The rain gradually lessened. Without the cacophonous rain sounds to conceal them, the sounds of reeds being parted and deliberately lightened footsteps became traceable.

Xiao Li slowed his movements, taking Wen Yu to hide behind a large patch of reeds, focusing intently on listening to the activity around them.

Water dripped from the roots of his hair. His gaze, like a lone wolf’s, locked tightly on what lay ahead. Beneath his soaked robes, his muscles instinctively tensed with nervous excitement, heat rising.

But the entire reed marsh seemed to have fallen silent. Apart from the rustling sound of reed leaves rubbing together when wind passed through, there were no other sounds.

A water droplet from the grass leaves dripped onto Xiao Li’s blade with a faint “plop.” He said in a low voice, “Something’s wrong. The people have suddenly all disappeared. Have they gone into hiding?”

Wen Yu’s soaked black hair clung messily to her neck, making that slender neck appear even more snow-white. When the cold wind blew, the chill seemed to penetrate through her wet clothes into her flesh and bones. Her entire body trembled slightly, though her voice remained relatively steady: “Perhaps they’re waiting for reinforcements. With this large expanse of reeds and the cover of night, if ordinary soldiers rashly venture deep, they’ll only end up killed.”

Lightning struck. The nearby reeds and distant dense forest were all lit in a ghastly white.

She looked toward the forest once again hidden in darkness, her face pale: “Let’s go to the woods. This reed patch can’t hide us much longer.”

Xiao Li noticed she was cold. But the night rain hadn’t stopped, and his robes were still soaked through. He truly couldn’t think of a way to warm Wen Yu—he could only focus on breaking through tonight’s encirclement first.

He gave a low “alright” in response. When he took Wen Yu’s hand, he discovered her five fingers were ice-cold. After hesitating, he wrapped his palm around her fingers as much as possible. His other hand held the blade, parting the reeds blocking the way as he led her toward the forest.

But these reeds grew along a slope, and at the slope’s end was a clear stream. To reach the forest, they would need to wade through that creek.

With tonight’s heavy rain, the stream had swollen.

Upon reaching the reed edge, Xiao Li glanced at the rushing current. Fearing Wen Yu might be tripped by rocks on the streambed or branches washed down from upstream, he had her climb onto his back.

Using the five-foot-long Miao blade in his hand to probe the water’s depth, he carried Wen Yu across on his back.

Halfway across, a whooshing sound suddenly came from behind. Without thinking, Xiao Li turned and swung his blade to block. Amid a series of “clang clang” sounds, all the crossbow bolts fired at them were batted into the stream by him, piercing at angles into the riverbed.

“They’re trying to cross the stream to the forest on the other side! Stop them quickly!”

The soldiers with crossbows surrounding that patch of reeds shouted. The soldiers lying in ambush at other edges of the reed marsh immediately all rushed this way. In an instant, short arrows densely rained down on them like a thorny net descending.

Xiao Li cursed. Not daring to turn his back to them, he swung his blade to deflect the flying arrows while retreating backward across the creek with Wen Yu on his back.

He could only use one hand. To avoid adding to his burden, Wen Yu used both arms to cling tightly to his shoulders and neck, hanging herself on him. Her gaze locked onto those hidden in the reeds occasionally firing sneak arrows, serving as Xiao Li’s second pair of eyes to warn him.

Upon reaching the opposite bank’s edge, those soldiers seemed to have run out of arrows. They simply raised their blades and waded through the water to attack. Xiao Li set Wen Yu down and engaged in fierce combat with them, shouting over his back to her, “Hide in the grass first!”

Both sides of the stream banks had slopes overgrown with reeds nearly a person’s height. Wen Yu grabbed reed roots for leverage, stepping on the slippery mud and trying her best to climb up the bank. But before she could hide deeper, several blade-wielding soldiers burst out to meet her—they had used the night’s cover to wade across from upstream ahead of them.

“Xiao Li!”

Even as Wen Yu instinctively called out that name, her hands scooped up a clump of mud and flung it at the soldiers’ faces.

