“Qing Xia!” Chu Li’s voice was low and deep, carrying a trace of faint anger. His eyes were pitch black as he watched Qing Xia staring blankly and fixedly at Qin Zhiyan. His fury surged upward wave after wave. Suddenly he spurred his horse forward two steps, grabbed Qing Xia’s wrist firmly, and said in a deep voice: “Come back with me!”

Qing Xia’s wrist ached as Chu Li gripped her tightly in his embrace. She was immediately furious and suddenly raised her head, only to crash directly into Chu Li’s dark, profound eyes.

Chu Li’s eyes seemed to have stirred up a tremendous tornado, pitch black and deeply mysterious, like a gambler who had staked his entire fortune, staring directly at Qing Xia with pain in his eyes that he couldn’t hide in time. The strength in his hands immediately lessened. Qing Xia’s body went soft as she was pulled over by Chu Li, and her warhorse beneath her let out a long whinny, slowly moving toward Chu Li’s direction.

“Yima’er!” The pale, lightly-armored general raised an eyebrow, his face distant as smoke-veiled trees flashing with a trace of anger. He pressed his lips tight and struck like lightning, grabbing Qing Xia’s other hand and pulling forcefully, yanking Qing Xia’s body back from leaning toward Chu Li.

Lightning like a coiling dragon spewing fire shuttled through the thick cloud layers, illuminating everything around in brilliant white as grass swayed and wild sand whirled. With a crisp crack, both men exerted force almost simultaneously. Qing Xia’s face, washed clean by the heavy rain, showed a trace of delicate pallor as her brows immediately furrowed tightly together. Her warhorse beneath her was pulled back and forth in a tug-of-war, suddenly rearing up on its hind legs with a shrill whinny. The woman on horseback had her black hair flying and her garments dancing in the wild wind.

Under bolt after bolt of brilliant white lightning, the pale woman seemed like a broken butterfly, sitting high on her warhorse with blood-stained clothing and tightly furrowed brows. Her slender wrists were firmly grasped in the palms of two of the world’s most outstanding men. In that instant, all three of their bodies seemed to turn to stone, frozen on the vast, desolate wilderness. Under the overwhelming lightning and thunder, the sharp gleams in their eyes clashed like blade edges and arrow rain in bloodthirsty combat under the long sky.

“Swoosh!” With a tremendous sound, Chu Li drew his long blade from his waist and slashed down furiously at Qin Zhiyan, shouting coldly: “Let go!”

Qin Zhiyan drew his sword like lightning, striking like electricity, resembling an ancient dragon coiling upward as he suddenly parried Chu Li’s offensive, laughing coldly: “By what right?”

“She is my consort!” Under the torrential rain, like a dragon entering the sea, cold sharp gleams danced through the sky with cunning and strange angles, their forms changing in thousands of ways.

Qin Zhiyan laughed coldly as he met the enemy, not falling behind in the slightest. Hearing these words, he said coldly: “You mean the discarded consort proclaimed to the world and given the name ‘Dissolute’? Chu Li! You don’t deserve to possess her at all!”

“You’re seeking death!” Chu Li roared furiously, spurring his horse forward thunderously. Qin Zhiyan showed no fear, raising his sword to resist the enemy. The large armies behind both men saw their commanders fighting and also spurred their horses forward together. In an instant, shouting voices rang out as one, hoofbeats like thunder, rumbling sounds echoing throughout heaven and earth. Heavy rain poured down, yellow mud mixed together, the sky was pitch black and low-hanging, thick clouds rolled inversely, and the space between heaven and earth was blood red.

“Stop!” Qing Xia shouted loudly, but how could her voice be heard in such earth-shaking rumbling? By this time, Chu Li and Qin Zhiyan were already fighting together, blades and swords coming and going, killing intent cold as frost. However, neither of these stubborn men was willing to be the first to release Qing Xia’s hand. Suddenly, Qing Xia’s warhorse lost its balance from being pulled and tugged, let out a sharp, long whinny, and bolted away. Qing Xia’s body suddenly became airborne, falling backward and downward.

Almost simultaneously, Chu Li and Qin Zhiyan both turned their heads. Both men’s blade edges suddenly stopped. Each still held one of Qing Xia’s wrists. With a thunderous sound, both simultaneously leaped down from their horses like two eagles, together supporting Qing Xia’s back and landing steadily on the ground.

The three were so close they could almost hear each other’s heavy breathing. Seeing that Qing Xia was unharmed, Chu Li and Qin Zhiyan simultaneously raised their heads and stared tightly into each other’s eyes. The space was small and weapons couldn’t be properly deployed. With two swooshing sounds, they sheathed their blade and sword and began fighting hand-to-hand.

Qing Xia raised an eyebrow in furious anger. Looking at the thousands of soldiers not far away fighting in a chaotic mass with earth-shaking battle cries, she was even more incensed. A sharp gleam flashed in her eyes. Her two held hands suddenly made a slippery twist – the small grappling technique’s escape method with reverse grabbing. Her hands formed claws and tightly gripped Chu Li and Qin Zhiyan’s wrists. Both men were greatly startled and turned back simultaneously. Qing Xia angrily exerted force, using her legs in a scissor sweep. Caught off guard, Chu Li and Qin Zhiyan both fell heavily to the ground.

Qing Xia’s body pivoted like an agile leopard, instantly bouncing up from the ground and landing in front of the two men. Her knees immediately pressed down on both men’s chests as she raised an eyebrow and said angrily: “What do you take me for?”

