Hurt my loved ones? I'm not guarding this country's borders anymore!

"The king's chessboard? The capital's reputation? In my eyes, neither is as important as a single hair on my daughter's head!"

"You want the King of Anle alive? Trade him the antidote! Otherwise, all I'll give you back is a corpse... no, not even a corpse!"

Shen Jinglong's voice was like a cold wind from the deepest hell, freezing the air in the private room of Tianyue Teahouse.

He grabbed Prince Anle by the neck with one hand, lifting him into the air like a chick. His scarlet eyes were fixed on Princess Huimin, revealing an undisguised murderous intent.

Princess Huimin's face turned deathly pale. She was so overwhelmed by this aura that she had to retreat repeatedly and couldn't utter a single word.

She knew the man in front of her wasn't joking.

If she can't come up with the antidote, this madman will really crush Prince Anle into a lump of minced meat right in front of her.

"Jinglongwu... General Shen..." Princess Huimin's voice was hoarse. She wanted to say something, but found that any words seemed so pale and powerless at this moment.

I'll count to three.

Shen Jinglong had no patience to waste any more time with her.

"three."

"two,,,"

He increased the pressure on his hand, and Prince Anle's eyes began to roll back, his tongue sticking out, and he was about to die.

At this critical moment.

"Beep beep beep—!"

A rapid, urgent alarm suddenly blared from Shen Jinglong's tactical headset.

This is a Level S alert, the highest level of alert in the North!

It will never be activated unless there is a crisis of national annihilation.

Shen Jinglong's movements froze, and his brows furrowed instantly.

He casually tossed Prince Anle on the ground like trash and then connected the communication.

Through the earphones, Xuanwu's voice came with unprecedented anxiety and hoarseness, against the backdrop of deafening explosions and piercing screams.

"Commander Long! Something's happened!"

"The North... the northern defenses... have been breached!"

boom!

This news struck Shen Jinglong like a bolt from the blue.

Northern defenses!

How could that steel defense line, which he had built over seven years with the blood and flesh of countless brothers, possibly be breached?

"Explain yourself! What happened!" Shen Jinglong's voice was terrifyingly cold.

"It's the Northern Bear Kingdom! They've gone mad!"

Xuanwu's voice trembled with tears, "They amassed a million-strong army and launched a full-scale attack when we least expected it! And... and they used a biological weapon unlike anything we've ever seen before!"

"Our brothers... after coming into contact with the poisonous mist emitted by those weapons, their inner strength will rapidly dissipate, turning them into ordinary people, and then they will be torn to pieces by those monsters... Commander Long... the defense line is about to fall! General Baihu... Baihu, in order to cover our retreat, has already..."

Shen Jinglong could no longer hear what Xuanwu said after that.

His mind was buzzing, and the familiar black earth of the North appeared before his eyes, along with the faces of his brothers who had fought alongside him and shared life and death.

White Tiger...

That honest and straightforward man, who always liked to challenge himself to a physical contest...

"Brothers! I'm back! Those who offend my Dragon Kingdom, no matter how far away, will be punished! Now, follow me—kill!"

The bold words spoken on the battlefield still echoed in my ears.

But now, he is far away in Cangcheng, entangled with a group of clowns over personal grudges.

Meanwhile, his brothers are standing at the border, using their lives and blood to hold back the tide of enemies.

"ah--!"

Shen Jinglong let out a roar that was suppressed to the extreme.

A violent aura erupted from his body, shattering the tables and chairs in the private room into dust.

Princess Huimin was thrown backward by the shockwave, staring in horror at the man who seemed to have gone mad.

On one side was his enemy, who was right next to him and had slaughtered his entire family.

On the other side, the country's territory was engulfed in flames of war and on the verge of collapse.

On one side was her own daughter, who was suffering from a rare poison and whose life hung by a thread.

On the other side were comrades-in-arms who fought valiantly, their bodies never to be found.

Family feud? National crisis?

At this moment, Shen Jinglong, the mighty Dragon Lord of the Northern Territory, experienced firsthand what true heartbreak meant.

He slammed his fist into the load-bearing wall next to him.

"boom!"

A hole was smashed through the sturdy wall, and the wound on his arm burst open from the force of the blow, bleeding profusely, but he seemed oblivious to it.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When she opened her eyes again, the struggle and pain in them had completely transformed into a cold, resolute determination.

When the nation is in peril, true heroes emerge.

He, Shen Jinglong, is the soul of 300,000 soldiers in the Northern Frontier and the pillar of the Dragon Kingdom's northern border.

He may die, but the northern border must not be breached, and the nation's gates must not be lost!

"Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird!"

He turned around, his voice hoarse but firm.

"exist!"

"After I leave, Cangcheng is in your hands."

Shen Jinglong glanced at the half-dead Prince Anle and the captured Blood Raven on the ground. "Keep a close eye on them. Use every means possible to extract the antidote's location from them. If... if anything happens to Sisi, tear them to pieces and grind their bones to dust!"

"Yes!" Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird roared in unison, tears welling in their eyes.

They knew how difficult the decision Long Shuai had made.

A lowly Dragon Guard soldier, witnessing this scene, whispered to the person next to him in the local dialect, "That bastard! The King is such a scoundrel! He's used and discarded! The Dragon Commander guarded the nation's gates for him, and he stabs him in the back!"

Having settled everything, Shen Jinglong didn't linger for a moment and turned to leave.

He must return to the North as quickly as possible!

Return to the battlefield that belongs to him!

But just as he took a step, Princess Huimin, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke.

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was like a bucket of ice water poured over Shen Jinglong from head to toe, making him feel cold all over.

"Shen Jinglong, returning to the Northern Border now is tantamount to walking into a trap!"

Shen Jinglong stopped in his tracks, slowly turned around, his eyes sharp as knives.

Princess Huimin met his gaze and spoke slowly and deliberately, each word startling.

"Do you really think the Northern Bear Kingdom attacked precisely because you weren't there?"

"No!"

"This whole affair was a scheme set up for you by that person in the capital..."

"What he wants is for you to leave Cangcheng and die on the northern battlefield!"