It was said that the soldiers of the Northern City under Wen Yuesheng’s command had once taken first place in a guard drill.

However, even the strongest drill field in the Eastern City was no match for the three elite imperial armies.

When the troop count was revealed, the audience instinctively assumed that Wen Yuesheng had abandoned the first battle of the grand military exercise.

From an overall strategic perspective, this seemed like a wise move.

After all, only a thousand soldiers were deployed for the first round. However, in the long run, finishing last in the opening exercise would inevitably harm the morale of the entire army.

Because of this, many believed Wen Yue Sheng’s decision was overly risky.

“…We know the princess is formidable, and so is Lord Zhang, but the princess has only been leading the guard forces for just over a month. Even if there has been progress, it’s unlikely to be significant, right?”

“That might not be the case. Who would’ve thought that the Northern City drill field could win during the previous guard drills?”

As the vastly outnumbered troops entered the field, the hall erupted in murmurs.

Regardless, the atmosphere of the exercise was thoroughly energized.

On the high platform, the commanding officer called out loudly, “The sixth tri-army exercise officially begins—”

With that declaration, the sound of war drums echoed from below.

Alongside the thunderous drumming, the various military divisions began entering the field.

From the vantage of the high platform, the view was excellent.

While it was hard to discern the individual soldiers entering the forest, their uniforms made it easy to track their movements.

By observing the uniforms, it was possible to determine the general situation even after the troops disappeared into the woods.

Among the five armies, blue uniforms dominated the scene, taking up the largest and widest area.

Prince Wei Yangwang deployed four thousand troops in the first round, creating an awe-inspiring display.

However, having more soldiers also meant being a much larger target.

Additionally, the Hall Front Army wasn’t adept at combat in forested terrains.

As a result, their large numbers became cumbersome as they moved through the woods.

Each army entered the forest from different directions, and the timing of their encounters varied.

Due to their cumbersome movements, Prince Wei Yang’s troops hadn’t progressed far before being discovered by the agile Feathered Forest Army.

Arrows rained down like a storm.

The high platform bustled with activity, surrounded by scribes and soldiers who recorded the unfolding events.

Barely a quarter-hour into the exercise, reports started coming in continuously.

“Report! The Hall Front Army has lost four soldiers.”

“Report! A ten-man squad of the Hall Front Army has been eliminated.”

“Report! The Feathered Forest Army has lost one soldier.”

…

The hall echoed with the sounds of these military reports.

Lu Qinghuai couldn’t help but twitch his lips.

He had warned against letting Prince Wei Yang’s troops participate.

Look at this mess—they’d barely entered the field and had already given the Feathered Forest Army nearly a hundred ‘kills.’

The surrounding crowd also discussed fervently:

“The Hall Front Army has too many soldiers and insists on moving as one unit. In this kind of forested terrain, they’re just giant targets.”

“The Feathered Forest Army is proficient with bows and arrows, highly mobile, and has a wide shooting range. Before the Hall Front Army could even engage, they’d already lost half their men.”

“…In my opinion, the Elite Guard Army is the smartest.”

The Elite Guard Army, led by Xiao Jin, had a moderate number of troops—not as numerous as Prince Wei Yang’s four thousand, but not as few as Wen Yue Sheng’s one thousand.

Moreover, every soldier was highly skilled. Once inside the forest, they refrained from engaging in combat and remained hidden.

Upon learning that Prince Wei Yang’s forces had descended into chaos, the Elite Guard Army adhered strictly to their orders, hiding and conserving their strength in the woods.

It’s crucial to note that dominating early in the game isn’t always beneficial. Any kills made before being eliminated would convert into points for the other parties.

The weapons—swords, spears, and bows—were coated with powder matching the soldiers’ uniforms. Only the powder that remained intact by the end would count toward scoring.

If they were killed later, all their efforts would benefit others.

The Elite Guard Army’s strategy was straightforward: remain hidden, conserve energy, and wait until other forces had thinned their numbers before entering to claim victory.

Their inactivity was seen by many as a patient and calculated move, akin to being the sparrow awaiting its turn after the mantis and cicada.

The strategy would have been effective if not for the presence of a wildcard among the armies…

“Report! The Feathered Forest Army has lost ten soldiers!”

