasn’t an aggressive person, and now he didn’t expect to defeat Prince Ding’s forces and the Mo Family Army. As long as they could hold out until his lord and reinforcements from various regions arrived, he would have won.

Long Yang frowned, saying, “Ignore them for now!”

Lei Tengfeng furrowed his brows, “I’m afraid we can’t. This time seems different from before.”

Long Yang stood up, saying, “I’ll take a look.”

Looking down from the city wall, it was indeed different from the previous days. Though they still couldn’t see Mo Xiuyao and the other main commanders, the Mo Family Army’s momentum and formation were unprecedentedly powerful compared to the past few days. Yun Ting was still the one issuing the challenge at the front of the formation. These young commanders had been thoroughly frustrated these past days. No matter how meticulously they planned their tactics and formations, whether attacking openly or in stealth, Long Yang could casually neutralize their efforts. If it weren’t such a serious military confrontation, they would have almost thought Long Yang was just toying with them.

After being struck hard, these young people gradually shed their previous arrogance. Each confrontation became more cautious; they no longer aimed to breach Bian City but were content with occupying Long Yang’s attention and occasionally causing him some trouble. The young commanders, now more level-headed, also understood that the Lord and Lady couldn’t have possibly sent all the veteran commanders away and left the entire Mo Family Army to these inexperienced youths. Such arrangements must mean the Lord and Lady had other plans in secret. The Lord never expected them to take Bian City, so they just needed to cooperate well with the Lord and Lady’s plans.

Sure enough, several days later today, they finally received new orders from the Lord and understood what those capable seniors in the army had been doing.

“Long Yang! What skill is there in hiding behind city walls? If you have the courage, come out and face me in battle!” Yun Ting called out loudly.

Long Yang looked down at the young man from his high position, smiling, “Young man, if you have the ability, come up here and speak with this old man. I’ll be waiting for you up here.”

Yun Ting sneered, “I’ll come up then. You think I’m afraid of you? Haha… General Long, would you like to know what happened to your General Zhu?”

Long Yang’s heart tightened as he narrowed his eyes at those below, “What are you trying to say?”

Yun Ting laughed, “Zhu Yan is already dead, along with those tens of thousands of Jing Guo troops hiding in the mountains – annihilated. Did you think that by hiding in the city and not coming out, our Lord would be helpless? Or did you believe the Mo Family Army had no one left, that we few were just here to play with you? After our Lord dealt with Zhu Yan and the Jing Guo army, he’ll naturally return to meet you, the great General of Feng Tian.”

Zhu Yan is dead?!

This news shocked not only Long Yang and Lei Tengfeng but also the Xiling military commanders defending the city. Though the fame of Xiling’s three great generals had been suppressed by the Zhen Nan King these past twenty years, the soldiers naturally still knew of it. Bian City had been under siege for less than a few days, yet tens of thousands of Jing Guo troops had been annihilated and even the Great General of Jing Tian had fallen in battle – how could the Xiling soldiers not be shocked?

Being a veteran of countless battles, Long Yang suppressed his shock and sneered, “Your words are flowery indeed, but why don’t you come up here and let this old man see for himself?”

Yun Ting, unlike previous days when he would flare up at Long Yang’s provocations, smiled and waved his battle flag. Immediately, war drums thundered from behind the Mo Family Army’s ranks, and as banners fluttered, the Mo Family Army’s soldiers began moving into position, clearly preparing to assault the city. Long Yang only needed one glance to understand why Lei Tengfeng said today was different from previous days. Such a grand formation absolutely couldn’t have been arranged by these few young commanders – this indicated that the Mo Family Army had lost patience with their standoff. Similarly, Long Yang understood in his heart that the young Mo Family commander’s words were likely not false. The hidden tens of thousands of elite troops and Zhu Yan were indeed gone.

Sighing somewhat helplessly, Long Yang ordered them to defend the city without engaging outside.

