After the gravely wounded Huo Qi Lang’s sky-piercing roar, the exhausted attendants knew the final moment had arrived and erupted in beast-like angry howls of wounded beasts:

“Song Yinghui, duty fulfilled!”

“Huang Xiaoning, duty fulfilled!”

“Xu Lai and Xu Xing, duty fulfilled!”

The personal troops were awed by these warriors’ fearless heroic spirit and momentarily stopped charging—the mo dao fierce general guarding the south gate was already at the end of her strength. If they just waited a moment, she would collapse and die from blood loss.

Li Yuanying’s vision was completely occupied by the fountain-like blood gushing from Huo Qi Lang’s body. He couldn’t stop the bone-deep chill and trembling throughout his body, no longer able to support himself, nearly collapsing to the ground.

His life was like a dark narrow path full of crises—if he didn’t fight desperately to seize opportunities he would fail, and failure meant certain death. The restless Blood-Smeared Ghost within the palace walls, his sister buried alive in the imperial tomb…

Crimson memories surged back vengefully: mother’s entire body soaked in pools of blood, her pale face, labored breathing, thick blood plasma flowing from bed to floor, Bao Zhu’s heart-wrenching cries… Was this his destined curse, to again watch helplessly as a woman bled to death?

Was there any possibility of salvation? Any means to stop the loss of life’s essence?

A passage automatically surfaced in his mind, every word crystal clear—it was Huo Qi Lang’s voice: “Medicinal decoctions have limited hemostatic effect. If bleeding is severe, press the wound directly with your hands, and tie cloth strips near the heart…”

Must stop the bleeding! Must stop the bleeding! Unlike mother, these were external injuries—there was still a thread of hope.

Li Yuanying could no longer stand. On hands and knees, he crawled toward the gravely wounded Huo Qi Lang. Madam Yu couldn’t hold him back. Arrows continuously swept overhead—the enemy was determined to kill everyone, and even surrender meant certain death.

Huo Qi Lang felt dizzy and disoriented with ringing ears, her strength rapidly draining with blood loss. Even if she had to die together with them, she had to take more people down before death… Just as she was thinking this, a pair of hands suddenly embraced her wounded leg.

She was about to strike back when she felt those cold hands pressing firmly on the wound inside her thigh, forcefully keeping the spring-like blood inside her body. Blood plasma was slippery, and fingers slid into the wound’s interior—the throbbing pulse actually matched her heartbeat rhythm.

Need to bind it, need cloth strips… Li Yuanying pressed the bleeding source inside the wound with one hand while the other trembled as he felt around his head and face. The warm blood spurting from the wound simultaneously dyed him red. Tearing off the forehead band from his head, he used both hands and mouth to brutally tighten this jade-embedded silk ribbon around the root of her thigh.

“Right! Right! That’s how to do it! Use force! So good…”

Huo Qi Lang had already guessed who those hands belonged to, and an expression of unexpected joyful surprise appeared on her face. She continued wielding the mo dao, driving back the enemies before her to create space for his emergency treatment. After knotting the forehead band, Li Yuanying tried releasing his hand—the fountain-like blood flow actually stopped.

“Done, retreat!” At Huo Qi Lang’s command, knowing he was in the way, he withdrew into the building without hesitation using hands and feet.

Though she had lost considerable blood, with the tourniquet temporarily suppressing it, she could persist a while longer. Snatching life from the jaws of death, Huo Qi Lang lifted her spirits and roared at the enemies: “Lao Qi was born with a tough life—blocking blades, blocking spears, blocking evil! Come! Fight again!”

While roaring she retreated two steps, luring enemy troops to the corridor. She swung the mo dao mightily, channeling all her body’s strength into this giant weapon and smashing it toward a pillar. This strike was supremely fierce—the wooden pillar immediately snapped in half, and large sections of eaves above the corridor collapsed with it. Dust flew everywhere, instantly burying over ten personal troops, with corpses and broken tiles blocking the south gate.

Huo Qi Lang temporarily escaped, crossed through the buildings, and rushed to support the north gate. With such strong reinforcement arriving, everyone’s spirits greatly lifted, and the defense line on the verge of collapse held firm again.

At this time, Liu Mian outside the courtyard walls felt restless and uneasy. In this small courtyard, he had already sent in over a hundred soldiers, yet not only failed to capture the stronghold, several completely terrified personal troops had disregarded the death penalty and escaped rolling and crawling from inside.

