The firelight illuminated Xiao Rongyan’s sharp and distinct features. Sweat beaded on the tip of his nose, and his deep, dark eyes reflected the warm yellow glow of the flames, making his gaze appear even more cold and stern.

Xiao Rongyan’s gaze fell upon the figure behind the Rongdi heavy shield formation—a general mounted on a jet-black steed, wearing a blue-faced, fang-beared ghost mask and dressed in full Rongdi attire.

If Xiao Rongyan remembered correctly, this was the newly emerged Ghost-Faced General of the Nanrong.

This Ghost-Faced General was not born of noble blood. During one of the Nanrong King’s hunting expeditions, this man—then still a slave—saved the king’s life and was immediately elevated to become the Nanrong King’s guard, later rising to the rank of general.

Xiao Rongyan gripped his long sword in one hand while pulling Princess Mingcheng’s arm with the other, protecting her behind him. Seeing that the Yan army and the shadow guards he had brought were no match for the enemy, Xiao Rongyan gritted his teeth and said, “Get off the carriage! Stay close to me!”

Princess Mingcheng nodded, clutching tightly in her hands an embroidered pouch decorated with twin lotus blossoms, as if that pouch were the source of all her strength.

He pulled Princess Mingcheng as they emerged from the fire arrow-struck carriage, only to see the Ghost-Faced General raise his bow and nock an arrow, aiming the arrowhead in Xiao Rongyan’s direction before drawing and releasing.

The arrow gleaming with cold light tore through the air. Xiao Rongyan pushed Princess Mingcheng aside, and the arrow grazed past Xiao Rongyan’s cheek, drawing blood as it embedded straight into a wooden board with a humming vibration.

“Princess!” A maidservant inside the carriage screamed.

Without time to think further, Xiao Rongyan pressed down on Princess Mingcheng’s head with one hand, protecting her as they leaped down from the carriage.

The moment they jumped down, Princess Mingcheng, who had been protected in Xiao Rongyan’s embrace, suddenly collapsed to the ground…

Xiao Rongyan turned back to see fresh blood continuously flowing from Princess Mingcheng’s neck. It turned out that the Ghost-Faced General’s arrow… after grazing past Xiao Rongyan’s cheek, had also sliced across Princess Mingcheng’s neck. The arrow was so sharp that it had severed the blood vessels in Princess Mingcheng’s neck. The maidservant’s earlier scream had been upon seeing the blood gushing from Princess Mingcheng’s neck.

“Princess Mingcheng!” Xiao Rongyan knelt, tearing open his robes to press the fabric tightly against Princess Mingcheng’s neck wound.

Princess Mingcheng wore a fire-red dress, and the fresh blood soaked into the garment, creating a crimson so deep it was impossible to tell how much blood had been lost.

She clutched a pouch tightly in her hand, raising it high for Xiao Rongyan to see. Her other hand, covered in fresh blood, gripped Xiao Rongyan’s wrist as she opened her mouth, trying to say something to him, but blood kept flowing out instead of words.

Xiao Rongyan’s eyes were bloodshot and red. Both hands pressed against Princess Mingcheng’s bleeding neck, not daring to let go. Unable to worry about concealing his identity any longer, he said through gritted teeth, “He’s still waiting for you, you-you must hold on!”

The maidservant who had fortunately escaped from the carriage knelt beside them, crying so hard she could barely breathe, calling out “Your Highness, the Princess” over and over again.

Yue Shi, covered in blood, had retreated to Xiao Rongyan’s side with his men. He glanced at Princess Mingcheng, who seemed beyond saving, and pressed his hand tightly against his chest wound, using his long sword to support his body as he said, “Master! We can’t hold on much longer! The Nanrong have superior numbers. If we delay any further… we won’t be able to escape! Let my brothers and I use our lives to carve out a bloody path for you, Master!”

As soon as Yue Shi finished speaking, the Nanrong soldiers had already broken through their defenses and were charging toward the carriage.

The Ghost-Faced General had already dismounted and was advancing toward them with sword in hand, apparently determined to capture Princess Mingcheng alive for the marriage alliance. His swordsmanship was clean and decisive, his sword techniques ruthless. Amid the flashing cold light and sword shadows, he struck to kill, and his sword techniques were completely unlike those of the Rongdi.

