Starting as pearl divers, they have endless jobs.

Chapter 43 Level Soars (Please Read On)

On the city walls, it was no longer possible to distinguish between day and night.

The towering flames turned the leaden sky into an eerie dark red, and the heavy smell of blood mixed with the stench of burning flesh was enough to make one's internal organs churn out.

A Royal Guard soldier who had just parried a scimitar with his shield hadn't even had time to catch his breath when his comrade beside him was pierced through the chest by another spear. After a short, muffled groan, his body went limp and he fell to the ground.

With bloodshot eyes, the soldier roared as he plunged his long sword into the abdomen of the enemy before him, then kicked him off the city wall.

Looking out, the once majestic city walls have been transformed into a blood and flesh mill.

Limbs and severed organs were scattered everywhere.

This is the seventh day of the siege by the nomadic tribes of the grasslands.

In order to wear down the defending army, Yelü Boyang drove the conquered tribes and the able-bodied men captured along the way to pound the city walls wave after wave.

These slave soldiers, used as cannon fodder, would either die under the swords of the steppe wolf cavalry if they retreated, or they might fight for a chance of survival on the city walls if they advanced.

Driven to despair, they unleashed an astonishing ferocity, relentlessly attacking the capital's defenses.

Beneath the city walls, corpses piled up like mountains, almost reaching the top of the walls.

In contrast, Chen Ye's side, relying on its high walls and thick fortifications, suffered far fewer losses. However, the defenders were already on edge, and the consumption of defensive supplies such as arrows, logs, and molten gold was staggering.

Even the men from the eight major martial arts sects took off their usual attire, put on cotton armor, and took up swords to fight alongside the defenders on the city walls.

Rongzimen's young master Fang Tao kicked an enemy who was climbing up the ladder, wiped the blood off his face, and grinned at a Caizimen girl who was bandaging a wounded soldier not far away, revealing a set of white teeth.

"Dang——dang——dang——"

The gong sounded to signal the retreat, and the surging army slowly withdrew, leaving behind a scene of devastation.

On the city wall, the surviving soldiers were exhausted, many of them collapsing into pools of blood, panting heavily.

Overjoyed at surviving the ordeal, everyone's gaze turned in unison to the figure on the city wall.

He stood quietly in the wind and snow, dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe with a cotton armor over it, like a god who would never fall.

It was this figure that gave everyone the courage to persevere.

Chen Ye stared blankly at the devastation below the city, a slight sigh escaping his lips.

War is the cruelest meat grinder.

On the battlefield, vibrant lives are nothing more than numbers.

"His Majesty."

Commander Tong Lei of the Imperial Guard strode over, his armor still stained with blood. His voice was hoarse and weary: “Our army has suffered more than three thousand casualties, but we can still fight. However, the city’s supplies of arrows, logs, and other military equipment have been depleted. If we do not replenish them in time, we can only hold out for five more days at most.”

Five days.

This number weighed heavily on the minds of all the generals who heard it.

Chen Ye nodded, his expression unchanged: "Issue my decree, ordering the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works to do everything possible to demolish civilian houses and melt down ironware, in order to replenish military supplies as soon as possible. Also, bring up the reserve forces to replace the frontline soldiers and let them take turns to rest."

He carried out the troop deployment methodically, his voice calm and steady, as if he were not affected by the predicament before him at all.

This calm and composed demeanor reassured the surrounding generals somewhat.

After finishing his military affairs, Chen Ye returned to the temporary camp set up inside the city gate.

Dinner was simple: a bowl of meat soup and a few steamed buns.

The eunuch in charge of serving him looked distressed, feeling that it was a desecration to make His Majesty eat such food, but Chen Ye didn't care at all and ate it in big mouthfuls.

While eating, Chen Ye opened the system panel.

[Class: Thousand-Faced Thief (lv3)] [Talent: Soul Stealing Shadow]

[Skills: Masterful Hands Lv10, Swift Blade Lv10, Wall Running Lv10, Shadow Step Lv10, Throwing Lv10, Bone Changing Lv5, Onomatopoeia Lv5]

The experience of seven days of bloody battle, commanding the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of people from the central command, actually raised his Thief Saint profession by two levels.

Chen Ye pondered that this must be related to his role as the emperor.

In addition, the skills of Bone Transformation and Onomatopoeia have been upgraded to level 5, while Shadow Step and Throwing Knife have been directly upgraded to the maximum level.

His increased strength also gave Chen Ye a greater sense of confidence in what he was about to do!
Outside the city, the grassland army camp.

Yelü Boyang, the ruler of the grasslands, was extremely agitated.

He never expected that the capital city would be so difficult to conquer. He thought that after arriving, he would be able to capture it in a few days, or that the powerful intimidation of the steppe cavalry would force the Zhao king and his ministers to surrender the city.

Unexpectedly, the reality was not like that at all.

The legendary Emperor Yang Zhao, who was said to be cowardly and addicted to wine and women, was like a completely different person, becoming decisive, ruthless, and highly methodical.

This all made things very difficult for him.

What troubled him even more was that although the elite troops had not suffered heavy losses, the consumption of food supplies was a bottomless pit.

The men of the grasslands can endure bloodshed, but they cannot endure hunger and endless waiting.

He is currently suppressing the enemy solely due to his years of prestige, but once his patience runs out, these tens of thousands of fierce cavalrymen will immediately turn into out-of-control beasts and may even turn against their master.

“We can’t wait any longer…” A fierce glint flashed in Yelü Boyang’s eyes.

As night fell, the fierce battle finally came to an end.

Both sides tacitly ceased their attacks, but the city walls remained brightly lit, and the patrol teams dared not relax their vigilance in the slightest.

But in a blind spot they couldn't see, a dark figure slid down from the shadows like a ghost, disappearing into the vast snowy night in a few leaps.

Chen Ye reverted to his original appearance, dressed in black night clothes, and moved at high speed through the snow, making almost no sound.

During this period, he did not just stay on the city wall to command; he went out to scout several times at night, and thus gained some understanding of the layout of the grassland camp.

Chen Ye did not go to the central command tent.

He knew that the defenses there must be very tight, and even with his current maxed-out stealth ability, it would be difficult to escape once he was surrounded.

His goal was to create as much chaos as possible before making a decision.

After bypassing the heavily guarded front camp, Chen Ye appeared at the rear of the main camp.

The atmosphere here was relatively relaxed, with several drunken grassland soldiers chatting and boasting around the campfire.

Chen Ye quickly identified a poor guy who was getting up alone in the middle of the night and quietly followed him.

The moment the man turned into a tent, Chen Ye moved.

One hand tightly covered the other's mouth and nose from behind, while the other hand used a short blade to precisely and swiftly slice across the throat.

The grassland soldier didn't even have time to utter a sound before his body went limp.

Chen Ye quickly dragged him into the shadows and ripped off the other man's fur coat, which reeked of mutton, and put it on.

With a thought, Chen Ye's bones emitted a series of subtle crackling sounds, and within a few breaths, his figure and appearance became exactly the same as that unfortunate dead man.

After doing all this, he hid the body, straightened his collar, and, imitating the rough gait of the grassland people, staggered toward a brightly lit, heavily guarded area.

That place was the lifeline of the grassland army—the location of its provisions and supplies.

(End of this chapter)