The lord of Qinghe Fort, named Zhao Jian, is a high-ranking figure in the Poisonous Spider Merchant Association.

  He stood on the city wall, seeing the dense soldiers outside the city, and was shocked. He immediately rushed into the castle and reported to Hua Ming Gong, who was recovering from his injuries, that the imperial army had come to attack.

  Five days ago in the great war at the Black Market headquarters, Hua Ming Gong was injured by two Silver Robe Elders from Wu City Academy and has not recovered yet.

  Upon hearing the news that Qinghe Fort was surrounded, Hua Ming Gong's face sank, as if muttering to himself: "Hmph, they've arrived quickly. Take a closer look at who led the troops to besiege Qinghe Fort, is it Wan Chengzhong or Zhang Tiangu?"

  Zhao Jian shook his head and said, "Neither, it's the seventh person in Yunwu County, Jin Chih-han."

  "What a joke, Cloud Wu County King is too underestimated by me, actually letting Jin Chixian come to besiege Qinghe Fort, haha" Hua Ming Gong's heart relaxed, and he smiled: "How many troops did Jin Chixian bring?"

  "There were at least 10,000 of them, all elite troops." said Zhao Jian.

  Hua Ming Gong snorted, saying: "The goods hoarded in Qinghe Fort have been transferred almost completely. I originally planned to leave today, but since that's the case, let's give a big gift to the King of Yunwu County before leaving. Let him know that opposing the black market has no good outcome."

  Du Xie, the young master, walked in from outside and smiled: "Father is right, Jin Chih-han's arrival at Qinghe Fort is a dead end. Zhao Jian, go open the gate of Qinghe Fort and let Jin Chih-han in."

  "Obeying orders."

  Seeing Hua Ming Gong and Du Zhu Shaozhu so confident, the look of terror on Zhao Jian's face disappeared, replaced by a sly smile, walking towards the top of the city gate.

  Standing on the city gate, Zhao Jian raised a white flag and stared at General Chi Han in the distance, saying: "General Chi Han, we surrender, please do not launch an attack."

  "Open the city gate immediately and let General Chi Han enter the city."

  Boom

  Under the urging of the twenty-four warriors, the city gate slowly opened.

  Five miles away, General Chi Han sneered: "Indeed, it's just a mob, they've just surrounded Qinghe Fortress and surrendered on their own. They can't withstand a single blow."

  Zhang Ruochen warned, "General, be careful of the trap. Qinghe Fort must have a defensive formation set up inside. If you enter the fort, the evil Taoist warriors inside will activate the formation, which will be very unfavorable to you."

  General Chi Han nodded and said, "Indeed, we can't afford not to defend."

  General Chi Yan glared at Zhao Jian, who was standing on the city gate, and shouted: "If you destroy the four array towers on the city wall, I will accept your surrender. Otherwise, I can only choose to launch a strong attack."

  Zhao Jian glanced at the distant Poison Spider Young Master.

  The corner of Du Zhu's mouth revealed a hint of an evil smile as he nodded at him.

  In Du Zhu's view, even if he didn't use the protective city formation, it would be easy to destroy Jin Chi Han and his 10,000 troops.

  Besides, Qinghe Fort can't be stayed for long either. It's better to destroy the defensive formation and not leave it for the imperial court of Yunwu Prefecture. Setting up a city defense array costs a lot of money.

  Boom

  Boom

  With four loud booms, the four arrays outside Qinghe Fort collapsed and turned into massive boulders.

  General Chi-Han saw the array tower being destroyed, and suddenly let out a loud laugh. With a wave of his arm, he said: "Chi-Dian Camp, Chi-Feng Camp, follow me into Qinghe Fortress, and annihilate those evil Taoist warriors."

  General Chi led away only two battalions of troops, about four thousand men, and marched towards Qinghebao in a mighty manner.

  Zhang Ruochen sat in the carriage, slightly furrowing his brow and muttering to himself: "The evil Taoist warriors of Qinghe Fort actually destroyed the four array towers. Could it be that I was just being paranoid?"

