Keyboard Immortal - Chapter 2951

Chapter 1464 Fatal Calamity

At this moment, the entire city of Guangzong was in chaos. The defending troops on the city walls were fiercely fighting with the government troops, and due to the plummeting morale, many places were already on the verge of collapse.

Countless reserve troops, summoned by various generals, were constantly rushing to the city gates to provide support.

One of the generals, a one-eyed general, arrived at the southwest gate with his personal guards.

The guards at the gate breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the reinforcements, and the leader shouted, “General Yan, come quickly, we can’t hold on much longer!”

The one-eyed general smirked, “Alright, we’re coming right now.”

With that, he led his men and charged forward. The Yellow Turban soldiers defending the city were already at their limit in resisting the government troops outside, never expecting someone to stab them in the back

. Almost in the blink of an eye, dozens of Yellow Turban soldiers fell into pools of blood, and even the gatekeeper was stabbed in the back.

“Yan Zheng, you traitor!” the general cursed, but his strength was rapidly fading.

The one-eyed general was none other than Yan Zheng, whom he had previously encountered with Zu An. Princess Nihuang, concerned for the safety of Guangzong City, had sent several of her men to help defend it, and Yan Zheng was one of them.

Yan Zheng twirled his blade, instantly shredding the man’s heart: “A wise bird chooses its tree, what do you know!”

Seeing more and more soldiers surging onto the city walls, his smile widened.

He had rendered such a great service; he wondered what official position the court would bestow upon him.

Furthermore, he knew that Liu Bei was secretly colluding with the Yellow Turbans; once the war was over, he would report this to that person, another great achievement.

Unsatisfied with the speed at which the soldiers were advancing, he leaped behind the city gate, intending to kill the guards there and open the gate completely.

Just then, a figure appeared before him.

“The Holy Maiden! The Holy Maiden has arrived!” The remaining guards were almost crying with excitement, as if seeing her had instantly given them a pillar of support.

Yan Zheng’s expression changed; he felt an instinctive fear upon seeing the figure.

But then he thought, even Zhang Jiao is dead, what does his daughter matter?

So he gritted his teeth and said, “What kind of holy maiden is she? She’s just relying on her father’s status. Now that Zhang Jiao is dead, after she’s captured, she’ll only become a plaything for court officials. Everyone, charge!”

His men were all handpicked confidants, and now that the arrow was on the bowstring, they had no choice but to fire. They gritted their teeth and continued to kill.

“It really is you!” Xie Daoyun’s expression was cold. With a wave of her sleeve, countless Yellow Turban warriors suddenly appeared in the sky, almost instantly engulfing the rebel army.

Yan Zheng was shocked: “Scattering beans to create soldiers? How is that possible? How can you have such a strong ability?”

In his memory, even Zhang Jiao didn’t have such exaggerated abilities.

Xie Daoyun ignored him completely. A group of Yellow Turban warriors swarmed forward and captured him in just a few rounds.

His face turned red, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free.

“Who sent you!” Xie Daoyun, now in a high position, also had a stern air about her.

Coupled with the oppressive aura of the various talismans, Yan Zheng was truly terrified, instinctively answering, “Yes…”

Unfortunately, before he could utter the word, a flash of black energy appeared on his face, his entire face contorted in extreme pain, and then with a deafening roar, he exploded into a cloud of blood mist, utterly dead.

The surrounding Yellow Turban warriors, touched by the blood, immediately burst into flames, turning into yellow paper that fell to the ground.

Xie Daoyun’s expression changed; this was the same aura as the poison Zhang Jiao had been afflicted with. It seemed that the Ancestor of Annihilation had likely already placed a restriction on him, intending to destroy the body and all evidence should something go wrong.

Fortunately, her elder brother had sensed him beforehand; otherwise, everyone would still be in the dark.

She quickly composed herself and ordered her men to open the city gates.

The Yellow Turban soldiers under her command were startled and tried to dissuade her.

Xie Daoyun explained, “The people outside don’t know Yan Zheng is dead yet; they’ll think Yan Zheng opened the gates for them and won’t be on guard.”

The Yellow Turban soldiers understood; this was a trap.

Normally, they wouldn’t dare open the city gates like this; it would be easy to go awry. But with the Holy Maiden here, they had plenty of confidence.

Soon, the city gates were opened, and the soldiers outside roared and charged in. It was clear they weren’t from the Five Northern Schools, but rather the Xiliang army under Dong Zhuo.

