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"Minister Shen, there’s a confidential missive for you from the Imperial Court."

Outside the mist, Fifth Master Shen: Shen Yinian was analyzing the entire map with the old generals brought by Duke of Qin.

"According to the intelligence, now among the seven provinces of Jiangnan, only three might barely stand firm. The situation in Lyuzhou is unclear, and Nanyang is quite complicated. My suggestion is to first deploy an army of a hundred thousand into Nanming Prefecture, to lure the undead’s fire to Nanming, thereby alleviating the pressure on the other provincial government offices.

What do you all think?" Duke of Qin pointed at the map and said.

"Is reducing the pressure on the other provincial government offices still useful now?

" Shen Yinian frowned and said, "We have also analyzed the intelligence on these undead for the past few days, and it’s likely that other areas of Jiangnan with insufficient martial capabilities have already completely fallen! "

"That is precisely why we need to draw the undead’s fire over here.

" Duke of Qin spoke up, "The undead come along the river, and according to Wang Ye’s analysis in his missive, once these creatures occupy a city, they will enter a ’Gu Insects’ infighting mode, scarcely any undead groups will splinter off, the faster a city is overtaken, the safer its surrounding districts actually become, because the splintering undead will be very few, providing sufficient reaction time for the rural folk. "

"If we proactively pull the battlefield to Nanming Prefecture and activate the Array’s mechanism, making it incessantly release undead into Nanming, then the new undead entering the other provinces will be reduced, and we can also probe as to how many undead are actually within this Array."

Hearing this, Shen Yinian frowned, thought for a moment, then said, "If so, shouldn’t we dispatch troops to the other provinces for protection and rescue?"

"The time is not right." Duke of Qin shook his head and said, "We don’t know the depth of the Array, how many undead there are, nor how many more creatures will follow, so we need to prepare enough forces to reinforce Nanming at any time and cannot disperse our troops."

"Moreover, we don’t know when problems might arise from the West Sea; we also need to keep troops ready to deal with any situation, and once Minister Wang returns, we have to send him to scout the West Sea."

"Duke of Qin has thought things through," Shen Yinian nodded and said, "In that case, the Crown Prince can lead the troops to the West Sea for defense...."

Duke of Qin’s gaze flashed, but he smiled and said, "The Crown Prince is the heir apparent, he should not take risks lightly."

"That is true..." Shen Yinian nodded, about to say something more when someone outside reported, "Duke of Qin, a missive from the Imperial Court has arrived, it’s a secret letter for Minister Shen!"

With these words, all the military generals looked at Shen Yinian with strange expressions.

It was quite normal for the Imperial Court to issue commands during urgent military situations, but at such a time, what did it mean to send a confidential letter to the Minister of War?

Shen Yinian, however, remained calm and ordered the messenger outside, "Let the one delivering the missive bring the letter in."

"Yes!"

Shortly after, a soldier clad in silver armor strode in and promptly kneeled, "I’ve seen the generals and Minister Shen."

Duke of Qin looked at this middle-aged colonel, his brows slightly furrowed.

Judging by the armor, the colonel was a sixth-rank officer of the Imperial Army from the Capital City; yet Duke Qin prided himself on never forgetting a face, and all the sixth-rank colonels of the Imperial Army were known to him, but this man. .. seemed somewhat unfamiliar.

"Bring me the letter," Shen Yinian directly said to the colonel.

"Yes!" the man, seeing Shen Yinian’s order, dared not disobey and handed over the letter.

It was bright yellow with the secret seal of the Yin Yang Academy, indeed a confidential missive specifically for Shen Yinian, which made those around all the more bewildered.

In the face of this rather awkward atmosphere, Shen Yinian showed no hesitation and opened the letter in front of everyone.

"There’s no need for such openness, Minister Shen," Duke of Qin quickly said, "Since it’s a confidential letter from the Imperial Court, you may read it alone."

"With the situation as it is, who needs to mind such things?" Shen Yinian dismissed the concern and went ahead and opened the envelope, glanced at it and threw the letter onto the sand table, "It says, the Crown Prince will lead the army, and General Hong will assist in command."

Hearing this, the crowd showed no surprise; if the Emperor truly trusted the Crown Prince to command the Siao Family’s elite troops, that would be suspicious.

Old Hong was not a surprising choice, stubborn and rigid, he only listened to the Emperor, and would dare to turn against anyone!

"The Crown Prince has requested that I hand over the defense map of this location, what does Duke of Qin think?"

Upon hearing this, the generals all sneered; it was unlikely that the Crown Prince had the courage to request the defense map—it was probably Old Hong who wanted it. At this time, revealing one’s own defense layout was akin to a beast exposing its belly, leaving itself at the mercy of others.

"Since it’s the Crown Prince’s command, Minister Shen, you should just send it; don’t make it difficult for yourself," Duke of Qin said gently.

