Above the snowy sky, the bright moon hung high.

From the mountain gate of Hongyan Temple to the hillside monastery built against the mountain, lanterns dotted the cold night, creating a majestic and solemn scene.

At the Wild Goose Return Pagoda atop the mountain, Wen Yu sat quietly before a desk, with candles burning brightly on candlesticks on both sides, illuminating the space like daylight.

On the wall niche carved along the mountain directly in front, countless eternal lamps were enshrined. Behind each lamp stood a memorial tablet, among which could be seen the names of Gu Kaiyan, Zhou Jing’an, Gu Changfeng, and others—all memorial tablets for the loyal ministers who had died for Great Liang since its collapse.

Wen Yu held her brush, copying scroll after scroll of Buddhist scriptures. Tongque stood at her side, taking the completed copies to the Azure Cloud Guards, who then orderly spread them on the brick floor before the wall niche.

The tightly closed main hall suddenly echoed with knocking sounds. Tongque stepped forward and opened the door a crack. After listening to the Azure Cloud Guard’s report, she closed the hall door again, walked to Wen Yu’s side, and leaned down to whisper: “Princess, the fish has taken the bait.”

Wen Yu’s jade-white face reflected in the candlelight remained completely serene, continuing to write the scriptures without any reaction.

—

Outside the mountain gate of Hongyan Temple, a procession of soldiers and horses arrived through the snowy night, escorting in the middle of the formation what was unmistakably a black coffin.

The leading official dismounted and bowed with cupped hands to the guards at the mountain gate: “We are escorting the Chen Kingdom’s Cavalry General on his return journey. We received the Princess’s message to establish memorial tablets for all the heroes here, with Abbot Xuanqing personally conducting the salvation rites, so we have specially brought the Cavalry General’s coffin.”

An attendant following the official dismounted and displayed his waist token. After the guard commander at the mountain gate examined the token, he gestured to his subordinates strictly guarding the gate. The Black Armored Guards immediately parted in perfect unison, creating a path wide enough for four people to walk abreast.

The procession escorted Jiang Yu’s coffin through the mountain gate, where a guest monk who had received advance notice came to lead the way.

It being deep night, the ceremony naturally could not be held overnight. After the armored soldiers placed Jiang Yu’s coffin in a side hall, they closed the hall door, leaving only sentries to stand guard outside.

When the watch changed in the second half of the night, a group of Southern Chen soldiers exchanged passwords and took over from the Liang army soldiers who had guarded the hall door in the first half of the night.

Before long, throughout the entire mountain monastery, aside from snowflakes still fluttering in the lamplight under the eaves, everything had fallen completely silent.

The several Southern Chen soldiers guarding the hall door exchanged glances, made a gesture, and silently pushed open the main door of the side hall.

The candle stands in the four corners of the hall had not been extinguished, clearly illuminating all the furnishings inside and the coffin placed in the very center.

After the leading squad leader signaled to his subordinates, four Southern Chen soldiers immediately went to remove the heavy, carved coffin lid.

They had already caught wind that Jiang Yu had not died—this was a scheme by the Liang and Chen camps to deceive the Pei and Wei camps.

Whether true or false would be known after viewing the corpse in this coffin.

The four soldiers had just moved the coffin lid to create a crack when the entire lid was suddenly kicked open from inside. Immediately, some kind of powder was also scattered toward all directions. The Chen soldiers were caught completely off guard and injured in their eyes, forcing them to close their eyes and quickly retreat.

Zhao Bai leapt from the coffin with sword in hand, shouting sternly: “Capture them!”

Taking advantage of the cover provided by the dim yellow curtains in the hall, the Azure Cloud Guards hidden in the rafters also threw out rope nooses, looping them around the necks of the frantically fleeing Chen soldiers. After landing and tightening the ropes, they closed in just as their targets’ hands grasped at the life-strangling cords, dislocating their limbs and jaws.

That Chen army squad leader still wanted to run. Zhao Bai threw his sword scabbard and knocked him to the ground. Enduring the pain and unwilling to give up, he crawled with difficulty toward the hall entrance. With effort, he pried open the door, but when he saw the mass of Liang troops surrounding the area outside, his heart died completely. He tried to bite down on the poison sac hidden behind his teeth, but Zhao Bai caught up and stomped on his jaw, forcibly dislocating his entire jawbone so his teeth could no longer close.

The Liang soldiers surging in from outside also quickly pinned down his limbs.

