Chapter 72 tells Dai Dai that Lonely Cloud City has fallen, no…
The Qianlong Team arrived fully armed, and the Ningdong Army launched a final attack, breaching the city gate.
At the city gate, close combat ensued.
The difference between the two armies is that even if Huo Yanhan had come along, he wouldn't actually draw his sword to kill the enemy.
In contrast, when the Ningdong Army urgently needed to break out, Ji Yujing personally led the charge. In terms of individual combat ability, almost no one in the world could surpass him.
The Qianlong team, known as the strongest in the southwest, formed a human wall to protect the city gate, but it was eventually breached.
The armor on the sword in Ji Yujing's hand continued to be stained with blood, piling up until it finally fell to the ground, seeping inch by inch into the dust and cracks in the earth.
The day was undoubtedly cold, the wind dry and sharp, stinging the face with a distinct pain. Yet Ji Yujing's back and palms were sweating profusely.
His blood was boiling; he knew that after taking Guyun City, he would face the Song family army, and the day he would kill Song Yunmian and Song Qingwu was not far off.
The commander's formidable leadership rallied the Ningdong army's morale to the maximum extent. Amidst the fierce fighting, the gaps in their ranks widened.
Seeing this, Chen Sinian raised his sword and swung it, shouting, "Kill!"
The soldiers then began to advance.
Ji Yujing was the first to break out of the city gate. There were still people guarding him, but after witnessing his ruthlessness in killing, even the top soldiers of the Hidden Dragon Team who were guarding him felt fear.
He took a step forward, and they took a step back.
It seems like they stopped me, but it also seems like they didn't.
Ji Yujing finally met Huo Yanhan, the eldest son of the Huo family.
He sat high on his horse, several feet away from him, surrounded by a squad of soldiers protecting him.
“Ji Yujing, Ningdong Army is indeed strong. But if Guyun City were to use all its strength to fight you, you wouldn’t come out on top.”
Huo Weijiang had the opportunity to surrender earlier, but chose to ignore it.
He believed that Guyun City could use the tactic of "avoidance" to wear down the Ningdong Army, which was fighting in a foreign land.
As a result, Ji and Jing used an unexpected move, and Guyun City was breached, leaving no way to avoid it.
Therefore, we have no choice but to talk to him.
But Ji Yujing was unwilling to talk about it now. He looked in Huo Yanhan's direction, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "What do I need to gain?"
"I left Lingdong only to kill you all."
People like Song Qingwu and Huo Weijiang, who are tyrannical rulers who treat people like dirt, will be punished by Heaven instead of Heaven itself.
"I'm here today to settle the score with you for murdering my wife."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Yujing drew his sword and charged towards Huo Yanhan. The soldiers blocking his way could no longer retreat and rushed forward to stop him.
"Young Master, leave immediately."
Huo Yanhan hesitated for a moment, then spurred his horse to turn and head towards the city.
Upon seeing this, Ji Yujing let out a cold, almost imperceptible sneer, as if mocking Huo Yanhan's cowardice.
Nearly a hundred soldiers tightly bound Ji Yujing, relentlessly pressing towards him. Ji Yujing swung his sword horizontally, the powerful sword wind blasting towards those in front, forcing them to retreat, with no way to stop it.
Ji and Jing seized the opportunity to fly out of the encirclement and pushed their speed to the limit to chase after the horse.
"Damn it, Ji Yujing's target is the young master."
"Young Master, please be careful."
It was too chaotic. It was unclear whether Huo Yanhan had heard the warning, but the horse was getting faster and faster under his urging.
However, no matter how fast it was, it couldn't outrun Ji Yujing's pace.
The gap gradually narrowed, and suddenly, Ji Yujing drew his sword at the horse. The horse, startled by the pain, became violently agitated.
Huo Yanhan tried his best to control the horse, but in the end, he was still thrown violently to the ground. The violent impact produced a shocking thud, and dust billowed up.
"Young Master."
The surrounding soldiers and their entourage instinctively shouted and tried to rush towards Huo Yanhan.
Unfortunately, some were intercepted by the Ningdong army, which followed Ji Yujing into the city, and a new round of fighting ensued. Some died by Ji Yujing's sword.
When all the obstacles disappeared, Ji Yujing slowly walked to Huo Yanhan's side.
After a while, he was still lying on the ground unable to move.
Ji Yujing brandished his sword, the tip pressed against Huo Yanhan's neck. The sword was firmly planted, and blood began to seep out. "Where is the map of Zhenshanhe?"
"Explain yourself clearly, and I'll spare your life."
Only after coming into close contact with death did Huo Yanhan realize how afraid he was of dying.
He stated the location on the map almost without hesitation, "In...in my father's...room."
There is a secret room inside the house.
It took Huo Yanhan a lot of effort to finish saying such a simple sentence.
