Xu Heihu’s slash swept horizontal, aimed at the two front legs of Dantai Yajing’s warhorse. Dantai Yajing pulled the reins and the horse reared up.

Xu Heihu saw that both horse and rider were peerless in combat, and with no mount beneath him now, his first instinct was to force the rider down from the horse.

Cripple the mount, then fight him on foot.

But he had not expected that Dantai Yajing and his horse had reached a level of understanding so deep as this.

The horse rose up sharply, and then both front hooves came stamping down toward Xu Heihu’s face. Xu Heihu had no choice but to throw himself aside.

The next instant, he swept his saber at the horse’s neck. Dantai Yajing read the movement from the shift in Xu Heihu’s shoulders and knew exactly what was coming — so he gave the reins a sideways pull.

The horse understood the rider’s intention at once. It leapt and spun in place, then drove both hind legs backward with explosive force.

In one move: the blade was avoided, and the counterattack came swift as thunder.

Xu Heihu felt darkness close over his eyes. First he saw the horse’s impressively rounded hindquarters, then two large black hooves.

Even in that razor-thin moment, he still had enough presence of mind to react — he yanked his long saber out and held it across his chest to block.

Both hooves connected with the flat of the saber. The force behind them — how could anyone describe it?

Xu Heihu, unable to hold his footing, was launched straight backward by the blow and landed hard on the ground.

Before he could rise, the warhorse leapt forward again, and both front hooves came stamping down toward his face a second time.

Xu Heihu was seized with panic. Dignity and composure forgotten entirely, he threw himself into a roll to get clear.

This was a slope — and as he rolled, he went tumbling down it, all composure thoroughly destroyed.

Dantai Yajing drove both heels into his horse’s flanks. The horse read the intent and launched forward instantly — and naturally a rolling man was no match for a horse charging downhill. Xu Heihu felt the blood drain from his scalp in terror.

He scrambled on all fours like a desperate animal to throw himself sideways — and only just avoided being trampled under the hooves.

Dantai Yajing pulled the reins again; the horse pivoted sideways immediately, and both hind legs drove out a second time with full force.

Xu Heihu had only just leapt clear — there was no dodging again. Both hooves caught him square in the back, and he was launched forward, crashing to the ground. The impact felt as though his spine had been snapped in two. He hit the earth face-first, and for two or three full breaths could not draw air.

Two or three breaths on a battlefield are not a luxury anyone can afford.

Dantai Yajing urged his horse forward. He pulled the reins up once more — the horse reared again — and this time both front hooves came down in earnest, stamping onto Xu Heihu’s back.

Already unable to breathe, and now stomped on twice more — Xu Heihu felt something boom through his skull, and then his vision went dark.

A groan of agony tore out of him. He forced himself to stay conscious, still trying to push himself up — and found that his hands would no longer respond.

In that instant, it struck his mind like a bolt of lightning, because he knew what had happened.

His spine had truly been crushed.

Arms without feeling. Legs without feeling. His mind was still issuing commands — but nothing from his hands or feet came back.

Dantai Yajing wheeled the horse back up the rise, then turned it around again and came charging down. The hooves passed over Xu Heihu’s body one final time.

Xu Heihu let out one anguished cry before his mouth flooded with a great gush of blood.

Dantai Yajing grunted inwardly. *You thought to hurt my horse?*

He rode to where his lance lay and retrieved it, then returned to not far from Xu Heihu.

He swung down from the saddle, picked up Xu Heihu on the tip of the lance, and then gave his horse a sharp whistle.

Lance in one arm raised with Xu Heihu on it, the horse turned immediately. Both hind legs gathered all their strength — and kicked the suspended Xu Heihu with everything they had.

The blow launched Xu Heihu through the air. He tumbled down and came to rest with his chest caved inward in a great hollow, blood welling in pulses from his mouth.

Dantai Yajing walked with his lance to the body of Xu Heihu, looked down, and his gaze was filled with contempt.

“You couldn’t even best my horse.”

With that, he raised his hand. A subordinate came forward, took Xu Heihu’s head, and found a long spear to raise it high.

“The bandit chief is dead!”

The Prince Ning’s Army soldiers raised a cry.

The Shanhai Army rear section numbered perhaps two thousand — their formation had already been torn open by Dantai Yajing’s cavalry charge. Now seeing Xu Heihu dead, there was nothing left in their hearts but dread. No one dared to press forward and fight.

The armored general in black had killed their commander with nothing but a horse. That manner of killing broke their courage entirely.

Once the rear section broke and fled, the forces besieging Mengyuangu at the front fell into disorder too.

The command banner had been cut down. The commander had been killed. As morale collapsed, the assault simply stopped.

—

On Mengyuangu’s side, Nie Datian and Nie Xiaodi — the two of them — were not tall; the girl looked slight and dainty, the boy slight and lean. But that appearance was entirely misleading.

These two were practically little demons.

At first, the men from Mengyuangu were ahead of them. Before long, the two siblings had surged out in front.

Their weapons — at first glance you would look down on them; a second glance would frighten you half to death.

It came down to the fact that their family was genuinely too poor for any spare ironware.

So before they left, Nie Xiaodi had looked around the house for anything that could serve as a weapon, and the only option in the end was to take the kitchen cleaver.

Their family’s only kitchen cleaver.

But the cleaver was too short — so he tied it to a rope. Then riding forward on horseback, swinging the cleaver around, he stopped caring whether the back of the blade was cracking someone’s skull or the cutting edge was slashing into them. He just spun it in great circles.

With that kind of strength behind it — even using the back of the blade to knock someone in the head, no one could take it.

