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Chapter 436 Negotiation
After snowfall lasting most of the day, the blizzard finally subsided.

However, the leaden clouds still lingered, piling up darkly in the sky like a sword hanging from a beam, seemingly ready to take everyone's lives at any moment.

In this somber atmosphere, back in the previous camp, everyone exchanged grim glances.

Of the three allied forces that had previously fought so fiercely, less than half have managed to withdraw.

This was largely thanks to the fact that many low-level individuals possessed their own secret escape methods, which protected parts of the revolutionary army from the blizzard's effects; otherwise...
Now they will only end up being completely wiped out.

The meeting room was very large, big enough to accommodate hundreds of people, and the fire was burning brightly with high-quality charcoal, enough to dispel the chill brought by the wind and snow.

But most people didn't say anything.

After all, no one expected that the situation, which was so promising, would collapse into such a state in the blink of an eye!
After a long while, a third-rate person finally gritted his teeth and muttered something.

"This old hag has gone mad like this! Doesn't she fear that she'll face retribution and the extermination of her entire clan afterward?!"

Someone nearby immediately rolled their eyes at this completely thoughtless remark.

"Judging from those Qing soldiers, this woman was willing to sacrifice even her own banner and exterminate her entire clan? What clan are you going to exterminate? It's questionable whether there are even any survivors in Beijing right now!"

Then another person spoke up.

"They've gotten themselves into this mess; logically speaking, it shouldn't be happening, and it's not our place to interfere, but..."

Everyone else understood what he meant.

After all, they are all low-level figures. They can usually just cause trouble by leading the allied forces under the Blood Oath Group, but when it comes to something as devastating as this, it will definitely be the famous sects and powerful clans that have to step in.

But now a problem has arisen.

—Those famous mountains and great sects have all closed their doors and sealed off their mountains, who will take care of them?
Based on the Shangqing Sect, which was severely weakened, or the Maoshan Sect, which was unable to act due to the chaos caused by evil spirits?
Even with magic powers at their disposal, everyone involved suffered injuries in the black snow, whether they were fellow disciples or their disciples and grand-disciples. In short, everyone had grievances.

The situation thus reached a stalemate once again.

After a long time, it was Yuan Chengwen who broke this situation.

The man emerged from the side room with a face ashen as if he had swallowed a fly. He glanced around, abandoning his previous politeness, and swiftly placed the copper basin in the center of the conference table.

"Although the Water Mirror Sect is also closed, I still have some magical artifacts here, so I can still contact the outside world. In short, you can take a look first."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately stood up, and a bunch of heads crowded around.

However, there were no images, only intermittent, yet incredibly terrifying sounds.

"An urgent report from the emperor: During the march, the army was suddenly caught in a severe snowstorm, and eight out of ten soldiers perished. They request reinforcements."

"Shangyuan County urgently reports: The black snow has briefly stopped, but the county is now filled with strange creatures. The remaining residents have retreated into their homes. Fortunately, they are unharmed."

"Changling."

"Chongmo."

An urgent report made everyone's faces grow increasingly grim, but only a few people fell into deep thought.

After a long while, Yuan Chengwen suddenly spoke.

"Gentlemen, what can you glean from this?"

"What could possibly happen? This entire Han land is on the verge of collapse; let's all just wait to die together."

However, before the impetuous man could finish speaking, Lady Hua suddenly spoke up.

"Although they are found all over the country, the overall area is not very large."

Immediately, Old Man Li followed.

"Moreover, the damage is not severe—perhaps much better than the initial expectation of total annihilation. At least staying indoors can prevent the snow from infecting us."

Yuan Chengwen nodded, agreeing with both guesses.

"According to our revolutionary army and some other allies, everything is still salvageable, but..."

He suddenly took a deep breath, as if in great difficulty, and stopped speaking—in the end, it was Zhou You, as the leader of the alliance, who spoke on his behalf.

"The premise is that the snow must stop falling and must not be allowed to spread further."

"After all, no matter how long you can hide inside a house, people still need to eat."

"—That's exactly right."

Yuan Chengwen said.

"Now there's only one problem left."

"The so-called ritual will end as soon as the practitioner dies. Now all our plans have to be put on hold—we must rush to the capital immediately and kill that Empress Dowager!"

however.