"No...please don't kill me."
Ji Yujing curled his lips into a smile, then withdrew his sword.
He might not kill him, but that gossipy old man, Yuhei, might.
With the city gates breached, the situation began to turn in one direction.
More and more Ningdong troops entered the city and began fighting in various parts of the city.
"Civilians should retreat."
"Civilians should retreat."
"If they insist on resisting, kill them on the spot."
Ji Yujing ignored all that and went straight to the Huo residence. He was stopped at the gate by a large number of soldiers. Behind him were Ning Luoji, the strategist of the Ningdong Army, Yu Yong, who had personally taken Huo Yanhan's head, and a group of bloodthirsty Ningdong Army soldiers.
Looking at the soldiers of Lonely Cloud City again, he said, "You may retreat within thirty breaths. If you do, don't blame me for waiting for you."
They're all just serving their own masters; if they can avoid killing each other, they will.
But if they insist on protecting a mediocre ruler, then they will only die.
Upon hearing this, the soldiers guarding the entrance to the Huo residence instinctively glanced at Ji Yujing and the head of Huo Yanhan that the old man Yu Yong was carrying, and felt a chill run down their spines.
They also knew that they couldn't withstand Ji Yujing's brutal attacks. Back in front of Old Man Yuyong's earthen building, he had single-handedly killed a hundred men. Those hundred were the elite of the elite.
The gap has grown so large, I don't know when it started.
My thoughts began to waver.
After a silent standoff lasting nearly half a cup of tea's time, someone disarmed themselves.
At first, the barrier was sparse, but once it was torn, the opening would only get bigger and bigger.
More and more people are laying down their weapons.
The battle was not yet over, but morale had already collapsed.
"you……"
"Do you think he'll let you go if you surrender?"
Upon hearing this, Ji Yujing chuckled, "General Qian, why don't you put down your sword and try it yourself?"
Senior General Qian Zhiyu's gaze was icy. "Ji Yujing, don't even think about it."
Negotiations broke down.
Ji Yujing: "General, shall we test General Qian's strength?"
Eager to try again, she said, "Okay."
He responded and immediately drew his sword at Qian Zhiyu.
The generals of both armies were the first to engage in combat, and a fierce battle broke out again.
Ji and Jing led Yu Yong inside, and few dared to stop them. Those who bravely tried to stop them all met their end in death.
By now, Ji Yujing had lost all the warm feelings he once had. His eyes were cold, his actions were swift and ruthless, and his goals were clear.
"Search and bring the Huo family and all their relatives here."
The soldiers received their orders and began searching the house.
It took nearly the time it takes to drink two cups of tea before Huo Weijiang appeared in Yu Yong's sight. After a long period of time, he had gone from being a middle-aged man to having gray hair.
When Huo Weijiang and his group approached, Ji Yujing gave a wink to the soldiers who were suppressing him.
The soldier immediately understood and kicked Huo Weijiang in the back of the knee.
Huo Weijiang knelt down, and Yu Yong immediately threw Huo Yanhan's head in front of him.
"ah……"
Huo Weijiang froze. Some of his family members behind him screamed, while the more timid ones fainted from fright.
"Ji and Jing are sworn enemies who killed their son."
Huo Weijiang snapped out of his daze and yelled at Ji Yujing with heart-wrenching fury.
Yu Yong looked at the almost insane Huo Weijiang, and a sense of vengeful pleasure welled up from the bottom of his heart, rushing towards his limbs and bones.
"Then you're blaming the wrong person."
“I killed Huo Yanhan. He begged me for mercy, but I didn’t let him go. I stabbed him to death again and again, and finally cut off his head.”
"But you deserve all of this. My entire Li family, dozens of people, were wiped out overnight. Huo Weijiang, did you ever think of this day when you killed them?"
Clearly, Huo Weijiang never imagined that in all those years, he had never even seriously tried to kill Yu Yong.
His family died because of him, so living was the most painful thing for him.
He wanted to torment him until he died.
The result was unexpected; he actually came to his doorstep.
Huo Weijiang's thoughts fluctuated subtly, his expression remaining blank. In the end, he did not answer Yu Yong's question.
He looked at Ji Yujing and said, "Release the Huo family, and I'll tell you how to retrieve the Zhenshanhe map."
"Otherwise, even if you enter the secret room, it will be difficult to obtain the map,"
Ji Yujing: "Huo Weijiang, I gave you a chance, but you gave it up. Today the Huo family is doomed, and I want that map too."
After saying that, he looked at Yu-Ning and said, "I'll leave this to you and go find a map."
Ji and Jing went deep into the mansion, and Ning Luoji followed with a group of people.
After defeating the enemy, he entered the house and, worried about Ji and Jing, went straight to find them.
At that time, Ji, Jing, and Ning Luoji had already entered the secret room and stopped at the entrance.
