No one could have anticipated how arrows shot out could suddenly turn around in an instant.

Before they could cry out in alarm, countless arrow shafts carrying fierce wind suddenly pierced into their bodies. The first wave of soldiers fell one after another, while the rest retreated in panic and confusion.

Cang Yun hurriedly drew his long blade to block, and Tao Feng also spun to dodge. Both reacted in time to escape disaster, but their faces both revealed shock.

Who exactly was this young lady to possess such world-shaking, extraordinary skills!

Before they could recover, Cang Yun only felt his vision blur—the people at the cliff’s edge had suddenly vanished without a trace. Tao Feng turned around and pointed toward the forest path ahead: “Fort Lord, they went up the mountain!”

Cang Yun’s eyes narrowed as he ground his teeth: “Chase!”

The mountain path was treacherous, with deep ravines and dangerous valleys on both sides. One misstep could easily result in death here.

In that earlier moment of danger, Changling couldn’t afford to consider much. To intercept the arrow formation, she unleashed a palm strike of “Mountain Roar, Sea Howl”—the fourth layer of the “Shakyamuni True Scripture.” Although the move itself had nothing particularly remarkable, it could instantly expand the qi force area several times over, thereby drawing and redirecting the enemy’s force, using their strength against them.

In the past, Changling would have mercilessly struck a killing blow at the enemy formation’s leader, then dominated the situation after capturing the king. However, having used her internal power at this time, she only felt her internal organs churning. Seeing it was inadvisable to linger, she spun on her toes, landed back beside Mingyue Zhou, grabbed one person with each hand, and swiftly retreated toward the mountain peak, giving the enemy no space to react.

Naturally, forget the enemy—even her own people were stunned by her overwhelming martial prowess. Mingyue Zhou looked at Changling leading the way ahead. Although she was several inches shorter than him, she inexplicably gave people a sense of oppression, like an insurmountable mountain. For a moment, his feelings were somewhat complex.

Chu Tiansu saw Changling’s forehead covered in dense sweat and knew this was bad. She rushed ahead of her: “Using internal power like this, if you don’t quickly administer needles, I fear you’ll suffer a backlash…”

Changling: “No time—they’re catching up.”

Chu Tiansu suddenly turned her head and saw Cang Yun and Tao Feng had already pursued to not far behind them. Although the suspension bridge was close at hand, if all three stepped onto the bridge and Cang Yun’s men severed the iron chains, falling would mean being smashed to pieces.

Changling looked at Mingyue Zhou: “You cross the bridge first.”

Chu Tiansu was slightly surprised. Mingyue Zhou, however, shook his head. He was a dignified man—how could he let a woman cover the rear?

“Your qinggong is inferior to ours. If you don’t go first, you’ll only drag us down,” Changling looked at him calmly. “That person called something like ‘white clouds and gray dogs’—he’s no match for us.”

Mingyue Zhou vaguely felt something was wrong, but having just witnessed her skills, he knew her words were true. He gritted his teeth: “Alright.”

He glanced at Chu Tiansu, opened his mouth wanting to say something, hesitated for an instant, and only said: “Be careful. Cang Yun is cunning and treacherous—watch out for his tricks.”

With that, he turned and climbed onto the iron chain bridge. His qinggong was poor, but using both hands, he could barely cross the bridge.

Seeing her grandson had left, Chu Tiansu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She saw Changling could barely stand steadily and knew she was forcing herself to buy time for Mingyue Zhou.

At this time, Cang Yun and Tao Feng had already reached the chain bridge, stopping three steps away from them. Seeing Mingyue Zhou had already climbed a distance, but with Changling blocking in front, Cang Yun was apprehensive and didn’t dare act rashly. He said: “Young lady, although I don’t know how you entered Mu Wangbao or what connection you have with these two, since you’re not a prisoner of Mu Wangbao, we have no intention of making things difficult. But if you insist on breaking them out, even if you escape by chance, facing pursuit from heaven to earth thereafter, I’m afraid you won’t have peace.”

