Ling Zhang's sword strikes accompanied by a field of internal energy, just like the air he was emanating, were as powerful and unstoppable as thunderbolts. He was moving so nimbly and swiftly that none of the arrows could approach him. One moment he was here, but the next he materialized on the back of an enemy's horse, cleanly slitting the rider's throat with the blade of his sword.

Due to what he had been through in recent battles, each and every stroke of his sword was fatal. If he had an opportunity to kill the target with one blow, he would never let it slip away and deal the target a second blow to finish him off.

Several cavalrymen at the front fell off their horses without notice before those behind them could see how their opponent attacked, blood spattered all over the ground.

It was at this very moment that fear clutched at their hearts once again. There was a reason why Ling Zhang had dared come here to intercept them single-handed!

Ling Zhang had taken the lives of several men in the blink of an eye and was fending off the blows from those surrounding him with great ease. Watching this scene, the Fifth Prince, whose judgement was blinded by his hunger for vengeance, and who was bent on capturing Ling Zhang to force Yuwen Tong into pulling out his forces, began to panic as well. After a few moments, he finally regained his composure. "How come this Ling Zhang guy has such consummate kung fu?! Isn't he the empress?!" he said incredulously.

The Third Prince also had an ugly look on his face, his brow corrugating in a deep frown. Were they by any chance going to be killed by Ling Zhang in this place after they had had a hard job fleeing the capital and got so close to Zhangfei City?

"Join the fight, all of you. I want Ling Zhang captured, by hook or by crook. If you can't restrain him, kill him!" said the Third Prince to the rest of his guards standing beside him.

The leader of the guards also felt that Ling Zhang was no sitting duck. After a brief moment's hesitation, he sent another eight guards to help mob Ling Zhang.

But after that, the two princes had less than ten men in the vicinity of them, the leader of the guards included.

As the number of men dying to Ling Zhang's sword doubled and then trebled, the princes sent another four guards, leaving only four men protecting them!

Everybody's attention was drawn to Ling Zhang. None of them noticed that a man had quietly emerged from behind the top of a tree in a secluded corner and was now soundlessly sneaking up on the two princes!

"AAAARGH!"

An anguished sudden screech was heard. When those men spun around, the Fifth Prince had sunk to the ground, his hands holding his chest which had been penetrated by a blade from behind, blood gushing from the wound profusely.

The assailant, after assassinating the Fifth Prince, came at the Third Prince liked greased lightning. The leader of the guards, who had realized what was going on, promptly whipped out his saber and lunged at the attacker.

Yao Yi, as his blow was blocked, furrowed his brows briefly, then abruptly slapped the back of the Fifth Prince's steed and leaped up, hurling his wicked-looking dagger at the Third Prince's heart. The Third Prince tried to dodge aside but wasn't quick enough and the dagger hit his arm, almost penetrating through it!

"WATCH OUT, YOUR HIGHNESS!" the leader of the guards shouted, eyes rounding with alarm, then wielded his long knife and slashed at Yao Yi.

Yao Yi backed away a few steps, feeling it a pity that his dagger failed to take the Third Prince's life, but he did not give up and continued exchanging blows with the leader of the guards while trying to approach the Third Prince.

"Run, Your Highness! Zhangfei City is not far away. You'll be safe once you get in there. We'll hold them back and buy you some time!" The leader, knowing that the odds were against them, hastened to tell the Third Prince to flee right away.

Yao Yi's eyes went cold. Under no circumstances would he let the Third Prince of the Wan Kingdom escape.

At the same time, Ling Zhang killed another few enemies. There were now less than ten men in the surrounding circle. He observed the Third Prince galloping in this direction, heedless of his army injury, attempting to ride around the roadblocks and flee to Zhangfei City.

Ling Zhang sneered and gave a bodyguard's saber a kick, sending it flying squarely towards the Third Prince's horse. The horse got hit, let out a pained neigh and thudded to the ground, throwing the Third Prince.

"Your Highness!"

The leader of the guards roared and wheeled around with the intention to rush to the prince's rescue but was stopped by Yao Yi, who said, "Your opponent is me."