Zhao Bai stood in the dim yellow candlelight, looking like an asura, coldly demanding: “Who sent you?”

—

In the Wei Mansion dungeon, facing the barrage of arrows released by Wei soldiers, Tao Kui roared and swung up a long table placed in the prison. Together with Zheng Hu, one on the left and one on the right, they gripped the table legs and sides, completely blocking the narrow corridor, advancing up the steps toward the corridor opening above.

The flying arrows all embedded in the long table, some piercing straight through the wooden boards, exposing half of their cold arrowheads.

The group of people in the dungeon finally rushed to the exit using this cover. Tao Kui and Zheng Hu directly used the long table to knock down a swath of Wei soldiers blocking the dungeon exit.

Bows and crossbows were of little use in close combat. The Wei soldiers abandoned their crossbows and charged forward with swords and spears, howling as they engaged in combat.

More than ten Tongzhou soldiers roared as they clashed with those Wei soldiers.

The violent snow fell like cotton wadding. The sound of flames consuming distant pavilions, the alarm gongs ringing throughout the entire Marquis Wei’s mansion, and the panicked shouts of household servants all seemed both blurred and clear in this moment.

Xiao Li had no handy weapon. Using the wrist guards studded with refined iron, he blocked the descending blade’s edge. His gaze was colder and more somber than this howling north wind and snowy night, forcing the human wall of Wei soldiers to retreat again and again.

Song Qin returned with men after burning the Wei Mansion study, shouting from outside the crowd: “State Lord! Catch the blade!”

He threw the seven-foot long blade wrapped in silk toward Xiao Li.

Xiao Li used his arms to cause the human wall to collapse like an avalanche, catching with one hand that heavy, long Miao blade. As the long spears of Wei soldiers behind him thrust forward in unison, he drew the blade from its sheath and severed the spear tips. In the firelight and blood, he raised a pair of dark, wolf-like eyes filled with killing intent: “Tonight, those who obstruct me—die!”

Wei Qishan and his son had marched south, and Liao Jiang had led men to guard Yanle Mountain, so although the entire Marquis Wei’s mansion still had Wei generals stationed there as a precaution, their greatest leverage had been holding Xiao Li to intimidate the righteous army outside the city, preventing them from daring to attack easily. How could they have anticipated that they would raid the mansion at night to rescue prisoners from the jail?

Though the mansion guards were numerous, in this firelight and incessantly clanging bronze gongs, they had long since panicked. The armored soldiers had previously witnessed Xiao Li’s prowess when trying to capture him, and dared not rush forward to their deaths like this.

Xiao Li’s group actually fought their way through the encirclement all the way to the main gate of the Wei Mansion.

The Tongzhou commanders waiting outside had already prepared fast horses. With one whistle, over ten horses galloped urgently from the end of the long street. Xiao Li led his brothers onto the horses’ backs, ready to leave.

The Wei Mansion retainers who had chased them out shouted in exasperation: “Release arrows! Release arrows at them!”

The snow that had accumulated overnight at the mansion gate had been trampled into mud. The horses charged through the human wall outward, but head-on came another person and horse galloping swiftly.

“State Lord Xiao!”

Wei Ang’s armor was covered with a layer of frost-frozen blood. Upon seeing Xiao Li, he was overjoyed, but then seeing the tense standoff between the Wei soldiers behind him and Xiao Li’s group, he immediately understood everything.

He raised high his waist token and shouted to the Wei clan behind: “Do not release arrows!”

The Wei Mansion retainers left to stand guard, seeing the arrival was Wei Ang, dared not act rashly and signaled the Wei soldiers below to put away their bows and crossbows.

Wei Ang dismounted, took out another blood-stained object from his waist and presented it to Xiao Li. His face was covered in blood, but it could not hide the desolation on his face: “Please, State Lord Xiao, save General Liao, save Northern Wei!”

The Wei army held torches, and by that firelight, one could clearly see that what Wei Ang held in his hands was unmistakably a tiger tally.

Xiao Li sat high on horseback. Flying snow pelted his face, making his features appear more stern than ever before: “What do you mean?”

Wei Ang recalled the brutal nature of this battle, his eyes reddening as he said: “Yanle Mountain… cannot be held. General Liao was severely wounded and specifically ordered me to return and ask State Lord Xiao to defend the northern border in his stead. This is the military tally that can command the Wolf Cavalry.”