“Old General, could General Zhu…” Lei Tengfeng asked worriedly.

Long Yang replied flatly, “The chances are grim.”

“Then we…” Lei Tengfeng questioned.

Long Yang looked at him, shaking his head, “We can’t go out to meet them in battle anymore. Hold fast and wait for reinforcements.”

“Yes,” Lei Tengfeng replied solemnly.

Below the city wall, Yun Ting couldn’t help but stamp his feet in frustration seeing the Xiling soldiers steadfastly guarding the city gates, refusing to come out and fight. Chen Yun helplessly pulled at him, saying, “Just as our Lord predicted, they won’t come out to engage us in close combat.” Yun Ting angrily said, “I can’t believe it, he can’t hide in the city forever! Some ‘Killer of the Western Regions’ he is, more like a turtle hiding in its shell!” Chen Yun smiled, “He doesn’t need to hide in the city forever. As long as he can hold out for a month or two until Xiling’s reinforcements arrive, then we’ll be the ones in trouble.”

Yun Ting impatiently said, “I refuse to believe we can’t make him come out of the city! Attack!”

In front of Bian City was a moat. The waterway was quite wide, and to cross it, they would either need the enemy to lower the drawbridge or find their way across. These past few days, the young commanders hadn’t completely wasted their time just shouting at the enemy. They had already ordered the Mo Family Army’s craftsmen to build over a dozen long ladders. Once laid across the river and covered with wooden planks, they could cross.

Chen Yun watched as soldiers tried to set up the bridge planks under enemy arrow fire, with many already fallen to the barrage, and silently gritted his teeth. For a city like Bian City which was easy to defend but difficult to attack, it was impossible to breach without paying a certain price in casualties. Fortunately, even under the arrow storm, they finally managed to set up the bridge. Meanwhile, the Mo Family Army’s archers weren’t just for show either. Even shooting from below upwards, they managed to bring down quite a few Xiling soldiers from the walls.

The main force of the Mo Family Army crossed the moat, with some climbing up the high city walls using ladders while others shot arrows upward at the battlements. The water in the moat behind them gradually took on a reddish tinge.

Behind the Mo Family Army, Mo Xiuyao appeared on the battlefield with a group of people. They didn’t join the battle but stood watching quietly from afar. After a long while, Mo Xiuyao was heard saying with a smile, “Yun Ting and the others don’t look bad.” Despite suffering more defeats than victories over these days, they could still maintain their composure and even keep the Mo Family Army’s morale from falling. For these young commanders who had barely seen real battle, this was quite impressive.

Beside him, Zhuo Jing smiled and said, “The Lord and Lady are quite confident in them, aren’t they?”

Mo Xiuyao nodded slightly, looking up toward the distant battlements, and said in a deep voice, “Prepare for the city assault!”

“Yes!”

In the clear sky, dark clouds gathered, and a somewhat hoarse voice rang out, soon followed by brilliant fireworks blooming in the air.

Among the defending Xiling soldiers, some were shocked to discover ropes appearing suspended in the air at several points outside the city. Then black figures quickly glided along these ropes toward the city. Long Yang naturally noticed this situation as well, his gaze slightly focused as he shouted sternly, “Shoot them!” Countless arrows flew toward the people sliding along the ropes. But even faster, black-clad figures appeared within the city, mercilessly shooting their arrows at the defending soldiers.

“What’s happening?! Where did these people come from?” Black-clad figures wearing Mo Family Army armor continued to emerge within the city, and these people were different from the regular Mo Family Army soldiers. They were more formidable and agile than the regular troops, moving in groups of ten or more, causing heavy casualties among the Xiling defenders wherever they went. Having to deal with both these forces and the Mo Family Army attacking full force from outside the city, the Xiling defenders found themselves overwhelmed and thrown into disarray.

On the city wall, Long Yang and Lei Tengfeng’s faces turned ashen. “Old General…”

Long Yang gritted his teeth and ordered, “Bring all the Da Chu and Northwestern people in the city up to the wall!”

