Qin Yining couldn’t react in time!

She never imagined that Great Yan Dynasty’s surrender convoy would encounter bandits!

Their journey had been smooth all along. As surrendered officials, their convoy only had one hundred Huben Army soldiers “escorting” them, while the majority of the Huben Army had already departed for the capital ten days earlier. As a surrendering party, Yuchi Yan wasn’t allowed to bring troops at all—only a few loyal guards accompanied him.

The Qin family was in a somewhat better situation. The Grand Emperor’s silver-masked secret agents had lost their old master, and due to the principle of “new emperor, new ministers,” they weren’t valued by the new ruler. They had now been employed by Qin Huaiyuan, but he had assigned them to various tasks. Only four silver-masked agents accompanied the convoy, and including Cao Yuqing, there were only five people total—how could they protect the entire convoy?

Qin Yining put on her soft-soled boots, but before she could get out of the carriage, more bandits wielding gleaming sabers came charging on horseback from the front of the convoy.

The convoy had elderly, weak, women, and children—instantly filled with screams and cries. Some scattered in all directions while others frantically drove their carriages to flee.

The entire convoy was scattered. The three carriages in front of the Qin family were also driven in different directions by the bandit assault.

Through the carriage window, Qin Yining watched Cao Yuqing jump onto Madame Sun and Qin Huaiyuan’s carriage, crack the reins, and drive frantically toward the northwest.

Meanwhile, Ji Yun standing in front of the carriage had already crouched low to narrowly avoid an incoming arrow.

“Miss, be careful!”

They were actually using bows and arrows! This was indiscriminate slaughter—not for robbery at all, and they didn’t want to leave anyone alive!

Inside the carriage, Qin Yining quickly erected the small table in front of her while Qiu Lu and Bingtang screamed and hid behind the table with her.

“Ji Yun! Be careful!” Qin Yining curled up as much as possible, hearing continuous “thunk” “thunk” sounds of arrows piercing the carriage canopy and walls. Then her hands shook as the erected table was also struck by several arrows.

Qin Yining’s eyes blazed with fury as she anxiously shouted: “Ji Yun, hide! Don’t worry about me!”

Outside the carriage, Ji Yun rolled continuously in the snow and finally managed to hide behind a thick tree, but was pinned down by the enemy’s arrows and couldn’t raise her head.

The coachman driving for Qin Yining was unfortunately struck by a stray arrow and fell dead, releasing both the whip and reins in his hands.

The silver-white Ferghana horse that Pang Xiao had given Qin Yining was overly frightened. Breaking free from restraint, it immediately galloped wildly on all fours.

The draft horses were also startled and ran chaotically, overturning the carriage.

Inside the carriage, Qin Yining, Qiu Lu, and Bingtang felt everything spinning before falling heavily together.

At this point, the bandits seemed to have used up their arrows and once again charged with clubs and swords, shouting.

Qin Yining quickly pushed Qiu Lu and Bingtang: “Get out quickly, run!”

“Miss, I’m scared!” Qiu Lu sobbed.

“You have to run even if you’re scared—do you want to stay here and wait to die!”

Qin Yining was the first to crawl out of the overturned carriage and immediately locked eyes with a bandit.

She screamed and turned to run.

The big man directly swung his saber and chased after her.

Bingtang and Qiu Lu trembled and hid in the carriage. Through the cracks, they saw Qin Yining lead a bandit away. Terrified, they covered their mouths and cried silently, but didn’t dare delay and also seized the opportunity to run out.

Qin Yining wore thick cotton clothes and a cotton skirt, plus a cotton cloak with a gray squirrel fur collar, and warm deerskin boots. With her natural feet, she could run quite nimbly.

She wasn’t originally a delicate young lady. In the past, she was accustomed to hunting and gathering herbs for a living. Although her constitution had weakened after her injuries, in this critical moment of fleeing for her life, she unleashed unprecedented potential. Lifting her skirt hem and stepping through ankle-deep light snow, she actually managed to put some distance between herself and the big man.

Moreover, that person chased after two closer targets and went to hack at them, which happened to give Qin Yining a chance to escape. She surveyed the surrounding terrain and directly charged toward where footprints were chaotic in the snow, running up the mountain.

The wilderness was in complete chaos.

At this time, the one hundred Huben Army soldiers ordered to escort also relied on their valor and Pang Xiao’s past training coordination to gradually control the situation. Under Lian Shengjie’s urging, they charged directly toward the front of the convoy, trying to capture the bandit chief alive.

At the front of the road, a fire-red warhorse stood proudly. On the horse sat a handsome man in snow-white fox fur, expressionlessly watching as his subordinate led over a completely silver-white Ferghana horse, his sword-like eyebrows gradually furrowing tightly.

It was Baiyun.

A horse that Pang Zhixi was extremely fond of—how could it appear in the Great Yan surrendered officials’ convoy?

“Marquis! Let’s retreat!”

“Yes, Marquis, the Huben Army isn’t to be trifled with. Although we wouldn’t necessarily lose in a direct confrontation, it would easily expose our identities!”

Ji Zeyu’s gaze darkened as he coldly watched the Huben Army charging forward like tigers descending the mountain. He ultimately didn’t want to clash with them directly.

“One squad stays behind to avoid the Huben Army and search the mountains. Try to find and kill all the Qin family members cleanly. The rest follow me to retreat.” Ji Zeyu raised his hand to signal, then turned his horse around, took Baiyun’s reins from his subordinate, and galloped away leading it.

Several subordinates and deputy generals all looked at each other.

So the Marquis had come specifically for the Qin family? But in their chaotic attack disguised as bandits, they had no idea how many Qin family members they had killed.

Corpses lay everywhere in the wilderness, blood blooming like countless flowers in the snow.

The remaining Longxiang Army squad deliberately avoided the main Huben Army force and followed the footprints up the mountain.

Seeing the bandits retreat and looking at the corpses everywhere, plus the wounded groaning on the ground and those crying while holding corpses, Lian Shengjie was so anxious he jumped up and down at such a tragic scene!

“Quick, quickly count how many are still alive! My heavens, how can this official explain this to His Majesty! Quickly see if Prince of Yan Prefecture is still alive! And that Qin family…”

Just as the Huben Army was cleaning up the mess, people had already followed the tracks up the mountain, happening to pursue in Qin Yining’s direction.

Qin Yining dared not delay. She tucked her skirt hem into her belt, hugged her cloak with both hands, and ran frantically toward the deep forest.

If it weren’t winter now with accumulated snow exposing her tracks, in the mountain forest, Qin Yining would actually be quite confident in shaking off pursuers.

But the problem was that the mountains were now covered with snow. Not only would she leave footprints stepping in the snow, but there would also be crunching sounds. Occasionally stepping on branches under the snow would produce quite a loud crack.

Qin Yining vaguely heard what seemed like two men’s voices behind her: “Ahead! There are footstep sounds!”

Qin Yining was so frightened her breathing nearly stopped. Not caring about fatigue, she charged toward the most hidden and difficult areas deep in the mountains.

She was now extremely grateful for her experiences in youth, which prevented her from collapsing from exhaustion when being pursued, and from panicking when entering the mountains.

Using her experience in mountain forests, she headed all the way into the dense woods. Looking ahead, she saw a patch of ground where the snow gradually thinned until only some ice fragments remained. Ahead appeared a large area that seemed slightly moist, emitting faint white vapor, but definitely had no accumulated snow.

Qin Yining was overjoyed—there must be hot springs underground!