Chi Xue couldn’t help but say: “Commander, this deputy general colluded with others to use moldy rice for military provisions for profit. Why didn’t you deal with him before? Military provisions are so important!”
“Before I said that, I didn’t know about this matter.”
“Huh?”
“I was bluffing him,” Di Yiwei said. “Since his son with a butt full of syphilis sores could marry the rice merchant’s beauty, I speculated there might be profitable connections involved. He indeed didn’t deny it, and once this matter was confirmed, his betrayal became inevitable.”
Chi Xue nodded in sincere admiration.
Indeed, whether flesh trade or venereal disease, these were private moral failings, insufficient to make an old general betray his commander. She had also witnessed Deputy General Xie’s attitude that day and didn’t think it was pretense.
So when Deputy General Xie came to receive them, she had no suspicion whatsoever.
But thinking back now, precisely because Deputy General Xie had stood out, Huang Ming and others would inevitably threaten and entice him afterward for stability. Once they discovered this fatal weakness of his, they couldn’t possibly not use it.
And substituting inferior goods for military provisions was a capital crime that would implicate the entire family. Deputy General Xie might be willing to die for his commander, but he couldn’t ignore his whole family’s lives.
Huang Ming and Xiao Chang had really racked their brains, using Deputy General Xie—who was obviously loyal to the commander—to receive the commander. Probably no one except the commander herself would have thought he would betray her.
So Di Yiwei consistently avoided contacting this trusted aide who was right at hand, yet in the end it was Liu Chen’s self-cleverness that caused trouble.
Chi Xue sighed inwardly.
She felt Di Yiwei was the most intelligent woman besides her own Crown Princess.
Truly worthy of the great reputation of rising step by step to high position in the military camps as a woman.
But since Deputy General Xie was arranged…
Suddenly ahead, with a whooshing sound, enormous flames blazed up as a dark mass of people shouted and charged over.
After waiting so long for people to enter the trap, the trap had to run over by itself.
Xia Houchun scooped up Di Yiwei and ran, the agile, soft fatty asking while running: “Where to!”
“To the main camp!”
Xia Houchun almost thought he’d misheard.
He turned to look at Di Yiwei. The pale woman gazed ahead, reached out to turn his head around, and said: “What are you looking at? Giddyup.”
Xia Houchun laughed in exasperation. His body tilted as if to shake Di Yiwei off. Di Yiwei, light as a blade of grass, swayed precariously and was about to fall. He hurriedly caught her and took off running with his legs pumping.
While running he said: “Going to the main camp now! Are you sure you haven’t gone mad with rage and want to perish together with Huang Ming?!”
Di Yiwei slapped his dog head and said: “Tsk! As if he’s worthy?”
Xia Houchun laughed heartily and shot across the mountain forest like a wisp of smoke, heading toward the main camp.
In the rushing wind, he heard Di Yiwei say wistfully: “After waiting so long, if you don’t come soon, this fine army won’t be yours anymore…”
…
Wind rushed through mountain crevices, striking faces like knives.
Tie Ci gazed at the dark mass of people before her.
It was almost a small army—three thousand men forming battle formation, blocking Mount Fu’s mountain road completely.
Cavalry galloped in circles around her.
Someone over there shouted orders. Without asking her identity, they immediately declared “kill without mercy” as archers quick-stepped forward.
Tie Ci raised an eyebrow.
She’d expected possible attacks upon returning, but hadn’t imagined they’d be so blatantly insane.
She somewhat regretted bringing Qi Yuansi and Da Wu back.
Seeing this, Qi Yuansi was greatly alarmed and spurred his horse forward to question them, but Tie Ci pushed him behind her. She grabbed him with one hand and Da Wu with the other.
Qi Yuansi instinctively struggled.
How could a man be carried by a woman!
But the next instant Tie Ci’s gaze swept over, and he shrank all over.
The next moment arrows fell like heavenly rain.
Tie Ci flashed away with the two men, but didn’t escape the encirclement. Their circle was large, and carrying two people, she couldn’t run far.
