The seven-day deadline has arrived.

At dawn, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

Thirty thousand Golden Feather Guards silently slipped back into the southern suburbs of Huangzhong City.

They scattered and hid among the surrounding hills and trees, keeping a close watch on Huangzhong City not far away.

Gu Chengyin and the others lay prone behind a high slope with an excellent vantage point. Concealed by the sparse shrubs and morning mist, they gazed at the towering city walls from afar.

As time trickled by, the eastern horizon gradually turned white.

Suddenly.

Creak... creak...

The heavy sound of the city gates opening was exceptionally clear in the quiet morning!

The southern gate of Huangzhong City was thrown wide open! Squad after squad of fully armed soldiers surged out like floodwaters released from a dam!

Banners fluttered, and swords and spears formed a forest. With cavalry in the front, infantry in the back, and auxiliary soldiers escorting the supply wagons, the procession stretched on endlessly!

City flags flapped fiercely in the morning breeze. The direction the army was marching in was undeniably southeast—the exact general location of Eagle's Sorrow Ravine!

They've come out... They really came out...

Shangguan Yunying murmured softly, her beautiful eyes filled with indescribable shock.

She had personally watched Gu Chengyin lay out his trap step by step, luring the coalition forces into making their judgment and mobilizing their troops.

Now, just as he had predicted, the defenders of Huangzhong City marched out in massive numbers, heading to encircle and annihilate the Golden Feather Guards that simply did not exist there!

Chen Busha's eyes widened. He deliberately suppressed his heavy breathing, his fists tightly clenched.

Having fought in wars for many years, he had seen countless stratagems, but he had never witnessed such an exquisite and audacious chain of schemes that calculated the enemy's psychology and actions to such a profound degree!

First, the decoy troops; next, luring the tiger from its mountain; then, feigning a specific formation; and finally, drawing the snake out of its hole... Every link was tightly connected, and every step was breathtakingly thrilling!

The surrounding generals and Golden Feather Guards watched the Huangzhong City army continuously pouring out, gradually merging into a massive torrent.

Then they turned to look back at Gu Chengyin, whose expression remained ever serene beside them. The awe in their eyes had reached its absolute peak!

This was no longer ordinary admiration, but a reverence akin to gazing up at a deity! Flawless calculation and anticipating the enemy's every move—there was nothing greater than this!

Gu Chengyin himself also breathed a slight sigh of relief inwardly.

With the plan reaching this stage, the most crucial link had been accomplished. He silently estimated the number of troops marching out of the city.

Ten thousand... twenty thousand... thirty thousand...

When the last batch of supply wagons disappeared behind the hills to the northeast, silence returned to the base of Huangzhong City.

The city gates slowly closed. Clearly, the number of defenders had dropped to an extremely low level.

At least thirty-five thousand men marched out.

Relying on her rich experience, Shangguan Yunying softly reported an accurate number, her voice carrying a trace of a tremble.

The remaining garrison inside the city is likely less than five thousand, and most of them are the old, the weak, or auxiliary soldiers.

A sharp glint flashed through Gu Chengyin's eyes.

The time had come!

He slowly stood up, brushed the grass clippings off his clothes, and calmly swept his gaze over the generals beside him, Her Highness has ordered. Fall in.

Target:

He raised his hand and pointed at the massive city ahead, which still looked towering but was in fact already hollow inside.

Huangzhong City.

There was no impassioned agitation, no superfluous nonsense.

Just three simple words, yet they made the blood of all the Golden Feather Guards instantly boil!

Understood!!!

The suppressed, low roars rolled like muffled thunder within the chests of the thirty thousand soldiers.

There was no longer any need for disguise, no longer any need for concealment.

The thirty thousand Golden Feather Guards, led by Gu Chengyin, were like unsheathed swords. They emerged from their hiding spots in a standard offensive formation, carrying an aura of chilling slaughter that could crush everything in its path.

Toward Huangzhong City—no, toward the Huangzhong City that would willingly open its gates for them—they steadily pressed forward!

The heavy footsteps, the clashing of armor, and the neighing of warhorses converged into a suffocating torrent that rolled relentlessly forward!

