Deep within the restaurant, a scream suddenly rang out, accompanied by a man’s panicked roar.
When this sound emerged, Zuo Siyan’s subordinates standing guard outside were greatly alarmed and rushed inside regardless of everything.
Others, being very perceptive, ran directly to the front hall and surrounded Tie Ci and her group.
Those who rushed in first shouted: “General! General!” Just as they were about to run further inside, they heard Zuo Siyan’s angry roar from within: “Get out!”
His subordinates had originally thought there were assassins or something had happened, but hearing this, it didn’t seem like it. They had to quickly retreat, hearing strange sounds from inside. Zuo Siyan kept making hissing noises, but it didn’t sound like pain. Rather, the favored concubine was screaming and crying softly, seeming to be in great pain, constantly pleading: “General, please don’t move! General, be gentler!”
Zuo Siyan said in frustration: “I can’t move either… How could this happen! Someone, summon that Wei Ci!”
The subordinates hurriedly brought Tie Ci over. Standing outside the screen, Tie Ci said calmly: “May I ask what has happened to the General?”
“Get in here, you bastard! What’s going on!”
Tie Ci, knowing what eye-searing scene she was about to witness, comforted herself that she’d just pretend to see dogs mating. Just as she was about to enter, Rong Pu had already blocked her and went behind the screen himself.
Behind the screen, seeing someone enter, Zuo Siyan embarrassedly grabbed clothes to cover a certain area, then couldn’t help but slap his concubine: “Bitch! Wanton woman!”
The concubine let out a sharp scream.
Rong Pu acted as if he saw nothing and stepped forward to check his pulse.
In this situation, Zuo Siyan still gripped a knife in one hand, watching Rong Pu vigilantly, as if the blade would strike if he showed the slightest impropriety.
But Rong Pu remained composed, his voice flowing gently beyond the screen.
“…The General’s vital energy is excessive, overflowing when full… This has nothing to do with the medicine… If the General is unwilling for this humble one to perform acupuncture, then you must calm your mind and dismiss idle people. I can play the qin for the General to relax…”
Zuo Siyan’s voice came out irritably: “Everyone move further away!”
The guards retreated somewhat, withdrawing to the courtyard.
Clear qin music began – cool moonlight and flowing water, refreshing to the ears and calming to the heart.
Even soldiers who didn’t understand musical beauty found it pleasant and gradually relaxed, chatting in the courtyard and making knowing jokes about the General’s dragon vigor and tiger might.
Zuo Siyan in the room relaxed, closed his eyes, and tried hard to calm himself.
But the indoor screen silently opened.
The Eagle Master walked out calmly.
Dressed entirely in black with a tall, lean, and powerful frame, he moved like a lazy yet constantly alert leopard, his muscle movement full of strange rhythm.
Yet he wore a grinning doll mask with a big white face.
The entire figure formed an eerie contrast.
He approached Zuo Siyan’s back silently, took off his own sock, and stuffed it into Zuo Siyan’s mouth.
Zuo Siyan had already sensed something, but his current position was extremely inconvenient. Just as he raised his blade, his mouth was stuffed with the stinking sock. Enraged, he leaped up violently, actually bringing the concubine’s body with him as they flipped, but halfway through the flip, like a carp straightening up, they bounced back onto the bed. Both he and the concubine let out agonized screams simultaneously.
The concubine’s mouth was also stuffed with a stinking sock by the Eagle Master at the moment she was pulled up. Both screams were muffled in their throats, perfectly masked by the qin music.
The Eagle Master sneered and raised his hand. A long whip cracked down fiercely.
Zuo Siyan had to roll to dodge. Each roll brought muffled cries from both their throats, the sounds deep and hoarse like dying beasts.
He wanted to resist, but moving caused excruciating pain, and he couldn’t even dodge the whip.
Deep red and purple welts gradually appeared on their naked bodies, swelling hard and high.
Zuo Siyan’s face was contorted by pain, while the concubine trembled all over, sweat pouring down like water, washing away her makeup in scattered patches.
Rong Pu continued playing the qin without raising his head.
The whip was fierce but not loud, even matching the rhythm of the qin music, silently and coldly crisscrossing the room.
Enveloping those two bodies that could never separate.
When the Eagle Master had beaten them enough, he threw down the whip and asked Rong Pu with a tsk: “What kind of treasure is this? Even roadside dogs aren’t as energetic as them.”