The Rongdi and Western Liang people habitually used sabers or curved blades, while only the Jin and Yan people excelled with straight swords.

Not only his weapon choice, but even his methods of military campaign and warfare differed from the Rongdi’s traditional habits. His army movements were highly disciplined and methodical, and they even employed heavy shields—something the Rongdi armies would never have used before.

Seeing the Ghost-Faced General about to bring his men to strike, Yue Shi grew so anxious that veins bulged on his forehead: “Master! We cannot delay any longer!”

But Xiao Rongyan was unwilling to abandon Princess Mingcheng like this.

Xiao Rongyan looked at the maidservant who was crying and shouting, “Your Highness, the Princess,” saying, “Come here and press down on the Princess’s neck!”

The maidservant crawled over on hands and knees, quickly kneeling before Xiao Rongyan and pressing down hard on Princess Mingcheng’s neck.

Xiao Rongyan lifted Princess Mingcheng in his arms, and the maidservant hurriedly rose to follow.

“Move!” Xiao Rongyan shouted.

Yue Shi protected Xiao Rongyan as they retreated, but felt as if a cold arrow was rapidly tearing through the air behind him. He turned to try to block it with his long sword, but was pierced through the right shoulder by the arrow.

The force was so great that it nearly caused Yue Shi to stumble and fall.

Yue Shi raised his eyes, his bloodshot gaze looking toward the Ghost-Faced General who held the bow. He tore off a strip from the hem of his clothing and bit it between his teeth, then pulled out the arrow. He clenched his teeth to keep from crying out, though his face turned completely red from the strain. He quickly wrapped the cloth around his wound, then shouted, “Protect the Master and leave!”

After shouting, Yue Shi charged forward with the resolve to die, using brute force to fight the Nanrong soldiers who came wave after wave.

Just as the Nanrong warriors surrounded Yue Shi and raised their blades to take his head, suddenly a whistling arrow shot from behind Yue Shi, piercing straight through the throat of a Nanrong warrior. The force was so great that it knocked the warrior to the ground.

Then, like a swarm of locusts, dense arrows filled the sky and covered the earth, blocking out the sun and moon as they flew toward the Nanrong army.

The Ghost-Faced General saw this and widened his eyes, his hoarse voice sounding as if scorched by fire, shouting harshly, “Heavy shields!”

The Rongdi army immediately assembled, raising their heavy shields above to protect the Nanrong soldiers below from the arrow rain.

“Crossbow archers, prepare!” the deputy general beside the Ghost-Faced General shouted.

The crossbow archers crouching and hiding beneath the heavy shields immediately prepared, waiting for this volley of arrows to pass and the shields to lower before shooting in the direction from which the arrows came.

Bai Qingyan charged at the very front on horseback, drawing three arrows from the quiver behind her to nock and shoot, then quickly drawing two more. Her speed was so fast that only the shadow of her elegant hands could be seen on the bouncing horse’s back.

Yue Shi looked at the Nanrong soldiers who had fallen beside him, then turned back…

In the western sky where only a trace of twilight remained, across that boundless grassland, a light cavalry force had emerged from somewhere unknown. The leader, clad in silver armor and mounted on a galloping white horse, drawing bow and shooting arrows, was none other than the eldest legitimate daughter of the Bai family from the capital city… Bai Qingyan!

“Miss Bai!” Yue Shi’s eyes widened as he couldn’t contain his excitement and shouted!

Hearing this, Xiao Rongyan raised his eyes to look in the direction from which the arrow rain came, his pupils trembling. How could Bai Qingyan be here?!

The image of the woman in silver armor with a fluttering cloak from the former Shu Kingdom’s imperial palace seemed to overlap with the woman now galloping at the forefront across the boundless grassland.

She sat steadily on her racing steed, drawing bow and nocking arrows, her heroic bearing magnificent, her red cloak flying in the wind, her sharp aura overwhelming. Though she had not yet arrived, her killing intent was already upon them.

Behind her followed a thousand light cavalry, spurring their horses across the field, their momentum like a rainbow.

Dong Changlan followed closely behind Bai Qingyan. After the first volley of arrows was shot, he raised his hand high again and shouted, “Crossbow archers, prepare! Release!”