540 A Ghos

A week later after the river battle, Sun Quan Army swiftly took Wu and Huiji Commandery. A dozen small cities also surrendered to Sun Quan without resisting.

These southeastern cities were the lifeline of Sun Ce Army. Without them, there would be no food supply supporting their Capital City, Jianye. 

Yet, Sun Quan didn't stop there. Ordered by Guo Jia, Sun Quan's forces rushed to Jianye along with the navy escort unit, led by Gan Ning.

Gan Ning didn't contribute much during this campaign as his fleets only acted as Sun Quan Army's ferries.

By late August, Sun Quan and Gan Ning's 200,000 soldiers reached Jianye City. In the same month, Dong Bai also led her three legions, the Immortal Legion and the Crimson Angel Legion to siege Jianye as well.

Massive joint armies of over 400,000 elites surrounded the former Capital City of Wu Kingdom.

…

In front of Jianye City, a city gate was wide open, and a young scholar was standing alone in front of his city.

He was Lu Su, a former officer under Sun Ce. Although his forte was a negotiation, Sun Ce put him as his strategist to replace the deceased Zhou Yu.

Obviously, Lu Su was skeptical about Sun Ce. After all, his true lord was Sun Quan.

In the end, Lu Su failed. He couldn't come up with a plan to defeat the overwhelming army of Dong Bai, and all his generals died.

Lu Su sighed as he waited for Dong Bai to send someone to capture him or talk to him. His soldiers already waved white flags on top of the wall.

At long last, an angel and a demon flew toward him. They were Dong Bai and Sun Quan.

Sun Quan took the lead. He landed on the ground first and greeted Lu Su.

"It's been a while, Zijing."

Lu Su was once Sun Quan's aide. He and Cheng Pu succeeded Zhou Yu's position and responsibility in the other timeline before Lu Xun and Lu Meng rose to power in the latter years.

"It's good to see you again, my lord. Also, Lu Zijing greets her majesty," Lu Su prostrated to Sun Quan and Dong Bai.

Dong Bai nodded as she glanced at the top of the wall, "I assume that you are surrendering."

"Indeed. What's the point of fighting a hopeless battle and kill my men. I'd rather save them and save myself."

"Then, I'll cut the chase. Did you swear allegiance to Lilim as well?"

Lu Su looked confused at first, but he understood everything after he recalled Sun Ce's words.

"No. Only Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, and the other generals did. I was merely a civil servant when Lilim visited Sun Ce."

"So, you're saying that you haven't vowed anything to her?"

"That's correct."

"What about Gan Ji?"

"If I had had, I would have died a long time ago. He's dead, no?"

Dong Bai grinned. She had a way to prove if Lu Su was lying or not.

"…"

Lu Su gulped. Since Dong Bai was serious, he had no choice but to yield to her threat.

"I'm sorry. I did swear to Lilim. Please forgive me."

Dong Bai nodded in satisfaction. Although Lu Su lied to her, he was courageous enough to acknowledge his mistake and apologize.

"I don't mind. But you'll have to renege your oath with Lilim and swear allegiance to me instead. You're going to suffer from the tribulation thunder, though. If you survive the lightning, I'll welcome you as one of us."

Sun Quan glanced at Dong Bai and bit his lower lips. Reneging an immortal oath was similar to a death sentence.

He heard about what had happened to Sima Yi in Li Feihong's world. Currently, Sima Yi was still bed-ridden as his cultivation was crippled for eternity.

Lu Su was about to suffer the same fate as he had picked the wrong side. Sun Quan wanted to help his former subordinate, but he couldn't find an excuse to beg Dong Bai.

Dong Bai patted Sun Quan's shoulder, "I know what you're thinking. But if he's still Lilim's vessel, he will die when we fight her in the future. Don't forget that an immortal liege can transfer their injuries to their vessels at any time they like."

"Ugh."

Sun Quan gave up. He could only pray that Lu Su could survive the tribulation.

Lu Su was also aware of such danger. He braced himself and opened his mouth.

"[I hereby withdraw my oath with Lilim. I will no longer work for her, but I will now work for her majesty for the rest of my life!]

*BOOM*

Thunderstruck on Lu Su right away. The scholar's wings cracked as he collapsed on the ground.

Sun Quan summoned his souls to cast every blessing skill he had on Lu Su.

While looking at the collapsed scholar, she felt somewhat itchy in her ears since this master-servant oath was new to her. She hadn't gotten used to having other lives binding to herself.

Lu Su also gazed back at Dong Bai, "I… entrust my… family… to you."

He revealed a bright smile as if he had done something right. He fell unconscious afterward.

But the war was not over yet. Elsewhere, battles were ongoing.

…

Lu Su's condition stabilized, but his cultivation was crippled forever. From now on, he couldn't cultivate more than 2 wings.

Lu Su remained as a minor official in Jianye for the rest of his life. When a major war took place in the west in the next 80 years, Lu Su was in charge of handling Sun Quan Army's supply, and he took the role of a diplomat. Still, that was for another story.

.

.

.

= Eastern Jiangxia =

Huang Zu Army of 50,000 soldiers was in a bind. Two kilometers east of them, Xu Huang's 200,000 soldiers occupied nearby hills and vantage points.

His soldiers were outnumbered. His cultivation base was inferior to Xu Huang, who flared his 7 white wings to intimidate all cultivators in Huang Zu's forces.

