Battle Royale of the Sinners

Meanwhile, Xiahou Dun commanded his soldiers to help his colleagues. Although Tong managed to defeat Khan, the threat of the supernatural powers still lingered in his heart.

'How am I going to fight him? How can I win!? How can we kill him?'

Xiahou Dun had prayed that both Khan and Tong would have died from mutual destruction. Now, the worst case scenario happened before him as Tong emerged as the victor, yet Khan was still alive.

The goal of Cao Cao's total domination got further from their grasp as they discovered more secrets about Tong.

Jiang Man and Pu Jing's mind were similar to Xiahou Dun. The prowess of Tong and the resurrection of Khan was not a part of their plans.

They glanced at the other's eyes as they could understand the other's thought. Pu Jing carried Jiang Man's shoulder to help him up while he whispered, "Let's work together. We can't survive if Zhang Tong continues to grow."

Jiang Man nodded as he glared at Tong, who staggered back to his subordinates.

"We can't allow this campaign to succeed. The coalition has to be disbanded when we reach Luo Yang. The Xiongnu has to survive, so Zhang Tong and Khan can be busy killing each other."

"Right."

…

Tong staggered back to his army. On the way, the abandoned Red Hare King was turning left and right, looking for its master.

"Boy, you're coming with me. Your master has abandoned you."

The horse neighed a sad cry as if it understood Tong's words. It trotted to his side and followed Tong.

When he returned to Xun Yu and Jia Xu, they were on the verge of crying.

"Please don't participate in a battle again!"

"Yes, please let the soldiers handle the tasks! It's bad for our heart!"

The corner of Tong's mouth twitched, "Then, I'm sure both of you will get a heart attack when we reach Luo Yang. Go back and order Yuan Shao to siege the gate."

"Huh? We're the first wave, but we're letting the second wave go first?"

"All generals from the first wave are injured from the battle just now. Use this context and force Yuan Shao to move. He hasn't sent his generals into the fight yet!"

Jia Xu clapped his hands and laughed, "I get it! I'm on it!"

"Xun Yu, coordinate with the Ghost and Mountaineer Legion. Tell Li Feihong, I want him on the other side of the river before nightfall."

"Yes, lord!"

…

Ten minutes after the fight ended, Yuan Shao received the command from Jia Xu, which infuriated all generals under the Yuan Clan.

"Absurd! We're the second wave. Why are we going first!?"

Jia Xu sneered, "You didn't contribute when the Xiongnu King challenged us. Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Gongsun Zan sent their generals. Even my master jumped into the battle himself. Now, all of the generals are injured, and we're not in the right condition to lead troops. Nevertheless, you didn't send anyone after all that ruckus, and your troops and generals are still in good shape. It's logical that the best troops should claim the honor of taking the first enemy's head, no?"

"But those were duels of the generals! Your soldiers haven't even moved yet!"

"Without generals in good condition, the subordinates won't move. Have you ever tried to command an army when you're in bad health?"

"It doesn't matter! Upon our agreement, we are the second wave. We won't move until the first wave siege the gate first!"

Witnessing the stubbornness of Yuan Shao's generals, Jia Xu turned to Yuan Shao.

"Will you comply with our order, Lord Yuan?"

Yuan Shao snorted, "My generals have made the point. We will not mobilize since we are the second wave. How come the second wave should assault the gate before the first wave? If we do that, the order of the military will crumble. The procedure must be strictly followed, or common soldiers will gossip that we are undisciplined."

Jia Xu raised his eyebrows. He could continue persuading these men, but he had an inspiration from their actions. If he pretended that the negotiation ended in failure, he could plot an interesting scheme behind Tong and Yuan Shao's back."

With a smile, Jia Xu bowed politely, "Alright. I shall go back and tell my lord."

"Well, Go!"

…

Shortly after, Jia Xu returned to report his failure, but he did not explain what he had in mind just yet. The time was not right for his scheme to be put in action.

"I'm sorry. Yuan Shao won't move his troops no matter what."

"Figured as much."

Tong opened his clan chat and gave his order to the Silver Axe Legion, which still stationed at Nanpi.

Tong: "Xu Huang, take the Silver Axe Legion and occupy Pingyuan. If you capture any of Yuan Shao's subordinates and the family of the nobles, arrest all of them."

Xu Huang: "Yes, my lord!"

Tong turned to Jia Xu, "Send words to Cao Cao, Gongsun Zan, and Liu Bei. We're going to siege the gate. If they refuse, bribe them with food."

…

…

…

= Two hours later =

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

War drum sounds echoed throughout the battlefield as Tong's 10,000 knights pushed the siege weapons forward. Catapults and trebuchets launched flaming oil barrels at Hulao Gate while the archer towers were pushed to the position to snipe the archers on the wall.

Cao Cao's forces also brought their cannons to test in the real battle. As soon as they got into the firing range, Pu Jing gave his signal to fire all cannons.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Round iron balls were shot out of the bronze cannons, which hit the side of the stone wall. The impact made a portion of the thick wall crumbled, and the garrison soldiers on top fell down from the top of the wall.

