Just at this time, an urgent intelligence report was delivered to the tent, which said that enemy reinforcements were only half a day's march away from Lishan City.

"So soon?" Ling Zhang furrowed his brows. It seemed that the reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom were also aware of the strategic importance of Lishan City and had been traveling day and night.

"Is it doable to take Lishan City within half a day?" inquired Ling Zhang.

"Lishan City's defenses are about to give way. We can take it within half a day if we go all out," replied Yuwen Jin.

Xiao Jiangyue shook his head. "We'll need some time to get prepared after taking Lishan City, in case enemy reinforcements attack us when our troops are tired."

Xiao Jiangyue, an experienced general, covered all the bases.

Yuwen Tong had the same opinion.

Ling Zhang thought about it for a moment and then said, "I'll sneak into the city and figure out a way to open the gates."

"How are you going to get in there?" asked Xiao Jiangyue.

Ling Zhang said, "My Lightness Skills are pretty good. I'll climb over the ramparts when the defenders' attention is drawn to you guys."

"That would be great!" said Yuwen Jin excitedly.

Yuwen Tong cast him a warning look and observed, "That's too dangerous."

Yuwen Jin, taken aback by his second cousin, recalled Ling Zhang's identity and hastened to agree, "Sire is right. You should not do that, Brother Zhang."

Ling Zhang said, "I'll be careful, and I'll take Jiang Xi Yao Yi and some others with me. Even if I can't open the city gates, I'll kill as many enemies as possible to distract them."

Xiao Jiangyue and the others looked at Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong inclined his head eventually. "You must be very cautious."

Having got Yuwen Tong's consent, Ling Zhang, along with Jiang Xi, Yao Yi, Wang Dashan and some others, immediately blended in with the crowd of soldiers attacking the city, sneaked to the foot of the ramparts and, while the defenders were distracted by the troops, secretly found a spot where they soundlessly climbed to the top of the ramparts before entering the city while no one was watching.

The moment they gained entry into the city, Ling Zhang noticed that the city gates were blocked by a giant rock the size of a mound.

"Holy shit. What a huge rock," exclaimed Qiu Bing in a muted voice.

"They must've transported the rock there with chariots, given the deep ruts in the ground," remarked Ling Zhang.

They were now hiding in a secluded corner nearby, observing the situation at the city gates.

"If we are to open the city gates, we'll have to figure out a way to remove that rock, but even with all our strength combined, moving a rock that size will take a lot of doing, and there's no way we could do it quietly enough not to be spotted. The soldiers will definitely attack us. This is tricky," said Jiang Xi.

"Enormous as the rock is, it's not really immovable," observed Ling Zhang. With his powerful internal energy, he could remove the rock single-handed, but it would take some time. After this thought occurred to him, he said, "Dashan and the others are to adopt a defensive formation and hold the enemy soldiers at bay. I'll take care of the rock."

"Let us help," said Yao Yi.

Fortunately all of them were top-notch kung fu masters with superb internal energy.

Ling Zhang nodded, quickly made some arrangements and then, while none of the defenders had noticed their intrusion, sprinted at the city gates with the others.

Jiang Xi, brandishing his spear with wicked gleams, charged into the crowd of enemy soldiers and instantly attracted all their attention. Wang Dashan and the others, taking advantage of the chaotic situation, streaked into the short passageway behind the blocked city gates, quickly killed all the soldiers inside, turned around and formed into a defensive formation, holding the other defenders back.

Ling Zhang, Yao Yi and some others stood beside the giant rock. Ling Zhang scrutinized it for a moment and said, "This rock is not very solid."

They could break it where it was, but the large pile of broken rock would still make it inconvenient for the city gates to be opened, so they decided to remove it.

Ling Zhang, who had reached the sixth layer of his cultivation method, had long since developed a high proficiency in his palm technique, and his internal energy was more than enough for him to halve a rock the size of a mound.

He immediately mobilized all his internal energy and gave the rock a stupendous push with his palms.

The gigantic rock jolted and then started moving backwards, grating violently across the ground.

