On the top of the tower above the city gate was Liu Cang Lan and behind him were four officers, Lin Feng and Liu Fei.
Liu Cang Lan had been standing there for a few hours already. He remained motionless while the others remained silent. They all understood the pain Liu Cang Lan was feeling in his heart.
Over a hundred thousand people, their lives, their families, their future had vanished in an instant. This was the truth of war.
It was the sad truth. Nobody could predict what was going to happen. Such dramatic events hadn’t taken place in over ten years. Besides, Liu Cang Lan had never lost any of his battles in the past, but at that moment, he had lost and his army was massacred.
“Pshhhhh……” Liu Cang Lan took a deep breath. He then slowly turned around. At that moment, everybody inside the city was already packing and ready to leave Duan Ren City.
The Mo Yue Country was putting pressure on them by using the princess’ life. They wouldn’t be able to defend the Duan Ren Border.
If they lost the Duan Ren Border, Duan Ren City would become a very dangerous place. A five hundred thousand strong army would easily be able to conquer Duan Ren City.
They were not a simple military force, a large number had broken through to the Ling Qi layer. In one jump, they could scale the gate of Duan Ren City. From there they could rain down arrows and annihilate everything inside.
“Even though Duan Ren City is vast, it could only be considered a small town… it has a population of five hundred and fifty thousand civilians. The civilians must leave the city, even though for many of them it is their place of birth. As a general, I cannot get them involved.” said Liu Cang Lan while sighing.
“As in any war, the outcome is never certain, you can win or you can lose. The only thing in your control is how you deal with the situation, General.” said Lin Feng while shaking his head.
“What do you expect me to do? I don’t understand.” asked Liu Cang Lan who didn’t understand.
Lin Feng turned around, looked at Liu Cang. He then said in a calm and solemn tone: “I need wood.”
“Wood?” Liu Cang Lan stared blankly at Lin Feng. He was dumbfounded. Lin Feng spoke again: “Uncle Liu, I hope that you can satisfy my request this time.”
After remaining silent for a moment, Liu Cang nodded in a serious way and said: “Alright.”
“Officers, I hope you can help me as well.” said Lin Feng while looking at Jiu Chi Xie and the others. They all slightly nodded, even though they didn’t know what Lin Feng actually really meant to do.
At that moment, in the city, horses were neighing and many people were getting ready to leave.
Amongst these people, many of them were from the Holy Courtyard of Xue Yue and the Celestial Academy. They all looked deathly pale. They had hoped to gain military exploits, but it was impossible for them. That place was too dangerous. They had to go back to the Imperial City, where it was safe. This battle had nothing to do with them.
Even the young men who had come with Duan Tian Lang were leaving as well.
“Liu Cang Lan!” shouted Duan Tian Lang extremely loudly.
“Liu Cang Lan, you caused our own army fight against each other and the princess was captured because of it. You then caused hundreds of thousands of people to lose their homes. I will report all of this to His Majesty and he will decide himself on how to punish you for your crimes.” shouted Duan Tian Lang as he moved into the distance. He made it sound like Liu Cang Lan was guilty for everything and never took any of the responsibility.
Lin Feng’s heart grew extremely cold. The princess had been kidnapped at Duan Tian Lang’s encampment, but he was making out that it had nothing to do with him. Besides, he was running back to the Imperial City. The princess’ life suddenly meant nothing to him any longer.
Lin Feng also understood that Duan Tian Lang wanted to go to the Imperial City to remove all responsibility from himself and shift the blame onto Liu Cang Lan.
Liu Cang Lan didn’t pay attention to Duan Tian Lang. He was worthless.
What Liu Cang Lan was regretting the most was that he let Duan Tian Lang join them in the first place. He should have known better than to think Duan Tian Lang would be of any actual use on the battlefield.
With the smile of victory on his face, Duan Tian Lang the Chief Commander was escaping from Duan Ren City with his army. Liu Cang Lan would inevitably stay there and fight Mo Yue resulting in his death. This battle would be even worse for them, no one would be able to escape uninjured. When the right moment came, Duan Tian Lang would report Liu Cang Lan’s crimes to His Majesty.
………………
The third day, the deadline was slowly arriving.
Rumbling noises filled the atmosphere. Mo Yue soldiers on their horses were arriving outside of Duan Ren Border. Their army stretched across the landscape as far as the eye could see.
But at that moment, on the hills of Duan Ren Border, there was nobody at all.
Mo Jie moved towards the frontline on his horse. He looked at the empty mountains and looked like he was lost in thought.
Could it be that the troops of Xue Yue had really withdrawn and were offering the Duan Ren Border to the Mo Yue Country?
“Bring the princess to the front!” said Mo Jie indifferently. Duan Xin Ye was on a horseback and was wearing armor. Besides, she wasn’t chained or restrained in any way. Just like Mo Jie said, they hadn’t harmed the princess at all.
“First row of black guards, go secure the cliffs of the Duan Ren Border and do a thorough inspection.” said Mo Jie. In a flash, a row of black guards galloped towards the top of Duan Ren Border.
If Mo Jie gave them an order, they obeyed it even if it cost them their life.
