Chapter 7: Hehe!! Once You're In, There's No Getting Out!

The five thousand elite soldiers of the Dazhao Kingdom charged through the city gate where the barrier had been broken. Wu Shanggui and the leader of Qingmu Mountain led the charge at the very front. Among the elders of Qingmu Mountain, one was left outside to tend to the elder who had fainted. The remaining two elders followed the Dazhao cavalry into the city.

Li Muchen, stationed atop the city wall, had already withdrawn the defending soldiers below the gate. When Wu Shanggui and his troops stormed the city, they found it completely deserted. Wu Shanggui assumed that Li Muchen’s men had fled out of cowardice.

“Useless emperor!” he sneered. “Your men are just like you—cowards! The battle hasn’t even begun, and everyone’s already run off?”

After his ridicule, the five thousand cavalrymen behind him joined in the jeering.

“Such worthless trash! He actually served as the emperor of Dazhao Kingdom?”

“When this news spreads, other nations will only mock us more.”

“What’s there to fear?”

“We’ll kill the useless emperor and erase him from the kingdom’s history.”

“Then who will even remember he was ever our emperor?”

The Dazhao cavalry burst into laughter. Wu Shanggui instantly praised the soldier who had spoken.

“Not a bad idea!”

“Once we kill the useless emperor, I’ll recommend to His Majesty that we wipe him from the royal records.”

Wu Shanggui recalled the new emperor’s concerns about his own lineage before departing. If the history of Dazhao Kingdom was rewritten to erase the emperor and his family, future generations wouldn't doubt the new emperor’s identity. If he presented this suggestion, the new emperor might reward him handsomely.

He looked up at Li Muchen standing on the city wall and grinned fiercely.

“Useless emperor—”

“I’ll be the first to cut off your head and present it to the new emperor of Dazhao to claim credit!”

“Army, listen up—”

“First, eliminate the guards on the city walls, then lay waste to the city.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

The shouts rose one after another as the five thousand elite soldiers fully entered the city. Most dismounted and charged toward the city walls.

At that moment, Li Muchen once again sent a mental command to the Four Divine Beasts.

“Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, White Tiger—now is the time. Quickly restore the barrier.”

“I won’t let a single one of them escape!”

With his command, the Four Divine Beasts chanted spells, and the protective barrier around the city reformed.

Wu Shanggui and his cavalry, all human, failed to notice this sudden change and pressed forward relentlessly toward the city walls. However, the leader of Qingmu Mountain and the two elders sensed the barrier’s abnormal activation.

“This isn’t good.”

“The barrier’s back up?”

“It’s a trap! Run!”

“Get out of the city gate, now!”

But Wu Shanggui and his five thousand soldiers were deaf to their warnings, wielding great swords intent on slaughtering the emperor’s guards on the walls.

Suddenly, Wu Shanggui and all his troops were immobilized by a paralysis spell—unable to move a muscle. At the same moment, the Qingmu Mountain leader and the two elders were thrown back by the barrier’s force, collapsing to the ground and coughing blood.

Only now did the three of them realize the barrier had never truly been broken; it was a trap set by the useless emperor to lure them inside.

Realizing they couldn’t cast any spells within the barrier, the Qingmu Mountain leader guessed the truth.

“Cough… Leader…”

“What do we do now… cough!”

“My magic is completely sealed.”

“Mine too—no mana can be summoned… cough!”

“Don’t speak for yourselves—my power as leader is also fully suppressed inside this barrier.”

“Leader—look!”

“Heavens! Wu Shanggui and the others…”

“This is bad!”

The Qingmu Mountain leader’s face twisted in alarm, just as Li Muchen, who had been watching him all along, noticed.

With Wu Shanggui and the five thousand soldiers paralyzed, Li Muchen was in no hurry to deal with them. Instead, his priority was to feed his Vermilion Bird and help it advance.

The two Qingmu elders tensed as Li Muchen descended the city wall slowly. They turned anxiously to their leader.

“This is bad! That useless emperor is coming for us.”

“Leader, saving our lives is the priority! Maybe we should negotiate with him?”

Li Muchen approached step by step, his gaze sharp and cold as a blade piercing the three elders of Qingmu Mountain.

Stopping above them, he looked down and asked, “Still planning to run?”

At his voice, the Qingmu Mountain leader and the two elders found themselves paralyzed as well, unable to move a limb.

Now truly panicked, the Qingmu Mountain leader pleaded, “Wait—”

Li Muchen said nothing, continuing to look down on them with contempt.

“The one who wants to kill you is Wu Shanggui.”

“Release us, and I guarantee Qingmu Mountain will never trouble you again.”

At this moment, the Qingmu Mountain leader tried to maintain his superior demeanor, but the tremor in his voice betrayed his fear.

“Heh!” Li Muchen chuckled coldly, a mocking glint in his eyes as he swept them with a razor-sharp gaze.

“I say—”

“Do you three still not understand your situation?!”

“Even if I cut you down right now, could you dodge it?”

At Li Muchen’s icy words, the Qingmu Mountain leader’s face drained of color, sweat dripping from his forehead.

“I am the leader of Qingmu Mountain, a cultivator.”

“How dare you harm us? The Holy Lord of Qingmu Mountain will never forgive you or your new kingdom.”

“If you release us, I promise to forgive all past grievances.”

“Release you?” Li Muchen laughed uproariously, throwing his head back, “You should ask… if my Vermilion Bird agrees to that?”

“Vermilion Bird? What Vermilion Bird?”

The Qingmu Mountain leader’s head was frozen in place, but his eyes darted around desperately—and found nothing.

Suddenly, a chill breeze swept over his head.

With a whooshing sound, the Vermilion Bird descended from the sky, its flaming red wings beating fiercely as it headed straight for the Qingmu Mountain leader.

“No!”

“No!”

“I will devour this old wretch, ascend in power, and become even stronger.”

Frozen in place, every hair on the Qingmu Mountain leader’s body stood on end, his lips trembling.

“No! I beg you… whatever conditions you want, I will agree to them!”