The others frowned, but Shen Yinian nodded, "Duke of Qin is indeed magnanimous, but I think that in these rapidly changing circumstances, it would be useless for the Crown Prince to have our temporary defense map, as we might need to redeploy at any moment.

I will write back to explain to the Crown Prince. "

When Minister Shen made this statement, the expressions of all the generals softened considerably, including Duke of Qin who gave a slight nod.

No one took Shen Yinian’s words as mere politeness.

Having served as the Minister of War for twenty years, Shen Yinian had always been seen as a figure of fairness, always prioritizing the greater situation, impartial to both the royalists and the Duke of Qin’s faction.

Such a stance garnered the respect of many.

"If so, please allow me the courtesy of withdrawing for now," Shen Yinian said.

"Minister Shen, please do as you wish," Duke of Qin promptly rose to see him off.

Without any formality, Shen Yinian quickly took the colonel back to his own tent.

Inside and outside the tent, there were no barriers set up, giving off a feel of openness and transparency.

If someone else had followed him inside, the feeling might have been entirely different.

After the young silver-armored officer entered the tent, his entire body started to behave oddly, his movements to stretch his muscles more like those of a grotesque monster.

"It’s so uncomfortable... my lord..." The officer’s voice was hoarse and completely different from before. A closer look revealed that upon entering, he had spat out a bead.

Shen Yinian turned around and gave the other a cold glare, which frightened him into shuddering and quickly swallowing the bead again. The next second, his voice returned to normal, "My lord..."

"I know it’s painful..." Shen Yinian’s eyes became gentle, "Just bear with it a little longer. The Sunblock Coating Old Liu created definitely can’t completely negate the sun’s harm to us, but as long as we get used to it... after all..."

He extended his arm as he spoke and tore off the skin on his hand like paper, revealing a pitch-black palm underneath. The palm emitted black smoke and was covered with blood blisters, which clearly indicated he was not in good shape.

Looking at the blood blisters, Shen Yinian said in a deep voice, "I’ve been used to it for twenty years!"

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The worst outcome had still come to pass!

The person screaming... was Old Shi’er!!

The timing of the assault was crafty, occurring in the instant Old Qi’s spirit left his body. Despite everyone’s vigilance, their focus was inevitably divided due to concern for Old Qi in that moment, which was more than enough for someone wanting to make a move.

Old Liu, with a puppet-like body, grabbed Old Shi’er, and hundreds of poison spikes on his body pierced into the crucial acupoints of Old Shi’er.

Lacking extensive combat experience, Old Shi’er hardly reacted before his acupoints were sealed, and in the next second, he was drawn into the body-mechanism of Old Liu, akin to a meat grinder, and was literally ground into mincemeat!

"Old Liu, you!!" Old Si’s eyes almost burst with fury, his muscles bulging like those of a martial artist, yet he dared not act rashly, staying alert to his surroundings. Just like Old Si, others were filled with rage but also did not dare to make the first move.

After all, no one was certain whether those around them might suddenly turn on them, just like Old Liu had!

Chen Qing, with a dark expression, watched the spot where the incident occurred.

He had known all along that the parasite would not sit idly by waiting for death; it would surely act before proving itself.

Therefore, the moment Shen Old Qi was the first to prove himself, Chen Qing had already determined he wasn’t the parasite.

But in Chen Qing’s mind, the one he feared the most wasn’t Shen Old Qi, but the person before him now!

"So it was you after all... Fifth Master Shen!"

"Hehehe..." Fifth Elder Shen’s puppet-like laughter grew shrill, and with his freshly split seams and the flesh and blood of Old Shi’er all over his body, he looked like the alien monsters from those classic plasma horror movies!

"You suspected me all along?"

"I had my suspicions... just wasn’t certain..." Chen Qing replied honestly, his tone low and his complexion not looking very good.

This was indeed... the worst outcome!

Because if there was something wrong with Shen Old Liu, there was a high probability that Shen Old Wu, who was very close to him, was problematic as well!

Now that was trouble!

One of the Gu Insects had escaped long ago and had even infiltrated the core of the Imperial Court, gaining control over the massive military provisioning power of Great Jin!

What did this imply?

How much power had he accumulated over these twenty years?

And for him to have blended into Capital City for so long, there surely must be other forces behind him. It was very possible that the recent incident involving the Thousand-Faced Fox was orchestrated by Fifth Elder Shen and the forces behind him.

More crucially, if Old Wu also had issues, it meant that Old Liu had already created an artifact that allowed the living dead... to walk in daylight!

For Fifth Master Shen, who had already mastered the Technique of Tianji, this wasn’t impossible...

So then... how many of the living dead were hidden within Great Jin?

This time, Shen Old Wu, bearing the title of Chief of Staff of the Ministry of War, came to the front lines together with the Duke of Qin, and the forces at his disposal were definitely not negligible, completely different from those trapped in Jiangnan or even those in Nanyang!

Was the early activation of the Array a scheme plotted by these two brothers?

And what kind of force stood behind them prompting this?

Their goal... what exactly was it?