Huo Ci yanked Jiang Xingyan down from the horse in one swift motion.
“Ah Yan, use your lightness skill—run! Now!”
Jiang Xingyan stared at him blankly, then let out a bitter laugh. “Run? Where exactly am I supposed to go? Can I just abandon fifty thousand lives and flee to the ends of the earth with Xiao Ya?”
“But Xiao Ya is still so young,” Huo Ci said, tears welling up in his eyes.
“If the skin is gone, what’s left to hold the hair? If Western Zhou is about to fall, do we even have a home anymore? I’ve already died once before—Xiao Ya and I will stand or fall with the Huo family soldiers!”
Huo Ci suddenly pulled her into his arms.
“Ah Yan, if there’s a next life, I’ll serve you like a beast of burden to make up for all the wrongs I’ve done you!”
“General, look—the Imperial Advisor!”
“The Imperial Advisor—he’s in the sky!”
Before the two of them could brace for the cannonballs from the Red-Lipped Cannons, the surrounding soldiers burst into shocked cries.
Jiang Xingyan and Huo Ci immediately broke apart and looked up.
There, floating in midair, was Yun Chunfeng. His black-and-white Taoist robe, embroidered with the Tai Chi and Eight Trigrams in dark gold, billowed without any wind. His beard and hair stood on end. In his left hand he held a horsetail whisk, his right hand formed a seal, and his lips moved in silent incantation.
“Base vermin, how dare you spout such arrogance here!”
A curved, transparent barrier materialized in front of him, blocking every single cannonball fired from all twenty Red-Lipped Cannons.
“Brother Yun!”
Yun Chunfeng flicked his whisk and traced a Tai Chi symbol in front of him with both hands.
As yin and yang flowed, time itself on the ground seemed to slow to a tenth of its normal speed. Every face froze mid-expression, changing only by the faintest degree after a long pause.
The Huo family soldiers, whose eyes had been filled with resolve to die and unyielding determination, now slowly shifted to astonishment and reverence.
On the walls of the Northern Luo capital, the garrison troops’ smug, gloating expressions were overtaken by boundless fear and despair.
Jiang Xingyan reached out toward Yun Chunfeng, sobbing and shouting, “Brother Yun, no!”
She couldn’t bear to imagine what terrible price her Brother Yun would have to pay to turn defeat into victory for her.
Huo Ci, beside her, held her back with all his strength—even when she slapped him hard across the face, he refused to let go.
The Tai Chi symbol before Yun Chunfeng grew larger and larger, until it was vast enough to cover the entire city.
“Since ancient times, evil has never triumphed over good. Even visitors from beyond the heavens, unbound by destiny, cannot overturn the eternal principles of heaven and earth! The King of Northern Luo is cruel and tyrannical, treating all lives as worthless—everyone has the right to put him to death. Today, I, Yun Chunfeng, shall act on heaven’s behalf and extinguish this villain!”
He thrust forward, and the Tai Chi symbol shot out like a blast.
Time snapped back to normal.
Tens of thousands of eyes watched as the twenty cannonballs, propelled at twice their original speed, were hurled back by the Tai Chi symbol.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Before the stunned gaze of the entire army, the Northern Luo capital absorbed all the cannon fire and was instantly reduced to a battered ruin.
Yun Chunfeng flicked his whisk again, and the twenty cannons all turned around, firing every last round of ammunition they had left.
In an instant, the Northern Luo capital was filled with the endless roar of cannons, billowing smoke, and flames leaping toward the sky.
“By the urgent decree of the Grand Supreme Elder Lord—break!”
The final explosion was the cannons themselves.
“I leave the rest to you, Miss. Your humble Brother Yun is incompetent—I could not protect every soldier. The brothers of the vanguard bore such pain because of my failure. That sin is mine alone.”
Though the soldiers didn’t know who the “Miss” the Imperial Advisor was referring to, they all knelt and shouted in unison:
“The Imperial Advisor’s righteousness is unmatched! We kneel to thank you for saving us, and we dare not hold even a trace of resentment.”
“No one in the Huo family army fears death! The vanguard brothers died a worthy death—it was worth it!”
“Thank you, Imperial Advisor, for granting us a second chance at life!”
Huo Ci understood that what the soldiers called “a second chance” wasn’t just about their own lives—it was about the fate of all Western Zhou.
“Soldiers, charge with me! Level Northern Luo and capture its king! Bring him back alive if possible, dead if necessary!”
“Yes, General!”