  General Chi Gan led his troops and had just charged into Qinghe Fort when the city gate suddenly closed with a loud bang.

  "Haha, Jin Chih-han, you're too stupid. You really think we'd surrender?" Zhao Jian laughed.

  In the Qinghe Fort, from all directions, hundreds of evil martial artists wearing purple robes burst out. They were all top-notch evil masters, surrounding General Chi and four thousand soldiers in the center.

  Duozhu Shaizhu and Hua Ming Gong walked out of the castle, standing on top of the stone platform, smiling at General Chi Han below.

  Duozhu Young Master smiled and said, "General Chi Han, the King of Yunwu County has sent you to Qinghe Fortress to die. Why do you still want to sacrifice yourself for the imperial court? Why not surrender to our Duozhu Chamber of Commerce? With your strength, you will definitely receive a very good treatment."

  After seeing Duozhu's young master and Huaming's public, General Chixian's face turned pale, knowing he had fallen into a trap.

  Not only did he fall into the trap set by Poison Spider and Hua Ming Gong, but also into the scheme of the Seventh Prince. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand why the Seventh Prince wanted to harm him.

  A Tianji realm martial arts legend can easily kill an army of 10,000 people, let alone the fact that Huaming Gong is not only a Tianji realm warrior, but also Duxu Shaoye has the strength to fight against Tianji realm warriors.

  It seems like today is more bad luck than good luck.

  General Chi Yan did not surrender, gritted his teeth, picked up the black wolf-toothed club and shouted, "Brothers, kill for me!"

  "obstinately refusing to wake up to reality"

  The Poisonous Spider Young Master lost his patience and pulled out the curved knife from his bosom, pouring all his true energy into it.

  The inscription on the curved sword was fully activated, and a two-meter-high blade aura burst out, slashing towards the army.

  "Whoosh"

  With just one slash of the sword, dozens of soldiers were cut in two, and blood gushed out like a flood, dyeing the ground crimson.

  In front of a master like Du Zhu, the tactic of using a large number of people is useless. To say nothing of an army of 10,000, even an army of 100,000 would not be able to stop his footsteps.

  When Du Zhu's master made his move, Zhao Jian also jumped down from the city wall and struck out with one palm, sending over a dozen soldiers flying.

  Zhao Jian was the lord of Qinghe Fort, his martial arts had reached the extreme realm of Daxuan, and he could kill his way into the army without anyone being able to withstand a single move from him.

  In an instant, a field of corpses was left behind.

  He rushed in front of General Chi Han and fought with General Chi Han.

  The ruthless smile spread across Du Zhu's face as he gazed out at the thousands of soldiers before him, "A group of ants thinking they can surround and annihilate Qing He Fort, what a joke."

  Suddenly, a loud and clear whistle sounded outside the city, an ear-piercing whistling sound that echoed throughout Qinghebao.

  The eyes of the young master of the poisonous spider narrowed, looking towards the direction outside the city, "Is there still a high-ranking official in the army?"

  Boom

  The city gate of Qinghebao was cast from refined iron, half a meter thick, but it was shattered by a powerful sword energy and became fragmented.

  The fragments of the city gate flew rapidly towards those evil martial artists under the control of a surge of true energy.

  "Hong Hong"

  Seventeen evil martial artists' bodies were pierced and flew backward, with fresh blood splashing out, dying tragically on the spot.

  Zhang Ruochen carried the Xuan Yuan ancient sword, walking in from outside the city gate. From a distance, he stared at Du Zhu's young master and said, "Hua Qing Shan, we meet again."

  At the moment when the city gate closed, Zhang Ruochen sensed that something was wrong and immediately chased after him.

  Outside the city, the shouting of troops and the sound of war drums rose, the remaining six thousand soldiers formed an array and charged towards Qinghebao.

