As he spoke, he channeled his inner force, which flowed like a gushing spring. General Hua felt his body warm, gradually regaining strength, his voice booming louder: “Good! Good! We march tomorrow!”

“General, your injuries…” Ji Wuming knelt beside him, concern etched on his face.

General Hua waved a dismissive hand: “With the Master here, it’s nothing to worry about!”

Li Muzhan slowly withdrew his hands and smiled: “No harm done. Get a good night’s sleep, and you’ll be rearing to go by morning! …Brother Ji, you sit down as well.”

Ji Wuming started, pointing to his own nose: “Me?”

Li Muzhan nodded: “Your strike was not light.”

General Hua grunted: “Stop wasting time, don’t you listen to the Master?”

Ji Wuming reluctantly sat down, his back to Li Muzhan. On his back was a gash where the sword had cut, the flesh curled back. The bleeding had stopped, a result of him forcibly constricting his muscles.

Li Muzhan shook his head. This Old Ji was truly tough; he could walk after such an injury as if nothing were wrong. Fortunately, the sword had missed his lungs, or he would have been coughing blood and dead long ago.

He placed his palm against Ji Wuming’s back. In a short while, Ji Wuming also spat out a jet of blood, immediately feeling relaxed, his spirit refreshed, his eyes gleaming sharply.

Li Muzhan withdrew his hand: “Go take some pills to replenish your blood essence.”

“Many thanks, Master,” Ji Wuming clasped his hands in salute.

Li Muzhan smiled and shook his head: “There will be a fierce battle tomorrow. Brother Ji, you cannot take the field while injured.”

…………

General Hua retired early, and Ji Wuming and the six guards were also weary. Li Muzhan told them to return and rest, to conserve their energy for the harsh fighting ahead.

Seeing him return safely put Ji Wuming and the six guards at ease. Without hesitation, they left to sleep. The surroundings relaxed, leaving only Li Muzhan guarding the main tent alone.

Inside the pitch-dark tent, Li Muzhan sat quietly on the prayer cushion, his bow in his left hand, an arrow in his right, the Duan Yue Saber resting on his right side as well.

The night was still, the flags snapping sharply in the night air clearly audible, as were the measured footsteps of the patrolling soldiers—each sound distinct. No other noises disturbed the silence.

Li Muzhan slightly closed his eyes, motionless, appearing as if deep in meditation.

He was not in a state of Dingjing (meditative calm); his mind was working. He considered that once those three elders returned and found Ximen Zhan dead, if any general remained alive, they would only think of one course of action: a retaliatory assassination.

If they failed to kill General Hua tonight, Day an would surely deploy troops tomorrow. With the Eastern Chu army leaderless, its morale shattered, even elite troops would only face rout.

There was another possibility: withdrawing the army overnight. Retreating proactively rather than facing certain defeat would be a wise move.

However, without Ximen Zhan and those major generals, the temporary commander might lack the resolve to flee without a fight—not everyone could pull that off. If it were Ximen Zhan, spotting a turn for the worse, ordering a retreat would meet no opposition. Others, lacking sufficient prestige, would inevitably face widespread opposition and suspicion, perhaps even being accused of colluding with Day an.

……

Time flowed slowly in the silence. He sat serenely on the cushion, his mind utterly tranquil, without ripple, without sorrow or joy, perfectly peaceful.

After an indeterminate amount of time, he suddenly opened his eyes and smiled faintly.

Outside the tent, across the vast camp of the Shenguang Battalion, a dozen figures flickered and danced, phantom-like. They flashed once, then clung to the tent fabric, melting into its shadows.

Though the patrolling soldiers held their torches high, their eyes keen, they could not perceive these figures.

There were twelve of them in total, each moving with weightless steps, their Qinggong (lightness skill) reaching the level of Ta Xue Wu Hen (Treading Snow Without a Trace). Their movements were swift and elusive, blending slowness with speed, rapidly closing in on the central command tent.

The moonlight was hazy, draping everything like a thin veil. Li Muzhan looked down through his Xukong Zhi Yan (Void Eye). Leading them was a gaunt elder, standing tall and slender as a javelin.

His gaze swept around, left and right, then he calculated with his fingers and pointed. His figure darted forward, and the remaining eleven followed closely behind.

Under his guidance, the twelve bypassed the first two layers of the Qimen Zhen (Mystical Gate Formation) in moments, penetrating to the innermost layer.

General Hua did not place much value on Qimen Dunjia (Mystical Gates and Hidden Evasion). After Zhang Anping defected and was not heavily utilized, Li Muzhan began to value the art greatly. The two often sparred together over it.

In later eras, Zhang Anping would have been a scientific fanatic, completely absorbed in Qimen Dunjia. This profound and abstruse art deterred most people; few understood it, and fewer still valued it—General Hua, though knowing a little superficially, placed no importance on it.

When he encountered Li Muzhan, who both valued Qimen Dunjia and was quite knowledgeable, Zhang Anping felt he had met a soulmate and poured out all his teachings without reservation.

With six Xinzhu (Heart Pearls) enhancing his intellect, Li Muzhan grasped concepts instantly and could extrapolate. One learned quickly, the other enjoyed teaching immensely. As a result, Li Muzhan’s mastery of Qimen Dunjia progressed rapidly; he could be called proficient.

The three formations outside were all set up by him, with Zhang Anping advising on the side. They had no offensive power, serving only as confusion traps: the outer two were based on the Reverse and Forward Eight Trigrams, and the innermost was the Nine Palaces.

