The sounds of the world seemed to vanish.

Chen Ji stood at the top of the stairs, his saber flashing like a curtain, sweat pouring down him. He could no longer hear the battle cries of the Tiance Army; the only sound left in the world was his own heavy breathing.

He had forgotten how long he had been fighting, but it had been a very long time. So long that his arms ached, his palms were numb, and he felt as if all his strength had been drained, leaving him wanting nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep.

Corpses were piled two layers deep in the inn. Blood seeped over the soles of their boots, and the Tiance soldiers’ footsteps in it made a viscous, squelching sound. The stairs, too, became sticky and slick.

A Tiance soldier slashed with his saber, and Chen Ji parried with a backhand strike.

The blade of the Whale Saber scraped against the opponent’s blade, sending sparks flying, then cleanly sliced through skin, flesh, and bone at the neck.

Noticing his exhaustion, Qi Zhenzhuo immediately called out, “Take a break, I’ll take over!”

Chen Ji glanced at him silently and stepped back to the left.

As soon as Qi Zhenzhuo took his place, a Tiance soldier suddenly lunged forward. They had been waiting for Chen Ji to exhaust himself!

Qi Zhenzhuo swept his sword to deflect the Tiance soldier’s strike, then seamlessly brought it down on the soldier’s shoulder.

But that Tiance soldier, like a mad dog, ignored his dropped saber. He wrapped his arms around Qi Zhenzhuo’s waist, intending to use brute force to push him aside and clear the staircase.

Qi Zhenzhuo tried to pull his sword free to strike again, but the blade was firmly jammed in the Tiance soldier’s muscle, bone, and armor.

“Ah!” Qi Zhenzhuo cried out in alarm.

Chen Ji, who hadn’t even had a moment to catch his breath, immediately struck upwards with his saber again, severing the Tiance soldier’s arms.

After breaking free, Qi Zhenzhuo frantically retreated backwards, watching Chen Ji, gasping for breath, take up the breach again.

When he had been observing, he had thought that Chen Ji, defending this narrow staircase, only ever had to face one person at a time, which seemed not difficult.

But at this moment, he realized that Chen Ji had been delivering lethal blows with every strike just now, which was why these fearless soldiers hadn’t found an opening.

Some people and things are like high mountains: from afar, they seem ordinary, but only when you stand at their foot do you truly comprehend their grandeur.

Qi Zhenzhuo said with an embarrassed expression, “I just wanted to help you…”

Chen Ji, his back to him, said through gasps, “Go guard the windows.”

In the main hall, a Tiance soldier with a heavy sword propped beside him and a black pheasant tail feather in his helmet held a wine jar and drank from it, gulp by gulp, his gaze fixed on Chen Ji.

The next moment, just as Chen Ji was about to kill another Tiance soldier, the man hurled the wine jar in his hand.

The head-sized wine jar whistled through the air, heading straight for Chen Ji’s face.

Chen Ji was forced to dodge sideways, leaving himself exposed.

The Tiance soldier on the stairs, seeing that Chen Ji couldn’t recover in time, immediately slashed his saber like a madman. In that split second, the black sword-seed with its patterns, hidden in Chen Ji’s belt, shot out from a seam in his clothes and lightly grazed the soldier’s neck.

With a soft thud, the lunging soldier’s strength drained away, and he collapsed limply onto the stairs, then rolled into the main hall.

Chen Ji did not want to use the sword-seed, precisely because behind this sword-seed lay a great mountain called the ‘Martial Temple’ exerting pressure… But he had no choice.

The sword-wielding soldier in the main hall had expected this strike to open a breach, but he never imagined that one of his own men would die so inexplicably.

The soldier’s body had just obstructed his view, so he hadn’t clearly seen what had secretly inflicted the wound. After the body fell, he knelt beside it, running his finger over the soldier’s neck. The fine, precise wound looked like it had been inflicted by sword energy, yet the young man upstairs was clearly using a saber.

He squinted slightly and looked up, but could no longer discern anything.

In the inn’s backyard, more than ten Tiance soldiers didn’t waste time looking for ladders. Some quietly shed their heavy armor for lighter movement. Others crouched down, forming a human ladder, layer upon layer, effortlessly hoisting two unarmored comrades to the second floor.

The Tiance soldier who was hoisted up grabbed the windowsill with one hand and roared, “Lift!”

The layers of soldiers beneath his feet suddenly stood up, lifting him so that half his body was through the window. Without checking if anyone was behind the window, he swung his saber upwards into the room.

If the strike hit someone, that was best; if not, it would at least prevent him from being ambushed.

Unexpectedly, the saber didn’t cut through empty air; instead, it felt as if it had struck a mass of soft, sticky yellow mud.

He focused his eyes, and to his shock, a demon beast wreathed in black smoke stood in the room, suddenly opening a gaping, bloody maw from its chest and abdomen!

In an instant, the Taotie swallowed half his body whole, and torrents of blood poured down, drenching the soldiers forming the human ladder below.

The soldiers below looked up abruptly, only to see that their comrade, whom they had been hoisting, had been swallowed by the demon beast from the waist up.

Someone seeing the Taotie exclaimed in shock, “A Taotie! Mandala Secret Seal?”

At this moment, another soldier nearby similarly leaned in, attempting to climb through the adjacent window, and ran straight into Qi Zhenzhuo. Qi Zhenzhuo, channeling his recent indignation into his sword, delivered a single, fatal strike to the throat.

The Tiance soldiers downstairs dropped their comrade’s corpse without any intention of retreating, and once again hoisted two more men in a feint.

Meanwhile, a Tiance soldier with a black pheasant tail feather in his helmet, holding a Pú dāo in his mouth, silently climbed upwards.

