“The bandits in the capital.”

“The bandits along the routes outside the capital.”

“The bandits in Yunzhong Commandery.”

At this point, Xie Yanfang looked at Chu Zhao.

“The bandits that General Chu hasn’t completely eradicated.”

When she heard him begin speaking of bandit suppression, Xiao Man’s face had already turned ashen. After hearing this string of statements, especially the last sentence, she could no longer contain herself: “Are you insane?!”

Her first impulse was to split this man before her in half with a single blade.

But although this man had walked in alone without carrying any weapons, he was far from weak and defenseless.

More importantly, she had to protect the person behind her.

The person behind her laughed.

“Earlier, when you wanted to kill Zhong Changrong, you gave so many reasons,” Chu Zhao said with a smile. “Now that you want to kill my mother, what do you plan to say?”

Xie Yanfang replied, “I’ll say I’m very angry.”

He took another step forward, ignoring Xiao Man blocking his way with her blade, looking only at Chu Zhao.

“You’ve done so much, you’ve reached where you are today, yet it turns out you didn’t do it to be Empress, but to leave.”

Chu Zhao said, “I’ve done so much, reached where I am today—powerful and prestigious, dominating the court. At this time, if I leave, it’s a good thing for you all. You’ll have one less formidable rival. You should be happy.”

Xie Yanfang said, “This is the world’s sorrow—”

“This is not the world’s sorrow,” Chu Zhao interrupted him, looking into Xie Yanfang’s eyes. “It’s merely that the world’s affairs don’t proceed as you wish.”

Is that so? Xie Yanfang’s eyes showed slight melancholy, but he truly was very angry, very sorrowful.

The world’s affairs didn’t all proceed as he wished—for instance, when the Crown Prince and Crown Princess were killed earlier.

At that time, he had also been very angry.

But he hadn’t felt sorrow.

Xie Yanfang reached up to touch his chest. Anger and sorrow were different feelings, though he rarely experienced sorrow.

“Neither of us can persuade the other right now,” he said, lowering his gaze. “We’ll discuss it later.”

Later—after eliminating those entanglements.

Having said this, he turned around.

In that instant, Xiao Man could no longer restrain herself and struck.

The short blade flashed in the blue-gray light, stabbing toward Xie Yanfang’s back.

“Don’t move—” Chu Zhao shouted.

But it was too late. She couldn’t stop Xiao Man from attacking, nor could she stop Xie Yanfang from turning and lifting his sleeve.

The short blade flashed again in the blue-gray light and flew away. Xiao Man also fell toward the entrance, rolling out wrapped in the tent curtain. Following close behind was Chu Zhao, who lunged out and caught Xiao Man.

“Don’t move,” she shouted again, pinning Xiao Man firmly to the ground.

Though she didn’t have Xiao Man’s martial skills, her strength was considerable. Xiao Man couldn’t get up for a moment and angrily cursed, “I’m going to kill him.”

Chu Zhao said helplessly, “You can’t kill him.”

Though she had never seen Xie Yanfang fight anyone and he appeared to be merely an elegant young master, since he already knew her mother was a bandit chieftain and that Xiao Man was someone her mother had sent to protect her, yet still dared to come alone and openly tell her what he intended to do—clearly he didn’t take Xiao Man seriously at all.

By pinning Xiao Man down now, she was also blocking Xie Yanfang behind her.

She glanced back. Xie Yanfang still stood inside the tent, looking out through the curtainless opening.

“If that’s the case, then let’s start bandit suppression from Miss Zhao’s side first,” he said.

Arrows fell like rain.

Chu Zhao froze for an instant but still used her strength to press the struggling Xiao Man beneath her. She was fated to die—as for Xiao Man—well, if she died, Xiao Man might not necessarily survive either, but a moment’s delay was better than nothing.

But those arrow-showers flew past her, rushing toward the tent behind. The sound of tearing fabric and thudding impacts rang out chaotically.

Xie Yanfang had disappeared, having torn through the tent to block the arrow-shower.

“Your Majesty—” shouts came from ahead. “Quickly, leave—”

Chu Zhao looked forward to see dozens of Surveillance Bureau guards running toward them, led by Ding Dachui.

“Ding Dachui, where the hell were you?!” Xiao Man shouted, struggling to her feet and grabbing Chu Zhao to run toward him. “Quickly kill Xie Yanfang—”

Accompanied by humming sounds, arrows flew chaotically again, but this time they weren’t aimed at Xie Yanfang’s position but toward Ding Dachui and his men.

A swath of Surveillance Bureau guards fell to the ground.

“Empress, be careful.” Ding Dachui and over ten men raised shields to protect them.

“The hunting ground guards have been replaced,” Ding Dachui said urgently. “They’re still fighting for the outer perimeter. I gave warning in time—fighting has broken out outside as well.”

Xiao Man said, “Enough nonsense, quickly break through.”

Ding Dachui acknowledged: “The east is still under our control—” The guards gathering around changed formation to protect Chu Zhao as they ran toward the east.

Chu Zhao was pulled along by Xiao Man. Through the shields, she saw people and horses surging from all directions. They wore neither armor nor military robes, but were fully equipped with bows, crossbows, swords, and spears, advancing and retreating with strict discipline and bearing no less imposing than regular soldiers.

Dense masses of them—on the ground, in the forest, on the hillsides—everywhere.

This was her first time seeing Xie Yanfang’s private military force.

Chu Zhao looked back to see the arrow-pierced tent being lifted aside. Xie Yanfang was surrounded by a group of black-clad men. He took a bow and arrows from one of them, then looked over—

Without the slightest hesitation, the instant her gaze fell upon him, he drew the bow and released the arrow—

Chu Zhao seemed able to hear the bowstring hum by her ear. The arrow-light came like a shooting star, penetrating through the nearly invisible gaps between shields, passing through one guard’s shoulder, heading straight for her throat—

A great force pulled her and swung her forward.

