With the city gates breached and Yuan Xiao dead, the defending soldiers on the ramparts could no longer withstand the slaughter wrought by the Shu Yun army. The majority chose to surrender immediately. Even the few who attempted a desperate, last-ditch resistance were swiftly cut down by the advancing Shu Yun forces...

In the central command camp where Luo Ruofeng was stationed, the sight of Ye Jingyu and his contingent breaching the East Gate in less than an hour brought expressions of sheer delight to the faces of Luo Ruofeng, Zhuge Yishi, and the others...

"General Ye is truly a divine being..." Even Zhuge Yishi offered heartfelt praise upon witnessing the scene. He genuinely hadn't imagined that warfare could be waged in such a manner...

"Heh heh, Brother Ye is indeed a god descended to the mortal realm. He shall be the next God of War. General Nangong, take your twenty thousand cavalry now and launch the final assault, coordinating with General Ye to seize Lingyan City in one go..." Luo Ruofeng’s face was alight with exhilarated smiles. No one could have predicted that a fortress city, long thought impregnable, could fall so easily and with such minimal effort to Ye Jingyu...

"Yes..." Nangong Shang acknowledged the order and turned to leave. Moments later, twenty thousand cavalry thundered out from the camp, charging directly toward Lingyan City...

At this critical juncture, Ye Jingyu was already at the vanguard, leading the formidable Horned Rhinos straight toward the City Lord's Manor. The massive Horned Rhinos emitted deafening roars, their impact shattering the streets beneath them, kicking up flying sand and stones in terrifying plumes of dust...

It was a fortunate thing that Lingyan City served as Yan Province's largest granary, necessitating streets wide enough daily for numerous large supply wagons to pass—wide enough, in fact, to accommodate sixteen warhorses abreast. This superior construction was the only thing that prevented the rampaging Horned Rhinos from demolishing the houses lining the avenues...

Furthermore, it was fortunate that Ye Jingyu had ordered an immediate, straight-line thrust into the city. The warriors of the Chi Yi clan demonstrated superb control over the beasts; otherwise, these maddened Horned Rhinos might very well have razed Lingyan City to the ground...

Faced with the Horned Rhinos, beasts easily reaching the height of a small house, the common folk of Lingyan City were already paralyzed with terror. They huddled within their homes, daring not to emerge. Moreover, most were already in a state of exhaustion, struggling simply to rise from their beds. Even aware of the earth-shattering battle raging outside, they could do little...

Fortunately, while Ye Jingyu was somewhat lax regarding his soldiers' discipline, Chen Qizao was exceedingly strict. Thus, the troops who entered Lingyan City had not committed any overtly egregious transgressions...

Sima Xuan received the news of the city's fall instantly, his face contorted with shock. He could not fathom how the supposedly unbreakable Lingyan City had been conquered in under an hour. It was simply unbelievable...

This was the Prince’s strategic maneuver. Armies from all directions were currently advancing toward Lingyan City. If the city fell now, wouldn't the Prince's entire grand design be utterly ruined?

The realization struck Sima Xuan: if he could not retake Lingyan City immediately, only a dead end awaited him...

He had no retreat; only a desperate, all-or-nothing battle remained...

While issuing orders to notify Xuanyuan Yu and Yu Wuhen, he personally led his three thousand elite guards hurtling toward the East Gate...

At that very moment, Luo Haitian and Luo Mu Yan simultaneously noticed the commotion atop the city walls. Seeing numerous figures rushing toward the east, a single thought crossed both their minds: Could Old Third have actually breached the city? How could that be possible?

Regardless of possibility, Luo Haitian and Luo Mu Yan were no ordinary men; they understood the principle of seizing a fleeting opportunity. Even if it were a ploy, they could not ignore the chance. Each dispatched a contingent of ten thousand men to probe the defenses. Only when these probing forces scaled the battlements with minimal casualties did they finally believe that Old Third had truly secured the East Gate. Agitated by the news, they immediately launched their main offensive...

However, despite their superior numbers, they lacked monstrous assets like the Horned Rhinos. Breaching the city gates would not prove so easily achieved...

On the other side, Xuanyuan Yu and Yu Wuhen, who had been waiting inside the city, received the first news of the relief forces. But before they could move to meet them, the news of the city gate’s collapse arrived. The two exchanged a look, their eyes wide with astonishment...

Lingyan City was no minor outpost. Its walls stood nearly ten zhang high—the equivalent of seven or eight stories. Even skilled martial artists would struggle to scale them without ladders; ordinary soldiers had no chance. How could the defenses have fallen so easily? Moreover, the gates were constructed from the sturdiest millennia-old ironwood, sheathed in metal plating—perhaps even cannon fire would struggle to breach them. Given such formidable construction, how could they have fallen in such a short time?

"General Yu, Lingyan City is vital to the Prince’s entire strategy. It absolutely cannot be lost. We must recapture it, no matter the cost..." After a brief moment of shock, determination solidified in Xuanyuan Yu’s eyes...

"I understand..." A fierce fighting spirit blazed in Yu Wuhen’s eyes as well. He was intensely curious: who exactly possessed the ability to shatter the East Gate in such a brief span?

Unlike the city defense forces, the Flame Army of Prince Yan’s thirty thousand elite troops and Yu Wuhen’s Silver Armored Army had consumed the same water source, but they had not engaged in combat for the past seven days. They were merely spiritually keyed up; by today, they were at most mentally fatigued, their physical strength hardly depleted. Their fighting capacity remained at least seventy percent intact—still a formidable fighting force...

Without further discussion, Yu Wuhen detached forty thousand men, sending them to secure the West Gate and the South Gate respectively. Since the East Gate was lost, the other two strongpoints had to be held. He personally led the remaining twenty thousand soldiers charging toward the East Gate...

With the gate breached, sending out calls for aid was already too late, but Xuanyuan Yu still dispatched a personal guard unit sprinting toward the North Gate seeking reinforcements. He himself personally led the remaining twenty thousand-plus soldiers to the East Gate. Regardless of the situation, they had to hold Lingyan City and await the arrival of the main army...

At this moment, the entirety of Lingyan City was in chaos. Fortunately, Sima Xuan had previously declared a city lockdown, restricting ordinary citizens and merchants to their homes with no freedom to move about. This measure prevented wider anarchy, though despite it, some bandits still exploited the turmoil, causing disruption to the populace...

Just as the two armies were about to clash within the city streets, two figures were darting back and forth near the corpses littering the East Gate ramparts...

"Master, we are zombies. Why would zombies need so much money?" Mu Fei’s face was deathly pale, yet his lips were stained with flecks of blood—a clear sign he had recently drunk his fill. His arms were piled high with broken silver pieces, and his zombified features could not have looked any more grotesque...