In that instant, the survival instinct of the man crouching on the ground wrenched his body sideways. Ma Jianye rolled clear on the spot, dodging the arrow.

But a second arrow came — and struck him in the left shoulder!

Ma Jianye cried out and gritted his teeth, turning his head to look back. He saw Xie Yuzhang already nocking a third arrow.

One shot could still be called an accident. A second could no longer be explained away, let alone the fact that Xie Yuzhang was about to loose a third. At this point, there was no more need to ask why. All Ma Jianye needed to know was that Xie Yuzhang wanted him dead — that was enough.

Ma Jianye rolled, and the third arrow missed. He scrambled to his feet and broke into a desperate sprint.

“Stop him,” Xie Yuzhang commanded.

Her voice at that moment was neither soft nor gentle — it was cold and clear, flat and calm.

For all that Li Yong fancied himself the sharpest mind in the village, here the difference between those who had been through something and those who hadn’t became starkly apparent — the moment Xie Yuzhang’s order fell, Wang Zhong’s saber sang out of its scabbard with a sharp clang, and he spurred his horse into a charge; while Li Yong sat in his saddle, blank-faced.

Yes, he had heard Xie Yuzhang’s command. He simply could not make sense of it.

What was the Princess asking them to do?

That was Ma Jianye! The head of the guard! A comrade, a colleague — a superior!

Within the range of a single shot, Wang Zhong’s horse was on him in an instant. He gritted his teeth and brought his blade slashing down toward Ma Jianye.

Ma Jianye heard the hoofbeats, looked back, and saw the blade descending. He ducked low at the last second, rolled under the horse’s belly, and came out the other side.

Wang Zhong’s first strike missed. He leapt from his horse and continued the pursuit on foot.

Ma Jianye had drawn his own saber as well, and he met the blow head-on with the flat of his blade. Then came a rapid series of ringing clashes, sparks flying, and within moments the two men had already exchanged several rounds.

Li Yong sat there with his mouth hanging open, turning to stare at Xie Yuzhang.

Xie Yuzhang’s profile was also beautiful — the line of her forehead, the bridge of her nose, the shape of her lips, all beautiful. But what burned itself into Li Yong’s memory was only the cold curl at the corner of her lips, and her clear, cool voice: “Are you going or not?”

Li Yong snapped awake as if from a dream!

He drew his blade, let out a shout, spurred his horse forward, and threw himself into the fray!

Yet in his heart, he kept thinking — how is this real? How has it come to this, that he is drawing his blade against his own comrade, his own superior?

Li Yong was different from Wang Zhong in this: though Li Yong had killed a bear, he had never drawn human blood. The year the bandit suppression called for a detachment of men, only the squad Wang Zhong was in had been selected.

Li Yong had never killed a person.

Though he had worn a soldier’s coat for many years, at his core he was really just a farmer from a settlement — occasionally moonlighting as a hunter. He was a strong man, having killed bears, but his blade kept going soft at the last moment, veering off, slipping sideways, as if on its own.

He could not overcome the battle in his own heart in so short a time. The shackles of long-held identities and rank bound his blade.

Wang Zhong was considerably better off. Because if his blade so much as hesitated, the glint of Li Gu’s blade flashing in snowlight appeared in his mind, vivid as ever.

That blade hung over his head, and it would not allow him to go soft.

But Ma Jianye was far more ferocious than either of them!

Because both of them had some degree of restraint in their hearts — hesitation, uncertainty, confusion — while Ma Jianye was a cornered beast with no way out. Kill or be killed!

Ma Jianye had already realized that today’s hunting outing was nothing but a trap to surround and slaughter him. Even those recent frequent hunts Xie Yuzhang had organized over these past days had been rehearsals, preparation, a scheme to lull and relax his vigilance.

The will to survive drove him to an explosive outburst of power that likely represented the peak of his physical prowess in his entire life. Against two opponents, he held his own.

First Ma Jianye kicked Wang Shitou back several stumbling steps, then swung another kick. Li Yong twisted aside to dodge — and unexpectedly, Ma Jianye’s blade swept sideways and caught him across the flank. Li Yong cried out and crashed to the ground.

Wang Shitou steadied himself and looked over in alarm, going first to check on Li Yong. The blade had sliced through the padded jacket and cut skin and flesh — but it was only a surface wound. Wang Shitou breathed with relief, turned back around, and found that Ma Jianye had already broken away and was running for his life.

Wang Shitou dropped Li Yong and charged after him. He let out a roar and brought his blade down from behind with tremendous force.