Cang Yun spoke these polite words to probe whether Changling actually knew Mingyue Zhou’s identity. Who knew that upon hearing this, Changling didn’t care about his words at all and said: “So what?”

Cang Yun was stunned. Changling said: “If you have the courage, come forward and fight. If you want to chat, I’ll have to decline.”

“You—” Seeing this young lady’s arrogance and rudeness, Cang Yun looked at her coldly. “You refuse the toast only to drink the forfeit…”

Before the word “wine” fell, in one step, Changling had already taken the initiative to strike directly at the crown of Cang Yun’s head. Cang Yun was greatly alarmed and blocked with his blade. With a “ding,” the blade edge buzzed and shook, almost flying from his hand. Cang Yun looked in astonishment and saw that the weapon she held in her hand was actually a tree branch.

Changling spun and leaped behind him, the tip pointing at his heart with perfect accuracy. Cang Yun, as if facing a great enemy, hurriedly dodged aside. Seeing Mingyue Zhou climbing farther and farther, his heart grew anxious. He stepped forward and swung his blade at Changling.

This blade fell with an extremely fierce sound of cutting through air. Changling slightly shifted aside—the blade edge whistled past her throat. But before Cang Yun could execute his second move, he saw the back of the blade firmly caught by the forked branch. Changling smiled contemptuously. Following the momentum of his blade withdrawal, she rotated at an arc, and that long blade swiftly went toward Cang Yun’s neck as if disobeying his command!

Cang Yun’s expression changed dramatically. He had no choice but to bend backward to avoid his own blade tip. Changling raised the tree branch in her hand, about to channel qi downward, when the qi and blood throughout her body suddenly reversed course. Her vision blurred—she couldn’t see Cang Yun’s position clearly. She could only collect her spirit and temporarily retreat two steps away. Seeing she seemed afflicted, Cang Yun took the opportunity to attack. With no sharp weapon in hand to block, Changling could only listen to the sound and urgently dodge, only defending without attacking, her mind inevitably disturbed.

Earlier, Cang Yun had been shocked by Changling’s vast momentum, thinking she possessed heaven-reaching abilities. In the blink of an eye, after exchanging seven or eight moves, he felt that although this young lady’s skills were extraordinary, her strength grew weaker and weaker, completely different from before. After several rounds, the opponent had clearly fallen into disadvantage.

Cang Yun’s heart rejoiced greatly. No longer looking ahead and behind, he lunged with both person and blade toward Changling’s opening.

Originally, Changling had wanted to use her last trace of internal energy to eliminate Cang Yun, but she hadn’t expected that after mobilizing her true qi, her body would be so vulnerable. If not for her vital energy being unrecovered, Cang Yun would surely have been pierced through the chest by the withered branch in her hand. She finally steadied herself with difficulty and could see things again, but her hands had no strength. Besides performing dazzling moves to delay time, there really was no better method.

Seeing Mingyue Zhou had already crossed to the middle of the bridge and knowing he couldn’t defeat Changling quickly, Cang Yun shouted loudly at Tao Feng: “Cut the bridge—”

Hearing this, Tao Feng immediately headed toward the iron chain bridge. Chu Tiansu flashed to Tao Feng’s front, her hand slightly raised, something extremely fine at her fingertips glowing brightly. When Tao Feng saw clearly they were several silver needles, the needles connected to silk threads shot toward him. Tao Feng barely managed to flip and dodge. This “Sleeve Silk” looked like just needles and thread, but its fierce momentum was impossible to guard against.

Seeing he was no match, Tao Feng hurriedly retreated several steps. Seeing the other battle raging intensely, he suddenly aimed his crossbow at Changling and pulled the mechanism—the crossbow bolt shot forth like swift wind!

Chu Tiansu called out: “Watch out!”