Qi Yuansi struggled: “Let me go, I can manage myself…” Suddenly his voice stopped.
He stared dumbfounded as Tie Ci undid her clothing buttons.
He hurriedly turned his face away, his ears exploding red.
The next instant something was thrown on his head. Tie Ci’s voice was very clear: “Put this on, protect Da Wu, and flee toward the Hanli Khan Desert. Find a hidden place to hide and wait for Rong Pu and the others to come before reuniting!”
Qi Yuansi instinctively caught the thing—it was a very thin piece of armor still retaining Tie Ci’s body warmth, with a faint fragrance. When Qi Yuansi realized this armor had just been removed from Tie Ci’s body, the explosive red at his ears gradually spread to his face.
He clutched the armor, expression dazed.
When he turned back, Tie Ci’s figure had vanished.
Another wave of arrows attacked.
Qi Yuansi had no time to think carefully. He hastily put on the armor and jumped on the horse with Da Wu—Da Wu in front, he behind—backs to the arrow rain, heads down in frantic flight.
Arrows constantly fell behind them, but only brought slight vibrations. Broken arrows danced on his back. He could even feel his hair flowing behind being cut by the armor’s edges, scattering around him like black mist.
He didn’t look back, just buried his head and ran frantically.
At this moment he understood he was a burden. This wasn’t the time for masculine pride. Not dragging down the Crown Princess was the only thing he could do for her.
Tie Ci dodged a round of arrows and looked back to see Qi Yuansi and his companion successfully escape to safety before relaxing.
In her view, Qi Yuansi and Da Wu’s martial arts were merely average, but they absolutely couldn’t perish in this Yongping Army chaos. With no choice, she could only remove her precious armor. It wasn’t that she couldn’t bear to part with the armor—what she couldn’t bear to part with was Feiyu’s sentiment.
She wondered if he would blame her.
While thinking of Feiyu, her figure flashed several times in succession, already leaping past the arrow range and charging to the front lines.
The general forming the battle array hadn’t yet understood what was happening—someone had run away, the main target had disappeared, and when the person appeared again, she was already right before him.
He frantically reached for his blade while trying to issue orders for group attack, but Tie Ci had already flashed onto his horse, gripping his throat and pulling the reins to gallop back.
The formation behind suddenly saw their commander’s horse charging back through their ranks. They instinctively moved aside, and Tie Ci forcibly broke through a path. The people behind gradually realized what was happening and gave chase.
Tie Ci first held the hostage in front of herself, then after turning her back to the crowd, placed the hostage behind her—effectively gaining an additional back shield.
The archers indeed didn’t dare shoot anymore, but immediately someone behind shouted: “Shoot! Shoot! The supervisor orders this is a Liaodong spy! Stop her from entering the pass at any cost!”
Swishing arrows rained down again. The commander Tie Ci had captured became a porcupine and fell from his horse.
Tie Ci also saw that Mount Fu’s road still had guards completely blocking the inner path. Seeing a single rider galloping toward them, spear points all aimed forward—under the sunlight like a forest of snow.
Estimating the long line filling the narrow passage, it stretched several li.
Such conditions made instant teleportation impossible since she couldn’t be sure the landing point wouldn’t be right on a spear tip.
So Tie Ci charged straight through.
The soldiers raising spears to meet her were somewhat nervous because their general had told them the opponent was a peerless master of this desert, supported by the Western Rong royal court, attempting to infiltrate Da Qian’s borders to cause chaos. Once they let her in, there would be carnage and suffering for the people. Moreover, this person was crafty and full of schemes, so they shouldn’t believe her words—just desperately block her when they saw her. As long as they stopped her, they would be heroes of Da Qian and would naturally be rewarded according to merit.
The intercepting force was Kaiping Guard’s garrison—the same troops that had first conspired with Huang Ming and others to capture Di Yiwei. The Kaiping Guard Commander feared more than anyone the Crown Princess returning to Yongping to settle accounts with him.
