No sooner had the bugle blared when the main force hiding outside the city heard it.

"Attack!"

Yuwen Tong gave the order to attack and with that the troops charged at the west city gates at full tilt.

The hush of the inky night was immediately broken by the massive offensive and even the ground was quaking.

The whole capital city was awoken by the noises. The citizens, both those who understood the meaning of the loud bugle calls and those who didn't, were thrown into panic.

"What's going on?!"

"The Great-Wen buglers are sounding attack! They've breached the defense!"

Pandemonium reigned over the Wan capital.

Ling Zhang and his bodyguards, along with He Xiao and the others, took control of the city gates immediately after gaining entry into the city, and with that they engaged an army patrol coming to check on the gates.

"You!" The captain of the patrol was shocked and infuriated as he saw the commander of the garrison unit responsible for guarding the west city gates standing side by side with some soldiers of the Great Wen. "You've actually stooped to colluding with the enemy! You traitors!"

"We've just chosen to serve a wiser master!" huffed the garrison commander, the look on his face turning ugly at the accusation. Driven by a pang of mingled guilt and rage, he shouted a command and then lunged at the patrol with his men.

Ling Zhang exchanged a glance with He Xiao and said, "It's just a small patrol. Let these people handle it. I'll take my bodyguards and go a little further to check out the lay of the land."

He Xiao preferred him to stay with the soldiers, but then he recalled what Yuwen Tong had said before departure. "Be careful, Your Highness," he said with a head bob.

Ling Zhang and his bodyguards galloped squarely towards the far end of North Street. At this time, news of the opening of the west city gates had just started spreading, and none of the defenders had arrived except for the army patrol.

"Young Master, there's another army patrol coming."

"Intercept them. Our troops have reached the city gates already."

"Yes, Young Master!"

...

Yuwen Tong had just led his men into the city when he found that Ling Zhang and his twenty-four bodyguards had wiped out a whole army patrol, the street strewn with dead bodies, Ling Zhang standing in the highest position, holding a sword from the point of which blood was still dripping.

"The garrison's coming," Ling Zhang told Yuwen Tong aloud, turning his head around after glancing into the distance.

Yuwen Tong gave a bob of the head and then split his men into three groups, two of which headed for East Street and South Street respectively, the third pushing towards the royal palace.

Ling Zhang shook the blood off the point of his sword and leaped off the height gliding like a bird in night sky, then landed beside Yuwen Tong.

"I'll go to the south city gates with them," he said, face cold, eyes gleaming. Having just killed a lot of enemy soldiers, he was not interested in going to the royal palace to look for Shan Congli and wanted to go to the south city gates to help.

Yuwen Tong raised his hand and wiped off a speck of blood that Ling Zhang had spattered on his cheek unawares. "Stay safe," he cautioned.

Ling Zhang nodded, gave an instruction to his bodyguards, mounted Snowflake the horse and then followed the troops heading for the south city gates.

"Sire, the gates of the royal palace are tightly shut. Considering the loud noises out here, Shan Congli sure as hell has come to know what's happening, but the palace is oddly quiet," an officer reported to Yuwen Tong after returning from the royal palace which he had reconnoitered a few moments ago.

Yuwen Tong withdrew his gaze from Ling Zhang's receding back, looked in the direction of the royal palace and said, "Keep your eyes peeled. Do not underestimate the enemy."

"Yes, Sire."

...

The troops advancing towards the south city gates soon encountered head-on a Wan garrison, who had heard the commotion from the west city gates and were heading here with the intention to help. Neither side in the mood for greeting the other, they directly engaged.

"Archers, nock! Draw! Loose!"

Unlike the Wan garrison who were in a great hurry and unaware of what was going on, the soldiers of the Great Wen were fully prepared. Xiao Jiangyue, who was in charge, promptly got those with shields into defensive formation and then commanded the archers to fire arrows at the enemies.

The Wan garrison failed to finish their defensive formation in time and instantly suffered heavy casualties in the rain of arrows.

After the first volley of arrows, the Wan garrison began to show signs of panic.

"Charge! Kill them!" Xiao Jiangyue gave the order in a timely manner.

