Many children, many blessings; a stunningly beautiful wife is given to you right from the start.

Wu Zhong collapsed in the mud, completely at a loss.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"It's fake, it must be fake!"

"Something must be wrong!"

"Is that not a person?"

"Yes! That's not a human, it must be a monster!!"

Wu Zhong kept muttering to himself, like a tape recorder that had stuck.

“Pah!”

A crisp slap echoed through the silent night.

Elder Zhao withdrew his hand and stared expressionlessly at the five finger marks that had appeared on Wu Zhong's face.

Being proven wrong is the most effective way to cure a breakdown.

However, this time, he miscalculated.

This slap seemed to have opened up Wu Zhong's Ren and Du meridians.

This led him from a simple breakdown into a deeper level of madness.

Wu Zhong stared blankly at Elder Zhao, his facial muscles twitching a few times.

Suddenly, he smiled.

First came a low chuckle, a hissing sound coming from his throat.

Then, the sound grew louder and louder, turning into a maniacal laugh of "hahahaha".

He pounded the muddy ground, laughing so hard he was doubled over, his face covered in tears and snot.

"Hallucination! I told you it was a hallucination! Hahahaha!"

Wu Zhong pointed at the scout who was trembling with fear and laughed even louder.

"You! You're fake! You're just a figment of my imagination!"

He then pointed to the distant, faintly visible torrent of iron cavalry blocking their path.

"That! That's fake too!"

"It's a smokescreen! It's a smokescreen created by that little bastard Lin Mo!"

"Yes! That must be it!"

Wu Zhong laughed as he scrambled to his feet and danced around like a madman.

"How could I lose?"

"I am the commander of Iron Wall Pass! My father is Wu Gang! I command an army of 50,000!"

"I...I'm invincible! Hahahaha!"

The remaining soldiers around him, seeing their general in this state, instinctively took a few steps back and automatically distanced themselves from him.

That maniacal laughter terrified them more than the enemy's war drums.

Elder Zhao's brows finally furrowed into a deep, knotted shape.

Things had completely spiraled out of his control.

He had considered that Lin Mo was not simple, and for this reason, he even proposed a solution of massacring the city once and for all.

But to his utter surprise, this Lin Mo was not just extraordinary, he was completely illogical.

Elder Zhao looked at Wu Zhong, who had completely gone mad, and knew that this chess piece was now useless.

The successive blows drove Wu Zhong to madness.

"Truly...utterly useless."

Elder Zhao made his final judgment on Wu Zhong in his heart.

But at that moment, Wu Zhong suddenly rushed over with a maniacal laugh and grabbed Elder Zhao's arm.

His strength was astonishing; his fingernails almost dug into Elder Zhao's flesh.

"Elder Zhao! My dear elder!"

Wu Zhong stared at him blankly, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth, looking just like a fool begging for food at the village entrance.

"It's all fake, isn't it?"

"Tell me I'm dreaming! Am I?!"

Wu Zhong brought his face close and spat all over Elder Zhao's face.

"This is a nightmare! A nightmare!"

"When I wake up, I'll still be in my mansion at Iron Wall Pass, and my newly captured women will still be waiting for me in bed! Right?!"

"Elder Zhao, tell me quickly! Is it right!?"

Wu Zhong gripped Elder Zhao's hand tightly, shaking it with all his might, like a child stubbornly asking an adult for candy.

When Elder Zhao saw Wu Zhong's mad appearance, the icy expression on his face, which had remained unchanged for millennia, suddenly melted away.

He even showed a smile that could be described as "gentle".

Then he reached out and gently patted Wu Zhong on the shoulder.

"Yes, General Wu."

Elder Zhao's voice was unusually gentle, as if he were comforting a frightened child.

"It was a dream, a nightmare."

"Go to sleep."

"Once you wake up, everything will be alright."

These words were like heavenly music, instantly silencing Wu Zhong.

The madness on his face faded, replaced by a childlike, pure joy of impending liberation.

"Really...really?"

"real."

Elder Zhao nodded with a smile.

At the same moment he nodded, his hand, which was resting on Wu Zhong's shoulder, suddenly moved without warning.

With its five fingers spread out, it resembles an eagle's claw or a ghost's hand.

"Pfft!"

A muffled thud, like puncturing a water-filled sack.

Elder Zhao's hand plunged straight into Wu Zhong's heart.

The intense pain instantly extinguished all the illusions in Wu Zhong's mind.

He regained his senses.

She stared in disbelief at the man in front of her, who was still smiling at her.

Then he slowly lowered his head and looked at the bloody hole in his chest and the hand that had been inserted into his chest.

Confusion, shock, and finally, all of it turned into overwhelming anger.

"Elder Zhao...you son of a bitch, you despicable and shameless..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

Elder Zhao's hand, which was stuck in his chest, suddenly clenched.

"Ho—!"

Wu Zhong's words were abruptly interrupted.

He felt his heart being gripped tightly and tightening.

The intense pain caused him to involuntarily open his eyes wide, his body tensing up like a fully drawn bow.

He made hoarse noises, but could no longer utter a single word.

"Pfft!"

Elder Zhao pulled his hand out of Wu Zhong's chest.

He clutched a still-beating, bloody heart in his hand.

However, the light in Wu Zhong's eyes quickly dissipated as the heart was removed from his body.

He took one last look at his heart, which was beating in someone else's hands, and then, with a thud, collapsed heavily to the ground.

The entire venue was deathly silent.

Everyone watched this bloody and brutal scene, and no one dared to breathe loudly anymore.

Elder Zhao casually handed the warm heart to a Ghost Gate subordinate dressed in black behind him.

"Keep it safe; you may need it later."

The subordinate bowed and accepted it, then carefully placed it in a specially made jade box.

Elder Zhao then squatted down and slowly wiped the blood off his hands on Wu Zhong's still-warm body.

Then, after looking around at the terrified remnants of the army, he took out the Dragon Claw Token from his pocket.

"Wu Zhong, as the commander of Tiebi Pass, was cowardly in battle and undermined the morale of the army; his crime is unforgivable!"

"I was ordered by the Third Prince to oversee military affairs, and I have, on behalf of His Highness, executed him on the spot!"

Elder Zhao slowly raised the token, his voice icy cold and devoid of any warmth.

"From this moment forward, this army is under my full command. Do you have any objections?"

The surrounding lieutenants exchanged bewildered glances, staring into Elder Zhao's emotionless eyes.

They glanced at the still-bleeding corpse on the ground, with a large hole in its chest, and a chill ran down their spines.

After a brief silence, a lieutenant was the first to react.

He knelt down with a thud, his voice trembling yet loud.

"This humble general...is willing to die for the Third Prince! I will obey the elders' orders!"

With someone taking the lead, no one else dared to hesitate for a second, and they all knelt down with a thud.

"We are willing to die for the Third Prince! We are at the elders' command!"

Elder Zhao nodded in satisfaction, the false "gentleness" on his face long gone, replaced by a chilling coldness and decisiveness.

"Pass on my order: all troops, turn around! Target: the woodlands to the east!"

"Let's take another route home!"