"What's going on? Why are two Northern armies fighting each other?"
"*Hiss*... That's the banner of the Great Sword Army! That force is the Northern Dynasty's Great Sword Army!"
"Tuoba Guanghe has fought his way to the capital... Has Linxia fallen?!"
The night was deep as horns blew mournfully and drums thundered. The garrison defending the northern city gate stared in astonishment at the two armies locked in slaughter outside the walls.
One was the Northern army that had arrived outside the walls not long ago, encircling without attacking and confronting the defenders.
The other was the force that had just arrived. Sharp-eyed soldiers, catching sight of the Great Sword Army's banners by the flickering torchlight, had been trembling with terror—only to watch in shock as the two hosts began clashing outside the walls.
Yet rather than a clash, it was more of a one-sided slaughter.
The garrison soldiers had no idea why the Northern army was fighting among itself, but they were more than happy to sit back and watch tigers tear into each other, taking the opportunity to beat warning drums, sound alarms, and make battle preparations.
While war blazed outside the city, things inside were hardly any better. Tianji Tower had turned into a haunted den. Yin corpses and spirit servants surged out, slaughtering anyone they saw driven purely by bloodthirsty instinct. Some broke into civilian homes to butcher indiscriminately, while others engaged in ferocious battles with the city defense force.
Meanwhile, the Imperial City Division and several high-ranking officers of the defense force loyal to the Zheng family were plunged into turmoil and indecision—because Zheng Wenhan was dead.
They knew full well of Zheng Wenhan's treasonous ambitions and were acutely aware that they had committed a crime worthy of nine-generation extermination. Now that Zheng Wenhan had been executed, the Emperor would inevitably purge the Zheng faction, and not one of them would escape.
Yet surrendering to the Northern Dynasty was equally tantamount to bargaining with a tiger. The pact between Zheng Wenhan and Tuoba Guanghe had been built on the premise that the Zheng family would hold power and control the Southern Dynasty. Now that the two brothers, Zheng Wenhan and Zheng Wenshi, were dead, the Zheng family was finished, and the pact was naturally void.
If Tuoba Guanghe's Great Sword Army breached the capital, pillaging, plunder, and even the slaughter of the entire city would be unavoidable—and all their clans and families resided within these walls.
Mounted atop the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, Zhang Yuanqing soared through the skies above the capital and looked down. Outside the walls, fires raged fiercely as the Great Sword Army drove like a dagger into the city defense force's ranks, shattering horses and men alike wherever it passed.
This army was originally under the Yang family's influence, having disguised themselves as Northern troops to feign a siege and pin down the Zheng family's forces. But now, they had been turned into sacrificial lambs. The capital's already limited defensive strength had dwindled further, compounding disaster upon disaster.
Soldiers of the city defense force in charge of the outer city swarmed up the walls like ants. Corvée laborers and auxiliary troops raised torches, hauling siege-defense equipment as they scrambled up the stone steps toward the ramparts.
In the inner city, yin corpses and spirit servants caught the scent of living blood and went on a rampage. Rivers of blood flowed through several noble estates, and squads of city guards clashed bitterly with yin corpses in the streets. Fires blazed across Guangping Street, Xiaguang Street, and Chengle Street, still unextinguished—in short, utter chaos reigned.
Looking toward the imperial city, however, it was eerily calm. The eight thousand elite troops of the Imperial City Division seemed to have heard nothing at all, acting collectively as though deaf and blind.
*How can this be defended? Tuoba Guanghe could breach the city in minutes!* Zhang Yuanqing sighed silently.
His original plan had been to wipe out the Zheng family and the Imperial Preceptor, seize control of the capital, rally forces to welcome the garrison retreating from Linxia, and finally wage a decisive battle against the Northern Dynasty. Unfortunately, things rarely went according to plan. Though the Imperial Preceptor had fallen, his dying countermove had plunged the situation Zhang Yuanqing had fought so hard to revitalize right back into a desperate crisis.
Zhang Yuanqing collected his thoughts and condensed his solar divine power, manifesting a miniature sun above his head.
Pure golden light cascaded down upon the capital below, dispelling the darkness intertwined with terror and blood.