Ling Zhang and his bodyguards, along with the troops, charged at the enemies. To prevent Snowflake from being hurt by friendly fire, he left the horse behind and flew over the crowds of soldiers squarely towards the Wan garrison like a giant black bird or a sharp blade, the sword in his hand gleaming menacingly. With a single stroke of his sword accompanied by a wicked glint, he took the lives of several Wan defenders.

Xiao Jiangyue was taken aback at the sight of Ling Zhang flying forward, feeling that the empress was making a risky move and might be wounded by the enemies, but soon he noticed that those men's weapons couldn't even approach Ling Zhang, who quickly downed all the enemies in the vicinity single-handed!

Ling Zhang was capable of fighting off dozens of enemy soldiers all at once, and his twenty-four bodyguards, fighting in a certain formation, were progressing quickly, their blows neat and deadly, spattering blood in all directions, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Their combat capabilities were so formidable, the murderous air they were emanating so palpable, that all the others felt the hair on the backs of their necks rising.

Xiao Jiangyue closed his open mouth, watching in a faintly dreamy way as Ling Zhang, closely followed by his bodyguards and the soldiers, unstoppably fought his way forward, killing with great ease. Though he had long since come to know that Ling Zhang was no common person, this was his first time seeing Ling Zhang fighting in a battle.

Why did His Majesty have misgivings about letting His Highness join the fight when he knew His Highness had such consummate kung fu skills? It was the enemies that His Majesty should be worried about.

Ling Zhang enjoyed the fighting very much. He had not fought with such gusto since the battle outside Shengzhou Pass, which had been a long time ago.

Because of Ling Zhang and his bodyguards, this backup unit of the enemy was defeated sooner than expected. All the surviving enemy soldiers got on their knees and surrendered themselves.

They reached the south city gates before the other team reached the west city gates.

Getting through the south city gates was the best way for Yuwen Tong's army to take the city. Also, the south city gates were the most heavily defended. If they were opened, more troops waiting outside would immediately enter and then occupy the whole city.

"Blow the bugle!"

The moment they reached the gates, Xiao Jiangyue commanded the bugler to play a bugle call as a signal for the troops biding their time outside.

Ling Zhang, whose five senses were exceptionally sharp, cocked an eye at the ramparts, listening hard. "Stay alert. There are archers on the ramparts," he cautioned.

Xiao Jiangyue's face went grave and with that he ordered, "Shields up!"

No sooner had a wall of shields was formed when arrows started raining down on them.

Evidently the enemies, after finding out that the backup unit heading for the west city gates had failed to stop the army of the Great Wen, had quickly deployed some archers on the ramparts. Though they had shields, the rain of arrows still inflicted some casualties on them.

Under the cover of night, Ling Zhang and his bodyguards wormed their way into two small alleys on the side respectively, quickly detoured to the foot of the ramparts, and, when the defenders' attention was distracted by the army, climbed up the ramparts and cut the throats of the guards. They did it very quick without making any sounds. When the archers sensed that something was wrong, Ling Zhang and his bodyguards had sneaked up on them.

Ling Zhang was a master of Formation. When he had reached the sixth layer of his cultivation method, he had developed the ability to deploy a Formation by simply arranging a couple of objects. With the dead bodies of a couple of defenders, he in the blink of an eye finished a Formation which would serve as a smokescreen. Then he swooshed down the passage at the top of the ramparts like a shooting arrow, slitting the throats of the archers along the way with his sword before any of them could set eyes on him, splattering blood across the parapet.

A dozen archers were downed in the twinkling of an eye.

And then he swiftly removed the torches from the ramparts with strokes of his sword and sent them flying forward like a dragon of fire, which whooshed past the archers' faces as Ling Zhang's sword cut their throats.

"AAAARGH!"

"KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" bellowed the commander in charge on the ramparts, astounded and panic-stricken.

Ling Zhang coldly gave a snort, rapidly tapped another seven or eight torches with the flat of his sword, sending them into mid-air, and then shot them straight towards the face of the commander.

At the same time, on the other side of the gate tower, Wang Dashan and some others were also killing the Wan archers with high efficiency, working as a seamless team.

