That furious cursing sounded ethereal and distant, unclear and indistinct. Meng Potian thought groggily that perhaps his fate wasn’t sealed after all—was the underworld so unwelcoming to him?

…

On the mountainside cliff.

An ancient pine tree with gnarled branches extended out from the cliff face, its emerald canopy like an umbrella, appearing and disappearing in the mist.

On the old pine, a person lay leisurely with his legs crossed, humming a tune while playing with several long vines in his hands. He was weaving the vines together, then tugging at them to test their resilience. Very satisfied with the test results, his dark eyebrows would arch from time to time.

Young Marshal Pei was in quite a good mood at the moment.

Falling off a cliff? Who fell off a cliff? He had merely come down for a stroll and to harm someone while he was at it.

When he said he wanted to kill someone, he definitely meant to kill them—it wasn’t just talk.

Otherwise, why bother falling down this cliff? Did they really think he would be pushed off by some stupid wretch?

Before falling, he had already seen clearly that there was an old pine tree below. Judging by the thickness of its trunk, it should be able to support one or two people.

When the cloaked figure cut the chain, he simultaneously grabbed hold of it. Calculating in his mind, when he fell near the old pine, he would throw out the chain, wrap it around the tree, and climb up. Then he would wait here, gathering vines.

Waiting for the cloaked figure to come down.

The cloaked figure would definitely come down.

His final shout of “So it’s you!” would make the cloaked figure feel guilty and certainly come down to check whether he was really dead or not. He just needed to wait like a hunter for his prey, then ambush this fellow.

Pei Shu smiled cunningly, his eyes sparkling brightly. The Golden Young Marshal, only at this moment, shed his impulsive facade and revealed a trace of the cunning that existed only in rumors.

However, there was also a hint of regret in that smile.

His last words were meant to deceive the enemy—he actually hadn’t seen the opponent’s face clearly. That fellow had hidden too quickly.

But no matter. As soon as this person came down and became a corpse in his hands, he could look at them however he pleased.

Wind rushed in his ears. Pei Shu grew somewhat anxious. He had been waiting for a while now. By his calculations, the cloaked figure should have immediately come down to investigate, but there was still no sign of anyone.

Suddenly he heard faint sounds from above. Pei Shu was delighted and sat up to listen carefully. It seemed someone was shouting something? But the distance was great, the mountain wind fierce, and the sounds were scattered by the wind—he really couldn’t make it out.

If the cloaked figure was coming down, why would they be shouting?

Just as he felt something was wrong, a gust of wind suddenly passed, breaking through the thick fog. Looking up, he saw a meteor-like flash overhead—a person falling head-first, shouting as they fell, “…coming…down…”

Pei Shu knew he was in trouble just from looking at that posture.

This was someone jumping off the cliff, not climbing down. This person making such a earth-shaking leap off the cliff must be related to him somehow. He couldn’t not rescue them, and once he did, his plan to lure the cloaked figure down for an ambush would be completely ruined.

“Damn it! Idiot! Fool! Son of a turtle!” A string of curses streamed from the Young Marshal’s mouth, but he moved extremely quickly, springing up energetically to stand on the tree, winding the vine around his wrist and staring at the falling figure above.

The one jumping off the cliff for him… it couldn’t be Jing Hengbo, could it?

Pei Shu felt a little excited, his heart actually beginning to pound.

Reason told him it wasn’t very likely. Jing Hengbo was no longer the innocent, carefree woman without much cunning from before. She had learned to be calm and patient. With such a huge blow as Gong Yin’s disappearance and unknown fate, she should be holding down the fort in Dige and truly hadn’t left even one step. It was really quite unlikely that she would dive head-first off a cliff just because he, Pei Shu, had fallen down one.

But if it wasn’t Jing Hengbo, who else could it be at this time and place?

Pei Shu’s eyes grew brighter, his breathing rapid as he calculated that if it really was Jing Hengbo, what position would be safest to catch her in, while also achieving the most intimate embrace… This could be a great opportunity to deepen their relationship. Times of adversity had always been perfect opportunities to grow closer, hadn’t they?

