Si Xiuyong forced himself to calm down.

"General Si, why do you think General Ruan Wei would do this?"

Si Xiuyong said angrily, "What else could it be for? Fame and fortune, of course.

Ruan Wei is headstrong and thinks far too much of himself, and he's ruthless... Even if he can't crush Ning Chen this time, just holding Ning Chen here would make his name."

He and Ruan Wei both served under Leng Wenyan. They'd known each other a long time, and he knew Ruan Wei all too well.

The man was ambitious and would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

There was one more reason he hadn't said out loud. When Leng Wenyan first proclaimed himself king, Ruan Wei had urged him again and again to proclaim himself emperor instead.

Back then Leng Wenyan hadn't trusted Xiliang much, and he'd been wary of Ning Chen, so he'd only dared to call himself king.

This time Ruan Wei was willing to kill ten thousand soldiers to crush Ning Chen. It wasn't just for glory, it seemed. Most likely he also meant to prove his abilities to Xiliang.

Once he had Xiliang's backing, he could take Leng Wenyan's place and proclaim himself emperor.

"General Si, so what do we do now?

Even if we expose him for killing ten thousand of our brothers, most of the survivors are his own guard. There's nothing we can do to him."

Si Xiuyong's eyes flickered, and he said nothing.

He'd discovered the secret of how Ruan Wei had killed ten thousand soldiers. If Ruan Wei found out, Si Xiuyong would never escape with his life.

Earlier he'd questioned the cause of those ten thousand deaths to Ruan Wei's face, and the look Ruan Wei had given him then was full of murder.

If they did manage to hold Ning Chen off this time, Ruan Wei wouldn't share that enormous credit with him either... The only way to keep him from stealing it would be to kill him.

It seemed he'd walked into a dead end without even realizing it.

Si Xiuyong's…