Soon all was confusion and chaos on the ramparts. The rest of the archers no longer a threat, Xiao Jiangyue immediately instructed his men to launch an assault on the Wan soldiers standing guard at the city gates.

There was fierce fighting on both sides of the south city gates. Ling Zhang, who had been killing dozens of times quicker than a common soldier did, had taken the lives of countless enemies, his armor blood-spattered.

At this time, the troops outside started battering the city gates. Under attack from both sides, the city gates were soon opened.

When the south city gates creaked open, Jiang Ke and his men were still having a fierce fight with the garrison defending the east city gates. However, the areas in the vicinity of the east city gates were not the main battlefield, and the team of soldiers Jiang Ke had taken there was smaller than the one sent to the south city gates. Their task was to take over the east city gates rather than opening them.

At this time, the gateway of the royal palace was in a mess, strewn with dead bodies of palace guards and arrows, the ground gleaming with blood in bright firelight.

As Yuwen Tong expected, there had been enemies lying in ambush in the seemingly quiet royal palace. His troops had been greeted with a rain of arrows as soon as they had reached the front gates.

Opening the front gates of the royal palace took some doing. There turned out to be quite some palace guards hiding inside.

Shan Congli was standing right behind the ranks of palace guards, but he had not changed into armor and was still wearing royal robes.

"Yuwen Tong, I would have had you assassinated in that battle had I known beforehand things would come to this!" said Shan Congli flintily.

"It's pointless to say this kind of stuff now. You should have seen this coming when you failed to subjugate the Great Yue. Since you've been waiting here with these men of yours, I think it's safe to say you have no plans to walk out of this palace alive, so let's just get it over with," said Yuwen Tong.

Shan Congli looked at Yuwen Tong, a sinister and ferocious expression in his eyes, clenching his fists tightly. He was unreconciled to this situation. There had been a time when the Wan Kingdom had been at a great advantage. He had waged this war with the ambition to annex the Great Wen, but he had not bargained on falling prey to Yuwen Tong's subterfuge, which was a mistake that had directly led to the subjugation of the Wan Kingdom. How could he not have grudges and regret when the result was such a contrast to his goal?

However, unconvinced as Shan Congli was, he was aware that there was no way he could turn the tables. It was a fact that Yuwen Tong had subjugated the Wan Kingdom, and maybe it wouldn't be long before Yuwen Tong reunified the three countries. The knowledge of this further deepened Shan Congli's hatred. A few years ago Yuwen Tong had been merely a military officer of the Great Yue, and at that time the Wan Kingdom had stood a better chance of achieving the reunification of the three countries. Why did Yuwen Tong get to have all that in the end?!

"You deserve to die. Now that you've entered this palace, there's no way I'm letting you leave here alive. I can't wait to see the regret on your face when you're on the verge of death knowing you're so close to reunifying the three countries!" Shan Congli suddenly sneered in a peculiar manner.

Yuwen Tong's eyebrows contracted slightly. It struck him that Shan Congli's bearing verged on the demented.

As both Shan Congli's tone of voice and his mien were uncharacteristic, Yuwen Tong was on the alert and unnoticeably motioned for Jiang Xi standing beside him to go and guard the front gates of the royal palace, in case anything unexpected happened.

Jiang Xi gave a slight nod and then secretly made some arrangements, cautioning everybody to stay vigilant.

Given the number of the palace guards present, Shan Congli could do no more than put up a deathbed struggle, but apart from anything else, this place was the royal palace of the Wan Kingdom, and there was no telling whether or not Shan Congli, as the owner of this palace, had anything else up his sleeve that he might resort to to do them harm.

...

After the south city gates were opened, the troops waiting outside charged into the city and took control of the south city gates and the whole south street.

There were not many surviving enemies left, so there was no longer any necessity for Ling Zhang to stay involved. Still worried about the situation in the royal palace, he hurried towards the palace with his bodyguards.

When he reached the palace, he saw that the front gates were open. There were Great-Wen soldiers standing guard both in and outside the palace, the sound of fighting issuing from inside, but he was unable to tell what was happening in there.