Li Muzhan looked down through his Void Eye as the twelve quickly broke through the first two formations. The leading elder’s skill in Qimen Dunjia far surpassed his own, being no less than Zhang Anping’s.

He smiled faintly, took his bow in his left hand, plucked an arrow with his right, nocked it, and drew it to a full moon. A streak of dark light shot out silently, piercing the tent fabric and dissolving into the night air.

The leading elder suddenly flashed to the left. The silent dark light swept past, splashing a spray of blood from his right shoulder. Without a sound, he quickened his pace.

The other eleven saw this and remained silent, also increasing their speed. They had been informed beforehand that the man named Hua had a divine archer by his side, whose archery was otherworldly and unfathomable.

…………

They drifted closer like specters, but the arrows, arriving without a sound, unsettled their minds. Sometimes they were forced to dodge, immediately disrupting their coordinated movement.

In the time it took to draw a breath, only three men remained behind the leading elder. The other eight were scattered, lost within the formation, vanished without a trace. The Nine Palaces Linked Confusion Array was quite intricate.

The leading elder could only patiently seek out his eight lost men; otherwise, the four of them could hardly hope to kill the man named Hua.

He unbuckled his belt and had one of his followers grip it, while the other three also unbuckled theirs, handing them to another man. Thus, the four were linked together, preventing separation.

The leading elder smiled, confident they wouldn't be lost now. He quickly calculated with his fingers, trying to locate the other eight. After taking a few steps, a person appeared before him.

The man, upon seeing the four, was overjoyed and immediately grabbed a belt. The leading elder glanced back and his face changed color—only two men remained.

They found one person, but lost two others. The man they found held a severed half of a belt, as if cut, and looked at the elder with confused incomprehension.

The elder frowned, calculated again with his fingers, and took two more sidestepping steps. While moving, he kept watch behind him, only to see two streaks of dark light arrive soundlessly, shooting and severing the two belts.

These two dark streaks arrived at precisely the right moment. Due to the nature of the array, the surroundings were shifting, confusing the mind, and they failed to notice the arrows until they arrived.

He focused his attention on his rear, vaguely sensing something, but the other two men were completely oblivious.

A chill ran down his spine. Archery like this made killing easy—silent, and capitalizing on distraction, it was simple to succeed.

Li Muzhan was in no hurry to kill; he used their movements as opportunities to shoot short arrows that severed their connections, plunging them into confusion within the formation.

When the elder recovered his focus, the other two were already gone, their connection severed.

Li Muzhan smiled faintly, his body flashing as he slipped out of the tent, appearing before the elder. He struck out with a punch, reaching the elder’s chest in an instant.

This punch was derived from the Great Dragon Form; it was silent, yet it mobilized the surrounding blood energy, rushing in a torrent, followed by inner force. The two merging created extreme ferocity, like a giant dragon whipping its tail.

The elder had no time to change his move and could only meet the attack head-on. Their fists collided soundlessly, but he was sent flying, his internal organs severely shaken.

Li Muzhan flicked his sleeve. The elder’s flight slowed mid-air, and he drifted down softly like a leaf, landing without a sound—already unconscious. In that flick, he had used the technique of the Merciless Sleeve, directly striking the elder’s acupoints and immobilizing him.

That punch and that sweep were silent, swift, and graceful.

…………

The next morning dawned bright.

General Hua woke early and performed one round of the Great Dragon Form. Blood surged, roaring loudly—his Blood Refining had achieved a minor success, and he felt a swell of pride.

Blood Refining required three sounds and three silences: a sound indicated entry; reaching a high level meant silence; the second sound indicated the second layer; the more refining, the quieter it became; the third sound marked the highest layer, and when it finally became permanently silent, Blood Refining was complete.

After this cycle repeated three times, the blood was refined into mercury, cleansed of all impurities. Strength would increase, inner force would purify, and the body would improve, warding off all sickness. At this level, living to one hundred or one hundred and twenty years old would be trivial.

After completing his round, General Hua was brimming with vital energy, eager to vent it. Li Muzhan practiced the Great Dragon Form alongside him, and after finishing, Li Muzhan performed another set of movements.

General Hua was curious and asked what he was practicing. Li Muzhan said it was a secret technique of his sect, which he was rehearsing to prevent forgetting after not practicing for a long time.

General Hua nodded, didn't watch closely, and busied himself planning the deployment of troops.

The twelve assassins from the previous night had been captured. Li Muzhan paid them no further mind; whether to execute or spare them was General Hua’s decision.

Li Muzhan cultivated the Nine Revolutions Marrow Cleansing Scripture, and he wasn't afraid of General Hua attempting to steal the practice. Without the foundation of the first layer, the second layer was impossible to cultivate.

When he finished his practice, inner force surged, and energy permeated him. Though he couldn't achieve immediate perfection, he gained significant insight, confirming that his self-devised modifications were correct; the flow of Qi was balanced, without any hindrance.

When he finished, General Hua began the morning assembly.

Around mid-morning, the army left the camp, entering from the south gate of Shenguang City and exiting the north gate to array themselves outside the city. In addition to the Shenguang Battalion, there were the Shenxuan and Shenmiao Battalions, with only the elite cavalry of the Shenwu Battalion missing.

Adhering to the condition Li Muzhan set when he first served as a guard, the Xiaoji Cavalry would not engage in battle but would remain in the city to assist in defense, preventing the Eastern Chu from going mad and actually attacking the city walls.

Li Muzhan, clad in his gray monk robes, followed behind General Hua, looking at the surrounding armored cavalry and sighing internally. Soldiers always suffered the most in war.

This battle should result in victory, but how many lives would be lost remained unknown.