Chapter 5

The person who arrived was none other than Zichen's older brother, Zilie, the eldest son of the Zi family, known as the empire's new star.

At just twenty-six years old, he was already a young general commanding an army, and he led the most elite Black Robe Iron Cavalry in the Western Wasteland. In terms of prestige, he even surpassed Ximen Zhan. Moreover, he himself had already reached the Xiantian realm.

Xiantian experts—Ximen Zhan had been a Great Martial Artist for over ten years, yet he had only just stepped into the Xiantian realm. This shows how difficult it is to reach the Xiantian realm.

Led by Ximen Zhan, including Zichen, they all came to the city gate. At this moment, a man in black armor, with an outstanding posture and handsome appearance, rode a tall steed and slowly approached. Behind him followed thirty iron cavalry, while the rest of the Black Robe Iron Cavalry had already stopped a mile outside the city.

"General Ximen, you sent a message to the Grand General, saying that ten thousand Demon Iron Cavalry were besieging the city and requesting reinforcements. I was ordered by the Grand General to lead the Black Robe Iron Cavalry and rush to Xiliang City. What I see now is this scene. How do you explain it?" The person who arrived was none other than Zichen's older brother, Zilie, the eldest son of the Zi family.

Upon arriving at the city gate, he had no intention of dismounting, looking down at Ximen Zhan and the others who had come out of the city gate. His gaze swept over Zichen, who was behind Ximen Zhan, with a look of disdain.

Seeing Zilie's arrogance and rudeness, Lin Hu, who was beside Ximen Zhan, was about to react. After all, Ximen Zhan was the general of Xiliang, and his rank was one level higher than a young general. Even if he didn't dismount to pay respects, he shouldn't question Ximen Zhan in such a commanding tone, right?

However, just as he was about to move, he was held back by Ximen Zhan.

"General, indeed, ten thousand Demon Iron Cavalry besieged the city, but in today's battle, they were completely defeated by our army..." Ximen Zhan said solemnly.

"Completely defeated? Ha ha, General Ximen, you must be joking. When did the Demon Iron Cavalry become so weak? Your total force in Xiliang City is less than fifty thousand. It's already impressive that you can defend Xiliang City. How could you completely defeat ten thousand iron cavalry? Do you think I'm a three-year-old child?" Zilie sneered.

"General, this is the truth. If you don't believe it, you can send people to check. The entire route is littered with the corpses of the Demon Iron Cavalry, and we have captured twenty thousand of them..." Ximen Zhan said solemnly, despite Zilie's unreasonable demands.

"Oh? So the soldiers under General Ximen are really that powerful. But if your soldiers are so powerful and can easily defeat the Demon Iron Cavalry, why did you send an urgent request for reinforcements? When did the border's emergency calls become a joke?" On the way, Zilie had already sent people to check the scene and knew that Ximen Zhan's words were true. However, he found it hard to believe that with the limited forces of Xiliang City, they could defeat ten thousand Demon Iron Cavalry.

"General, the battlefield changes in an instant. Ten thousand Demon Iron Cavalry invaded, and there was even a Xianshi present. With our limited forces in Xiliang City, we naturally couldn't resist. However, in today's battle, Zichen single-handedly killed the Xianshi and the commander, causing chaos in their ranks. We took advantage of this opportunity to launch an attack and completely defeated the Demon Iron Cavalry. How is this a joke?" Ximen Zhan said coldly, clearly dissatisfied with Zilie's questioning.

"Zichen? That waste of space?" Hearing this explanation, Zilie pointed at Zichen and sneered, his eyes full of disdain.

"General, please be mindful of your words. If it weren't for Brother Zichen, the entire Xiliang City would have been destroyed by the Demon Iron Cavalry. Moreover, the commander he killed was Wanyan Gu, the youngest son of the Golden Han, a prince. With such military merit, it won't be long before Brother Zichen can be promoted to a young general..." At this moment, Lin Hu, who had been standing beside Ximen Zhan, could no longer hold back and spoke.

Why was there such a big difference between the two Zi family young masters?

"Oh? So you mean to say that I led over ten thousand brothers, disregarding fatigue, and traveled hundreds of miles to clean up the battlefield for you all?" Zilie sneered, his cold gaze falling on Zichen in the crowd.

He actually killed a prince?

Ximen Zhan frowned. The meaning of Zilie's words was clear—he wanted to share the credit.

If he didn't agree, it would be difficult to end this well.