The secret room was dark and spacious, with the entrance several dozen feet away from the ancient wooden tea table.
"Why aren't you leaving? Are you worried about traps?"
He moved closer to Ji Yujing and asked in a low voice.
It was Ning Luoji who replied, "How could that old bastard Huo Weijiang let us get the map so easily?"
But after careful observation, he found no trace of the mechanism.
"What should we do? Should I give it a try?"
At this point, there's no other way.
Ning Luoji was about to nod when Ji Yujing responded first, "Let's go together, so we can look out for each other."
How could I not know him?
Saying they were looking out for each other was a pretense; their real intention was to prevent their subordinates from venturing into danger alone. This had been the case ever since the Ningdong Army was formed.
He smiled and said, "When brothers are of one mind, they can overcome any difficulty."
The two used their lightness skills to head towards the tea table, encountering no obstacles along the way, a journey so smooth it was unbelievable.
Arriving at the tea table, he picked up the wooden box from it with a new hand.
In an instant, the tea table was pierced open from underneath by an arrow.
With one arrow fired, a hundred arrows came from all directions.
It was dense and incredibly fast.
If Ji and Jinghe were to dodge too slowly, they would surely be riddled with arrows.
They wiped out one wave, and before they could even catch their breath, another volley of arrows came raining down.
The wind it brought out was sharp and deafening.
"General, be careful."
Several arrows came from the blind spot of the new defense, with astonishing speed.
Ning Luoji and the soldiers cried out in surprise.
At the critical moment, Ji and Jing rushed close and unleashed a fierce sword strike.
A brief period of quiet followed for the next four weeks.
"Walk."
He gritted his teeth and charged forward again, ignoring all the arrows.
Ji and Jing had protected him all the way, but at the very end, a sharp arrow finally pierced his armor...
Ji and Jing were in a daze.
I have a headache, body aches, and feel weak and powerless. It's very noisy around me, with people constantly and impatiently calling out "General."
He was unable to respond to anything.
Only one sentence seemed to come from the depths of his soul, and he murmured it involuntarily.
"Tell Dai Dai that Lonely Cloud City has fallen and I will be returning soon."
Ning Luoji found a place at the Huo residence and wrote down Ji Yujing's message. Just as he was about to send the letter back to Lingdong to let them know he was safe, Zhang Qiyuan emerged from the shadows.
Ning Luoji looked at him, her eyes filled with astonishment.
Why is the Zhang family head at the Huo family's residence?
How long did they stay in the shadows?
He has seen everything that has happened since the start of the battle yesterday.
He has a past relationship with the Huo family, so why didn't he offer them any help?
Zhang Qiyuan avoided answering.
He approached Ning Luoji and asked in a gentle voice, "The letter to Miss Lin the Second?"
Ning Luoji nodded: "Yes, General, you're worried that Madam will be concerned."
Zhang Qiyuan chuckled, his expression enigmatic.
Ning Luoji asked him what he was laughing about.
He replied, "I think you should change the contents of the letter."
Ning Luoji: "What do you mean by that?"
Zhang Qiyuan: "I received information that the last piece of the map of Zhenshanhe may be in the hands of Lin Er Guniang."
"Ji Yujing's wife, the future empress. If her heart is not with him, there will be endless troubles. Why don't you take this opportunity to test her? If you're lucky, the last treasure map will appear."
"From this day forward, in the vast Xun Kingdom, Ji and Jing will be the most respected."
Ning Luoji became wary. "What does this have to do with Patriarch Zhang?"
Zhang Qiyuan: "Back when your Ningdong Army was poor, I was the only one in the entire Xun Kingdom who helped you."
"Ji Yujing and I have never been enemies. I can only feel at ease when he is doing well."
Ning Luoji didn't believe this, or at least not entirely.
But the allure of that last treasure map was too great. If he could truly collect them all and acquire immense wealth, the entire world would be in the general's grasp. Furthermore, the current emperor and empress were at odds, leading to the decline of the nation's fortunes. With all these factors combined, Ning Luoji felt Zhang Qiyuan's suggestion was feasible.
He would take full responsibility for the consequences.
He was fearless, even at the cost of his life.
After a short while, a letter arrived by express courier, traveling 800 li to Lingdong.
The letter, meant to reassure everyone, turned into a plea for help. It falsely claimed that Ji Yujing was now in Zhang Qiyuan's hands. It offered the Second Miss Lin a map of the Zhenshan River region in exchange for Ji Yujing's release.
Along with him went a severed finger.
It wasn't Ji Yujing's, but at first glance, it looked exactly the same as Ji Yujing's, both in terms of skin color and texture.
Provided by Zhang Qiyuan.
In his words, "Miss Lin is extremely intelligent. If she doesn't act like it's real, she can easily see through it."
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