When the news reached the general's manor, Ren Tianye was arranging the betrothal gifts.
Under the arrangement of Su Jin, the mole within the Su family, the betrothal gifts for the Su family's second miss, Su Xiu, were prepared one by one.
Ren Tianye was not a stingy man; everything was arranged abundantly according to custom.
The process was still handled by Su Jin and Deputy General Wang Ming.
Just as he had sent the two to deliver the betrothal gifts, a messenger brought bad news.
"Report! Great General, ten miles outside Yunji City, a unit of the imperial court's Imperial Guard is approaching at top speed. They number about twenty thousand, with complete formations and formidable military might."
Ren Tianye's body jolted.
The imperial court had already sent people?
So fast!
His palms could not help but sweat slightly.
Although he now had over seven thousand elite soldiers under his command, entirely under his control and answering only to his orders...
...the Great Yu Dynasty had been established for eight hundred years. Even a centipede does not die when crushed.
Moreover, the current Great Yu Dynasty was at the height of its prime.
If calculated by military strength alone, just their standing army could muster hundreds of thousands of troops.
It was simply not something he could resist.
And the Imperial Guard that came this time was known as the most elite in the country. Although their true combat power might not match the annihilated Chifeng Army, a great reputation is not built on nothing. The strength of the Imperial Guard still put immense pressure on him.
"Let's go take a look."
Ren Tianye left the manor, mounted his Night-Illuminating Jade Lion, and galloped straight toward the walls of Yunji City amid the clatter of hooves.
As soon as he ascended the wall, Sun Xiang and Zhang Shi gathered around him.
"What is the situation?"
"Reporting to the Great General, scouts continue to send reports, but right now, we haven't seen the Imperial Guard yet."
Ren Tianye looked out past Yunji City.
He couldn't see anything either.
In fact, the naked human eye can see large targets at a considerable distance, such as mountains, city outlines, and rivers.
Twenty thousand Imperial Guards was not a small target.
They should be visible.
Especially since they were standing on high ground.
However, Yunji City had a flaw.
Built surrounded by mountains on three sides, the area not far below it was covered with dense thorns and low hills, which easily concealed lines of sight.
Making it so that no matter how he looked now, there was no trace of them.
But he still immediately ordered, "Assemble the soldiers, enter a state of high alert."
"Yes!"
Zhang Shi immediately went to pass the order.
Sun Xiang stayed with Ren Tianye on the walls of Yunji City, waiting for the impending arrival of the Imperial Guard.
The reports from the scouts came swiftly and frantically.
"Report! The Imperial Guard is eight miles away!"
"Report! The Imperial Guard is seven miles away!"
"Report! The Imperial Guard has reached six miles away!"
"Report! The Imperial Guard has reached five miles away!"
...
In wartime, the frequency of scout reports was much higher than usual, not to mention the unique terrain of Yunji City necessitated constant updates.
But the rhythm of these reports made Ren Tianye, Sun Xiang, and the many soldiers on the wall look grave.
Everyone clearly and intuitively perceived one thing.
"The Imperial Guard is so fast!"
"Are they trying to fight a blitzkrieg?"
Ren Tianye squeezed out a bit of cold sweat.
However, he did not panic.
After all, Yunji City had been fortified by Zhan Shubai to be comparable to Shanhe City; in terms of defense alone, it was even more fearsome than Shanhe City.
Although twenty thousand Imperial Guards were extraordinary, wanting to instantly breach Yunji City was pure delusion.
Furthermore...
The soldiers from the tents inside the city had also taken their positions one after another.
Each and every one of them glared with rage, their eyes practically splitting.
"The Empress really wants to kill us!"
"Damn it, those treacherous officials in the court won't leave us a single way out."
"Fortunately, General Ren is willing to protect us, otherwise, today would be our dead end."
"Fuck! I'm going all out. Even if I have to die, I'll drag two down with me."
...
The soldiers' morale was soaring.
This made Ren Tianye feel even more reassured. Then, at the very edge of his vision, he saw an army surging forward, kicking up clouds of dust that billowed and swirled, their momentum awe-inspiring.
At this distance, the naked eye could not see details, but based on his understanding of the Imperial Guard, Ren Tianye quickly made a judgment.
The patterns on their chests should be the Black Bird totem, and they all wore helmets bearing the character for Black.
Presumably, they were also equipped with Black character waist tags.
"The Imperial Guard!"
"The Imperial Guard that protects the Forbidden City!"
"It seems these are the very people who massacred the seventy thousand Chifeng Army."
"So..."
Ren Tianye guessed: "Did they slaughter the Chifeng Army and then, upon learning of our rebellion, receive orders to immediately come and exterminate us?"
"I wonder who is commanding the Imperial Guard. This battlefield acuity and decisiveness in action are quite remarkable."
"However..."
"Twenty thousand Imperial Guards might not be enough!"
Ren Tianye's gaze grew increasingly focused and solid.
Once the twenty thousand Imperial Guards entered his line of sight, the advantages of Yunji City were fully unleashed.
Yunji City was built halfway up a mountain, with only one main road leading inside. Although this road was built wide and flat, allowing countless people to walk side by side, it...
...was winding and spiraling!
Like a giant dragon, its head lay at the gates of Yunji City, and its tail rested at the foot of the mountain.
If the twenty thousand Imperial Guards wanted to attack the city, they would have to charge upwards from below. This was extremely disadvantageous, even a major taboo in military strategy!
But Yunji City was designed exactly to force any invading enemy into this strategic trap.
Just as he was thinking this, he saw the twenty thousand Imperial Guards suddenly stop and set up camp right below Yunji City, making no further moves.
Soon after, a unit of about twenty armored cavalrymen, led by a person fully clad in golden armor and wearing a golden helmet, all riding snow-white warhorses with hooves flying, headed straight for the base of Yunji City.
"General, I'm afraid they are here to negotiate."
Sun Xiang, being experienced and knowledgeable, immediately said.
Yunji City was easy to defend and hard to attack. No matter how formidable the combat power of the twenty thousand Imperial Guards was, trying to take a prepared Yunji City was wishful thinking.
At best, the result would be mutual destruction.
Moreover, the casualties of the Imperial Guard would be far higher than those of the Yunji City defenders.
Ren Tianye also nodded and said, "Since they are here to negotiate, let's talk. Anyway..."
"We are not in a hurry."
Sun Xiang knew what Ren Tianye meant: the plan to hold their ground, quietly wait for the world to fall into chaos, and then seize the opportunity to strike.
He settled his mind and waited for the approaching general.
In just a short moment, those twenty or so people arrived below the city gate tower. They directly crossed the moat, making absolutely no defensive preparations.
Their calm and composed posture gave the people of Yunji City a feeling of arrogance.
The crowd also saw clearly that the leader was a young man in golden armor, with a face as flawless as jade, thick eyebrows slanting into his hairline, and the corners of his eyes slightly tilted upwards, carrying a hint of frivolous scrutiny.
He truly had a handsome appearance.
A deputy general beside him immediately shouted, "Who gave you the nerve to block my Young Duke? Open the city gates at once!"
Open the city gates?
The few people on the wall were taken aback again.
"Wait, why are they telling us to open the gates? Do they want to come in to negotiate?"
"Looks like it. Isn't this too bold? Facing rebels like us, they dare to directly enter our territory to negotiate? Have they eaten a bear's heart and a leopard's gall?"
"Great General, what do you think?"
...
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.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
