Outside the city, Commander Yan saw that Ninety-Six Castle was utterly quiet, casting a puzzled look.
He repeated loudly, "General Lan Zhuanghe, aren’t you coming out to greet your commander?"
Yet the castle remained silent, with no response.
Commander Yan opened his mouth and discontentedly said, "Commander, it seems Lan Zhuanghe is definitely celebrating with drinks. He must be so drunk he can’t find his bearings. I’ll go arrest him and bring him before you."
At this moment, Beigong Xianfeng smiled faintly and nodded subtly.
Immediately, Commander Yan dashed out and climbed directly onto the castle’s wall, striding toward the main hall.
"Lan Zhuanghe is really getting ahead of himself. I see a need to discipline him harshly," criticized Niu Canmou from outside the gate, yet he was actually smiling, believing such accomplishments would surely not be blamed by the commander.
However, Beigong Xianfeng just tugged at the corners of his white beard and said lightly, "He did it on purpose."
As soon as these words were spoken, Niu Canmou’s eyes widened in disbelief, stuttering, "That can’t be right? Lan Zhuanghe wouldn’t dare to disrespect you so boldly. He isn’t the type to be arrogant from his achievements."
Niu Canmou was scared. If Lan Zhuanghe really did it deliberately, he would certainly anger the commander.
By then, there would be no achievements to speak of.
But based on what Niu Canmou knew, Lan Zhuanghe wasn’t such a person. Hearing the arrival of the commander, he should have rushed out eagerly.
"I’m just afraid that in the tower, Lan Zhuanghe might be no more," Beigong Xianfeng said.
His gaze swept lightly over the entire castle as if he had already seen everything inside clearly.
"Haha, what a Ning Jingjing..."
Suddenly, Beigong Xianfeng couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh.
He noticed that among the soldiers in the castle and on the walls, some bore the characters "99th" on their chests. These soldiers, few in number, stood erect and spirited.
In contrast, those marked with "96th" appeared utterly dejected, a striking comparison.
If not for someone seasoned on battlegrounds and highly perceptive people like Commander Yan and Niu Canmou, one simply would not observe this.
Hearing this, Niu Canmou was completely stunned, stammering, "No Lan Zhuanghe? Ning Jingjing?"
What is the commander talking about?
But Niu Canmou wasn’t utterly incompetent; having reached his position wasn’t simple. Reminded by Beigong Xianfeng, he suddenly saw the problem, his body shaking violently, his face turning pale.
"Follow me up the wall, and keep quiet, or face military law."
Suddenly, Beigong Xianfeng’s tone turned icy cold, his intent to kill explosively clear, "I am very eager to find out why Ning Jingjing was forced to draw me out under the pretense of the 96th Legion and using Lan Zhuanghe’s name."
Beigong Xianfeng, of course, didn’t know Ning Jingjing had already gone home.
After speaking, he swept up Niu Canmou to the city wall, landing by the command hall.
The soldiers on the wall continued to execute Sikong Jing’s orders, ignoring everything else.
At this moment, Niu Canmou’s face had turned as white as a sheet, watching Commander Yan enter the command hall without daring to utter half a word.
In the command hall, no sooner had Commander Yan entered than he burst out angrily, "Lan Zhuanghe, what is he playing at? Didn’t he hear the commander has arrived? Go fetch him for me..."
After scanning the hall and not seeing Lan Zhuanghe, Commander Yan angrily pointed at everyone inside.
However, those in the hall remained as still as statues until a voice calmly said, "Didn’t you hear Commander Yan? Hurry up and drag Lan Zhuanghe out here."
These words immediately alerted Commander Yan that something was amiss.
When he saw two deputy generals step aside and the person sitting in the middle of the hall, Commander Yan’s pupils violently contracted.
"Canglong Domain brat, how could it be you?"
Yan Shun stared intently at Sikong Jing, of course recognizing him at once.
At that moment, Sikong Jing slowly stood up, "Commander Yan, we meet again."
Upon hearing this, Yan Shun scanned the surroundings, only to realize that not a single person in the hall was from the 96th Legion, or rather, were they all deputy generals and core figures of the 99th Legion?
His whole body shook violently, what on earth was going on?
Suddenly, he violently shivered, glaring straight at Sikong Jing and roared, "Was it the 99th Army that took down five cities under the name of Lan Zhuanghe, that conquered five castles?"
Being a deputy general himself, Yan Shun wasn’t that naive, and he suddenly came to his senses.
But his heart still refused to believe, how could the 99th Army accomplish this?
Even if they had taken down the 96th Legion, why would the people of the 96th Legion obey them so submissively?
At this, Sikong Jing gently tossed down one token after another, from ninety-eight to ninety-four, yet conspicuously absent was the general token of the 99th Legion, he nodded and replied, "Yes, worthy of Commander Yan indeed!"
Staring intently at the five tokens on the ground, Yan Shun’s killing intent surged as he shouted again, "Where is Lan Zhuanghe?"
"Commander Yan, save me!"
Just then, a hoarse voice sounded, and Lan Zhuanghe was dragged out, his body covered in blood, clearly showing numerous sword holes on his body, seemingly bottomless.
Yan Shun’s aura exploded, staring fiercely at Sikong Jing and the others, his chest bursting as he said, "You are, looking for death."
He was furious, Lan Zhuanghe was the son of his old friend from the Lan Family, and someone he had personally promoted, who was supposed to have triumphantly taken down five cities, yet ended up on the brink of death, so brutally mistreated.
The disparity was simply too great.
This was a vicious slap to his face, excruciatingly painful.
"Commander Yan, you’d better not act rashly, otherwise the commander outside will hear it," Sikong Jing said, smiling fearlessly.
His gaze lightly swept towards a corner outside the castle tower, where he sensed a powerful aura, though it was deliberately concealed, the aura of the battlefield could not be hidden.
This was someone like him, who had experienced countless battlefield wars, a formidable being.
He was undoubtedly the commander of the Black Burning Army.
He, indeed had noticed the hint intentionally set up by Sikong Jing inside Ninety-Six Castle, and was secretly observing Yan Shun.
As Sikong Jing’s words fell, Yan Shun, who was at the edge of eruption, seemed to have been doused with a bucket of cold water and quickly contained his aura, saying, "Very well, so you purposely took down five cities under the pretext of Lan Zhuanghe to draw out the commander."
At this, Yan Shun laughed bitterly, realizing he had been used.
And he, damn it, had eagerly gone to claim credit, inviting the Beigong Commander over.
Sikong Jing certainly did not deny it, coldly saying, "Exactly, otherwise conquering Ninety-Six Castle again would be meaningless and would end up like last time, getting chased out by you."
At a corner outside the castle tower, Beigong Xianfeng’s face darkened, staring coldly at Niu Canmou.
The latter was sweating profusely, his teeth chattering wildly.
Inside the castle tower, Yan Shun laughed furiously, then said chillingly, "Impressive, very impressive, but unfortunately, you misplayed one move. The commander is still outside waiting, and I came in alone."
Once he finished speaking, he shouted, "Now I command you to immediately hide inside the castle, or die."
An icy killing intent enveloped the whole hall, Elder Wei and two deputy generals’ faces turned pale, overwhelmed and gasping for air.