Making a Move

The lightning vanished, and the pitch-black sky lightened slightly, like the flank of a black fish. Bean-sized raindrops gathered and hurled themselves madly from the clouds onto the earth, unleashing an endless roar.

The ground, dry just an hour earlier, now lay beneath an inch of water. The uneven mud pits held as much as three inches, while the three-meter-deep Moat had risen another meter. Its rippling scarlet waters nearly spilled over the banks to flood the surrounding ground.

As Qin Zihui smelled that mingled bloody stench, his toes touched down, followed by the rest of his feet, and the elemental mark on his forehead suddenly blazed into view.

White-a dazzling white as bright as day forced everyone to shut their eyes. Even Zeng Mu was no exception. Kanni and the knights inside the gate also closed their eyes against the dizzying white light piercing through the cracks.

Qin Zihui was completely enveloped in a sphere of white light. At that moment, Yetos could neither see his figure nor sense his presence.

His brows lowered, and he muttered, "This is..."

Whoosh! Before he could make sense of it, the sphere pulsed, sending a pillar of light straight at him.

He reached back and drew his greatsword, holding it before him. With a tremor of his hand, green light coated the blade, forming a layer as thin as a cicada's wing that enveloped his front, back, feet, and head, covering every last hair.

As the pillar of light surged between the two men, the soldiers within a hundred meters felt their ears ring and their chests suddenly tighten. Looking down, they discovered hot red liquid on their necks and chests-blood that had spurted from their noses and mouths.

The ground trembled faintly. The standing water, sand, and gravel bounced in a steady rhythm. Some soldiers near the pillar lost their footing and stumbled to the ground, falling in wave after wave like wheat beneath the wind. With the ringing in their ears continuing, they could not even get back up.

With a bang, the pillar stretched farther again, though its light had dimmed slightly. Its luminous arcs contracted, showing signs of dissipation.

The pillar vanished into the night, and the raindrops immediately leaped eagerly down from the sky, landing on hair and streaming off into the dark pools where the gravel had settled.

Two five-meter furrows lay in front of Yetos's feet. Between them was a narrow slit left by his sword tip, as though a small cut had been made in the earth. In the blink of an eye, the rising water covered it again.

The web between his thumb and forefinger was visibly bleeding. There was not much blood, but it ran down the hilt he held to the middle of the blade, staining one edge red.

His breathing grew slightly heavier, and the elemental power surging inside him became restless and hurried. His face flushed faintly, but his brows sank noticeably, and a gleam as dark as the night flickered in his eyes.

"The power of an Elemental Artifact..." he muttered, his surprise far from composed.

Once the white light dispersed, Qin Zihui's face appeared again. A swirling mass of white light hovered above his head. The surrounding soldiers could not see what lay within, but Yetos's darkly gleaming eyes saw it clearly: a square object resembling a porcelain shard, white as jade. Beneath its smooth surface, intricate patterns were faintly visible, half pictures and half writing. The longer he looked, the dizzier and more uncomfortable he felt.

"Heh..."

Hearing his words, Qin Zihui smiled with satisfaction and conceit. The corners of his mouth kept rising as he said, "You have an Elemental Artifact, and so do I. You never expected that, did you, you old bastard Yetos? Not only do I have a support Wind Elemental Artifact, but this Wind Elemental Artifact...

Is a Second-Tier Wind Elemental Artifact!" His voice rose triumphantly, and he burst into laughter as soon as he finished.

It was probably the most unrestrained, satisfying laugh he had enjoyed in the past month...

A month ago, he could toy with women as he pleased. Unlike ordinary soldiers, he had no need to visit brothels or red-light streets. One word from him, and an attractive woman would be delivered to his camp within hours.

Pleasure in camp had a flavor all its own. It was like finding a little emerald lake after a long, tiring walk and plunging into it with a splash, relaxing his whole body and forgetting everything else. He could immerse himself in the delight against his skin and listen to those seductive, beautiful moans. No man in the world could refuse such a pleasure.

It was even better at his residence. With that same single word, the women his subordinates brought him were no longer merely dull, monotonous courtesans. There were sixteen-year-old maidens, young women of twenty, beautiful wives nearing thirty; voluptuous ones, full-bodied ones, slender ones, well-proportioned ones... But his favorites were still those twenty-three-year-old women who had borne children.

Those young mothers always carried a scent he could never get enough of, never tire of. If other women were flowers and blossoms of every description, then they were rich, sweet honey. One small taste was enough to invigorate him and make him forget every trouble in the world.

Yet the bees did not know how to treasure it, treating it merely as a tedious, tiresome habit, unaware of what a rare and precious nectar it was in other people's eyes.

With a great battle imminent, he had temporarily suppressed these preferences. Qin Zihui did not want to lose to an enemy commander because his legs were weak and die in bitterness. Having sensed that very weakness in his opponents countless times, he imposed even stricter demands on himself. He often issued orders forbidding indulgence in his army, prohibiting his soldiers from seeking pleasure. That was part of what had carried him this far.

