Chapter 442

Ma Dashu and over ten others all suffered light or heavy injuries, and now their injuries have received excellent treatment.

With top‑grade military wound medicine and top‑grade internal wound elixir, Ma Dashu, whose chest had been pierced, has now recovered seventy to eighty percent.

But while their wounds were healing, they were also injected with a drug that left them limp and powerless, so they could only be bound to crosses and have all their clothing violently torn off.

Pei Feng and the Black Phoenix Army officers stationed on the city wall stared with bloodshot eyes at the movements outside.

Everyone knew what was about to happen outside the city.

A squad of burly men in red robes surrounded Ma Dashu and the others, wielding specially made horn‑tip daggers whose blades flickered with a faint Blood Light, their faces expressionless as they stared at Pei Feng and the others on the wall.

Pei Feng drew a deep breath and then issued a series of low, solemn commands.

The large and small main cannons on the wall began fine adjustments; a faint rumbling came from within the wall as the cannons started to charge wildly, and slender streaks of blinding light appeared on the multi‑faceted conical barrels, flowing frenetically between the functional modules.

The messenger who had just been shot lay outside the city, his blood washed by the heavy rain into a spreading pool, the standing water on the ground tinged with a faint red.

Another messenger stepped out of the forest, his feet touching a wisp of flowing light, and quickly arrived at a point a hundred zhang in front of the city gate.

The messenger eyed the Black Phoenix Army officers on the wall warily, gripping a heavy shield in his left hand before him: "Pei Feng, army chief, open the gate, shut all defensive prohibitions, let us enter the city to search out the rebels and suppress the uprising."

"If you don't open the gate and refuse to cooperate with our suppression operation, we suspect you might be the rebel leader… don't blame us for acting irrationally. You know these people outside the city, right?"

Pei Feng stared at the messenger without expression; the main cannons on the wall had finished charging.

One main cannon suddenly lowered its barrel, locking onto the messenger. Amid his frantic roar, the cannon bellowed and spewed a thick beam of strong light several zhang wide, instantly engulfing him.

Neither his heavy shield nor his heavy armor, nor the several protective secret treasures constantly bursting forth on his body, were of any use.

In the face of such siege‑weaponry, only a peak expert of the Embryo Storage Realm, relying on top‑grade defensive immortal arms, could hope to escape; as for this messenger, he was merely at the trifling Life Pool Realm…

The main cannon's power was not fully unleashed; under Pei Feng's control it merely carried out an "extremely brief" strike, the light column it fired reaching no more than seven or eight zhang in length.

With such a fleeting release of power, the messenger vaporized into a wisp of blue smoke, leaving outside the gate a large pit dozens of zhang in diameter and deep by about a li; the pit steamed with hot air as rain kept falling into it, raising vast clouds of white vapor.

From the forest came Sima You's angry shout.

A red‑clad burly man raised his horn‑tip dagger and hacked a slice of flesh from Ma Dashu's body.

Ma Dashu held his head high and chest out, gritting his teeth without making a sound.

Pei Feng looked at Ma Dashu, nodded, then raised her right hand high and brought it down hard.

The fully charged main cannons on the wall all spewed white columns of light, wildly blasting toward the forest ahead; the white beams caused vast tracts of trees to explode and burn, then vaporize into blue smoke.

Beam after beam continued to erupt; as the cannon barrels gave a slight sway from left to right, they carved into the ground a series of frantic, exploding, burning, ferocious scars.

This wall, together with the western‑side main cannons on the north and south walls, simultaneously fired, unleashing nearly two hundred light columns that ravaged the mountains and forests; a stretch of woodland a hundred li across was instantly blanketed by flames and blast waves.

The angry roars of Sima You and his companions echoed from afar; nearly a thousand streams of flowing light shot up into the sky, and under the protection of their trusted commanders each of them leapt into the high air in the instant the main cannons fired, narrowly escaping the barrage.

Yet among the nearly one million family private troops they had brought, close to three hundred thousand were scattered in loose formations, hiding in the forest.

They never imagined that Pei Feng would be so staunch and decisive, disregarding the lives of Ma Dashu and the others and simply scouring the ground with the main cannons.

Although their formations were loose, faced with this all‑encompassing frenzied barrage, in just three or five breaths the family soldiers in the forest suffered heavy casualties, with at least nearly two hundred thousand swept up by the artillery fire.