Liu Mian cursed and ordered the squad leader beside him: “Withdraw those useless ones inside and set fire directly!”

The squad leader thought this street was all wooden construction—setting fire would probably affect the entire ward. However, since the commander had given orders, how dare he disobey in the slightest? He immediately had people prepare fire oil. But just five steps out, he was struck in the chest by an armor-piercing arrow and fell backward.

Liu Mian was startled and before he could react, overwhelming arrow rain was already falling from the sky. His personal guards hurriedly raised shields to defend and protect their commander. After one volley, rumbling hoofbeats came from the distance. The other end of the street raised great clouds of dust like northern sandstorms attacking.

In the dust storm, a squad of elite cavalry galloped forth, drawing bows for a second volley of arrows. When the distance closed to within two hundred paces, they could clearly see this unit wore Prince’s residence battle robes. They put away bows and arrows, all drew long spears, and fiercely attacked enemy troops.

The personal troops were caught off guard, trampled and scattered by cavalry. Leading the cavalry charge was Prince Shao’s Military Commander Yuan Shaobo—reinforcements had finally arrived. Liu Mian thought the Prince’s residence only had about a hundred registered guards total, all infantry, and didn’t know where they had obtained so many good horses.

He too was a veteran general who had long experienced battlefields. After initial shock he wasn’t flustered—after all, this wasn’t Chang’an, and Youzhou city was Liu family territory. Just as he was about to order formation regrouping and send people to gather more personal troops, a messenger arrived panic-stricken to report: “Commander! The sub-city is under attack—the Right Wing Military Commander has rebelled! The Regional Governor orders you to return immediately for defense!”

“What?!”

Liu Mian’s expression changed dramatically. He had expected Prince Shao might struggle desperately at death’s door but never imagined encountering rebellion at such a moment. The sub-city was Liu Kun’s stronghold, location of the Regional Governor’s office. Liu Mian could no longer care about this outer residence and immediately ordered everyone to withdraw from Yandu Ward and quickly go south to defend.

But Yuan Shaobo didn’t give him this option. Protected by two cavalry guards at his sides, he charged straight through enemy formation and thrust his eighteen-foot horse lance into Liu Mian’s back. The charging force of the war horse plus his tremendous strength meant that though Liu Mian wore bright light armor, he was still pierced through by the spear tip. Yuan Shaobo roared and lifted him off his horse.

Liu Mian’s Left Guard personal troops had already suffered heavy casualties at the outer residence. Seeing their commander dead, they immediately lost fighting spirit and were driven and pursued by Prince’s residence cavalry, fleeing in defeat from Yandu Ward.

Yuan Shaobo received the urgent message and returned to defend, his heart concerned about Prince Shao’s safety. He had no intention of continuing pursuit and reined his horse back to the outer residence. The courtyard was covered with corpses everywhere—some beheaded, some with split bellies and spilled intestines. Every inch of soil was stained dark purple with blood plasma, and intestines even hung on the screen wall.

Yuan Shaobo’s heart jumped, not knowing if Prince Shao still survived. He led his troops charging toward the central courtyard. The building corridors had collapsed, so they went around to the north side and saw Song Yinghui struck by many arrows, leaning against a corridor pillar while Huang Xiaoning bandaged him. The Xu Lai and Xu Xing brothers supported Li Yuanying on left and right, trying to help him slowly rise.

“Master!” Yuan Shaobo sheathed his blade and ran to him. “This subordinate arrived late! You…”

Li Yuanying, like the other attendants, had blood covering his head and face, making it difficult to tell where he was injured. He wearily shook his head and said: “It’s not my blood. Send military physicians for aftermath treatment…”

Yuan Shaobo looked into the room again and saw Huo Qi Lang, like a blood-covered person, supporting herself with the mo dao and limping toward the wall. Yuwen Rang lay quietly on his side by the broken window, as if he had fallen asleep after that day of going out together for revelry and drinking heavily.

Her throat was already hoarse from shouting as she called: “Hey! Don’t expect me to carry you back again this time.”

Yuwen Rang didn’t move. Huo Qi Lang gently kicked him, and he rolled over onto his back—his pupils had already dilated. Though one might sleep drunkenly on the battlefield without complaint, no matter how much vinegar soup he drank to sober up, this young man could never wake up and rise again.