Ma Jianye heard it, spun around, and parried. But he was never a man who had trained with any great diligence; after that burst of fierce exertion, the brief pause had left him visibly spent.

The two blades collided, and Ma Jianye’s saber flew from his grip. The force of Wang Shitou’s blow sent him stumbling backward until he fell and sat hard on the ground.

The tide had turned completely.

Wang Shitou gritted his teeth and advanced, blade raised.

Ma Jianye scrambled backward in terror, shouting desperately, “Shitou! Brother Shitou! I’ve done you no wrong! Brother Shitou! Big Brother Shitou! We both came from Yunjing, we’re both Zhao people…”

But the man before him was no longer Wang Shitou. He was Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong would not hesitate again. He gritted his teeth and lifted his blade.

Ma Jianye scrambled frantically backward, clawing at the ground!

Wang Zhong’s final blow was about to fall — and then an arrow came streaking like a meteor from the side, and the blow never landed.

Because the arrow had passed through the side of Ma Jianye’s throat.

Ma Jianye’s expression went blank. He had no idea what had just happened. His hand reached up to his neck, touched the end of the arrow shaft, and not understanding what it was, he pulled —

Blood sprayed from the side of his neck and poured from his mouth. Ma Jianye’s eyes bulged, his expression horrific. He went rigid for a few breaths, then finally collapsed to the ground, his eyes still wide open, unable to find peace even in death.

Wang Zhong stood there holding his blade, staring at the body, slightly dazed.

He turned his head slowly and saw Xie Yuzhang.

She had already dismounted. Her long braids and the hem of her riding coat snapped and rippled in the wind. She held her bow in her hand, the string still faintly trembling.

Xie Yuzhang lowered her bow and walked over to him. She nudged Ma Jianye’s body with her foot — he didn’t move, dead through and through. Then she looked at Wang Zhong. He stood in a daze, and the way he looked at her was completely unlike before.

Xie Yuzhang glanced at him.

A bolt of lightning struck Wang Zhong’s mind. He came back to himself. He planted his blade in the ground, dropped to one knee before Xie Yuzhang, and bowed his head deeply.

Xie Yuzhang glanced over at Li Yong, who was sitting on the ground pressing his hand to his wound.

Li Yong, too, was in a daze — but that look jolted him awake.

Still pressing his wound, he pushed himself up from the ground, knelt down, and bowed his head low.

Xie Yuzhang turned to look back at the slope they had come from.

Zhao Sheng and the guards had heard the shouting from this direction and come riding over. They were all stopped on the slope, staring over with wide eyes — it was evident they had witnessed everything.

Seeing Xie Yuzhang look toward them, someone — by instinct, it seemed — nudged their horse forward, leading the others over. When they reached Xie Yuzhang, they dismounted. They looked at the body on the ground, at the kneeling men, then at Xie Yuzhang.

Silence.

Xie Yuzhang said, slowly, “Ma Jianye was insolent and defied his mistress. I have had him put to death.”

Xie Yuzhang had no need to fabricate any elaborate reason to kill Ma Jianye. The words “insolent and defied his mistress” were sufficient.

Because she was still the Princess of Great Zhao. She was the ruler, and Ma Jianye was the subject.

The order of ruler and subject, of parent and child — a husband is the heaven of his wife. This was the governing principle of the world they lived in.

Zhao Sheng was standing very close to Li Yong. Li Yong reached out and grabbed a fistful of his soldier’s jacket and yanked it downward. Zhao Sheng caught on, and with a thud dropped to one knee, his voice trembling: “This officer was late to defend Your Highness — I beg Your Highness to forgive me!”

The guards dropped to their knees in unison: “We beg Your Highness to forgive us!”

No one dared lift their heads.

All this time, in their hearts, Princess Baohua had been beautiful, delicate, precious, and gentle.

Only in this moment did they truly, tangibly realize that this young woman of extraordinary beauty was their sovereign. She held the power of life and death over them — and she had the heart to exercise it.

For the first time, they felt genuine awe toward her.

Regardless of whether Wang Zhong had changed his name, or whether he claimed he would be loyal to her for the rest of his life — Xie Yuzhang understood that it was only in this moment that she had truly brought Wang Zhong under her command. Truly brought all these men under her command.

Not by borrowing Li Gu’s strength and authority. By her own power to inspire dread.

In this life, the loyalty of the men led by Wang Zhong toward her was not, as it had been in her previous life, born of gratitude. In this life, their loyalty to her was born of awe.