Jiang Xingyan, suppressing the ache in her heart, raised her arm and shouted.
“Brother Yun!”
As she charged toward the Northern Luo capital, she looked up at Yun Chunfeng, who was wavering unsteadily in the sky.
In a flash, she seemed to see countless specks of golden light flying out from the hearts of every Western Zhou soldier, streaming toward Yun Chunfeng. The golden light wrapped around him and gently, slowly lowered him to the ground.
Jiang Xingyan urged her warhorse onward and, just before he fell, caught him securely and bound him behind her. He felt as light as air. His whisk had already slipped from his grasp. His face was the color of gold leaf, his brow deeply furrowed, and his breath faint and shallow—he had clearly exhausted every ounce of his spirit and energy.
“Brother Yun, hold on! Once we take the city, I’ll use every last resource I have to beg our senior brothers to save you! Brother Yun, you promised me—you have to live!”
With savage determination, Jiang Xingyan was the first to charge into the Northern Luo capital. Anyone not fully dead, she trampled under her horse’s hooves. Those who had survived the bombardment and tried to flee, she chased down and cut down with a single strike.
She rode straight to the royal palace of Northern Luo.
What had once been a gleaming center of power was now nothing but rubble and shattered tiles. Every hall bore signs of bombardment, and thick smoke billowed everywhere, with no one in sight.
“Split into six groups! Block every palace gate and search thoroughly—let no one escape!”
“Yes, General!”
Jiang Xingyan carried Yun Chunfeng on her back and Xiao Ya tucked in her arms. She had barely taken a few steps inside when she heard someone groaning on the ground. She drew her blade and rushed over to find a eunuch with one leg blown off, barely breathing, more air going out than coming in.
She pressed her blade to his throat. “Tell me where the King of Northern Luo is, and I’ll give you a quick death.”
The eunuch whispered three words, barely audible: “Hehe Palace.”
Swish!
With one stroke, Jiang Xingyan separated his head from his body, ending his suffering.
She didn’t even pause to wipe the blood from her blade before charging toward Hehe Palace.
Huo Ci followed close behind. Only now did he fully understand what Yun Chunfeng had meant the day before when he entrusted Jiang Xingyan to him. A chill ran down his spine—no wonder Yun Chunfeng said an ordinary man couldn’t do it. He had probably staked his entire cultivation on this. This man would go to such lengths for Ah Yan—there was no way Huo Ci could match that. The only thing he could do was not fail his mission and do everything in his power to protect Ah Yan from further harm.
“King of Northern Luo, get your sorry self out here!”
Hehe Palace’s gates were tightly shut, yet it stood completely untouched. How convenient for that beast!
Jiang Xingyan was about to charge in when an arm grabbed her firmly.
“Ah Yan, don’t rush. Be careful—it could be a trap.”
Huo Ci eyed the palace warily—it was deeply suspicious. Every other building around it showed some degree of damage, but this one remained perfectly intact, just as it always was. The three enormous golden characters reading “Hehe Palace” loomed like the entrance to a demon’s lair, waiting for Ah Yan to walk right in.
Jiang Xingyan calmed down too and noticed the anomaly. She reached into the leather pouch at her waist and pulled out a small crossbow, its magazine loaded with fire arrows.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Without a word, she fired three flaming arrows.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
All three arrows struck an invisible barrier and clattered to the ground. Just as she’d suspected—something was off.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Slow, deliberate applause drifted out from within Hehe Palace, accompanied by the sound of bells, growing nearer.
Creak.
The palace gates swung open abruptly. Standing right in the center of the entrance was a monstrously handsome man in black gauze, his pale chest exposed.
“General Huo, we meet again?”
Jiang Xingyan was stunned. “You’re that visitor from beyond the heavens!”
The man curled his lips. “Such a tacky title. I have a name—it’s Linglong. Don’t get it wrong again, General Huo.”
Huo Ci’s face turned cold as he stepped in front of Jiang Xingyan.
“Demon, your moment is over. Surrender and die—go to hell and atone for your sins!”
Linglong looked genuinely taken aback. “Me? My moment… is over?”
He turned back with a pitiful look and asked, “Princess, be the judge—has my moment really passed?”
“Of course not. Linglong grows stronger every day—he’s in excellent health. Isn’t that right? He’s come all this way to settle scores with his own hands, hasn’t he?”
From behind him stepped a woman whose features bore a striking six- or seven-tenths resemblance to Jiang Xingyan. It was Princess Huaiwan—Shangguan Luoyue.