“Report! The Hall Front Army has lost seventeen soldiers!”

“Report! The Elite Guard Army has lost six soldiers!”

The Feathered Forest Army and the Hall Front Army were locked in fierce combat. While the Feathered Forest Army held the upper hand, the Hall Front Army’s sheer numbers made them difficult to fully eliminate, prolonging the battle.

During this half-hour skirmish, the Elite Guard Army remained motionless in their hidden positions.

Unexpectedly, they inexplicably began losing soldiers.

“What’s going on?” Someone on the high platform, having taken just a sip of tea, was startled by the sudden shift in numbers.

“It’s the Capital Garrison,” Xiao Jin’s face darkened.

His excellent eyesight allowed him to catch a glimpse of bright yellow figures moving behind the hidden Elite Guard Army.

Sure enough, the officers monitoring the situation promptly reported:

“Your Majesty, the Capital Garrison has launched an offensive, attacking all other armies indiscriminately from seven directions.”

Seven directions. Indiscriminate attacks.

The moment this was announced, the hall erupted into an uproar.

“Zhang Xian, you’re too cunning!” The Feathered Forest Army commander couldn’t help but blurt out angrily.

While the court officials in the hall couldn’t make sense of the situation, the commanders on the field understood it clearly.

The Capital Garrison had deployed highly skilled stealth operatives.

These operatives wreaked havoc, eliminating numerous soldiers without exposing themselves. Consequently, the other three forces assumed their losses were caused by one another.

The previously calm Elite Guard Army, after suffering unexpected casualties, was likely to enter the fray.

Amid the lively discussions, the Marquis of Loyalty and Courage chuckled. “All’s fair in war. If you’re upset, try employing some tricks of your own.”

The Feathered Forest Army commander’s face turned pale with anger.

Their previously advantageous position had been disrupted by the Capital Garrison’s interference. Their formation was now in disarray, adding to their frustration.

Amid this chaotic yet riveting scene, someone remained distracted, asking:

“Where is the Guard Army?”

“Have they entered the field yet?”

“Where did the Guard Corps go?”

Barely half an hour into the match, the entire forest had devolved into chaos, and Wen Yuesheng’s thousand troops seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Elder Lu glanced at Wen Yuesheng, who sat serenely on the dais, unmoved and calmly fiddling with a string of prayer beads. He asked, “…Could it be that the Guard Corps has gone to meditate and pray as well?”

Otherwise, how could a thousand people simply disappear without a trace?

Wang Jin interjected, “They’re missing. Perhaps the Princess is casting a spell?”

Elder Lu: …

That idea was even more ridiculous than anything Prince Weiyang had done so far.

Why so?

Because more than half an hour into the match, Prince Weiyang, as the commanding general of the Palace Vanguard, and one of the main leaders of the exercise, was already out of the game.

A soldier from the battlefield reported loudly, “The Palace Vanguard’s commander, Prince Weiyang, is out!”

The announcement was repeated thrice, so loudly that the emperor’s face turned ashen.

Many on the dais stifled their laughter, while Prince Weiyang, covered in red powder, climbed up onto the platform in utter embarrassment.

The emperor, half furious and half amused, could only shake his head at the sight.

Prince Weiyang, visibly ashamed, coughed awkwardly twice and slumped into a nearby seat.

According to Lu Qinghuai, “I’ve never seen him so quiet before.”

Fortunately, the forest exercise didn’t have a rule that a commander’s elimination meant the defeat of their entire unit.

Otherwise, under Prince Weiyang’s leadership, the Palace Vanguard would already have been entirely wiped out.

After sulking for quite some time and watching nearly an hour of chaotic skirmishes unfold, Prince Wei Yangwang couldn’t help but ask Wen Yuesheng, “Sining, where are your troops? Are you sure they’ve all entered the battlefield?”

That conspicuous black uniform…

Reports from others on the dais claimed they had only been seen for the first fifteen minutes or so.

After that, they disappeared completely.

“You wouldn’t seriously have them hide for the entire match, would you?” Prince Wei Yangwang ventured, his thoughts suddenly taking a new turn. The mere idea made his head spin.

And yet… it was plausible.

In forest exercises, only the final kill score counted.