Xie Daoyun’s expression was cold; she thought, “It really is him!”

Once the northwestern soldiers had entered the narrow passage, she gave the order, and a volley of arrows was fired, killing all the Xiliang soldiers who had entered.

However, her local victory couldn’t reverse the overall decline of the Yellow Turban Army, because rumors of Zhang Jiao’s death were spreading everywhere. Even the most steadfast believers couldn’t waver, and there was no Holy Maiden to stabilize morale elsewhere.

Just as the Yellow Turban Army’s morale was on the verge of collapse, a loud voice resounded throughout the entire city of Guangzong.

“The Azure Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise! Thunder God, aid me!” A figure clad in a yellow robe appeared in mid-air, holding a scroll of scriptures, his long hair billowing in the wind, surrounded by bolts of lightning that struck the attacking soldiers.

He was like a god!

“It’s the Great Teacher!”

“The leader is alive!”

“General Heaven!”

…

The Yellow Turban army, previously on the verge of collapse, wept with joy, their morale instantly restored.

Conversely, the attacking soldiers’ morale plummeted.

In normal battle, their morale wouldn’t have dropped so quickly. But recently, their commander Lu Zhi had been replaced, and Dong Zhuo’s rise to power had created widespread fear and a significant drop in morale.

However, Dong Zhuo later announced the death of the Yellow Turban leader Zhang Jiao, presenting a seemingly plausible story, which swayed their belief and forced a semblance of morale.

Later, during the siege, they discovered the Yellow Turban army’s morale was steadily declining, realizing Zhang Jiao was indeed dead, and their morale soared.

But then, Zhang Jiao suddenly reappeared like a god descending to earth, and his unique ability to control lightning was impossible for an outsider to imitate. A sense of panic washed over all the soldiers. “

Damn it, we’ve fallen into a trap!”

Their morale, built on the belief that Zhang Jiao was dead, plummeted even faster after witnessing his divine power.

At that moment, the deafening sounds of battle erupted from the flank; General Zhang Bao, leading 100,000 troops, was charging in.

The government army’s formation finally collapsed completely; they no longer obeyed their commanders, fleeing in terror.

Seeing this, Dong Zhuo’s eyes widened in fury: “Impossible! That guy is an imposter!”

“He can’t be Zhang Jiao!”

But no one believed him anymore; countless confidants urged him to flee.

Dong Zhuo was incredibly frustrated. Although he possessed immense personal strength, the advantage of an army in this peculiar world was simply too great. He alone could not withstand the enemy’s massive forces.

He could only glare hatefully at that figure before fleeing with his men.

Zu An, watching from the sky, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Transforming into Zhang Jiao’s appearance was effortless, but Zhang Jiao was an incarnation of the Supreme Divine Firmament Talisman, whose ability to control heavenly thunder was extremely difficult to imitate.

Fortunately, he had previously collected several fragments of the Thunder God’s soul, giving him a high affinity for lightning. Xie Daoyun, seeing this, had temporarily given him several lightning talismans. Although they couldn’t reach the power of the Supreme Divine Firmament Talisman, they were enough to deceive even in the chaos of battle.

Next, Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang’s main forces launched a joint attack, decisively defeating Dong Zhuo beneath the walls of Guangzong City.

The imperial forces retreated hundreds of miles, the atmosphere in the military camp extremely tense.

Dong Zhuo then summoned Zu An to interrogate him, accusing him of failing to hold off Zhang Bao’s army, leading to the loss of the main force’s flank and subsequent pincer attack, resulting in defeat. He declared Zu An responsible for this disastrous defeat and sentenced him to death.

Fu Wan, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but retort, “Xuande’s force numbered only three thousand; how could they possibly withstand Zhang Bao’s hundred thousand troops? To punish him for this is far too far-fetched.”

Because of the previous crushing defeat, Dong Zhuo’s prestige had been severely damaged, and the other high-ranking generals of the Northern Army were no longer willing to give him face. They all chimed in,

implying that Dong Zhuo should bear the primary responsibility for the defeat, since he had repeatedly claimed that Zhang Jiao was dead—a false intelligence that had ruined everyone.

Dong Zhuo sneered, “Of course Zhang Jiao is dead. Do you know who impersonated Zhang Jiao last night?”

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Zu An, his eyes filled with murderous intent.