“Whoosh…”
The sharp arrow flew forth with lethal precision, striking directly into the eldest young lord of Nangong’s chest.
The eldest young lord turned in disbelief, only to see Ziqing, clad in white, slowly rising to her feet, one hand holding a crossbow already aimed at the second young lord of Nangong!
“Elder Brother!” The second young lord’s entire attention was fixed on his brother’s chest.
He stared, dumbstruck, unable to process what had happened. He couldn’t accept it!
How could this be — they were from Nangong City, and they hadn’t even properly identified their enemy yet, and somehow…
“Elder Brother! No!” the second young lord cried out in shock, but no matter how loudly he shouted, it was already too late to change fate. The eldest young lord of Nangong coughed up a mouthful of blood and immediately toppled over.
Ziqing’s arrows weren’t merely lethal — they were poisoned. Deadly poison!
How else could she have dared to ambush the Xiliang army here with a mere three hundred-odd archers!
Watching his elder brother collapse, the second young lord of Nangong went half-mad with fury, spinning around to look at Ziqing. The moment he saw her white attire, he glanced back at the snow-covered ground, and only then did the shocking truth dawn on him — the entire field was riddled with ambushers!
“You’re despicable!”
He drew his sword and lunged furiously at Ziqing, but the moment he tried to gather his internal energy, a sharp pain shot through his dantian, leaving him utterly unable to summon any strength at all!
Poison! The arrow lodged in his shoulder was poisoned!
“Han Ziqing, you’re utterly despicable!” he snarled furiously, but no matter how enraged he was, he had no choice but to retreat!
This woman was too terrifying. This woman played by no conventional rules whatsoever. Could something like this even still be called warfare?
He had to get back and warn the Xiliang troops, or else anyone who came here would suffer the same fate!
The second young lord of Nangong retreated step by step, while Ziqing remained motionless where she stood, letting him hurl his curses and accusations at her without response. She calmly, unhurriedly adjusted her crossbow and reloaded a fresh bolt.
She didn’t even spare him a second glance, her eyes lowered in concentration as she carefully coated the arrowhead with poison, her slender fingers moving delicately across it — heaven only knew what kind of deadly venom that was.
Han Ziqing, so silent, not uttering a single word, yet radiating an aura from head to toe that sent chills down anyone’s spine. This woman was one to be admired from a distance, never to be trifled with up close — this woman was extraordinarily dangerous.
The second young lord’s fury was quickly overtaken by fear. He didn’t dare take his eyes off Han Ziqing for even a moment, terrified that the instant he looked away, he’d find himself struck dead by her arrow without warning.
He kept running backward, glancing over his shoulder at her again and again.
He kept running, kept looking back — for all that he was a martial artist, an elite fighter of the wulin, at this moment he looked as pathetic as a drowned dog, utterly disoriented, completely unaware of the killing intent closing in from behind him!
Suddenly — “Ngh!”
He let out a muffled grunt, his body freezing instantly. What was happening?
His eyes widened in disbelief, and slowly, he looked down — only to see… only to see a blade had been driven straight through him, from his back clean through to his abdomen!
Shocked, terrified beyond words, he could no longer speak at all.
His entire body swayed unsteadily. He gazed at Han Ziqing in the distance — that woman had already stopped paying him any attention whatsoever, having turned to speak with a guard beside her instead, her eyes sharp with intelligence, her expression coldly composed. Was she already planning her next battle?
This woman’s cunning, her demeanor, her intelligence — to any man, she was a terrifying force to reckon with!
Because once you failed to keep her in check, once she broke free of all restraint, she would surely become utterly unstoppable, and no one would be able to hold her back.
The second young lord of Nangong seemed to have something left to say, but he never got the chance!
Yingzi gave him a light shove, and with a single “thud,” he crumpled to the ground!
The corpses of horses, the corpses of men, blood pooling across the ground, a scene of complete devastation — this entire battle, from start to finish, had taken no more than the time it took a single stick of incense to burn. The speed was so astonishing it left everyone speechless. Without question, this had been a perfect battle, and Han Ziqing was its perfect victor.
Yet, the most unsettling part of all was that this victor, gazing coldly at the bloodstained ground, showed almost no expression whatsoever.
