Sheng Yuan-yao swiftly evacuated, heading straight out of the city.

Just as she reached the city gate, the city shimmered with array light, and various powers erupted.

Before the city gates closed, Sheng Yuan-yao slipped out through the South Gate and fled like the wind. As expected, the enemy’s attention wasn’t on her.

She could hear the Yao Huang’s voice reverberating for a hundred li: “Ye Ting-lan is hiding in the East Sea, Gu Zhan-ting is still recovering. Since they don’t care about the safety of your Northern Territories, we will reclaim the hundred li of land we ceded ten years ago.”

A vast, overwhelming horde of yao appeared from the sky, covering the sun and clouds when she looked back.

A golden dragon emerged from the clouds, its claw reaching out to press heavily upon the city.

“Boom!”

The light of the city’s protective array clashed with the dragon’s claw, causing the ground to shake. Even Sheng Yuan-yao, who was already far from the city, stumbled from the aftershocks, her heart filled with shock.

The power of a Super Grade was truly not something a small fry like her could confront head-on.

Sheng Yuan-yao swung her long legs and bolted, heading for Guiyuan City, which was to the side and slightly behind her.

While she considered herself a deserter, Sheng Yuan-yao couldn’t bring herself to simply run home.

Following military orders to supervise the flow of magical artifacts and talismans in a rear city was less dangerous and still helped everyone, which Sheng Yuan-yao was happy to do.

But the premise was that the main city shouldn’t fall immediately… she estimated it wouldn’t.

Sheng Yuan-yao looked back again; the city was no longer visible, only the eruption of various powers, reaching sky-high.

Indeed, the Emperor was there. If the Emperor hadn’t been there, the city would have fallen in seconds. How could it withstand the Yao Huang’s personal presence?

Sheng Yuan-yao couldn’t quite fathom why the confrontation between the two emperors had erupted so suddenly; it was beyond her scope. She ran for several hours without stopping, then slipped into Guiyuan City.

“This Sheng, by General Zhao’s military order, has come to supervise the dispatch of magical artifacts, talismans, and elixirs…” Sheng Yuan-yao showed her token.

The connecting officials looked at each other in dismay: “General Sheng, the main city is under siege; we can’t send anything in.”

Sheng Yuan-yao said, “Aren’t there secret passages? They were made precisely for this kind of situation.”

“The entrance to the secret passage is also not far outside the city. Who dares to approach it?”

“That’s not your concern. The General will have arrangements…” Sheng Yuan-yao’s words were cut short by a sudden tremor.

Everyone looked up in horror, as another wave of yao surrounded the city, a dark, oppressive mass.

Sheng Yuan-yao’s expression changed to one of shock.

Why were there yao绕道 (rào dào – bypassing) to the rear? Something was wrong!

The main city in front wasn’t an isolated one. There were countless armies stationed in satellite cities and camped in strategic locations around it, all connected by arrays, forming a complete defensive system. Even if the Yao Huang directly attacked the main city to tie down the Emperor, the other camps nearby wouldn’t just let anyone bypass them and march straight through. What kind of situation would that be?

Even if a small number of yao bypassed the defense network to raid a rear city, the other rear cities were interconnected and would quickly encircle and annihilate this small isolated force. Who would dare to play such a game?

But seeing the current situation, Sheng Yuan-yao’s heart sank, feeling that it was very likely other rear cities were also surrounded.

Someone had sold military information, allowing the enemy to discover a loophole in the defense system, occupy rear cities, and in turn, besiege the main city, turning it into an isolated fortress.

Sheng Yuan-yao had no time to worry about who the traitor was. Her biggest worry now was that she was besieged, and couldn’t even be a deserter anymore!

“Wh-what should we do?” The logistics manager panicked: “We don’t have many people in Guiyuan City!”

“Why are you all panicking! Defend the city! We don’t have many people, but do they have many? Just a mere isolated force that bypassed us, what are you afraid of!”

