Chapter 322: It’s You! It’s You Who Ruined Me! You Vile Villain!
“Shut up!” Wuxi Duke’s eyes were ablaze with anger.
General Zhu’s scolding had hit him where it hurt, rubbing salt in his wounds.
“In this world, it has always been the victors who dictate, might makes right!” Wuxi Duke argued cunningly, “Once I possess the great treasure and ascend the throne, all the people of the world will sing my praises, and history will record my glorious name!”
“Just with your wolf-hearted character, you think you can obtain the great treasure?” General Zhu’s temper flared as he continued to berate, “Not only will I not agree, but people all over the world will also disagree!”
“You think the world will sing your praises? Dream on! If we don’t curse you to death, that would be fortunate enough!”
“Want history to record your good name? Go and have your delusional dreams. You’ll only be remembered as a disgrace for ten thousand years, forever nailed to the pillar of shame, spurned by others!”
“Zhu Xingyu! Shut your mouth before me!” Wuxi Duke angrily shouted.
Beside him, General Gongsun advised, “Your Highness, don’t waste your breath on him anymore! The victor is the king, the loser is the bandit. As long as we win this battle, this world will be ours!”
“What can their curses do to us? We’ll put a sword to their throats and see if they dare to curse us. And as for history recording our infamy, we’ll point a sword at the heads of those historians and see if they revise it.”
“As long as we have power and troops in our hands, what do we have to fear?”
“General Gongsun’s words are correct. Your Highness, I’ve learned from your wisdom,” Wuxi Duke nodded and then lifted his head with a fierce look in his eyes, “Zhu Xingyu, I’ve given you a chance, but you didn’t treasure it. Don’t blame me for being impolite!”
“How would you be impolite?” General Zhu sneered.
“Annihilate your entire army!” Wuxi Duke roared.
“Hahaha…” General Zhu burst into laughter, “You? You want to annihilate my entire army?”
Waving his hand, the city wall was filled with countless heads. Each held a bow and arrow, aiming down below.
The imperial soldiers who had fled outside the city orderly returned, now at the city’s doorstep.
With great enthusiasm, General Zhu proclaimed, “I have 400,000 elite troops here. Can you kill them all?”
Wuxi Duke chuckled softly, “Can’t we? You only have 400,000 troops, but I have 700,000. Our forces are strong enough to defeat you twice over!”
General Zhu laughed heartily, “In the past, I might have been cautious of you, but now, I don’t need to fear you at all! So what if there are more of you? If you all turn into cowards, what’s the use?”
“What do you mean?” An uneasy feeling stirred in Wuxi Duke’s heart.
Just then, within the ranks of Wuxi Duke’s troops, someone cried out in pain, clutching their stomach and crouching down, their face twisted in agony.
Then, the second, third, fourth…
One after another, soldiers clutched their stomachs and crouched down in pain.
Following that, the tenth, twentieth, thirtieth…
Soldiers from both Wuxi Duke’s and General Gongsun’s armies fell to the ground in waves, their faces contorted.
Wuxi Duke’s sense of foreboding grew stronger, and he hastily asked, “What’s happening to you all? What’s going on? Why is everyone lying on the ground? Speak up, I’m asking you, answer me!”
General Gongsun examined one soldier’s condition and said with a grave expression, “They seem to have been poisoned.”
“But they were perfectly fine… How could they have been poisoned?” Wuxi Duke felt a sense of panic.
“It’s the water! They all drank from the barrels of water! The water is tainted!” Someone exclaimed in terror.
Wuxi Duke pointed his sword at General Zhu and angrily shouted, “You’ve poisoned the water, you despicable villain!”
General Zhu laughed triumphantly, “Indeed, there’s a problem with the water! However, I didn’t poison it, but added a little laxative! You drank the laxative, so naturally, your stomach hurts! Haha…”
Wuxi Duke and General Gongsun’s expressions sank.
Though it wasn’t poison, just a laxative!
However, even this small amount of laxative could completely alter the course of the battle. How can you fight when your stomach is in pain? How can you fight when you have diarrhea?
Can you even stand, let alone fight?
General Gongsun’s eyes spewed fire, and he angrily retorted, “To use laxatives is despicable and shameless of you! You are unworthy of being called a human being!”
General Zhu looked smug, “The saying goes, all is fair in war! So what if I added a laxative to the water? I didn’t force you to drink it. You fought to drink it, and now you blame me for the problems you caused yourselves. How does that make sense?”
The imperial soldiers burst into laughter.
Wuxi Duke and General Gongsun were furious!
It was clearly you who added the laxative!
It was clearly your fault!
You knew our troops were thirsty and needed water, that’s why you placed the barrels full of water there, and then added laxatives!
Now you’re trying to shift the blame completely onto us. How shameless!
How shameless!!!
Just then, cries of pain echoed throughout the area. The hundreds of thousands of incoming troops, all clutched their stomachs and fell to the ground.
Their faces turned pale, sweat beaded on their foreheads, their lips turned blue, and their expressions twisted in pain…
Some couldn’t hold it in any longer and squatted to relieve themselves.
For a moment, the stench was overwhelming!
However, Wuxi Duke felt his heart grow as cold as iron, his whole body shivering.
How can troops like this fight?
Each and every one can’t even stand up; they’ve become a bunch of cowards. How can they fight?
What else can they do?