"Be careful! Try not to hit our allies on the front! We don't want to offend our allies and create another enemy!"

Cao Cao sweated as he was afraid that their cannonballs might hit Tong's soldiers. Fortunately, the first round of fire occurred when all ally soldiers had not climbed the wall yet.

Pu Jing calmed the men, "Stop firing when the ally soldiers get close to the wall. For now, provide them the cover fire!"

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Another round of cannons roared as more iron balls rammed onto the wall.

Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan, who had never experienced firearms, gazed at the cannons in horror.

"What kind of magic is that!?"

The cannons also intimidated Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan's soldiers. Because they were in charge of climbing the wall, every man was afraid of getting killed by the friendly fire.

"Are they going to hit us!?"

"They are not going to explode on us, right?"

While they were shaking in fear, Tong sent his two spirits to join the frontline and relieve the tension. As his [Sloth] and [Greed] were immune to all physical attacks, Tong sent them in to farm some lifespans.

Moreover, he wanted to test the curse that he forgot to use it on Khan.

Tong closed his eyes and concentrated on the vision of each soul. From the eyesight of Sloth, Tong activated the curse in a fight for the first time.

"Sloth Curse!"

…

Wings of angels and demons had another unique ability. Each of the sins or virtues possessed a unique trait.

Virtue souls can use special abilities to support the owner of the souls, such as healing, physical enhancement, purifying, and more.

Zou Ci once used his [Charity]'s unique ability to heal Tong when Liu Yang crippled him before, and Jiang Man was aware of this trait of this virtue. However, he failed to obtain the [Charity].

On the other hand, all souls of sin could curse mortals with their characteristic. When Tong's sin of lust went out of control and possessed Tong's body for the first time, he subconsciously cast the lust curse on Hua Shi, which caused her to go into heat. Fortunately, Lilith and the creator put the [Seal] on him and snapped him back to his sanity.

The Seal disabled him from using the curses for years. Now, his foundation and his mental strength became stronger from Friday's tutoring, and he was more confident of controlling the curses now.

…

Purple flame emitted from the hands of Sloth and spread across the soldiers on the top of the wall.

The garrison soldiers cried in despair once the purple flame wall swallowed them. The screams lasted for a few seconds before they realized that they were not burnt by the fire.

"Huh?"

"What was that?"

Then, the curse took effect.

*Yawn*

"Why am I suddenly feeling tired!?"

"I want to go home."

The morale and the energies within the garrison soldiers depleted in an instant. The curse influenced them to become lazy and exhausted mentally.

The sudden change was fatal for them as the siege ladders reached the wall. Liu Bei's 5,000 men and Gongsun Zan's 5,000 soldiers rushed at the garrison soldiers, killing the weakened men like chickens.

Tong's soul of greed also rushed behind to gate, cursing at the reserve forces.

Greed Curse!

Similar purple ethereal flame engulfed 10,000 reserve soldiers behind the gate. After a few seconds, the eyes of the reserve soldiers became bloodshot.

One of the soldiers stabbed the back of his colleague.

"You!!"

"I'll take your money and your jewel blade. Thanks!"

The other soldiers deserted the reserve forces and ran back to the granary.

"Why are you running back? Argh!!"

The deserted soldiers began killing their teammates and looting the supplies.

"We have deserters! Send help!"

Chaos ensured behind the line, which no one knew why their friends suddenly acted this way.

Khan had not gone far when the ruckus from the deserters happened. He looked around the chaotic scene in shock.

"They're my clone soldiers, and I've brainwashed all of them. Why are they acting like this!?"

Looking around the battlefield from behind the wall for a while, he finally noticed Tong's two spirits, which were diving into the crowd and killing his people.

"Is there a skill that I didn't know? [Copy]!"

<<Beep>>

<<Demonic curses from a demon's soul cannot be copied or transferred>>

"What!?"

Khan opened his clan chat to ask Liu Yang right away.

Khan: "What is a demon's soul? What is a demonic curse?"

Khan: "Zhang Tong is using it now, and I can't copy his skill. What happened?"

Liu Yang: "That's the demonic wing unique abilities. You won't be able to copy them with the system skill."

Liu Yang: "What's the situation of the battle over there, by the way?"

Khan: "Bad. He's raiding Hulao Gate with his souls now."

Liu Yang: "Have you fought Zhang Tong yet?"

Khan: "Yes, and I lost. He cheated me with his sorcery weapons. I'm left with about 30,000 lifespans now."

Liu Yang: "That's probably his cheating guns from a system skill. Well, you haven't mastered any angel abilities yet, so I suggest you to avoid fighting Zhang Tong for now. Retreat back to Chang'An and I'll teach you about angel powers. Also, demonic curses can be used once a month. He has spent his trump cards, and he won't be able to threaten your army for a while. Sacrifice those pawns and come back. Don't risk it."

Khan: "Fine."

Unlike his usual arrogance tone, Khan listened to Liu Yang's advice and abandoned his men. He took a new horse with a hundred trusted men with him back to Luo Yang.