Tong Pass

Night fell.

You led Nezha and five hundred soldiers to Tong Pass, silently setting down not far from it. This was all thanks to the illusion technique you had cast upon the five hundred troops.

Another two thousand five hundred soldiers remained behind you, but their numbers were too great, so you had not brought them all over.

Lei Zhenzi and Yang Jian had led three thousand soldiers toward Chuan Yun Pass. By the time you arrived here, the battle at Chuan Yun Pass might already have begun, since it was somewhat closer than Tong Pass.

As for Jiang Shang, he had stayed behind to oversee the rear lines—well, loaf around—rather than personally leading troops into battle. Back then, you and Jiang Shang had argued fiercely over who would stay behind to oversee things—loaf around—until he finally defeated you with a single sentence: "Respect your elders!"

You looked at Tong Pass in the distance. Perhaps because it was nighttime, the guards you observed seemed listless, utterly lacking the bearing soldiers ought to have.

You formed a hand seal and muttered a phrase. Nezha beside you looked at you in surprise. He apparently recognized the Daoist art you had used and had not expected you to know it.

You ignored Nezha's astonished gaze. With a sharp sweep of your hand, you charged toward Tong Pass without concealing yourselves in the slightest.

Seeing this, the five hundred soldiers behind you did not hesitate either and swiftly rushed toward Tong Pass.

The Daoist art you had used was a minor technique that any cultivator could employ: an illusion technique capable of making one's eyes vaguely unable to see reality, causing them to fall under an illusion.

However, it only affected the eyes. Anyone calling out to the victim or giving them a pat would break it.

Normally, this technique could only be used on one person, yet you had cast it on every defender in the city. This was no longer a simple Daoist art. It required not only profound cultivation, but also a certain degree of understanding of Daoist arts. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to perform.

That was why Nezha had been so surprised by you.

In his eyes, you were merely a child a little younger than him. How could you possibly know such a technique?

At this moment, he even began to wonder whether you were like his martial uncle Jiang Shang—someone very old who simply liked to appear before others in a youthful form.

With your Daoist art at work, coupled with the darkness of night, you easily made your way beneath Tong Pass's walls. The soldiers behind you took out grappling hooks and hurled them fiercely upward.

The hooks bit firmly into the wall. The soldiers swiftly climbed, moving with astonishing speed. In barely two or three minutes, they had scaled the nearly thirty- to forty-meter-high wall.

You and Nezha flashed forward, and when you reappeared, you were already atop the walls of Tong Pass.

The defending soldiers around you finally reacted and hurriedly reached for their weapons to attack.

Without hesitation, Nezha attacked them directly, ensuring that they could no longer move.

Nezha's strength was far beyond anything these people could match. In only a few breaths, he had knocked down a soldier with the Fire-Tipped Spear in his hand and charged toward the next. (Nezha was a little too mechanical in FGO. After thinking it over, I decided to write him more humanly, because making Nezha too mechanical would make me rack my brains. I'm too lazy to think that much.)

Before taking action, however, you hesitated. It was not that you did not dare to kill. You still remembered all the sights you had seen along the way.

But under the teachings of the Three Sages of Humanity, you had always believed that all humans were kin and should not slaughter one another. That was why you hesitated. These soldiers defending the city were all human, and you did not want to kill them all.

But standing on different sides was inevitable.

At this moment, you sighed helplessly within your heart.

In that instant, you deeply realized that such things happened often among humanity—perhaps they were even happening every day.

You moved. Your figure darted swiftly across the wall, and every time you appeared before a soldier, that soldier fell at once.

But you held back. You did not kill them; instead, you put them all to sleep. You controlled your strength precisely, ensuring that they would not awaken for twelve hours.

Obtained Innate Skill: "Sage of Humanity"

(To prevent anyone from criticizing the current simulation, let me explain: for the previous ten-plus years, he had grown up under the teachings of the Three Sages of Humanity. They had spoken of the outside world and of human affairs, so naturally they would have taught him not to indiscriminately kill his own kind. And he had never been beaten down by society either. He was like a blank sheet of paper, not yet fully colored, so naturally he would want to show mercy to his own kind.)

Nezha saw you hold back as well, but he said nothing.

In a little over ten minutes, you had cleared all the soldiers from the wall. You looked at the corpses strewn across Nezha's side, frowned, but said nothing.

The five hundred soldiers had all made it onto the wall as well.

You ordered one soldier to notify the two thousand five hundred troops waiting in the rear that they could move out.

Then you sent fifty soldiers to open the city gates, forty to guard the walls, and the remaining four hundred straight into Tong Pass!

You quickly led two hundred soldiers into Tong Pass, while Nezha led another two hundred inside.

Just then, the sound of a bell rang out across all of Tong Pass.

You knew your traces had been discovered. You gave Nezha a gesture, telling him to end this quickly.

You immediately led your two hundred soldiers eastward, while Nezha took the west.

As you headed east, quite a few Tong Pass soldiers had already been roused by the bell and were rushing toward you in full gear.

You ordered your men not to kill them—only to render them unable to fight.

With that, your figure moved, and you charged toward the Tong Pass soldiers. Every time a soldier fell, you had already appeared before another.

In merely a few blinks, more than ten Tong Pass soldiers had fallen.

But because of the bell, most of Tong Pass's soldiers had been awakened and were hurrying here. Taking Tong Pass silently was no longer possible.

Here, your encounter with the Tong Pass soldiers turned into a battle on the verge of eruption!

Because of your orders, the two hundred soldiers held back. Most of the Tong Pass soldiers merely fainted, though a small number were killed.

You did not feel angry, because you knew you could restrain yourself, but you could not restrain others forever. Nor had you expected many people to obey your orders.

Tong Pass soldiers continued to appear without end. Seeing this, you could only form another hand seal. Your figure flashed, and you swiftly charged toward the Tong Pass soldiers.