"Today your life ends!" bawled the leader. Furious as he was, he still had sense enough to instruct the others to rescue the Third Prince. "GO HELP HIS HIGHNESS!"

The Third Prince, whose face was badly bruised in the fall, actually managed to lift himself to his feet and made towards the nearest horse with the intention to resume fleeing. At the sight of this, Ling Zhang killed the closest enemy with a stroke of his sword, abruptly leaped out of the surrounding circle which now consisted of less than six men and, in mid-air, swung his sword in a circle before hurling it straight towards the Third Prince.

With a puff, the sword penetrated through the Third Prince's chest and, thrusting him, went into the tree behind him and pinned him to its trunk.

Ling Zhang landed in front of the Third Prince, pulled out his sword and watched his victim slump to the ground.

"You ... " the Third Prince trailed off, vomiting blood, his breathing feeble. Soon his pupils became unfocused.

Ling Zhang looked impassively at him. "There's no way I'm letting any of you leave here alive. You should have seen this coming when the Wan Kingdom sent its troops to Shengzhou Pass."

The Third Prince gave a cough and soon breathed his last.

"YOUR HIGHNESS!" Those guards yelled before charging at Ling Zhang, their eyes red with grief and fury, intending to kill him.

One by one, Ling Zhang killed all those coming at him. Blood soon dyed every inch of the ground red.

Yao Yi also disposed of the leader and the remaining couple of guards.

Silence reigned on the scene immediately. Yao Yi's eyes raked the corpses on the ground. It was only after he had checked that the two princes' bodies had gone cold that he found himself completely at ease.

"Send a signal to inform Xie Shi of our location, remove these bodies, then we wait for Jiang Xi and the others to arrive," said Ling Zhang.

Yao Yi nodded, glanced in the direction of Zhangfei City, shot a signal flare to tell Xie Shi to come and rendezvous with them, and then cleared the scene of the dead quickly.

"I wonder if the garrison in Zhangfei City would send anybody here to check."

Ling Zhang also looked in the direction of Zhangfei City. "Nobody's coming our way, at least for now, but sooner or later we'll take Zhangfei City. When the regroupment is done, our troops will depart from their capital, push north and take the northern prefecture of Zhangzhou."

The whole Wan Kingdom would be under their control when they took Zhangzhou.

...

Before long, Xie Shi arrived. At the sight of the bodies on the ground, he came to know that Ling Zhang and Yao Yi had got the job done. Feeling that he had barely been helpful during this operation, he appeared faintly awkward.

"Would you like me to examine you, Your Highness?" asked Xie Shi, believing that he should make himself useful in some way.

Ling Zhang shook his head. "I'm fine."

After another short while, Jiang Xi, He Xiao and Yuwen Jin also arrived, all of whom exhaled deeply in relief as they found that the two princes, along with all their guards, were dead, feeling that all the loose ends had now been tied up.

'But ... His Highness and Yao Yi are unbelievably badass. The two of them killed all these people unaided. We don't have to do anything,' they thought.

He Xiao, Yuwen Jin and Jiang Xi shared Xie Shi's subtle feelings. It struck them that they had done nothing other than having a horseback trip, for which they didn't think Yuwen Tong would give them much credit after they returned.

Ling Zhang said to them, "This place is not far away from Zhangfei City, and it's likely the garrison there will soon get wind of what happened here. Let's just dispose of these bodies and go back. Jiang Xi, do you think it necessary to have someone stay here, keeping an eye out for movements of the troops stationed in Zhangfei City and sending messages back to the capital city when there's a situation? Our army won't stay in the capital for long. They'll soon arrive."

Jiang Xi inclined his head. "You've got a point. How about this – I stay here with some men and make some inquiries; He Xiao and Yuwen Jin take the others and escort you back to the capital."

He Xiao and Yuwen Jin agreed and escorted Ling Zhang back to the capital.

It was late at night when they returned to the capital. Lucky for them, there had not been any dangers during their journey back, and everybody arrived in the city safe and sound.

The Shan family, the royal household, had been wiped out. Officials who surrendered themselves were spared, those who refused to yield executed.

