Chapter 394: The Sky Opens a Gap

"Which rat-spawned bastard is it? Disturbing me at a time like this!" Sinuoli cursed as he turned his head around.

"Creak! Creak!"

Before he could get an answer, the study door was already teetering under the impact. The Dwarf King looked down to see his trousers hanging at his ankles, while the Governor of Weibei Liesheng lay unconscious on the bed, her clothes half-undone; if someone saw this, would there be any dignity left?

"Get out! I'm not deaf, I'll come out myself!" he roared while grabbing a paperweight from the desk and hurling it forcefully toward the doorway.

"Whoosh! Boom!"

"Ah!"

"I didn't use the Storm Hammer, did I? Is it still that powerful?"

Not only was the door shattered by the paperweight, but a pained grunt came from outside. Sinuoli suspected this was a buff from his Storm Authority, but right now, pulling up his trousers was clearly the top priority.

"Gotrek? Why is it you? What did I say before I went in? Don't disturb our important meeting unless the sky falls! I see you've gained a little merit recently and are getting cocky, aren't you!"

After pulling the quilt over Miaoying, Sinuoli walked out the door full of fury. Looking at his subordinate who had been knocked to the ground by the paperweight, he couldn't help but scold him. Having his good time interrupted left him feeling both regretful and worried about how to handle the aftermath, and a nameless rage boiled in his chest.

"This."

"."

Gotrek was also startled. Ever since he decided to follow him at the Red Cloud Mountain Fortress, he had been carrying the Disaster of the Dragon Clan battle flag and fighting for years under the banner of the Ancestor Chosen, but this was the first time he had seen his lord so angry.

"I have kept your orders firmly in mind and dared not forget them for a moment, but look over there, the fire has reached our beards!"

The warrior patted his backside, climbed to his feet, and pointed to the northwestern sky. Sinuoli turned around and nearly fell to the ground in fright. It was now the middle of the night, but there was no starlight in the night sky; instead, a gap had opened in the northwestern Profound Heaven, and Daemons were pouring out incessantly from the pink-blue rift.

"Tzeentch Daemon army? When did they appear?"

"Not long after we were ordered by the Ancestor to withdraw, the Daemon army appeared out of thin air. They have already breached the six walls and are currently attacking the seventh! Where is my Highness now?"

Before Gotrek could answer, a Jade Blood Clan lady-in-waiting rushed forward. Sinuoli had some impression of her; she was Miaoying's chief maid and could be considered quite capable.

"I went in this morning, how is it already the middle of the night? Has the memory sharing lasted that long?"

The Dwarf King pursed his lips and thought quickly; years of experience told him there were no coincidences in this world. The moment he put the Beast-Taming Collar on Miaoying, the Tzeentch Daemon army arrived—it was likely prepared long ago.

Connecting this to the old Daoist who told fortunes yesterday and the anomalies along the way, Sinuoli easily guessed eight or nine out of ten parts of the situation. It was highly probable that he had been schemed against and lured into harming Miaoying, thereby creating an opportunity for the Daemons to attack Nangao.

"The Daemon army has appeared, why didn't you report it immediately? Who among you can bear the responsibility for delaying the military opportunity?"

Thinking that if the system prompt hadn't unilaterally interrupted the memory sharing, the people outside would never have been able to wake him and Miaoying up, the transmigrator knew he was in the wrong but couldn't lose his momentum now. He roared, his bark worse than his bite.

"This, this, the Ancestor's laws are strict; if we disobeyed, the punishment would be demotion at best and execution at worst. We dared not enter." The lady-in-waiting was intimidated and spoke stammeringly.

"Governing the army too strictly has its drawbacks."

Muttering this, Sinuoli's brain spun rapidly. Without the distraction of his lower half, his sharp intellect regained the high ground, and a decent explanation flashed into his mind.

"Cough, just a moment ago she received an urgent report that Aomeng Pass was under attack. The situation was critical, so she transformed into a Dragon and went to provide support."

"Without the Governor's military orders, the various units can only fight on their own, and the Terracotta Sentinels can only be mobilized with the Ancestor's jade seal."

"Besides the monsters outside, there are multiple groups of thieves inside the city setting fires and causing chaos, and no one knows where they came from!"

"With the Governor gone, Nangao is in danger!"

One sentence threw the Zhendan officials gathered at the study door into a panic. Ever since Miaoying began governing Weibei, her word was law, and her subordinates only had the duty to obey and execute; thus, without her, this group of people struggled to exercise any subjective initiative.

"Everyone, do not panic. Before the Storm Dragon left, she entrusted the military tally and jade seal to me. I shall take charge of Nangao's city defense."

As he spoke, Sinuoli returned to the study and fished the tokens from Miaoying's embrace. Things had reached this point, and he had no choice but to step up. If Nangao City fell, there would be no shortage of carnage, and he, the instigator, would certainly not have a good end.

"Are all the commanders who could come here, except for those on the front lines? Where is Hailanzhu?"

Looking around the square in front of the Storm Dragon's palace, Sinuoli frowned slightly. Compared to yesterday's banquet, there were only half as many people; he didn't know if they had died in the initial invasion or had long since been corrupted by Chaos.

"To repel foreign enemies, one must first secure the interior. You, take the Dragon-Blooded Cavalry and wipe out the thieving parties causing chaos in the city as quickly as possible. Daoist Qian, go quickly to activate the Sentinels. Everyone else, gather your troops and follow me to reinforce the Seventh Wall. Do not delay!"

The generals present all knew that the military situation was as urgent as fire, and they left one by one to carry out their orders. Sinuoli nodded repeatedly as he watched his gathered clansmen; Ailike had a keen sense for war and had taken action as soon as the Tzeentch Daemon army appeared.

"Report! Hailanzhu has rebelled! She is leading the Manchu Tatars to open the city gates from the inside!" A messenger on horseback galloped toward them as they were moving quickly along the thoroughfare.

"Damn it! I knew at a glance you weren't human!"

The Dwarf King cursed, and the Warhammer in his palm shot out. Before anyone else could react, he knocked the messenger off the horse, and the corpse twisted to reveal its true form—a Tzeentch Changeling.

"Tsk, troublesome! None of the minions of the Chaos Four Gods are easy to deal with. I can detect the evil aura on it, but it's hard to say for those with weaker strength. Relying on the city to stabilize and slowly defend it will likely be tough."

Seeing through the enemy's trick brought him no relief, only more pressure. Along the way, the original "Ninghe" was being replaced by chaos, and the time and space left for Sinuoli were already running out.

"The Ancestor Gods are above, I was even praising it yesterday!"

After some twists and turns, he stood atop the Eighth Wall. Even with prior expectations, Sinuoli still broke into a cold sweat over the crumbling situation. The defenders of the Seventh Wall were retreating steadily under the fierce onslaught of the large group of Daemons and barbarians, and its fall seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

"Damn it, you finally arrived! Otherwise, this old lady would have had to retreat."

Hailanzhu had received the news and withdrawn from the front line. The tattoos on her body were dim in color; she must have already invoked the gods in the previous battles.

"Lichaohui, who was defending the Fifth Wall, suddenly rebelled halfway through, and Yanxiping at the Second Wall was simply swapped out by a Daemon! The first few lines of defense collapsed without much resistance, if it weren't for me..."

"."

"The fall of the high wall is a small matter; that Greater Daemon is the real trouble."

Sinuoli interrupted the female general's report on the battle situation. Through the crenellations, he stared fixedly at the Lord of Change with two heads growing on its neck below the city.