This group of black guards were extremely skillful, if there was nobody to guard Duan Ren Border, it was easy for them to reach the top. At the top, they could check if there was an ambush lying in wait for them.
One hour later, the entire row of black guards came back, nobody was missing.
“Your Highness, there is nobody to be seen from the top of the Duan Ren Border. There is nobody in Duan Ren City either, not even soldiers.” said one of them. Mo Jie was surprised. Not only was there nobody in the Duan Ren Border but there was nobody in Duan Ren City either?
“Clear the way first.” said Mo Jie while sounding cold and detached. Maybe that Duan Ren City was already completely abandoned. If there wasn’t the Duan Ren Border, he would have already engaged in battle and definitely would have won.
The soldiers were walking forwards and then disappeared beyond the Duan Ren Border. Mo Jie and his troops were prudently moving forwards.
If he fought against Liu Cang Lan, he would definitely win, but it wouldn’t be that easy.
During a war, a strategy had to be flawless, if it wasn’t, one could suffer a crushing defeat.
As Mo Jie thought, Duan Ren City was absolutely empty. It was a calm, silent and unpopulated city.
Mo Jie was standing at the top of the protection tower within Duan Ren City and looked expressionless. He had been coming to Duan Ren Border for many years and always wanted to pass through… but at that moment, he had passed through. He could see the sea of broken weapons. It was the symbol of victory, but that victory was…..
“Station the troops inside Duan Ren City and occupy it.” said Mo Jie. Immediately after, the order was passed to the troops.
They had already conquered the Duan Ren Border. They were also capturing Duan Ren City. Over the vast landscape one could see the Mo Yue troops sweeping across the flatlands.
At midnight, except for a few night guards, everybody was getting a well deserved rest.
Outside of Duan Ren City, a few sorrowful looking silhouettes appeared. In their eyes was pure killing intent.
At the same time, a great number of armored horses were silently moving towards Duan Ren City, however they abruptly stopped. They didn’t take one more step forwards.
At that moment, Lin Feng was also outside of Duan Ren City. His black eyes looked ice-cold. He could clearly see everything that was happening inside Duan Ren City.
Lin Feng jumped into Duan Ren City. He was well prepared. A single guard was there, Lin Feng quickly covered their mouth to prevent them from shouting and without mercy he slit their throat.
Lin Feng took the armor from the corpse and put it on. He then immediately threw the corpse from the city wall and the people below caught it, therefore there was still absolute silence.
Lin Feng could clearly perceive everything that was happening around him. He started to move with complete silence. A moment later, a few more corpses were thrown from the city wall. The Xue Yue troops who were catching the corpses, then took the armor from the corpses and wore it. They then jumped onto the city wall to replace the guards. They were all extremely skillful and careful to make no noise.
All of them had been selected as the best amongst Chi Xie troops. They were all the best of the best from the most elite units within the army. They were all at least sergeants and the weakest of them had reached the third Ling Qi layer.
They were not only doing this at one location on the city walls. Many of them were all attacking from a large number of places and taking over the city wall. The strongest of them were moving into Duan Ren City, killing the night guards and throwing the corpses over the wall to provide the others with armor.
It was already late into the night so everything was done under the cover of darkness and with complete silence. Nobody had been alarmed by these actions.
At that moment, a group of black guards armed with spears appeared in Duan Ren City. They looked majestic and imposing.
Amongst them was a young man whose face looked incredibly delicate. It was Lin Feng.
These people didn’t belong to Mo Yue Country at all. They were all from Xue Yue.
Because the Mo Yue troops had come in and immediately set up camp, they weren’t very strict with fortifying their position. Therefore, Lin Feng could easily move to every corner of the city.
A short moment after, Lin Feng and the others arrived at a room and immediately entered.
“Stop.” Someone suddenly cried. Two guards were preventing Lin Feng and the others from going inside. They then said: “Some people are already staying inside.”
“I know.” said Lin Feng while continuing to walk forwards. These two guards were astonished. Immediately after, a resplendent and bright glow appeared and a light green dagger cut the throats of the two guards. They then softly fell down onto the floor.
Lin Feng’s silhouette flickered and he immediately moved towards the room. The door of the room opened itself emitting a squeaking sound. The light green dagger started to glow again and quickly slit the throat of the man who just opened the door. His mouth was covered as he slumped down as to stop him making any sounds.
“There is another person inside.” said Lin Feng. Immediately after, they entered the room. Inside the room, there was a great deal of wood. This was part of their plan. The Xue Yue troops were very familiar with it. They knew exactly where everything was placed.
The same thing was happening at multiple locations within Duan Ren City. Finally a sound filled the atmosphere, breaking the silence and calling the troops to attention.
When Lin Feng heard the sound, he obviously knew that they were out of time. He quickly entered into another room and as he left, flames appeared behind him.
There were flames everywhere, fire was completely covering Duan Ren City.
Lin Feng seemed pensive while looking at the flames. In his previous life, he used to use fire to cook delicacies, in this life, he was using fire to cook people alive.
Of course, he knew that this amount of fire wouldn’t be sufficient. He needed to turn it into a rampaging fire which engulfed the entire city.