Yuwen Tong did not hurt any of the citizens who were not putting up resistance, and he gave his men a hint that they should make efforts to placate the natives. He also promised the citizens that he would guarantee their safety, that his soldiers would not plunder their houses. On top of that, he detailed some soldiers to patrol the streets and punish local ruffians who attempted to take advantage of the disarray to rob or murder citizens. The locals who had been gathering at the north city gates had cleared off and returned home in twos and threes. As long as Yuwen Tong did not try to kill them and they still had what they needed to continue with their lives, these citizens would set their minds at ease and make peace with the situation, for none of them wanted to be a refugee.

The Wan capital was a large city, and there were tons of arrangements to be made. Yuwen Tong had been fully occupied for a whole day without having a moment's rest.

When Ling Zhang and Yuwen Jin returned, order had gradually been restored in the city after a whole day's placatory work, and a semblance of peace had been brought about.

Ling Zhang, after hearing about it, directly went to see Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong was still busy, though it was very late.

The mess caused by the explosion in the royal palace of the Wan Kingdom had been cleaned up. Yuwen Tong was temporarily staying in the audience hall of the palace to deal with state affairs.

There were lamps still ablaze when Ling Zhang arrived. Before he entered, Yuwen Tong heard his footsteps and breathing and said, "You're back. Are you hungry? Come here and sit. The food will be ready in a few moments."

Yuwen Tong put down his writing brush and kneaded the bridge of his nose.

Ling Zhang had stripped down to his underwear.

As he saw Yuwen Tong kneading the bridge of his nose, Ling Zhang reached out his hands to give Yuwen Tong's temples a massage. "It's so late. You may deal with these tomorrow morning. It's not like something would go wrong if you don't finish these tonight."

Yuwen Tong pulled Ling Zhang's hands down and looked at him. "Why are you wearing so little? It's cold at night."

"My overgarment is terribly bloodstained. I've just taken it off and haven't found time to change clothes yet. Stop stroking me. I've got blood and dust all over my body," said Ling Zhang.

"The two princes of the Shan family are both dead, and so are their guards. I had Jiang Xi stay there staking out Zhangfei City," Ling Zhang continued.

Yuwen Tong nodded. Now that Shan Congli's two sons had both died, the royal household had been wiped out. It was a rather callous way to handle this kind of matters, but at least the problem had been solved once and for all and there wouldn't be any trouble in the future.

"You must've had a tough day. Go and change clothes. We may grab a bite together in a moment," said Yuwen Tong, worrying that Ling Zhang might catch cold.

Ling Zhang replied, "It's okay. My constitution is far better than that of the next person now and I won't catch cold that easily. Besides, it's pretty warm in here. I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat first. And then we may go and have a bath together. It's been a tough day for you as well."

The look in Yuwen Tong's eyes flickered slightly. "All right," he said.

Next the two of them dined in the audience hall. Having had their fill of food, they bathed and, both feeling tired, went to sleep.

It was after ten days that an assault on Zhangfei City was mounted. The commander of the troops garrisoned in Zhangfei City had come to know that the royal household had been exterminated, and that more than half of the courtiers had capitulated, so there was little resistance against the army of the Great Wen, who took Zhangfei City without breaking a sweat.

After that, the army pushed straight north and then launched a two-pronged attack on Zhangzhou. The enemies there hardly put up any resistance; some of them even opened the city gates on their own account and welcomed the army of the Great Wen into the city.

Thus, before long they engaged the Wan forces stationed at the northern border, who had joined hands with some tribes to the north of the Wan Kingdom with the intention to defend against the army of the Great Wen. However, most crack troops of the border forces had died in the south. Though having some northern tribes at their back, they were still no match for Yuwen Tong's army and, after a couple of fights, having lost over seventy percent of their men, fled north out of the country helter-skelter.

Yuwen Tong garrisoned a number of soldiers led by He Xiao in this border city in case those surviving enemies came back after the main force left.

For the moment Yuwen Tong could not spare any time to have his army pursue them, but he would find time to finish them off after reunifying the three countries.

It took them over a month to take the Wan capital and Zhangzhou and establish interim prefectural governments in the many prefectures.

After Zhangzhou was occupied, Yuwen Tong's army covertly transferred to the east.

...

In the Luohai Kingdom.

Over half a month ago.