How could such a minor victory possibly earn even a smile from her?
“Bingqun, clean up the battlefield. Issue every soldier an additional poisoned crossbow. Everything must be deployed and ready before nightfall.” Ziqing said coldly, then turned and walked away.
Yingzi couldn’t help but shiver. It felt as though his mistress became an entirely different person once she stepped onto the battlefield!
Colder than Prince Yao, more taciturn than Prince Yao, more ruthless and merciless than Prince Yao, her expression never so much as flickering!
If before he’d merely admired her, now, for this particular mistress, Yingzi felt something closer to genuine reverence!
“Your Highness, I honestly thought you’d resort to gunpowder! Never imagined…” Yingzi said with a chuckle.
“Tonight, it should come in handy.” Ziqing said, then suddenly turned and gave Yingzi a mysterious smile — a smile that sent chills down his spine.
Your Highness, did you know that when someone who’s always expressionless suddenly smiles, it can be just as terrifying as it is captivating?
“I haven’t used gunpowder in quite a while. This particular batch is said to be remarkably powerful. It should be worth looking forward to!” Ziqing said, then turned and headed back to the courtyard, leaving Yingzi thoroughly puzzled.
What exactly did the princess consort mean by that?
Gunpowder tonight — did that mean both enemy armies would actually arrive tonight? According to the scouts’ real-time reports, the earliest they could possibly arrive was dawn tomorrow!
And with Nangong City’s two young lords leading the charge here, gone without a trace, surely something would change once Nangong City realized their men hadn’t returned!
Tonight — could this mistress possibly be planning to launch a proactive strike herself?
No matter how Yingzi turned it over in his mind, he couldn’t make sense of it. Meanwhile, Ziqing had already gone back inside. After checking on the few remaining bombs she kept close at hand, she lay down to sleep.
But no sooner had she lain down than she immediately sat back up again, pulling out some pills from inside her robe and taking them.
These were the fine medicine Yelu Qianqian had secretly taken from the palace, meant to replenish energy and calm the spirit. Originally there had been two full boxes, but she’d only taken twenty-eight pills.
She’d started taking them the day she’d parted from Jun Beiyue — one pill a day, which worked out to exactly one month’s supply!
By the time these pills ran out, Jun Beiyue should be arriving as well!
This month, she needed to fight, to throw herself entirely into the war. As a mercenary, clearing one’s mind of distractions was the most basic requirement of the trade!
This month, there would only be battle, only the pursuit of victory — no isolated island, no Jun Beiyue, no Xuanyuan Lige, nothing else at all!
Only herself, and her mercenaries!
Ziqing took the pills and lay down, without changing her clothes or extinguishing the lamp. Slowly, she closed her eyes, her small face peaceful and still.
She seemed to be asleep, and yet also seemed to be waiting for something.
Nighttime in Mobei was especially quiet, with nothing but the sound of the north wind howling past.
Yingzi sat perched in a large tree outside, longsword in hand, keeping watch through the night. Under the moonlight, atop the snow, everything lay silent and still.
Then, suddenly, a shadowy figure darted out from the forest, somehow slipping past Yingzi’s line of sight entirely, disappearing over the courtyard wall.
Immediately after, another shadow followed, and soon several more shadowy figures had all vanished into the courtyard.
Inside the house, Ziqing lay with one hand propping up her head, the other resting in front of her, her sleeping face perfectly calm — no one could tell whether or not she had actually sensed the danger closing in.
In the dim light, several shadowy figures suddenly materialized, landing silently inside the room. In an instant, several of them surrounded the bed, and the one leading them — white-haired, his eyes cold and sharp — clearly carried an overwhelming, seething rage.
Without warning, he raised his sword and drove it into the ground with a resounding clang, snarling furiously, “Han Ziqing! Prepare to die!”
Only then did Ziqing languidly open her eyes. Facing the black-clad figures before her, she showed neither panic nor surprise — everything unfolding had clearly already been within her expectations.
Seeing Han Ziqing’s lack of reaction, the old man was visibly taken aback, but he had no time to dwell on it. He drew his sword and lunged straight at her…