Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

Longmen Valley has been completely turned into a meat grinder.

The Tang army's last line of defense was compressed into a small space of less than a hundred paces in diameter.

From all directions, there were swarms of dark-skinned Turks, brandishing their scimitars and howling like wild beasts, surging forward wave after wave, seemingly endless.

"Hold on! Hold on, all of you!"

Cheng Yaojin was covered in blood, his brand-new Mingguang armor was already slashed beyond recognition, and three wolf-tooth arrows were stuck in his shoulder and thigh. Blood gushed out from the gaps in the armor plates, but he seemed to feel no pain.

The great axe in his hand had long been dulled, and now it was like a fire poker, which he swung with great force, smashing down a group of enemies with each swing.

"Pfft—!"

Another Turkic centurion was cleaved in two, horse and all.

Cheng Yaojin himself slipped and almost fell because he exerted too much force, but fortunately Yuchi Gong behind him caught him.

"Old Cheng! Are you fucking crazy?!"

Yuchi Gong lashed out with his whip at a Turkic soldier who was attempting a sneak attack, his dark face covered in anxiety and sweat. "If you bleed any more, you'll be drained of blood!"

"What's done is done!"

Cheng Yaojin spat out a mouthful of blood, grinned widely, his smile more like a grimace, and exclaimed, "My life belongs to His Majesty! To die before His Majesty today is worth it!"

He glanced back.

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Not far away, Li Shimin was tightly protected in the center by a dozen or so of the last Xuanjia guards.

This emperor of the Tang Dynasty had long lost his former majesty.

His golden armor was tattered, his hair was disheveled, his face was covered in blood and gunpowder, and he held the Emperor's Sword in his hand. His chest heaved violently, clearly on the verge of exhaustion.

"His Majesty……"

Cheng Yaojin looked at Li Shimin's bloodshot eyes, which were still fixed on the enemy, and felt a pang of sadness, almost bringing tears to his eyes.

He suddenly turned around and used his burly body to block Li Shimin.

"Jingde! Shubao!"

Cheng Yaojin mustered all his strength and let out a deafening roar.

"We brothers crawled out of piles of corpses with His Majesty back then. What storms haven't we weathered?"

"Today is the day we repay His Majesty's kindness and favor!"

He raised the great axe high in his hand, and his ringed eyes shone with an unprecedented light.

"I, Lao Cheng, will be the first to charge in!"

"Protect His Majesty and fight your way out to the west! Run as far as you can!"

"Your Majesty! You must leave!"

"Old Cheng... I'll cover your retreat!"

"Know your place!"

Li Shimin let out a sorrowful cry, his eyes instantly turning red.

"What nonsense! I am the Emperor! How could I abandon my soldiers and flee for my life?!"

"Yes, Lao Cheng!"

Qin Qiong, dragging his injured leg and leaning on his double maces, shuffled over step by step. Though his face was pale, his eyes were unusually resolute. "If we're going to die, we brothers will die together! At least we'll have each other company on the road to the Yellow Springs!"

"That's right! Let's fight them!"

Yuchi Gong slammed his steel whip down hard, making a loud "clang," and shouted, "Even if I, Old Hei, die today, I'll take a few of them down with me!"

Looking at these old brothers who had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and at their faces, though exhausted, still filled with loyalty and determination.

Li Shimin smiled.

His laughter was desolate, yet full of heroic spirit.

"Good! Good brother!"

He slowly raised the Emperor's Sword in his hand, its tip pointing diagonally to the sky, his tattered dragon robe fluttering in the wind.

"Back in the day, we brothers roamed the world fearlessly, never daring to challenge ourselves!"

"Today, it's nothing more than death!"

"To be able to face the national crisis alongside you all, and to die on the battlefield, is the best end for me, the emperor who rose on horseback!"

Li Shimin's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached the ears of every surviving Tang soldier.

In that instant, the fear and despair in everyone's hearts seemed to be dispelled by this surge of heroic spirit.

Yes.

Even the emperor wasn't afraid of death, so what were these soldiers afraid of?

"I am willing to follow Your Majesty and face the national crisis together!"

"Long live the Great Tang Dynasty! Long live His Majesty!"

The last few hundred Xuanjia soldiers let out a tragic and heroic roar.

They threw away their shields, raised their swords, and prepared to fight to the death in a final, desperate charge.

"kill--!!!"

Standing on the hillside, Jieli Khan coldly watched the desperate struggle of the trapped beasts in the valley, a cruel smile curving his lips.

"She has quite a backbone."

He said to Zhishi Sili beside him, "Unfortunately, in the face of absolute power, integrity is the least valuable thing."

"Pass down the order."

"All-out attack!"

"Don't waste any more time with them, it's getting dark."

"I must obtain Li Shimin's head before nightfall, so I can use it... to hold wine!"

"Waaaaah—waaaah—"

The mournful sound of the bugle rang out once more.

The main force of the Turkic army, which had been observing from the outside, launched a final all-out attack from all directions like a black tide.

The crowd surged, and the horses' hooves thundered.

The Tang army's last line of defense was completely overwhelmed in that instant.

"Protect His Majesty!"

Cheng Yaojin roared and swung his great axe, forcefully cleaving a bloody path through the crowd.

However, it's just a drop in the ocean.

A Turkic centurion seized the opportunity, bypassed Cheng Yaojin's defenses, and with a sharp whistling sound, aimed his scimitar straight at Li Shimin's neck.

The blade gleamed with a bloodthirsty cold light in the setting sun.

fast.

too fast.

Li Shimin had just killed an enemy, his old strength exhausted and new strength yet to be generated. He watched helplessly as the curved blade grew larger and larger in his pupils, but he had no time to dodge.

"It's over..."

Only this one thought remained in his mind.

"Chengqian...my...eldest son..."

Just as the cold blade was about to touch Li Shimin's neck skin...

"clang--!!!"

A deafening clang of metal clashing suddenly rang out on the noisy battlefield, so sharp it almost pierced eardrums.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

The Turkic centurion remained frozen in place, still holding his sword.

He stared wide-eyed at the scimitar in his hand, utterly incredulous.

That scimitar, forged from the finest iron, at this moment...

It actually broke in two from the middle!