"I'm honored to kneel before you, Your Highness," chorused the soldiers guarding the front gates at the sight of Ling Zhang.

"How's everything going in there?" asked Ling Zhang.

"Shan Congli has summoned his palace guards and put up fierce resistance. The fighting is continuing. His Majesty and General Jiang are both inside," answered a soldier.

Ling Zhang nodded, looked up at the towering front gates of the Wan royal palace and then resumed riding forward. When going through the gates, he inexplicably felt somewhat unnerved as though there was something dangerous inside.

Ling Zhang, who had been having mounting confidence in his occasional forebodings, found his heartbeat quickening in spite of himself and he immediately spurred Snowflake and galloped into the royal palace.

Wang Dashan and the others, unaware of why Ling Zhang had suddenly picked up speed, hastened to follow in his wake.

There were dead bodies on the ground inside the palace, which clearly had witnessed an intense fight not long ago.

They detoured around another palace wall, rode through another pair of gates and were greeted with bright firelight. The troops of the Great Wen and a number of Wan palace guards were engaged in a full-on fight. Shan Congli was in the middle of his palace guards. They were surrounded by troops of the Great Wen.

Yuwen Tong was on his horse at the foot of a palace wall, under the protection of some soldiers led by Jiang Xi.

Ling Zhang glanced around the scene and let out a sigh of relief as he saw that Yuwen Tong was safe and sound. "Gee–up!"

Snowflake, without slowing down, made a beeline for Yuwen Tong.

"Sire, His Highness is coming." Jiang Xi was the first to notice Ling Zhang and hastened to tell Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong twisted his head around and saw Ling Zhang galloping towards him on Snowflake, who was all white and very conspicuous, but who was overshadowed by Ling Zhang's great presence. Yuwen Tong's attention was instantly drawn to Ling Zhang.

Ling Zhang galloped up and reined in Snowflake a couple of paces away from Yuwen Tong. Snowflake reared and then abruptly put her front legs down with a long neigh.

"How's it going? Are you hurt?" Ling Zhang inquired immediately after his horse halted.

Yuwen Tong shook his head and looked Ling Zhang all over as the latter's eyes appraised him. Having sensed Ling Zhang's even and steady breathing, he knew that Ling Zhang was unharmed.

"How did it go at the south city gates?"

"We've taken control of the gates. Right now General Xiao and his men are hunting the surviving enemies in the city."

Ling Zhang glanced at Shan Congli who was in the middle of the surrounding circle under the protection of his guards resisting desperately. "Why is he still alive?" he asked.

Yuwen Tong said, "The situation here is quite messy, but he'll be either captured or killed in a few moments. You've just been through a fight. You should get some rest."

Ling Zhang shook his head. "No. I'd just come in here when I felt there's something wrong with this place. You need to be extra careful."

Yuwen Tong slightly furrowed his brows. A moment ago Shan Congli's inexplicably confident manner had struck him as weird and put him on the alert, and now Ling Zhang was giving him a forewarning ...

"I want you to get out of this place first. I'll retreat after capturing Shan Congli."

Ling Zhang disagreed, turned on his heel and instructed his bodyguards, "Search this place and nearby palace walls immediately."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Wang Dashan answered and promptly left to carry out the order with his fellow bodyguards.

Then Ling Zhang glanced at the palace wall behind him. It struck him that standing in that spot made him feel somewhat subdued and uncomfortable, so he said to Yuwen Tong and those beside him, "You guys should move elsewhere. I have a sense of foreboding."

Yuwen Tong immediately cast a backward glance at the palace wall behind him. His piercing eyes swept around the scene and with that he said to Jiang Xi, "Let's go somewhere else. Tell our men to stay away from palace walls."

Jiang Xi nodded and immediately gave the order.

The soldiers changing their positions was a noticeable activity, one that Shan Congli in the middle of his palace guards observed. His face promptly changed and with that he yelled at a man beside him, "Shoot it right now!"

The bodyguard beside him quickly pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back, nocked it and raised his bow, but surprisingly, he was aiming at a bell hanging from a palace wall rather than Yuwen Tong or any of his men.

He loosed the arrow which then whizzed through mid-air like a shooting star.