Adding Ziye, they were still one short.
Su Rong wondered, if only Qin Ruo was here, he would undoubtedly be able to do it.
After hearing this, Ning Ze climbed up from below and said to Su Rong, "Princess, I can barely try. Maybe I’m not as good as brother Zhang Mao, but..."
"Alright, you will do it then," Su Rong interrupted him, making an immediate decision.
Ning Ze scratched his head, under considerable pressure. He was aware that he was only decent at academics, and he had never really tested his other skills since childhood. If his older brother, Ning Chi, was here, he would surely have no problem. Ning Ze had also learned, but he was far from an expert, just average.
Xie Yuan also nodded, adding, "Learn quickly! If you can’t keep up, don’t insist. Over-exerting yourself can be fatal."
Ning Ze nodded in agreement.
Thus, the fierce battle still raged on the city wall, the city-attack cannons thundered below, everyone gathered together, rapidly memorising and rehearsing the tune in their minds.
Su Rong, blessed with a photographic memory, was the first to memorise it. He was followed by Zhang Yun, with his exceptionally smart-mind, then Jiang Zhu, a clever man, who could master it after a few rounds. Shen Yi and Ziye were similar, and the last was Ning Ze, who turned pale while holding the music score after everyone else had remembered it.
Seeing him about to faint, Su Rong wanted to stop him, but Xie Yuan raised his hand to hold her back.
Just as the city gate began to shudder, ready to collapse at any moment, Ning Ze finally put down the score and said with a pale face, "I... I’m ready."
"Then let’s start," said Xie Yuan.
So, each person held a guqin, sitting cross-legged, lead by Xie Yuan, in a flash, the sounds of eight guqins rang out together, the rending sound rushed into the sky.
Inside Heiya Pass, all the soldiers had drunk the prepared soup. Xie Yuan had commanded to simmer the medicinal soup in preparation for today. Now, the soldiers only felt their heads pounding, dropping their weapons, clamping their heads in their hands, covering their ears, and squatting on the ground.
On the other hand, Dawei’s soldiers, even though they had stuffed their ears with cotton, it didn’t work. Soon, they threw down their spears and broadswords, not only did they have splitting headaches, but many started bleeding from their nostrils too.
Helan Jue’s face changed drastically. He couldn’t bear it either, his hand holding the blade, wavering. He shouted at Nangong Zheng, "What do we do?"
Nangong Zheng immediately yelled, "Retreat!"
As his voice echoed, suddenly Heiya Pass’s city gate swung open. A group of men rushed out, led by Ye Guixue and Fen Ling, just as they did the previous day, using a battering ram as a shield, charging towards the city-attack cannons.
Nangong Zheng’s face drastically changed, as he called out, "Protect the city-attack cannons."
His guards and the Crown Prince Yuan Zhao’s guards, together with the Poison Doctor Sect, gritted their teeth, braving the severe headaches, hurriedly swarmed to defend the cannons.
But Ye Guixue and Fen Ling had seized the opportunity well, they combined their forces and destroyed one city-attack cannon.
Nangong Zheng’s men reacted quickly. He himself, young and remarkably talented, was resisting the guqin sounds from penetrating his ears. He led his men himself to protect the cannons, face-to-face with Ye Guixue and Fen Ling, engaging in a fierce battle.
Su Rong was watching from the city wall. She hadn’t anticipated that Nangong Zheng would react so quickly. His guards had abstained from engaging the previous day, presumably obeying the Crown Prince Yuan Zhao’s command to study their enemies, in order to defeat them today. Because evidently, he was managing both attack and defence against Ye Guixue and Fen Ling.
Su Rong, multitasking, turned to ask Xie Yuan, "Uncle Xie, what do you think, given this situation, how long will our song ’Tune of the Soldiers’ be able to back them up?"
She had barely finished her question when Ning Ze suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
And Zhang Mao, who was already injured yesterday, couldn’t bear it any longer either, he too spat out a mouthful of blood and stopped playing.