The yin creatures and spirit servants running rampant through the inner city began emitting plumes of black smoke, wailing and shrieking as they disintegrated into ash.
The fleeing citizens and desperately battling guards looked up at the sky in bewildered astonishment, raising their hands to shield their eyes from the stinging golden brilliance.
"A dragon?!"
"It's a true dragon!"
"A true dragon has descended—heaven has sent an auspicious sign!"
The soldiers and civilians fortunate enough to witness this sight cried out or fell to their knees, shaken to their very souls.
Zhang Yuanqing drew a deep breath and spoke in a resounding voice:
"Citizens and soldiers of the capital, listen well! I am Zhao Shun, the reigning Son of Heaven! Days ago, the Haotian God visited me in a dream, bestowing upon me the divine beast, the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, as a sign of heavenly favor!"
An uproar swept through the streets below.
Still, there was no movement from the imperial city.
Zhang Yuanqing continued loudly:
"Twenty-one years ago, the Northern Dynasty marched south, slaughtering our people and seizing our lands, leaving our folk displaced and nine out of ten homes abandoned! Twenty-one years later, they return to burn our homes, abduct our women, and butcher our children! This blood feud is irreconcilable!"
Across the darkened capital, lamps and torches flickered on one after another as more and more people awoke.
Zhang Yuanqing's impassioned proclamation rang on:
"Chancellor of the Right Zheng Wenhan conspired with the Northern Dynasty, summoning the Great Sword Army to our gates! He has already been executed! As your sovereign, I shall personally guard the nation's gate to protect the realm!
"The Zheng faction has been thoroughly eradicated! Those remaining in the court are all loyal subjects and brave generals! Make haste to join me in defending the gate and suppressing the foreign enemy!"
Torches flared brightly within the Imperial City Division as their army rapidly mobilized. The defense forces in the inner city rushed toward the outer perimeter.
At that moment, the entire city came alive. Citizens poured into the streets, bathing in the pure sunlight, kowtowing toward the Emperor who stood astride the dragon's back, venerating the miracle before their eyes.
Zhang Yuanqing finally breathed a sigh of relief and steered the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon toward the northern city gate.
His next task was to hold off the Great Sword Army and buy time. Restoring order in the city, mobilizing troops, and providing siege supplies could be left to court officials like Yang Zheng; he did not need to micromanage those matters.
A centurion of the Great Sword Army rode his steed up to Tuoba Guanghe, clasping his fists. "Commander, the three thousand enemy troops disguising themselves as our imperial soldiers have been wiped out."
Tuoba Guanghe's true form was a robust man of five feet seven inches, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, clad in black fish scale armor. Beneath his helmet fell dreadlocks, and his features bore the typical hallmarks of the Northern Territory: single eyelids, long narrow eyes, a broad face, and rough, weathered dark skin.
Tuoba Guanghe gave a noncommittal grunt. Instead of ordering an assault, he gazed into the distance at the streak of golden light and clicked his tongue. "Everyone said the Southern Emperor was a pleasure-seeking wastrel, a tyrant who ranks among the top three worst in history. Only today do I realize he was a genius biding his time."
Even as he spoke, the golden light streaked over at blinding speed, halting in the air above the city gate.
The young Son of Heaven stood proudly atop the dragon's head. His sharp gaze swept over the four hundred soldiers of the Great Sword Army before settling onto Tuoba Guanghe. He said in a deep voice:
"Tuoba Guanghe, I hear that back in Linxia City, you made a three-sword pact with Yang Ce. Today, I shall wager with you as well. If you can kill me in three punches, I will hand over the Southern Dynasty on a silver platter. If you fail to kill me, you will withdraw your troops. How about it?"
Seeing their sovereign arrive atop the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, the defenders felt immense relief, and their terror of facing the legendary Great Sword Army vanished at once.
Tuoba Guanghe sneered. The warhorse beneath him let out a mournful whinny and collapsed onto its knees.
In an instant, he appeared atop the battlements.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang...*
Scores of surrounding soldiers and laborers exploded on the spot, their flesh, blood, and bone fragments splattering everywhere, dyeing the parapets crimson.