No one moved or spoke.

According to the original plan, after breaking through the three nodes, the entire army would be used to overwhelm them with overwhelming force, but now...
With the arrival of the Black Snow, the numerical advantage has been rendered useless, and the area outside Beijing is now rife with chaos, forming an impenetrable fortress. The situation inside the city is also unknown. While beheading the old woman is an option, given the current circumstances...
But how easy is that?
But at this moment, Xiao Dushui suddenly stepped forward.

"If you want to enter the city, I do have some methods—but the number of people cannot be large, and because it needs to be connected to the three nodes outside, it must be done in batches."

However, upon hearing this, the situation did not improve; instead, it became even more tense.

Well, beheading was already a near-death experience, and now with added restrictions, it's making people head towards certain death?

But soon, a hand was raised.

"Then count me in first."

It's Old Man Li.

With a wave of his hand, he stopped the woman who was trying to stop him, and the dirty old man just laughed.

“I, Li Xiangming, am all alone. My master and parents died long ago, and I have lost my wife and children. As for the lineage of the White Clan, it now has an heir, so I have nothing to worry about. If someone really needs to step up, then count me in.”

To be honest, Zhou You wanted to stop him, after all, Old Man Li was his master, but when he saw those eyes, he shut his mouth.

—This decision has been made, and there is no room for further discussion.

Soon after he made his statement, Lady Hua also stepped forward.

"Since you're going, senior brother, count me in too."

Following closely behind is the Cold Dew.

"I'll go too."

These three were basically a sure thing, but unexpectedly, after he made his statement, the others also raised their hands in a sparse manner.

First, there was an old man who was about the same age as Li Xiangming.

"Since Master Li has said so, let me join in. Anyway, our family is just like yours, all widowed, orphaned, and lonely. I'm not young anymore, so it would be good to do something great before I die and be remembered by future generations."

Then came a man with a face full of anger.

"My disciple was just killed. How can I face my ancestors if I don't avenge this? Count me in!"

"Exactly! Just because those famous mountains and great sects are immoral doesn't mean we can be! Let's go together!"

What I said before was indeed true. These people from all walks of life are either greedy or despicable, but when it really comes down to it, there are still some men with guts.

Although there were still not many people, they were finally able to gather enough for three assault teams—however, unexpectedly, Cang Le and Wei Wunian, who had nothing to do with them, were also among them.

Cang Le said with a grin, "My master has a lot of disciples, so he won't miss one more. Besides, if he really succeeds, I will definitely be the next leader of the Pi Sect."

Wei Wunian, holding his knife, uttered only a simple sentence: "The rise and fall of the nation is the responsibility of every citizen."

Finally, everyone's attention turned to Zhou You.

The person just laughed.

There was no fear or apprehension in that smile, only the relief of 'finally arriving here'.

"Brothers, don't look at me. I'm different from you. My initial goal was this Empress Dowager, including my dead master (Old Man Li glared at me). I can skip any of them, but I absolutely have to go."

"so"

Zhou You slowly raised his hand.

"Count me in."

After that, no one spoke.

After glancing at it, Yuan Chengwen made his decision.

"The decision on who will enter Beijing has been made. The rest of us will be mixed together with my remaining forces. Before the snow falls, we will go outside the city to hold back those troublemakers, so that we can give you and your men the opportunity to behead them."

Someone tried to speak, but Yuan Chengwen immediately glared at them with his bloodshot eyes.

"I know some of you are thinking of backing out when things turn bad, but let me tell you, since you've signed the contract, you're now my soldiers. If you desert in the face of battle, I'll use your head to stabilize morale!"

And so, no one spoke again.

Finally, Yuan Chengwen said.

"The meeting is dismissed!"

Although the situation was urgent, they had just fought a fierce battle during the day, and no one was made of iron. So they decided to rest for the night and give Xiao Dushui time to perform his ritual before making their breakthrough.

The night remained silent.

Yuan Chengwen's troops were indeed elite. Even though people were in a state of panic, no riots broke out. Apart from a few on duty at night, most of them were resting quietly in their tents.

It's uncertain how many people will be able to sleep tonight.

As the leader of the coalition, Zhengjing approached Zhou You, hoping to get some leniency.