Without anyone hoisting him, his thick fingers casually grabbed, and the bricks of the inn’s wall were torn away as if they were tofu, leaving several holes. He had literally carved a ‘path’ into the brick wall with his bare hands!

He crept silently towards the window like a gecko, and just as Qi Zhenzhuo cut down another Tiance soldier, he leaped with all his might!

Mid-air, the soldier released his mouth, and the Pú dāo fell perfectly into his hand.

A flash of saber light appeared!

Qi Zhenzhuo, exhausted from his previous strike, could only hastily bring his sword back to block.

Qi Zhenzhuo froze, instinctively raising his hand to look, only to see that the sword at his side had been cleaved in two by the opponent’s saber. His hair immediately stood on end, and a chill ran through his entire body!

He used to think the Imperial Guards were called ‘playboy soldiers’ because of their noble backgrounds.

Only at this moment did he finally understand why the Three Imperial Camps looked down on him.

Qi Zhenzhuo quickly retreated, watching helplessly as Tiance soldiers one after another forced their way into the room. “Chen Ji, they’ve broken in, save me!”

Chen Ji, dragging his weary body, thrust his saber through the soldier in front of him. He turned to see Qi Zhenzhuo rapidly retreating from Room Earth-Xu.

He shouted, “Zhang Xia, go to the third floor!”

With that, he raised his Whale Saber with both hands and delivered a horizontal slash towards the stairs in front of him. He couldn’t cut through them.

A soldier charged up, and he forced him back with a saber strike. Then he swung his saber in a full arc and brought it down on the stairs!

The wooden stairs, unable to bear the weight, groaned and cracked. Along with more than ten soldiers on them, they plummeted downwards, and the staircase entrance became a ‘cliff edge’.

Just as Chen Ji was about to block the entrance to Room Earth-Xu, he heard the sword-wielding soldier in the main hall slowly say, “Young man, what’s the point in serving those Southerners? They look down on warriors. We Northerners are different. Surrender to my Tiance Army, and you’ll be granted a hereditary marquisate, passed from father to son, brother to brother – generations of glory and wealth.”

Hearing this, Qi Zhenzhuo immediately panicked: “Chen Ji, don’t listen to his nonsense! A surrendered general is branded and will always be looked down upon! When we return to the capital, I’ll marry my sister to you, and you’ll still have a lifetime of glory and wealth!”

Chen Ji glanced at him indifferently, then raised his saber and moved to the entrance of Room Earth-Xu. “Take everyone to the third floor. Go to the roof from Room Heaven-Jia and buy as much time as you can.”

Hearing this, Qi Zhenzhuo immediately escorted the Crown Prince upstairs.

In another Room Earth-number, Xiao Man pulled Zhang Xia and Zhang Zheng, about to go upstairs, when Chen Wenxiao hastily said, “Don’t go, you must stay here and block those Jing Dynasty bandits! When we return to the capital, I’ll promote you to a first-class maid and increase your monthly allowance by five taels of silver!”

Xiao Man scoffed as she walked, “Who cares about that! I’m the Young Master’s maid, and I don’t listen to you. Not only would I not be a first-class maid, I wouldn’t even be your mother!”

Chen Wenxiao roared, “Wretched servant!”

But Xiao Man ignored him, running out the door without looking back.

As she left, the young girl’s eyes darted, and she casually pulled the room door shut!

Chen Wenxiao’s eyes nearly burst from his head, and he hastily pulled the door open to follow.

Chen Wenzong supported Lady Liang, helping his mother lift her skirt.

As Chen Liqin exited, he tripped over a charcoal brazier on the floor. He saw Tiance soldiers already poking their heads through the windows. Wang Gui had already reached the middle of the stairs, but gritted his teeth, turned back, hoisted Chen Liqin onto his back, and ran upstairs.

For Wang Gui, wealth was found in danger. If Chen Ji couldn’t hold them off, everyone would die anyway, so he might as well take a big gamble!

If everyone died together, so be it. But if they truly survived, this would be a life-saving kindness!

Once everyone had reached the third floor, Chen Ji feigned an attack to force back a Tiance soldier, then swiftly retreated up the stairs. He chopped through every section of the wooden staircase, leaving the Tiance Army no way up.

Seeing this, the Tiance soldiers turned and ran to the windows. Holding their Pú dāo in their mouths, they began to climb to the third floor with their bare hands.

Dragon Gate Inn was an octagonal building, its windows facing all directions, making defense impossible. Once a breach was made, an entire floor would completely fall.

Room Heaven-Jia was where Chen Ji and his companions had been staying. When the assassins from Rouge Sleeve attacked, Chen Ji had used his Whale Saber to rip open a crack in it.

Zhang Xia and Xiao Man brought tables and chairs, stacking them together. Chen Wenxiao was about to climb up, but Xiao Man grabbed his collar and pushed him aside. “Get out of the way! Sister A-Xia goes first.”

Zhang Xia didn’t hesitate, climbing onto the roof through the crack, using the chairs as steps.

Zhang Zheng, the Crown Prince, Qi Zhenzhuo, Chen Liqin, Lady Liang, Chen Wenzong, and Chen Wenxiao – no one was left behind except Xiao Man and Wang Gui, who remained at the very end.

Zhang Xia poked her head out from the crack, extended a hand, and called out loudly, “Xiao Man, what are you doing? Hurry up and come up!”

Xiao Man hesitated for a moment, then finally shook her head. “No, I promised Auntie I would protect the Young Master. He has to stay alive to marry a legitimate daughter from a noble family!”

Zhang Xia was startled.

At that moment, Wang Gui had just climbed onto the chair, about to ascend to the roof. Xiao Man’s eyes darted, and she kicked over the table, then turned and ran outside.

Wang Gui cried out in pain as he fell heavily to the ground, clutching his waist, too sore to stand up.