Huo Qi Lang could no longer support herself and collapsed dejectedly. The mo dao clanged as it fell to the ground. In this battle ten years later, reinforcements had finally arrived in time. She thought she would feel relief, yet there was an indescribable emptiness, as if those years of memories and emotions had flowed away with her blood, leaving her confused about what year or month she was in.

Yuan Shaobo directed attendants to carry the wounded back to the Prince’s residence for treatment. Huo Qi Lang was helped out the door and glimpsed Kang Simo wearing personal troop clothing, squeezing through the crowd looking around. She trembled all over and struggled to seize a blade to attack, but was gently stopped by Yuan Shaobo.

“Thanks to the interpreter rushing to report to me in time—otherwise if we had been any later, everyone would have been annihilated.”

Huo Qi Lang was confused again, watching that curly-haired barbarian wink and show off to her.

Li Yuanying passed by her side and said softly: “I authorized him to immediately flee and seek help if he sensed any abnormality. Cowardly people often have sharp instincts—even if they can’t participate in battle, they have their uses.”

Huo Qi Lang recalled the fireworks accident at the night banquet—Kang Simo had also escaped early but wasn’t held accountable afterward. She seemed to understand somewhat. This cunning fox always left himself an escape route.

The wounded and dead were loaded separately on mule carts for transport. The household manager personally drove a carriage to meet them. Before boarding, Li Yuanying looked back at Huo Qi Lang. Yuan Shaobo understood and ordered her carried into the Prince’s carriage.

Huo Qi Lang lay on thick Persian carpets. The carriage swayed, and combined with dizziness from blood loss, it felt like lying on a small boat. Li Yuanying could no longer maintain dignified sitting posture and hugged his knees, leaning against the carriage wall while staring at her face in a daze.

Though the forehead band had been urgently tied for hemostasis, the huge wound on her leg still slowly seeped blood, dampening the carpet. He dared not look toward her lower body—the sensation of fingers sliding deep into the wound was deeply etched in memory, and recalling it even slightly made him shudder and nearly faint.

Huo Qi Lang said: “After returning, please help me borrow the finest needle and thread from Madam Li.”

Li Yuanying still hadn’t recovered: “What?”

Huo Qi Lang breathed rapidly and murmured: “Today I need to do some needlework. Not to boast, but Lao Qi’s embroidery skills in our sect are second only to Wei Da’s—not necessarily inferior to the Princess Consort’s.”

Li Yuanying understood but still dared not imagine the scene of needle and thread moving through flesh, saying: “The residence has professional military physicians.”

“Leave it to them and this leg is finished.”

She saw Li Yuanying’s head and face covered with her blood like dust on beautiful jade. She reached out to pull his clothing, wanting to wipe it clean with her sleeve, but only made it dirtier.

“When I told you to break through, you actually didn’t obey my orders.” Li Yuanying complained in a numb and dissatisfied voice.

Huo Qi Lang softly asked back: “What, will Your Highness dock my wages?”

Li Yuanying felt weak and exhausted. Yes, what could he do with her anyway? “Repaying the lord’s kindness at the Golden Platform, wielding the Jade Dragon to die for the lord.” Today several loyal retainers who had accompanied him for years had sacrificed themselves. His heart was full of confusion and sorrow. Though he wanted to immediately collapse unconscious, many matters still required his personal decisions.

Now the Jade Dragon was broken and destroyed, exchanged for this person’s thread of life—already great fortune amid misfortune.

Huo Qi Lang smiled and teased: “I broke your precious sword, but… at the time I seemed to hear someone publicly shout ‘Qi Lang’? How do I remember someone saying…

She switched vocal tones, mimicking Li Yuanying’s voice perfectly: “Even if my throat were cut, I would never call you that!”

Li Yuanying looked at this face pale as paper from blood loss. Though clearly so weak she could only lie there gasping, she still chattered endlessly with jokes, refusing to stop.

Unable to make any expression on his face, yet with emotions rolling like monstrous waves in his heart, after a moment of wooden silence, Li Yuanying spoke: “No matter what, you won’t shut up, will you.”

Huo Qi Lang was about to say something else to tease him, to tell him this was just to keep herself conscious and not fall asleep, when Li Yuanying leaned down and used his mouth to block her lips.