Chapter 7: Operation Beheading

  Yang Tian was now holding the assassin's sword, studying it. The sword body was a cold grayish white, except for a small spot near the hilt on the blade, there were no other signs of damage anywhere else. It seemed to be a treasured sword. As he looked at it, Yang Tian couldn't help but feel a little delighted. This was the spoils of war!

  Lei Meng saw Yang Tian standing alone on one side, holding a short sword and grinning foolishly, knowing that he was indulging in some sort of fantasy again. He rolled his eyes and asked: "What's up? Yang Tian, have you seen something good and gone stupid?"

  Yang Tian heard the sky and still couldn't help but say: "Lei Meng, this short sword is pretty good, it's almost as good as that Tang knife. If it were as thick and sturdy as the Tang knife, I'm afraid it would be even more formidable than the Tang knife!"

  Lei Meng Hei's face turned dark as he said, "Hmph, since that's the case, you'd better return that Tang knife to me. I'll send..."

  Yang Tian suddenly became anxious and said, "Ah~, no! Tang Knife is still the best, I'm waiting for you to forge an even better one in the future. Here, take this short sword!" Lei Ming quickly took the short sword from Yang Tian's hand with his right hand, a smile on his face, and examined it carefully under the lamp light, then laughed and praised: "Hmm, not bad!"

  Yang Tian gritted his teeth and muttered: "I knew you were like this. You just wanted to give away this sword, didn't you!"

  Lei Meng didn't care about the meeting with Yang Tian, and walked up to Tong Da Shuai, who was sitting at the table, with a short sword in hand. The blood near the table had been cleaned up by Qin Hao with two buckets of water, and it was quite clean now. Tong Da Shuai stretched out his right arm, only to find that it still hurt when he moved it, and there was a slight stinging pain, so he furrowed his brow in thought.

  "General, how's your wound?" Lei Meng shouted in a low voice.

  Tong Dashuai raised his head and smiled: "It's okay, just a little pain, nothing serious."

  "General, since this sword has hurt you, why don't you just keep it with you at all times as a warning to us to always be careful." Lei Ming gently placed the sword on the table.

  "Oh? This treasured sword..." General Tong was slightly surprised, he knew from the intense battle earlier that this short sword had withstood Tang's powerful slash without sustaining any damage, it was a treasured sword!

  Lei Meng nodded slightly and said, "We still have daggers. And we have enough Tang knives."

  "Hmm, then I'll accept your goodwill." Tong Dashuai stretched out his left hand to grab the short sword on the table.

  Lei Meng continued: "Since the enemy is using this assassination tactic, why don't we also go and assassinate their generals?"

  Tong Dashuai's left hand, which had just grasped the short sword, suddenly tightened, and he said, "There is no such capable person in the army. Unless..."

  "I've decided to go for a walk." Lei Meng said calmly, actually he brought it up just to go himself, Yang Tian hurt his left hand and wasn't so convenient - besides, Yang Tian couldn't compare to Lei Meng.

  "Alright, be careful then! Watch out for your safety!" Tong Dashuai's eyes gleamed with excitement, his left hand gripping the sword as he thrust it forward fiercely. The blade flashed in the light, its movement smooth and fluid, but this action also stirred up his wound, causing him to furrow his brow again.

  Yang Tian was injured and couldn't let him take risks on the front line anymore. Lei Ming thought for a moment, then said to Tong Da Shuai: "Although Yang Tian's left arm is injured, his movements are not greatly affected. He will protect the general. I'll go." After finishing speaking, he slipped out of the room door.

  "Hao Tianjun's army is in great chaos!" Another voice floated in from outside the door.

  Tong Dashuai nodded slightly, then he said to Qin Hao who was standing silently beside the table: "Qin Hao, go and mobilize the troops, closely monitor the movements of the Huan Tian Army, and strike at any moment!"

  "Yes!" Qin Hao took orders and turned around to leave.

  He nodded slightly to the right and said to Mr. Wen: "Thanks for your help, Mr. Wen. I'll take a rest first."

