Murong Zhe had never expected that events would take such a sudden turn.

She was born into the Murong clan, nominally of royal blood, but born in troubled times. The cold-blooded and cruel nature inherent to the Murong family was fully embodied in her.

To achieve their hegemonic ambitions, this family could not tolerate even the slightest bit of unnecessary sentiment. What they instilled most in their descendants was that to achieve their goals, they would stop at nothing and do anything.

The Murong family members were emotionally distant, killing even their own kin. The reason for this, besides their inherent nature, was perhaps also due to the kind of education they instilled in their descendants.

From childhood, she was discovered to have considerable talent, so the family subjected her to special training, hoping that her skills combined with her royal status would allow her to contribute maximally to the family’s hegemonic cause in the future.

Regarding her childhood, her deepest memory was of one time when she failed to complete assigned training. She was punished to kneel in snow that had accumulated knee-deep. When she was both hungry and cold, one of her brothers, Murong Ti, secretly brought her something to eat.

From that moment on, she resolved that no matter what happened in the future, she would follow this brother and fulfill their sibling bond.

After lying dormant for so long, her brother Murong Ti had finally chosen this moment to launch his long-planned active attack against Li Mu, the Southern Dynasty man who was both the greatest obstacle to achieving his imperial hegemonic ambitions and his greatest enemy.

For this attack, she knew that her brother had secretly arranged an extremely thorough and careful plan.

Using gold and promises of profit to bribe Rong Kang, the Governor of Badong in the Southern Dynasty, making him serve their cause and instructing him to send that stone that tested people’s hearts to Jiankang under the name of “heavenly auspicious omen” was merely one step in the plan.

In her brother’s plan, this was a duel between him and that Southern Dynasty man named Li Mu – victory was required, defeat was not permitted. So she was sent here to fan the flames, to quickly capture Chang’an and cut off Li Mu’s rear support, hoping to achieve maximum suppression on the battlefield.

This operation was a great risk for her.

Her disguise techniques could be called perfect, unmatched in the world. Being of the same gender, and having secretly studied and deliberately imitated the Gao woman in every way over these years, when she appeared in disguise, she was confident that to ordinary people unfamiliar with the Gao woman, she was Gao Luoshen, and Gao Luoshen was her – they absolutely could not see any flaws.

But for those familiar with the Gao woman, disguise techniques were not foolproof.

Even though she ensured that all her expressions and tone could be done perfectly, sometimes even she herself became intoxicated when looking in the mirror, unable to distinguish truth from falsehood.

But fake was still fake. In daylight, especially under sunlight, when skin and hair were exposed in detail, with every frown and smile, the false muscle texture could never be exactly the same as the real thing, and flaws could easily be detected.

The best time for her to act was in insufficient light during early morning, evening, nighttime, or on cloudy days.

She was fortunate. When Gao Yun arrived yesterday, due to continuous rainy days, the weather was overcast.

This moment was the same – another cloudy day, and it was early morning, making the light even dimmer, more favorable for her actions.

In warfare between two armies, morale comes first.

At such a moment, appearing beneath the city walls in the identity of Li Mu’s wife to persuade surrender and ordering the defending troops to hand over the city.

Even if ultimately unsuccessful, just imagine – the highest commander’s wife personally appearing at the site where two armies faced each other, standing on the imperial court’s side to shout, when this news spread, what kind of devastating blow this would be to the morale of Chang’an’s defending army.

She had thought that heaven was helping her, delivering opportunity into her hands.

After this appearance, she could disappear under some pretext and safely leave.

If only she had a bit more time, perhaps the matter would have succeeded.

She never expected that the person whose identity she had assumed would arrive in such a manner, instantly exposing her true form with nowhere to hide!

In just a brief instant, countless thoughts swirled through Murong Zhe’s mind.

Under the gaze of countless eyes around her, driven by survival instinct, she slightly shifted her feet, trying to find an opportunity to dash toward the nearby moat to test her final luck. But her steps suddenly stopped.

That white tiger that had been crouching beside the woman was now staring at her with cold eyes, like those of a predator looking at prey, sending chills down one’s spine.

As if sensing her intention, the white tiger suddenly rose from the ground, slightly arched its back, with every hair on its neck standing upright, emitting low roars from its throat, as if ready to pounce at any moment.

Murong Zhe immediately ceased her escape attempt and stood rigidly in place.

Gao Yin signaled to an attendant. The man approached, reached out and pulled, tearing off the woman’s exquisite false skin. Beneath the disguise was a pale female face completely different from Luoshen’s.

Those nearby were all stunned speechless.

Gao Yun’s face instantly flushed blood red, unable to move.

Luoshen took out the tiger tally, showed it to Gao Yun, then passed it to the military generals beside him.

The familiar tiger tally was passed from hand to hand, finally reaching Gao Yin.