It didn’t matter. Gratitude or awe, it made no difference.

Xie Yuzhang stood there, looking at the backs of these men’s bowed heads, at the curve of their backs as they bent down, and felt beneath her feet the solid ground of a firm foundation.

Good.

“Sever his head and bring it back to make an example.” She said. “Give Li Yong medicine and treat his wound.”

She finished speaking, hung her bow, and mounted her horse.

Zhao Sheng got up to examine Li Yong’s injury. Li Yong urgently shoved him aside and said in a low voice, “Never mind me! Hurry and follow Her Highness!”

Li Yong was the sharpest-eyed among all their brothers. Whenever something happened, the others often looked to Li Yong to decide what to do.

Hearing him say this, Zhao Sheng pressed his lips together, hastily pointed at a guard to stay behind, and scrambled onto his horse to follow Xie Yuzhang.

Wang Zhong, without a word, walked over, raised his blade high, and brought it down — severing Ma Jianye’s head with a single clean stroke.

That one cut: precise and clean, without the slightest hesitation.

Li Yong watched him. The way he looked at him was different now, too.

The people of the Central Plains were naturally inclined to put down roots. The Zhao people who had come with Xie Yuzhang to Mobei had, over these past months, completely mastered many of the skills needed for life here. With the weather so clear and bright, men and women alike were bringing their children out to collect dried cattle dung, pressing it into flat patties, spreading them out in rows, and letting them dry in the sun for fuel.

“Look, it’s the Princess!” a child suddenly called out.

The Princess was very kind and approachable toward her subjects, and her maids would sometimes reach into the pouches at their waists and pull out sweets for the children. The children all adored them, yet were repeatedly warned by the adults not to crowd too close.

The Princess and her maids were always so clean and fine; the children were inevitably covered in the smell of cattle dung.

But the Princess never seemed to mind. Whenever she looked at these lively, active children who were already doing their share of the family’s work at such a young age, her eyes were always full of a warm, gentle smile.

So the children rarely heeded the adults’ warnings either, and whenever they saw the Princess, they would still swarm toward her.

After enough times of this, the adults saw that the Princess didn’t hold it against them, and stopped trying to stop them. The women also liked being near the Princess and her maids. They would look at their clothing and ornaments, and even if they themselves could never afford to wear or wear them, just looking was a pleasure.

But today, a woman suddenly screamed.

“A head! A head! There’s a dead man!” the woman shrieked, startled out of her wits.

The Zhao people gathered in uncertain agitation, pointing and murmuring at the blood-dripping head that Wang Zhong carried on his horse.

Someone recognized it and cried out in horror, “Isn’t that — isn’t that General Ma?”

Xie Yuzhang reined in her horse.

This time she didn’t need to speak. Wang Zhong had already called out loudly, “Ma Jianye was insolent and defied his mistress — he has been put to death! Do not be alarmed, everyone — all is well!”

Xie Yuzhang spoke: “The matter of Ma Jianye does not concern any of you. Everyone go back to what you were doing. Disperse.”

Then she nudged her horse forward and rode toward her own tent.

Compared to Ma Jianye, the Zhao people were far more familiar with Wang Zhong. A few of the bolder men gathered around and blocked his path, asking, “General Wang, what exactly happened here?”

Wang Zhong said, “I’m just a regimental commander — don’t call me General.”

Then he added, “Don’t worry. We’ll give you a full account shortly.”

With that, Wang Zhong, Li Yong, and the others also spurred their horses and followed behind. Several guards, on Xie Yuzhang’s orders, went to the military barracks to summon the troop commanders of each company; others went to notify the Princess’s household retainers; and others still went to the residential quarters to summon the managers of each group.

The change in leadership of the Princess’s guard was a matter of significance for all these Zhao people — it involved a reshuffling of authority and an adjustment of personnel.

When Xie Yuzhang returned to her tent, Lin Fei hurried out to meet her. Xie Yuzhang clasped both of Lin Fei’s hands in her own, and their eyes met.

“Was it done?” Lin Fei asked.

“It was done.” Xie Yuzhang nodded.

Lin Fei saw a light in Xie Yuzhang’s eyes.

This light was not merely the joy of having accomplished something. It came from somewhere deeper — it seemed to make Xie Yuzhang herself glow brighter.

The grief and anguish that had filled her eyes when she had told Lin Fei that “dream” seemed as if it had been purified by this light.

Lin Fei broke into a smile and tightened her grip on Xie Yuzhang’s hands.