The mud by this stream was a deep black color carrying a fishy, foul water smell. As the soldiers turned their heads to shield themselves, Xiao Li’s blade severed the weapon in the hands of the soldier grappling with him. He kicked the man into the rushing creek, not lingering in battle as he leaped ashore swinging his blade horizontally. Blood splattered across the reed leaves.

The soldier farther from him tried desperately to lunge forward and grab Wen Yu to threaten him, but Xiao Li pressed him down into the muddy water of the reeds and crushed his throat.

His arm had been slashed, fresh blood soaking through his sleeve and flowing down with the rain, spreading a carmine color across his palm.

“Are you alright?” Wen Yu got up to help him.

Xiao Li casually wiped the blood from his hand on grass roots, using his blade to support himself as he stood. He grabbed Wen Yu, breathing somewhat heavily: “Go!”

The two continued toward the dense forest at the edge of the grass.

Stumbling and running, Wen Yu’s hands and face were cut by small wounds from the sharp edges of reed leaves, yet she made no sound throughout.

—

Urgent hoofbeats galloped along the main road. The lead twenty-some riders all wore conical hats and cloaks, their robe corners lifting in sharp arcs in the cold wind, like bats spreading bone wings in the night.

The moment the officer in charge of the soldiers saw them arrive, he hurried forward, clasping his fists in the heavy rain: “Thirteenth Captain, you’ve come!”

Captain Pei the Thirteenth asked coldly, “Where is the Wen remnant?”

The officer lowered his head in shame: “Our crossbow bolts were exhausted. We couldn’t restrain them—they escaped into the forest.”

Captain Pei the Thirteenth lashed his whip across the officer’s face, rebuking coldly: “Useless!”

Blood marks appeared on the officer’s face, but he kept his head bowed, not daring to say another word.

Captain Pei the Thirteenth dismounted, his hand pressing on the sword hilt at his side. He shouted to the twenty-some Pei clan hounds behind him: “Follow me into the forest to hunt down the Wen remnant!”

—

The forest was pitch black. Only when lightning flashed could a bit of light leak through the luxuriant branches overhead.

Those who practiced martial arts had far superior eyesight to ordinary people. After Xiao Li adapted to the darkness within the forest, he could barely make out objects. He brought Wen Yu to hide behind a massive boulder that could still provide some shelter from rain.

Because his muscles were tensed and exerting force, the blood from his arm had never stopped. To avoid leaving a trail of bloody scent that would allow pursuing soldiers to track them, he removed his wrist guard, rolled up his sleeve, tore off a strip of cloth and held it in his teeth, wrapping it around the wound on his arm.

“Are you bandaging your wound?” Wen Yu could only make out the rough outlines of nearby objects. Noticing Xiao Li’s movements, she fumbled to extend her hand, reaching for the cloth in his hand: “Let me help you.”

She touched the strip of cloth Xiao Li held in his hand. When feeling for the other strip, her five fingers followed the cloth and touched something soft and warm.

Wen Yu froze, then realized she had touched Xiao Li’s lips. Her fingertips suddenly felt somewhat hot. Fortunately, in the darkness their expressions couldn’t be seen clearly.

She took the cloth strip from between his lips and teeth, fumbling to wrap it tightly around his muscular arm. The firm, hot musculature her fingertips contacted—through a thin layer of flesh, she could almost feel the pulse of blood beneath.

After tying the knot, she said in a low voice, “Done…”

Before the word “done” could fully leave her mouth, his hand covered over. She was trapped between his solid chest and the massive boulder, her breathing filled with the smell of blood on him and an indescribable scent, like the smell of fierce winds sweeping over forest tops on summer days.

Wen Yu didn’t move. She heard an extremely faint “crack” in the distance, like the sound of a foot stepping on a dead branch.

But immediately the entire forest fell into a deathly silence.

This kind of silence made one’s heart panic, as if it were a confrontation between hunter and prey in darkness—one wrong step and death would follow on the spot.

“They probably followed the smell of blood on me. Stay here, don’t go out.”