Yao Yi and the others were also straining every sinew, trying to help Ling Zhang remove the immense rock. At first the rock was edging along, but after a few moments, when they had more space and could better exert their power, the rock moved a lot faster.

"Don't let them remove the rock! Shoot them!" someone bellowed outside.

Ling Zhang frowned but was still pushing with all his might, teeth clenched.

BOOM!

When the rock was about to be pushed out of the passageway, Ling Zhang yelled at Wang Dashan and the others, "Step aside!"

Wang Dashan and the others rapidly backed deeper into the passageway as the enormous rock toppled forward to the ground with a great crash!

With that Ling Zhang gave a palm strike and the next moment elemental internal energy exploded inside the mound-sized rock which was instantly reduced to numerous flying pieces.

All the defenders in the vicinity were hit by the shooting pieces.

"Open the gates!" shouted Ling Zhang.

Yao Yi and the others spun around and lunged at the gates as a hail of arrows arrived.

Ling Zhang, who had just taken a breath, whipped out his sword and, mobilizing his powerful internal energy, wielded the sword in a fluid circular motion at the broken rocks on the ground and with that they flew up into mid-air before shooting towards the incoming arrows.

A flurry of clinks rang out as more than half of the volley of arrows were downed by the flying rubble, the remnants of them blocked by Ling Zhang's sword. Two or three arrows whizzed past Ling Zhang but were then parried by those behind him.

At the same time, Yao Yi had quickly removed the long iron bolt, unlatching the city gates ...

...

No sooner had the gates been unbolted than troops of the Great Wen flooded into the city and engaged the defenders.

Ling Zhang, when exiting the city, suddenly sensed that there was something dangerous in the east and promptly went in that direction.

His bodyguards hastened to follow in his wake. Yao Yi and the others, unable to extricate themselves from the fight with the defenders for the time being, couldn't go with them, looking apprehensive as they saw Ling Zhang swoosh off and quickly disappear from view.

Ling Zhang hurtled all the way to the east city gates, his bodyguards on his heels.

"What's this about, Young Master?" asked Liu Yi.

The east city gates were wide open and it was very quiet outside. The enemy reinforcements had not arrived yet. Most of the enemy soldiers had gone to the west city gates to help, leaving only a small number of them standing guard.

Compared with the sparse soldiers guarding the gates, the panic-stricken residents trying to flee the city were in much greater numbers.

Ling Zhang couldn't spare a thought for that matter. He had a hunch that the reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom were not far away and would soon arrive.

The city gates must be closed.

Ling Zhang's eyes swept through the steady stream of civilians exiting the city. "Get into a formation and stop them," he said to his bodyguards.

Slaughtering these civilians was not an option, so he could only hold them back.

His bodyguards, also aware of it, raised no objection and promptly followed Ling Zhang's orders, forming into a formation and holding the civilians back.

Ling Zhang, after allowing the residents who were already at the gates to get through, quickly killed the enemy soldiers standing guard and shut the gates.

"Let us out!"

"They are from the Great Wen!"

"Are they here to kill us?"

"Let us out!"

The civilians were thrown into confusion.

BANG! All of a sudden, a Luohai soldier was knocked off his feet by a spear, which then penetrated his chest and pinned him to the ground in front of the crowd of shouting citizens, a violent shock wave of internal energy forcing many in the vicinity back several paces.

"I'm not going to kill you," said Ling Zhang, emerging from behind his bodyguards, his cold eyes raking the crowds who found his voice striking fear into their hearts. "None of the Great-Wen soldiers would kill any innocent civilians in this city or plunder any of your houses, but if anybody puts up a resistance, they'll end up like this man!"

He was emanating that commanding air at full stretch, which served as such a deterrent to the residents in the vicinity none of them dared utter a word. Some of them, gazing at the dead body on the ground, were shaking from head to foot.

Ling Zhang instructed Wang Dashan and the others to stand guard where they were and kill anybody who walked past that dead body.

The residents, who were trying to flee the city because they didn't want to die, were scared by Ling Zhang's brutal act and the murderous air about his bodyguards, not daring do anything rash.