Rong Pu said nothing, pressing strings with one hand while taking out a pair of jade hooks with the other. He hooked the two hooks together and pulled to demonstrate they couldn’t be separated.
Eagle Master: “Pfft.”
Zuo Siyan and the concubine turned pale.
Zuo Siyan suddenly raised his hand and pulled out the sock.
His hands could move all along – it was just that the attack came so suddenly and he had been dazed by that storm-like beating, only now removing the stinking sock.
But just as he opened his mouth, the Eagle Master said: “What, do you really want your subordinates to see how you look right now?”
Zuo Siyan froze, breathing heavily.
If his wholehearted admirers saw him like this, he’d never be able to hold his head up again for the rest of his life.
He could only stay silent. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, raising his hand to slap the woman beneath him again.
The Eagle Master said coldly: “This method is dirty – we don’t like using it, but for you, we can make an exception. Because this is what you deserve.”
Zuo Siyan raised his hand, the blade tip flashing coldly.
This trap couldn’t harm him.
His hands could move, his martial arts were intact – wouldn’t killing this woman solve it?
The blade’s light reflected in the woman’s terrified eyes.
Rong Pu suddenly said: “If you kill her, you still won’t separate.”
“She and you are already connected by flesh and blood. If you kill her, she’ll slowly rot beneath you. Corpse poison will seep into your body, and you’ll slowly decay like a corpse too. In the future, when you meet people, command troops, fight battles – well, you’ll have to drag this woman along. In this posture.”
The Eagle Master imagined this and nodded with satisfaction.
Rong Pu smiled at the concubine: “Didn’t you wish to never be separated from the General for life? Now even death cannot separate you.”
The concubine rolled her eyes back and fainted.
Zuo Siyan’s face was ashen as he looked down.
The Eagle Master put one leg up on the bed edge and smiled: “There’s another way – cut it off. Though you’d be disabled, at least you could escape this stupid woman.”
A small knife spun at his fingertips, flashing coldly: “Want me to help you?”
Zuo Siyan immediately abandoned this idea.
That would be seeking death. And dying even more humiliatingly.
He stared coldly at the concubine beneath him. The woman trembled all over under his malicious gaze, not even daring to try removing the sock.
The Eagle Master looked at her terror-stricken face and remembered the Queen Mother hanging above the city gate.
When he entered that gate again, he saw dried blood in the wall cracks that hadn’t been washed away.
That was the Queen Mother’s and Kusu Li’s blood.
Heaven’s wind couldn’t wash it away, heaven’s light couldn’t fade it, preserved on the blue-gray city wall – the stone wouldn’t decay, the memory wouldn’t fade.
Until revenge was taken, the hatred wouldn’t lose its color.
He smiled and said: “There’s another way. I heard that under extreme pain and fear, muscles will contract or relax… Contract or relax, I don’t know which. Want to try?”
Malice churned in Zuo Siyan’s eyes. Already burning with rage and having no outlet for his violent fury, it all fell on the woman.
A cold flash, and a bloody eyeball rolled down the snow-white face.
The woman’s scream was muffled by the sock into a fierce hiss.
Zuo Siyan casually wiped the blood clean on the woman’s body and said: “Speak. What do you want me to do?”
“Very simple. Soon your soldiers will enter the city. Tell them you were ambushed by Namutu, and have them burn that old thief’s house.”
Even if Zuo Siyan’s troops were transferred into the city, they would only execute tasks upon receiving his oral command. That’s why they needed to trap him while keeping him alive.
Zuo Siyan grunted: “This kind of thing didn’t require tormenting me like this… You’ve transferred my troops! What do you want to do!”
“Nothing much, just stirring up muddy waters.”
Zuo Siyan felt chest tightness. He raised his hand and the concubine’s nose flew off.
The concubine flopped on the bed like a dying fish, sweat drops mixed with blood splattering everywhere.
Zuo Siyan, pulled into excruciating pain by her movements, grabbed her neck and squeezed until she fainted before releasing her.
The Eagle Master sneered: “Evil man, vile woman – a perfect match made in heaven.”
Chaotic footsteps came from outside. Someone was asking the General whether he had summoned the army, as troops were changing defense early and the gate guards wouldn’t let people enter. They needed the General’s written order.
