At the foot of Howling Moon Mountain, a hundred thousand Gaoli troops watched like tigers.

Their commander was named Piao Yingwu.

On the surface he served Gaoli's crown prince, Jin Dongxing. In truth he belonged to the Third Prince, Jin Tiancheng.

Piao Yingwu looked up at Howling Moon Mountain, getting impatient.

"Men, get ready to set the mountain on fire."

The words were barely out of his mouth when a crier shouted from the summit, "Don't burn it! We'll surrender!"

Piao Yingwu's eyes lit up. "Have the criers tell the men on the mountain to come down and surrender at once, and this general will spare their lives!"

The Gaoli criers immediately relayed Piao Yingwu's words up the mountain.

Zhong Xiuwen had his own criers answer: they were willing to surrender and were already on their way down.

Piao Yingwu turned to his deputy. "Have the archers ready. The moment those Great Xuan soldiers lay down their weapons, loose. Shoot every one of them. Not one left alive!"

The deputy general went off to carry out the order.

Zhong Xiuwen and Gao Junfeng led fewer than twenty thousand Great Xuan soldiers down the mountain, bringing the loot with them.

Look closely, and you could see fear in the eyes of those nearly twenty thousand men. But more than fear, you could see resolve.

They'd come down with their minds made up to die.

Nobody faces death without fear. Anyone who says he isn't the least bit afraid is a faker, plain and simple.

But of those nearly twenty thousand Great Xuan soldiers, frightened as they were, not one shrank back.

Piao Yingwu watched them come down the mountain with a sinister look, then had the criers call out.

The criers shouted, "Soldiers of the Great Xuan, put down the loot and your weapons, and your lives will be spared!"

Zhong Xiuwen ordered his soldiers to set the loot down.

He glared at Piao Yingwu in his gold armor and roared at the top of his lungs, "Gaoli! You've killed the soldiers of my Great Xuan and stolen the Great Xuan's…