101: In the midst of thousands of troops, taking the general's head is as easy as taking something from a bag!

The vanguard, Zhao Polu's five thousand light cavalry, had long since set up camp like a sharp arrowhead less than five li from the Capital's city walls.

The neighing of horses and the clashing of armor continued day and night, bringing heavy pressure to the defending soldiers on the city wall.

On the city wall, it was equally austere.

Under General Qi Jiguang's strict orders, the Capital Garrison soldiers rotated shifts day and night, bows and crossbows were strung, and rolling logs and boulders were piled up like mountains.

The Qi banner flew at the highest point of the city tower.

Beneath it, General Qi Jiguang stood in full military attire, hand on his sword, his gaze sweeping like a hawk over the dark camp below, his face etched with gravity.

The imperial edict to summon troops had been issued, but it would still take time for forces from all directions to gather.

At this moment, the Capital could only rely on these twenty thousand old and weak Capital Garrison soldiers, thirteen thousand Wei Suo soldiers, ten thousand Imperial Guards, and this majestic city that had weathered many changes.

An invisible scent of blood permeated the air, so tense it was suffocating.

The open field between the two armies had now become the boundary of a life-and-death standoff; no one dared to step into it lightly.

Silence was the last calm before the storm.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The dull and massive sound of war drums suddenly exploded from Prince Taiping's central army!

The drumbeats were not hurried; instead, they carried a heavy, earth-crushing rhythm, each beat like a heavy hammer striking the heart of every defending soldier, making the dust on the city wall fall like rain.

“Woo—woo—woo—”

A desolate and majestic horn blast followed, like the roar of an ancient beast, tearing through the oppressive silence and echoing across the wilderness, announcing the official opening of the war's prelude!

Prince Taiping's main camp gate burst open!

A contingent of men, like a black torrent of steel, surged out!

Leading them was a great general, nine feet tall, broad-shouldered and strong, none other than the vanguard general, Zhao Polu!

He wore heavy black iron armor and wielded a horse lance with a three-foot-long blade, mounted on a pitch-black Western Region Dragon steed with hooves the size of bowls.

The 'Zhu' banner wildly danced behind him, flanked by dozens of equally well-equipped and Killing Intent-filled personal guards.

Behind them were three thousand elite soldiers.

This contingent moved slowly but with an overwhelming momentum, crushing everything in its path, gradually advancing to the front of the two armies, now only an arrow's shot from the city wall.

Zhao Polu reined in his warhorse, which reared up and let out a deafening neigh!

He held his long lance horizontally, its blade glinting coldly in the gloomy daylight, and, pouring Internal Energy into his voice, roared like thunder:

“Those on the city wall, listen! I am Zhao Polu, the vanguard general under Prince Taiping!”

His voice rolled like thunder, clearly reaching the ears of every defending officer and soldier, making their eardrums hum.

“You have aided tyranny, protected corrupt officials, manipulated the court, and harmed loyal imperial heirs; your crimes deserve ten thousand deaths!”

“Today, I am commanded by His Highness Prince Taiping, bearing the late emperor's secret edict, to cleanse the court and rectify the government!”

“If you are wise, quickly open the city and surrender, bind and deliver the corrupt official Lu Jiuyuan, and present the head of the eunuch Feng Bao! His Highness is magnanimous; perhaps you may be spared death!”

“If you remain stubborn and resist to the end! When my army breaks through the city, I will ensure that not even a chicken or dog remains, and not a single tile is left intact!”

Emperor Zhu Yijun and Lu Jiuyuan stood on the city wall, listening to the arrogant shouts from below, and couldn't help but frown.

An arrow's shot, less than a hundred meters.

He turned to Lu Jiuyuan next to him and asked, “Second Brother, this villain is so annoying; I dislike him. Can you kill him, my brother?”

“What's so difficult about that? It's merely taking something from one's pocket!” Before his words finished, Lu Jiuyuan's figure moved!

No warning, no run-up.

Everyone on the city tower only felt a blur before their eyes, and that sky-blue figure, like a blue lightning bolt tearing through the gray sky, suddenly shot out of the parapet!

Fast! Extremely fast!

Below, Zhao Polu, who was spouting curses and shouting fiercely, suddenly felt an incomparably sharp Killing Intent, like the Nine Heavens' cold ice, instantly engulfing him!