Both men were stunned. Seeing Qing Xia’s fierce appearance, they were simultaneously speechless. Chu Li was somewhat better off, having experienced countless battles and understanding Qing Xia’s character. Poor Qin Zhiyan, in his light armor and battle robes, lay in the muddy water filled with yellow mud, his expression shocked and dumbfounded. Such an expression appearing on his face looked quite comical.

Under the washing of the pouring rain, with thunder and lightning flashing across the sky, Qing Xia glared angrily with fierce eyes, her knees pressing on the two men’s chests, her hands gripping their shoulders, shouting furiously: “You’re both grown men, yet you still fight like children?”

“Qin Zhiyan, go back to your Great Qin. Do you know how many people you’ve killed by causing trouble here?” Qing Xia turned her head to look at Qin Zhiyan and said angrily.

Qin Zhiyan’s eyes darkened, his brows slightly furrowing. Before he could speak, Chu Li beside him gloated: “My family affairs are not for an outsider to interfere with. She is my consort – you’d better give up your foolish fantasies.”

“Chu Li! Are you crazy? When did I ever acknowledge being your consort?”

“You!” Chu Li was furious and shouted in a deep voice: “Zhuang Qing Xia, don’t go too far!”

“The one going too far is you!” Qin Zhiyan came to his senses, broke free from Qing Xia’s restraint with a forceful motion, flipped up, and immediately attacked Chu Li. Seeing this, Chu Li followed suit, drawing his waist blade and raising it in a horizontal slash. With crackling bright sparks, Chu Li and Qin Zhiyan both shuddered simultaneously, their blade edge and sword point both nicked, but without resting even a moment, they were entangled in combat again.

Qing Xia grew extremely anxious. She drew her hooked chain, dancing with both hands, her body nimbly twisting, then suddenly swung out, hooking both men’s weapons. With a swoosh, she seized their blades and threw them aside.

Chu Li and Qin Zhiyan simultaneously stopped and looked to the side with tacit understanding. They saw the corpses of two soldiers who had died together not far away, each pierced by a spear filled with blood light. Taking large strides and leaping forward, they simultaneously grabbed the spear shafts, pulled out the long spears, and thrust rapidly toward each other. Their spear work was like dragons, qi flowing in all directions, with streams of bright white mixed with blood red light flashing and dancing everywhere. Heavy rain poured down on both men’s heads with crackling sounds. Lightning and thunder filled the sky. Both men were agile and possessed superior martial arts. Behind their illustrious backgrounds lay soaring pride and stubborn refusal to admit defeat.

“Damn it!” Qing Xia snorted angrily, pushed aside several soldiers blocking her view, and ran toward the two men’s direction.

“Stop fighting! Don’t fight anymore!” Disregarding danger, she grabbed both long spears. Qing Xia frowned as her palms immediately felt a burning pain. Her peeling palms were bloody, but she still gripped the two spears tightly and said sternly: “Enough!”

“Hmph!” Both men snorted simultaneously with tacit understanding and released their grips at the same time. Qing Xia had just picked up the two spears and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw each man pick up a battle blade and begin clashing again with crackling sounds.

Suddenly, earth-shaking explosive sounds rang out in the distance. Qing Xia frowned and looked over to see the beast speaker rescued by Qin Zhiyan holding a white bone flute, hiding outside the battle situation, playing sharp, high-pitched tones. Howling beast herds came galloping wildly from the distance. Remembering the trouble these wild beasts had caused before, Qing Xia was extremely annoyed. No longer paying attention to Chu Li and Qin Zhiyan, she ran wildly toward the beast speaker.

“Qing Xia!” “Yima’er!”

Both men shouted simultaneously, leaping through the air and running with large strides toward Qing Xia’s direction, still swinging their blades and slashing while running, trying to block each other’s advance.

“Evil creature!” Qing Xia roared loudly, drew the dagger from her calf, and charged at the old man, shouting sternly: “Die!”

“Yima’er, be careful!” Qin Zhiyan was greatly alarmed, his eyes red with fury as he shouted. At this moment, Chu Li’s long blade had already slashed before his eyes. Unable to retreat and dodge, Qin Zhiyan suddenly raised his hands and grabbed Chu Li’s thunderously powerful slashing strike. In an instant, blood light blazed greatly, a line of blood shot skyward. Qin Zhiyan’s brows slightly furrowed, but using this time, he gained two steps on Chu Li. Throwing his whole body forward, he wrapped his arms around Qing Xia’s body and rolled to the side.

Chu Li’s eyes were red with fury as he shouted loudly: “Qin Zhiyan, let go of her!”

“Chu Li! Be careful!” Qing Xia, held in Qin Zhiyan’s embrace, suddenly saw the evil, cruel smile on the Nanjiang beast speaker’s face. A brilliant, gorgeous radiance immediately rose from his body – countless colorful insect eggs in the sky swooped down fiercely at Chu Li, hideous and terrifying like demons from hell.

“Let me go!” Qing Xia struggled desperately, her voice almost trembling as she fought frantically in Qin Zhiyan’s arms.

The fresh blood from Qin Zhiyan’s hands flowed like a spring, the bright red blood all spilling onto Qing Xia’s shoulder and garments, slowly flowing down her leather armor and mixing with the blood of unknown humans and beasts.

Countless insect eggs instantly rushed madly into Chu Li’s body like bullets. In that moment, it was like watching a Hollywood science fiction blockbuster – Qing Xia stared in disbelief with wide eyes. Chu Li’s complexion immediately became gray and white, like a sheet of white paper without the slightest trace of blood color. Small bumps on his neck protruded slightly, bulging disgustingly one by one. All of this – she had not seen for the first time.