In just a flash of thought, the falling figure shot down like a cannonball, long hair streaming—definitely a woman.

Pei Shu’s nerves tensed. The vine in his hand whipped out with a “swoosh,” precisely wrapping around the falling person’s waist. The other end wound tightly around his own waist as he stepped and strode, racing around the pine tree twice.

The downward momentum was forcibly changed to horizontal flight, but the enormous impact of the falling human body was still too much for the old pine to bear. With a “crack,” the thickest branch broke in half.

In Pei Shu’s original plan, he was going to use the vine to hang the cloaked figure to death in mid-air. Now that he also had to rescue someone, the force on the tree doubled. Meng Potian was still falling downward. Pei Shu lunged to the edge of the tree and lowered his wrist to catch her. With another “crack,” this time the entire tree broke cleanly in two. Meng Potian once again fell head-first, her screams nearly splitting the sky.

As the tree tilted, Pei Shu also tumbled downward. Fortunately, he was prepared—he held a section of chain in his hand. Sliding down from the tree, he swept Meng Potian into his arms around the waist. Sliding down the tree trunk for a stretch, the chain in his hand caught on a protruding rock for a pause, then he grabbed vines to climb along the cliff face for another pause. After several stops, the momentum greatly decreased, and the distance to the ground was no longer far.

After the heart-stopping moments passed, only then did Pei Shu have time to catch his breath and look down.

This one look immediately stunned him.

“You…” He stared at Meng Potian as if he’d seen a ghost. “How is it you…”

Meng Potian had also regained consciousness by now. At this moment she felt dizzy and euphoric, as if floating on clouds. Pei Shu’s masculine scent was strong beside her, and she was in his embrace, feeling his heartbeat and the burning strength of his arms. To jump off a cliff and encounter such tremendous joy—she was so delighted she nearly fainted. Unable to help herself, she leaned against his chest and sighed dreamily: “It’s me…”

The Young Marshal’s hands went soft.

When the Young Marshal’s hands went soft, he couldn’t hold onto the vine properly. With a snap, the vine broke.

With a “swoosh,” both of them fell again.

Through the sound of rushing wind came Pei Shu’s furious cursing.

“Damn it! Idiot! Fool! Son of a turtle!”

…

Night had fallen.

In the camp in the mountain hollow, most of the hundreds of military tents were dark, with some people moving between the tents looking alarmed.

The soldiers already understood Jing Hengbo’s plan to lure the enemy. According to their original plan, they were going to extinguish all lights in the entire camp and pretend everyone had been poisoned and collapsed, to lure the enemy deeper in. But Jing Hengbo vetoed this. She believed that given Yu Guangting’s suspicious nature, he would never believe that upstream poisoning could knock down everyone. Overdoing the act would instead expose them—better to create the appearance of chaos in the camp.

At this moment, aside from those wandering around to lure the enemy, most soldiers had already taken up their weapons and waited in the darkness.

…

A mass of dark figures appeared at the mountain pass, even their swords painted black to avoid any reflection.

The leader leaped onto a boulder and gazed inward. The Horizontal Halberd Army camp, backed by mountains and facing water, looked somewhat chaotic with very few people visible.

Yu Guangting stared at the scene with satisfaction. The upstream poison couldn’t possibly have knocked down everyone—from what he could see now, it should have felled the majority.

This was even better. With military morale scattered and hearts in panic, when they encountered a night attack, what would they fight with?

He needed a swift, decisive battle, because he’d heard that those two princes of Yu Kingdom had already begun mobilizing troops.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the Queen must have already notified them of something. Who would have thought that woman with her flirtatious appearance would act with such decisive ruthlessness, leaving no room for error?

Royal family members couldn’t easily leave their fiefs, so he couldn’t have any mishaps—he couldn’t give the other side any excuse to send troops.

Yu Guangting waved his hand, and soldiers behind him silently carried forward a row of large barrels. The barrels were sealed, and the smell of fire oil slowly began to permeate the air.

Looking at the densely packed camp and feeling the current wind direction, a cruel smile appeared in Yu Guangting’s eyes.