Ling Zhang glanced at the body on the ground, withdrew his eyes and then walked up the flight of steps to the top of the ramparts.

The reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom would soon arrive, but the defenders inside the city had not been wiped out yet, and the streets were still blocked. Yuwen Tong's men wouldn't be able to come any time soon. He must figure out a way to hold back the Luohai reinforcements.

After giving it some thought, he believed that the only way was to deploy a deceptive Formation outside the city.

...

In order to reach Lishan City before the Great-Wen army did so that they could keep the Great-Wen army out, the Luohai reinforcements had been traveling day and night. As the ramparts of Lishan City came into view in the distance, all of them felt a sense of relief.

Though all the troops were rather weary, the commander still decided to enter the city immediately in case anything unexpected happened.

The large army progressed towards the east city gates of Lishan City along the national road.

After quite a while, an officer suddenly perceived that something was wrong.

"General, do the ramparts strike you as unchanged, or is it just me?"

The commander did not cotton on to what the officer meant. "There's nothing wrong with the ramparts," he said, looking in that direction.

"That's not what I mean, General. What I'm trying to say is that the ramparts seem to be just as distant as they were a quarter of an hour ago. Theoretically we should have approached the outside of the city by now. How come it still appears to be that far away?"

The commander jumped at the words and then found that the officer was telling the truth. The ramparts seemed just as distant as they had been when he had first seen them, which obviously didn't make any sense.

But surely the ramparts had not been moving away from them as though they had feet?

"Don't be ridiculous. Hurry up, all of you! We'll be inside the city in less than an hour!" yelled the commander.

Though it struck him that there was something fishy at work, he was unable to find a plausible explanation for it, so he could only instruct his men to pick up speed, believing that they would find out the reason when they reached the city gates.

The reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom quickened their pace. The soldiers had been traveling non-stop for days, their feet blistered, their lips pallid, mingled tiredness and numbness etched in every line of their faces. The commander ordered them to hurry up, so they numbly walked faster.

Gradually, an hour passed.

The ramparts still seemed to be as distant as they had been an hour ago.

The commander gave the order to cease proceeding, swallowed hard and muttered, "This can't be happening. Why haven't we got any closer to it?"

"It's daytime. Surely there are not any ghostly presences at play?" Another officer began to make speculations, appearing faintly unnerved. Having been journeying day and night for such a long time, not only the soldiers traveling on foot but also the officers riding horseback were weary and somewhat listless.

"That's impossible! No ghostly presence dares show up in broad daylight! Stop undermining our troops' morale with this kind of nonsense!" reprimanded the commander.

The officer instantly fell silent, not daring utter another word, but as he looked in the direction of the ramparts again, the expression in his eyes was now different, his bearing vigilant.

"We'll have two hours' rest in this place. Send the vanguard ahead to scout out the lay of the land," said the commander.

When the reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom, having traveled in circles outside the city for hours, began to panic, the fighting between the army of the Great Wen and the garrison of Lishan City had lasted almost two hours in the city and was coming to an end.

Xiao Jiangyue and He Xiao had taken some men to the east city gates and made some defensive arrangements.

"I just deployed an Illusion Formation. It'll trap them in there for two hours at the most," Ling Zhang said to Yuwen Tong.

The two of them were also on the ramparts, looking at the enemy reinforcements that could be vaguely seen outside the city and their approaching vanguard.

"Increase the guards by twenty percent. Tell the archers to get ready," Yuwen Tong said to Xiao Jiangyue. "The enemy reinforcements must be exhausted after such a long journey. When they find out we've taken the city, they won't attack immediately, but we must not give them the impression that the defense of this city is weak, lest they change their mind and stage an offensive."

After all, the army of the Great Wen had just been through a battle and were now also fatigued.

Xiao Jiangyue soon carried out the orders. There were now more soldiers standing guard on the ramparts than there had been a moment ago. Also, some cheval-de-frise had been positioned outside the city gates and were heavily guarded.

...

