Guo Sheng tightened his grip on his knife and took a step closer to Lu Xiaoyun: "When Your Highness Prince An sent my son into the jaws of the Northern Qi, did you ever imagine that you would end up like this?!"

His eyes were bloodshot: "My poor youngest son is barely twenty years old, and his mother has already arranged a marriage for him. But what about you? You didn't even leave my son a complete corpse! His chest was trampled into a bloody pulp by horses' hooves, and my wife went mad on the spot. It was you! Zhu Yu, now my Guo Sheng family is ruined and dead, all thanks to you!"

"Your martial arts are now completely crippled, it's a blessing from heaven. If I don't kill you, I, Guo Sheng, would be unworthy of being a father and a husband!"

Lu Xiaoyun said in a deep voice, "Guo Sheng, as the deputy commander of the Five Cities Garrison, you failed to properly educate your children, resulting in the innocent deaths of nearly ten thousand soldiers of my Northern Army. Do I really need to tell you one by one what your son Guo Qi did in the Northern Army?!"

Every single detail was recorded in the study, and when Lu Xiaoyun saw it, she was horrified.

She said, "Having been in the Northern Army for only a month, Guo Qi and several other纨绔公子 (sons of spoiled young masters) abducted several respectable women from ordinary families, kidnapped them to a mountain cave, and raped them. They are worse than beasts!"

"So what? A bunch of lowly people. My son thinks highly of them, that's why he let them serve him. That's a blessing they earned in their past lives!" Guo Sheng roared, recalling the horrific scene he saw when his son's body was transported back to Shengjing City. He wished he could have killed Zhu Yu on the spot.

A dozen days ago, Zhu Yu was assassinated on his wedding day. He even secretly prayed to the gods to have Yama, the King of Hell, take him away quickly.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

"Ha." Lu Xiaoyun found it utterly ridiculous. "Lowly people? The lowly people you speak of use their taxes to support you pigs and dogs!"

"And another thing!" Lu Xiaoyun said before Guo Sheng could utter another boastful remark, "While I was away from the army to spy on the enemy, what has your good son been doing?"

"Disobeying military orders, he and a group of good-for-nothing playboys launched a night raid on the Northern Qi camp, attempting to burn their supplies. However, due to insufficient preparation, they were discovered by the enemy. In their hasty retreat, they inadvertently led the Northern Qi army into the unsuspecting Northern Army camp, resulting in the innocent deaths of nearly ten thousand soldiers of our Great Zhou's Northern Army because of their stupidity!"

Guo Sheng remained silent with a cold face. He didn't care how many people died in the Northern Army, but his son had died, and died so tragically. How could he not hate him!

He's going to kill Zhu Yu!

Guo Sheng glared angrily and swung his sword at Lu Xiaoyun.

Lu Xiaoyun gritted her teeth and charged forward with her sword drawn, knowing that she and Ayan would likely perish here today.

She stepped on one of the men's backs, endured the excruciating pain in her arms, leaped into the air, and brought her sword down with both hands.

Guo Sheng hurriedly raised his knife to catch it, but Lu Xiaoyun swiftly pulled out a dagger from her back, the cold blade gleaming as it pressed against Guo Sheng's throat.

This dagger was incredibly sharp, capable of cutting through iron like mud; it was something Zhu Yu had asked her to take with her before she left.

Guo Sheng's pupils widened suddenly. He hadn't expected that Zhu Yu, who had lost all his martial arts skills and whose left arm had been pierced by an arrow, would still have such a skill. He attacked Lu Yuyan from behind.

Lu Yuyan rolled away to dodge, but at the same time Lu Xiaoyun took a big step forward, her dagger already slit against his neck.

That dagger could cut through iron like mud.

Blood splattered, and Guo Sheng's headless body staggered back a few steps before collapsing with a thud.