Under sunlight the spear points gleamed silver-bright like a silver sea.
Tie Ci didn’t pause and crashed straight through.
The soldiers thrust their spear points forward in unison.
Tie Ci was in mid-air, stepping on spear points. With a flip, she was already above the soldiers’ heads. With light pressure from her feet, that soldier fell down.
She had already flown to another person’s head, stepped again, and that person fell as she leaped up once more.
This cycle continued—no one’s spear could match her footsteps.
If viewed from above, one would see black-pressed heads constantly falling under her footsteps, like black piano keys rising and falling, while countless gleaming spear points spun continuously with her movements, like white waves surging beneath her flowing robes.
She constantly changed direction while leaping up and down, making it impossible for anyone to predict her landing spot and thrust spears preemptively. Even though the commander at the end loudly roared orders for group attack, it was useless. Everyone followed her rhythm but couldn’t keep up, instead causing the formation to break down as soldiers crashed into each other.
The Kaiping Guard Commander stood at the end of that several-li-long line near a cliff edge, grinding his teeth as he watched the constantly approaching figure.
He knew the approaching person was most likely the Crown Princess.
Though the Crown Princess had come to Yongping in secret, she had previously been in Haiyou, so coming to Yongping was inevitable. Not finding the Crown Princess in the main camp, plus knowing Di Yiwei had sent a team of academy students to Western Rong, combined with rumors of the Crown Princess’s impending inspection of Yongping—cross-referencing these clues, one could guess the Crown Princess had gone to Western Rong.
His impression of the Crown Princess was also the legendary one—a puppet unable to activate her talent abilities, the sole female heir of the Iron Dynasty destined to be devoured by the Xiao clan.
Without army, ministers, or real power, just supported by some scholars—what could that accomplish?
She couldn’t even compare to him, a Kaiping Guard Commander controlling great armies.
Let alone compete with the vast, powerful Xiao family.
He had also vaguely heard that after the Crown Princess’s training journey, her various actions were extraordinary, even making the Xiao family suffer several losses. She even pulled the great scholar He Zi into her camp.
He Zi and Zhu Yi entered court and received great respect. Zhu Yi was directly appointed as this year’s autumn examination’s chief examiner. After the autumn examinations, many Yue Li Academy students achieved golden honors and passed as provincial graduates. Though He Zi’s master and disciple had previously been recruited by the Crown Princess, their various performances were quite fair, showing no bias toward the Iron clan. Empress Dowager Xiao was determined to win over He Zi, which was why she allowed Zhu Yi to parachute into the chief examiner position.
Who knew that as soon as the autumn examinations ended, He Zi would attack the Xiao clan, throwing out much evidence in succession. Leading a group of civil officials and censors, he impeached Xiao Chang for suspected assassination attempts on the Crown Princess, impeached the Dongming Xiao clan for privately digging river embankments to harm people and silence witnesses, impeached Yongping Navy Admiral Xiao Bi’an for using the military to support bandits and bandits to support the military for profit and murder… He launched several major cases in succession and used his supreme influence among literati to agitate hearts, causing the capital’s citizens to spread the news far and wide, creating citywide turmoil.
This directly made Empress Dowager Xiao ill with anger. The matter still wasn’t finished and remained under dispute. Xiao Chang, who had hoped to secure the position of Supreme Military Commissioner of the Five Armies, was directly demoted and expelled from the capital.
The Xiao family was also powerful. Going all out, they simply sent Xiao Chang to seize Di Yiwei’s military authority. Huang Ming had spoken directly with him—the Iron clan and Xiao clan had already torn off their masks, all because of the Crown Princess. Now the Crown Princess had come to Yongping, obviously wanting to interfere with military power. The Xiao family absolutely wouldn’t allow it.
Since things had reached this point, they must eliminate the Crown Princess early while her wings weren’t yet full. No matter how high He Zi and the royalist faction jumped, if the Iron clan’s sole heir died, who would they protect?