Hiding wouldn’t earn points—but it wouldn’t mean losing, either.

As long as Wen Yuesheng kept her troop numbers higher than those of the Palace Vanguard, her ranking would automatically surpass theirs.

Prince Wei Yangwang: …

Was the Palace Vanguard really about to place fifth?

Just as this thought surfaced, Wen Yuesheng, who had been silently fiddling with her prayer beads, suddenly opened her eyes.

“The competition is about kills, correct?” she asked calmly.

Prince Wei Yangwang nodded. “Yes, it’s about kills.”

But her troops had been invisible throughout the match—what kills could they possibly have?

As Prince Wei Yangwang puzzled over this, Wen Yuesheng stopped playing with the beads and slid the string of green jade beads back onto her wrist.

In the next moment, her voice turned cold. “The kills begin now.”

If one had to name Wen Yuesheng’s greatest skill, there was only one answer:

Killing.

The instant her words fell, the situation on the battlefield shifted dramatically.

The four-army skirmish, previously chaotic and intense, had already left the area in disarray.

Soldiers clashed, some were eliminated, others eliminated their foes, and arrows flew in all directions.

After two hours of fierce combat, the Yulin Army, adept at forest warfare and exceptional with bows and arrows, had gained the upper hand.

In contrast, the Palace Vanguard had fallen into a slump after Prince Weiyang’s elimination. As the largest unit, they also suffered the heaviest losses.

By now, fewer than a thousand soldiers remained on the field, their initial numerical advantage now a glaring liability.

The Capital Garrison, meanwhile, had provoked the Imperial Guards by setting fires everywhere. With their already small numbers and their retreat paths cut off by a joint effort of the Imperial Guards and the Yulin Army, they were teetering on the brink of collapse.

Fortunately, the alliance between the Imperial Guards and the Yulin Army was fragile at best. The Yulin Army eventually turned on their allies, seeking to wipe out a portion of the Imperial Guards, only to face fierce resistance.

As the two sides fought, the Capital Garrison managed a brief reprieve.

At that moment, black figures suddenly appeared atop every lush tree in the forest.

Both the onlookers on the dais and the soldiers on the field realized the truth simultaneously.

The long-absent troops of Wen Yuesheng had been hiding all along—some in the trees, some in the underbrush, and some even disguised as soldiers from other teams, having killed and stolen their uniforms.

In forest combat, as long as one did not remove their own uniform, anything else was permissible.

With so many soldiers in constant turmoil from the start, no one noticed when Wen Yuesheng’s black-clad forces had infiltrated their ranks.

Now, as the hidden troops revealed themselves all at once, chaos erupted across every faction.

As Wen Yuesheng’s words echoed, countless figures descended from the trees as though obeying her command.

Her gaze remained cold.

In the forest, bows and arrows were never the ultimate weapon.

The true weapon of the forest was the forest itself.

In an instant, hooks and ropes shot out from every direction, tethering the surrounding trees together and pulling them down in unison.

As the trees collapsed, countless throwing darts rained down, forming a deadly black storm.

With nowhere to hide, anyone whose armor was pierced was immediately eliminated.

Reports flooded into the dais:

“Report! Thirty-seven Palace Vanguard soldiers eliminated!”

“Report! Another batch of Palace Vanguard soldiers eliminated…”

“Report! Twenty-five Capital Garrison soldiers eliminated!”

…

“Report! Sixty-seven Yulin Army soldiers eliminated!”

“Report! One hundred seventy-three Yulin Army soldiers eliminated!”

…

“Report! Eighty-nine Imperial Guard soldiers eliminated!”

“Report! One hundred ninety Imperial Guard soldiers eliminated…”

The cacophony of reports filled the hall, as though the forest had become an apocalyptic battlefield.

The area where the Yulin Army and the Imperial Guards clashed suffered the heaviest losses. With dense ranks and nowhere to escape, they were devastated by the barrage of darts.

Prince Weiyang sat frozen in shock, unable to process what had just happened.

Then he heard Wen Yuesheng’s calm voice beside him.

“Didn’t you ask earlier what kind of soldiers I brought in the Guard Corps?”

Expressionless, she replied, “Just five hundred dart specialists.”

Prince Wei Yangwang: ???