The Eagle Master was already actively helping him search for clothes. However, Zuo Siyan raised his hand, pulling out a serrated small knife from a chain around his neck. He demanded paper and brush, scrawled a few characters, and was about to use the knife to cut the paper’s edges.
Tie Ci suddenly emerged and smiled: “Wait.”
She held a snake in one hand and a pill in the other. In front of Zuo Siyan, she stuffed the pill into the snake’s mouth.
The snake had originally been struggling and coiling with its head raised, but after this insertion, its body gradually relaxed and hung down limply.
She thus provided vivid “live instruction” in front of the indecent Zuo Siyan and the Eagle Master and Rong Pu. The Eagle Master looked up at the sky while Rong Pu coughed continuously.
Tie Ci’s expression didn’t change.
As long as I’m not embarrassed, others will be embarrassed.
Zuo Siyan, not knowing her gender, didn’t feel that embarrassment but clearly understood Tie Ci’s hint.
There was an antidote.
Don’t play tricks.
Zuo Siyan glanced at her, wondering where such formidable people had suddenly appeared.
Xirong’s military system differed from Da Qian’s. The royal family didn’t hold overly concentrated military power and couldn’t concentrate it too much. Those with superior military strength had always come to power, but their subordinates would have generals controlling their own powerful tribal armies, so there was always danger of being replaced.
Zuo Siyan also backed by a great clan, had his own exclusive troop deployment tokens, but this was his secret for deploying troops – how had it been seen through?
His small knife had several different serrations, with different cut marks representing different meanings.
He had originally wanted to cut a “kill everyone here without question” command symbol, but now could only shift his hand and honestly cut the correct marks.
The written order was sent out. Boots marched in unison, shaking the earth. Within half an hour, the ten thousand soldiers Zuo Siyan had transferred rushed toward Namutu’s mansion.
They executed Zuo Siyan’s orders without question, bursting into Namutu’s mansion and killing everyone they encountered.
Going all out, when Tie Ci asked him to burn Namutu’s house, Zuo Siyan also ordered the people killed.
If not for Namutu competing with him for the treasure today, making him displeased, he wouldn’t have been so easily seduced by that bitch. He would have returned home long ago with the abyssal iron three-piece set.
Zuo Siyan vented all his rage on Namutu. Though Namutu’s mansion also had many guards, how could they withstand a sudden army attack? By the time Namutu’s garrison rushed to rescue, Namutu’s mansion was already a mountain of corpses and sea of blood with towering flames.
Namutu’s subordinate soldiers immediately intercepted Zuo Siyan’s troops. As reinforcements continued streaming in, both sides fought. Zuo Siyan’s soldiers, following his instructions, shouted that Namutu was arrogant and disrespectful with treasonous intentions, and General Zuo was executing him by royal command.
Immediately some of Namutu’s people rushed to the palace to report.
Namutu was currently in the palace meeting the Crown Prince. Due to the previous wine incident, today’s weapon auction and lightning incident, both harbored resentment. Namutu felt the Crown Prince was crossing the bridge and destroying it, being heartless and ungrateful. Inevitably invoking his status as uncle to speak a few words, the Crown Prince, already harboring grudges, grew increasingly gloomy.
“Those merchants are playing supernatural tricks and spreading heretical rumors to confuse people – why does Uncle still help them!”
“What’s wrong with Your Majesty lately? What connection do those lightning strikes have with those merchants? Aren’t you afraid of what people will say about such behavior!”
“What does Uncle mean by this? Does Uncle think the lightning struck well? It struck my palace – I gained my position illegitimately, heaven is punishing me. Is Uncle planning to push me off the throne next and replace me with someone more popular?”
“Wuliang He, what nonsense are you spouting!”
“See, you’re even calling me by name now – your ambition is truly obvious!”
The sound of precious porcelain from Da Qian shattering.
A yellowwood table also from Da Qian’s fine craftsmanship rolled down from above the throne, nearly crushing Namutu’s feet.
Everyone in the hall trembled, never expecting the previously close uncle and nephew to suddenly turn against each other, much less expecting the steady Crown Prince and even steadier Namutu to turn hostile so easily.
Wuliang He felt his heart pounding chaotically, hot blood surging upward in waves. He wanted to kill someone, to throw this ungrateful old wretch into the desert.
Namutu gradually calmed down, feeling the Crown Prince was acting strangely and that today’s quarrel was quite absurd.
