Son-in-law Heaven Emperor Xiao Yi

The next day, early morning.

Inside the city lord's mansion.

Zhao Qiankun had not slept all night, sitting with legs astride in the front courtyard of the city lord's mansion, with his Flame Moon Battle Saber placed beside him.

The saber radiated a cold light that shocked the heavens, its edge strikingly apparent.

Having kept watch all night, he had not noticed any disturbances and finally let out a sigh of relief, a confident smile curling up at the corners of his mouth, "Xiao Yi? Humph, nothing but a callow youth. Do you think you can contend with me with such trivial tricks and heresies? Your heart-striking strategy is indeed fierce, but once you fail to honor your promise and behead my commanders, you'll face the backlash of your own psychological ploy…"

"Your Highness!"

Two guards stepped forward.

Zhao Qiankun spoke indifferently, "Have all the generals gather at the city walls immediately!"

"Yes!"

The two guards immediately departed.

Zhao Qiankun narrowed his eyes, chuckling coldly, "Once the military and civilians of our Western Command city realize that not a single commander has been killed today, Xiao Yi's psychological warfare will collapse on itself. Instead, it will be the morale of the Tianqing Kingdom that suffers a great blow!"

A group of commanders gathered in the front courtyard, "Your Highness!"

"We are grateful to Your Highness for protecting us through the night!"

Gratitude filled the eyes of the crowd.

Zhao Qiankun asked, "Is anyone missing?"

"No one!"

The crowd briefly scanned their ranks and responded.

"Let's go!"

Zhao Qiankun laughed heartily, "Let us go to the top of the city wall and witness the disappointment on Xiao Yi's face! Right, Liu Yi, go inform the citizens to also come up to the city walls to see how I will humiliate Xiao Yi!"

"I'll go at once!" Liu Yi hurriedly left.

The generals were in an especially joyful and relaxed mood, the stone that weighed on their hearts due to Zhang Ti's unexplained death the day before had now been lifted, "It's thanks to Your Highness's strategy of having us stay together, and with Your Highness personally standing guard, leaving Xiao Yi no opportunity to strike. Letting the civilians onto the battlements to see for themselves will stabilize the military and civilian hearts alike!"

"Truly worthy of Your Highness, killing two birds with one stone!"

The crowd sang praises in unison.

A look of pride appeared on Zhao Qiankun's face.

When Zhao Qiankun, together with a group of commanders, arrived at the bottom of the city wall, he found that many citizens had already gathered there.

"Your Highness, nothing happened last night, right?"

"Your Highness..."

Zhao Qiankun gestured for calm with a relaxed expression, "Rest assured, my people, I kept personal vigil last night and all the generals are safe and sound. As long as we, as military and civilians, stand united, the Tianqing Kingdom shall not set foot within our Western Command city!"

"Long live Your Highness!"

"Truly the 'Iron Wall and Bronze Wall' as they say, Your Highness is our Calm Sea Divine Needle indeed!"

Amidst the cheers of the citizens, Zhao Qiankun declared loudly, "Everyone, follow me to the walls and take a look. Later, I will need to trouble you to shout out loudly, to let the soldiers of the Tianqing Kingdom know the people and military of Western Command city are united and impregnable!"

"Rest assured, Your Highness!"

"We won't let you down!"

The people followed Zhao Qiankun's lead, heading up to the city wall.

However...

He had barely set foot on the city wall when he saw a guard rolling and scrambling up to him, his face a mess of distress.

Thud!

Zhao Qiankun's heart skipped a beat, his face suddenly changing as the guard approached with a look of panic, "Your... Your Highness, something terrible has happened... General Liu Yi's head has been hung on the flagpole without anyone noticing!"

"What?"

Zhao Qiankun's face turned ashen.

The smiles froze on the faces of the surrounding commanders, replaced by shock and terror.

Behind them, the citizens looked at each other in confusion, bewildered, "Didn't they say nothing happened? How did another general die?"

"I heard that Your Highness kept personal vigil last night, how could something have gone wrong again?"

"Could it really be as the rumors say, divine wrath? Are there gods helping the Tianqing Kingdom?"