His fierce Western Region Dragon steed was so startled that it reared up, letting out a shrill neigh!

“Not good!”

Zhao Polu was, after all, a fierce general on the battlefield; his reaction in a life-or-death situation was incredibly fast, and he instinctively tried to parry with his long lance!

However, it was too late!

Lu Jiuyuan, while still in mid-air, flew with a ghostly swiftness!

The twenty-three zhang distance seemed to be covered in a single step!

He completely ignored Zhao Polu's hastily raised lance tip, and also ignored the terrified, desperate attempts of the dozens of personal guards behind him to draw their bows and swords.

Guhong Sword, unsheathed!

There was no earth-shattering sword cry, only a faint hum so subtle it was almost drowned out by the wind.

The sword light, however, was more dazzling than the aurora of the north!

A silver line, as fine as a hair and condensed to the extreme, flashed across Zhao Polu's thick neck.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Zhao Polu's ferocious expression froze, his eyes erupting with unbelievable terror and the fear of being instantly enveloped by death.

The long lance in his hand dropped powerlessly, its heavy head clattering to the ground with a “clang.”

Lu Jiuyuan's figure, like a weightless blue feather, lightly landed on the back of the black steed, which was still rearing and neighing.

He casually reached out with his left hand, fingers splayed, and precisely grasped Zhao Polu's large head by its topknot!

“Pfft!”

Blood, like a long-suppressed fountain, suddenly shot skyward from the severed neck, spraying several feet high!

“General!!!”

“Demon... demonic art!!!”

“Kill him!!!”

After a brief silence, there was an uproar of shock and chaos!

Dozens of fierce personal guards were actually so startled by this god-like, devil-like method that their Souls Flew Away and Spirits Scattered!

Some instinctively reined in their horses and retreated, others roared and lunged with their spears, and even more were so stunned by the sky-high blood column and the headless corpse rolling in the dust that their minds went blank.

Lu Jiuyuan didn't even glance at the attacking weapons.

He lightly tapped his toes on the black steed's saddle, and his body, like willow catkins, floated gracefully towards the city wall.

The priceless Dragon steed let out a mournful cry, its legs weakening and collapsing to the ground from the force of his tap.

With a casual wave of his Guhong Sword in his right hand, several arrows shot towards him fell to the ground!

And in his left hand, he held Zhao Polu's head, with its bristling hair and beard, wide-open eyes, and the final expression of horror frozen on its face!

His blue robes fluttered, unstained by a single drop of blood.

Under the gaze of countless terrified eyes, amidst the chaotic shouts of the rebel army below and the thunderous cheers that suddenly erupted from the defending soldiers on the city wall,

Lu Jiuyuan's figure, as if riding the wind, lightly floated back onto the city tower's parapet beside the Emperor.

It was as if he had merely gone downstairs for a stroll, like taking a leisurely walk.

He casually tossed the bloody, still warm head at the Emperor's feet, where it landed with a dull “thud.”

The head rolled, its ferocious face turned towards the dark, now greatly agitated and panicked rebel camp outside the city.

“Big Brother, I have not failed my mission!”

Lu Jiuyuan's voice was calm, without a ripple: “The noisy thing, I crushed it.”

On the city tower, there was dead silence.

All the civil and military officials, including the battle-hardened General Qi Jiguang, stared dumbfounded at the head of the rebel general on the ground, who had just been swaggering but was now separated from his body,

And then at the blue-robed Sword Saint standing beside them, hands behind his back, calm and composed.

A chill ran from the soles of their feet straight to the crowns of their heads!

This... this was the Sword Saint Lu Jiuyuan?!

To take the head of a general amidst ten thousand troops, as if taking something from one's pocket!

Emperor Zhu Yijun looked at the head at his feet, then at Lu Jiuyuan beside him, his eyes erupting with an unprecedented, fervent glow!

He slammed his hand on the city wall's parapet and burst into laughter:

“Hahahahaha! Good! What a 'taking something from one's pocket'! My second brother is invincible under Nine Heavens!”

“Long live the Emperor! Divine Might of the Sword Saint!”

After a brief silence, a mountain-and-sea-like roar erupted from the city wall!

The morale of the defending soldiers was ignited to its peak at this moment!

And below, Prince Taiping's rebel vanguard was already in complete disarray.