Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2645 Killing
As dusk fell, Yunmengze was enveloped in twilight.

A gentle breeze rustled the reeds along the marshland.

Wild ducks swam leisurely in the lake, everything was so quiet, as if no one was there.

"Are there really pursuers coming?"

Hidden among the reeds, the lieutenant, unable to bear the mosquito bites any longer, couldn't help but speak quietly.

"Shut up."

"If you make another sound, you will be court-martialed."

Zhou Fu coldly rebuked.

The deputy general and the other soldiers around him dared not speak, but Zhou Fu could faintly hear rustling sounds coming from the other reeds around him, which were the sounds of soldiers hiding in the swamp who could no longer stay still.

Zhou Fu frowned, glanced at the sky, and regretted listening to the Western Rong people's advice.

"Strategist Wu Chan, how much longer?"

Zhou Fu looked at Wu Chanlu, who was squatting in the grass like him, and asked in a secret voice transmission, "It's getting dark. If we don't leave now, it will be even more dangerous if we are ambushed by the Qin army after dark."

Just half a day ago, Wu Chanlu suddenly ordered the entire army to stop marching, hide in the reeds, and not make a sound.

Although Zhou Fu felt that this move was very risky, he was not familiar with the situation in Yunmengze and thought that Wu Chanlu had discovered the ambush of the Former Qin army, so he could only reluctantly obey.

But to their surprise, after hiding for half a day, they didn't even see a trace of the Qin army.

Wu Chanlu's face was extremely pale, but he forced himself to say, "Since it's getting late, let's set up camp here and set off again tomorrow."

"We're surrounded by muddy swamps, where can we set up camp?"

Zhou Fu suppressed his anger, "If we hadn't stopped at noon, we could at least have found a drier place to camp by now."

“What’s the use of saying all this now? At noon you were the one who said we might be overtaken by the Qin army,” Wu Chanlu gritted his teeth. “I did sense the presence of the Qin army then, and they might be monitoring us right now.”

Now that things have dragged on, it's neither appropriate for them to leave nor to stay; they're caught in a dilemma.

Zhou Fu swallowed hard, forced himself to lift the alert, and ordered his soldiers to find a suitable campsite.

As night fell, a few fires were barely lit in the reeds. The Northern Wei and Western Rong people gathered around the fires to warm themselves, while most soldiers could only lie in the mud and water.

"Didn't I tell you not to light a fire!"

Wu Chanlu was furious and wanted to kick over the fire, but Zhou Fu grabbed him.

“With so many people hiding in the reeds, it’s not like we’ll miss a few more fires if we want to be discovered,” Zhou Fu said coldly. “If we don’t dry our clothes soon, many of them won’t even make it through the night.”

Wu Chanlu's eyes widened in anger, "What do you know, that woman..."

Before he could finish speaking, the fires scattered across dozens of camps suddenly went out at the same time.

"what?"

The reed marshes were suddenly shrouded in darkness.

"Who?"

Zhou Fu stood in the darkness, suddenly feeling a chill run down his spine.

He was completely unaware of the hostility and murderous intent.

This requires more than just a high level of skill; the ability to extinguish several fires simultaneously and silently indicates that the people of the Former Qin had long since infiltrated their ranks.

When did it start?

Why didn't the other Northern Wei soldiers notice?
Unless... these soldiers were originally part of this unit.

"Who put out the fire? Who?!"

"Quick! Grab your weapons!"

The fire was extinguished, and the soldiers around it made a huge commotion for a moment, but before the surrounding generals could reprimand them, the noise began to gradually subside.

In the darkness, only a soft, hissing sound could be heard.

It was an assassination.

Zhou Fu stood cold in the mud. Someone approached from behind, and he suddenly turned around and held the knife to the other person's neck.

"General, it's me!"

Zhou Fu recognized the voice as belonging to his deputy, but still did not lower his sword. "How is the situation?"

"Silver Cicada Guards have infiltrated our ranks! They're killing our people!" "Silver...Cicada...Guards..."

Zhou Fu gritted his teeth. The current Silver Cicada Guards were originally recruited by Li Meiniang from the Northern Wei garrison on the Eternal Night Great Wall. They were familiar with the organization of the Northern Wei garrison, so it was not difficult for them to infiltrate the Northern Wei army.

But he still didn't understand how these people managed to get close to their group without being detected by high-level cultivators.

In their team, there were more than ten cultivators of rank five or above. Although there were no Heaven-rank cultivators, it was impossible for them not to detect the aura of ordinary soldiers.

Haven't you heard about this?

Just then, a soft voice suddenly rang in Zhou Fu's ears.

"General? General, what's wrong?"

The lieutenant in front of him seemed not to have heard anything, and just stared at him strangely.

"He can't hear me because I'm only talking to you."

Zhou Fu stood stiffly in the mud, his other hand pressing down on a poisoned short sword under his armor.

"when did you come?"

“It’s been almost half a day,” the soft female voice said. “I’ve been waiting for it to get dark.”

Zhou Fu had witnessed many bizarre and bloody scenes in his twenty years of military service, but he had never felt so horrified.

The voice was so clear it sounded like it was speaking right behind him, yet he couldn't sense its presence at all.

He suddenly realized why he hadn't noticed that spies had quietly infiltrated the Northern Wei army that afternoon.

Because an extremely powerful presence was obscuring the aura of these people, although he sensed something was amiss, his mind was too scrambled to discern the aura due to fear.

The power gap is too great.

"What do you want to do?" Zhou Fu's cold sweat dripped down his armor. "Kill me?"

“No,” Ying Baoyue shook her head, “Killing your group of rebels would turn you into bandits.”

The few dozen Silver Cicada Guards she brought were not enough to wipe out an army of tens of thousands.

"I'm here to kill someone else."

"Who?"

Before Zhou Fu could speak, a terrified scream came from the reeds not far away.

"Get out! Stay away from me! I am an elder of the Zen Temple!"

"If you dare touch me, the Zen temple will not let you get away with it!"

"Guard! Guard!"

"Master! Master! Save me!"

Wu Chanlu frantically fled through the reeds. He couldn't see the road ahead, his eyes were seeing stars, and his fingers, which were bleeding from being gnawed, groped for the wooden statue in his arms.

"Master! Master!"

He couldn't sense that someone was chasing him, but that feeling was the most terrifying.

The wooden statue had absorbed his blood, but it did not light up.

With a splash, Wu Chanlu fell into the muddy water. His head was covered in blood. He tried to get up, but his legs were too weak and he fell down again.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

A soft female voice rang in his ear, but Wu Chanlu felt as if he had seen a vengeful ghost.

He sat in the mud, desperately backing away.

"you……"

That girl was no longer the ignorant princess who was chasing after her pursuers and fleeing for her life in the reeds.

Before he died, Wu Chanlu only saw a flash of red light before his eyes, like the gunpowder lit by the girl in the reeds.

"Crack."

Inside the Arhat Hall of the Zen Temple, a soul lamp quietly went out.

One of our brothers, Wu Chan, who has been with us for many years, was the first to go offline.
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