CHAPTER 387: CHAPTER 387: ASSEMBLY

Slightly furrowing his brows, Zhu Haomiao pondered for a long while before abruptly standing up.

"We can’t just defend passively; we must take the initiative and push the front line out!"

Hearing this, Huai Xu said with difficulty, "But we’ve only completed less than 60% of our preparations. Acting hastily might bring unforeseen risks."

"There are no constant strategies in war; the enemy won’t wait for you to be perfectly prepared."

Shaking his head, Zhu Haomiao resolutely said, "We’ll implement Plan B. I’ll personally lead the elite to break through and strike directly at the heart!"

Huai Xu’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he looked at the confident young man in black. The words of caution at the tip of his tongue refused to be spoken.

Rationality told him that placing the fate of the nation on one person was extremely risky; it was nothing short of gambling, and slightest carelessness could mean total defeat!

Moreover, the current situation for Da Zhen was promising. Even if the frontier defense line was breached, the vast strategic depth would sustain for a long time; there was no need to gamble the nation’s fate!

Yet at the same time, a strange fervor surged in Huai Xu’s heart.

Emotion told him that the young man before him was worth wagering everything on!

He would win!

After an internal struggle, Huai Xu finally nodded in submission.

"I’ll immediately gather the elites."

"Hmm, I will have the court mobilize the New Army from each province. Once I lead the troops to break through the line, they will follow up to occupy it."

In just a few words, the future strategy was set. Zhu Haomiao, without hesitation, left the Yanhuang Armory, heading straight for the Central Town Guard Department of the Jinyi Guard.

"Summon all personnel of Middle Three Grade and above to return."

The sudden order made Yan Yunsheng slightly startled, but he nonetheless clasped his fists and agreed without hesitation.

"At your command."

Soon, countless orders flew like snowflakes throughout the country.

Upon receiving the news, the Jinyi Guard executing tasks in various state mansions did not dare slacken for an instant and rushed non-stop towards the Imperial City.

Only a small part of these Jinyi Guard were direct subordinates personally nurtured by Zhu Haomiao; the vast majority were elites recruited from the Jianghu.

In past wars, these Jianghu heroes were not external aids but rather internal destabilizing factors.

Once the court’s attention shifted to the frontier, internal suppression weakened, and the major sects would seize the opportunity to expand and test the court’s limits crazily.

Since the enemy was at the gates, the center mostly had to compromise, leading to the constant erosion of national power and eventual slow decay.

Now, Zhu Haomiao had emerged out of nowhere, crushing both the Black and White Paths with unreasonably brutal might, integrating these original hindrances into a sharp blade.

......

After a month, thousands of Jinyi Guard experts gathered at the Central Town Guard Department, and the air gradually filled with a thick smell of gunpowder.

The elites of the Black and White Paths were inherently unruly, and there were some grudges among them; if not for the reputation of Duke Yu pressing down on them, these forcibly assembled characters would have already "clashed into one".

"Hmph! Demoness!"

Carrying a treasure sword, the elegantly bearing Qu Fanshuang raised her neck, looking disdainfully at Liu Ruyan.

On the other side, Liu Ruyan, with eyes like silk, smiled slightly and opened her mouth leisurely.

"Defeated general, barking furiously again?"

With one sentence, Qu Fanshuang’s temper flared, her eyes turning red with anger.

"You only won a few times relying on Magic Skill, what’s there to be proud of?!"

"Tsk tsk, always talking about Magic Skill, since you have such determination, just don’t cultivate it then!"

"You... I..."

Qu Fanshuang was rendered speechless, her face turning crimson.

Once, as one of the leading figures of the new generation of the White Path, she sneered at the cultivation technique created by Duke Yu.

How could something so common be any good?

Moreover, could a young brat a few years younger than her have the experience and wisdom to create a good cultivation technique?

She, a grand senior disciple of Spirit Sword Peak, hadn’t seen any Supreme Divine Skill?

She, Qu Fanshuang, would rather starve, die outside, or jump off Spirit Sword Peak than cultivate something a teenager had haphazardly concocted!

And then, in the Jinyi Guard’s internal sparring, she was repeatedly thrashed by the Demoness who concurrently practiced the Constant Star Melting Furnace Body Tempering Technique and the Void Refining God and Returning to Truth Technique, instantly clearing her once arrogant gaze.

One must know, she had once suppressed Liu Ruyan entirely!

Thus, shattered by harsh reality, Qu Fanshuang began to silently study the two "Magic Skills" with a critical mindset.

As she started entry-level cultivation of the skills, her mindset quickly transformed...

Hmm... truly fragrant!

Qu Fanshuang’s mental journey was also a reflection of most present.

Almost all of them were orally and resignedly deferential to Duke Yu, but once they practiced the two cultivation techniques he had created, a profound reverence began to grow in their hearts.

On one hand, these two cultivation techniques indeed contained Duke Yu’s unfathomable essence of martial arts understanding.

On the other hand, on an imperceptible soul level, strands of faith as fine as hair condensed and materialized, pointing to an ethereal and magnificent pyramid.

Continuously twisted black light infiltrated the soul through the threads of faith, silently imprinting marks.

It was precisely because of this implicit faith immersion that these unruly martial arts experts could barely be united.

While the front court squabbled incessantly, in the back court hall of the Central Town Guard Department, Zhu Haomiao and several core members were making pre-battle preparations.

"Yun Sheng, is everyone here?"

"Except for some brothers from remote provinces, almost all are here."

"Very good. Make the last adjustments for preparation today, we move out tomorrow morning!"

"Yes."

"Gui Hua, Gao Haochen, I’ll leave home to you two."

Upon hearing this, the two Black and White leaders exchanged complex glances with the young man and nodded solemnly.

"Rest assured."

"Hmm."

After exhorting a few trivial matters, Zhu Haomiao looked out the window, his deep gaze seemingly piercing through time and space to see the fierce battleground thousands of miles away.

"Old man... don’t die..."

......

Yong State·Tianxiong Pass

Under the launch of catapults, stones the size of millstones rained down on the city walls, smashing dense shallow pits.

The Da Zhen soldiers hiding behind the parapets huddled together blankly, trying to minimize their exposed areas.

Still, some unlucky ones were hit by stone bombs at tricky angles, instantly bursting into bloody mist.

"General, it’s no good, we can’t hold on, let’s retreat!"

Hearing the urgent cries of his subordinates, Luo Ming, with a face full of wrinkles and an aura of decay and dusk, frowned tightly, staring intently at the enemy surging like a tide in the distance.

He had lost track of how many waves of assaults had occurred by now; in his memory, the enemy’s attacks never stopped!

Day and night, rain or shine!

Like the waves of the sea, as soon as one receded, another immediately surged up, endlessly, infinitely.