"Chieftain!"

Wu Li's fall immediately caused widespread panic.

At this moment, Wu Li's vision went black, his mind spun, and the smile on his face remained, but it was stiff. His face grew paler and paler until the continuous shouts reached his ears, which gradually brought him back to his senses.

"call--"

Helped up by the soldiers, he sat on the ground, panting heavily, his face covered in cold sweat. Even so, he still managed to wave his hand and say breathlessly:

"No... I'm fine."

"I got up suddenly, which caused some blood and qi stagnation, but I'm fine now."

He was about to stand up when the woman, her eyes already brimming with tears, urged him, "Rest a while, clan chief. The Emperor has sent a decree; please wait..."

Before he could finish speaking, Wu Li had already stood up unsteadily.

Although his face was still pale, a smile reappeared on his aged face:

"I'm perfectly fine."

Then he looked at the others, smiled and waved his hand, saying, "It's alright, everyone."

"It's an old problem, haha."

The crowd gradually calmed down, but they still looked at him with concern. Wu Li smiled and turned away, saying nothing more.

At six quarters past Chen hour, no news had arrived.

Wu Li stood quietly, leaning on his cane, his gaze fixed on the large banner raised above the city gate.

At 3:45 AM, there was still no news.

At this time, the sun was blazing, and most of the children who had followed had already woken up. The slightly older ones were just standing or sitting quietly, while the younger ones occasionally made noises. They were either catching small insects on the ground or winking and laughing at other children while nestled in their mothers' arms.

Wu Li sometimes looked at the city gate, and sometimes turned his head to look behind him.

Judging by their journey, those who entered the city should have already met the Emperor if their journey had been smooth.

If Yan Cheng had captured someone, he should have arrived by now.

But no news came from either side, so he could only remain silent.

Under the blazing sun, with its radiant glow, this was the first time he had ever stood so close outside Nanze City, looking down upon the city.

'Our Guiyun City is far inferior. Even if we wanted to build one, we couldn't. Only they could do it...' He sighed inwardly amidst countless sorrows.

The seventh quarter of the hour of Si (9-11 AM).

The long-awaited news finally arrived for Wuhan University of Technology.

The messenger returned on horseback, conveying the message that "His Majesty wishes to meet with the clan chief."

Wu Li was greatly encouraged. Although the news arrived almost an hour late, it was finally here.

The emperor requested that he go alone, but that was fine with him; he didn't care.

So, amidst the worried yet expectant gazes of the crowd, Wu Li rode his horse, waved his hand, and without saying anything more, headed alone towards Nanze City.

Composing himself, Wu Li rode his horse to the city gate.

At first glance, a look of surprise appeared on his previously calm face.

It turned out that behind the city wall, so many soldiers and troops were gathered at this moment, and various weapons were laid out below the city. The Yan soldiers, clad in armor and armed with weapons, were all tall and imposing, with swords, spears, and halberds standing like a forest.

They looked like they were about to go to war.

Wu Li swallowed hard and followed the Yan soldiers who were there to meet him towards the imperial city.

As they passed through the outer city and entered the inner city, Wu Li's breathing became increasingly heavy, for there were still countless soldiers and troops here, as well as numerous weapons he had never seen before.

With such a powerful army and so many weapons, he could imagine how they had breached the city that night.

But what's terrifying is that even after they captured the city, they still had such a large force.

'Is there no loss?' Wu Li wondered.

But there was no time to think further. After entering the inner city, they hurried along and arrived at the imperial city after some time.

Soldiers were cleaning up bloodstains at the gate of the imperial city. Wu Li dismounted, brushed the white hair that had fallen across his forehead behind his ear, and followed Yan Bing into the imperial city with trepidation.

After many twists and turns, Wu Li lost his bearings; this was his first time entering the imperial city.

However, instead of going to the most magnificent palace, Yanbing led him to a side hall and said that His Majesty was inside and that he could go in.

They were very polite and never made things difficult for Wu Li or gave him any attitude, which greatly relieved Wu Li's tense and heavy mood.

But as I reached the bottom of the steps, my heart started beating faster and faster.

After straightening his somewhat disheveled clothes and checking his shoes for mud, Wu Li lowered his head and climbed the steps. Once the threshold appeared before him, he cleared his throat and respectfully said:

"This humble citizen is Wu Li..."

Before he could finish speaking, a clear, crisp sound came from inside.

"Come in."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wu Li bowed and entered the room.

“Commoner? Aren’t you the chieftain of the barbarian tribe? Hmm... you should be the barbarian king.”

Upon hearing the sound, Wu Li finally looked up.

The first thing that came into view was a young, handsome face with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. He had a faint smile on his lips and was not wearing imperial robes, but rather casual clothes.

He looks harmless, which is quite unlike Qin Ze, who killed hundreds of thousands of people in one battle.

But Wu Li knew this was it; he must be a smiling tiger.

"Your Majesty is too kind. Without an official position, I am merely a commoner."

"I dare not accept the title of Barbarian King. I am addressed as Chieftain only because of my seniority," Wu Li said.

Qin Ze nodded slightly, his gaze also taking in the barbarian chieftain who didn't quite resemble a barbarian.

Not only do his physical features not match, but the way he has spoken since he entered the room also doesn't seem like that of a barbarian.

So he began:

"The Jin family's tyranny has now been suppressed by my army, and Jin Fengluan has been captured."

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