Huang Ming had even spread news of the Crown Princess being in Yongping. If Liaodong or Western Rong wanted to join the excitement, they would be very welcome.
The Kaiping Guard Commander heard Huang Ming’s plan and also felt it was just a mere woman who hadn’t yet gained military power and was alone outside—the perfect opportunity to resolve the situation.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Wealth and honor for a hundred years, supreme glory—couldn’t be earned through hesitation.
However, seeing the person approaching in daylight—from afar appearing as a bright young man, gentle and noble yet striking with deadly precision, with ten thousand soldiers bowing at her feet like grass, swift and chaotic as wind, no matter how lightning-fast the spears, they couldn’t catch her robes’ hem.
She constantly stepped on soldiers’ heads, each step precisely knocking them unconscious without killing them. Reaching the line’s end, she casually gathered up the men’s long spears with one sweep. With a finger flick, long spears spun onto her back. She walked while collecting, and in a blink her back carried a large pile of long spears.
No one understood her purpose in doing this—all stared blankly at her, the Kaiping Guard Commander included.
Then he suddenly discovered the person who had been far away was right before him in the blink of an eye.
He could even see that despite her rapid advance, she remained graceful, every strand of hair composed, even seeming to wink and smile at him.
The Kaiping Guard Commander was inwardly horrified.
Who said the Crown Princess was weak and incompetent!
The proximity panicked him. He retreated hastily, shouting orders for shield formation.
But before the word “shield” left his mouth, Tie Ci suddenly appeared before him.
There had clearly been several zhang distance!
What kind of lightness skill was this!
The Kaiping Guard Commander was like seeing a ghost, instinctively slashing out with his blade.
But his movements seemed too slow to Tie Ci. She laughed, caught the blade tip with two fingers, and casually snapped it. With a crack the blade broke in two. The broken blade slapped the Kaiping Guard Commander’s face. He screamed as blood flowed from his nose. Tie Ci’s hand was already gripping his throat, using the remaining half-blade to pat his face while laughing: “Yao Chi, seven years ago before you went to Kaiping, you had an audience and told me you wished to serve me with utmost devotion until death. Yet it turns out you wanted me to die by blade and spear!”
Her tone was calm and smiling, voice not loud, but using true force. The soldiers crammed in the narrow mountain path heard every word clearly. For a moment all were stunned, their ears filled with mountain echoes of “until death” resounding endlessly.
Tie Ci remembered this mountain path had a place where two mountains broke apart, separated into a deep valley. Previously there had been simple iron chains between the cliffs for passage, but now those chains had been severed.
They wanted to block her before this broken cliff, trap her between these mountain walls, with soldiers coming in endless waves—they could exhaust her to death through sheer numbers.
Tie Ci smiled.
The Kaiping Guard Commander stared at her in terror, desperately trying to remember what he’d said seven years ago. That time he hadn’t had a private audience—he didn’t qualify for that. He’d only had a group audience with over ten officials leaving the capital for posts. At that time the small Crown Princess sat beside the imperial throne, a ten-year-old girl in male clothing, carved like ice and jade. He had stolen a glance.
Everyone had kept their heads down then, names reported only once. How had the Crown Princess, only around ten years old, remembered him and his words among over ten people?
How many officials did she meet year-round, how many audiences did she face? She actually recognized even an unremarkable person from seven years ago in a crowd!
In this moment, the Kaiping Guard Commander felt enormous regret surge in his heart.
He felt he’d chosen the wrong side.
How could such a person ever remain a puppet for life?
Tie Ci said sadly: “Minister Yao, you’ve truly broken my heart. When I personally provided you with clothing and food, departing with earnest care, you wept with gratitude, making countless oaths, determined to serve our great Da Qian dynasty and our Iron clan’s glory with lifelong loyalty… Though I was trapped in the deep palace, constrained by women, whenever I thought of you loyal generals suffering on the frontiers for me, I felt hope remained undying, how fortunate… Yet I never expected that seeing you again after seven years would be with blades and weapons drawn, regicide and deceiving the ruler!”
