Once a person is dead, no one can stop anything!

"What kind of person could possibly make you care this much?"

Lei Yan glanced at the pale-faced man with an expressionless face.

The pale-faced man let out a cold snort and slammed his hand onto the table.

"That is none of your concern."

"In any case, you either agree to my terms right now, or half a month from now, the twenty thousand elite troops of the Tiger-Wolf Cavalry will completely trample Qinghe Town to the ground!"

"Both of you are smart men. I trust you know how to choose."

Chen Jun frowned deeply.

By this point, he could be certain of one thing.

What Su Mu had said earlier was the truth.

He must have genuinely inflicted heavy injuries upon the Barbarian High Priest, and quite possibly even killed him.

Otherwise, as the commander-in-chief of the Tiger-Wolf Cavalry, the pale-faced man would not care so obsessively about the existence of a single soldier.

"We will do our utmost to find this person."

"However, whether we can actually locate him is something we cannot guarantee."

Chen Jun looked at the pale-faced man and said casually.

"That is only natural. Then let us wish each other a pleasant cooperation."

As the pale-faced man turned and walked away, Lei Yan looked at Chen Jun beside him with a hint of indignation.

"Do you seriously intend to reach an agreement with the barbarians?"

"Then how is your behavior today any different from that of Jiang Changhong?"

Chen Jun cast a cold glance at Lei Yan and let out a sneer.

"Not agree? And fight a desperate, bloody battle with the Tiger-Wolf Cavalry?"

Lei Yan, have you grown simple-minded after serving as a general in Qinghe Town all these years? That is twenty thousand Tiger-Wolf Cavalry we are talking about! With the bunch of good-for-nothing weaklings under your command, how on earth do you expect to stand against them?"

"And another thing, do you have any idea how much silver the imperial court poured into cultivating an Xilin Army of this scale?"

Pointing directly at Lei Yan's face, Chen Jun continued his furious tirade: "Now, just for the sake of a bunch of lowly commoners who possess no utility whatsoever, you actually want to sacrifice the entire Xilin Army? How utterly foolish!"

Lei Yan clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

"Lord Chen! Your home is in the capital, which is why you can afford to remain indifferent to the lives and deaths of the people in Qinghe Town."

"Yet, I have spent a full twenty years right here in Qinghe Town! To me, this town is my second home!"

"All of these commoners are like my own flesh and blood. You expect me to just stand by and watch them march to their deaths? I cannot do it!"

With his hands clasped behind his back, Chen Jun replied with utter nonchalance: "So what if you cannot? The military tally is in my hands now. Do you truly believe Qinghe Town is still yours to run?"

"Stop being so naive!"

Lei Yan shot Chen Jun a cold glance and smiled derisively.

"Chen Jun, the naive one here is you!"

"Do you genuinely believe that simply holding the military tally gives you the authority to command the entire Xilin Army?"

"Let me tell you something! All these years that I, Lei Yan, have commanded the Xilin Army, I have never once relied on this so-called military tally!"

Lei Yan flicked his sleeve and strode toward the doorway.

"I am the Xilin Army!"

Watching Lei Yan's retreating back, Chen Jun's expression turned intensely unsightly.

He glanced down at the military tally in his palm, consumed by a wave of furious exasperation.

"Lei Yan! You just wait!"

"Sooner or later, I will make you pay a devastating price for your foolishness!"

Taking a deep breath, Chen Jun looked toward his strategist standing nearby and spoke in an icy tone: "You heard everything just now, didn't you?"

"Since Lei Yan insists on standing in the way of this negotiation, then we shall simply turn him into a dead man!"

"I refuse to believe that once he is dead, anyone can still obstruct me!"

Upon hearing this, the strategist nodded in acknowledgement.

"My lord, rest easy. I shall make the arrangements immediately. Within three days at most, I will surely present Lei Yan's head to you!"

...

The Tianxiang Restaurant.

Seated inside a private dining room, Su Mu watched the group of young gentlemen below who were still indulging in romantic pursuits and consorting with courtesans within the restaurant, unable to stop himself from sighing.