…

Jing Hengbo had been staying in the tent with those captured young noble prisoners, guarding the remaining captives. The division of Yu Guangting’s subordinates would depend on these people.

She frowned, worried about Pei Shu’s safety, but at this point things had reached this stage. Racing up the mountain now wouldn’t help—better to resolve the immediate major threat first, then calmly conduct a proper search.

Through all the ups and downs, she had learned to be calm, to suppress her emotions, and to distinguish between the big picture and priorities.

Gong Yin had disappeared again, but from Nan Jin’s expression, she could see he wouldn’t come to harm. Jing Hengbo snorted softly—when would he be able to openly join hands with her in battle?

The evening light grew thicker. She stepped outside the tent and moved to the downwind side. The wind carried the metallic scent of iron and faintly the smell of fire oil.

Jing Hengbo raised her eyebrows slightly.

Yu Guangting was truly vicious.

Not content with just poisoning, was he planning to use fire attack first to probe and disrupt her formation?

Her figure flashed and disappeared.

…

Yu Guangting selected four sturdy guards, each shouldering a large barrel, approaching the camp from four directions.

Fire attacks needed to be ignited simultaneously from all sides to achieve maximum effect.

The remaining soldiers were hidden at two mountain passes. Once the fire started, half would rush into the camp to kill in the chaos, while the other half were archers positioned on both sides of the cliffs and at the mountain pass. If anyone tried to escape, they would face a rain of arrows.

Three li away near the official road, another elite squad was positioned. This was in case the enemy leaders tried to flee—they would have to pass through here, and must be captured and killed.

It was truly an inescapable net.

…

Of the soldiers sneaking toward the camp, the one from the east had the shortest distance and arrived first.

Setting down the oil barrel, the soldier reached behind his back for his torch with one hand while preparing to overturn the barrel with the other.

His hand found nothing behind his back. The soldier froze, and before he could look around, there was a dull thud at the back of his head and his vision went black.

Jing Hengbo emerged from behind him, casually tossing away his torch and the flint from his chest, then whistled toward the dark camp.

A man appeared in response, extremely agile—one of the officers under Pei Shu who had experience in Tianhui Valley.

Jing Hengbo pointed to the oil barrel and gave him some quiet instructions. The man nodded and carried the barrel away.

Then Jing Hengbo’s figure flashed repeatedly, using the same method to knock out the fire-setting soldiers from the other three directions and have their oil barrels taken away.

After clearing out the arsonists and waiting a while, calculating that those she’d sent out should have completed their tasks, Jing Hengbo had fires lit at the four compass points around the camp.

These four fires were naturally at a distance from the camp, with all flammable materials in the four directions cleared away. Though the flames looked fierce, they actually couldn’t harm anyone.

But Yu Guangting and others waiting in the distance couldn’t determine how close the fires were. They only saw flames suddenly rise on all four sides, with figures running about in panic in the firelight—though not many people. They couldn’t help but exclaim joyfully: “Success!”

Yu Guangting commanded in a low voice: “According to the original plan, half enter the camp! Also, no need to signal the Linzhou private armies to approach. Our men are enough to handle this—just have them guard the outermost perimeter!”

“Yes!”

A group of well-equipped soldiers, led by a lieutenant general, rushed into the camp. Yu Guangting stood on the high boulder, a faint smile flashing in his eyes.

At this moment, Jing Hengbo also had a faint smile flashing in her eyes.

Teams of black-clothed soldiers moved like ghosts, serpentine as they entered.

They carried sharp blades, bit daggers between their teeth, infiltrating under cover of night, ready to reap lives wholesale.

They climbed watchtowers to assassinate the guards.

But were hanged by the guards’ chains at the top of the towers.

They passed tents with no movement.

And had their throats cut by men beside the tents.

They burst through tent flaps.

Only to be stabbed in the back.

They crept up behind night patrol soldiers.

The patrol soldiers suddenly turned around, while another person appeared behind them, roughly strangling their necks as the person in front thrust a blade into their bellies with a “hiss.”

In the darkness, in the flickering firelight, such low and oppressive “hissing” sounds continued without cease.

