After Nu Gan finished shouting, he turned and ran frantically toward Chi Shu himself. Having run only two steps, a military officer beside the Regent Prince drew his bow again and shot an arrow at him.

Another arrow left the string, swift as lightning. From dozens of zhang away, in just the blink of an eye, it raced through the air and arrived.

With a thud, the sharp arrowhead pierced into the hollow of his left knee and penetrated through. Nu Gan tumbled to the ground, struggled several times, then immediately crawled back up. He severed the arrow shaft with one stroke of his blade and, dragging his wounded leg, rushed back to Chi Shu’s side.

The military officer who had consecutively shot down two men with arrows was Imperial Guard General Liu Xiang.

That day, he had received orders to enter the Imperial Hunting Grounds to escort the Princess Consort. He brought men and split up to search everywhere, visiting all the places she might have gone, but never found any trace of her. Just as he was growing anxious, he received news from the two guards who had accompanied the Princess Consort on her outings in recent days.

The guards had encountered Liu Xiang’s men halfway while galloping frantically on their return journey. They reported that the Princess Consort, in pursuit of a deer several days prior, had gone farther and farther away. Because her mount was exceptionally spirited, during yesterday’s deer chase, she had actually left the two of them behind. By the time they caught up, they had completely lost track of her. They used the agreed-upon deer whistle calls that could carry far distances to make contact, but received no response from her. The two men searched that area until they found traces of a struggle near a low hill. Knowing something must have happened, they dared not delay and immediately rushed back to report. They had fortunately encountered Liu Xiang’s men here and delivered the news.

Liu Xiang was alarmed and surmised that the Princess Consort had very likely encountered danger, not knowing what her current situation might be. The Imperial Hunting Grounds were truly vast—if his speculation proved correct, continuing such aimless searching would be like fishing for a needle in the ocean, and time could not afford such delays. He was just considering sending someone back to deliver this news to the Regent Prince and have the Tianmen Bureau dispatch more skilled trackers to assist, when unexpectedly the Regent Prince arrived personally from behind. Chen Lun accompanied him with men, and they had also brought out fine hounds from the imperial kennels. These hounds were hunting dogs raised by the court, with keen senses of smell. The group rushed non-stop to that location and indeed found not only the fighting traces and chaotic footprints of multiple people remaining before the low hill as the guards had described, but also unearthed a hastily buried corpse nearby. The corpse had deep stab wounds from a dagger in both the lower abdomen and chest, suggesting the person might have been killed by the Princess Consort.

This deceased person was tall and large. Though dead for several days, one could still discern signs that his entire body had been powerfully muscled in life—he had been a formidable warrior. Judging by the footprints, the opposing party also numbered at least ten or more. If even the deceased was this formidable, the rest would likely not be much weaker in martial prowess.

Yet the Princess Consort was alone.

Even if she were a general, no matter how brave and extraordinary, facing siege by so many powerful enemies, how could escaping be easy?

In such circumstances, no matter who it might be, even someone divinely brave, nine times out of ten, they should have already fallen into enemy hands by now.

Liu Xiang had already been informed of this group’s likely identity—very possibly the Southern Prince Chi Shu of the Di Kingdom.

The daughter of General Jiang, who guarded Yanmen and directly faced the Beidi, the renowned General Changning of the Great Wei Dynasty, now bears a new identity as the Princess Consort of the current Regent Prince.

If she had truly fallen into Chi Shu’s hands and was being used as a hostage by the Di Kingdom, aside from her safety, what a humiliating shame this would be for the Wei Dynasty, and what a devastating blow it would deal to military morale at the frontier!

Thinking of this possibility, he was filled with dread, cold sweat immediately breaking out on his back. Seeing the Regent Prince’s grim expression, who had only ordered the handlers to have the many hounds thoroughly scent the remaining traces nearby, they immediately led the pursuit.