Xiao Li’s wolf-like eyes locked tightly on the dark forest. These words were spoken almost against Wen Yu’s ear.

He picked up a pebble and threw it into the distance to create a disturbance. Upon hearing footsteps around them, he drew his blade and leapt like a wolf, slashing down.

Blade struck blade with a sharp “clang.”

The moment that cloaked person caught his strike with a reverse hand, Xiao Li realized the opponent was formidable. He kicked off the opponent’s back for leverage, retreating a zhang away, then turned and ran.

Captain Pei the Thirteenth’s expression turned ugly. He shouted, “Chase!”

Dark shadows flashed swiftly through the dense forest. Those cloaked figures moved with strange techniques, truly difficult to shake off like shadows. No matter how far he managed to get from them, they would quickly catch up again.

Xiao Li tried to fight them head-on, but every time his offensive intensified and he showed signs of gaining the upper hand, those people retreated back into the darkness.

Every blade he struck down felt like striking water’s surface—causing not the slightest harm.

They used this method to gradually wear away at his stamina and patience, forcing him to reveal an opening.

Xiao Li had never experienced this kind of fighting style. The feeling of being toyed with made him anxious, and this anxiety quickly made him pay the price—he already had several wounds on his body.

Each wound was extremely cunning and vicious in placement.

Blood soaked through his clothing, dripping bit by bit from his robe corners to the ground, mixing with the sound of water droplets falling from leaf tips in the forest.

Fine sweat covered Xiao Li’s forehead. He wrapped cloth strips around his hand to prevent slipping when gripping the blade handle in rain and blood. In the growing sound of rain, he closed his eyes, leaving only his ears to listen to the sounds of passage through forest and striking leaves around him.

Extremely faint sounds of footsteps, blade swings, even the friction of sleeves—all became clear in the darkness.

When another water droplet fell from a leaf tip, he drew his blade horizontally to block, intercepting the sword that leapt down from a tree cleaving toward him. Simultaneously he dodged sideways, avoiding by barely half an inch the cold blade that would have swept across his neck. Using the nearly four-foot-long scabbard, he struck the abdomen of the person attacking from the left, forcing them back several steps.

As he sheathed his blade, the scabbard deflected the sharp blade stabbing from behind. The five-foot-long Miao blade thrust forward.

The blade edge broke through flesh, bringing forth blood.

Not even a muffled groan was heard. That group quickly retreated again. Surroundings once more fell into silence with only the pattering rain.

Xiao Li stood with blade in hand in the rain forest, blood dripping from his robes and blade tip, water falling from his hair and jaw, waiting for the opponent’s next attack.

He was progressing rapidly, already adapting to the opponent’s rhythm in this strangulation hunt using anxiety as a weapon, learning to counter-catch their openings.

After observing for a long time in hiding, Captain Pei the Thirteenth felt that hunting this man was truly no different from hunting a fierce beast. He forcefully suppressed the impatience in his heart: “Qian Squad follow me to continue the encirclement kill. Gen Squad search everywhere for the Wen remnant. That remnant isn’t with him—she must be hiding somewhere.”

After speaking, he took the lead raising his blade and jumping down from the tree. He was someone who had fought his way up through the Pei clan hounds by ability, later personally trained by Pei Song to become a capable independent general. In the past when serving by Pei Song’s side, even the jianghu’s number one swordsman who had gone to assassinate Grand Commandant Ao had died under his blade.

His blade technique was renowned for speed. There were even rumors that those flayed alive under his blade only noticed the pain afterward.

Yet when clashing blades with Xiao Li, Captain Pei the Thirteenth felt shocked. This former dynasty remnant’s bodyguard, though struggling to receive his fast blade, never allowed him to find an opening. The crude force overflowing from that blade edge even made his tiger’s mouth faintly numb.

Fighting with fast blades extremely exhausted stamina. When Captain Pei the Thirteenth’s hands were shaken by the opponent’s savage blade swings until he could barely grip his hilt, he retreated a step and let the hounds who had been unable to break through take his place.

