With the Blade

Just as the people in Yellow Sand City were undergoing training, or rather learning to obey, the rebellion army on the other side was also dealing with its own troubles.

This was also the reason why the rebellion army had not set out for a long time, simply because some unknown outsiders had infiltrated, bypassing the guards and entering the camp of the army— following that, the unknown General discovered that the soldiers, who were originally well-trained, suddenly refused to follow orders.

No matter how many times the General ordered them to set out, these soldiers would only verbally agree, as if they had indeed accepted the orders, yet they remained completely unresponsive.

"What are you trying to do! Are you planning to test martial law?"

In anger, the General even drew the Treasure Sword, killing a few soldiers to intimidate the others, but unexpectedly, this act of killing not only failed to motivate them but made the soldiers even more passive and slothful.

Even within the military law team he used to maintain discipline, there were already people disobeying his orders.

"What are you trying to do! What do you intend to do?"

Seeing that even his guards were starting to ignore his commands, the General angrily drew the Treasure Sword again.

But this time, he only sliced off a corner of the table.

He couldn’t continue killing, and didn’t dare to; within just two or three days, no one in the entire camp listened to him anymore, and if he tried to use killing to solve the problem... these people might turn on him and kill him!

"So what on earth happened?"

Even now, the General was baffled. He didn’t even know what kind of attack this was—it seemed that in just an instant, this well-trained army was paralyzed, and the soldiers who used to follow commands strictly had turned mysterious, not performing daily drills or handling normal duties, and he had no idea what they were busy with.

After much thought, the General decided to disguise himself and sneak out to have a look.

He chose to follow a military officer, one of his direct guards, who could almost be said to be his childhood friend and even a brother willing to live and die together, but over the past few days, this brother had deserted him, joining the passive soldiers, engaging in secretive activities each day.

He couldn’t understand it, nor was he willing to believe it, so he planned to sneak and see what kind of matter could change his brother.

Thus, when his brother entered the tent, he laid down on the ground, pressing his ear to the side of the tent.

"You need to learn to obey."

These were the words coming from inside the tent.

"Obedience is the greatest virtue."

Indeed.

Not only the people inside the tent but even he, lying outside, nodded along.

This was something he had always been promoting, saying that obedience is a soldier’s duty, only a Warrior who understands obedience can be a good Warrior—after all, only obedient Warriors could follow his, the General’s, commands, could realize his command, and could win the war.

This kind of thing was good for everyone, indeed the greatest virtue.

So, was there any problem with this?

It seemed there was no problem, these Warriors weren’t discussing anything forbidden, just advocating obedience, promoting following orders—these were things he often did himself, he listened for a long time without finding any issue.

No, there seemed to be a bit of a problem indeed.

Since these Warriors agreed that obedience is the greatest virtue, why would they choose to be passive after he issued orders?

Isn’t obedience a virtue? Then why do these people...

"Of course, it’s because you are not worth obeying."

A voice sounded behind the General.

It was his guard, the one he regarded as a brother.

"Brother? You truly think I’m your brother?"

Facing the perplexed General, the guard merely chuckled.

"I’ve only ever heard stories of brothers helping each other, never of brothers needing another to obey, or even sacrifice their life for oneself... Stop trying to deceive me with those words, I won’t believe you anymore."

"So... you noticed me a long time ago, right?"

The unknown General laughed bitterly.

"Did you deliberately bring me here?"

"What else? If we hadn’t let you come, do you think you could have left your tent?"

Looking at the General on the ground, the guard couldn’t help but shake his head repeatedly.

"You don’t regard me as a brother, that much I understood, but for old time’s sake, I’ll still call you brother... So now there’s a good thing, how could I not want to involve you, my elder brother?"

With that, the guard helped the General up from the ground.

"Go in, someone is waiting for you."

"...Someone?"

The unknown General caught the crucial information within those words.

"Who is inside?"

"A great person."

The guard raised his head, eyes full of reverence and awe.

"Also someone you need to obey."

"You..."

Faced with the guard’s words, no matter how slow, the General already understood that this person, who used to be loyal to him, even willing to die for him, had been swayed by the mysterious individual inside the tent.

And not just him, but every soldier under his command, the entire army.

"Alright!"

Taking a deep breath, the General stood up and lifted the tent flap.

Since it had come to this, he had to see what kind of person had forced him into this situation!

"You... huh?"

Seeing the people in the center of the tent, the General was directly stunned.

He had seen twins before, but two people who looked so similar, even identical—he truly hadn’t seen. Especially since between them crouched a dog, which they were evidently treating as a respected being, this he had never seen.

Were these the two who, within days, paralyzed his army, leading him to such a state?

"So you’re the one who sent people to block my door?"

Among the two men and one dog, it was the dog that spat first.

"You say you’re investigating rebellion, a little show would suffice, how could you truly send someone to investigate? What would you do if they find something?"

Evidently, the General couldn’t handle it.

Because as soon as the yellow dog lifted its paw, the General was suspended in mid-air by an inexplicable force, choking his throat.

"I... submit!"

On the verge of suffocation, the General finally uttered.

"I submit!"

At this moment, the General finally understood why his soldiers chose to abandon him.

Simply because, what they faced was something that wasn’t even human.