Whether it was reasoning with them, appealing to their emotions, or even prostrating themselves on the ground and weeping upon meeting them, Zhou You dismissed them with a few words, telling them that if they had anything to say, they could talk to Yuan Chengwen.

Soon, no one came to plead for him anymore. Instead, they all decided to rely on themselves to escape this desperate situation.

As mentioned before, many people come here purely for money, and are far from being prepared or aware of the need to sacrifice their lives for the world.

As for their fate...
Only at this moment did Yuan Da Nao fulfill his promise.

The scoundrels have been reduced, while the city walls now bear more bloodied heads.

Then everything quieted down.

The night is getting darker.

Zhou You was dipping his brush in cinnabar and drawing yellow talismans to prepare for tomorrow.

He wasn't too nervous about the subsequent intrusion—after all, practice makes perfect, and you get used to it the more you do it.

However, at this moment.

There was a knock on the door suddenly.

Is this another plea for mercy?
But Zhou You immediately shook his head.

Not like.

"The door isn't locked, come in."

Following these words, a small figure quickly pushed open the door and entered.

Zhou You raised his eyes, then paused in surprise.

The newcomer was someone he knew very well—it was Hanlu, the disciple of Hua Niangzi, who called herself his junior sister.

However, at this time...
Zhou You scratched his head.

Her face hadn't changed at all; she was still of above-average appearance. But for some reason, she exuded a special kind of charm, and for a moment, she even gave people a sense of stunning beauty.

That's strange, are you wearing makeup?

But that doesn't make sense. There's no Photoshop these days, so what kind of makeup can make someone look like a completely different person?
However, Hanlu seemed oblivious to his surprise, and instead walked in with a food box in hand and a beaming smile.

"Senior brother, you're still awake?"

"I'm a late sleeper, but you, junior sister, have come so late. Is there something you need?"

Hanlu simply smiled and raised the food box in her hand.

"It's nothing, I just thought that the final battle is tomorrow, so I specially cooked a few dishes to treat my senior brother."

Zhou You is becoming less and less understandable.

To prevent any evil spirits from infiltrating, he even discreetly called out "Duan Xie".

Duan Xie didn't react at all, and even gave him a look that resembled contempt.

"Okay. It doesn't seem to be any kind of demon or monster."

"Senior brother, what did you say?"

"It's nothing, I was just talking to myself." With the mindset of "since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it," Zhou You neatly put away the talisman and plopped down in the chair. "I'm hungry too, so I'll have to trouble you, Junior Sister."

Hanlu smiled even more brightly as she took out the side dishes from the food box one by one and placed them on the table.

The items weren't particularly luxurious, but they were very exquisite, and it was clear that a lot of thought had been put into them.

However, after finishing setting out, Hanlu showed no intention of leaving. Instead, she sat down opposite Zhou You.

"Junior sister, what's wrong?"

"Perfect timing, I haven't had dinner either, so I'll have a bite too—and I'm also craving your good wine, Senior Brother. You wouldn't be so stingy, would you mind giving me some?"

As she spoke, Hanlu revealed a teasing yet playful expression—making it hard to tell whether she was joking or serious.

To be honest, Zhou You was also a little unaccustomed to this situation.

There's no other reason than that this person has changed too much!
He could only sigh, then untied the wine gourd and poured a cup for Hanlu and himself.

"Alright then, I'll drink with you for one round, Junior Sister—but let me make this clear first, this wine is very strong, and I don't want Lady Hua to come and strangle me tomorrow, so I'll only drink with you for one round."

Hanlu did not answer, but instead accepted the rescue with a smile, partially covering her face, then tilted her head back and drank it all in one gulp.

Then, she pointed the empty cup at Zhou You and suddenly laughed.

"Senior brother, this wine is indeed quite strong. If I'm not mistaken, it also contains quite a few medicinal herbs that can boost qi and improve blood circulation, right?"

"Indeed, Junior Sister, what brings you here?"

After drinking a cup, Hanlu's face flushed slightly, making her look exceptionally beautiful.

At that moment, she smiled softly, looking slightly tipsy.

"I've come here simply to ask you, senior brother, what are your thoughts on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?"

(End of this chapter)