Dead City

　　Xuan Tian Ming said: “Since we can’t break in from the outside, let’s just open the way from the inside. Song Zhou City is hard to get into, but that was in the past. Heng Heng, now that we have your heavenly space, husband will bring you in to tear down Duan Mu An Guo’s Winter Palace. How about it?”

　　It had to be said that Feng Yu Heng did not have a single cell capable of restraint. Upon hearing that they would be going to tear down the Winter Palace, the small flame of jubilation immediately lit up, causing her small face to turn red.

　　She grabbed Xuan Tian Ming’s hand and happily said: “It’s good, it’s good. I know the way. I can bring you in.”

　　Xuan Tian Ming immediately laughed. With a wife like this, what could more could the husband demand. With this girl here, a smile that would never have appeared two years ago slowly appeared on his face. Capable of competing with others in a large residence and capable of fighting on the battlefield, what sort of karma did Xuan Tian Ming accrue from his past lives to have the king of heaven allow him to acquire this amazing treasure.

　　Once the two came up with this idea, they did not waste a single moment. That evening, they gathered all of the deputy generals in the general’s tent. Xuan Tian Ming spread out a map of the North and focused on Song Zhou. They then began to discuss the most secretive of operations.

　　At the same time, Feng Yu Heng gathered up the support team and began to set up a large-scale single-direction array. The battle with Song Zhou would begin sooner or later. When that time came, the army charging into the city was one aspect, but the opposition’s advance army would also rush out of the city to pursue the attack. The people of the support team used this single-direction array as a trap, providing the enemy that rushed out an entrance but no exit.

　　The deployment lasted overnight until dawn. Only when the sky started lighting up in the East did Xuan Tian Ming lift the curtain to Feng Yu Heng’s tent and call to her: “Heng Heng.”

　　The officers of the Divine Intent Army bowed then excused themselves. Feng Yu Heng stepped forward and asked him: “Have the arrangements on your side been completed?”

　　Xuan Tian Ming nodded, “They’re all ready. The army will remain put for the time being. They will be waiting for a message from us. Just rest for a while first. It won’t be too late to leave if we leave after noon.”

　　But how could she rest properly. After a long period of time, she dug up a large amount of chocolate in her space. Although there was far from enough for each person to have one piece, it would at least ensure that a portion of people would have some. She did her best to bring out as many supplements that would improve people’s strength. Only when she had filled the tent did she call for Song Kang. Handing all of it over to him, she ordered for him to coordinate with Qian Li to distribute it when the time was right.

　　Aside from this, there was a large amount of Western medicine that had been brought out and left with Song Kang in the event that it was needed.

　　She and Xuan Tian Ming left without any sound or fanfare. Aside from some trustworthy people that knew about it, nobody else knew when their general had departed. A distance of ten li was not very far. The two did not go through the trouble of choosing a more roundabout method of getting closer. In this blizzard, unless there was a large movement of troops, the people atop the city walls would not be able to clearly see just two people advancing through the snow.

　　But even if they could not see clearly, trying to climb up Song Zhou City’s walls was also impossible. When Feng Yu Heng brought Xuan Tian Ming out of her space once more, the two appeared right next to the wall. What caught their eye were iron chains that hung from the wall. Each chain was nailed down under the ice with long nails.

　　These were not normal iron chains. All of the chains were covered in thick layers of solid ice. These chains covered the entire wall, and it seemed that it was not just the southern wall that had them. Song Zhou City’s walls were completely covered by these chains enveloped in ice. They were protecting against being scaled by enemy soldiers. This was the advantage of the North!

　　Feng Yu Heng spoke based on her memories: “Not only are the walls of Song Zhou City tall, but they’re also extremely thick. Based on my calculations, the pharmacy space isn’t enough to get through it, but we can enter through the city gate.”

　　Xuan Tian Ming furrowed his brow slightly, saying: “Qian Zhou is most adept at barricading themselves inside their gates with ice as thick as city walls when dealing with enemy attacks. This Song Zhou City has people from Qian Zhou helping them. Thinking about it, this idea has also been used here. But if my guess is not incorrect, the solid ice on the city gates should not have reached the same thickness as a city’s wall. After all, the northern provinces are not as bitterly cold as Qian Zhou, and such a large piece of ice cannot be found. As for transporting one from Qian Zhou, the distance is too great and is not quite feasible. That’s why passing through the gate should be possible.”

　　Feng Yu Heng nodded. If it could not work, there was nothing else that she could do. Right now, they had already arrived at the city walls. They could only take this risk. She just hoped that they would not appear directly in a layer of ice. That would be really unlucky.

　　This time, Feng Yu Heng kept her hand on her left wrist, ensuring that if they did appear in ice, they could immediately return to the pharmacy.

　　The two continued to advance with a gambling mentality. Who knew whether it was divine protection or an accumulation of good karma, as, in spite of having a slight miscalculation on the thickness of the ice, when the two came out of the space, they were wedged between two chunks of ices. That area was not too small, large enough to fit two people.

　　Feng Yu Heng did not say another word and moved her consciousness, quickly bringing Xuan Tian Ming back into her space. When the two appeared once more, they had successfully passed through Song Zhou City’s gate and were standing on a street inside the city.

　　The strong wind and heavy snow forced the citizens to stay inside their houses with doors tightly shut. Even the shops were closed. The two headed toward the Winter Palace, flickering in and out of view. Even if there was the occasional patrolling soldier, that could see their figures, they only felt that their vision had become spotty or had seen a large snowflake.