With a collective gasp, the defenders surged back like a receding tide, leaving a clearing of thirty meters around Tuoba Guanghe completely devoid of a single soul.
The soldiers' hands trembled on their blades, their fingers shook on their bowstrings, and not a single one dared attack or step forward.
Tuoba Guanghe lifted his chin, staring up at Zhang Yuanqing in the sky with a mocking grin. "Why stand so high? Afraid I'll hit you? A mere Grandmaster—what do you have to wager against me, and on what grounds?"
*He's too fast. I couldn't even see him clearly. It feels like he could instakill me in a single punch...* Zhang Yuanqing swiftly composed his emotions and curled his lips into a smile. "With the lives of your four hundred Great Sword soldiers!"
*Wuuu—*
A mournful yin wind surged, and dense, pitch-black yin energy rolled in from the wilderness. Wherever it swept, the Southern Dynasty soldiers who had just been trampled to death beneath the hooves of the Great Sword Army snapped their eyes open one after another.
They slowly clambered up or shot straight to their feet, their necks cracking with unnatural stiffness. Their eyes were hollow and lifeless, fangs protruded from their jaws, their skin turned pallid, and their fingernails blackened.
Corrupted by the yin energy, the corpses had reanimated into undead.
Behind these yin corpses stood a gorgeous woman wearing a white T-shirt and light blue jeans, looking on expressionlessly against a backdrop of surging yin energy and howling winds.
Tuoba Guanghe narrowed his eyes.
Zhang Yuanqing added in a calm voice, "Alternatively, you can enter the city to kill, while I slaughter your Great Sword Army outside."
His purpose in proposing the wager was not simply to stall for time. If buying time were his only goal, sending the garrison soldiers to their deaths would actually have been more cost-effective. Nor was he overly concerned about the defenders' lives; after all, this was a scenario, not the real world.
Zhang Yuanqing's real motive for proposing the bet was the main quest—to keep the Southern Dynasty from falling.
There were only two ways to achieve this: either repel and kill Tuoba Guanghe, or hold the capital. Repelling Tuoba Guanghe was practically impossible, let alone killing him, so Zhang Yuanqing had settled for the second-best option: preserving the capital first.
If the capital fell or was slaughtered, the Southern Dynasty would be finished.
Tuoba Guanghe pondered for several seconds before sneering. "Killing you first amounts to the same thing."
Zhang Yuanqing immediately urged the golden dragon higher. "I shall keep you company to the end!"
He had anticipated that Tuoba Guanghe would agree. From Tuoba Guanghe's perspective, killing the Grandmaster-level Emperor would shatter the faith of the Southern soldiers and citizens, causing the capital to crumble from within. Furthermore, while someone of Tuoba Guanghe's status could easily force an imperial capital into submission, wiping out an entire city on his own would take immense time. An Ancient God of War was the king of close combat and the master of the battlefield, but possessed no large-scale area-of-effect skills.
Therefore, to massacre a city in short order, he required the assistance of his subordinates.
The four hundred troops of the Great Sword Army were composed of Mist Lords and Bewitching Demons—flawless killing machines. Thus, Tuoba Guanghe would protect the Great Sword Army.
Tuoba Guanghe revealed his avatar. His five-foot-seven frame swelled to three meters tall. A ferocious head emerged with eyes like bronze bells and a wide mouth beneath a broad nose, alongside eight arms wielding a saber, spear, sword, halberd, staff, stiletto, and ring. His dark-golden skin gleamed with a metallic sheen, and bulging slabs of corded muscle looked as though chiseled by a master sculptor, brimming with dynamic aesthetic power.
He did not deliberately suppress his aura, nor did he intentionally unleash the pressure of an elite powerhouse. Yet simply laying eyes on this figure resembling a fiendish god was enough to flood the minds of the defenders on the wall with primal dread.
Even trembling all over required reckless courage; several soldiers wet themselves on the spot, soiling their pants. Some collapsed to the ground, shivering uncontrollably, while others fled the ramparts with shrill screams.