As for Nie Datian…

Their only kitchen cleaver had gone to her brother, so she had come out carrying a grinding stone on her back.

Not a large one — it was the small kind for grinding beans, no bigger than an ordinary washbasin — but the thing still weighed fifty or sixty catties.

Like her brother, she threaded a rope through the hole in the center and swung it in wide circles as a long weapon.

One sibling swinging a cleaver, the other swinging a grinding stone.

The one swinging the cleaver — well, that one had a certain whistling to it.

The one swinging the grinding stone was something else entirely — a deep, heavy whooshing sound.

The two of them charging forward terrified even the men from Mengyuangu — everyone gave them a wide berth, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

—

On the other side, after killing Xu Heihu, Dantai Yajing led his forces and drove at the Shanhai Army again.

Few against many — but the death of their commander had shattered the Shanhai Army’s morale beyond repair.

Retreat is contagious. Once one man runs, others follow immediately.

Before long, the vanguard began scattering in all directions.

—

One hour later, inside Mengyuangu’s wooden stockade.

The Tingwei Army’s traveling surgeons — five or six of them — were doing their best to tend to the villagers’ injuries, but the medicines they had brought were limited and not enough to treat everyone.

“Our village has dried medicinal herbs put aside, but we don’t know which ones would be useful — the physician… the physician fell in battle.”

Uncle An said this to Dantai Yajing, his eyes red.

“Let my men have a look.”

Dantai Yajing raised a hand and placed it on Uncle An’s shoulder.

Just over an hour before — not long after Dantai Yajing and his forces had appeared — the physician who had been bandaging wounds on top of the wooden wall was struck from behind by a Shanhai Army bandit who had climbed up. The blade nearly severed his neck entirely; his head drooped forward, hanging by nothing but a thin strip of skin.

The Tingwei Army’s surgeons followed Uncle An’s people to examine the herbs they had stored, chose the ones that could be used, and had them ground to powder for stanching blood.

“If you are willing — would you come away with me?”

Dantai Yajing drew Uncle An aside and asked.

He looked around at the villagers. Some were helping to carry the wounded, some were putting out the last smoldering fires, some were clearing the bandit corpses from the wooden wall.

Uncle An heard this and stood for a moment, caught entirely off guard. It was a question he had never once considered.

Dantai Yajing said: “If you don’t leave, once we’re gone, the Shanhai Army will certainly come to take revenge — and then the villagers will face true calamity.”

Uncle An nodded. Though he said nothing, he knew the general from Prince Ning’s Army was right.

Dantai Yajing continued: “I am Dantai Yajing, a general under Prince Ning’s command. I have the authority to make this promise: once we bring you back, we will find a proper place to settle you in Jizhou, or — if you prefer — wherever you wish to put down new roots. Prince Ning’s Army will help you build new homes. Prince Ning will distribute land to you.”

Uncle An opened his mouth, but still didn’t answer right away. He turned to look at the villagers behind him: “Let me go and discuss it with everyone. This place may be harsh and bitter, but the people here have never once left it…”

Dantai Yajing nodded: “I understand. Leaving the land where one’s roots run deep is never easy. Go and talk it over with the villagers, Uncle An — I’ll go help tend the wounded in the meantime.”

Uncle An clasped his hands and bowed low: “Many thanks to the General for saving our lives!”

Dantai Yajing reached out and caught Uncle An’s arm before the bow could complete: “Uncle An, please — never say that. The reason most of your people survived is because you had the courage to fight back against the bandits.”

The two men exchanged a few more words, and Uncle An went off to gather the village elders and discuss whether to make for Jizhou.

While Dantai Yajing was helping to bind up the wounded, Nie Datian walked over and stood beside him.

Dantai Yajing looked up: “Oh — you really didn’t leave.”

Nie Datian: “Oh, you’re only noticing me now?”

Dantai Yajing smiled slightly. “True enough. Well — you didn’t leave, which means it’s because of my horse, isn’t it? You can take the horse now.”

Nie Datian stared at Dantai Yajing. Her expression was entirely unreadable. After a long moment she said: “I saw you charge into the enemy. I saw you and your horse kill their commander. And yet — the two of you were so perfectly in sync, that horse was your right hand and your left hand both in that battle. Why did you agree to give it away?”

Dantai Yajing went quiet.

Nie Datian said: “Do you really feel nothing for a horse that good? You could just hand it over like that? If it were me, I would never so easily promise my mount to someone else.”

“To save lives.”

Dantai Yajing suddenly said those two words.

Nie Datian was startled.

Dantai Yajing looked back at her: “We came to save lives. Not a moment could be wasted. And you were the best guides I could find in that moment.”

Nie Datian stared at him, wide-eyed, for a long while without words.

Dantai Yajing said: “What that horse means to me — you don’t need to remind me. But I had to make that promise then. The horse is yours now. A promise made is a promise kept.”

Nie Datian said: “You could have just seized us — threatened us into guiding you, or said you’d kill our whole family, our whole village…”

Dantai Yajing said: “We are Prince Ning’s Army. We are not bandits.”

Not far away, Uncle An and the others who had been talking among themselves heard these words. Every one of them looked over — and in each of their eyes, a faint light appeared.

Nie Datian walked slowly to Dantai Yajing’s warhorse and raised her hand, passing it gently along the horse’s neck.

“Truly a fine horse.”

The words came from the heart.

Then she turned back to Dantai Yajing with a grin: “But I’m not a fine guide. I took you the wrong way, after all. Going by what you called that — the spirit of a promise — if I still took your horse after that, just how shameless would I be…”

She gave the horse a pat on the rump. “What a great backside!”

Dantai Yajing: “…”