Atop the walls of Huangzhong City, the commanding officer left behind to guard the city watched the boundless torrent of golden armor on the distant horizon.

Seeing the banners of the Golden Feather Guards and the royal flag bearing the character Luo, he was frightened out of his wits and nearly tumbled off the city wall!

Golden... Golden Feather Guards?! Weren't they surrounded at Eagle's Sorrow Ravine?! How... how could they be here?!

The officer's voice cracked, and he looked in despair at the sparse, pale-faced defenders beside him.

How could a mere few thousand old and weak men withstand thirty thousand battle-hardened death warriors who were as fierce as wolves and tigers?

Defend the city? It was completely meaningless!

With such a sheer disparity in military strength, such abysmal morale, and such a sudden siege, any resistance would be nothing but futile suicide.

Just the time it takes an incense stick to burn later, when the vanguard of the Golden Feather Guards was only a bowshot away from the city walls, the tightly shut gates of Huangzhong City slowly opened once again under the gaze of countless terrified eyes.

A white flag was tremblingly thrust out.

The remaining commanding officer, his face pale as ashes, led a sparse few subordinate officials on foot out of the city. Prostrating themselves on the ground, they presented the city's letter of surrender.

Without shedding a single drop of blood, Huangzhong City changed hands.

Shangguan Yunying slowly rode her horse to the front of the officer. Without even glancing at the letter of surrender, she calmly said:

Open all passageways and clear the barricades. Her Highness is benevolent and generous, and she does not wish to harm the innocent. As long as you keep your people in check, nothing will happen.

Yes... yes! I will strictly obey Her Highness's orders! The officer felt as if he had been granted a general amnesty, kowtowing repeatedly.

The thirty thousand Golden Feather Guards, like a silent golden torrent, under the awe-struck and terrified gazes of the Huangzhong City defenders,

Passed through the city gates, and passed through this fortified city that would have normally cost them a heavy price to conquer.

They stepped onto the final stretch of smooth road leading to the Divine Capital!

Just as the Golden Feather Guards were marching grandly through the central avenue of Huangzhong City, Gu Chengyin clearly felt that the true qi in his body, which had been growing steadily, suddenly surged madly like a river bursting its banks!

Surging power washed through his limbs and bones, and his dantian qi sea expanded violently. The barrier of the initial stage of Qi Refining was easily pierced through like thin paper, and his cultivation base rapidly climbed toward the middle and late stages of Qi Refining at an astonishing speed!

This was the convergence of the massive influence brought about by the deepened conviction of the thirty thousand Golden Feather Guards, the Huangzhong City defenders, and the countless people who had witnessed this battle!

A miraculous, casualty-free swift victory had been accomplished. His name, Gu Chengyin, would surely spread throughout Luoshui Commandery, and even the entire Great Luo Empire, along with the news of this battle!

And this gathered belief and renown were now transforming into the purest true qi cultivation!

A slight ripple arose in Gu Chengyin's heart, but it immediately settled back into an even deeper tranquility. Power was merely a necessity for him to achieve his goals.

However, what he did not know was...

At the exact same moment the grand army safely traversed Huangzhong City and was about to arrive at the Divine Capital...

The lustrous, warm white life-protecting light that had enveloped True Luo Zhao's soul for seven long days...

Finally completed its mission. Emitting a faint, soft sound of shattering, it subsequently turned into specks of flowing light and completely dissipated into the air.

The bindings were released!

True Luo Zhao's soul phantom, which had become much more solid, violently shuddered!

The complex sensation of regaining her freedom instantly overwhelmed her.

The seven-day period had arrived.

She could return to her original body!

Absolute killing intent, pent-up fury, the humiliation of being toyed with, the scheming for the future...

Countless emotions crazily intertwined within her soul. She took one last, deep look at Gu Chengyin.

In her phantom-like eyes, the cold glint was as piercingly freezing as eternal black ice.

In the next second, the soul phantom transformed into an invisible streak of light, moving at a limit that far surpassed any speed in the mortal world.

It shot instantaneously toward the Fake Luo Zhao sitting on horseback!