“Old General!” Lei Tengfeng’s face changed upon hearing this. He naturally knew what Long Yang intended to do. This wasn’t uncommon in wars between nations. But Lei Tengfeng seriously doubted how effective this would be. Gritting his teeth, Lei Tengfeng still turned and left. Although many unknown Mo Family troops had appeared in the city, there were still several hundred thousand Xiling defenders in Bian City. These few Mo Family soldiers could hardly affect the overall situation. In less than half an hour, Xiling soldiers had brought all the Da Chu people in Bian City up to the walls.

Bian City was Xiling’s second-largest city, with prosperity rivaling the imperial capital. People from various countries resided here in significant numbers. Among them, the Da Chu people were the most numerous, and a large portion of these were civilians under the Mo Family Army’s jurisdiction from the Northwest. These people were brought up to the battlements and placed in front of the crenellations. The Mo Family Army below would have to get past them to climb up and would have to shoot through them to use their arrows. These were mostly ordinary civilians, already terrified just by suddenly experiencing war. Now being forced up onto the walls to block the Mo Family Army’s arrows, many broke down crying in fear.

“Long Yang! You shameless old bastard!” Seeing this situation, Yun Ting finally couldn’t help but curse again. Chen Yun and the others beside him also looked very displeased. Never mind that these civilians were all from Da Chu and the Northwest – using ordinary civilians as arrow shields was something despicable for any commander, even if they were Xiling civilians.

“What do we do now?”

“How should I know what to do? Report to the Lord!” Chen Yun said. They weren’t heartless after all – soldiers from both armies killing each other in battle was their duty. But to shoot these helpless ordinary civilians, they found it very difficult to make such a decision.

They didn’t need to report – Mo Xiuyao, who had been behind the Mo Family Army all along, naturally saw this situation as well. Standing beside him, Zhuo Jing frowned and asked, “My Lord, what should we do?” They truly hadn’t expected Long Yang to use this tactic. When Long Yang was young, he had the title “Killer of the Western Regions.” Back then, he had killed no small number of ordinary civilians in the Western Regions, so such behavior, while unexpected, wasn’t entirely surprising.

Mo Xiuyao stood up, calmly staring at the distant battlements, and said, “He wants to delay us first while clearing out the Qilin within the city.” Bian City’s defenses were extremely good, and after all these days of effort, less than a thousand Mo Family troops had managed to enter the city. Against several hundred thousand Xiling defenders, they had no chance of victory. Long Yang didn’t want to fight on two fronts, so he had to first eliminate these enemy troops that had entered the city and figure out exactly how they had gotten in. All of this would take time.

“Let’s go take a look.”

Due to the civilians on the battlements, the Mo Family Army’s assault was temporarily halted. However, neither side relaxed their vigilance. A path suddenly opened in the Mo Family Army’s black formation, and a man with white hair in white robes walked out from among the troops, followed by several guards and commanders. Mo Xiuyao raised his hand to look at the civilians being used as shields above, and said in a deep voice, “General of Feng Tian of Xiling, I’ve long heard of your reputation.”

Long Yang appeared on the battlements, looking at the distinguished white-haired man in white robes in the distance below, and nodded, “Prince Ding Mo Xiuyao? A pleasure to meet you.”

At these words, the sobbing civilians on the battlements were startled. Looking down at the white-robed man below, some became excited and called out loudly for help, “Prince Ding is here! Prince Ding is here… My Lord, save us…” One person shouted, and soon more people joined in crying out. The battlements were immediately filled with the sound of weeping.

“What does the General of Feng Tian want?” Mo Xiuyao asked calmly. His voice wasn’t loud and carried not even a trace of anger, yet strangely carried across the entire battlefield above the crying. Long Yang looked at him deeply and said, “As a commander, using such methods makes this old one deeply ashamed. However… I request the Prince withdraw his troops thirty li.”