Chaos erupted instantly. Yet in the next second, the thousands of defenders along the wall and below suddenly calmed down as their emotions were soothed. The fear lingered, but they could now control themselves.
Zhang Yuanqing shouted:
"The imperial majesty of the Son of Heaven subdues even gods and ghosts!"
Enlightenment dawned upon the defenders, and they roared in unison, "Long live the Emperor!"
In truth, Zhang Yuanqing had secretly calmed their emotions. However, with so many people sharing the soothing effect, its potency was diluted, requiring him to play the mystic with rhetoric to let the soldiers summon their own courage.
*Boom!*
The stone tiles beneath Tuoba Guanghe's feet fractured, and he vanished from everyone's sight.
*So fast!* Catching only a blur of an afterimage closing in, Zhang Yuanqing was thoroughly alarmed. Even as he commanded the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon to climb higher, he accessed his inventory, pulled out the Purple Thunder Shield, and activated Absolute Defense.
During his battle with the Imperial Preceptor, his armor had been repeatedly torn apart, and the shield's energy had accumulated to full capacity, allowing him to unleash the rule-based skill of the Purple Thunder Shield. It was this very trump card that gave Zhang Yuanqing the confidence to propose the bet.
With a resonant hum, purple light ignited, solidifying into a massive, thick rhomboid shield wall.
Utterly confident in his own physical strength, Tuoba Guanghe clenched all eight fists and struck simultaneously.
A deafening boom echoed like a collapsing mountain. The piercing sonic shock ruptured the eardrums of several defenders, and the billowing shockwave forced the densely packed crowd along the ramparts to their knees.
With a sharp crack, fine fissures splintered across the purple-gold rhomboid shield wall.
Behind the wall, Zhang Yuanqing's blood churned wildly, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Tuoba Guanghe's domineering punch had penetrated the shield wall to wound him.
This was only the second time he had experienced Absolute Defense failing to hold completely firm.
The first had been during the Liberty League gathering, when the demigod-level Smoker had shattered the shield wall with ease. Still, compared to that instance, he had at least managed to block the attack this time.
At Level 9, lower-tier rule-based items were no longer so dependable, as Level 9 Dominators already wielded the power of rules themselves.
Zhang Yuanqing put away the Purple Thunder Shield and steered the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon to rapidly widen the distance, shouting:
"The Northern Territory's foremost master is nothing more than this! Come again!"
The defenders atop the wall erupted into roaring cheers.
The Bewitching Demons and Mist Lords of the Great Sword Army cursed loudly, clamoring to "beat that brat Zhao Shun to death."
"To think the Southern Dynasty possesses such a treasure!" Tuoba Guanghe was not alarmed, but delighted. "Such unmatched defense in this world rightfully belongs to this commander!"
Once again turning into a blur of afterimages, he lunged toward the fleeing Southern Emperor.
Zhang Yuanqing opened his inventory, pulled out the Azure Emperor Jade Belt, and cinched it around his waist. He then brought out the Thunder Armor to cloak his body, before switching the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon to defensive mode, winding it tightly around his right arm.
With the Artificer Ring waiving its backlash, the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon became exceptionally obedient.
Having done all this, Zhang Yuanqing felt a violent gale blast his face as his foe reached him in the blink of an eye. Without a second thought, he raised the Purple Thunder Shield in his left hand to thrust it forward, while simultaneously activating his electromagnetic barrier and the golden dragon's body-protection skill.
A bright blue barrier erected before him, and the phantom of the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon wound tightly around his form, shielding him within.
*Bang!*
The electromagnetic barrier shattered first, disintegrating into a dense web of electric arcs that crawled across the night sky before dispersing.
Next was the Purple Thunder Shield, which was shattered by a single fist into rain-like droplets, spraying in all directions.
Finally, the dragon phantom manifested by the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon exploded into a brilliant burst of golden light.
Tuoba Guanghe's fist smashed through layer after layer of defenses and slammed directly into Zhang Yuanqing's chest. Below, the defenders heard a distinct squelch, like a battering ram crashing into mortal flesh.
Their Son of Heaven, their sovereign, burst into a spray of blood and plummeted toward the earth.