He couldn’t understand it. How had the situation that was once so favorable turned into this?
Why did it turn into this?
Why?
Wuxi Duke’s gaze swept across the scene.
Finally, his eyes settled on a young man.
The man was dressed in a red official robe, standing beside General Zhu. He appeared youthful and promising, with handsome features. He smiled slightly at Wuxi Duke, his smile radiant and attractive.
This person was Lin Beifan, the hidden chess piece he had planted within the imperial court.
Despite his greed for money, he had always completed his tasks exceptionally well. His capabilities were outstanding, which earned him a lot of favor from Wuxi Duke.
Therefore, when the Phoenix Fortress couldn’t be captured for a long time, he turned to this hidden chess piece, hoping for his assistance.
As expected, Lin Beifan lived up to his reputation. He pointed out a weak point in the fortress, allowing them to break through successfully and enter the city.
Victory was within reach, but the situation completely turned due to thirst and drinking water. The imperial troops smoothly exited the city and trapped them inside. It was all a scheme, a trap targeting him. In that moment, Wuxi Duke comprehended it all. Everything became clear, but it was too late.
“It’s you! You’re the one who harmed me! You treacherous traitor!” Wuxi Duke pointed his sword at Lin Beifan, his anger erupting.
Lin Beifan looked innocent and wronged, “Your Highness Wuxi Duke, have you gone mad? We met for the first time today, so why falsely accuse me? Blaming me for harming you… What did I do to harm you?”
“Still pretending, huh? Truly a crafty villain!” Wuxi Duke laughed bitterly, “I had a lifetime of honor, yet I fell into the hands of a petty person! Haha, shameful and laughable! Is this the retribution for my wrongdoings?”
“Utterly senseless!” Lin Beifan muttered to himself, then turned to General Zhu and said, “Let’s not delay any further, shall we?”
“Absolutely, my Lord Lin!” General Zhu gestured widely, “Release the arrows!”
“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh…”
Arrows rained down.
The troops below the city wall were already struggling to stand, unable to dodge, and they fell one by one from the arrows.
In just this barrage of arrows, over ten thousand soldiers were taken down.
“Continue shooting!” General Zhu shouted.
“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh…”
Another round of arrows.
Another group of enemy soldiers fell to the ground.
Wuxi Duke and General Gongsun watched as their soldiers were slaughtered like lambs. Their eyes reddened in anger, and they roared, “How dare you kill my soldiers!!”
They led their innate and martial experts to resist.
“Take care of them, innate experts!” General Zhu ordered, then led the imperial innate experts down.
In the city, the innate experts from both sides clashed fiercely, killing each other in a bloody frenzy.
Amidst the chaos, the soldiers of Wuxi Duke and General Gongsun had nowhere to hide, resulting in even more casualties. On top of that, the continuous barrage of arrows from the city walls took a heavy toll.
“You killed my soldiers, I will kill yours!” Wuxi Duke went mad, charging towards the city walls with a fierce intent to kill.
“Burn the boats and bridges, both sides perish together!” General Gongsun had the same idea.
At this time, around 450 masked innate experts rushed in from outside and stopped General Gongsun. They shouted to the imperial troops, “Leave Gongsun Wudi to us, you go kill the others!”
General Zhu was delighted, “Thank you, fellow righteous men, for your assistance!”
The slaughter continued!
Innate experts slaughtered innate experts!
Soldiers slaughtered soldiers!
Everyone went mad!
About half an incense stick’s time later, the forces of Wuxi Duke and General Gongsun were almost decimated.
Wuxi Duke looked at the hundreds of thousands of soldiers he had painstakingly cultivated, all gone. He went mad with rage.
He quickly lunged towards Lin Beifan, “It’s you! Everything is because of you! I will definitely kill you, to avenge my tens of thousands of sons and soldiers!”
“Lord Lin, watch out!”
“Get out of the way!”
…
Everyone cried out in alarm.
However, at that moment, Wuxi Duke was already in front of Lin Beifan. He struck out with all his strength.
“I will ensure you have no place to die!!!” he roared.
Yet, Lin Beifan didn’t seem afraid; instead, he smiled enigmatically.
He had a small dagger in his hand, and with a speed faster than Wuxi Duke’s strike, he stabbed towards his opponent’s dantian.
Caught off guard, Wuxi Duke was struck by the dagger, blood flowing freely. Lin Beifan then gave a forceful twist, breaking Wuxi Duke’s dantian and nullifying his entire martial arts prowess. Wuxi Duke spat out blood and was sent flying back, trembling as he pointed at Lin Beifan, “Ah! You… you’re not Lin Beifan!”
Lin Beifan laughed, “You’re right, this young master is indeed not Lin Beifan.”
With a tear of his mask and a sweep of his clothes, he revealed himself to be the master of disguise, Night Fragrance.
Raising the blood-stained dagger triumphantly, he said, “Wuxi Duke, how did you like the strike I just delivered? Did it feel good?”
“Ah! I’m furious! Furious…” Wuxi Duke screamed.
Using all his strength, he not only failed to avenge his fallen soldiers but also lost his martial prowess due to a sneak attack. He was utterly furious.
At this moment, the genuine Lin Beifan leisurely walked out. Looking at Wuxi Duke, who had lost his martial arts, he smiled faintly, “Take him into custody!”
“Yes, Lord Lin!”
