Yuan Long instinctively raised his rebar to block.

Clang—sparks flew everywhere!

The impact set the web of his hand burning, and he staggered back.

"Lei An, are you trying to rebel?

If you don't get the important posts, it's because you're not good enough. What does that have to do with me?"

Lei An sneered. "Not good enough? When it comes to ability, I'm far above you... Since Ning Chen can't see my talent, today I'm going over to King Wen."

Yuan Long said angrily, "Betraying the prince means death!"

Lei An gave a cold laugh. "If you want to kill me, let's see if you have what it takes... Yuan Long, you're commander of the Ning'an Army and I'm your deputy. Kill you, and no one can stop me from going over to King Wen."

Clang, clang, clang!!!

The two of them went at each other, metal shrieking against metal, sparks flying.

Feng Qizheng roared, "Lei An, you dare betray the prince? You're asking to die!"

Yuan Long bellowed, "Stay out of it! I can handle him alone... Didn't he say his ability is far above mine? Today I want to see just how good he really is."

Clang!!!

The two rebars crashed together, and both men were knocked back step after step.

Before they'd even found their feet, they flew at each other again.

"You bastard, go easy... The web of my hand's about to split."

Lei An was speechless. "No kidding. You think I'm having a good time? If we don't make it look real, Leng Wenyan will see through it."

They kept up a conversation even as they fought.

Yuan Long lowered his voice. "This won't work. We can't stall much longer."

Lei An said, "By my count, the prince should be here soon... Just stall as long as we can.

In a bit, let Feng Qizheng join in. I'll lose, and you take me. You pretend you're going to behead me in front of everyone, and that'll buy us a while longer."

Below the wall, Leng Wenyan narrowed his eyes at the two men fighting…