His head rolled several times before stopping in front of Liu Meng, his bloodshot eyes wide open, as if he hadn't yet figured out how he had died at the hands of Prince An.

However, almost simultaneously, Liang Zhiyun, who had been intently watching the battle on both sides, suddenly raised his long sword high, ready to cut off "Prince An's" arm as soon as it fell.

Lu Yuyan opened his eyes wide and roared as he grabbed his sword and slashed at Liang Zhiyun. However, Liu Meng, who had only glanced at Guo Sheng's head rolling away, had already struck Lu Yuyan's hand with his sword before him, knocking him away.

Lu Yuyan had no internal energy to begin with, and when Liu Meng struck him with a blow that penetrated his internal energy, he felt a numbness in his hand, and with a clang, his sword fell from his hand to the ground.

His entire arm was almost completely numb, and that numbness spread throughout his body in an instant, almost making him unable to stand.

However, thanks to Lu Yuyan's intervention, Lu Xiaoyun narrowly avoided Liang Zhiyun's sword, which was meant to cut off her arm.

Ignoring Lu Yuyan, Liu Meng aimed his sword straight at Lu Xiaoyun's chest.

If this sword strikes, Zhu Yu will surely die!

Liang Zhiyun instantly understood Liu Meng's purpose and cooperated with him to shield Lu Yuyan behind him.

The sword was about to pierce her heart in the next second.

Lu Yuyan felt as if something was blocking his throat, and he couldn't even call out "Be careful" to his older sister before Liang Zhiyun slashed his leg with a sword.

If it weren't for the fact that Liu Meng's blow had left him numb and caused him to uncontrollably take two steps back, the sword would have severed his left leg, not just torn his robe.

The remaining members of the Five Cities Military Bureau surrounding the area stared intently at the four people fighting. Some were afraid, some had their hearts pounding, and some even seemed excited, as if they could already see the ten thousand taels of silver in their hands.

The firelight illuminated the dense forest.

If that sword were to pierce Prince An's chest, it would kill him instantly!

Liu Meng thought so.

In a flash, a buzzing arrow, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, pierced Liu Meng's throat with a whoosh, carrying a chilling aura, and embedded itself straight into the tree trunk opposite him, its fletching trembling incessantly.

Before Liu Meng could pierce Lu Xiaoyun's chest with his raised sword, he stared wide-eyed at the precipitous hilltop where the bright moon hung high. A man and a horse, nocked an arrow and drew their bows, stood high above, their bodies radiating a chilling and intense killing intent like that of a demon from hell. On either side of them stood hundreds of dark figures.

It was the secret guards from Wu Chuan and the Prince An's mansion!

Even the Northern Army is an elite force capable of taking on ten men each, let alone the secret guards of Prince An's mansion, who are the elite of the elite.

He was just one step away from killing Zhu Yu!

Unfortunately, it was too late!

Liu Meng fell to the ground, his wide-open eyes staring wide with resentment.

Liang Zhiyun felt a buzzing in his head, and realized it was all over!

He should have killed Zhu Yu sooner; he talked too much nonsense!

He practically ground his teeth to powder, his bloodshot eyes blazing as he ordered, "Kill them! Killing one is enough, killing two is a bonus! Don't forget, you've already fought him today; even if you didn't kill him, you wouldn't be alive!"

Everyone in the Five Cities Garrison knew that they wouldn't be able to leave Xizi Forest alive today.

Just as Lord Liang said, killing one would be enough, killing two would be a bonus, so they all raised their knives and rushed towards Wu Chuan and the others.

Not only are we outnumbered, but we're also not on the same level in terms of strength.

Liang Zhiyun gritted his teeth; he was determined to kill Zhu Yu today!

He raised his sword and thrust it towards Lu Xiaoyun's chest.

Lu Yuyan's pupils suddenly contracted, and he stepped forward to block Lu Xiaoyun.

The sound of the sword piercing flesh amplified in Lu Xiaoyun's ears.