Meng Changan could imagine the complacent look on Pei Xiao face at this very moment. The dozens of scouts who had been stripped of their weapons and armor were still tied up in the houses. All it would take was one fire to wipe out those Great Ning elite soldiers.

Amongst them were soldiers who had entered Heiwu with Meng Changan for the seventh time. If nothing bad were to happen, Meng Changan would be able to complete the map and bring the hundreds of Lang Jue people back to Great Ning. That huge accomplishment itself was enough to change any one of their lives.

Pei Xiao, who was holding onto the torch, was the demon that decided their fate.

Meng Changan walked out of the courtyard, with his black cord sword in his left hand and the small hunting knife in his right hand. Pei Xiao’s soldiers were already in their formation, waiting for him in the open space. Clearly, Meng Changan was alone. However, in their eyes, that person was akin to a ferocious beast that could not be killed.

The flight of steps of the city wall was still covered in corpses. Each one of them used to be a relatively strong combat soldier, and yet they were sent to the netherworld by that person with a long lance. Their blood stained the entire flight of steps red. The stench of blood was still as pungent.

“I thought that you didn’t dare to come out.”

Pei Xiao laughed coldly and looked at Meng Changan. “Our great hero amongst the combat soldiers in the southern border, who could enter and leave Heiwu seven times. If His Majesty hears about this, he would even clap and be full of praises…are you really that hung up about your scouts’ life and death? If that’s the case, I look down on you. How can a person with great achievements be tied down by things like that? If there is really such a thing as reincarnation, these words will be my gift to you to use in your next life when you join the military again. You don’t have to thank me.”

The doors of those houses opened; Meng changan’s subordinates squeezed together and looked out. Every one of them looked furious, worried and fearful at the same time.

“Military officer, please leave! Hurry!” yelled someone at the top of his lungs. His voice was hoarse.

Qu Xiong’s chin was already broken off, hence he could not say anything – he was just making muffled sounds. He struggled to stand up a couple of times, but he was being bound too tightly. He could not even move his joints, let alone stand up.

Meng Changan suddenly smiled at them.

Everybody was stunned for a moment. It was the first time their military officer smiled at them. As it turned out, he had a rather warm smile.

Meng Changan’s gaze shifted away from his men and onto Pei Xiao. He stuck his black cord sword onto the ground, next to him. “Even though I came out, you will still kill them. If I die, there’s no way you would allow them to live.”

“Hahahaha…”

“Pei Xiao could not help but look admiringly at Meng Changan. “Since you already know that, why did you still choose to come out?”

Meng Changan looked up to the sky. He had a slight bitter smile on his face.

“We are people who have been abandoned. Don’t tell me you still can’t understand?”

There was a slight disdain in Meng Changan’s tone, “So this is the emperor’s intent.”

Great General Tie Liuli said that there would be reinforcements waiting at Feng Yan Tai, to make it seem as though Pei Xiao was being killed by the Heiwu people. However, at this moment, it seemed as though everything was nothing but an empty promise.

Tie Liuli once mentioned that Pei Tingshan was his ride or die brother.

Hence, naturally, Tie Liuli would not shoulder the responsibility of this matter. He did not know how the emperor truly felt about Pei Tingshan. If he was only using Pei Xiao’s death to deal with Pei Tingshan, did he have to be that extreme?

Right now, there were Heiwu people on the outside; and on the inside, he was trapped with Pei Xiao. What a perfect situation.

Meng Changan thought to himself – if he guessed correctly, the reinforcements should be nearby, except that they were not going to provide assistance; instead, they were probably going over to deal with the aftermath…if he managed to kill Pei Xiao, they would probably kill him, making it seem as if it was a total annihilation.

If Pei XIao killed him, then Tie Liuli’s troops would kill pei Xiao. It would end in only those two scenarios…

In the first scenario, Meng Changan, Pei Xiao’s subordinate, brought his men seven times into Heiwu to complete the map, and he happened to save hundreds of Lang Jue people and attempted to bring them back to Great Ning. On their way back, unfortunately, they were surrounded by Heiwu’s troops and fought to their death. Pei Xiao found out about it and personally brought his troops to provide support. However, they were surrounded by Heiwu’s troops as well. Ultimately, the general and military officer could not defeat their enemy and died on the battlefield.

This version of the story did not have a happy ending; however, it was the version that was easiest to accept for any party. What could Pei Tingshan do? After Pei Xiao died, he would climb up the ranks. The emperor would find all ways to pacify him, but it was extremely normal for soldiers to die on the battlefield. He would not be able to find a reason to blow the matter up.

Of course, the other version of the story was not as beautiful. But this perfect story was not in line with His Majesty’s wishes. Hence, the better version would be that Meng Changan entered Heiwu seven times to create the map, which was a huge feat. But when Pei Xiao found out about it, he tried to steal credit. Thereafter, he killed Meng Changan in Feng Yan Tai.

Ultimately, he was being surrounded by the Heiwu troops. Great General Tie Liuli could not send reinforcements in time, hence leading to Pei Xiao’s demise on the battlefield.

This version of the story would aid the emperor in dealing with Pei Tingshan. Naturally, Pei Tingshan knew what kind of person his nephew was. It was not Pei Xiao’s first time stealing another person’s credit. Hence, he had no basis to kick up a big fuss either.

And what would happen next?

This was where it got interesting – the emperor would try to pacify Pei Tingshan in capacity as the emperor and a friend. And perhaps, Tie Liuli would send his soldier to make a trip to the eastern border to apologize on his behalf, and remind him of the fact that they were akin to brothers, who had a lot of history together.

