#246 - The Water is Cold and the Wind is Like a Knife (Part 2) - I am the villain in the book

Looking down from the night sky, Jizhou City was now filled with continuous fires and a torrent of red and yellow.

It was like thunder rumbling through the valleys, or raging waves crashing against the mountains.

Long sabers and halberds clashed and danced, spears and boulders whistled through the air, and dense arrow rain covered the sky like locusts, while muffled shouts and short screams shook the heavens and the earth.

Ferocious faces, blood-stained blades, agonizing wails, and pervasive smoke... The entire battlefield was enveloped and consumed by the brutal atmosphere of this primitive slaughter, repeating endlessly.

It must be admitted.

The Jizhou army displayed extraordinary combat power against the Imperial Guards, hailed as the most elite force in the entire Da Ning.

The reasons might be the natural advantage of the defenders, the high rewards offered by the Xu family, or perhaps the most primal human instinct for survival.

On the battlefield, if you didn't want to die, you had to kill all the enemies in front of you.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!!!"

"Get the hell down! !"

"Damn you! Die!!"

"Bang!"

"Thump!"

"Swish, swish, swish!"

"Clang! Clang clang!!"

"..."

Amidst the rolling smoke on the city walls, the banners embroidered with the characters "Xu" or "Ning" fluttered in the wind.

Each flag was surrounded by corpses lying on the ground, bleeding incessantly, the thick smell of blood mingling with the stench of sweat, filling the air with a pungent odor.

In less than a quarter of an hour since the start of the battle, countless soldiers from both sides had struggled and died, but before they could even fall, someone would immediately fill their place, wielding their weapons with the maximum internal force and slashing forward.

No one would hold back at this moment.

Because everyone knew that if they didn't use their full strength in every move, they might not have the chance to make the next move.

Cruel?

But that was war.

Whether in ancient times with cold weapons, or in modern times with airplanes, tanks, and atomic bombs, or even in the cultivation world with vast differences in individual strength, it was all the same.

Although a martial artist of the upper three ranks could be equivalent to a thousand soldiers, and a martial artist of the middle three ranks could be equivalent to a hundred soldiers.

The outcome of a war was ultimately determined by these most numerous ordinary soldiers of the lower three ranks.

Of course, this did not mean that martial artists of the sixth rank and above were useless.

On the contrary, their role was very significant, the key was how to use them.

For example, right now, a "strike team" of several hundred people, all composed of middle three-rank martial artists, had disguised themselves as ordinary soldiers and approached the South Gate.

They roared loudly and wielded their weapons vigorously.

However, upon closer inspection, it was not difficult to find that these people had no intention of charging up the city wall at all, but were simply running back and forth at the base of the wall, resembling a team that was actually "slacking off" on the battlefield.

The Jizhou army defending the city naturally wouldn't care about such a team.

And the generals on the imperial court's side also chose to turn a blind eye.

This was a bit strange.

South Gate Tower.

"Brothers! Hold on!!"

"Kill! !"

The tower was hidden behind the city wall. Since the city wall had not been breached, these people could not have been killed by the imperial army.

Then it was obvious who they had died at the hands of.

"You, you..."

A soldier who had not yet breathed his last clutched his bleeding chest, but before he could finish a sentence, his head flew high into the air.

The person who wielded the blade was also wearing yellow armor. After completing the strike, he gently waved his hand, and immediately more than a dozen figures flashed forward, standing around the huge winch entwined with iron chains.

"Young Master..."

The leader turned to look at a masked man and said urgently:

"Time is running out. The battle outside is fierce. Someone might discover the abnormality at any moment!"

"Please give the order quickly!"

"Mm."

The man glanced at the winch, his eyes showing no hesitation.

"Listen to my command! Open the city gate!"

"Yes!"

More than a dozen Jizhou soldiers who had already defected responded in a deep voice, then simultaneously grasped the handles on the winch and urged their internal force together, attempting to open this city gate that might determine the course of the war.

But strangely, no matter how hard they tried, the iron chain winch remained motionless.

"What's going on?!"

The masked man immediately noticed the abnormality and instinctively shouted: "A bunch of good-for-nothings! Can't even turn a mere winch?!"

"Y-Young Master..."

A soldier, his face flushed red, answered tremblingly: "U-Usually it only takes five people to turn it, th-this shouldn't be happening!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Hurry..."

The roar stopped abruptly, and the man's eyes, visible outside the face veil, were suddenly filled with horror.

He wasn't stupid, and he knew what was happening now.

Obviously, his actions had already been noticed!

He didn't have time to think about where the mistake had occurred, nor did he have time to care about this group of bewildered subordinates. The man lowered his body and turned to flee the tower.

But it was already too late.

"Swoosh!"

In an instant, a red palm print shot in from outside the door with infinite power, rushing straight towards the man's face at an extremely fast speed.

The man's eyes widened suddenly. Knowing that he couldn't dodge in time, he simply stepped on the ground and gathered all the internal force in his body into his right fist, colliding violently with the red light.

"Bang!!"

A loud noise exploded, and a circle of air waves carrying huge energy spread rapidly from the point of impact, sending several wooden tables and chairs in the gate tower flying.

This scene seemed shocking, but it only lasted for less than a breath.

More precisely, the masked man's punch only resisted the red light for one breath.

"Bang!!!!"

The second loud noise rang out, and the man flew back like a kite with a broken string.

He slammed heavily into the stone wall behind him, and fell to the ground like a torn sack, with rubble mixed with blood falling like rain.

"Pfft!!"

Blood gushed like a spring, and the depression in his chest was shocking.

From preparing to escape to now only having one last breath left, all of this seemed long, but in fact it was only a few breaths of time.

"Damn it! Traitor!"

"A running dog of the imperial court selling out his master!!!"

"Tie them all up! Await Madam's orders!"

More and more people rushed in from outside the door. The dozen or so betrayed soldiers had not yet recovered from the shock and were pinned to the ground by the angry Jizhou army.

At the same time, the masked man, who was clearly the instigator, had been dragged to Wei Yan Yu's feet.

"Hmph! Still wearing a mask! I want to see..."

An Xu family warrior with an obviously high status cursed and tore off the man's face veil.

The next moment, he was stunned in place as if struck by lightning.

"How, how could it be Young Master?"

The Xu family only had one young master, and that was Xu Chengwen.

Countless shocked gazes looked at this Xu Gongzi, who was both civil and military, and then fell on Wei Yanyu.

However, the latter's expression did not change much.

It was as if this traitor who had betrayed the entire Xu family was not her own son.

"M-Madam, this..."

Someone stuttered, wanting to ask Wei Yanyu how to deal with Xu Chengwen.

But before he could finish speaking, the latter slowly turned around, turned her back to the crowd, and sighed softly.