But Han Ling's earlier words had unknowingly stirred that itch in his heart again. The thought of the blonde, blue-eyed foreign women inside the city loosened desires he had kept sealed away for so long. They, too, were the type he most enjoyed and craved.

He could clearly see Yetos's hateful face. The green light on his forehead had intensified, meaning that his elemental mark was now flowing without restraint.

"Ready to fight for your life? Then let's see whether you have what it takes."

Yetos refused to back down. "Hmph. Stop putting on airs in front of me. You forcibly suppressed your elemental energy earlier, and the energy inside you still hasn't recovered. You can't bring out your full strength, can you? Even relying on that Second-Tier Wind Elemental Artifact won't give you much of an advantage over me. A clever man would have saved it for later. Now you've lost your chance to catch me by surprise. Making me suffer again won't be so easy."

"So what? It's enough to kill you!" Qin Zihui stamped his foot and shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, his precious sword flashing through the air with a swish.

Rather than retreat, Yetos advanced. He turned his hand, using the momentum to swing his greatsword over and bring it smashing down from above.

Clang! The instant the two swords collided, the ringing of metal burst out, faintly cutting through the din of both armies and reaching some of the soldiers' ears clearly.

The siege continued. The front-line soldiers, among whom Qi Kingdom emblems were rarely seen, kept advancing. Three enormous, thick battering rams emerged from the darkness, piercing the sight of the soldiers on the walls like three long spears.

While doing everything they could to stop and kill the enemies on the walls, the defenders hurled as many weapons as possible at the enemies carrying the battering rams forward.

When one man fell, another took his place. Like ants carrying food, the soldiers bearing the thick rams did not allow themselves to stop. They knew full well that once they halted, lifting the rams again would be as difficult as climbing to heaven.

Clang! With a shudder, the greatsword knocked the opposing blade aside. Yetos followed through, advancing and rolling once in the air before flicking his left hand at his waist. Three deadly daggers became three cold streaks that pierced the night. In an instant, raindrops burst apart, forming three lines of spraying water.

"Child's play!" Qin Zihui flicked his left hand, and the disc at his waist shot out instantly. As it spun, the silver chains at its four corners extended and expanded, making the disc seem twice its size. It intercepted the daggers flying silently through the darkness, then dropped straight to the ground, splashing up a bloom of blood before the filthy water swallowed it.

Qin Zihui twisted his hips, drawing strength from the ground, his sword following his will. Bolstered by elemental power, this slash was powerful enough to sever a river.

Yetos showed no fear. The elemental power inside him circulated at full force. His senses and strength, speed and reactions all surpassed those of ordinary men. His sword swung as swiftly as a shooting star, with the force of a meteor.

Not a single soldier or knight dared enter their battle. They could not even approach within a hundred meters, yet that oppressive presence still spread outward, making it difficult to breathe.

As the two men moved and exchanged blows, bursts of elemental energy frequently shot past them. Any unlucky figure struck by one had his armor instantly broken into pieces and his body severed into two or three sections before falling to the ground. This stopped even more soldiers from advancing, disrupting the Seven Kingdoms Coalition's siege.

Noticing the situation on the battlefield, Qin Zihui increased his footwork, gradually drawing their battle off to one side. Yetos offered no resistance and went along with him. After all, he was also worried that, once driven into a corner, his opponent might unleash enough elemental energy to blast a hole through the wall. He had to prevent that from happening. All he needed to do was concentrate on wearing him down.

The battle gradually reached a fever pitch. They traded blows without holding anything back, every attack aimed to kill. Anyone watching felt their heart pound and their breathing quicken, as though the slightest distraction would leave them dead without even an intact corpse.

Yetos's face began to pale. He had already expended more than half his strength earlier. Though he had only been fighting Qin Zihui for a few minutes, those minutes drained him as thoroughly as running at full speed through a mire. His movements gradually slowed, and his strength diminished along with them. He was clearly close to exhaustion.

"Ha ha! Yetos! What's wrong? Why have you gotten so slow?" A triumphant smile appeared on Qin Zihui's face. It was a rare smile, filled with arrogance, satisfaction, conceit, and abandon-a smile he could not produce even before his bronze mirror on an ordinary day. It was the last smile those who had died in bitterness saw before their deaths, the distinctive smile he wore when savoring his control over death.

"Your strength-your elemental power is weakening too. Tsk, tsk. What a shame. We've barely fought, and you're already finished. It seems I overestimated you. Who would've thought you were such a weakling..." His smile vanished, and his face turned strangely grim. A cold, savage look flickered in his eyes, bringing a venomous snake to mind.

With a bang, Yetos pushed off again with both feet. His body and greatsword surged forward together, sparks flying as he slashed at Qin Zihui.

Clang!

Qin Zihui raised his hand and blocked the strike. Unlike before, his feet did not move in the slightest. It seemed his opponent really had reached the end of his strength.

In that case, it's time to send you on your way... The corners of his mouth rose. The thought had barely formed when a streak of golden light shot toward him.