Mo Xiuyao asked, “What if I refuse?”

Long Yang smiled faintly, and with a swift motion, beheaded the nearest man, his head falling from the battlements. Blood immediately spurted forth, startling nearby civilians into another round of screaming.

Mo Xiuyao was silent for a moment, finally raising his head to say coldly, “Once Bian City falls, I will have you torn into ten thousand pieces.” Long Yang smiled indifferently, “If Bian City falls, this old one’s life is over anyway. Since death is certain, what difference does the method make? What is the Prince’s answer?” Mo Xiuyao raised his eyebrows with a smile and said in a deep voice, “My answer is…”

“Swoosh!” Mo Xiuyao turned, taking a bow and arrow from a nearby soldier. Drawing, nocking, and releasing happened almost instantaneously. Everyone watched stunned as the arrow, trailing silver light, cut through the sky and buried itself in a young man’s chest on the battlements. Mo Xiuyao threw the bow back and commanded deeply, “Storm the city!”

As the order went out, the battle cries rose again. The innocent civilians on the battlements were the first to suffer. Amidst the mixed sounds of killing and crying, Mo Xiuyao turned away indifferently, leaving only a cold-as-snow silhouette and a deep, chilling voice, “Long Yang, I will have the entire city’s population accompany you in death!”

The fierce assault on the city continued without pause; both sides understood this was no longer the minor skirmishing of previous days. Unless one side retreated or achieved victory, there would be no rest. Perhaps spurred by the hundreds of innocent Da Chu civilians on the battlements earlier, the Mo Family Army soldiers attacked even more fiercely. After several hours, Bian City’s defenses finally began to show signs of collapse.

In the city, Long Yang sat lost in thought in an empty room, his expression dark. He knew Zhu Yan was dead. Soon, Bian City would fall as well. Perhaps it was his fortune to be able to fight one last battle in his old age. However, such an inexplicable, devastating defeat was hard to face. He had made one crucial mistake – Mo Xiuyao’s parting words rang clear in his ears. The entire city’s population accompanies him in death… Mo Xiuyao intended to massacre the city! Long Yang didn’t doubt Mo Xiuyao’s words. In his youth, he had conducted city massacres himself, hence his title “Killer of the Western Regions.” If he were younger, he might not have thought Mo Xiuyao’s desire to massacre the city was anything extraordinary. But now… he had grown old indeed. Bian City still held hundreds of thousands of civilians; if Mo Xiuyao truly massacred the city…

“General!” A soldier hurriedly came to report from outside.

Long Yang opened his eyes and said calmly, “What has happened?”

The soldier said, “The east city wall can’t hold much longer. Please withdraw quickly, General.”

“Withdraw?” Long Yang frowned and asked, “Who spoke of withdrawal?” Perhaps because Long Yang’s tone was too sharp, the soldier carefully reported, “It’s the Crown Prince of Zhen Nan. The Crown Prince says Bian City can’t be held, and we should withdraw to Rong City behind us to block the Mo Family Army’s advance.”

Long Yang shook his head and said with a bitter smile, “If we can’t stop the Mo Family Army at Bian City, how could Rong City’s flimsy walls hold them? Foolish! All troops will remain and engage the Mo Family Army in street fighting within the city. Perhaps we can still take down half of the Mo Family Army’s forces.” Street fighting often meant trading lives, with little relation to tactics or strategy. Moreover, they had the advantage of being on defense in the city, and the difference in capability between the Mo Family and Xiling troops wasn’t too great. At least Long Yang was confident that two Xiling soldiers could handle one Mo Family soldier. This way, they could at least eliminate half of the Mo Family Army’s forces in Bian City, giving the defenders behind them a chance to slow the Mo Family Army’s advance.

The soldier looked at Long Yang hesitantly and said, “But… the Crown Prince of Zhen Nan has already prepared the troops for withdrawal.”

