In a daze, Ye Jingyu seemed to fall into sleep and had a dream. In it, a group of naked young girls surrounded him, caressing his body incessantly...

Unbeknownst to himself, an object beneath him began to rise—a second part emerging above the waterline beyond his head...

"Hey big brother, why does your body have this stick thingy?" A clear voice suddenly cut through Ye Jingyu's dreamlike state, jolting him awake as he heard it echo in his ears.

While he certainly appreciated beautiful women and would be grateful if any of them massaged him during baths, being grabbed in such an intimate way by a girl barely ten years old filled him with profound guilt. It felt like desecrating this unopened flower bud.

"U-uh, listen, little sister. Big brother stinks. Go out first and let those ladies give you a bath after I'm done?" Ye Jingyu carefully sat upright, gently removing the child's hand from his sensitive area while tightly clenching his thighs together.

The thought of sharing a mixed-bathing session with a ten-year-old girl wasn't pleasure—it was self-torture. He might be shamelessly lustful at times, but this went way beyond his limits.

"No way! I want to bathe with pretty big brother!" To his horror, Black Shixuan showed no restraint despite his objections. With a flick of her purple silk dress, it shattered into pieces revealing the flawless jade-like skin beneath. She leaped straight into the bathtub...

As Ye Jingyu stared at that perfect body and the child's utterly adorable face, all lustful thoughts vanished. His stiff member softened instantly while every hair on his body stood upright in sheer agony - like a girl violated by half a dozen men simultaneously...

Suppressing the overwhelming sense of guilt, Ye Jingyu hastily finished bathing before fleeing through the door.

He knew if he stayed any longer with Shixuan, he'd go insane.

Though he had an appreciation for beauty, how could he commit such unforgivable acts?

Bathing in the same tub as a ten-year-old girl...

If this were his previous life back on Earth, police would've arrested him immediately under charges of child molestation!

Sitting in Zhuge Yishi's personally constructed command tent and seeing the smirking expressions from Yin Xiaoxiao et al., Ye Jingyu wanted to vanish into a hole. He knew instantly these people had misunderstood...

In Yunjing City, many aristocrats kept young boys and girls for satisfying their vices - it was an accepted custom rather than anything scandalous.

"General, this is your first time sharing a bath with a child? How did you feel?" Yin Xiaoxiao teased seeing Ye Jingyu's strained expression...

"Go to hell! Do I look like that kind of man?" Grabbing an iron seal from the table, Ye Jingyu hurled it at her. It narrowly missed its target as Yin Xiaoxiao dodged out of the way...

"Not really, not really. General Ye is definitely the most upright gentleman in heavens!" Though she immediately disclaimed it, her expression clearly shouted "You are exactly that kind of man".

Ye Longyi and others also wore teasingly suggestive smiles.

Noticing their expressions, Ye Jingyu realized further explanations would be futile. Glancing coldly around, he suddenly spotted two empty seats - his face darkened instantly...

"Have we heard anything about Bie Li?" Though he'd been stabbed and unconscious at the time, before passing out he knew Bie Li had gone after Yue Youqun to avenge him.

Mentioning Bie Li's name immediately silenced everyone in the tent. Each person displayed pained expressions...

"No news yet," Zhuge Yishi spoke up first seeing the silence...

"Might something have happened to her?" Ye Jingyu asked directly, remembering from Lin Xiaoyi what Zhuge could predict.

"I've cast a divination for her - but it showed an extremely ominous outcome..." Zhuge Yishi answered ambiguously in hushed tones.

At these words, everyone fell silent. They all understood the "extremely ominous" meant more likely death than survival. Bie Li might have already encountered disaster...

Whether she was alive or not didn't matter - Ye Jingyu vowed to kill Yue Youqun himself along with her mastermind behind it all.

Hearing these words, no one showed surprise. They'd known for days the general's fearless nature had no equal in heavens and earth. And considering he survived with a pierced heart, his resilient life force rivaled even cockroaches' indestructibility - what could possibly be scary to him now?

"General, do you have any plans?" Zhuge Yishi asked calmly...

"What's the current situation?" Instead of answering directly, Ye Jingyu counter-asked.

Understanding immediately, Zhuge Yishi outlined the Iron Army's complete status quo and even mentioned frontline battle developments - though no one knew how he acquired such information.

The Iron Army had set out with over 15,000 soldiers when participating in the attack against theLion Legion - including Ye Jingyu's 10,000 men plus Yin Xiaoxiao's 1,000 martial artists.

Yet now less than 4,000 remained alive...

Over 7,000 had died either on battlefield or during journeying...

Though this was better than Ye Jingyu expected, hearing this news still caused him pain in his chest - those were over 7,000 actual human lives!

Still, he understood war was a deadly game. He could do nothing to change it except reduce the minimum losses possible.