Xiao Xuance's words were like a heavy hammer, smashing ruthlessly against everyone's hearts.
In an instant, the soldiers of Qingshan City stood frozen in place.
At that moment, the light in their eyes shattered, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
"Why... why help the enemy..."
"The Great Zhou army killed our comrades-in-arms!"
"Why surrender... So many of our brothers died just to protect the borders of Great Qin, yet you, as a general, want us to kneel and surrender!"
The once hot-blooded soldiers felt as if a basin of freezing water had been poured over their heads, chilling them to the bone!
The gazes they fixed upon Xiao Xuance were filled with pain, anger, and deep despair!
With their hopes crushed to dust, their bodies swayed unsteadily, their spirits suffering a devastating blow.
At this moment, the soldiers' will to fight disintegrated instantly, leaving behind only an ashen gloom and endless bewilderment.
The sky was misty and overcast with dark clouds, as if reflecting the soldiers' agonized hearts.
Huang Hansheng's eyes were nearly splitting from their sockets. Trembling all over, he stared fixedly at Xiao Xuance, a monstrous anger burning in his chest!
"You... you are a general of Great Qin! Why are you helping Great Zhou!"
He spoke word by word, his eyes completely bloodshot.
Xiao Xuance, however, remained expressionless, his eyes holding nothing but coldness.
"There is no 'why'. This city is a gift from this general to Rou'er. Your desperate resistance is a slap to my face!"
"I give you ten breaths of time to march out of the city and surrender. Kneel before Rou'er and apologize, or you will all be killed without mercy!"
He narrowed his eyes, his voice like a booming bell reaching the ears of all the soldiers.
Hearing this, Huang Hansheng's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
"Just for a woman, you want to kill us and sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians in this Qingshan City!"
Xiao Xuance laughed aloud, self-righteously thinking himself very romantic.
"What is wrong with gifting a city to my beloved?"
Wang Xuerou's face was full of emotion. "Brother Xuance, you are so good to me."
The two looked at each other, their gazes practically dripping with honeyed affection.
If it weren't for the crowd present, they probably would have embraced and kissed.
Huang Hansheng laughed.
His smile was exceptionally sarcastic!
"Hahaha! Ridiculous! Pathetic!"
"To think that the grand general of the Southern Border is such an ignorant fool who cannot distinguish what is important!"
His voice was filled with sorrow, his aged face written with grief.
He knew that with a fool like Xiao Xuance around.
The entire Northern Border would likely fall!
"Insolent! Death is at your door, yet you still dare to laugh!"
These words immediately made Xiao Xuance's face darken.
He raised his hand and waved.
Rumble! Rumble!
Two hundred thousand Great Qin soldiers took a unified step forward, weapons in hand, their killing intent sweeping out!
An aura of despair permeated the air.
Qingshan City was deathly still.
On the city walls, the remaining two thousand soldiers saw this scene, gave up their resistance, and dropped their swords and sabers.
"We didn't die at the hands of the enemy, but we are to die at the hands of our own people. Truly ridiculous and pathetic!"
"I don't want to fight anymore. What meaning is there in such a battle? Even the Grand General tells us to kneel and kill ourselves. What is the point of living?"
"Hahaha! I thought about dying in battle, thought about being brought back wrapped in a horse's hide, but I never imagined the Grand General would order our execution!"
"Death is just death, but I will never kneel and apologize! I would rather die than kneel to this woman who killed my comrades!"
...
The soldiers smiled miserably, tears flowing down involuntarily.
Their bloodstained faces were filled with pain and desolation.
They were not afraid of fighting the enemy; they would even fight to the death!
But being stabbed in the back by their own people—what terrible irony!
And to be asked to kneel in surrender and apologize to the enemy—it was simply the biggest joke in the world!
Even the breath held in Huang Hansheng's chest completely dissipated as the soldiers spoke.
His fiercely burning will to fight extinguished. He lowered his head, his white hair disheveled, his figure hunched.
Drop after drop of muddy tears flowed down the deep wrinkles on his face.
"I, Huang Hansheng, have lived for eighty years, spent half my life on horseback protecting the territory, and have never bowed to the enemy!"