Each sound marked the end of a life that had come to reap others but was instead reaped.

To achieve silent assassination, they had spread out upon entry, only to be picked off one by one.

In a quarter hour, most of the elite squad that had entered was dead.

After most were dead, someone finally realized something was wrong. A sharp whistle pierced the air—both notifying those outside and telling the soldiers who had entered the camp to gather and assault the main tent!

When they all revealed themselves for a desperate final struggle, those hidden Horizontal Halberd Army soldiers also appeared. Shadowy figures emerged from the darkness, densely arranged in human walls, all grinning to show ghastly white teeth.

Yu Guangting’s elite subordinates had reached this point with no retreat—nothing left but to fight to the death.

Covered in blood, throwing away countless lives, after several charges they finally approached the main tent.

From the moment the first fire was lit, Jing Hengbo had never left her position.

The Queen had been standing in the tent all along, like a bright target or a blazing fire, attracting those death warriors to charge forward one after another.

Someone shouted loudly in the darkness, voice booming: “The Regent has ordered! Regardless of casualties, as long as the Queen is killed, we shall be victorious! Afterward there will be high office and rich rewards, honors for wives and children—he will never break his word!”

Someone else yelled: “Whoever kills the Queen gets a thousand taels of gold! Those with rank will be promoted three levels immediately, those without will be granted the rank of Captain! One designated son may join the Imperial Guard and enjoy the highest military provisions!”

Under great rewards there must be brave men. Almost immediately, those exhausted death warriors revived their spirits. In the darkness, their eyes gleamed not only with courage but also with desire for wealth and glory.

Under Jing Hengbo’s subtle direction, Jiang Ya and others always kept the besieging soldiers within a controlled range—not too many, not too few. They couldn’t escape, but seemed to glimpse the dawn of approaching the main tent to kill the Queen, forcing those death warriors to struggle forward on roads paved with fresh blood, falling one by one yet continuing to relay the charge forward in battle.

And the Queen stood there steadily, willingly serving as a candle in the darkness, luring moths to dash themselves to death against her flame.

Living people became corpses one by one, corpses fell before her one by one, flowing blood soaked the roads, and that short stretch of road was filled with flesh and death.

Jing Hengbo remained motionless throughout.

She was the Queen, the core of the army, the pillar of thousands of soldiers and millions of common people. From the moment she attacked Dige, from the moment she couldn’t keep Gong Yin, from the moment she saw those three banners below Dige city, she knew she could no longer retreat.

One life versus a hundred lives, a hundred lives versus ten thousand lives—no need to calculate the weight.

She still felt nauseated, still didn’t want to see human carnage, but even less did she want to see those losses, helplessness, oppression, humiliation, and the cold snowy nights that flashed often in life when people couldn’t even have choices.

“Take this!”

With a great shout, the blade wind slashed down.

The wind was so strong it lifted her bangs.

The last death warrior, in blood and mud, stepping on his comrades’ corpses, finally reached half a zhang before her.

His raised blade light flashed into her eyes, the blade light like silk, hanging inverted downward—the next instant would be death.

Joy was already flashing in the death warrior’s eyes—at this point, killing the Queen had become an obsession. He no longer thought about high office and rich rewards, only that so many brothers couldn’t die in vain.

The blade edge was close to her crown, hair strands severed by the blade edge, flying dark in the air.

The Horizontal Halberd Army cried out in alarm.

The death warrior opened his mouth, ready to laugh wildly, welcoming death after success.

A figure flashed.

Also like blade light flashing, suddenly gone.

Suddenly there was no one under the blade.

“Crack.” A tremendous crash—that strike using all his strength chopped through the thick carpet, into the yellow earth below, hitting the underground stone, splitting it in two.

The blade was embedded in the stone, unable to be pulled out for the moment. The powerful death warrior forgot to pull it out, maintaining that chopping posture, staring dazedly at the huge crack in the ground.

That crack seemed to split across his own heart.

Where was the Queen?

Where was the Queen!

From behind came the Queen’s lazy yet composed voice: “Finally waited for this fellow to finish chopping. I’ll go check outside. I leave this place to you.”