  The young master of the Poisonous Spider saw Zhang Ruochen walking into the city gate, and first let out a slight surprise, followed by a loud laugh: "Zhang Ruochen, heaven has a road you don't take, hell has no door you charge in."

  "Really?"

  "It depends on whose paradise and whose hell"

  The Poisonous Spider's Young Master let out a cold hum, his eyes sank, and he said: "Today you don't think of escaping again"

  The poisonous spider's master kicked his palm, soared to a height of over 30 meters, and then rapidly fell, borrowing the speed of the fall, one knife slashed towards Zhang Ruochen's head.

  A bright flash of light, dragged out for over ten meters, like a wheel of pure moonlight falling from the sky.

  "Hiss"

  Zhang Ruochen simply moved his body and disappeared from where he was standing.

  "What" Poison Spider Young Master was slightly startled, didn't expect Zhang Ruochen's speed would be so fast.

  Boom

  The poisonous spider's blade slashed down onto the ground, causing a violent tremor. A long gash appeared on the surface, stretching over 100 meters in length and three meters deep.

  This blade's power was far beyond what anyone would expect from a warrior, leaving everyone in attendance utterly astonished.

  "You're too slow"

  Zhang Ruochen's voice sounded behind Du Xingyi.

  The face of the young master of the poisonous spider changed, and he was about to turn around to block with his knife, but Zhang Ruochen had already slapped him on the back with one palm.

  "Boom"

  A powerful palm, the poisonous spider young master was struck forward with a pounce, like an evil dog pouncing on food, and rolled more than ten zhang away, knocking down a wall.

  The poisonous spider lord sprang up from the ruins, landing back on the ground, tearing apart his tattered outer garment to reveal a suit of silver armor.

  It was precisely because of the protection of this armor that he withstood Zhang Ruochen's palm and only suffered a slight injury.

  His armor was called Snake Scale Silver Armor, a sixth-grade True Martial Treasure, made entirely of silver scales linked together without any gaps.

  "Zhang Ruochen, I underestimated you. No wonder you dared to fight me one-on-one. It turns out your cultivation has already broken through."

  The Poisonous Spider's eyes were fixed on Zhang Ruochen, with a thread of green light appearing in his pupils, until they completely turned green, looking extremely eerie.

  Soul-Capturing Eyes

  This is a mid-grade martial skill, generally speaking, only Tianji realm warriors can successfully cultivate it. Du Zhu's young master cultivated the Soul Capturing Eye, but didn't cultivate it to perfection.

  Zhang Ruochen's mental strength was so strong that even if he hadn't reached the state of Da Cheng, his soul-capturing eyes wouldn't be able to harm him.

  Zhang Ruochen directly ignored the poisonous spider young master's soul-capturing eyes, stepped on the step method, and rushed to the front of the poisonous spider young master, slashing down with one sword.

  "The heavens are full of moonlight."

  The Tianxin Sword Art was only a lower-grade Ling-level sword art, but when Zhang Ruochen reached the state of sword heart clarity, he had already cultivated the Tianxin Sword Art to the realm of transformation.

  Transcendence is the realm beyond great accomplishment.

  A martial art, once it reaches a state of perfection, its power will be multiplied several times over.

  Even if it's just a low-grade spiritual sword technique, it can still exert the power of a mid-grade spiritual sword technique.

  The young master of the Poisonous Spider had never thought that the Soul- Capturing Eye would lose its effect, and in his haste, he could only slash out with a knife to block Zhang Ruochen's attack.

  Zhang Ruochen's swordsmanship was so exquisite, how could he possibly withstand it.

  Only to see the ancient sword of the abyss slightly twisted, avoiding the curved knife in the hand of the young master of the poisonous spider, and cutting it on the waist of the young master of the poisonous spider.

  "Hmm"

  The Duozhu Young Master was cut in two by the sword, and even the snake-scale silver armor on his body could not withstand the sharpness of the Abyssal Ancient Sword.

  A top young evil dao master fell, blood splattered five steps, died under Zhang Ruochen's sword.