Don't mess with that Miao boy, he's sickly and perverted.

This news was like a bolt from the blue for all the surviving civilians and soldiers in the city.

The previous battle, fought against overwhelming odds, was a desperate gamble with no way out.

Having barely managed to hold their breath and endure, they were now told that they were about to face a monster far more terrifying than humans.

The monsters came in all shapes and sizes, some small and weak, others powerful enough to shake mountains and shatter rocks. These enormous creatures were far beyond the capabilities of ordinary soldiers; to fight them was like throwing an egg against a rock, not to mention that there were thousands of them.

"Most demonic beasts hide deep in the mountains and forests year-round, and even those that wreak havoc on humanity usually only appear in groups of two or three. How exactly did the barbarians manage to gather thousands of demonic beasts and make them obey their commands?"

Inside the camp outside the city.

Several soldiers sat around the sand table, completely baffled.

"Now is not the time to think about these things." Song Yueyao interrupted in a deep voice, her gaze fixed on a flag on the sand table, then moved a few inches to the northwest. "Judging from Deputy General Xiao's patrol route, the place where he was killed is only half a day's journey from Lucheng."

She raised her eyes and swept them over the solemn faces of the crowd:

"The barbarians are coming, and we don't have much time left. Our only option now is to hold on to the death."

Once Deer City falls, the barbarians, accompanied by demonic beasts, will advance unimpeded and will not stop to regroup as before; they will fight their way into the heart of the territory.

At that time, the entire Liangya Prefecture will surely become a living hell.

Lucheng is the last line of defense.

"Princess, tell me, how are we supposed to defend?" a soldier asked, his face full of worry. "Aside from the wounded, we only have a few thousand men left who can fight. With so few men, how can we possibly hold off thousands of demonic beasts?"

Song Yueyao glanced at him, and instead of answering, asked, "How did you get into the Nie family army?"

Upon hearing this, the soldier straightened his back a bit, a hint of smugness in his eyes: "Princess, you may not know this, but my name is He Ji. After General Nie passed away, the remaining troops of the Nie family in the capital were leaderless, and I was recommended by Grand Tutor Yin to temporarily take charge of military affairs."

What he didn't say was that he could have chosen not to go to the front lines, but he thought that General Nie's granddaughter might be quite capable, and that he might be able to gain some military merits by going.

Song Yueyao smiled dismissively, casually glancing at the other soldiers, "Someone tell him what the ironclad discipline of the Nie family army is."

"yes!"

Immediately, someone stepped forward, their voice booming like a bell: "We'll be a human wall in life, and a stake in death! We'll fight to the last man, and we won't back down!"

Song Yueyao raised an eyebrow: "Did you hear that?"

"The Nie family army doesn't tolerate cowardly soldiers; even if only one soldier remains, they must hold the line!"

"And—" she gestured with her chin, "In the military, if you address General Benben as 'Commander-in-Chief,' and if I hear you call her 'Princess' again, you'll be punished according to military law!"

He Ji met her sharp, icy eyes and felt a sudden tremor in his heart. He had long heard of the princess's exceptional beauty, but he never knew she could be so terrifying when she was fierce; her gaze felt like a knife scraping through bone.

His lips moved slightly: "This humble general obeys."

Song Yueyao ignored him, turned and walked to the sand table, pointing her finger at it: "I've heard that the demonic beasts will go hungry and hunt within five days, so let's hold out for those five days. After five days, the starving demonic beasts will naturally prey on the barbarians."

"Defend outside the city, lay a line of kerosene along the base of the city wall, and burn as wide as possible. All soldiers who can still fight should gather outside the city wall, prepare their flintlock cannons, and fire at my command."

She paused, then pointed towards the city wall: "The remaining archers, follow me to the city wall and take your positions."

The people inside the tent responded in unison.

Just then, a lazy yet pleasant chuckle came from outside the tent.

"Fire is useless against monsters."

His tone was so languid, as if he had just crawled out of bed, with a hint of weariness at the end.

At this solemn and perilous moment, it seems particularly abrupt.

A tall figure lifted the curtain and walked in. The two soldiers guarding outside the tent froze, as if they had been frozen in place, like wooden figures, and did not stop him.