To avoid the crossbow bolt, Changling’s concentration divided—her right shoulder was slashed by Cang Yun’s long blade, and the tree branch in her hand was also cut off. Cang Yun raised his blade again. Chu Tiansu flicked the needle and thread at her fingertip. With a crisp “ding,” that Nanhua silver needle forcibly blocked the blade wind’s path. Changling took advantage of the gap to withdraw, landing back beside Chu Tiansu. The true qi in her chest surged and clashed—she could bear it no longer and immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

Seeing this, Cang Yun couldn’t help but laugh heartily: “I wondered where such an expert came from—turns out it’s nothing special!”

The soldiers from Mu Wangbao following behind had also caught up. Changling looked coldly at the dense arrow formation ahead, knowing escape was impossible today. She raised her sleeve to wipe the blood from her mouth, her left hand behind her back, faintly clenching her fist to gather the remaining internal power in her body, and said to Chu Tiansu: “Old Lady, you cross the bridge first.”

What she intended in her heart—how could Chu Tiansu not know?

This Yue Changling was the foremost general who had conquered half the Central Plains. Now waking from a dream to fall to this state, how could she not be thinking constantly of going out to take revenge?

But she was telling her to cross the bridge first—she was giving her the only chance at life.

Perhaps to Changling, since Chu Tiansu saved her life, she would return that life—this was simply beyond question, perfectly justified.

Yet Chu Tiansu’s heart inexplicably softened. She felt some heartache for this seemingly strong young lady. Though still just a young lady, she understood the value of loyalty and righteousness better than many fine men throughout the world.

But times were unpredictable, people’s hearts not what they used to be. She was alone—even with peerless martial arts, how could she deal with the many despicable and shameless people in this world?

Chu Tiansu grasped her hand and said gently: “Good child, that you could accompany us grandmother and grandson to this point already brings this old woman great joy. This Cang Yun killed my grandson. I stayed at Mu Wangbao waiting for precisely this day. You still have a blood-deep vengeance unrequited—how can you easily throw away your life?”

Changling heard the farewell meaning in her words and turned her head in surprise. That Cang Yun laughed coldly and lunged forward with his blade raised: “Today, not one of you will escape!”

Chu Tiansu suddenly extended a hand, releasing countless silver needles that scattered across the sky, pinning horizontally and vertically on the surrounding tree trunks like weaving a giant net between the two sides. Those silk threads emitted a faint glow, clearly laced with deadly poison. Cang Yun’s expression changed as he retreated two steps.

Taking advantage of the opponent’s momentary hesitation, Chu Tiansu pierced silver needles into Changling’s spine, sealing several major acupoints throughout her body, making her internal power temporarily unable to circulate, allowing the qi and blood at her heart meridian to stabilize.

Changling was alarmed: “Old Lady Chu—”

Chu Tiansu looked toward the distant sky and said quietly: “What a pity I cannot see your master one more time. If you see him someday, say ‘hello’ to him for me—that will be enough.”

Having said this, Changling felt a surge of force suddenly attack her chest. Her body lightened as she was lifted into the air. Chu Tiansu gripped Changling’s garment tightly and forcefully flung her toward the iron chain bridge!

Changling only felt the world spinning. Her entire being was carried away from the peak by this force like a long rainbow. Unable to use internal power, in desperation she could only grab a chain, barely hanging in the middle of the bridge.

Mingyue Zhou had nearly reached the end when he saw the chain bridge swaying violently. Only when he looked back did he discover this perilous scene. Greatly alarmed, he hurriedly turned back.

Chu Tiansu and Cang Yun were already fighting intensely. Her Nanhua needle technique was ever-changing. Seeing it was difficult to get within three chi of her, Cang Yun gave an order commanding the crossbowmen to fire arrows together. As the rain of arrows attacked, silver needles could only block one or two. Chu Tiansu had nowhere to dodge and could only barely avoid vital points. Still, two arrows pierced her shoulder and knee respectively.

Mingyue Zhou had just pulled Changling back onto the bridge when he saw Chu Tiansu trapped in a predicament. He wanted to climb back to save her, but as soon as his body leaned forward, Changling grasped his shoulder, not letting him continue.

Changling’s face was deathly pale: “Going back is just seeking death.”