"And I certainly will never kneel and apologize to the enemy!"
"But this old man also does not wish to fight to the death against his own brothers in arms..."
His voice was extremely calm, but every word struck everyone's hearts like a heavy hammer.
One by one, the soldiers' faces were covered in tears, their bodies trembling.
They looked with extremely complex expressions at the two hundred thousand Great Qin soldiers.
Those were their own people!
Were they really supposed to kill their own people?
There might even be their brothers and comrades among them!
At this very moment,
The two hundred thousand Great Qin soldiers looked up at the city walls, an incredibly complex swirl of emotions surging in their eyes.
Their hearts suddenly ached.
"I don't want to go to war against my own comrades..."
"Me neither..."
"We are all our own people. Our enemy is Great Zhou. Why should we hurt our own brothers..."
Once one voice spoke up, countless others followed.
They were confused, bewildered, and simply could not bear to raise a hand against their own brothers in arms.
"Shut up!" Xiao Xuance turned his head abruptly, glaring at the crowd with the vicious eyes of a wolf.
"Military orders are like mountains! They disobeyed military orders and must be executed!"
"Whoever pleads for them will be treated as a traitor as well!"
These words immediately suppressed everyone, leaving them too afraid to speak.
Indignation filled everyone's faces, yet they lowered their heads in silence.
Only the bulging veins on the hands gripping their weapons betrayed them.
They were equally unwilling, but there was nothing they could do!
Taking in this scene, Huang Hansheng smiled with gratification.
So there were still sensible people after all.
These soldiers still considered them comrades.
"Soldiers of the three armies, hear my command!"
Huang Hansheng raised his bloodstained longsword and placed it against his neck.
On the city wall, the two thousand soldiers simultaneously raised their weapons and aimed them at their own necks.
Their eyes were numb, full of despair and gloom, devoid of even a single speck of hopeful light.
Perhaps taking their own lives was the best choice left for them.
Huang Hansheng turned to look at the soldiers, unable to stop the old tears from flowing freely.
"Brothers, we will meet again in the next life!"
"Old General Huang! In the next life, we will still be comrades!"
"Brothers in arms, see you in the next life!"
The two thousand soldiers also looked up, gazing at one another.
They smiled—relieved, liberated, without a single trace of the desire to live!
This tragic and heroic scene moved countless people!
Hot tears involuntarily rolled down from the fierce eyes of the two hundred thousand Qin soldiers.
They knew that these defending soldiers had chosen suicide because they did not want to slaughter them!
Guilt and self-blame continuously surged in their hearts.
Wang Xuerou, however, looked completely indifferent, a flash of sinister delight even passing through the depths of her eyes.
"Hurry up and die! Being forced to death by your own people must be very painful, right!"
"Who told you not to march out and surrender! You peasants brought all of this upon yourselves!"
She smiled smugly, as if watching a spectacular play.
Xiao Xuance also watched all this coldly, completely unmoved.
It was as if, in his eyes, this group of people could not even compare to a single strand of Wang Xuerou's hair.
Huang Hansheng raised the longsword in his hand and roared until his voice was hoarse.
"Soldiers of the three armies, hear my command! Follow me in slitting our throats and returning to the heavens..."
At this moment of life and death.
Huang Hansheng thought of a person.
The person he respected and worshiped most in the depths of his memories.
"Forgive me, Great General. This humble general can no longer return to the ranks of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Generals... I have failed you..."
"Farewell, my brothers. I am afraid the Five Tiger Generals will soon become four..."
A single tear fell from the corner of his eye and vanished into the wind.
Just as Huang Hansheng raised his sword, about to take his own life...
"Stay your hand!"
A majestic and domineering voice, resounding like the roar of a mighty dragon, exploded across the heavens and the earth!
Everyone's hearts trembled violently, their eardrums ringing from the sheer force of the sound!
Xiao Xuance and Wang Xuerou subconsciously looked up, gazing over with faces filled with absolute shock.
All the soldiers of Qingshan City lowered their weapons, their bodies shaking violently as they raised their heads to look toward the source of the voice.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
