Subduing Divine Fire Thunder Shatters Heavy Cavalry; a Seized Secret Letter Implicates Prince Anyang's Residence

A piercing shriek tore through the wind and snow, hurtling straight towards the sheer black cliffs on both sides of Bronze Gorge.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of thick hemp ropes hanging from the top of the cliff swayed gently, and more than thirty Green City swordsmen emerged from the wind and snow, flicking tinder at their fingertips to ignite the short fuse of the Subduing Fire Thunder.

The fuse spewed out scorching sparks and hissed loudly.

"Throw!"

Pu Yunshan raised his hand and pressed down.

The swordsmen atop the cliffs on both sides, riding the wind, unleashed dozens of black iron thunderbolts that traced parabolic arcs in mid-air before raining down into the depths of the canyon.

At this moment, the Tubo reinforcements had just rushed through the bend.

The cramped mine tunnel canyon was no more than four zhang wide, with more than a thousand warhorses crammed together. Their hooves crushed the frozen earth, Tubo cavalrymen brandished their scimitars and roared wildly, originally intending to use their momentum to trample the fleeing soldiers who had escaped from the mine pit into mincemeat.

Suddenly, countless black dots rained down from the sky, crashing onto the horse's back, shield, and the snowy ground.

The Tubo commander, Chile, twitched his eyelids, stretched out his whip to slap away an iron lump that had fallen to his chest, and cursed in a barbarian language.

Before he could finish cursing, a dull roar suddenly exploded in the narrow canyon!

Flames crashed and raged between the narrow rock walls, and powerful shockwaves, carrying hundreds of shards of iron, scattered and pierced the leather armor of the Tubo cavalry and the flesh of their warhorses.

The series of explosions triggered a massive earthquake, causing rocks to tumble down from the cliffs on both sides of Bronze Gorge, and the huge echoes overlapped wildly between the rock walls.

Dozens of warhorses in the front row were instantly overturned into pools of blood, their internal organs shattered.

The cavalry behind had nowhere to hide. Their horses, startled, leaped wildly, ignoring their riders pulling on the reins, and trampled their fallen comrades like madmen.

The screams, the cracking of bones being crushed, and the explosions of fire and thunder mingled together, and the once orderly charging formation was completely transformed into a slaughterhouse in the blink of an eye.

"Kill!"

The soldiers at the mine entrance were dumbfounded. By the time they came to their senses, their fear had been completely overwhelmed by ecstasy and murderous intent.

Pu Yunshan's green robe billowed up, and he used his toes to push off the gravel, his figure shooting out like a long green rainbow.

He stepped on the overturned and burning barricades, channeling his Fourth Rank internal energy into his longsword. The bronze blade unleashed a sharp sword aura over a foot long, cleaving away the wind and snow within three feet of him.

The Tubo commander Chile had just tumbled off his frightened horse, his head and face covered in charred blood and mud, when he looked up and saw that blue shadow looming over him.

Chile roared and raised his steel scimitar, holding it horizontally above his head!

"Clang!"

A piercing sound of metal shattering rang out, and the scimitar broke in two.

The sword's momentum didn't diminish; it sliced through Chile's neck and into his sternum, severing the Tubo general and his armor, and sending him crashing to the snow.

With their commander dead and the flames and thunder raging, the remaining Tubo barbarian soldiers were utterly terrified, throwing down their scimitars and fleeing with screams into the back of the canyon.

The battle quickly devolved into a one-sided sweep.

Tuoba Mang strode across the scorched snow, carrying a broad axe. If he encountered a barbarian who was still alive, he would finish him off with an axe blow.

Three hundred Green City disciples formed the Three Powers Sword Formation, weaving through the chaotic army to pick off the stubborn enemies. Wherever their longswords passed, blood mist sprayed onto the white snow, appearing particularly dazzling.

Pu Yunshan flicked the blood off his sword, walked to Chile's corpse, squatted down, and used his longsword to cut open the wolf skin inner armor soaked in black blood.

A hard object wrapped in thick oil paper was exposed in the interlayer.

Pu Yunshan reached out and pulled out the oil paper, tore open the seal, and inside was a secret letter that had not yet been opened.

In the lower right corner of the envelope, a strange meander pattern ink mark was outlined with extremely fine purple ink.

Upon seeing that mark, Pu Yunshan's pupils contracted slightly.

He often helped his father tidy up and recognized this mark.

This was a secret code used by the staff of the Anyang Provincial Surveillance Commission and the Prince of Prince An's Residence.

" Anyang..." Pu Yunshan gritted his teeth and tucked the secret letter into his bosom.

He stood up, glanced at the Tubo corpses scattered on the ground and the ruined camp engulfed in flames, and raised his voice to give the order.

"Brother Tuoba, take inventory of the grain and fodder wagons! Wounded brothers, get on the carts; those who can walk, take the captured scimitars and bows!"

Before the Tubo camp could react, the entire army cleared the roads and escorted the military supplies back to Yi Prefecture at top speed!

"Understood!"

Nearly a thousand soldiers responded with a thunderous roar, their long-suppressed killing intent transforming into deafening shouts as they propelled dozens of intact grain carts swiftly across the ice and snow towards the outside of Bronze Gorge.

The wind and snow intensified, masking the pungent smell of blood in the canyon.

Thousands of miles away, in Anyang City.

The wind and snow were even colder than in Jiannan Circuit. The sky was dark and heavy, pressing down on the city walls. The side hall of the Prince An's Residence's mansion was filled with the bitter smell of medicine and the musty smell of charcoal.

Zhou Huaili, an advisor, paced back and forth on the blue brick floor, his cloth shoes making a soft rustling sound as he pressed his hand to the white jade pendant at his waist.

On the rosewood desk, there were piles of urgent letters and reports sent from all over the country.

"Thirty-seven grain shops on South Street have jointly gone on strike, refusing to accept the Anwen Exchange Notes issued by the Prince's Mansion..."

"Two granaries in the east of the city were stormed by starving people. The defending troops used spears, killing three people. Now, public resentment is boiling over, and more than a thousand people have gathered outside the government office to demand an explanation..."

"The so-called new rice sent by the princess's family for disaster relief was all old, brown rice mixed with mold and mud. The soup kitchen was smashed the day before yesterday..."

Every time Zhou Huaili glanced at those documents, his temples throbbed.

The old emperor suffered a stroke and became paralyzed, and the crown prince was imprisoned. This was originally the perfect opportunity for Prince An Gu Mochen, to rise to power.

But Prince An was too eager for quick success and listened to the words of that fool Chen Qing. He swallowed the medicine of the folk sorcerer Yang Tie, turning himself into something neither human nor ghost. Now the whole city is in complete chaos.

The curtain was suddenly and gently lifted.

Two men dressed in loose, dark-colored Daoist robes stepped across the threshold with their heads bowed and expressions of composure.

It was none other than the Wa spy Inugami Inukami Jusaburo, who had shed his tattered sheepskin coat, and the Silla spy Park Roejang.

The two wore headscarves, their long hair was tied up, and medicine gourds hung from their waists. They exuded a faint fragrance, completely concealing their original lewdness.

" Master Zhou, we two humble Daoists have returned from gathering medicinal herbs in Penglai, overseas. We heard that Your Highness is unwell, so we have come to offer you a miraculous elixir for prolonging life."

Park Roejang spoke in broken Mandarin and bowed respectfully.

Zhou Huaili paused, his cold gaze sweeping over the two faces.

"Foreign sorcerers? We see no wandering magicians here these days. A few days ago, some evil medicine nearly killed the Prince. Guards, throw him out with sticks!"