The nation stood at a juncture of life and death, and these eight border prefectures were completely fractured, vulnerable to being breached by the barbarian cavalry's iron hooves at any given moment.

Yet these so-called men of letters were still amusing themselves with courtesans.

Living in a drunken dream of escapism!

Utterly blind to the cruel reality of the world.

How lamentable!

Song Hui walked up behind Su Mu. Gazing at the scene unfolding before them, she softly murmured, "My lord, do you find all this rather tragic?"

"These self-proclaimed talented scholars, at a time of national survival, instead of grasping blades to go to the battlefield, are here indulging in unrestrained pleasure?"

"And what is most tragic of all is that when the final moment of life or death arrives, the ones making the actual decisions are precisely these good-for-nothing cowards?"

Su Mu closed his eyes, his hands gripping the armrests tightly.

"Tragic indeed."

"One can only say that their sole remaining utility is contributing a considerable amount of silver to the Tianxiang Restaurant."

"With them here, we can at least sustain our subsequent training and the preliminary preparations for war."

Song Hui shook her head, looking deep into Su Mu's eyes with a meaningful gaze.

"My lord, I have heard that the barbarian envoy who arrived today for negotiations is none other than the commander of the Tiger-Wolf Cavalry who surrounded Qinghe Town last time!"

"This man is utterly ruthless and shows no mercy whatsoever toward his enemies. Practically no one he marks as his prey ever manages to escape."

Su Mu raised an eyebrow.

The commander of the Tiger-Wolf Cavalry?

Being able to draw a figure of such caliber proved one thing.

A portion of their motivation was undoubtedly aimed directly at him.

"I am aware. Rest assured, I will not provoke a direct confrontation with him for the time being."

Su Mu exhaled slowly.

Song Hui shook her head, her expression solemn.

"I fear it will not be that simple!"

"Because I have just received word that the commander of the Tiger-Wolf Cavalry is already making his way toward the Tianxiang Restaurant."

Scarcely had Song Hui's voice faded when, at the main entrance, the pale-faced man appeared, lazily waving a folding fan as he stepped into the Tianxiang Restaurant.

The moment he laid eyes on the pale-faced man, Su Mu's expression darkened.

Though they had yet to cross blows, he could sense that this pale-faced man was no ordinary adversary!

If a true battle were to ensue, even he could not guarantee absolute victory.

These barbarians... truly possessed an abundance of formidable experts!

"Help me stall him for a moment later!"

Song Hui nodded. As she looked toward the group of scholars, a corner of her mouth curved upward.

"However, they seem even less welcoming of this Tiger-Wolf Cavalry commander."

At that moment, inside the Tianxiang Restaurant, upon catching sight of the pale-faced man, the crowd of scholars could not resist breaking into mocking jeers.

"Dressed in such shabby rags, and yet he dares to show his face here?"

"Exactly! If you know what's good for you, get lost right now and stop blocking our view of the beauties!"

"Throw him a few copper coins and make him scram!"

Such taunts and ridicule echoed endlessly from the group.

The pale-faced man sneered, fixing his gaze upon the surrounding scholars with his hands locked behind his back.

"Utterly foolish!"

"It must be because Great Liang is infested with self-righteous trash like yourselves that the nation has been reduced to such a pathetic state!"

Hearing these words from the pale-faced man, the expressions of everyone present shifted dramatically.

They glared at the pale-faced man with murderous intensity.

"What are you all standing around for? Take him down at once! And slap his mouth until he bleeds!"

The burly man who appeared to be their leader pointed angrily at the pale-faced man and cursed.

However, no sooner had the words left his mouth than the pale-faced man shot a chilling glance in the fat man's direction.

In that instant, the fat man felt as though he were being watched by the God of Death himself, a bone-chilling cold seizing his entire body.

So terrified was he that his legs gave out and he collapsed directly onto the floor.

"You..."

Swirling the wine cup in his hand, the pale-faced man glanced up toward the top floor.

"Are the people in charge here still not going to show themselves?"

"Could it be that you truly require me to slaughter a few heads before you decide to appear?"