*Boom!*
A shallow crater six meters wide was blasted into the ground, revealing a mangled mass of bloody flesh within.
The Emperor, favored by the Haotian God, had had every bone pulverized and every meridian shattered. He no longer resembled a human being.
Silence fell over the ramparts as despair washed over the defenders' faces. Outside the city, the soldiers of the Great Sword Army could not see the enemy emperor's gruesome end, but having witnessed their commander send him flying with a single blow, they broke into thunderous cheers.
Just then, a gentle green light illuminated the crater. The mangled corpse rapidly regenerated, returning completely to its original form in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Yuanqing leaped out of the crater, ascended into the sky, and declared in a resonant voice:
"Having received the Mandate of Heaven, I shall enjoy longevity and eternal prosperity! No one in this world can kill me!"
*I can't beat him—not a chance. I can only use my lives to stall for time...* While appearing steady as an old dog on the surface, Zhang Yuanqing was internally panicked. Even after exhausting all his tricks and methods, he was barely clinging to life against Tuoba Guanghe through sheer survivability.
Two strikes, two lives!
In truth, two strikes had already pushed him to his absolute limit; he was now completely out of options.
The defenders, who had plunged into despair moments ago, rode a wild emotional rollercoaster and pumped their arms in frenzied celebration.
The cheers outside the city faltered, turning into angry jeers.
Tuoba Guanghe's expression finally darkened, devoid of his previous ease. His gaze dropped to Zhang Yuanqing's waist, and he snorted coldly.
"Let's see just how many treasures the Southern Dynasty has!"
The muscles gleaming with metallic luster suddenly swelled, veins bulging along his flesh. His eight outstretched arms released wisps of black radiance that coalesced into a massive black bow.
Four arms gripped the bow while four pulled the string. The vitality within him churned like boiling water, leaking out in tendrils to form a blood-red arrow.
As Tuoba Guanghe drew the bow, an anomaly manifested in the sky: black clouds roiled, and streaks of blood-colored lightning flashed through the cloud bank.
Zhang Yuanqing sensed a fatal crisis, and at the same time realized he had been marked.
He recalled the Azure Emperor Jade Belt, the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, the restored Purple Thunder Shield, and the Thunder Armor back into his inventory, then stood quietly in midair, giving up on resistance to await the arrival of death.
He could not dodge this arrow.
A Bewitching Demon's mark possessed an inherent tracking function.
*Twang!*
The snap of the bowstring was ear-splitting. The blood-red arrow shot forth, transforming into a scarlet rainbow that swallowed Zhang Yuanqing whole.
The Southern Emperor's body blew apart in midair. Bone fragments and shredded flesh rained down; not a single intact piece remained.
"Y-Your Majesty..."
"His Majesty has fallen in battle!"
The defenders on the wall waited a few seconds, but when no miraculous reversal followed, they burst into inconsolable weeping as the despair of impending doom welled up within them.
Just then, a figure clad in red drifted over on the wind, cradling a small bronze pot and gently rubbing its surface.
Golden droplets cascaded from the spout, like a divine maiden bestowing celestial dew and sweet rain.
The blood, flesh, and severed limbs splattered in all directions began to converge, reassembling as though time were flowing backward. Within a few breaths, the utterly annihilated Emperor was resurrected once more.
The Demon Refining Pot possessed the power to bring the dead back to life. As long as death had occurred within fifteen minutes, it could resurrect a person once every twenty-four hours. Back in the Dionysus Club's guild scenario, it was precisely thanks to this demigod-level item that they had survived being trapped in the enemy camp.
"Three strikes have passed!" Zhang Yuanqing's voice rang clear and powerful. "Commander Tuoba, withdraw your troops!"
Tuoba Guanghe scoffed. "I only said killing you first amounted to the same thing. When did I ever agree to your wager?"
His expression turned stern, his eyes narrowing sharply as he barked, "Zhao Shun, let us see how many times you can resurrect!"
He drew his bowstring once more.
Suddenly, Tuoba Guanghe froze, turning his head toward the space behind him. There, across the open wilderness and beneath the night sky, a streak of sword light came whistling through the air.
Chapter 881