The Dengzhou military camp originally housed fifty thousand troops. After Yu Dai led his army south, another thirty thousand troops were added.

This encampment was where the central army was stationed, with five thousand people camped here. The barren grassland was densely covered with tung oil-varnished tents.

Duo Luo stood guard outside the tent and, seeing visitors approach, quickly curtsied, “Greetings to Your Majesty.”

Xiaoyan lifted the tent flap with his left hand but heard Duo Luo urgently whisper, “The Noble Lady didn’t sleep all night. She just had a bath and was feeling tired, so she’s currently sleeping.”

Xiaoyan nodded slightly and slowly entered the tent.

After the tent flap fell, because no lamps were lit in the cowhide tent, the light was dim and dark.

Xiaoyan lightened his footsteps. His body and mind were completely relaxed at this moment, and he finally felt the dull pain in his right arm.

Last night, when Bogu ambushed from behind, he turned his head to see a figure flying toward him.

In that instant, he mistakenly thought the person was Gu Yi.

At that moment, he felt his breath suddenly stop. During that brief distraction, his opponent’s knife slashed fiercely across his arm.

The pain brought him back to his senses, and he realized that the figure was Zhao Wan.

Not Gu Yi.

Fortunately, not Gu Yi.

As this thought crossed Xiaoyan’s mind, he stopped in his tracks, standing still, with an inexplicable chill running down his back.

He raised his eyes to look at the person on the bed, covered with a cotton quilt, loose long hair exposed outside the covers, sleeping silently.

Xiaoyan suddenly felt something strange in his heart. He walked two steps to the bedside, grabbed the person’s shoulder, and turned them over.

It was a man with loose hair.

He swept away the covers and saw that this man was wearing only the white garment regulated for the military, but the armor that should have been worn over it was nowhere to be seen. He still wore a pair of muddy military boots on his feet.

He reached out to check the man’s breathing—still alive.

Xiaoyan gave a cold laugh, his chest rising and falling several times. He closed his eyes momentarily and shouted, “All of you, get in here.”

Eunuch Gao and Duo Luo, who had been standing silently outside the tent, entered upon hearing his command. When they saw the face of the person on the bed, Duo Luo’s knees went weak, and she fell to the ground, “Your Majesty, please forgive me!”

Xiaoyan’s fists clenched inside his sleeves, “Where is Gu Yi? You were guarding outside the tent just now. Where is she?”

Though his voice sounded calm and steady, Duo Luo was so frightened that she couldn’t stop trembling. She gritted her teeth just to speak, “This… this servant doesn’t know. Your Majesty… please forgive me. Half an hour ago, after the Noble Lady bathed, she said she wanted to sleep and told this servant to guard outside the tent, not allowing anyone to disturb her. This servant went outside…” Duo Luo’s eyes reddened as she continued, “But the hot water barrel was borrowed from the mess tent. This servant thought to quickly return it. It took less than half an hour, and this servant came right back. No one came to the tent during that time…” As she spoke, Duo Luo’s tears fell in a shower.

Beside her, Eunuch Gao’s face turned pale as he listened.

This was no small matter.

He looked up to see the Emperor’s terrifying gaze, and his heart was alarmed. He immediately knelt and bowed deeply, “Your Majesty, please calm your anger!”

Xiaoyan’s gaze coldly swept over Eunuch Gao, then turned back to look at the person on the bed, “Order someone to bring water.” After a pause, he added, “Summon Yu Dai for an audience.”

*

Gu Yi was awakened by the jostling.

Opening her eyes, she found that she couldn’t move her hands and feet. Looking down, she saw that her mouth was also stuffed with a piece of black cotton cloth.

No wonder her jaw ached.

She made several “puff puff puff” sounds, attempting to spit out this day-old cotton cloth.

But since the cloth was stuffed in very professionally, firmly, she could only make several “mmm mmm mmm” sounds without actually spitting out the cloth. She was still wearing the moon-white undergarment she had worn to sleep, but from her feet to her neck, she was packed inside a burlap sack.

She was a person in a bag.

However, perhaps fearing she might suffocate, the person who had tied her up had left her head outside the burlap sack.

Gu Yi looked around and realized she was in a moving carriage.

