“Fall back!” Qin Zhiyan roared fiercely, leading the Yan Battalion in retreat until they stopped beyond arrow range. Chu Li had placed Qing Xia at the very front of the Chu army, cutting off any chance for the Qin forces to retaliate with their bows. The current battle situation was completely one-sided. Even though Qin Zhiyan was unmatched in the world, he had no choice but to temporarily avoid their sharp edge.
“Haha!” Chu Li suddenly burst into loud laughter, his unrestrained voice echoing across the wilderness of White Deer Plain. “So the famous Yan Battalion turns out to be so utterly vulnerable! Such reputation truly disappoints!”
Qin Zhiyan sat high atop his warhorse, still wearing that same calm expression, saying in a deep voice: “Chu Li, release Yima’er. This has nothing to do with her. Be a man and fight me one-on-one, don’t drag her into this.”
“I haven’t done anything to her,” Chu Li suddenly sneered coldly, speaking with a mocking tone: “The only one who can kill her is you!”
“Men!” Chu Li suddenly raised an eyebrow, giving those soldiers a meaningful look, and roared explosively: “Since the Third Prince has come in the dead of night, let us get properly acquainted with him.”
Le Song waved his battle flag, and four soldiers lifted Qing Xia, walking before the Chu army with the Southern Chu forces following behind, advancing step by step like harbingers of doom toward the Yan Battalion.
The battle flag waved once, stopped. Bows drawn, arrows nocked, sharp arrows instantly flew like a plague of locusts, once again savagely cutting through the sky.
The Yan Battalion hastily retreated. Despite having shields for protection, some were still wounded. Blood instantly permeated the dark night. Carrion eagles circled in the sky, waiting for the magnificent feast after death. Lives fell layer upon layer like wheat, the bloody smell immediately rushed through limbs and bones, bone-deep agony crawled from the spine into the brain, madly tearing at every nerve in Qing Xia’s body. Qing Xia’s eyes widened, bloodshot with rage. She suddenly whipped her head around, glaring furiously at Chu Li, shrieking in a harsh voice: “Chu Li! Don’t give yourself a reason to hate me!”
Chu Li coldly turned his head, his gaze icy, filled with mocking disdain, humming evilly: “Too many people hate me already, I don’t lack for one more. Do you think I would care?”
The brief loss of strength and weakness throughout her body gradually passed. Qing Xia’s eyes gradually cleared, and she looked coldly at Chu Li, speaking almost viciously word by word: “I owe you nothing. From the beginning at Lanting Hall, you have been constantly forcing me. My every action can be witnessed by heaven, testified by sun and moon. If you had even a shred of reason and sense, sooner or later you would understand how foolish everything you’re doing today is.”
Chu Li snorted coldly, unwilling to say even one more word, only raising his hand decisively once more as pitch-black arrows rained across the sky.
Qin Zhiyan stood at the front of his formation. Sharp arrows swept up like a torrential downpour. Qing Xia immediately screamed, shouting desperately at Qin Zhiyan: “Go! Leave!”
Unable to contain the despair bursting from her chest any longer, Qing Xia wept profusely, her voice so sorrowful she couldn’t control it, crying out mournfully to Qin Zhiyan: “Please, I beg you, go! Leave this place! Qin Zhiyan, the person Yima’er has wronged most in this life is you. Go! Don’t worry about me anymore!”
Qin Zhiyan stood motionless as a mountain, his features handsome and resolute. His usually somewhat frail-looking body suddenly stood as steady as a towering mountain, facing the bloodthirsty and savage Chu forces with decisive severity, like a white eagle battling a hurricane, possessing indomitable will and tenacity that even gods would look upon with admiration.
Qing Xia’s tears poured down like a flood, her body struggling violently. Chu Li suddenly flew into a rage, roaring deeply: “Since you seek death, why shouldn’t I oblige you? Men! Bring out the catapults!”
The catapults originally prepared for attacking White Deer Fort’s walls were instantly moved onto this vast plain. Chu Li roared fiercely, and massive stones crashed toward the Yan Battalion like roaring floodwaters! In an instant, blood filled heaven and earth, piercing screams shrieked above the nine heavens, countless souls wailed desperately in the firmament, long winds howled, blood and mud mixed together, spurting white brain matter and scorching soldiers’ blood sprayed cascading blood mist within the Yan Battalion. The woman’s screams echoed across the vast snowy plain, everything like an apocalyptic chant, filled with desperate slaughter and bloodthirsty madness.
Chu Li’s laughter shook the clouds. At this moment, Zhuang Dianru’s hopes had finally become reality. Those fanatical rebels against heaven had finally used their mad souls to achieve this world-destroying dark king. After killing all hope in his life, he had finally fallen deep into the demonic path, like a bloodthirsty madman, completely and utterly consumed by cruelty.
