Losing Face as We Wait for the Three Kingdoms Coalition

With the experience from last time, Ninth Royal Uncle didn’t need anyone to act as the vanguard. This time, he brought in ten catapults.

Boom! Boom! Huge stones smashed into the quicksand, not only breaking open the trap but also destroying the gunpowder buried underneath. Ninth Royal Uncle didn’t lose a single soldier as he led his remaining troops through, breaking the second defensive line. He still commanded nearly twenty-six thousand men.

“So cunning! You actually used catapults—shameless.” William Wang muttered, opening the third defensive line and preparing the fourth and fifth as well.

“Thanks for the compliment.” Ninth Royal Uncle didn’t care about William Wang’s comment. He concentrated his forces again, charging the third defensive line, this time disregarding casualties and aiming to catch William completely off guard.

“Bastard!”

Under Ninth Royal Uncle’s fierce assault, William Wang was indeed thrown into chaos. Watching as Ninth Royal Uncle’s troops broke through his lines one after another, William finally couldn’t help but curse aloud.

True, this wasn’t a contest between him and Serena Feng, but he didn’t want to lag too far behind her or let Ninth Royal Uncle win by too much.

If Serena Feng ended up wiping out all thirty thousand of Sean Xuan’s men, but he let Ninth Royal Uncle charge through with his own troops, wouldn’t that be a huge embarrassment?

But reality doesn’t bend to anyone’s will. Despite William Wang’s timely responses, Ninth Royal Uncle’s fierce attack still broke through.

Watching as Ninth Royal Uncle finally led six thousand men up to Skyvault Palace, William Wang felt powerless. He had no choice but to mobilize Skyvault Palace’s guards and disciples to fight back. With Skyvault’s strength, dealing with six thousand attackers was no problem. So, moments later, Ninth Royal Uncle’s blue team was declared completely wiped out.

William Wang took the last command flag. Ninth Royal Uncle said, “I lost.”

I lost.

These three simple words may seem trivial, but coming from Ninth Royal Uncle, they meant a lot. He never said the word 'lose.' Even in a setback, he would quickly find a way to turn things around and extract himself from the situation.

It’s extremely hard to take real advantage of Ninth Royal Uncle. Just like in his contest with the emperor during the snow disaster—on the surface, it looked like Ninth Royal Uncle lost, but the emperor didn’t gain much either. In fact, it forced the secret weapon, Fu Lin, into the open.

At this point, Ninth Royal Uncle and William Wang chose to avoid the Imperial City. While it might seem like they were dodging the emperor’s edge, they were also leaving him to clean up the mess there.

With spring coming, the emperor was about to hold the first imperial examination in Eastlyn. For him, this exam was the first major domestic campaign—a battle he couldn’t afford to lose.

The emperor wanted to use the exam to break the aristocratic families’ hold on official appointments. The idea was good and wise, but actually doing it was another story. The obstacles would be far beyond imagination. Even if the scholars who passed were poor and worthy, would they be the emperor’s preferred candidates? Would they be trusted and put to use? Were they even suited for government? All these were still problems.

Given the emperor’s determination, William Wang didn’t care about the exam’s impact on the Wang clan. There was no need to interfere, so he simply stepped aside and let the emperor and others struggle over it. He planned to reap the benefits later.

At this point, Ninth Royal Uncle and William Wang’s withdrawal simply left the emperor to fight alone—and then pick the peaches afterward. If the emperor liked to steal credit, so could they. When the exam results came out, the emperor probably wouldn’t be happy.

Because during the emperor’s very first imperial exam, they planned to deliver him a big surprise.

“I didn’t really win either.” William Wang shoved the sand table aside, his handsome face showing a hint of fatigue.

Don’t think that sand-table war games aren’t exhausting—they drain both physical and mental energy. Especially when your opponent is Ninth Royal Uncle, and you’ve got Serena Feng, that battle maniac, as a benchmark. William Wang had truly given it his all.

The only reason he wasn’t completely wiped out was that he’d always kept up his physical training. He might look scholarly, but he was actually healthier and stronger than most.

Ninth Royal Uncle didn’t argue with William Wang. He pointed at Serena Feng and said, “Watch Serena Feng’s performance.”

The two of them had poured all their energy into dueling each other, strategizing for victory. In the process, they’d missed quite a few exciting moments.

Looking at the battlefield record sheets, they saw that Sean Xuan had only just broken through the fourth defensive line, and he had fewer than six thousand men left. The test sheep for probing traps were down to just over a hundred.

“There are still two defensive lines left. I remember your last two lines cost nearly three thousand men,” William Wang said, having just simulated the battle and knowing the field well.

The real battlefield wasn’t as close as the earlier lines. As they moved forward, the distance grew, making it harder to see the details. They could only make out the general outline, so they had to rely on Skyvault Palace’s people and the recorded analysis sheets.

“He’ll probably be wiped out,” Ninth Royal Uncle said, glancing at Serena Feng, who was frowning and constantly issuing orders to those around her.

“Wiped out? Serena Feng still has something up her sleeve?” William Wang looked at the sand table again, thinking about all the dangers along the way. He doubted the last two defensive lines could slaughter all six thousand of the enemy, after all…

They knew the layout of the defenses.

“Look at this river—originally, there was a single-log bridge. You waited until my soldiers were crossing, then cut the bridge. But not everyone would die in the river, and not all would fall in either.

Your approach wasn’t wrong, but my losses wouldn’t have been heavy. Once I rebuilt the bridge, I could keep advancing. But if you buried explosives on the far bank, waited until some troops crossed, then detonated and cut the bridge—what then?”

Ninth Royal Uncle pointed at the river defense. He’d seen the real location before; the river wasn’t wide. According to Sean Xuan, it was dug by Skyvault Palace’s founder.

Nestled against the mountain and water, it claimed the peak for itself.

Skyvault Palace’s location was excellent. If Fu Lin the mystic were here, he might even spot some feng shui secrets. Whether building a palace or a hall, you always chose the best spot.

“If that’s the case, Sean Xuan will lose at least half his troops here,” William Wang analyzed. Moments later, explosions from the battlefield confirmed Ninth Royal Uncle’s prediction.

“Beautiful!”

At this point, it wasn’t about winning or losing, but about how many enemy troops you could cut down.

The mechanism masters were full of praise, seeing how Serena Feng calculated the timing for each trap’s activation and reset so precisely.

This kid might not have natural talent for mechanisms, but she’s creative and, more importantly, meticulous in her calculations and use of terrain to set traps and lure the enemy in.

At this moment, instead of worry, they were actually looking forward to the joint armies of Eastlyn, Westlyn, and Southlyn coming up the mountain. They wanted to see just how miserably the three-kingdom coalition would fare, since they didn’t know the specifics of Skyvault Palace’s defenses…