With two people quitting, the penetrating force of the guqin’s music reduced significantly.
Seeing this, Xie Yuan answered Su Rong, "At most half of an incense stick’s burning time."
Su Rong nodded. Seeing Nangong Zheng like this, he and his guards, evidently could withstand the impact of the guqin’s sounds. In half of an incense stick’s burning time, Ye Guixue and Fen Ling would probably be tangled up by Nangong Zheng and his guards, and unable to return.
She needed to figure out something.
The moment the guqin’s sound started, Zhou Gu suddenly woke up, sitting up in bed with a start.
Doctor Zhang had already covered his ears, despite being far from the source, the sound still reached his ears. Seeing Zhou Gu suddenly sit up, he was shocked and quickly called out, "Young Master Zhou?"
Zhou Gu was still running a fever, his entire body was still flushed, with his head being dizzy and his eardrums in severe pain, but this managed to awaken him completely. He immediately leaped out of the bed and asked Doctor Zhang, "Is Dawei attacking the city again? How long was I unconscious?"
"You were unconscious for a whole night. Dawei is attacking the city again." Doctor Zhang immediately replied.
Zhou Gu stretched out his hand to grab the clothes beside the bed, quickly put them on, then reached for a vial from within his robe, popped several pills into his mouth, grabbed his double-handed sword and was about to leave.
Doctor Zhang was dumbfounded by his series of actions. After he came back to his senses, he quickly rushed to stop him, "Young Master Zhou, you still have a high fever, and your injuries are severe. You can’t go."
Zhou Gu seemed not to have heard him and had already run out of the courtyard in a blink of an eye.
Doctor Zhang sighed, stamped his foot, and gritted his teeth as he followed Zhou Gu. He promised the Princess to take good care of Young Master Zhou, he couldn’t let anything happen to him, or how would he explain it to the Princess?
Zhou Gu came to the gate, his horse was tied there, undisturbed. He untied the reins, immediately mounted, and headed outward.
When Doctor Zhang reached the gate, there was no trace of Zhou Gu to be seen. He could only quickly find a horse himself, chasing in the direction of the city gate.
Zhou Gu quickly arrived at the city gate, where he saw the gate wide open, with intense fighting outside, the figures of Ye Guixue, Fen Ling, and Yin Yue were tangled up by Nangong Zheng and his guards as well as the Dawei Crown Prince’s guards and the Poison Doctor Sect.
Both sides had quite substantial numbers, soldiers from both Nanchu and Dawei were already disturbed by the guqin’s sounds and were unable to uphold their spears and broadswords, losing their combat power. Only these men were battling intensely, locked in a stalemate.
Without hesitation, Zhou Gu dashed out on his horse. His horse charged quickly, rushing towards a city-attack cannon, pushing the soldiers away, and in one swift movement, swung his double-handed sword towards the cannon.
Nangong Zheng recognized the trouble instantly and bellowed, "Protect the city-attack cannons."
He had promised the Crown Prince to safeguard the cannons, not to allow more damage, but now, one had already been destroyed. He could not afford for another one to be destroyed.
He shouted quickly, but Zhou Gu’s movement was even faster. Contrarily, he had a crazy energy while running a fever. The swing of his double-handed sword fell with a cracking sound. Before the swords of Dawei’s guards could reach him, he had already destroyed one city-attack cannon. At the same time, he rolled off the horse, avoiding the swords and attacks of the guards centering towards him.
But because of the rolling, his wound was torn open, making his injury more severe. For a moment, he struggled to get up, only to see the next wave of Dawei’s guards’ swords approaching him.
Fen Ling’s pupils contracted, as he saw the sword about to fall on Zhou Gu, he was shocked, disregarding everything else, he braced himself and flew over in an instant, covering Zhou Gu. Rolling with Zhou Gu, although he successfully avoided several swords aimed at Zhou Gu, he received a sword and knife wound on his shoulder and back.
His vision darkened instantly, he exhaled a breath, and couldn’t get up either.
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