She covered her face after speaking.
One hand still gripped Yao Chi’s throat.
Yao Chi: “…”
Wait, when did you personally provide me with clothing and food, departing with earnest care?
You were a little girl—what clothing could you remove? Could you even undress? Would it fit me?
What food? You were secretly eating candy then, didn’t even glance at me once. Did you think I didn’t see?
Commander Yao’s heart was bitter, but Commander Yao couldn’t speak.
His throat was still being gripped.
But what made him even more bitter was feeling the surrounding soldiers’ gazes toward him had already changed.
Yao Chi didn’t have Di Yiwei’s kind of control and prestige. He’d only been transferred to Kaiping Guard for two years and hadn’t cultivated many of his own trusted followers.
Though Da Qian soldiers had to absolutely obey superior orders, they still had natural awe and loyalty toward the royal family. What they strived to defend was the Iron clan’s territory—they’d never thought of or dared to betray.
Previously following him to capture Di Yiwei was because Di Yiwei was a rebel general to be arrested according to explicit imperial edict.
Precisely knowing this, Yao Chi had lied through his teeth, fabricating enemies.
He suddenly felt his throat loosened enough to speak. Unable to think about coughing, he hoarsely shouted: “What nonsense are you spouting! I’ve seen the Crown Princess—you’re not the Crown Princess! Impersonating royalty means nine generations of extermination! Men, capture him!”
He absolutely couldn’t admit it now—admitting it would finish him.
Tie Ci wasn’t angry either, looking at him with interest: “Minister Yao, you’ve truly broken my heart! I’m so heartbroken I don’t want to live anymore. Since you said you’d serve me until death, then die for my burial!”
She laughed heartily, gripped Yao Chi’s neck tightly again, and leaped off the cliff with a whoosh.
Yao Chi: “???!!!”
Soldiers: “???!!!”
Moments later soldiers cried out and rushed to the cliff edge.
They saw Tie Ci carrying Yao Chi rapidly descending through mid-mountain clouds, robes billowing like a black cloud.
With a “swish,” a long spear shot out, deeply embedding in a stone crevice.
The next instant Tie Ci with Yao Chi landed precisely on the long spear. Da Qian military long spears used extremely resilient wood. Tie Ci also controlled the angle and form—when landing, her form bounced slightly. She landed on the spear’s tip with Yao Chi suspended in air.
Yao Chi didn’t dare open his eyes, feeling emptiness on all sides, fierce wind, damp clouds striking his face, instinctively screaming miserably.
Continuous “swish swish swish” sounds—the long spears on Tie Ci’s back decreased one by one as those spears were embedded in stone crevices at regular intervals.
Tie Ci carried Yao Chi and plunged down again.
While plunging, she shouted loudly:
“Say! Am I or am I not the Crown Princess!”
“…”
The weightless sensation of rapid descent was terrifying. Yao Chi felt heaven and earth inverted, wind rushing backward, dizzy and disoriented. Tie Ci’s face kept appearing in the floating clouds like a demon. He vaguely heard her saying something but couldn’t make it out clearly. Enormous fear surged in his heart as his whole body trembled.
The soldiers lying flat at the cliff edge looking down were dumbstruck.
Just looking at this cliff made hearts tremble—she just charged down with someone like this?
How did she think of this brilliant method of using spears as footholds?
But even with spear footholds, with these two people’s weight and this enormous impact force, how could she control her form to land on spears every time without breaking them?
Tie Ci plunged while embedding spears.
While embedding spears, she shouted loudly:
“Say, am I or am I not the Crown Princess!”
“Say! Am I or am I not the Crown Princess!”
All soldiers heard her shouts.
Yao Chi, pressed along the cliff face head-down, feeling his skull about to split open, finally heard clearly.
He shouted himself hoarse: “Yes! Yes! You are!”
“Voice too low, didn’t you eat!”
Yao Chi shouted until his voice broke: “Yes!!! You are the Crown Princess!!!”