“Elder brother, when father chose you as family head before leaving, did he give you any instructions?”

Luoshen asked.

Gao Yin solemnly held the tiger tally, turned toward the soldiers, raised it high, and shouted: “Seeing this tiger tally is like seeing my uncle in person! I respect the tiger tally’s command, and all generals and soldiers also heed the order – immediately cease fighting, retreat in order, and return to camp!”

His command was quickly transmitted down the ranks.

Soon, cheers from the soldiers responding to this order resounded across the wilderness outside Chang’an city, lasting for a long time.

The army that had surrounded Chang’an city all night began to withdraw in an orderly fashion.

Chang’an city gates opened, and Sun Fangzhi led the soldiers behind him, beaming with smiles as they rushed out to pay respects to Luoshen and welcome her into the city.

“Ha ha, that was close! The Xianbei people are shameless and cunning, stopping at nothing! They almost deceived even me! I knew it – how could Madam possibly disregard the Grand Marshal’s safety to persuade surrender!”

Gao Huan was also released. He shook off the ropes binding him, raised his sword, and rushed forward angrily, gritting his teeth: “How dare you impersonate my elder sister! Go die!”

He raised a gleaming sharp sword and was about to thrust it toward Murong Zhe’s chest, showing no mercy whatsoever.

“Young General Gao, if you kill me, you’ll never know the Eldest Princess’s whereabouts!”

Murong Zhe suddenly raised her eyes, her lips moved, and she spoke these words.

…

For the first time in her life, Luoshen finally set foot in this city that Li Mu had originally captured for her under the name of betrothal.

The army outside the city had withdrawn and would no longer pose any threat to Chang’an.

Good news from Yi Cheng also followed.

Fan Cheng rushed to Xiling, bringing her words before Lu Jianzhi. Lu Jianzhi, who had been closely watching the situation, immediately assembled his troops and rushed to Yi Cheng. Rong Kang had long been unable to capture Yi Cheng, and upon learning that reinforcements were coming and would arrive soon, since he had originally come to Yi Cheng with the attitude of “eat if possible, run if not,” seeing the unfavorable situation, he immediately abandoned the siege and fled back to Badong with his army.

Yi Cheng was safe.

Murong Zhe was imprisoned and confessed some information about the Eldest Princess. She claimed that when Jiankang was in crisis and the Eldest Princess encountered disaster, in the critical moment, it was she who rescued her from those siblings with sinister intentions, helped her deliver safely, and then took her north. Now not only were mother and child both well, but she had always treated the Eldest Princess with courtesy.

Although beyond this, no matter how much they pressed her, she refused to say another word, relying on intuition, Luoshen felt that what she had revealed should all be true.

This meant that her mother and her little brother whom she had never met were still alive. At least currently, they appeared to be safe.

Although they were still in Murong Ti’s hands, and Luoshen didn’t know where her father was now or whether he had already traced her mother’s whereabouts, compared to the uncertainty of life and death over the past few years, this was already extremely fortunate in misfortune. For Luoshen, this could completely be called another piece of tremendously good news.

She hoped Li Mu would return victorious soon.

She truly missed him, missed him so much she was nearly going mad. Deep in her heart, countless words had accumulated that she wanted to say to him face to face.

But with the successive news about the war situation ahead, her heart was tightly gripped once again.

The returned news said that Li Mu had previously achieved great victory at Tongguan Pass, pursuing victory eastward. Now he had passed Hongnong and reached the Mianchi area. Due to weather obstacles, he had temporarily stopped advancing east and was in a standoff with the Northern Yan army that had retreated to Xin’an.

Once Chang’an was relieved, Gao Huan immediately led a force with subsequent supplies to reinforce Mianchi.

But yesterday, bad news arrived.

That reinforcement army transporting supplies, upon reaching Hongnong, found roads destroyed by sudden mountain floods, with landslides blocking passage. The large force could not proceed and had to stop there, sending people on detours to find alternate routes and deliver messages to Li Mu.

Sudden severe weather, extremely complex terrain, and unscrupulous enemies.

Luoshen’s heart immediately hung in suspense, restless day and night. She wished she could immediately rush to the front to see what was happening.

…

The torrential rain continued, and the Jian River flowing through Mianchi surged violently.

In just one night, the water level had overflowed the banks. The riverbed rapidly expanded, the river water scoured the mountains on both sides, and large masses of mud and rocks collapsed and fell into the water.

Li Mu stood on the riverbank. Below his feet, that expanse of turbid river water carrying mud and rocks rolled eastward, crashing against the rocks on the shore and splashing waves of surging spray.

He gazed into the distance, his figure like a heavy standing rock, having stood thus for a long time.

“Grand Marshal! News from Chang’an has arrived from Hongnong!”

A messenger, stepping through the mud underfoot, rushed toward him urgently.