　　Finally, the Winter Palace was no more than 50 paces away. The two did not exit the space directly. Instead, they rested in the resting room and slept for a while to regain some energy. When they appeared once more, it was already dawn the next day.

　　Another official from Da Shun was about to be taken care of by Duan Mu An Guo. After being taken care of, he would be attached to a hook and placed outside the city walls to hang.

　　At this moment, Xuan Tian Ming and Feng Yu Heng stood atop a two-room building across from the entrance of the street. The commotion down below quieted down once more as a result of the wind and snow picking up once more.

　　Feng Yu Heng pointed at the person that was tied up in the middle of the execution grounds and quietly said: “I recognize that person. It’s a prefectural judge from Tai An Prefecture. Apparently, that person is a standard seventh rank official. On the day that I burned down Duan Mu An Guo’s residence, he chose to try and escape with another group of people but was later on caught by Duan Mu An Guo.”

　　Xuan Tian Ming nodded, “I have a bit of an impression. I know the prefect of Tai An Prefecture. I once passed through Tai An Prefecture and saw him.”

　　While the two spoke, there was already someone that brought out a torture tool that looked like a giant piece of oil paper that completely covered his head. They watched the judge struggle to breathe, as there was no place for air to enter. Just as he was about to completely run out of air, Xuan Tian Ming raised a hand, the snow on the roof having become shaped into small snowballs at some unknown time. With a flick of his fingers, the snowballs were sent flying toward the executioner.

　　Feng Yu Heng covered her mouth and laughed. Grabbing the person at her side, she entered her space.

　　When they came out once more, however, they had moved to another rooftop nearby. Xuan Tian Ming once again let a bunch of snowballs fly, hitting their targets once more. As the executioner held his head in pain, blood began to trickle down his fingers.

　　After this repeated a couple times, the people began to feel afraid and gave up on searching. They began to retreat toward the Winter Palace. As for the judge, with a piece of ice being thrown by Xuan Tian Ming at his bindings, the binding rope was broken. He was no fool. Hearing the commotion, he knew that something had happened. With his bindings being removed, his first reaction was to remove the oily cloth covering his head.

　　With the cloth being removed, he was able to breathe once more. Kneeling in the snow, he gasped for air.

　　At this time, the two people on the rooftop disappeared without a trace once more. No matter how many people the Winter Palace sent out to search for them, not a single person could be found.

　　On this day, there were a total of 12 officials from Da Shun that had been pulled out. Duan Mu An Guo’s subordinates used all kinds of methods to try and kill these people; however, they never succeeded. Every time, some sort of hidden weapon would appear, but it was impossible to see anything through the wind and snow.

　　This matter finally attracted the attention of Duan Mu An Guo, but even if he personally made an appearance, he could not figure out what was happening.

　　On this day, Song Zhou City did not have a single new body hanging there.

　　At this moment, Xuan Tian Ming held Feng Yu Heng’s hand while sitting in Duan Mu An Guo’s Winter Palace and taking in the winter sweet trees. For winter sweet to survive in this sort of brutal weather, the white snow and winter sweet created a beautiful sight.

　　It’s just that the conversation between the two was not quite related to this scene, as Feng Yu Heng said: “Always burning things down is too lacking in innovation. Think of another trick.”

　　Xuan Tian Ming said: “If I had any other tricks, I would have used them over the years, but I feel that starting a fire is the thing that represents me the most. How about you come up with something.”

　　She pondered for a while, “How about poison? I have a kind of poison that can cause people to sleep for three days and three nights, unable to be woken up by anything. After three days and three nights, it will naturally be taken care of without any need for an antidote. What do you think of this idea?”

　　Xuan Tian Ming nodded, “Very good.”

　　“Then we’ll go with that. We’ll apply the poison tonight and open the city’s gates tomorrow morning to welcome the army into the city. As for Qian Zhou’s divine arch… worthless people, I feel that it’s about time that you get some practice with that gift I gave you.”

　　Feng Yu Heng had found Xuan Tian Ming a partner to practice using a gun on. Those divine archers on the walls of Song Zhou City would have no clue how they died. They would only feel the back of their heads go cold, as they died without a sound.

　　Qian Zhou had lent Duan Mu An Guo 12 divine archers, and they were all taken care of by Xuan Tian Ming. When the two were cleaning their guns, Xuan Tian Ming said: “If we weren’t so close, I really do fear that I would not have been able to hit them. This thing isn’t easy to get a grasp on.”

　　Marksmanship was indeed not easy to learn, but it was a type of skill. Things would get better with some more practice. But the two were now thinking about another matter, as Duan Mu An Guo did not return to the Winter Palace that night.

　　They searched through the entirety of the Winter Palace, but did not see any trace of Duan Mu An Guo. They even killed so many of Qian Zhou’s divine archers and tranquilized all of the enemy soldiers atop the city’s walls, even deliberately leaving a soldier to make a report, but Duan Mu An Guo never appeared once.

　　The entirety of Song Zhou City fell into an unprecedented silence once more. It was as though it was a dead city, to begin with. There were no people to attack it and no people to defend it. Da Shun’s soldiers could enter if they wanted and could leave if they wanted. There would be nobody to stop them or impede their advance.

　　Xuan Tian Ming and Feng Yu Heng stood together at the top of the city’s wall. A feeling of danger that had not existed before quickly filled them. The city wall beneath their feet slowly began to shake and very quickly became quite loud. Feng Yu Heng looked down wide-eyed. Just looking down caused her mind to explode with a “boom.”