Wei Wujun’s eyes blazed with fury as he struck Suzhen across the face with a vicious slap. “Just wait and see!”

Warriors came pouring out from within the building one after another. Suzhen couldn’t spare time to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, leaning her exhausted body against the pillar before the hall. In her heart, she swiftly counted the men rushing out in competition—two hadn’t emerged, three were wounded. Though they hadn’t defeated many enemies, they had still done well!

Wei Wujun ordered the last seven men to exit the building to remain, saying coldly, “Clean out everyone inside the building thoroughly. Don’t kill this woman—I’ll properly attend to her when I return!”

As he spoke, he led Wuliang and his men in pursuit through one of the doors beside the front hall. Wei Wulei followed closely behind.

The seven men glared at her viciously. Suzhen knew she had cost them a good opportunity to achieve merit. The cruelty in their eyes proclaimed their intentions—they wouldn’t be gentle with her. Indeed, five of them quickly surrounded her while the other two went inside—

She leaned against the pillar and suddenly called out sternly, “Right… now!”

Everyone was startled, thinking she must have lost her mind. But then rapid footsteps sounded from behind them. As soon as they turned around, a gray-robed figure was already attacking with both palms creating wind. Among the five men, three were disciples of the Wuliang sect while the other two were elite Wei soldiers with slightly inferior martial arts. In an instant, one man was already killed by the gray-robed figure. The remaining men were all greatly shocked—they hadn’t expected this man, pierced by multiple arrows and covered in blood, to be so formidable!

What shocked them even more was that at this moment, a scarred man emerged from the right hall opposite them, supporting a man wearing only undergarments.

That was… the current Emperor?!

Suzhen used all her strength to shout, “Xuanwu, unlock Chao Huang’s pressure points, then immediately take your master away!”

“Yes!” Xuanwu placed Lian Yu beside a nearby pillar, then rushed to Chao Huang’s side. Chao Huang also urgently called out, “Quickly unlock them for me—I can help you kill enemies!”

However, Chao Huang’s pressure points simply couldn’t be unlocked!

It turned out that Wuliang’s martial arts were profound, and his pressure point techniques were extremely sinister—they couldn’t be resolved by ordinary methods. After Xuanwu tried and found himself helpless, he immediately picked up Lian Yu and ran toward the main gate they had entered through.

The warriors were furious. The two men who had already reached the left hall entrance immediately turned back to intercept them. The gray-robed man was severely injured and already struggling to handle the four men at hand—he couldn’t spare any effort. At this moment, a figure suddenly charged out from within the hall—it was Baihu. She was covered in blood but still tackled one man and rolled to the ground with him. Almost simultaneously, Suzhen picked up the sword of a dead Wei soldier with her left hand, approached another man from behind, and stabbed down viciously.

However, this man reacted extremely quickly. Hearing the sound, he identified the position, slightly shifted his body, and Suzhen’s sword immediately missed its target. He had already turned around, seized her sword with a quick grab, and was about to stab it into her chest when he suddenly remembered Wei Wujun’s instructions. He sneered and thrust the sword toward her shoulder instead. Though Suzhen’s martial arts were poor, she had some foundation. She stepped back and could barely avoid it, but she didn’t retreat. The sword tip made a “puff” sound as it pierced through her shoulder. Amid Wei Wuxia’s terrified screams, a dagger swiftly emerged from her right sleeve and was firmly driven into the opponent’s chest. The man looked at his own body in disbelief, realizing her earlier sword strike had been a ploy to lure the enemy, but it was too late for recovery now—he collapsed weakly.

Suzhen also fell to the ground in pain. Gritting her teeth, she forcefully pulled out the sword from the enemy’s chest, struck it against the ground creating light sparks, and used it to prop herself up and stand.

Baihu had also killed her opponent, but her injuries were too severe. She had previously fought desperately with enemies in the hall and sustained multiple sword wounds, one of which penetrated deep into her abdomen, spurting blood. She collapsed on the ground, barely alive, unable to rise again to help the gray-robed man kill enemies. She could only gaze intently at the man in Xuanwu’s arms.

Xuanwu had now reached the doorway when he suddenly stopped, tears in his eyes. He quickly glanced back at Baihu and the gray-robed man, then faced Suzhen with a trembling voice, “Magistrate Li, come with Xuanwu—the master cannot do without you!”

“Shadow Emperor, I can’t move anymore. If I follow you, I’ll only become a burden hindering his escape. Go! We can’t all perish here tonight,” Suzhen said with a smile, though her vision was beginning to blur.

Xuanwu let out a low howl, gritted his teeth fiercely, and carrying Lian Yu, rushed into the deep wilderness of the night outside.

She still remembered their first meeting—it was a starlit night.

Someone in blue robes, bearing wounds yet still with slightly curved lips and cunning eyes, had walked toward her…

Tears streamed down Suzhen’s face. She picked up her sword, wanting to help the gray-robed man kill enemies, but her shoulder wound burned like fire and her abdomen cramped like being stabbed. Had the child already… been lost… She thought in a daze, stumbled, and fell back to the ground.