Chu Zhao’s face grew hot as blood splattered upon it.

She saw an arrow trembling as it pierced through Xiao Man’s shoulder.

Xiao Man fell toward her.

Chu Zhao caught her.

“Miss Xiao Man—” Ding Dachui shouted.

“Don’t worry about me,” Xiao Man said, her face deathly pale, but shouting even louder than Ding Dachui. “Take her and go—”

Ding Dachui reached out to protect Chu Zhao in front of him, but Chu Zhao pushed Xiao Man toward him instead.

“Go,” Chu Zhao said. “Get the message out.”

With that, she pushed past the guards and charged out, heading toward Xie Yanfang’s side.

“Chu Zhao!” Xiao Man shouted, then in the next moment lost her strength and collapsed softly.

Ding Dachui caught her, watching Chu Zhao who had charged toward Xie Yanfang in the blink of an eye.

“I know you’re not trying to kill me,” Chu Zhao shouted. “Let them go—”

Did she know? Xie Yanfang gripped his bow and arrows, saying nothing, nor did he release another arrow. The morning light was bright and dazzling, blurring his features.

Ding Dachui looked at Chu Zhao blocking the way behind her, feeling Xiao Man clutching at his clothes in front of him.

“Get, get the message out,” Xiao Man murmured. Though she had lost consciousness, her hand still gripped him tightly. “Auntie, Auntie—”

She recalled Chu Zhao’s words—being able to transmit the message would be enough. If they couldn’t even get a message out, no matter how many more people came, it would be useless.

Get the message out, and there would still be hope.

Ding Dachui thought that actually, compared to Chu Zhao, his true chief was Mu Mianhong. Now that the chief wasn’t here, he would listen to Xiao Man.

Ding Dachui lifted Xiao Man and shouted, “Charge—”

Dozens of guards seized this moment when the arrow-shower had stopped to run forward.

But no arrows came from behind. People and horses from other directions continued surging forward, step by step closing in and surrounding them. Arrows began flying again as well.

Ding Dachui’s steps didn’t hesitate at all, his eyes bloodshot as he stared ahead. As long as they reached the dense forest ahead, they could avoid the arrows.

He had surveyed this area for half a month. He was extremely familiar with it. Beyond that dense forest was a steep sliding slope. As long as they rushed down it, they would have a chance to escape pursuit.

The shields sounded as if being beaten densely by rain.

People continued to fall.

Ding Dachui looked at the dense forest ahead. It seemed right before his eyes, yet felt so distant.

“Put down your weapons—” a young voice shouted hoarsely. “I command you, put down your weapons—”

The sounds of hoofbeats and crossbows seemed to stop instantly.

Ding Dachui saw a young boy burst out diagonally from ahead. Unlike when he had seen him not long ago, the young Emperor was now covered in dirt, looking utterly bedraggled.

A thought flashed through Ding Dachui’s mind—wasn’t hunting the wild boar supposed to be a deception? Why did he look as if he’d been gored by a wild boar?

The thought passed in a flash. His steps didn’t stop as he ran past the young Emperor.

Taking advantage of the people and horses around them stopping their crossbows because of the young Emperor’s appearance, he finally neared the dense forest.

A clear voice came from behind.

“Take His Majesty away.”

Then came the sound of hoofbeats again. People and horses charged forward, accompanied by the young Emperor’s shrill screams.

“Don’t hurt Sister—all of you stand back—let me go—”

Chu Zhao looked back to see Xiao Yu being grabbed and lifted onto horseback by someone.

Seeing her look over, Xiao Yu stretched out his hands and shouted.

“Sister, I was wrong! Sister, I was wrong! Xie Yanfang, stop—”

But in the next moment, a hand covered his mouth, blocking his voice. He also saw Sister Chu’s gaze, saw Sister Chu move her lips, seemingly saying something.

That one glance—the look in her eyes was unfamiliar, unlike any he had seen before.

He seemed to have caught those words as well.

Sister said: From now on, your life and my life are no longer connected.

Tears surged from Xiao Yu’s eyes, falling in large drops.

He had always remembered that night when he had drifted between life and death. Even standing before the familiar imperial city, his spirit had been scattered and confused. Then Sister Chu had gripped his hand and pulled him back, saying, “Your life and my life are together. If you die, I die.”

Now Sister didn’t want him anymore.

Tears blurred his vision.

The whistling sound of arrows also rang out around them.

Ding Dachui plunged into the dense forest, which blocked out everything behind.

—

Sharp bird cries rang out through the forest one after another, startling countless birds into flight.

The sound of arrows rang out again in the dense forest, mixed with the frantic barking of hunting dogs.

The birds all seemed to have been scared away. The forest grew quiet again.

Noisy footsteps quickly broke the silence. A group of people gripping swords and blades stopped, looking at the rolling rocks at their feet—an obvious landslide, with traces of blood remaining.

“They escaped from here.”

Accompanied by sliding earth and stones, they quickly reached the valley bottom, but there were only traces of someone rolling down—no person.

Footsteps and dog sounds grew noisy and scattered again.

“Pursue—”

—

The mountain forests within the capital’s borders were restless, and the mountain forests far outside the capital also fell into chaos.

A great fire rose up in the night, so fierce it could be felt even from several mountain ridges away.

The ground was trembling, as if troops were galloping, mixed with sounds of slaughter.

“This is… bandit suppression?” Mu Mianhong said in a low voice, surprise in her eyes. “So fast.”

Xie Yanlai looked at the night scene ahead, no surprise in his eyes, only deep worry.

Yes, so fast.

Something had already happened to Chu Zhao.