This tracking route proved unexpectedly circuitous. The edge of the Imperial Hunting Grounds bordered old forests, and going further in, wilderness rolled with ancient trees looming darkly. The wild lands often had fierce winds, causing the hounds to lose direction several times. Relying on human effort, searching for remaining hoofprints and excrement traces in the vast grasslands where wild grass reached their shins made progress extremely difficult.

However, judging by the pursuit route ahead, it didn’t seem like the choice of someone who had captured a person and was urgently fleeing, but more like someone fleeing while being pursued. Perhaps this could lead to another deduction—the Princess Consort had not fallen into enemy hands but was still on the run.

Whatever the possibility, she was in danger and could meet with an accident at any moment. Thus, the group traveled almost day and night. This evening, they pursued this area, and while searching for direction, they suddenly spotted the suspicious mountain fire ahead and encountered this situation.

Liu Xiang’s arrow was intended to bring down the opponent for interrogation about the Princess Consort’s whereabouts. During his military service, he was renowned for exceptional archery and had even taught the young General’s daughter in earlier years. Since his arrow had penetrated through the leg, the force would certainly be sufficient to shatter the kneecap. He did not doubt this. Yet he hadn’t expected this person to be as tough as a bear, actually enduring this arrow wound and still managing to flee.

Liu Xiang’s surprise only deepened his worry for the Princess Consort, and he immediately followed the Regent Prince in mounted pursuit.

Shu Shenhui spurred his horse to the mountain pass not far ahead, leading his men to slowly halt and survey the scene before them.

A disheveled, tall man of similar age to himself, surrounded by ten or so people on horseback, was also galloping urgently toward this pass. Thus, the two sides met face to face in collision.

The opposing party suddenly reined in their horses, the bridles pulled so taut that their mounts reared up with frightened neighing. The man who had been struck in the knee by an arrow, along with three others still on foot like him, immediately formed ranks. Without any pause, a volley of crossbow bolts came whistling sharply in their direction.

That disheveled man also displayed his superb horsemanship—while his startled horse’s hooves had not yet touched ground, he forcibly turned the horse’s head in mid-air and, under the protection of several others, rapidly galloped toward another direction along the mountain base.

The intention was obvious—the front few were using their lives to buy some time, giving those behind a chance to escape.

Liu Xiang reacted extremely quickly. Just before that man led his companions to form ranks and prepare to shoot, he drew his blade and leaped from his horse, joining the subordinates who quickly surrounded them from behind to shield the Regent Prince. Using blades to deflect arrows, dozens of broad swords formed a gleaming iron shield, impenetrable and deflecting all incoming arrows to the ground.

Meanwhile, another cavalry unit had already pursued those seven or eight people attempting to escape. The hounds barked frantically, sweeping forward like wind, catching up to the horses’ hindquarters and leaping up to tear at the horses’ legs. The horses screamed pitifully, stopping to kick wildly, trying to shake off the hounds. Several people fell from horseback and were surrounded by the attacking hounds. Cries of anguish and barking filled the air.

A hound leaped onto Chi Shu’s horse, biting into his calf. Chi Shu endured the severe pain and kicked it away, leaving a bloody strip of flesh hanging from his leg. Just as he shook off one, another pounced up, again biting his wounded leg. Then came yet another from the other side, tearing at his other leg. He drew his blade and struck down the vicious dogs, then raised his head to see that a large force of Wei cavalry had encircled him from left and right, quickly forming a horse formation that blocked his path ahead.

At this moment, a feeling of despair and terror that seemed to rise from the depths of the earth completely seized him.

Such a feeling—even when he had once charged alone through thousands of troops to rescue his father—he had never experienced. In a moment of distraction, his blade slowed, and another vicious dog seized the opportunity to pounce, biting into his wrist. The sharp canine teeth dug deep into his flesh, causing such pain that his spine went cold. He couldn’t hold the blade handle, and it fell to the ground with a clang.

“Southern Prince! Jump from the cliff!”