After the city gates of the capital were battered open, Nian Feng and his troops stormed into the city.

The Yuexi garrison had not been defeated but suddenly turned renegade and switched to Nian Feng's side.

Mu Rongfeng had trusted the Yuexi garrison very much and even more so after the Yuexi garrison held the city against attacks from Nian Feng's army for weeks, so it had never crossed his mind that the Yuexi garrison would turn traitor. He was utterly unprepared when Nian Feng's men flooded into the royal palace. He took some guards and tried to make his escape but was caught by Nian Feng, who then tried to force him to write a royal edict of abdication.

By doing this, Nian Feng believed that he was taking his cue from what Yuwen Tong had done five years ago, heedless of the fact that he had directly laid siege to the capital city to take the throne, that he had some time ago become a usurper, which meant a royal edict of abdication wouldn't do him any good whatsoever.

Mu Rongfeng refused. Why would he do the enemy's bidding when his death was certain?

Nian Feng, beside himself with rage, killed Mu Rongfeng. A lot of Luohai courtiers hated Nian Feng's guts after that.

Everybody believed that Nian Feng was going to accede to the throne, but unexpectedly, things took yet another drastic turn.

The Yuexi garrison, shortly after transferring allegiance to Nian Feng, turned traitor once again.

They shut the gates, locking Nian Feng's main force out of the city, and at the same time surrounded the royal palace, trapping Nian Feng in it, putting him in the same position that Mu Rongfeng had once been in.

No one could have foreseen that the Yuexi garrison would change allegiance once again. When the whole royal court was in panic, Dugu Shan made his appearance, to whom the commander of the Yuexi garrison was very deferential.

"Nian Feng is a traitor who attempted to usurp the throne. According to the law, the punishment for that crime is extermination of his whole family," said Dugu Shan after entering the royal palace.

Nian Feng, who was under the protection of some guards, was reduced to vomiting blood from fury as he came to realize that the Yuexi garrison had switched allegiance to Dugu Shan. Face contorting with rage, gnashing his teeth, he huffed, "Dugu Shan, you bastard have been in collusion with the Yuexi garrison all this time!"

"The Yuexi garrison just saw the error of their ways and decided to right their wrongs by joining me in assisting the Seventh Prince to ascend the throne and protecting the royal lineage."

Beside Dugu Shan stood the seventh son of Mu Hengtian's. He was fourteen or fifteen and appeared thin and weak, having little royal air about him. As Nian Feng cast a fierce glance at him, his legs started quivering.

Dugu Shan rested a reassuring hand against the young prince's back and said, "Don't be afraid, Your Highness. The throne belongs to the Mu family, as it always has. You're His Majesty's son, a man of the purest royal blood. Nian Feng is but a traitor and would-be usurper. You don't have to be scared of him. Besides, he's trapped in this place, and there's nothing he could do to harm you."

Naturally, Nian Feng was unreconciled to the situation and, along with his guards, crossed swords with the Yuexi garrison ringing the royal palace, attempting to fight their way out of the palace.

As the supreme commander of armed forces of the Luohai Kingdom, Nian Feng was no mean fighter. Several times he was within an inch of breaking out of the palace, but because he and his men were vastly outnumbered, they were defeated by the Yuexi garrison eventually. Dugu Shan gave the order for Nian Feng, grievously wounded, to be thrown into prison.

At that time, Lian Hai, standing right behind the courtiers, furrowed his brows as he saw Dugu Shan have Nian Feng restrained instead of killing him right away.

Dugu Shan, after throwing Nian Feng into prison, moved into the palace with the young prince and held a funeral for Mu Rongfeng. The young prince, not daring disobey Dugu Shan, stayed with him and trusted him very much, seeing him as someone he could rely on.

All courtiers were shocked by Dugu Shan's strategies. When Mu Hengtian had still been alive, there had been a balance of power between Dugu Shan, Mu Rongfeng and Nian Feng; afterwards, with Mu Rongfeng being the new monarch and Nian Feng commanding a strong army, everybody had believed that Dugu Shan had been kicked out of the game, that he was bound to come to grief, considering both Mu Rongfeng and Nian Feng had wanted him dead.