Zheng Hu and the others all had bloodstains on their bodies. Hearing this, their expressions couldn’t help but show some mockery.

Xiao Li’s expression was cold: “I no longer owe Wei Qishan anything. What do your Northern Wei affairs have to do with me?”

Wei Ang also saw the bloodstains on Zheng Hu, Tao Kui, and the others, then looked at the Wei soldiers behind holding crossbows. That Wei Mansion retainer’s expression clearly showed some guilty conscience, not daring to meet Wei Ang’s gaze.

Wei Ang knew he had no face, and in his grief, holding the tiger tally, he knelt down before Xiao Li: “If Yanle Mountain falls and the barbarians invade, it will be the common people throughout the entire northern border who suffer. Though the Wei clan has many wrongs against State Lord Xiao, I humbly beseech State Lord Xiao to take pity on the people within the border and help Northern Wei this one more time!”

Xiao Li said coldly: “Yanle Mountain’s weak defense failing—that is caused by your Marquis Wei deploying troops south for conquest to contend for this realm, not the fault of this Xiao Li. The tens of thousands of sons under my command also have families. They have neither their parents here, nor their wives, younger siblings, and sisters. Those who died here blocking the barbarians already number in the thousands. Besides suspicion and sending them to their deaths, what else has your Wei camp ever given them? What I must promise now is to take them home!”

With that, he viciously spurred his horse’s flanks and galloped into the night of the long street.

Zheng Hu snorted coldly at Wei Ang before also riding off with Song Qin and the others.

Wei Ang knelt in the snowy ground, his figure suddenly swaying, his face full of grief, ashen as death.

The Wei soldiers at the Wei Mansion gate hurriedly surrounded him.

That Wei Mansion retainer tried to reach out to help him up, but was swatted away. Wei Ang supported himself on the ground to rise, as if his soul had left him. Looking again at this entire Yuzhou City still silent in the cold night, he cried out in sorrow: “Open the city gates, quickly beat the gongs to notify the people in the city to evacuate south overnight!”

Hearing that the situation was so urgent, the Wei Mansion retainer also panicked and hurriedly signaled those below to do as Wei Ang instructed.

Wei Ang was practically standing on willpower alone. The frost-hardened blood in his palm now melted into a sticky red. Almost in despair, he ordered: “See how many soldiers can still be assembled in the city. Gather the troops at the North City Gate and follow me to Yanle Mountain to assist General Liao!”

The barbarians were most skilled at feinting east and striking west, attacking one place then switching locations.

Wei Qishan’s southern expedition had withdrawn nearly half the troops. The barbarians used the same old tricks, dragging the Wolf Cavalry soldiers and horses into exhaustion before launching a massive invasion—this was how Liao Jiang had fallen into their trap.

At present, only if Xiao Li’s thirty thousand righteous troops stepped forward could the situation perhaps be salvaged.

—

Xiao Li’s group galloped their horses all the way, but soon Wei soldiers also rode through the major streets and alleys beating bronze gongs and shouting: “The barbarians have broken through! Leave the city immediately!”

Lamps and candles in every household lit up one by one. Panicked voices and children’s crying completely shattered the silence of this snowy night.

Soon people broke open their doors and ran out carrying hastily gathered bundles of valuables.

Young couples fled with crying infants. A child lay on his father’s shoulder, crying and shouting toward the old woman standing at the doorway of their home behind them, propped up in the cold wind: “Grandmother… Grandmother…”

That old woman wiped her reddened eyes with her sleeve, only saying mournfully: “Don’t cry… don’t cry. Grandmother is too old, can’t go anymore. Gou’er, you and your parents must live well…”

Not far ahead, thugs even seized the opportunity to rob those from moderately prosperous families who were packing bundles to flee, directly snatching their packages and making off, leaving families of old and young weeping in desolation.

In the chaos, what finally awakened those households that had not yet lit candles was no longer the sound of gongs, but the omnipresent sound of crying.

Xiao Li reined in his horse amidst the crowd, letting the flying snow fall piece by piece onto his clothes and hair.

Zheng Hu called out: “Second Brother?”

Xiao Li raised his eyes to look at Song Qin and said: “Big Brother, go outside the city for me and ask our brothers—those willing to stay and follow me to kill barbarians, enter the city; those who want to return home, give them their pay and let them leave on their own.”

Then he looked at Zheng Hu and the others: “The same goes for all of you.”