One of his subordinates, bloodied from fighting off the vicious dogs, rushed desperately to his side.

He shuddered, his heart leaping violently.

Yes, this was his only remaining chance today. Even knowing the abyss below meant certain doom, he had no choice but to jump down. Like that female general, jumping down might still offer hope of survival. If he died, then Heaven meant to destroy him. How could he become a captive of the Han people and make himself a laughingstock among his brothers?

If he were truly captured, even if he could return alive afterward, the rest of his life would be spent in shame. Living like that would be worse than death.

He suddenly came to his senses and again shook off the biting dogs. His plan decided, the remaining four men still mounted immediately gathered around him, dispersing the dogs and clustering him in the middle as they charged toward the nearby precipice.

Arrows fell like rain, whistling toward them. Soon, everyone was struck by arrows. One fell from his horse, and the remaining three protected Chi Shu as they abandoned their mounts, using the horses as shields against arrows while continuing to charge forward. Like a whirlwind, they reached the cliff edge, where the three men interlocked their arms and tightly embraced Chi Shu in the middle.

They were determined to use themselves as human shields, protecting the Southern Prince in the middle as they leaped from the cliff.

They would rather be crushed to pieces themselves than leave the Southern Prince one less chance at survival.

As the Sixth Prince’s trusted aides and confidants, not only their honor and disgrace, but their entire families were bound to him.

If he perished here or fell into Wei hands, everything their families possessed would be destroyed along with him.

There was no choice. This was the inevitable only choice.

Liu Xiang subdued the several men who had blocked him earlier and, seeing the intention here, turned to lead men charging over. The archers released arrows again.

One of the men facing this direction took too many arrows in his back to support himself. Just as he formed the human shield with his companion, he died and slumped to the ground.

The last two remaining men each had over ten arrows protruding from their bodies, long since shot full of holes like hedgehogs, yet still hadn’t fallen. Having lost one companion, they seemed oblivious to the loss and decisively linked arms again, one in front and one behind, tightly protecting Chi Shu as they continued charging toward the cliff edge in one breath.

Liu Xiang led his men, now pursuing within seven or eight steps of these three.

At this distance, arrows entering human bodies lacked force, barely able to penetrate a few inches of flesh, yet the men couldn’t advance a single step forward. Several hounds caught up, savagely tearing and biting, but the two outer men seemed completely unaware. Liu Xiang watched helplessly as these two human shields were about to protect Chi Shu in the middle and plunge. Just as his eyes blazed with fury, the Regent Prince, who had been stationed at the pass observing the battle, suddenly extended an arm toward a guard beside him. The guard immediately handed him a bow and arrow.

He accepted it, nocked the arrow to the bow, drew it to a full moon, aimed, and suddenly released.

This arrow whistled from the string, chasing after that human shield dozens of zhang ahead. Its force was tremendous, as if an arrow spirit howled within it, pursuing wind and lightning. In an instant, it caught up to the back of one human shield. With a thud, the three-edged arrowhead penetrated the back, emerged through the chest, then pierced through the chest of Chi Shu, protected in the middle. At this point, its force still hadn’t diminished—it continued and struck the second human shield on the innermost side, the arrowhead emerging from that man’s back. Piercing through three men in succession, only then did it stop.

The three men were pinned together by this single arrow, suddenly frozen in place.

The outermost human shield had his heart pierced by the arrowhead, creating a black hole nearly two fen in diameter. After several breaths, unable to support himself, he slowly collapsed. The other human shield also collapsed with him, and finally, the two brought down Chi Shu, who was unable to break free from the middle, all tumbling to the ground together.

Liu Xiang rushed forward at this moment, dispersing the hounds. He saw that both front and rear human shields were near death, while Chi Shu in the middle had his eyes tightly closed, appearing unconscious, blood continuously flowing from his mouth, completely motionless.

Chi Shu faced the outermost human shield. The Regent Prince’s arrow had entered his right chest, not a fatal wound. The intention should have been to spare his life.