These private troops, whose cultivation reached the Chonglou Realm and could be called elite, found their cultivation utterly useless under such concentrated main‑cannon fire.

"Pei Feng! What gall you have! Do you intend to oppose my Chengwang Manor?" Sima You shouted from high above, watching his elite private troops vanish in the cannon fire, watching the soldiers flee in disarray through the woods yet unable to escape, one after another swallowed by the main cannons; he felt no sorrow, only fury bursting forth.

Pei Feng's eyeballs turned entirely deep black, with threads of flame spurting from their surfaces, like two tiny black suns.

She gave an extremely cold, thin smile and whispered, "Sima You, you're scheming against me… I don't know how you bribed some worthless elements of my Black Phoenix Army, but no matter what you plan, you'll never succeed."

"I, Pei Feng, will accompany you to the bitter end—if you want to play, then play!"

"Remember, unless you can completely kill me and annihilate my Black Phoenix Army, my Black Phoenix Army will have no rest until you are destroyed."

The faces of Sima You, Sima Xin, Sima Hu, and the others were grim.

Their main target was 'Huo Xiong', not this Pei Feng.

But because Sima Lang intervened, they found themselves unexpectedly pitted against the Black Phoenix Army, feeling greatly wronged.

If they succeeded, Sima Lang could win the beauty and even bring this strong Black Phoenix Army under his command.

If they failed…

Sima Lang brushed off his rear and walked away, leaving this mess to be blamed entirely on them.

Pei Feng and the Black Phoenix Army are now in a sorry state, looking a bit down‑and‑out, but the Black Phoenix Army was once a formidable force; Pei Feng's father relied on it to drag the family back into the ranks of the great clans of the Da Jin Divine Nation.

The Black Phoenix Army represented by Pei Feng still has some connections and old acquaintances… while they may not pose a substantive threat to Sima You and his group, they are enough in the aristocratic circles of the Da Jin Divine Nation to make Sima You's reputation reek of infamy.

A group of princely generals teamed up to bully a woman, and even failed to subdue her; setting aside other matters, the label "incompetent" cannot be shaken off.

Thus, Sima You and his companions hate them bitterly.

They stared at Pei Feng standing on the wall, each of them seething with hatred that made their teeth itch.

Both Sima Lang and Pei Feng are—damn it—utterly intolerable.

Listening to the terrified death‑howls of their own private troops, Sima You and his companions jumped up and began cursing furiously.

In the distance, within Sima You and his companions' camp, Sima Lang, accompanied by a few trusted commanders, shot up into the sky, turning into streaming light and racing swiftly toward this place.

The bombardment of the main cannons ceased, and Sima Lang, with his retinue, flew to join Sima You and the others, hovering above the ravaged forest.

The main cannons' power was so great that the land within a hundred‑li radius sank a hundred or so zhang deep, turning into an irregular large pit.

The forest at the pit's edge was ignited by the heat, each towering ancient tree burning like a torch; even though rain kept falling from above, the blaze could not be quickly extinguished. Instead, raindrops striking the burning ground sent up vast clouds of vapor, making the scene even more hostile.

"Pei Feng, you are… too obstinate." Sima Lang hovered in midair, his eyes blazing as he fixed them on Pei Feng on the wall.

"This matter has nothing to do with you; we have received a detailed report that your Black Phoenix Army harbors rebels who intend to mutiny and sabotage the military department's secret‑path opening operation." Sima Lang spoke with conviction: "This could have been easily resolved—you open the camp, let us enter to investigate, purge all the rebels from your Black Phoenix Army, and the matter would be settled."

"But because of your non‑cooperation, this turmoil was sparked." Sima Lang shook his head lightly and sighed: "Look, so many have died or been wounded—all because of your fault. How can you bear this blame?"

Without letting Pei Feng speak, Sima Lang said softly: "You should think not only for yourself, but also for the old loyal followers who have accompanied you. Because of you, they have been implicated—how can you bear it in your heart?"

Pei Feng's veins bulged on his forehead with anger.

She is not particularly adaptable or flexible; as a woman she is even more staunch and forthright than the average man, habitually resorting to force to solve problems. Moreover, as Sima Lang said, she is proud, obstinate, and swears never to bow her head.

She is so proud that even when the Black Phoenix Army is in dire straits, she never opens her mouth to ask help from her father's old friends.

And thus, under her leadership the Black Phoenix Army declines day by day; under Sima Lang's suppression she can only lead the Black Phoenix Army in a hard‑scrabble existence.