“Am I supposed to watch her die with my own eyes?” Mingyue Zhou shook her off. Changling suddenly gripped his wrist with heavy force. “If you die, Old Lady Chu won’t live alone. Only if you survive can you settle all accounts one by one.”

Mingyue Zhou’s breathing choked.

The arrow formation at the cliff’s edge stopped. Cang Yun, seizing the opportunity, leaped up, wanting to force her away from the bridge head. The blade wind swept past her face, severing several strands of hair. Chu Tiansu bore it alone with her body, fighting to the death to not let Cang Yun and the others approach the bridge by even one step.

Mingyue Zhou’s eyes split with rage, his fists clenched tight, nails digging into his palms, his whole body trembling terribly.

But in the next instant, he turned around and rushed toward Luming Mountain as if possessed. Behind him came the sounds of blades and arrows, yet he dared not look back.

For the only time in his life, he became a deserter.

It was so for Mingyue Zhou, and how was it not the same for Changling?

From the moment Cang Yun appeared, it was already destined—someone had to fight to the death to hold the bridge head.

Life-saving grace, over ten years of devoted care, the promise to take the grandmother-grandson pair out of Mu Wangbao—yet now who had won the chance to escape for oneself?

A heart-piercing wail of grief made Changling unable to resist looking back. She saw blade light like silk—in a flash, with a “splat,” blood spurted three chi on the cliff rock, winding like a dragon.

Silver needles fell dot by dot into the pool of blood. Chu Tiansu collapsed. Tao Feng was about to step over her to cut the chain bridge when his right foot was suddenly gripped tightly by her.

Cang Yun strode forward and hacked his blade into Chu Tiansu’s shoulder. Immediately blood gushed like a spring. Yet Chu Tiansu’s hand showed no intention of releasing. She raised her head, staring at him fixedly, opened her mouth and said a few words.

Changling couldn’t see clearly what Chu Tiansu said, but saw Cang Yun’s whole body tremble. Finally no longer hesitating, with a “puff,” the blade tip pierced through Chu Tiansu’s heart. Fine droplets of blood scattered like floss, splashing all over Cang Yun!

Mingyue Zhou suddenly turned back, his whole body trembling involuntarily: “Grandmother!”

Alas, this cry of “Grandmother” that Chu Tiansu had hoped for all the way and yearned for over ten years—she would never hear it again.

In the sky, a flash of lightning like an arrow released from a bowstring cut through the deep black night.

Chu Tiansu’s fresh blood dripped from Cang Yun’s cheek. He stepped over Chu Tiansu’s corpse, gripped his long blade, and severed the iron chain links one by one.

The iron chain bridge beneath their feet swayed violently. Behind them, countless arrow tips mixed with pattering raindrops shuttled past. Changling stumbled to her feet, mustered all her strength to pull Mingyue Zhou toward the end of the chain bridge. When the last chain was severed by Cang Yun, the two lunged forward with all their might and barely, just barely, stepped onto the cliff path on the opposite side.

Between life and death, they won their chance at life, yet neither felt the slightest joy.

Flash after flash of lightning crossed the sky, illuminating all that was ferocious and turbulent on the opposite mountain. Mingyue Zhou stared blankly, his fists clenched with audible creaking.

Changling only looked once. “Mu Wangbao’s troops can surround this mountain within two hours.”

She spoke flatly and no longer lingered.

Wild wind wrapped in sudden rain beat down on their bodies with stinging pain. After following behind her for a while, Mingyue Zhou asked in a low voice: “Why?”

Changling stopped in her tracks.

Mingyue Zhou: “Didn’t you say Cang Yun was no match for you?”

He wore an iron skull, so his expression couldn’t be seen, but his shoulders slumped down dejectedly—clearly unable to hide his bone-deep, heart-wrenching grief.

“I only said that to trick you into getting on the bridge first.”

“But you clearly just now…” Mingyue Zhou recalled how she had dispersed the arrow formation with the power of one person alone. “Your martial arts are superior, yet you let my grandmother cover the rear… You might not have been unable to save her, but you didn’t even try!”