Liu Xiang stepped forward and bent down, reaching to check Chi Shu’s breathing. Just as he turned to call for others, at that moment Chi Shu suddenly opened his eyes with a roar of fury, exploding with tremendous force. He managed to roll over while still pinned to the two men, front and back, tumbling over the cliff edge in one motion.

Liu Xiang was greatly alarmed and quickly reacted, extending his arm to grab Chi Shu’s left arm.

The three men hung from the cliff edge, their weight like massive rocks, causing Liu Xiang to suddenly lurch forward. Yet he still held on tightly without letting go. Several of his subordinates rushed up from behind, grabbing him and pulling him back, barely managing to stabilize their position.

Chi Shu’s hands were slippery with blood, and he was struggling, trying to break free. Unable to maintain a grip for long, just as they steadied themselves, Liu Xiang used an iron rope for binding prisoners that his subordinates handed him, quickly wrapping it around Chi Shu’s arm and binding it tightly so he couldn’t escape.

Below the cliff edge, that arrow piercing through three chests couldn’t support the weight of the two dead human shields. The two men swayed in the air with Chi Shu for a few moments before successively falling, rolling down the cliff wall, leaving only Chi Shu still bound by Liu Xiang’s iron rope around his arm.

Liu Xiang gritted his teeth and exerted force to pull the rope, trying to haul this man back up.

This Sixth Prince of Beidi, disheveled with blood flowing from his chest and eyes blood-red, clenched his teeth tightly and laughed aloud with a “heh heh.” “Let your Wei Regent Prince know that even in death, I, a dignified prince of the Great Di Dynasty, will never die before your eyes.” After speaking, he raised his other hand, and behold, that hand gripped a dagger he had taken from one of the human shields. With one stroke, he slashed down, blood spurting out as he severed his forearm that was bound by the iron rope. He immediately fell like a dropping boulder, tumbling down. Loose stones from the cliff wall pattered down with him, and in an instant, he vanished from sight.

Liu Xiang cried out in shock, never expecting this Di Southern Prince to be so ruthlessly extreme, severing his arm to escape without even blinking.

He held the iron rope that now contained only a severed, bloodied hand, frozen in place. After a long moment, he came to his senses, turned around, and saw the Regent Prince approaching. He knelt before him.

“This subordinate is incompetent, unable to capture the man, letting him… fall…”

Shu Shenhui glanced at the severed hand on the ground, walked to the cliff edge, looked down once, and said: “Let it be. Such a ruthlessly extreme person is rarely seen. If he fell, he fell. You lead men down to take a look, see what the situation is.”

Liu Xiang heard that his tone truly held no reproach, immediately rose, and selected personnel. Having no rope long enough at hand, he led men without a moment’s rest, searching for nearby cliff slopes with gentler descents to slowly make their way down.

While Shu Shenhui stood fixed at the cliff edge, Chen Lun approached.

He had just been non-stop interrogating the four captured subordinates of Chi Shu who had attempted to block their way. Speaking in a low voice: “These few men are quite stubborn. Despite applying severe torture earlier, not one opened his mouth—they simply won’t reveal the Princess Consort’s whereabouts. It appears that among the several men, the one who was shot in the knee is their leader.”

Shu Shenhui walked back and stopped before those few men.

Around them, vicious dogs roared, and having just endured a round of severe torture, each man was pale as death, yet all kept their eyes closed, motionless.

Shu Shenhui looked at the most powerfully built among them and suddenly said: “This prince knows you, Nu Gan. You are the first warrior under the Sixth Prince Chi Shu. Let me inform you that Prince Chi Shu, driven to desperation, threw himself from the cliff and likely won’t survive. This prince has always respected warriors and is willing to spare your life. If you’re willing to abandon darkness for light, this prince will certainly find ways to bring your entire family to settle in Chang’an. You should have seen with your own eyes the prosperity and wealth of Chang’an in recent days. Your Di Kingdom can employ Han people as officials—surely my Great Wei, which embraces all rivers, can’t accommodate you? What are your thoughts?”