The sound of hooves pattered steadily, moving at a good speed.

As she listened intently, a cool breeze swept in as the driver lifted the carriage curtain.

Gu Yi’s eyes met his.

Bearded face, bluish-black complexion.

Hello, Bogu, we meet again.

What a wonderful destiny.

Gu Yi widened her eyes as she watched Bogu drop the carriage curtain expressionlessly.

He seemed to pay her no mind at all.

Gu Yi turned her gaze away, looking down at the hemp rope knots binding her hands and feet.

She tried to wiggle like an agile fish several times.

Well… these weren’t knots that could be easily broken.

Bogu’s camp abduction—this plot point did exist, but in the book, Bogu had kidnapped Zhao Wan.

Please, next time could they get the person right?

Thinking of this, Gu Yi’s mood calmed down somewhat.

According to the plot, Yu Dai would bring troops to pursue Bogu.

As long as she could survive, there would be no problem.

Yu Dai, come quickly!

The carriage sped on for several more hours before finally stopping.

Bogu lifted the curtain and carried Gu Yi, burlap sack and all, down from the carriage.

Outside the carriage, it was pitch black.

Gu Yi glanced around and saw they were in what appeared to be a secluded deep mountain forest, with only a dilapidated thatched hut before her.

Was this a rest stop on the way? Or one of the crafty hare’s three burrows?

Why wasn’t he taking her back to Qingzhou? Or to Yang City?

Bogu kicked open the door of the hut and threw Gu Yi onto the ground.

After a muffled thud, Gu Yi, still wrapped in the thick burlap sack, rolled once on the ground, reducing the impact of the fall. Even though she hit the ground hard, it didn’t hurt too much.

Bogu lit a candle holder in the hut and held it close to Gu Yi’s face, no more than half a foot from her cheek.

Forced back by the candlelight, Gu Yi saw his face grow even more bluish-black as she heard him say in a deep voice, “You be obedient. If you try to run, I’ll cut off your legs. Even when sent back to Xiaoyan, you’ll be useless.”

Gu Yi blinked and nodded obediently.

She had no intention of running anyway. Deep in the mountains and forests, was she going to run out and get herself killed?

She swallowed, her gaze falling on the water pouch hanging at his waist.

Bogu yanked the cloth out of her mouth.

Gu Yi heard her jaw crack twice before she could close her mouth.

Bogu unscrewed the water pouch and brought it to her lips.

Gu Yi quickly gulped down two mouthfuls of water.

After Bogu withdrew the water pouch, he didn’t stuff her mouth again.

He probably figured that deep in the mountain forest, there was no one else around.

Gu Yi lay in the burlap sack, watching as Bogu went directly to the only wooden bed in the hut.

The candlelight wasn’t very bright, but she could still see the darker color of fabric at his waist.

When he had carried her earlier, she had smelled blood.

Bogu had ambushed Xiaoyan but gained no advantage.

Before falling into the water, he had been stabbed by Xiaoyan, wounded in the side.

Yet he had persisted to the Dengzhou camp and taken the great risk of abducting her from there.

His determination was truly that of no ordinary person.

Gu Yi saw him lie down fully clothed, so she also lay still.

She needed to conserve her energy. When Yu Dai came in pursuit, she would need it to survive.

However, Bogu on the bed only slept for a short while before getting up, feeding dry grass to the horse from the hut, and then carrying Gu Yi back to the carriage.

The carriage bumped along, leaving the deep mountains.

As soon as they reached the road, Gu Yi heard an eagle’s cry from the sky.

Bogu looked up to see several black eagles circling overhead.

He cracked his whip in the air, and the horse began to gallop wildly.

Gu Yi fell backward into the carriage.

Eagles cried incessantly in the sky as the carriage raced along the road.

Gu Yi listened intently and heard increasingly rapid hoofbeats coming from behind the carriage.

Yu Dai, he’s coming!

Gu Yi lay prostrate in the carriage, listening to the sound of arrows whistling through the air.

Xiaoyan, wearing silver armor, rode at the front, saying in a deep voice, “Shoot the horse, not the carriage.”

A hundred arrows flew in unison.

Bogu lowered his body, tightly gripping the reins.

He hadn’t expected Xiaoyan to come so quickly.