“W-we defend the city?”

Sheng Yuan-yao brandished her waist saber: “Everyone get to work, I’ll go find the City Lord!”

Having a Zhenmensi (Demon Suppression Division) Chief as a father was indeed impressive. It was impressive in Xiazhou, and no less so in Beijiang.

The City Lord was packing his valuables when he saw Sheng Yuan-yao enter with her hand on her waist saber, completely stunned: “General Sheng, what is this…”

Sheng Yuan-yao pulled her saber halfway out: “If you run, what will happen to us? Just wait for death?”

The City Lord: “…”

“Do you think I won’t run?” Sheng Yuan-yao gritted her teeth in anger: “I want to run more than you do! I should have run earlier, damn it!”

The City Lord: “?”

“But this situation doesn’t allow for running. The more you leave alone, the easier you’ll die. It’s better to stick together and defend the city! There are still large armies in the capital. Even if the Huo family is idiotic, they will send reinforcements in this situation. The capital is not far from Beijiang, so we’ll be rescued in a few days. Our chances of survival are greater than running alone.”

The City Lord remained silent.

Sheng Yuan-yao finally drew her waist saber: “Hand over the command token. If you want to run, then run. I’ll defend the city! Don’t blame me for not warning you if you die running out there!”

Outside the main city, the golden dragon continued to reach out its claw from the clouds.

It reached out again and again, but only surrounded, not attacked.

Gu Zhan-ting in the city: “…”

Even someone next to Long Qing-huang couldn’t help but say, “Your Majesty, this…”

The golden dragon turned its head, its draconic eyes glaring coldly: “What, do you really want Us to attack the city?”

Subordinate: “?”

“This time, there isn’t a single Master Ting-lan to attack Our Holy Mountain. What are we afraid of if we remain in a stalemate? Do we need to consume rations?”

Subordinate: “…”

“Gu Zhan-ting.” Long Qing-huang’s voice echoed: “Ten years ago, we both suffered. Your strength is recognized by Us. Now, We have gained new insights. Do you have the courage to come out and complete our unfinished battle with Us?”

Gu Zhan-ting did not answer.

Why was Long Qing-huang behaving like this? It was strange.

Why had such a proud and temperamental dragon become so cautious?

The person he had colluded with was not an enemy tribe of Long Qing-huang, but one of Long Qing-huang’s most trusted confidantes.

Based on his understanding of Long Qing-huang, if she believed her injuries hadn’t healed, she would absolutely disregard the city’s defenses and go straight for the imperial palace to claim Gu Zhan-ting’s head. If, at that moment, her trusted confidante were to strike her from within, coordinating with Gu Zhan-ting’s pincer attack, Long Qing-huang would undoubtedly be defeated.

But Long Qing-huang had changed like a different person; she was no longer that dragon. If she had been this cautious back then, she wouldn’t have suffered such a crushing defeat.

He had forgotten, however, that people change, and so do dragons. Especially since Long Qing-huang was not a stubborn dragon incapable of learning.

After suffering a loss in the war ten years ago, Long Qing-huang had become much more cautious during the Battle of Dongyue Hanchuan. She had explored the situation alone at the outskirts of the glacier, which was when she encountered Lu Xing-zhou.

Long Qing-huang was still outmaneuvered in that battle, but she managed to escape thanks to Lu Xing-zhou’s warning. In the subsequent sea battle, Long Qing-huang became even more cautious, observing the entire changing situation from the clouds until she saw no further complications before finally giving in to the urge to capture Lu Xing-zhou.

She could even anticipate Feng Zi-liu’s obstruction, but no one could have predicted that lunatic named Yuan Mu-yu; that was truly not a fault of strategy.

After repeated setbacks, Long Qing-huang was still not quite at the “plan before acting” stage, but she had at least learned to act against her nature: don’t just act directly because you are strong.