The death warrior’s vision went black.

“Pff.” A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed wildly onto the blade.

Before the Horizontal Halberd Army soldiers could swarm forward, he had already collapsed heavily. As he died, his eyes were wide open, looking at the corpses of brothers along that road, looking at those brothers who had risked their lives to send him before the Queen, looking at the Queen’s figure already racing toward the mountains outside.

All his expressions were filled with unwillingness.

A man could die on the battlefield, wrapped in horsehide.

How could he be cunningly killed by a woman!

…

Yu Guangting had been standing on the high boulder all along.

Originally confident of victory, nonchalant, he suddenly frowned.

Why weren’t the fires in those directions expanding? They seemed to be continuously shrinking instead?

Also, his elite troops he’d sent in should have passed the assassination phase by now—why was the camp still so quiet?

Feeling something was wrong, he was about to jump down from the boulder and order soldiers to strengthen their guard when he suddenly smelled a strong fire oil scent. For a moment he thought the fire smell had drifted over, but then realized this smell was far too strong.

A thought flashed through his mind like lightning. When he tried to speak again, his voice was nearly torn: “Scatter…”

The word “away” hadn’t left his mouth yet.

“Splash!” It rained from above.

The rain was sticky, with a pungent fire oil smell. Yu Guangting was terrified—fire oil!

This rain didn’t just fall on his head, but also drenched the archers guarding the mountain pass.

Then several torches crashed down, too fast to react to. “Whoosh!” In an instant it became a sea of fire.

Countless people rolled and screamed in the flames, countless fire-covered figures struggled to crash into bushes and roll against mountain stones, trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies. In early summer the mountain forests were dense with flammable materials—wherever they rolled, fire followed. The entire mountain pass was surrounded by raging flames.

The Horizontal Halberd Army quickly dug ditches at the mountain pass to block the fire from invading the camp, while pushing enemies trying to rush in for safety into the ditches.

Yu Guangting couldn’t care about his soldiers now, spreading his arms and shouting: “Save me! Save me!”

Several of his trusted men who hadn’t caught fire desperately rushed over, carrying him to a place with smaller flames. After frantic patting, Yu Guangting’s face was ashen black, his hair patchy like a gnawed dog, clothes barely covering his body, shivering in the wind like a quail.

Before he could catch his breath, he suddenly felt a wind pass beside him, faintly carrying a fragrance that seemed familiar. Before he could react, he felt a chill on his body—the nearly-burned robe was stripped off, along with the jade pendant and brocade pouch at his waist, all taken away.

That wind then blew past, leaving only a lazy, slightly hoarse voice: “Yu Guangting is here—capture him alive!”

Yu Guangting opened his eyes to see a squad of men who clearly had superb qinggong surrounding him.

Without a second word, he turned and ran.

The Regent ran quite fast, with only his remaining undershorts flapping in the wind, exposing patches of snow-white buttocks.

…

At the same moment, fire attacks occurred at another mountain pass where Yu Guangting had positioned ambush troops, as well as at the elite squad lying in wait near the official road.

Jing Hengbo had arrangements for all four barrels of oil—besides these three locations, one more was saved for the Linzhou noble private armies guarding the outermost perimeter.

When the fires started, Gong Yin, who was among that elite squad, was first to notice something wrong.

“Fire oil! Be careful!”

Then the firelight blazed. The position of the elite troops wasn’t like Yu Guangting’s mountain pass with geographical constraints—their location was relatively open, allowing them to avoid the flames.

Some wanted to flee, but were stopped by Gong Yin’s shout: “In times of military danger, His Highness must be encountering peril. If you scatter and flee, do you want to be deserters?”

Everyone immediately stopped, breaking into cold sweats. Yu Kingdom’s punishment for deserters was extremely harsh, nearly involving clan extermination—of course they dared not.

Gong Yin then said His Highness was surely in danger now, but had trusted guards with him and certainly wouldn’t be in mortal peril. If this squad rushed in to support him now, His Highness would definitely view them as loyal subordinates—promotion and achievement would be within easy reach.