This would quell the negative things that came out of this matter. The emperor would commend Meng Changan to the best of his abilities, and use him as a fine example, allowing all the young men of Great Ning to learn from him.

Based on Pei Tingshan’s personality, naturally he would not be able to tolerate it. If he said anything out of line and went overboard, His Majesty would have no choice but to strip the great general of his military authorities with reluctance.

Within this short period of time, Meng Changan thought about several things. Hence, he could barely hold himself back and wanted to laugh.

He did not know about the emperor and the academy’s long exchange from before and that he mentioned not to interfere with life and death. He was also unaware that in the decree he gave to Tie Liuli, he had mentioned the same thing.

Hence, the reinforcements arranged by Tie Liuli did not appear. Also, General Wu Xinyu did leave the camp with his troops, and that they were not far from Feng Yan Tai, but the military order given to Wu Xinyu instructed him to attack the Heiwu soldiers instead.

“People who have been abandoned? What do you mean?”

Pei Xiao’s facial expression changed.

“Nothing.”

Meng Changan looked at Pei Xiao. “You can order your men to attack me first, or you can set my men on fire. However, the ending will be the same…I will personally cut off your head.”

“Kill him.”

Pei Xiao lifted his hand and pointed to the front. “Kill him now.”

Immediately, his soldiers lifted their repeating crossbows, aiming at Meng Changan. There were at least 200 people surrounding him. Those soldiers, who were wearing Great Ning’s armor and uniform, surrounded a Great Ning military officer. The Lang Jue people had witnessed everything. They were uncertain about what they would think in the future if they brought this matter up.

Just at this time, Meng Changan suddenly heard the sound of a bowstring. It was the sound of a bow being drawn to the maximum. It was very soft, thus implying that it was at a distance away. However, he did not understand why he was able to hear it. There were combat soldiers all around him – their movements were a lot louder than that of a bow. Not to forget, those soldiers were using a repeating crossbow, and not a bow. .

Meng Changan suddenly started laughing. He thought about the woods outside of Yanta Academy. Back then, he heard a soft sound out of the blue as well and thereafter, two fellas fell to the ground from above.

He said…I’m here to ward off danger for you.

What was even more dangerous than his current situation?

However, that seemed absolutely impossible. That fella was far, far away in the Navy’s camp in Anyang. Meng Changan did not believe in the iffy idea about how a person’s feelings or thoughts could become a reality. A lot of things seemed that way because of a rational conjecture, that allowed one to predict in advance. Even if that fella got wind of what was happening, he would not be able to get there in time. Unless…

Someone had specially arranged it. However, what was the objective behind it?

Ding!

An arrow came flying from above the city wall. Within a split second, that arrow accurately shot Pei Xiao in the nape. The arrow was perfectly fired, with perfect accuracy. Pei Xiao should be dead from that.

The keyword was ‘should’. But he did not die.

The arrow created a spark on Pei Xiao’s neck. Pei Xiao cried out, as he pressed against his neck and fell forward. When he was laying on the ground, blood flowed out of the cracks between his fingers. However, he quickly stood up. The few soldiers immediately lifted their shields, protecting him.

“Chain mail?”

Shen Leng, who was on top of the city wall, squatted down. He thought to himself about how the rich people truly had a lot of good items…

Indeed, underneath his armor, he was wearing a chain mail; it was very thin and inconspicuous. The arrow pierced through the small gaps within Pei Xiao’s chain mail, wounding his neck. However, it was being obstructed by the chain mail, hence it could not penetrate his neck deeply. That arrow scared the soul out of Pei Xiao. Unfortunately, it could not kill him.

Pei Xiao cursed in anger. When he looked again, Meng Changan had already disappeared, within the short period of time where everybody’s attention was focused on him. He swept his glance all around, in search of that fella.

Shen Leng turned around and looked towards the outside of the city. His men had not climbed up the wall. He did not expect the city gate to be shut when they got to Feng Yan Tai. If they wanted to enter, all they could do was climb up the wall. But if the wall was that easy to scale, how could it keep the enemy out?

Shen Leng did the same thing as Meng Changan – he tied a rope to his black cord sword and tossed it upwards. He was not as lucky and could only get it on his third attempt. Furthermore, the area where he scaled up the wall happened to be on the other side of the city. After he climbed up, he saw Meng Changan getting surrounded.

He ran over at full speed, at the top of the wall. His glance swept across all the combat soldiers, before paying more attention to the person wearing a general’s armor. Ultimately, he looked even longer at the small hunting knife in Meng Changan’s hand. Thus, causing Shen Leng to have a motherly smile on his face.

“Torch those people!”

Pei Xiao, who flew into a rage out of humiliation, thought that some scouts managed to escape. He turned around and pointed towards the houses. “All of them must be burned to death!”

Four to five of his soldiers lifted the torch and charged over. When they were right outside the houses, a huge black figure landed from above…with a loud bang, a huge shield that was taller than a man came crashing down, striking the three people in front. Their heads were being smashed in so hard that it seemed as though they retreated back into their necks.

Immediately after, a row of arrows were fired from the top of the city wall; Pei Xiao’s men instantly fell to the ground. Pei Xiao lifted his head and looked towards where the arrows were being fired. Under the piercing sunlight, he saw a group of men whose bodies were reflecting the golden light of the sun.

A few ropes were thrown down from the city wall. Seven to eight Navy combat soldiers, decked in their dark blue uniform, slid down the ropes. The person leading was 2 meters tall; he picked up the huge shield in front of his body. He turned around towards the houses, where the scouts were being tied up in, and smiled. “Don’t worry, your Navy brothers are here.”

Across from them were at least two hundred comrades in the black combat soldier] uniform.

However, they were no longer comrades.