He stepped back and bowed, preparing to apologize to his nephew and ease the atmosphere.
Seeing his posture, Wuliang He’s anger diminished slightly. He walked down the steps, preparing to scold this old thing a bit before letting it go.
Suddenly footsteps sounded outside, and someone shouted: “Chief Minister! Chief Minister! Terrible news! Zuo Siyan has led troops into the mansion by royal command, saying you’re plotting rebellion, and killed your whole family!”
Namutu felt as if struck by a giant thunderbolt.
He looked up sharply.
Opposite was the Crown Prince’s equally shocked face.
But in his eyes, it was malicious pretense, hypocritical disguise.
He was bowing with hands placed at his waist – the saluting posture of Xirong nobles.
His fingers suddenly touched something cold and hard.
It was the abyssal iron dagger. Having obtained the three-piece set, he naturally carried it away. He had the right to bear weapons in the palace.
The protective armor worn on his body, the hairpin on his head, the dagger at his waist.
Almost without thinking, with a clear ring, a blue light leaped to the Crown Prince’s brow. Before his astonishment could turn to shock, the dagger stabbed toward his chest.
Namutu’s roar was murderous and chilling: “Go die!”
A figure flashed as guards who had been following the Crown Prince charged forward from left and right.
They came quickly, having trained countless times, and indeed blocked in front of Wuliang He.
But they couldn’t match the blade’s speed.
That blade cut like slicing tofu, silently severing the weapons the guards held in front and the hands holding them, piercing through the guards’ bodies before finally slicing into the Crown Prince’s ribs with a chi sound.
A trace of regret flashed in Namutu’s eyes.
Due to his stance and height difference, he couldn’t stab toward the Crown Prince’s heart. Otherwise, with abyssal iron’s sharpness that cut flesh like mud, the Crown Prince would already be dead.
The Crown Prince let out an agonized scream.
Countless soldiers poured out from the hall.
Namutu turned and ran frantically, hearing fierce blade wind behind him, his heart and courage shattered.
That blade was fast, striking Namutu’s back.
The harsh sound of metal breaking rang out as the blade tip flew high in everyone’s horrified gaze.
Namutu tumbled and fell, wild with joy in his heart.
A great shout came close by his ear as countless soldiers charged in from outside the hall, protecting Namutu as they retreated.
Namutu was somewhat astonished. Though he could carry blades to court, he couldn’t bring too many guards, much less bring troops into the palace.
How had his subordinates gotten in?
He still wanted to strike the Crown Prince again, but now that was clearly impossible. People surged like a tide, and he was protected by guards as they withdrew from the highest hall, looking down to see black shadows circling the palace.
The Xirong palace was built against mountains with layered halls and winding roads.
Countless people rolled up like tides while countless others rushed down like floods.
Further away was the fan-shaped entire city of Chana – points of light at the fan handle, large dark patches at the fan surface.
Beyond that were Xirong’s vast grasslands, salt lakes, deserts, and forests.
For the first time, Namutu stood at such a position seeing such a view.
Heaven and earth crashed into his chest, his heart inevitably shaken.
He suddenly understood why the Xirong royal family built their palace against the mountains.
Because this way it seemed you could see all of Xirong, with the nation’s territory at your feet.
The magnificent and heroic scope was beyond description.
Namutu stared at the floating clouds below, his heart surging like tides.
Like everyone had thought before, he believed himself utterly loyal with never a rebellious thought.
But he didn’t know every man harbored wild ambitions in his heart. Some just hid them so well they thought they didn’t exist, but when facing such scenery, those ambitions burst like flood breaking through dikes, instantly turning everything upside down.
Why should he retreat?
With this turn away, he’d become a rebellious minister and traitorous subject, fleeing in embarrassment for the rest of his life, wandering the world.
But the Crown Prince was already severely wounded, his subordinates had entered the palace, and at this crucial moment he had obtained abyssal iron weapons and protective armor.
This was heaven’s will.
Heaven’s will had circled around to finally place the throne in his hands.
The Central Plains had a saying: “What Heaven gives and you don’t take, you’ll suffer the consequences.”
He turned around abruptly, drawing the dagger from his waist.
“I loyally helped you ascend the throne, yet you repay me by killing my wife and children. How does someone like you deserve to sit on the throne! Return everything I helped you obtain!”