  "General Tong can rest assured." Mr. Wen nodded and chased after Qin Hao. General Tong saw the two leave, then carefully examined the short sword again.

  "Damn it!" Yang Tian hummed and then walked towards the general with a smile, saying: "General, this sword is not bad, right?"

  "Hehe, not bad, Tong likes it." Tong Dashuai didn't dare laugh loudly...

  After leaving the city, he rushed straight to the east wall. When he reached the top of the wall, he found Lin Chong who was still on guard and said: "Lin Chong, I'm going to sneak into the Heavenly Army. You should take action accordingly."

  "I... all right. Be careful!" Lin Chong stopped his impulse to follow and hastily changed his words.

  "Follow me." Lin Chong led Lei Ming to a place where the torches couldn't reach and said, "Let's go down this way."

  Lei Meng nodded slightly and jumped down from the city wall, "zip... zip...", his clothes rustling softly, and soon disappeared into the darkness.

  Lin Chong couldn't help but shake his head and let out a soft sigh before walking away back to his original position.

  The thunder rumbled softly and then hid in the darkness, quickly feeling its way to the back of the Haotian Army. After all, going from the front would be too easy to see, and it wouldn't achieve the effect of a sneak attack.

  Lei Meng stopped two hundred meters away from the city wall, stunned and forgetting that the Haotian Army didn't have a military camp here. Fortunately, it was nighttime, so no one discovered Lei Meng unless he accidentally kicked something. In the darkness, Lei Meng carefully scanned his surroundings and found seven bonfires lined up in a row, with people who seemed like officers around them... Hmm! That's right, last time Yang Tian cut towards the torches. Good thing there were several bonfires lit near the commanders; otherwise, it would have been a wasted trip. Hehe, stupid! Lei Meng secretly rejoiced. —— Ah, yes, even without cutting, they're already stupid, what a great thing. But don't think about it, there are a few capable people who can sneak over and assassinate them, and the arrows on the city wall can't shoot that far.

  Lei Meng lightly touched past, at the edge of the disappearing flames, he found that the Haotian Army was already seated on the ground in an orderly manner, holding their weapons in hand, silent and motionless, seemingly waiting for the chaos within the city to erupt before charging out.

  He stopped and Lei Meng couldn't help but complain about the height issue. If he were taller, he could just pull over a Heavenly Soldier, strip him of his clothes and wear them to get closer. Now the problem was big.

  Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from the northeast, with debris flying everywhere, and it seemed that rain was not far away. The night wind struck his body, and a flash of lightning illuminated the surroundings. He quickly sensed the wind and, with 90% of his energy, circulated his Qi rapidly around his body twice, then focused on his feet before leaping up and propelling himself towards the nearest fire pit, which was also the one farthest to the right.

  The wind that was brought up from the east blew over the soldiers who were sitting on the ground, and several of them found that the wind had weakened a bit, and couldn't help but whisper: "Huh? Why is the wind so small? It only blows to my face and feet, not to my back?"

  "Yes, yes, me too..."

  "It seems like a dark shadow just passed by..."

  "It can't be a ghost, right?"

  A low murmur rose from where the thunder had passed. A soft shout came from beside the fire: "Silence!" The murmurs immediately stopped.

  Suddenly, a black shadow swept towards the bonfire with a gust of wind, circling around it and causing the flames to flicker violently. Then, the five officers sitting in a circle around the fire, all clutched at their necks and fell backwards, "Uh-uh" softly, kicking wildly with their feet, scattering two dry sticks, and died.

  The soldiers sitting around the officer outside saw the officer covering his neck and falling down, and were so frightened that they cried out "ah~ah~" and crawled away.

  "He's dead!"

  "Is that black shadow going to be a ghost?!"

  "Ah...!"

  The soldiers were in a state of utter confusion, shouting and running about wildly.

  Wu Yue, in the middle, fifty meters away, heard a commotion on the far right and shouted: "What's going on over there? Hou Kun! Hou Kun!" It turned out that the leader there was called Hou Kun, but he had already died, so how could he respond?