The fork in the road ahead was his rendezvous point with Wei Prefecture.

Bogu cracked his whip several times, making the horse run even faster.

The long hours of riding had caused the wound at his waist to burst open again, feeling both numb and painful.

Even if he had only his last breath, he would hold on.

Suddenly, the sound of hoofbeats came from ahead as Wei Prefecture led troops forward.

From a distance, Xiaoyan saw the “Wei” character banner flying, with black crowds of cavalry arranged like surging tides, approaching in waves.

Yu Dai exclaimed in alarm, “Your Majesty, we don’t know how many people Wei Prefecture has today. If there’s a great disparity in numbers in this pursuit, I fear…”

Xiaoyan remained silent, holding a curved bow, and suddenly shot an iron arrow.

The arrow whistled through the air, going straight into the wheel hub of the galloping carriage ahead. There was a sound of wood breaking.

The carriage jolted up and down several times before suddenly overturning to one side, the black horse breaking free from its harness and fleeing.

Xiaoyan urgently spurred his horse forward.

Bogu, clutching the long knife at his waist, climbed up from the ground.

Light cavalry suddenly swept past him, moving toward Xiaoyan.

Wei Prefecture.

Gu Yi lay in the carriage, and as it overturned, she was thrown about in confusion. After a good while, she turned over and struggled out of the burlap sack.

Outside, hooves pounded like waves, swords clanged, and the ground beneath seemed to shake with them.

She was somewhat afraid, not expecting such a commotion.

In the book, Yu Dai’s pursuit was mentioned only in passing.

Experiencing it firsthand, she understood the gravity of the situation.

Gu Yi didn’t dare move rashly.

After waiting for a while longer, the sounds of battle showed no sign of diminishing. The overturned carriage curtain in front of her was suddenly pulled open from the outside.

Gu Yi looked up with joy, only to see an unfamiliar man. The light in her eyes immediately dimmed.

The man held a long knife in his hand.

Gu Yi’s hands and feet were bound; she couldn’t move.

Man as the chopping board, I as the fish and meat.

She shrank her neck, using all her strength to try to retreat, wanting to crawl back into the burlap sack.

The person before her flipped his hand, attacking her with the hilt of his knife.

Oh no.

The knife hilt struck the back of her neck, and Gu Yi’s vision instantly went black as she fainted.

Xiaoyan was held up by Wei Prefecture. The two fought several rounds, neither gaining the upper hand.

His gaze, however, kept straying to the overturned carriage.

When he saw someone carrying another figure out of the carriage, panic flashed across Xiaoyan’s face, and he immediately spurred his horse in pursuit.

Seeing this, Wei Prefecture thrust his long halberd toward Xiaoyan’s chest.

Hearing the wind behind his head, Xiaoyan turned and blocked with his sword.

In just that brief moment, the person had already taken the captive and galloped away on horseback.

Xiaoyan’s temple throbbed, his lips pressed tightly together. His sword swept horizontally, directly attacking Wei Prefecture’s throat, desperate to break free immediately.

Wei Prefecture tightened the reins, his horse’s hooves lightly rising as he retreated half a step, narrowly avoiding the sword tip. Then he laughed loudly, “Xiaoyan, your heart is not in this fight. You cannot defeat me!”

Xiaoyan’s finger joints cracked as he gripped the sword hilt tightly, his eyes suddenly darkening.

He strongly squeezed his horse’s belly, raising his sword and rushing suddenly to Wei Prefecture’s face. The sword wind felt like a gentle breeze against the face, and Wei Prefecture struck back with his long halberd.

The iron weapons collided with a loud crash, both men’s arms numb from the impact.

Xiaoyan’s injured right arm instantly felt a shock of pain.

He paused slightly, his long eyebrows furrowing lightly.

Seeing this, Wei Prefecture gave a low laugh, taking advantage of the moment to lean forward and thrust his halberd toward Xiaoyan.

A short knife slid from Xiaoyan’s left sleeve, swift as a shooting star, suddenly slicing through Wei Prefecture’s throat.

Blood splattered.

Wei Prefecture’s eyes widened in disbelief. His body swayed once, and he fell from his horse.

The chaotic cavalry formation fell silent for a moment.