The human heart is the most obstinate yet simultaneously the most fragile.

If no commander's head had been displayed on a flagpole today, Xiao Yi's threat would have been broken, and the spirits of both military and civilians in Western Command city would have soared, solidifying their unity. United as one, they could have made Western Command city an unbreachable fortress. But now, both military morale and civilian spirits had once again been dealt a devastating blow.

Looking at one disconcerted commander after another and the changing gazes of the citizens—which no longer held the unwavering trust they had before—Zhao Qiankun's face grew increasingly pale, a sweetness rising in his throat as a mouthful of hot blood surged up and he spat it out.

"This isn't good!"

"The prince has collapsed, quickly help him back..."

"Where's the royal physician? Find the royal physician quickly..."

The entire town of Western Zhensi was thrown into chaos.

Nobody noticed.

In that corner, a silver figure witnessed it all and then quietly slipped underground.

A moment later.

Within the Tianqing Kingdom's military camp.

Little Lin emerged from the ground and climbed onto Xiao Yi's shoulder, "Boss, everything went according to your plan. Zhao Qiankun was so furious he spat blood and fainted. Now the town of Western Zhensi is in total disorder!"

"Good!"

Xiao Yi rubbed Little Lin's head, "You've worked hard these past two days!"

Only Little Lin could sneak into the town of Western Zhensi under Zhao Qiankun's watchful eye and silently kill a Golden Core expert!

Little Lin flicked its tongue and asked, "Boss, shall we continue tonight?"

Xiao Yi shook his head, "No, we won't kill tonight. I've already had someone make a hundred thousand copies of this defense plan and patrol schedule overnight. Your task tonight is to distribute these defense maps and patrol schedules throughout the town of Western Zhensi. I want everyone in the town to know that Zheng Yu has betrayed them..."

"We can't kill anymore? Sigh..." Little Lin looked disappointed.

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Xiao Yi tapped his head and glared at him sternly.

Little Lin flicked its tongue again.

Only then did Xiao Yi turn to Zhang Baisheng and Zheng Le, "Generals, rally the troops. Tomorrow morning, we launch the full assault!"

"Yes!"

The two men were visibly excited.

That very night...

Zhao Qiankun, who was lying in bed, had regained some of his Qi-Blood. A group of generals gathered around the bed, looking at him worriedly.

Zhao Qiankun shook his head, "Don't worry, I'm not dead yet!"

"My lord, with our military morale scattered and the public unsettled, what should we do now?" The generals looked to him, completely at a loss.

Zhao Qiankun said sternly, "It doesn't matter. We still have the advantage of defense. As long as..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

Suddenly, a commotion arose outside.

Zhao Qiankun frowned, "What's going on?"

Creak!

A soldier rushed in frantically, clutching a scroll of paper, his face full of panic, "My lord, something terrible has happened..."

Thud!

A jolt of alarm went through everyone present in the bedroom.

Over these days...

They were most afraid of hearing those words!

It was like a summons of life or death tolling its bell!

Zhao Qiankun frowned, "What happened?"

The soldier immediately presented the scroll, "The message says that Zheng, the eunuch, has leaked our defense map and patrol schedule of the town of Western Zhensi to the Tianqing Kingdom. Zheng has betrayed us all..."

"What?"

"That's impossible!"

Everyone's expression changed dramatically.

But when they saw the defense maps and patrol schedules depicted on the scroll, each person's face turned horribly grim, ashen with despair, "It's truly our defense map!"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Zheng Yu, that damned eunuch, deserves to be cut into a thousand pieces..."

"How dare he do this..."

"My lord, what do we do?" The generals looked at Zhao Qiankun in dread.

With the defense map and patrol schedule exposed, it was too late for them to make any adjustments.

It meant that everything within the town of Western Zhensi was exposed to the people of the Tianqing Kingdom.

There were simply no secrets left!

Zhao Qiankun remained silent, his hand that held the paper trembling violently.

Suddenly...

Zhao Qiankun threw his head back and spewed a mouthful of fresh blood, his Qi-Blood immediately weakened, and two drops of blood tears fell from his eyes, "The town of Western Zhensi... is finished..."