In her ears was Chao Huang’s suppressed growl through gritted teeth, “I shouldn’t have surrendered. What good is preserving the green mountains? I’ve failed Big Brother’s trust—I’m not even as good as a woman!”

Wei Wuxia cried, “Husband, we’ve already been benevolent and righteous to them. She’s not related to you by blood!”

“Shut up! We and they are enemies, but that’s a matter of principle—you don’t understand. And if it weren’t for you tonight… how could you be so confused!” Chao Huang roared in anger.

But Suzhen had no time to listen to their words. She tightly covered her abdomen with both hands while keeping her eyes fixed on the gray-robed man’s battle with the crowd.

She couldn’t bear to watch this brutal slaughter, yet if this man could hold out a bit longer, Lian Yu’s chances of escape would increase by one point.

She hadn’t known there was such a formidable figure beside Lian Yu. The dagger she used for self-defense had also been secretly given to her by this man before they separated.

This man was truly remarkable. With several arrowheads still embedded in his body, he had actually killed two more people during the fighting. Only two remained—perhaps he still had a chance to escape! Suzhen’s heart filled with joy!

But his palm strikes were growing weaker, and in a flash he was forced back to the entrance of the left hall, his wounds having nearly dyed his entire gray robe red. Just as two swords were about to strike down—Suzhen gripped her sword hilt but couldn’t stand up no matter what. Yet at this critical moment of life and death, her heart suddenly stirred, and she suddenly turned sideways and called out joyfully, “Excellent! General Chao, you’ve actually broken through that villain’s pressure point technique! Quick, quickly go help—”

Before she finished speaking, the two men had already turned back in surprise, and the gray-robed man proved to be a supreme master. In that instant, with lightning speed like hers, he produced two daggers from his sleeves and threw them at both men’s necks.

The opponents immediately collapsed to the ground without a sound.

Suzhen was overjoyed. Seeing the gray-robed man struggling to leap up and swaying as he tried to approach her, she pointed to Baihu who was right beside him, “Baihu isn’t dead yet—first help her… stop the bleeding.”

The gray-robed man was startled and immediately helped Baihu up, quickly pressing several points on her body. Just then, thunderous footsteps approached from outside. Suzhen cried out urgently, “Carry her up to the roof and escape! I’ll find a way to delay them! Escape!”

She was still over there, a full dozen steps away—the gray-robed man’s gaze darkened, but he knew that attempting rescue would only lead to mutual death. Finally, he picked up Baihu, leaped onto the roof in one bound, and concealed himself.

“Haha, haha, I profited, I profited—not everyone died here. Father…” Suzhen murmured.

…

When Wei Chenghui entered the hall with over ten elite soldiers, what he saw was Suzhen’s scene of crying and laughing like a madwoman. He pursed his lips and swept his gaze around, coldly looking at the two people before the opposite hall with murderous intent, before finally settling his gaze on Suzhen.

At the same time, from behind one of the doors beside the front hall, another group quickly entered—it was precisely Wei Wujun, Wuliang and others. Yu Jinglun and Mao Hui each carried a bloodstained person in their hands.

One had several sword wounds on his body and appeared still alive, while the other had a hole in his head with one eye half-collapsed, blood still dripping along the corner of his mouth, his head hanging down.

The former was Lian Jie, the latter was Lian Qin.

Lian Jie smiled weakly at her, and Suzhen smiled back in return, then quietly looked toward Lian Qin.

When this young master left, he had snatched Lian Yu’s outer robe from Ming Yanchui’s hands, seeming to laugh as he said, “Li Huaisu, you’re both clever and foolish—it’s dark in the hall so others can’t see. Little Chu only needs to use his voice.”

Qinglong… hadn’t returned. Because he wasn’t even an imperial prince, his corpse was just thrown in some corner, like the nameless soldiers who died in this war.

Suzhen slowly loosened her grip on the sword. The figures before her eyes became heavy and blurred. The world seemed to become quiet for an instant.

Wei Chenghui looked sternly at Wei Wujun, “Where is Lian Yu?”

“Lian Yu… escaped,” Wei Wujun’s face flushed red as he lowered his head in shame.

Wei Chenghui strode up to him in a few steps and struck him with a palm, “I received Wulei’s notification that Liancheng was also lost, so I rushed here immediately, and this is how you handled the matter?!”

That blow was so forceful it turned Wei Wujun’s face to the side. Wei Wujun cried out in shock and pain but didn’t dare argue a single word, immediately kneeling down, “Father, it’s your son’s incompetence. Your son will definitely… definitely make amends through merit. This Lian Yu is severely wounded and doesn’t have many subordinates left. He must still be in this palace. When your son returned, he already ordered soldiers to guard several key passages in and out of the palace—we’ll definitely capture him.”

“Yes, Father, don’t blame Second Brother. In my opinion, it’s all Feng Suzhen’s scheme. I’ve just remembered—when she was negotiating with Second Brother earlier, she was clearly confident of victory,” Wei Wulei quickly came over to mediate, then told Wei Chenghui everything that had happened.

Wei Chenghui’s gaze fell on Suzhen again, extremely slowly but with a bone-chilling murderous intent.