Northern Frontier central army command tent.
Xiao Jin sat behind the desk, pinching a secret report in his hand, his expression so grim it seemed water could drip from it.
Several deputy generals stood in ranks on either side of the tent, scarcely daring to breathe.
The secret report had been brought back by routed soldiers who had fled from the Cangwu Mountains.
It stated that Chen Xuanli had died in battle, that two thousand light cavalry had scattered, and that only several dozen had been killed or wounded while all the rest had fled back.
Chen Xuanli's head itself had been severed and hung from the flagpole above Qinghe Prefecture City's gates for public display for several days.
Xiao Jin gently set the report down on the desk, then pressed his fingertips against its surface.
He did not use much force, yet a clear fingerprint sank into the tabletop.
"Chen Xuanli, Late-Stage Organ Tempering, was sent by me to pursue an old fool with only three hundred battered troops left, cut off from food and water."
His voice was calm.
Yet cold sweat seeped from the temples of the deputy generals at the same time.
"And in the end, he died."
"Situ Lie used one head to tell me that a Late-Stage Organ Tempering cultivator was beneath his notice?"
One deputy general gathered his courage and spoke. "General, Situ Lie has always been steady and cautious. After his defeat at Cross Ridge, his army was nearly wiped out. Three hundred battered troops were trapped before a cliff, with neither food nor water. By all reason, he should have had no means of turning the tables."
"Yet he managed to kill General Chen instead. I fear... he had concealed a trump card beforehand."
"A trump card?"
Xiao Jin raised his