Moreover, Xu Huang's new vice-generals, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan, had already cultivated to 4 wings, which was the same strength as Huang Zu.

"I'm fucked. I shouldn't have sworn allegiance to Lilim!"

Had he learned that Sun Ce was already dead, he would have had a heart attack.

Since Huang Zu realized that he was at a disadvantage in this field skirmish, he chose not to engage against Xu Huang directly.

"All units! We're retreating! We will fight them in a siege battle!"

Despite giving a retreat order, he summoned several conscripted militias to his tent.

"Guys, I want to buy your lives," Huang Zu smiled at his men, "I'll pay anyone who is willing to self-detonate your soul for 1,000 gold. This money will be given to your family!"

"WHAT!?"

Several of these men were originally a farmer. None of them could earn one nugget of gold in their entire life even if they would continue working for another 30 years.

1,000 Gold was attractive, but they had to die to earn it.

The deal didn't make sense. Why should they sacrifice themselves to earn something that they couldn't use?

Single men refused this bribery right away. However, many good men who had old parents at home or had a poor family background. It would be a lie if they told Huang Zu that they weren't interested.

However, they had to die for their family to get the gold.

"I'll do it," One of the militias agreed, "But you'll have to make sure that my wife and my children get the gold."

The militia wanted to sacrifice himself, so his family could be happy. It was a noble thought for an uneducated peasant.

Huang Zu laughed, "Of course. Tell me the names of your wife and where they live. I'll write it down, so I won't forget them. Do you have any relatives in this army?"

"Y-Yes. I have a brother."

Huang Zu snapped his fingers. Five sergeants immediately brought out a giant chest, filled with gold nuggets.

"I'll give the gold to your brother and send him home. I'm also giving you the best wine in my collection as a token of my respect for your sacrifice. I'll make sure that these evildoers can't touch Jiangxia!"

"T-Thank you, my lord!"

Seeing that their colleague volunteered and got the gold right away, several men followed suit.

"I'll do it!"

"Me, too!"

Huang Zu grinned as he had many sacrificial pawns to suicide-bomb on Xu Huang Army.

"Of course! I have gold for everybody! We shall record your name and your tales, so your descendants can worship you as heroes!"

…

From 50,000 soldiers, Huang Zu managed to persuade 5,000 militia soldiers to commit suicide for gold.

Although Huang Zu didn't have enough gold to give everyone, he promised them that their families would be compensated for their sacrifice.

The promise was a lie. He had no intension of giving his gold to anyone!

As for the few people who had already been given gold, Huang Zu told his close subordinates to confiscate their gold after they died. Should one survive, they had to kill them and bring the gold back.

"Hehehe! I'm a genius!"

Huang Zu celebrated by himself, thinking that he could at least decrease Xu Huang's troops by a lot if all 5,000 men could self-detonate properly in his planned ambush, which he had set up today.

Mountain ranges and the Yangtze River sandwiched the road between Jiangxia and Lujiang. As such, Huang Zu had many places that he could set an ambush, just like his counterpart did in the other timeline, and killed Sun Jian.

"Guards. Go fetch me another jar of wine. Tell the cook to prepare another dish for me."

Huang Zu was tipsy. He ordered his bodyguards outside of his tent to bring him more food and wine.

A soldier, wearing Huang Zu's bodyguard uniform, returned 10 minutes later. He came with a jar of wine and a roasted pig on a giant plate.

But Huang Zu was still sober enough to notice that he wasn't one of the guards in charge of protecting his tent. He placed one of his hands on a hilt of his sword in precaution.

"Oh! Awesome! Good job! What's your name, soldier?"

The bodyguard was a tall muscular man. He covered half of his face with a piece of black cloth and wore a battle helmet, but his eyes were visible. However, the serene eyes of this soldier didn't belong to an ordinary soldier.

"I'm Gui Junyi, sir."

"Oh? I'm surprised that you have a surname."

Not every peasant in this ancient time had a surname. Most commoners without a surname were considered as slaves, which most aristocrat families abused them as free servants and laborers.

However, a conscripted soldier with a surname was rare.

"Ah, I got that a few years ago. My benefactor blessed me with this name."

"Cool! Do you know how to write?"

Huang Zu wondered if he hit the jackpot. If this man had some education, he could raise him into his aide or a vice general.

"I do, sir!"

"Good! Very good! Write your name on the sand, so I can make a token badge for you later on! Not everyone has an officer token, you know. With a token, you can be considered as a noble!"

Huang Zu probed Gui Junyi. Although he looked promising, Huang Zu couldn't trust this man yet.

"There's no need, sir."

"Huh?"

"My surname translates as a ghost. I'm just a ghost doing my job, sir."

Gui Junyi revealed his 7 wings behind his back and kicked the ground. He reappeared behind Huang Zu in a flash.

Huang Zu failed to react. His hand pulled his sword, but his body froze.

Two knives slipped out of [Junyi]'s sleeves and stabbed Huang Zu's neck. The weapons punctured through the latter's vocal cord and artery.

Junyi pulled the knives, and blood gushed from the two wounds. He leaned toward Huang Zu's ear and whispered.

"Zhang He, Zhang Junyi of the Ghost Legion, at your service."

Huang Zu widened his eyes in shock. Before he could recall the style name of the Ghost Legion's grand commander, his consciousness faded because of the shock.