“What?!” Long Yang suddenly stood up, and the soldier quickly said, “The Crown Prince said if we wait until the Mo Family Army breaches the city it will be too late. He’s already leading the remaining hundred thousand troops in preparation to withdraw through the west gate.”

Long Yang quickly walked outside, saying, “Fool! There are still tens of thousands of Mo Family troops guarding the small cities ahead, where does he think he can withdraw to!”

But by the time Long Yang reached the west city, he could only see the distant hoofbeats and dust of the retreating Xiling army. Lei Tengfeng had taken the most elite and complete force of over a hundred thousand troops, and with their withdrawal, several large gaps immediately opened in what had been solid defenses. The Mo Family Army poured into the city like a tide. Below the west gate, Long Yang closed his eyes wearily and sighed softly, “Zhu Yan… we’re both finished…”

Although Lei Tengfeng had taken most of the troops, the remaining Xiling soldiers weren’t merely for show. By the time the Mo Family Army truly took complete control of Bian City, it was already noon the next day. After a full day and night of fighting, even the famously brave and battle-hardened Mo Family Army soldiers were exhausted. With bloodshot eyes and weary bodies, they finally cleared out the resisting Xiling defenders completely, and the soldiers erupted in waves of cheering. Many simply sat down to sleep in the street or under eaves.

At noon, under brilliant sunshine, Mo Xiuyao and his group finally entered Bian City. Seeing the corpses of soldiers from both armies still lying across the main street waiting to be cleared, and many soldiers sleeping where they sat along the street, Mo Xiuyao waved to stop someone beside him from announcing loudly. As he stepped over corpse after corpse moving forward, he asked quietly, “Where is Long Yang?”

Zhuo Jing said softly, “Long Yang is in an empty house in the west city. Someone is already guarding him there. Also… Long Yang let many civilians escape from the city.” Perhaps because of Mo Xiuyao’s words about having the entire city’s population accompany Long Yang in death, last night Long Yang had opened the west gate and let many civilians flee the city. The Mo Family Army was strictly disciplined – although Mo Xiuyao had spoken those words, he hadn’t officially ordered a massacre, so the soldiers wouldn’t harm ordinary civilians unless they interfered with or attacked them during battle. Last night, nearly half the civilian population had escaped.

Mo Xiuyao shook his head indifferently and said, “Let’s go see Long Yang. How are things with the Lady?”

Zhuo Jing said, “Last night when Lei Tengfeng withdrew with his men, they fought a battle with General Zhang in the west. He broke through with the remnants of twenty or thirty thousand men. The Lady ordered the pursuit halted and the entire army to regroup in Bian City for two days. She should be back shortly.” Hearing this, a trace of warmth passed through Mo Xiuyao’s dark eyes, and he said quietly, “Order people to clean up the battlefield and let the soldiers rest well. Go bring Long Yang here.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

As Zhuo Jing left to carry out the orders, Mo Xiuyao turned and went to the governor’s mansion in Bian City. The mansion had already been prepared, and the fighting in the city hadn’t greatly affected this official residence. The civilian officials who hadn’t fled the city had all been detained here by the Mo Family Army. Upon seeing Mo Xiuyao enter, these Xiling officials showed various expressions – some pleading, some unyielding, some fearful, and some hateful. Mo Xiuyao had no interest in dealing with them at the moment and simply waved for them to be taken away. After sitting down to rest for a short while, a guard outside came to report, “My Lord, Long Yang has been brought.”

Mo Xiuyao opened his eyes, coldness spreading in their depths, “Bring him in.”

Shortly after, Long Yang walked in unhurriedly. Zhuo Jing followed behind him but hadn’t ordered anyone to restrain him. Long Yang still wore plain white cloth clothes, looking much older and more exhausted than a few days ago. At first glance, he appeared just like an ordinary old man from the mountains, showing no trace of his earlier ruthless manner when using innocent civilians as human shields on the battlements.

Mo Xiuyao looked at him calmly and said quietly, “General of Feng Tian, we meet again.”