  Wu Yue shouted twice, but the other side was even more chaotic, and Hou Cong didn't respond. He remembered Li Tian Nan going into the city to carry out an assassination, and also recalled that freak called Lei Meng, suddenly startled, it's over!

  "Assassins! Assassins!" Wu Yue shouted in alarm, "Entire army retreat and defend!"

  At this time, the officers beside the second pile on the right also fell down, and the second team was in chaos like the first team. The chaos spread like a plague, quickly spreading to the entire right army, slowly becoming a mess. The left and central armies rushed to gather according to Wu Yue's instructions.

  Just for a moment, Wu Yue woke up and couldn't bear the firelight, so he shouted loudly: "The officers are among the crowd!" The voice pierced through the chaotic right army, swept across the quiet left army, and then drifted away into the night. The other officers also rushed to mingle with the soldiers. Only the third team's officer was a bit slower, or perhaps too close, and three more officers were stabbed to death. Hearing the shouting behind him, knowing that someone else had been killed, the two escaped officers hid even more desperately.

  Lei Meng's extraordinary lightness skill was too fast, and with one leap, he had already passed five or six meters. After killing the three officers, he flashed to the empty space in front of the Haotian army. It seemed that the commander of the Haotian army was indeed leading by example, sitting at the forefront of the troops. Lei Meng saw that the Haotian soldiers were packed tightly together and couldn't see any officers anymore, knowing it would be difficult to make another kill, so he turned around and ran towards the other side of the city, where there were also many commanders.

  After the thunder left, Wu Yue's army was crowded with soldiers who were stabbed by each other's weapons and cried out in pain. The chaos lasted for nearly twenty minutes before slowly subsiding, leaving everyone nervous, especially the officers, fearing that they would be the next to be killed.

  Wu Yue found that the voices in the dark crowd had subsided, and he guessed that the assassin had left. Although he didn't see anyone, he was certain in his heart that this person was Lei Meng. Wu Yue shouted: "The assassin has gone, everyone line up!"

  Wu Yue's prestige was very high, and the soldiers only hesitated for a moment before scattering with a "plop plop" sound. Only those close to the bonfire knew whether they had lined up or not, but in the darkness, who knows?

  Wu Yue felt satisfied in his heart, it seemed that his prestige was still there. But immediately, all the blood on his face retreated: if the assassin was hiding and hadn't left, wouldn't another stab be the end of him?!

  Forcing himself to calm down, Wu Yue waited for a while and saw no other movement, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh. But immediately after, he gasped again: Li Hunjun!

  "Wu Yue shouted loudly: 'Quick! Pass on my order, tell Li Hun to withdraw immediately!' The messenger took orders and left."

  Wu Yue paced back and forth beside the bonfire, hesitating: should he retreat or not? The experts of Jin Yuan were too formidable! ...No! Jin Yuan's troops were few in number, but if they captured the city, they would exhaust all their strength to besiege him. Otherwise, he would infiltrate into Wu Yue's territory and assassinate him, and there wouldn't be enough generals and officials for him to kill! ---Wu Yue was hesitant yet frantic!

  Forget it! He must have gone to Li Hun's place! Wu Yue was certain.

  "The whole army, listen to the order! Set out and advance towards the west of the city, and join forces with Li Hun!" Wu Yue gave the order, his majestic voice spreading throughout the entire army. The left wing led the troops in an orderly manner, the central wing followed, and the right wing followed in a chaotic manner, also advancing. Leaving behind several corpses by the bonfire, to be collected at dawn.

  Lei Meng spent twenty minutes in the dark, feeling his way to Li Hun's army, and still using the same method, killed fifteen officers in a row, causing chaos throughout the entire army of Hua Tian. Li Hun was greatly shocked and ordered the entire army to retreat to Wu Yue's location. Qin Hao heard the cries of Hua Tian's army in chaos from within the city and led three thousand vanguard soldiers to pursue them.