Among the remaining few men, someone slightly opened his eyes to look at the Great Wei Regent Prince who was speaking. His countenance was peaceful, his tone calm.

But Nu Gan’s eyelids didn’t move at all. He spat out blood-filled saliva and said coldly, “Our two nations are enemies. Since we have fallen into you Han people’s hands, kill or torture as you please!”

Shu Shenhui’s expression didn’t change. He looked at him for a moment, then suddenly turned to instruct Chen Lun: “Since that’s the case, then grant his wish. Cut off his head and feed it to the dogs—consider it sending off the Sixth Prince.”

When he spoke these words, his tone remained peaceful, sounding no different from his earlier attempt at persuasion.

Chen Lun acknowledged with a “yes” and called several of his subordinates. The men stepped forward, dragged the bound Nu Gan from among his companions, and pressed him to the ground. Nu Gan struggled with all his might, cursing loudly. A warrior accustomed to handling blades drew his sword and placed it against his neck, starting from the side of the neck like cutting a chicken’s throat, sawing back and forth stroke by stroke.

Such cruel torture created even greater terrifying pressure on observers than death by a thousand cuts.

Blood gurgled out from the knife wounds. At first, Nu Gan continued cursing, but gradually he could make no sound, leaving only the agonized sounds of suffering. They cut back and forth dozens of times like this, cutting halfway through before the man slowly lost all sound. Finally, the entire head was severed, lifted by the hair, and thrown among the nearby pack of restless, vicious dogs. Dozens of dogs competed to tear at it, the head rolling back and forth on the ground. In just a few moments, it was torn beyond recognition, extremely horrifying.

“Well then, among you, who else would like to accompany the Sixth Prince on his journey?”

Shu Shenhui’s expression remained calm as he turned toward the remaining three men and asked.

The three men were pale, looking at each other. At first, none spoke. Chen Lun gave a meaningful look to the warrior who had wielded the blade earlier. The warrior, holding his bloody sword, stepped forward to drag out another man. The man who was pulled out could no longer hold firm and gradually confessed everything, recounting the events of recent days: “…The Sixth Prince was originally planning to leave quietly, but unexpectedly learned that the Princess Consort was at the detached palace, so he conceived the idea. Previously, his repeated failures to recapture Qingmu Sai had been very disadvantageous to him. He wanted to capture someone to return and claim credit, so he followed… He wouldn’t listen to advice and pursued relentlessly… The Princess Consort traveled ahead for three days. Today, when we pursued this place, she must have gone up the mountain, so the Sixth Prince set fire to the mountain to force her down. She was very… cunning and crafty…”

The man paused and changed his words: “Intelligent and wise! We actually couldn’t catch her, and the Sixth Prince was instead taken hostage by her. Suddenly, a fierce tiger appeared, and the Sixth Prince took the opportunity to break free. Finally, the Princess Consort was forced to the cliff edge. The Sixth Prince told her to surrender, but she said not a word, turned her head, and directly jumped down herself. The Sixth Prince tried to grab her, but it was too late, and he couldn’t reach her… She should also be down there now… Regent Prince Your Highness, spare my life…”

Shu Shenhui’s expression grew increasingly grave. Before the man finished speaking, he returned to the cliff edge, bent down to look below.

Chen Lun and others hurried to follow. Seeing his expression become rigid, his eyes fixed intently on the pitch-black valley floor below that reflected no firelight and whose bottom couldn’t be seen, they couldn’t help but feel alarmed. After hesitating, Chen Lun advised: “Your Highness, please don’t worry excessively. The Princess Consort is blessed by fortune and surely…”

“Everyone, go down! Immediately! You must find her for me!”

He suddenly interrupted Chen Lun’s words with a stern shout, turned around, and strode away rapidly.