This was truly against her nature; how much she loved to directly crush people… Now, she was forcefully holding back, forcing herself not to directly get involved in the situation.

Although Lu Xing-zhou had spent little time with her, his influence on her was undoubtedly significant.

But the interesting thing was, from the perspective of others, she was no different from before, still blindly acting on her strength, leading to setbacks. Thus, the information conveyed to Gu Zhan-ting was also similar, and everyone’s judgment was a bit off.

Even the judgment of those around her was off, so Gu Zhan-ting couldn’t be blamed.

However, Gu Zhan-ting did not rely solely on exploiting his opponent’s character flaws; he naturally had backup plans.

His backup was neither the Huo family nor the capital’s army, but the Ancient Realm.

When Da Ting-lan raided the Holy Mountain, causing Long Qing-huang’s situation to completely collapse, this time, following the same pattern, Long Qing-huang thought there was no Ye Ting-lan, but there was the Ancient Realm.

As long as she was tied down here, she would fall into the same trap as ten years ago.

However, Gu Zhan-ting also didn’t expect that a Chen Yu would expose the flaws in their own defense system. Now, with the rear cities besieged, he himself had become an isolated city. But fortunately, the Huo family could be used to deal with this matter; having the Huo family lead reinforcements to resolve the rear problems would suffice.

With the game played to this point, it was still unknown who would emerge victorious.

However, Gu Zhan-ting was the one who had directly entered the fray… In the short term, the news of him being trapped in a border city would shake the morale of Da Gan.

Meanwhile, Lu Xing-zhou had just informed Sheng Qing-feng about the danger in Beijiang, attempting to get Sheng Yuan-yao to return early.

Sheng Qing-feng did not have Ye Ting-lan’s communication jade talisman; he used the paper crane messaging system common to the Zhenmensi and the military, which was fairly efficient. Unfortunately, it still took some time for the paper crane to fly.

Whether the paper crane reached its destination was unknown. Instead, news arrived first that a large yao army was pressing down, and His Majesty was trapped in a border city, prompting Zhenyuan Hou (Marquis) Huo Xing-yuan to rush to his aid.

The capital was shaken.

Sheng Qing-feng was furious in the Zhenmensi yamen: “There’s still no news of Yao’er! I’m going to personally lead the charge to save my daughter!”

His subordinates held him back: “Chief, please calm down. It’s only a siege for now; Marquis Huo will naturally provide assistance. If the Chief leaves his post without summons, it might not be a good thing even if he saves His Majesty.”

“Who the hell wants to save His Majesty? I’m saving my daughter!”

“Chief, calm down, calm down.” His subordinates were all sweating. Your decades-long persona of a loyal and solitary minister loyal to the emperor had almost instantly collapsed…

“Um, Chief, since Lu Xing-zhou had a premonition, he must have an idea. Why don’t we ask him for advice? Lu Xing-zhou is also good friends with Miss Sheng; he probably won’t stand by and watch his friend in danger.”

Sheng Qing-feng took several deep breaths and finally remembered that Lu Xing-zhou was the famous Judge of the Yama Hall, known for his wisdom. Who else could he consult if not him?

“Where is Lu Xing-zhou?”

“He’s a guest at Censor Xiao’s house.”

“Xiao Ting?” Sheng Qing-feng was baffled: “Does he have any old acquaintance with Xiao Ting? Why would he go to his house as a guest?”

“We don’t know.”

“Never mind that, immediately invite him over… No, I’ll go find him myself!”

Sheng Qing-feng rushed anxiously to Censor Xiao Ting’s house and met Lu Xing-zhou, who was just leaving, at the door.

Sheng Qing-feng grabbed Lu Xing-zhou: “How do you have time to drink tea at someone else’s house? What about Yao’er’s situation!”

Lu Xing-zhou’s expression was serious: “Censor Xiao’s place is my last stop. I’m leaving after this.”

“Leaving? To where?”

“Beijiang, to help Guamei.”

PS: Seeking