The vanguard of the Luohai army reached the outside of the city and were startled as they saw that Lishan City had been taken by a Great-Wen army and was now well defended. They hurriedly returned to the place where the Luohai army was temporarily staying.

"General, Lishan City has fallen. There are Great-Wen soldiers everywhere near the city gates. Their defense is very strong."

The commander's countenance changed drastically. Looking at Lishan City in the distance, he asked through gritted teeth, "Are you sure of what you saw?"

"A hundred percent. Those Great-Wen soldiers are vigorous and vigilant and there seems to be no weakness in their defense. I'm afraid we'll suffer heavy casualties if we launch a frontal attack on the city right away."

The commander angrily threw his helmet to the ground. "Fuck! We traveled day and night but still failed to make it in time. The commander of the garrison is such a good-for-nothing. With all the strategic advantages they had, they didn't even hold the city long enough for us to arrive!"

None of the other officers dared say a word.

Consumed with anger, the commander cursed loudly for a long moment before he eventually huffed, "Make camp right here. We'll attack after some rest and take the city back!"

"Yes, General!"

...

In Lishan City.

The Luohai army deterred, Yuwen Tong immediately gave the order for the troops to rest and regroup.

"Tonight we'll raid the encampment of the Luohai army out there."

Yuwen Tong's decision amazed all the officers, for they had just been through a battle, and their troops were all tired. Raiding the Luohai encampment outside the city in these circumstances would be a very stressful task for the soldiers.

"The Luohai army have been traveling day and night and all their soldiers are drained, their feet blistered. Since this is their first time stopping to rest, their soldiers would drop their guard and be sleeping deeply at night, which would be a golden opportunity for us to launch a sneak attack," said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang immediately came to understand what Yuwen Tong meant. The Luohai soldiers were even more tired than Great-Wen soldiers.

Xiao Jiangyue agreed, "Sire is right. When they regain strength, we'll be faced with an army with well-trained soldiers and sturdy horses, and defeating it will take a lot of doing. This is indeed a good opportunity to deal them a heavy blow."

"But they have already come to know our defenses are strong, and I'm afraid they would be guarding against a night-time surprise attack," said He Xiao.

Jiang Ke shook his head and said, "Even if they're guarding against it, there's no way they could stay on full alert. They've traveled non-stop for days, and that's the deadliest blow to them. There's no way their soldiers could stay sharp tonight, even if their commander repeat the orders again and again, because they're only human."

He Xiao gave it some thought and said, "How about we put out feelers first?"

"We'll take them down in one fell swoop. There's no need to risk alerting them," said Yuwen Tong. "We got four hours before sunset. Send word for all the soldiers to rest in the city, except for those responsible for clearing the battlefield and those guarding the city gates. Tell the cooks to prepare enough meat dishes for the troops as a treat so that they can sleep with their bellies full. We'll depart at the end of Zi Hour (23:00-00:59)."

This would guarantee that the soldiers had enough time to rest and recharge. Even if they couldn't regain all their strength, their level of combat readiness would be far higher than that of the Luohai army!

Nobody raised any objections. The officers immediately set off to carry out Yuwen Tong's orders.

Soon, apart from army cooks, some local cooks in the city were also summoned. Under close supervision of some soldiers, the cooks quickly prepared a hearty meal. All the fresh meat was provided by caravans that had been following in the army's wake.

For troops of the Great Wen who had been fighting at the front, Jiahe Chamber of Commerce dutifully providing them with sufficient supplies was no doubt an enjoyable, exclusive, special treatment.

After the army had their fill of food and drink, officers of all descriptions received the order to raid the Luohai encampment after midnight and with that they instructed the soldiers to find places to rest.

Soon, before sunset, silence reigned over the city.

The soldiers who were still clearing the battlefield were keeping their voices down when talking, trying not to make any noises.

The citizens were unaware of what was going on, baffled as to why the city had suddenly quieted down. However, because the atmosphere in the city was too weird and there had just been a battle, everybody was infected by the mood, not daring speak aloud, all their front doors tightly shut.