He glanced at his blade-holding hand. Seeing his tiger’s mouth had been split open, his expression grew even uglier, the killing intent in his eyes intensifying: “You and that former dynasty remnant will both meet your deaths here tonight!”

—

Wen Yu hid beneath the massive boulder, hearing the sounds of combat from the distant forest. Her fingertips clenched white with worry, her heart burning with anxiety. Yet she also clearly knew that if she went out, not only would she be unable to help, she would instead drag Xiao Li down, so she dared not act rashly.

She tried her utmost to remain calm. That group of people hadn’t found her yet—they shouldn’t deliver a killing blow to Xiao Li.

In this agonizing wait, she suddenly heard what sounded like a dead branch being stepped on—a “crack” from behind the boulder.

Wen Yu’s heart grew vigilant. Was someone searching this way?

The forest floor was covered with dead leaves and had many broken branches. In the pitch darkness of the rainy night, no matter how carefully one walked, there would be times when dead branches were inadvertently stepped on.

This was also why she didn’t even dare change hiding places—once she made noise, it would draw people over.

Wen Yu held her breath and listened intently to whether those footsteps continued approaching.

The reason this batch of death warriors raised by Pei Song were called “hounds” was that they not only had eagle-like vision but also canine-like sense of smell, absolutely incomparable to ordinary scouts in the army. They excelled most at reconnaissance and assassination.

One cloaked person followed the bloody scent that had been greatly diluted by rainwater to the boulder area. He drew his blade and silently continued down along the low slope beside the boulder. Upon seeing a corner of clothing faintly visible in the shrub below, he smiled soundlessly and used his blade to part the shrubbery: “Found you, Princess Hanyang Wengzhu!”

Before Wen Yu, hiding in the recessed area beside the boulder, could raise the stone in her hand to smash toward the person’s head, that person’s blade made a reverse turn, bringing up a flash of cold light. The icy blade instantly pressed against Wen Yu’s neck: “You do have some tricks, but I advise the Princess not to struggle in vain. Otherwise, I’ll have to sever your hand and foot tendons to take you away.”

The shawl on Wen Yu’s body had been placed by her in the shrubbery to lure the enemy. At this moment, that face was completely exposed without concealment to the opponent. She had been rained on for half the night—her face and lips were terribly pale, disheveled black hair scattered over her shoulders and neck. Her entire person seemed like a fragile jade porcelain figure, yet those clear moon-like eyes still stared at the opponent coldly and calmly.

The stone gripped in her hand was ultimately thrown down at her feet.

That person said, “That’s right.”

Seemingly not believing that Wen Yu, a weak woman, could harm him, he sheathed his blade and reached out to seize her arm. Unexpectedly, Wen Yu seemed too frightened—her foot stumbled, and her entire person lurched toward him. No one would refuse a devastatingly beautiful woman’s soft fragrant warmth colliding into them. He instinctively reached out to embrace the beauty’s waist, but suddenly felt a penetrating coolness at his chest.

Wen Yu used the momentum of lunging toward him to viciously stab the dagger she had taken from Tongque earlier into his chest.

The cloaked person’s back smashed to the ground. Bewilderment showed in his eyes as blood spilled from his mouth, yet he still raised his finger to grasp toward Wen Yu’s throat.

Wen Yu used all her strength to continue pressing that dagger down into his chest until it passed the hilt before stopping.

The cloaked person had stopped breathing, his eyes still wide open in bewilderment.

Wen Yu collapsed limply to sit on the ground. This was her first time killing someone—her entire body trembled, her face splattered with blood drops also deathly pale. Yet her mind was strangely calm, knowing she could no longer stay here and must find another hiding place.

She pulled out the dagger, supporting herself on the stone wall to stand, and lifted her foot to walk outside.

Thunder crashed across the sky. Lightning’s white light was torn into the dense forest. Among the ghastly, savage tree shadows, over ten cloaked people who had rushed over upon hearing the disturbance surrounded the boulder area, coming face to face with Wen Yu holding the dagger!