Tumu Fortress.
After a ten-day march led by the Female Emperor of Wu Zhou.
Armies converged from all directions and arrived at this place.
Golden wheat fields stretched as far as the eye could see.
Billowing and undulating with the wind.
Countless soldiers halted and watched. Under the scorching sun, drenched in sweat, they remained in dead silence.
They saw that the original official road had been dug up and planted with crops.
Leaving only a narrow path wide enough for two people to walk abreast.
How were they supposed to march through this?
One soldier could not hold back and shouted aloud,
"So what if these are the fields of the noble families?"
"We are marching to war! Are we supposed to worry about farmland?"
"Marching like this, our army of two million will not be able to pass through here even in three days and three nights!"
"Today, I am going to walk right through the fields!"
As soon as his words fell, the soldier strode forward.
But before he could take two steps.
"You court death!"
A sharp shout rang out.
A supervising official, wielding a long sword, slashed it down right at his head.
The sword gleamed, and blood splattered!
A severed head flew into the sky.
The headless corpse collapsed heavily by the roadside, dyeing the field red with blood.
The great army fell into a deathly stillness.
"Her Majesty has ordered! Pass through in lines. Do not damage a single stalk of wheat, or you will face military law!"
The supervising official's cold voice echoed between heaven and earth.
That head was still dripping crimson blood, as piercing as a blade, striking fear into the hearts of all.
The brutal display of military discipline filled everyone with awe and dread.
All the soldiers looked solemn, their breathing becoming stifled.
Holding their breath and focusing their minds, they formed two lines and proceeded along the narrow path in an orderly manner.
However, the expressions on their faces looked as disgusted as if they had swallowed flies.
They were an army of a full two million men!
How long would it take to pass through this narrow field path?
Furthermore, the sun was currently at its most vicious. The soldiers felt their bodies burning up, sweat streaming down inside their armor, and their moods were extremely gloomy.
From time to time, supervising officials would shout reprimands, brandishing horsewhips to strike at soldiers who seemed dazed.
With every step they took, the soldiers had to be extremely careful, feeling immense torment.
The lofty aspirations and heroic spirit they had when they first set out were completely worn away at this moment.
All that remained was endless exhaustion and irritation.
The Female Emperor of Wu Zhou sat inside her imperial carriage.
Inside, maids were adding ice cubes to an ice pot, making the hot, dry wind much cooler.
Exquisite fruits and pastries were laid out on the table.
The Female Emperor of Wu Zhou sat on her dragon throne, holding a scroll in her hands and reading it with great relish.
Looking at her like this, it did not seem like she was marching to war at all; it was clearly a countryside outing.
The civil and military officials following behind looked sickly and pale, sighing constantly.
The older ministers were clutching their waists, unable to stand straight from the bumping of their horses.
The continuous marching and jolting along the way left them utterly exhausted and complaining incessantly.
"Your Majesty!"
An old minister patted his horse's back, put on a bitter face, and stepped forward to offer counsel.
"We truly cannot endure this any longer. I beg Your Majesty to allow us to rest for a day before making further plans."
"After all, we are about to engage in a decisive battle with Temujin. We must rest and build up our strength to preserve our forces."
The Female Emperor of Wu Zhou put down her scroll, raised her head, and her eyes instantly turned icy.
"Minister of Revenue, what exactly do you mean by this!"
"If you cannot even endure this little bit of hardship, how can you manage the country for Us?"
She sneered.
She pointed at herself.
"Look at Us. During these ten days of marching, have We ever uttered a single complaint of hardship or fatigue?"
"Instead, it is you people who are constantly whining!"
"We are a woman! Yet you group of men are not even as resilient as Us, a woman!"
These words made the Minister of Revenue flush red with embarrassment, and he lowered his head in silence.
He was not ashamed.
Rather, he felt angry.
You are sitting in the imperial carriage. When tired, you have a soft bed to sleep on; when hungry, you have delicious delicacies to eat.
But what about us?
We have been braving the wind and dew, constantly jolted along the way.
Yet the Minister of Revenue did not dare to retort at all.
He could only sigh in despair.
Before long, the Minister of War also came forward, profusely sweating, and spoke in a hurry.
"Your Majesty, the troops in the rear cannot keep up. I just went to take a look, and there is a massive wheat field."
"I beg Your Majesty to grant permission for the soldiers to step into the wheat field. Otherwise, our two million strong army will not be able to walk out of this field even in three days and three nights!"
His face was filled with anxiety, and he was panting heavily from running over.
The Female Emperor of Wu Zhou frowned and slammed her hand against the armrest of the dragon throne.
"Audacious! This is Our command! Do you wish to defy Our decree?"
"This wheat field is the foundation of Our Wu family! How can We let you outsiders trample it!"
"If Our relatives were to learn that We allowed soldiers to trample the wheat fields at will, how could We face them!"
Her cold voice was filled with unquestionable authority.
The Minister of War opened his mouth to argue, but swallowed his words back down.
Seeing the murderous look in the Female Emperor of Wu Zhou's eyes, he knew that if he said anything more, his life would likely be forfeit.
"As you command, Your Majesty."
He retreated helplessly.
After the civil and military officials following behind learned of this matter.
For a moment.
They all fell silent.
What kind of nonsense was this?
Had the Empress gone mad?
For the sake of face, she was actually disregarding the safety of the army!
"Alas! If Temujin were to attack now, I fear we would all be doomed!"
The Minister of War let out a long sigh, his eyes full of worry.
Anyone capable of becoming a high-ranking official in the imperial court was a dragon or phoenix among men.
He could already envision the scene of the Empress's army collapsing like a landslide!
But did he dare to offer further counsel?
Of course not!
The current Female Emperor of Wu Zhou was brimming with confidence, carrying herself with the air of an absolute dictator who demanded total supremacy.
"Why haven't those scions of the noble families arrived yet?"
The Female Emperor of Wu Zhou frowned and spoke in displeasure.
According to the agreed time, they were supposed to converge here together, but now the noble scions seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth.
Not only had they not appeared, but even their supporting troops were nowhere to be seen.
"Hmph! If these people dare not to show up, We will definitely punish them for the crime of deceiving the sovereign!"
The Female Emperor of Wu Zhou coldly snorted.
......
On a distant hill.
A massive army stood atop the summit, looking down and taking in the entire Wu Zhou army at a glance.
"Mongol King, what is this situation? What exactly is the Female Emperor of Wu Zhou scheming?"
Modun saw the scene of them passing through the wheat field in pairs, frowned deeply, and spoke with hesitation.
"We have already waited for the Female Emperor of Wu Zhou for three days. At her marching speed, I fear we will have to wait another seven days before the decisive battle."
"Could it be that the Female Emperor of Wu Zhou is doing this on purpose to lure us into taking the initiative to attack?"
He was naturally suspicious, and upon encountering such a strange occurrence, his immediate reaction was to become vigilant.
After all, the Wu Zhou army was a force of two million men!
Even with their three great royal courts allied together, they only had nine hundred thousand cavalry.
The Wu Zhou army was more than twice their size.
If they were to attack rashly, they would likely suffer heavy casualties!
It was precisely because of this that they had been lying in ambush here for a full three days.
During these three days, they were terrified that the Female Emperor of Wu Zhou would descend like divine troops from heaven, leading her two million strong army to charge at them in a mighty display.
One must know, they were facing the powerful nation of Wu Zhou!
In the past, how would their three royal courts have ever dared to provoke such a formidable enemy!
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
