Free Web NovelChapter 162: Chapter 162: The First False Betrayal
The false Qin Lian attacked before the team could fully adjust.
She moved with frightening accuracy.
Her cloak shimmered like the Silent Moon Shadow Cloak. Her dagger angle was correct. Her footwork matched Qin Lian’s recent improvements from the shadow training under Hidden Night Web. Even her breathing rhythm appeared close.
A weaker team might have reacted emotionally.
Qin Yuheng did not.
The Team Path Anchor pulsed steadily: real Qin Lian was three steps behind and to his left.
Silent Soul Communication Jade confirmed: Clear. False ahead.
Qin Yuheng gave one command.
"Do not kill until core is confirmed."
Qin Mo groaned.
"Of course copies require careful handling."
The false Qin Lian reached him.
Qin Yuheng parried her dagger with the flat of his blade, not cutting deep. The false version twisted, using Qin Lian’s shadow-step pattern to vanish into smoke.
Real Qin Lian moved.
She did not chase the false copy directly. Instead, she watched where the smoke failed to carry weight.
"There."
Her dagger flew.
It pierced empty air.
A gray oath thread snapped, and the false Qin Lian flickered, revealing a ghost soldier beneath the disguise.
[Oath Ghost: False Ally Shade]
[Level: 31]
[Weakness: Oath thread core]
Qin Yuchen stepped in and destroyed the core.
The false shade dissolved.
The battlefield reacted.
Several nearby ghost soldiers turned toward the team.
The sub-mission updated.
[False betrayal resisted.]
[Team division prevented: 1]
Qin Mo exhaled.
"One down. How many emotional traps remain?"
The battlefield answered by changing.
The frozen armies became active. One side carried blue-gray banners marked with an oath circle. The other carried black-red torn banners. Both sides shouted accusations.
"Traitors!"
"Oath-breakers!"
"Cowards!"
"False commander!"
A panel appeared.
[Battlefield Reenactment Phase One]
[Objective]
Survive the first clash and identify loyal banner remnant.]
Ghost soldiers charged.
Qin Yuheng activated Gate Thunder Command Field in a tight radius. The battlefield’s oath-breaking pressure tried to distort command pulses, but Commander’s Chosen Burden resisted false responsibility hooks.
"Yuchen, front line. Lian, banner scan. Mo, oath thread detection."
Qin Mo placed three formation needles into the mud. Gray lines spread outward, revealing faint oath threads between soldiers and banners. freeweɓnøvel.com
"Blue-gray banners mostly clean," Qin Mo said. "Black-red banners corrupted. But one blue-gray banner has a broken core."
Qin Lian moved toward the cleanest banner remnant.
It was held by a ghost captain whose armor was cracked but whose eyes remained clear.
[Loyal Banner Remnant Captain]
[Status: Bound to original oath]
[Protecting this remnant may reveal battlefield truth.]
Qin Yuheng led the team toward him.
The ghost captain stared at them. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
"Reinforcements?" he asked.
"Climbers," Qin Yuheng answered.
The captain’s expression did not change.
"Then judge with care. We were called traitors before we died."
That mattered.
The first wave crashed into them.
Qin Yuchen stood beside the loyal captain, forming a defensive line. Qin Lian eliminated corrupted oath ghosts trying to cut the banner. Qin Mo stabilized the banner’s oath thread with the Pure Vow Intention Crystal. Qin Yuheng held command pressure, preventing the battlefield screams from turning into confusion.
The first clash lasted nearly an hour.
By the end, they had defeated more than twenty oath ghosts, but the battlefield still raged.
The loyal captain survived.
A memory vision opened.
They saw the battlefield before its fall.
Two allied armies had sworn to hold a pass together. One army, under a commander with a silver-blue banner, guarded civilians and supply routes. The other, under a black-red commander, held the main gate.
During the final siege, the black-red commander accused the silver-blue army of retreating and breaking oath.
But the memory blurred before showing whether it was true.
Qin Mo frowned.
"The battlefield does not want us to see the middle."
Qin Yuheng looked at the snapped oath pillar in the distance.
"Then the truth is there."
To reach the oath pillar, they had to cross the command collapse zone.
The loyal captain warned them.
"Inside the collapse zone, orders reverse. Allies may hear commands as betrayal."
Qin Mo looked at Qin Yuheng.
"That is extremely bad for commander classes."
"Yes," Qin Yuheng said.
He turned to the team.
"Inside the collapse zone, no verbal command unless necessary. Use pre-set signals only. If my command contradicts protocol, verify through anchor."
Qin Yuchen nodded.
Qin Lian disappeared into the smoke ahead.
Qin Mo wrote on his slate:
If you say "sacrifice Qin Mo," I will assume false command.
Qin Yuheng smiled faintly.
"Correct."
They entered the collapse zone.
Immediately, sound twisted.
Qin Yuheng said, "Hold formation."
Qin Mo heard: "Break formation."
His face changed, but he checked the jade pulse. The silent pulse said hold.
He held.
Qin Yuchen heard Qin Yuheng order him to abandon Qin Lian.
He ignored it.
Qin Lian heard Qin Yuheng say she was no longer needed.
Her steps paused for less than half a breath before the Team Path Anchor confirmed the lie.
The battlefield tried harder.
Ghosts appeared wearing the faces of Qin family members.
Qin Zhengyuan shouted for Qin Yuheng to leave the team and rescue him.
Qin Wanshan ordered him to take command alone.
Mu Qinglan told him to open moon-void records.
All false.
The True Soul Guiding Lantern pointed toward the oath pillar.
They advanced.
At the center of the collapse zone, the second false betrayal appeared.
This time, it was Qin Yuheng.
A false Qin Yuheng stood before the team, sword raised, Gate Thunder Command Field distorted into black-red chains.
He spoke in Qin Yuheng’s voice.
"Team survival requires sacrifice. Qin Mo stays behind."
Qin Mo pointed at his slate triumphantly.
"I predicted this!"
The real Qin Yuheng appeared from the smoke behind the false one.
"Then respond accordingly."
Qin Mo activated the Contract-Breaking Law Crystal.
Qin Lian cut the false command chain.
Qin Yuchen struck the false Qin Yuheng’s sword.
Qin Yuheng pierced the oath thread core.
The false commander shattered.
[False betrayal resisted.]
[Team division prevented: 2]
[Command collapse influence reduced.]
The snapped oath pillar came into view.
At its base knelt a ghost officer holding a broken silver-blue banner.
The loyal captain whispered behind them.
"That is our commander."
The ghost officer looked up.
His chest was pierced by a black-red spear.
His hands still held the oath banner.
A panel appeared.
[Original Betrayal Clue detected.]
[Memory locked by corrupted accusation.]
Before they could approach, the black-red army roared.
A massive ghost wearing commander armor stepped from the smoke, holding a spear stained with oath blood.
[Oath-Breaking Accuser]
[Level: 36]
[Status: Guardian of false accusation]
The battlefield truth was guarded.