“No!” Qing Xia shrieked harshly, her voice piercing like ghostly wailing. Watching Qin Zhiyan’s figure among the chaotic stones, her heart was nearly torn apart by cruel hands. Her head felt ready to explode. She suddenly turned around, glaring furiously at those cruel executioners!
The woman’s gaze instantly became as cold as accumulated snow atop the Tianshan Mountains, carrying blade-like cold gleams in the pitch-black night, penetrating layers of blood and darkness, firmly nailing those Chu soldiers with world-destroying hatred. These were all former Black Guards who had once been intimate with her, many of whom she had personally selected and promoted from the military headquarters. She had taught them martial arts and strategies, taught them various defensive tactics, taught them simple mechanical principles, improved various elite weapons for them, and even this catapult that could be used on flat ground with extremely close range but tremendous power—all came from her own hands. But at this moment, they were using things she had personally created to cruelly slaughter the person she cared about!
These demons! Madmen! A group of conscienceless destroyers!
“I will never forgive you!” The woman’s cold voice exploded between the two armies like a curse, long winds stirring, black hair fierce, the pale woman roaring hoarsely: “You ungrateful wretches! I will never forgive you!”
A young soldier who had once been personally promoted by Qing Xia immediately turned pale with shock. His long-held admiration and respect for the woman instantly transformed into fear. His hands trembling, he accidentally triggered the catapult’s adjustment mechanism. With a loud bang, the massive stone shot up like a small mountain, soaring straight into the sky. This wasn’t the height for long-distance attacks—it spun like a howling beast in the air, suddenly reaching its highest point before plummeting down, heading savagely toward Qing Xia who was firmly bound before the Chu army!
“Ah!”
Time seemed frozen in an instant. Everyone stared dumbfounded at that rolling boulder. Qing Xia suddenly raised her head, pale-faced, staring directly at that massive falling stone!
“Miss!” The Black Guards suddenly roared in terror together, drowning out Chu Li’s voice. The man who had been full of mockery instantly turned deathly pale, his brows tightly furrowed. He was momentarily stunned, then suddenly charged toward Qing Xia’s direction!
“Yima’er!” Qin Zhiyan roared angrily. In an instant, like a whirlwind, the cool man became like an enraged leopard. An unprecedented expression of desperation appeared on his face. Tremendous explosive power suddenly materialized from thin air. His body had transformed into lightning, cutting a bright streak through the pitch-black night, carrying reckless madness, reaching out his pale but resolute hand toward that woman gazing up at death in the darkness.
How could he just give up like this? Those warm memories, those burning emotions, those words yet unspoken—all were spurring him on, roaring in his mind. Faster, faster still, could he go even faster? Heaven, if you truly have eyes, then please give me this moment, just one incense stick’s time, no, half an incense stick, no, just one instant, just one instant. As long as I can save her, I’m willing to exchange all my life, all my time, everything with you!
In a flash of lightning, everything was almost like a tornado. With a thunderous crash, the great stone smashed down where Qing Xia was bound!
Cold winds howled, heavy snow swirled. In everyone’s stunned gaze, they saw Qin Zhiyan in brilliant white armor, his helmet fallen, hair disheveled, his face pale without a trace of blood. But his body stood like a towering mountain. That cross-shaped wooden stake that required four strong men to lift had been forcibly pulled out by him and carried on his back!
The boulder that missed by mere inches fell before them, and after crashing down, it continued rolling toward the two of them with tremendous force. However, Qin Zhiyan carried the wooden stake on his back with one hand while his other hand pressed firmly against the boulder that was more than ten times larger than his body, like a frozen painting, forcibly stopping the boulder’s advance despite its tremendous momentum. Long winds swept up his hair, his consciousness nearly flew beyond the heavens, his ears thundered, his eyes filled with blood. Suddenly, a mouthful of warm liquid gushed forth, splashing entirely onto that boulder!
“Your Highness!” Explosive voices suddenly rang out from behind. Countless Yan Battalion soldiers surged forward like a tide, while the Southern Chu Black Guards who had previously savagely blocked their advance made no move, only staring with wide eyes, hardly believing what they witnessed.
What conquered such natural mighty force was not martial arts, not skill, not the mind that could scheme across the world!
It was tenacity, willpower, the fanatical determination to achieve one’s goal at any cost, burning bridges, risking everything! Qing Xia was still bound to the wooden stake, lying on Qin Zhiyan’s back, feeling his strong spine, sensing his overwhelming heat and strength, watching his shocking blood, as if stimulated, she could not speak a single word. Time roared past, transcending life and death. Finally, she opened her trembling lips and screamed Qin Zhiyan’s name in terror.
With a thunderous rumble, the earth beneath suddenly made violent cracking sounds. People looked on in horror as the snow-covered ground bearing that boulder suddenly began to shake. Struck by such force, this White Deer Plain snow that had accumulated for thousands of years finally began to loosen. Heaven and earth seemed to rage, and before anyone could react, with a thunderous crash, that blood-stained boulder suddenly sank downward, and in an instant was deeply swallowed by the white snow!