Everyone nodded, all feeling that strategists were indeed strategists, every word reasonable. Grateful for his earlier warning about the fire oil, those uninjured immediately formed ranks and rushed toward the mountain interior.

Gong Yin couldn’t walk well, but his internal energy remained. He only needed to lightly press his wrists against trees or cliff walls to leap several zhang. The soldiers had never seen such qinggong and all praised it admiringly, feeling that following such a literary and martial strategist meant certain victory. They ran even faster.

Of course, they were running faster toward their deaths.

Gong Yin was leading them toward a half-cliff near the Horizontal Halberd Army camp. If they fell and didn’t die, they would land right inside the camp.

Of course, Gong Yin told these soldiers he was taking them on a safe shortcut to rescue His Highness sooner.

In the dark night, people with fire oil on them dared not carry torches, stumbling through mountain paths. Hearing commotion in the distance and seeing firelight, they all felt they had indeed taken a shortcut and could soon distinguish themselves before His Highness.

Gong Yin, who had been leading at the front, suddenly flipped and disappeared. The soldiers were shocked and stopped in confusion to search for him, when they heard his voice from slightly below: “There’s a low slope here. You soldiers can slide down—don’t worry, it’s very low, not enough to cause injury.”

Everyone heard his voice was indeed not far away, the slope was indeed low, so they felt assured and jumped down one after another.

Eight hundred men quickly finished jumping.

Below came faint cheering sounds—the Horizontal Halberd Army camp had enemies fall from the sky, all half-dead from the fall—it was truly a great gift.

Though no one knew these eight hundred men had all been tricked down by Gong Yin, it didn’t prevent them from joyfully receiving the gift.

At the bottom of the cliff, Gong Yin quietly waited for everyone to finish jumping.

When he had jumped off the cliff, his hands gripped the cliff edge, and speaking from the bottom of the cliff naturally sounded very close.

After tricking everyone into jumping into the pit themselves, he exerted force with both hands and flipped up, intending to return to the cliff top.

A pair of hands suddenly caught his hands.

Gong Yin was greatly shocked.

The only parts of his body that could truly move were his hands. Once his hands were controlled, he was basically useless.

When he had arrived earlier, he had confirmed there was absolutely no one around, which was why he had risked falling off the cliff to deceive them. Now that all eight hundred had fallen, where had this person come from?

A face poked out from above, hair messy, face black with soot and ash, completely unclear—but definitely someone who had been burned.

Gong Yin’s heart sank.

At this time, who else could be burned besides Yu Guangting’s people?

That person leaned half their body out over the cliff, ornaments at their waist dangling before his eyes—clearly Yu Guangting’s jade pendant and brocade pouch, items he never parted with.

“Yu Guangting” gripped his hands tightly, looked down at the bottom, then at him, eyes flickering with obvious ill intent.

Gong Yin stared at him coldly, circulating his internal energy.

The next moment, his true power would freeze “Yu Guangting’s” hands, preventing him from acting. But now he was being held by Yu Guangting, who was half-hanging over the cliff. If Yu Guangting froze up, he would certainly fall, taking him down as well. Though this height wasn’t half that of the cliff Pei Shu had fallen from, the way was full of jagged rocks—falling to the bottom would leave one about half-dead.

But at this point, he couldn’t worry about so much. He couldn’t fall into Yu Guangting’s hands and become a hidden danger for Jing Hengbo.

Just as his internal energy was about to surge—

“Yu Guangting” suddenly released one hand, reached behind his back with the other to pull out a club, and “bang!”—struck him on the back of the neck.

Gong Yin didn’t even grunt before fainting.

Only then did “Yu Guangting” chuckle softly.

The laughter was lazy, slightly cunning, somewhat hoarse, somewhat seductive.

Jing Hengbo’s voice.

Her Majesty the Queen, wearing the tattered royal robe, huffed and puffed as she pulled her man up from the cliff, settling him on her lap. She casually wiped the soot from her face, patted his cheek, and with improper thoughts and lustful eyes gleaming, said triumphantly:

“Husband, I miscalculated last time. The safe period just passed—now it’s ovulation period.”