Wuliang He’s long laughter came from the great hall: “Old fox! I knew you’d show your fox tail sooner or later!”
Namutu gave a signal and led his people charging into the great hall while his soldiers followed the mountain paths, fighting with the palace guards who kept pouring out to block them.
In the battle, everyone was disheveled, and no one paid attention to what their opponents looked like.
Therefore, no one noticed that Tie Ci and her group had already mixed in.
That iron-faced, impartial palace guard commander chased behind them to intercept, never understanding how these people had suddenly appeared.
He had clearly arranged guards to defend the entire palace impenetrably. The palace built against mountain terrain was naturally easy to defend and hard to attack.
But he didn’t know his day’s defense arrangements had been tampered with. Tian Wu hadn’t touched guards at crucial points where he’d notice immediately, but had removed several inconspicuous patrol posts at the mountain back and foot.
Among these, one had a short, hidden path through a cave that could directly penetrate the palace.
It couldn’t really be called a secret passage – just a place where royal children played when young. Wuliang He was the eldest son, much older than his younger siblings, so he didn’t know about that cave.
The Eagle Master’s people had opened the half-blocked cave, connecting it to a high wall of the palace. Tian Wu had manipulated things to transfer guards from that area, but their own forces weren’t sufficient to resist the palace’s tight defenses.
Tie Ci had considered using teleportation to kill Wuliang He herself, but first, there were several people in the city with troops – killing one crown prince had no meaning if their armies weren’t eliminated, as a new crown prince would quickly appear. Second, the opportunity for revenge should be left to the Eagle Master.
Hence the subsequent series of operations – three-way breakdown, simultaneous action. Namutu’s soldiers rushing to the palace were naturally intercepted, then the Eagle Master’s people coincidentally led them into the passage, streaming out from that negligently guarded spot. By the time the guard commander noticed something wrong, it was too late.
Now Namutu’s troops poured endlessly into the palace, coordinating inside and out, opening the palace gates while also attacking the city gates. Inside the palace they fought the royal army, while in the city they fought Zuo Siyan’s forces.
Both sides sent signals ordering their troops outside the city to enter for the melee, and the city gates were opened.
When the city gates opened, Huyin’s portion of the army that had received signals and waited outside the city also rushed in.
The entire Xirong royal city was in chaos.
Everywhere were fighting soldiers from Namutu and Zuo Siyan’s forces.
Half of Huyin’s army wore Zuo Siyan’s military uniforms while half wore Namutu’s uniforms. Running through Xirong’s streets, when they saw Namutu’s troops, those in Zuo Siyan’s uniforms fled while those in Namutu’s uniforms chased. When encountering Zuo Siyan’s forces, those in Namutu’s uniforms fled while those in Zuo Siyan’s uniforms chased… In short, they looked exactly like groups of warring troops from both sides.
So whether Namutu’s forces saw them or Zuo Siyan’s forces saw them, everyone thought they were fighting factions and paid no attention.
Thus they bluffed their way all the way into the palace.
But just after Huyin’s army entered the city, another force with even greater numbers galloped up and charged through the already chaotic, undefended gates.
Originally Namutu and Zuo Siyan’s people were fighting for control of the gates with the gate guards already scattered. When this later army arrived, both sides paused, but before they could challenge them, the newcomers were already shooting arrows indiscriminately. Large groups of soldiers poured through the gates and quickly began seizing the city towers.
Someone cried out: “Qiu Wujiu’s troops!”
Both Namutu and Zuo Siyan had tens of thousands of soldiers, most now pouring into the royal city, but Qiu Wujiu’s forces were even more numerous. They quickly killed the two sides’ soldiers at the gates, forcing them to retreat into the city. Qiu Wujiu’s army poured in endlessly, and after the entire army entered, they quickly lowered the gates and occupied the towers, strengthening the gates’ defenses.
Qiu Wujiu stepped onto the city tower, looking at the still-quiet wilderness outside and the chaotic melee inside the city, and smiled with satisfaction.
A general beside him said: “Marshal, why don’t we continue advancing to the palace?”
“No hurry, let them fight a bit more.” Qiu Wujiu said leisurely. “That Crown Princess is quite good at stirring things up. She must be waiting for all three sides to suffer mutual destruction so she can reap the benefits. How coincidental,” he smiled slightly, “so am I.”
…