"Ha ha, General, you traveled a thousand miles to rescue us and intimidate the Demon Iron Cavalry. Later, you joined forces with our army to defeat the Demon Iron Cavalry and kill over ten thousand enemies. How does that sound, General?" Ximen Zhan said with a smile.

Although it was painful to share so much military merit, since several tens of thousands of Demon Iron Cavalry had died, sharing ten thousand wasn't too much. The remaining military merit would still be enough for his subordinates to share.

"Ha ha ha ha, General Ximen, you really are joking. I, a young general, would never compete for military merit with my subordinates. I didn't kill a single Demon Iron Cavalry. I only killed Wanyan Gu, right, my dear brother..." Zilie looked at Zichen with a mocking smile.

Everyone was shocked by these words. They all looked at Zilie, the empire's new star, in disbelief. He had traveled a day's journey in just one day, and everyone remembered his kindness. Sharing ten thousand military merits was acceptable, given that he had Grand General Changsun Ce behind him. However, now he was trying to take the greatest credit.

Everyone knew that killing Wanyan Gu and the Xianshi was the key to this battle. Zichen had even split his palms to shoot those two arrows, which almost exhausted all his strength. With such merit, he could be promoted to a young general, or even ennobled. But now, Zilie, his older brother, was trying to take this greatest credit, and he was saying it in front of so many people. Wasn't this too arrogant?

Zichen's face was filled with anger. His mother was a famous courtesan, and because of her, he had been mocked and bullied all his life. In the Zi family, his status was even lower than some stewards and maids.

His older brothers and sisters never treated him as a brother. When their father was not around, they called him a bastard. If it weren't for his father's love, he would have left that cold and indifferent home long ago. Now, after finally coming to this border region and achieving his first military merit, he was about to rise to prominence, but Zilie wanted to take his credit. How could he bear it?

"If you don't agree, the grave of your mother, who is buried at the foot of Nanshan in the south of the city, will be visited by tomb robbers several times. I doubt your father can do anything about it," Zilie whispered coldly into Zichen's ear just as he was about to refuse.

Zichen's body trembled, and his face turned pale. He looked at Zilie on the horse in disbelief. Zilie smiled at him, full of mockery.

Zichen knew that this was a private message from Zilie, and only he could hear it.

What Zichen didn't expect was that Zilie would use the resting place of his deceased mother to threaten him for this military merit.

His mother had died when he was three years old, but because of his innate knowledge, he clearly remembered how the beautiful woman had loved and cared for him during those three years. He also remembered that if it weren't for the persecution by the wicked women in the family, his mother wouldn't have died so young.

She was indeed born in a brothel, but she was pure and chaste, always maintaining her virtue. She fell in love with his father and even refused to leave the Zi family and run away with him for the sake of his father's future. Her love for his father was selfless, and even though she was just a lowly concubine, she was content.

But what was the result? The wicked women in the family never let her go, and even after her death, they wouldn't let her rest in peace.

Zichen hated the injustice of the world, the disparity in status, and his helplessness in the face of power.

His fists were tightly clenched. At this moment, he wanted to rush forward and fight Zilie to the death, but he knew that even if he could kill a Xiantian expert, he couldn't kill Zilie. His mother was the younger sister of the current empress, and his uncle was the Grand General of the Western Wasteland, Changsun Ce. No matter how much his father loved him, he was still his father's son, and the thirty iron cavalry behind him were the elite of the elite. How could he kill him?

Moreover, even if he killed him now, what would happen?

Would the ten thousand Black Robe Iron Cavalry behind him let him go?

Zichen wasn't afraid of death, but he didn't want to die. He had been in this world for twenty years, and during those twenty years, he had experienced all kinds of hardships. He could strive for military merit again, but if he lost his life, what would he have left to strive for?

Looking at Zilie's smiling face, Zichen took a deep breath and forced a bright smile: "Yes, Brother, your martial arts are unparalleled, and you even humbled yourself to mix with ordinary cavalry, risking your life to take the head of a general and killing the Xianshi. You completely shattered the morale of the Demon Iron Cavalry and made a great contribution to this victory..."

"Ha ha ha ha, you are indeed my good brother. All these years, I haven't wasted my love for you. Ha ha ha ha..." Zilie laughed triumphantly. A waste of space was still a waste of space, no matter how strong he was. To please him, Zichen even came up with an excuse for him.

He had only made a small threat, and Zichen was willing to give him this great credit. Didn't he know that the success of one general is built on the bones of ten thousand others?

Moreover, the remains at the foot of Nanshan had long been stolen and destroyed by his mother's people.

[Thank you, stars. Yechen, for becoming the first Prince of this book...]

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