The silver-adorned attire clearly identified him as a Miao person. He Ji immediately drew his sword and shouted sternly, "Who dares to trespass into a military tent?!"

"One of us." Song Yueyao held her crescent blade horizontally, pressing down on his sword.

She looked up at the newcomer, her brows furrowing slightly: "Wu Li, this is a method that has been tried in the common folk; demons and beasts fear fire."

Wu Li raised his eyelids speechlessly: "The monsters that people have tried are all the size of wild dogs. Real giant monsters can't be scared away with just a torch, can they?"

He strolled to the sand table, his long, slender fingers casually pointing to several locations outside the city:

"The oil line won't last an hour before they trample it out. The flint cannon will at most kill three to five, and the rest will only be enraged."

Song Yueyao stared at him without saying a word.

"You want to hold out for five days?" Wu Li raised his eyes, his heterochromatic pupils devoid of emotion. "To prevent them from eating people for five days, you first need to prevent them from attacking within five days."

His finger traced an arc on the sand table: "Demon beasts have ten times the sense of smell of dog spirits. You can set up a perimeter around the city..."

Wu Li tilted his head and thought for a moment, as if searching for a word, a Central Plains term he didn't usually use. After thinking for a long time, he remembered: "Realgar, lime, and mugwort, burned together. It won't kill them with the smog, but it will keep them away from the city walls."

The tent fell silent for a moment.

He Ji couldn't help but mutter, "Realgar? Isn't that stuff for repelling snakes...?"

Wu Li didn't even lift an eyelid: "Idiot, snakes are also the ancestors of demonic beasts."

He Ji choked, angry and wanting to retort, but when he met those gloomy and cold eyes, he held back.

He knew that the people of Miao territory were not to be trifled with.

Song Yueyao nodded thoughtfully. The book recorded that the ancestor of snakes was the Jiaolong, which was the king of all beasts.

"This method is feasible, so do as he says," she ordered her subordinates.

Although the men harbored doubts about the young man, upon hearing their commander's command, they all clasped their hands in obeisance and said, "Your subordinates obey!"

The slight unease that Song Yueyao had felt had been suppressed by Wu Li's words.

She knew that Wu Li disliked meddling in other people's business, and it was most likely that Xiao Mi had asked him to come and give her advice. But precisely because of this, she had an extra layer of concerns. Ji Fangshi had said before that he absolutely could not get involved in any killing now. If he continued to stay in the city, when the monsters attacked, he might not be able to stand idly by while Xiao Mi was there.

Once the killing begins...

She didn't think any further.

"Wu Li, come with me for a moment."

When Lucheng was first built, an underground passage was constructed to connect to the neighboring city, as a precaution. Song Yueyao learned of this from a surviving old man who was one of the craftsmen who built it. Unfortunately, the barbarian attack was too swift, and he had no time to escape.

Fortunately, there is still time.

Song Yueyao led the people to the city gate, pointing out the specific location as they walked: "There is a well in the north of the city that has collapsed halfway. There is a bluestone slab at the bottom. If you move it aside, you will find the entrance to an underground passage. The official road outside is no longer safe. The barbarians will attack soon. You will take Xiaomi and leave Lucheng along this passage."

"There are still some children in the city who were previously hidden. Not many have survived, so I can only entrust them to you to take them out with you."

"She refuses to leave."

Wu Li answered casually, his eyes darting around looking for that nimble figure. He frowned slightly; they had clearly agreed to wait for him here, but now the person had disappeared.

"If she doesn't leave, knock her unconscious and take her away. Leaving her in the city is likely to be dangerous."

"Knock her out?" Wu Li turned to look at her, as if he had heard something crazy, with an expression that said, "Are you sick in the head?"

He used to love seeing Chai Xiaomi angry, but now he's most afraid of her getting angry.

This girl is ruthless; if you anger her, she'll refuse to let you sleep in her bed. Where did he get the guts to knock her unconscious? Besides, how painful would it be to knock her out?

"Save your bad ideas. I only listen to my wife," he said casually, a hint of impatience already in his eyes. "If she wants to stay, I'll stay with her. In short, with me by her side, she'll be perfectly fine. You don't need to worry about me. Just focus on your battle."

As soon as he finished speaking, his gaze suddenly paused, as if he had sensed something.

The figure vanished in the next instant.