Her nature made her poor with words, so she usually appeared somewhat like an ice‑cold beauty.

Facing Sima Lang's eloquent talk, Pei Feng could only grip her spear tightly; the seal in her hand emitted a faint light, and the main cannon on the city wall slightly adjusted its barrel, locking onto Sima Lang and the others one by one.

Sima Lang looked at Pei Feng's small gesture, then suddenly laughed.

"You know? If you attack me with cannon fire, then you are the rebel leader, your Black Phoenix Army is the rebel force—what fate awaits you, have you considered it?"

Pei Feng gritted her teeth and shouted: "Then, let it be fish dead, net broken."

Sima Lang laughed brightly: "Fish dead, net broken—you think that's great, but do you really think many would follow you to mutual destruction?"

He sighed, Sima Lang shook his head: "Pei Feng, as a woman you've done well, but it's not enough. I heard you promised these old folks of the Black Phoenix Army under your command that you'd restore the army's former glory, letting them regain their past brilliance and status."

"Tsk tsk" he praised a few times, Sima Lang said leisurely: "But you've misjudged human nature… Over these years, you, a woman, have struggled with this group of the old, weak, sick, and disabled; you've done your utmost. Yet, there are rebels among your Black Phoenix Army… they have let down your efforts."

"Do you want to know why, among your uncles and elders, some are rebels?"

Sima Lang laughed strangely.

Pei Feng clenched her teeth tightly, glaring at Sima Lang.

The so‑called rebels are none other than those Black Phoenix Army commanders who suddenly mobilized tower ships to attack their own comrades.

The so‑called rebels are none other than those Black Phoenix Army commanders who, from behind, suddenly launched a deadly strike, seriously wounding Ma Dashu and other comrades.

The so‑called rebels are none other than the two Black Phoenix Army commanders who, earlier in the army's central division, suddenly moved against Pei Feng and her companions, suppressing them with the Vajra Suppress Demon Seal and the Vajra Relic Pearl.

Their actions gave Sima Lang ample excuse to smear the Black Phoenix Army.

At the very least, from the legal standpoint of the Great Jin Divine State's military law, Sima Lang, Sima Yu, and the others now have sufficient grounds to intervene in the Black Phoenix Army's affairs.

They could even order the annihilation of the Black Phoenix Army, and they'd have ample justification to explain it to the military's high command.

"Why did they betray?" Pei Feng glared at Sima Lang and shouted fiercely: "Was it your doing?"

Sima Lang looked at Pei Feng with a half‑smile, like a hunter eyeing a beast caught in his trap. He said softly: "You are no longer the daughter of a First‑Rank Duke; your family's dukedom has been seized by a cadet branch… You're out here fighting with the old, weak, sick, and disabled—have you thought about the wives and children they left behind in your family's territory?"

Sima Lang laughed especially brightly: "People always have weaknesses; human nature is the hardest to withstand testing."

Pei Feng instinctively turned her head, looking at the Black Phoenix Army commanders and officers standing behind her, her heart turning icy.

She suddenly realized where the problem lay.

As Sima Lang said, she brought these old folks of the Black Phoenix Army out to fight desperately, striving for merit; but the wives and children of those Black Phoenix Army soldiers are all in the Pei Clan's dukedom territory.

But the duke who has inherited the title now is her enemy, Pei Feng.

That duke perhaps would not dare to act against the Black Phoenix Army's families, but with Sima Lang's instigation and support, who knows what he might do?

"Phoenix Mountain Duke!" Pei Feng let out a low, hoarse roar.

"He's your paternal uncle." Sima Lang chuckled lightly: "Pei Feng, do you understand now? The Black Phoenix Army is no longer worth relying on… Why go to all this trouble? Find a good family and marry—say, marry me!"

Sima Lang laughed especially eerily: "Marry me, and you'll sit on the Phoenix Mountain Duke's ducal throne—that's just a matter of words. As for those distant uncles and aunts, you can slaughter those damn bastards for fun if you like."

Pei Feng drew a deep breath and shouted: "The Pei Clan's merit comes only from swords and spears… I, Pei Feng, though a woman, would never do such a despicable thing. Sima Lang, you've schemed against me for so long—this time, let's settle it with life or death!"

Pei Feng waved her hand, and all the main cannons simultaneously burst forth with white light, roaring toward Sima Lang and the others.