Although the cotton clothes were somewhat roughly stitched due to the rush in production, when the stitching was torn open for close inspection, the cotton filling was thick and fluffy, and the fabric was sturdy and durable—truly good goods without any adulteration.

The soldiers cast puzzled glances. Tie Ci put down the cotton clothes and signaled to continue distribution.

Since they were good items related to the soldiers’ welfare, she had no reason to obstruct.

But her heart still harbored some indescribable unease.

Just then, she heard the news from the prison.

By the time she hurried over, Di Yiwei was already there, drawing on her smoke pipe at the fastest speed possible, carefully examining the corpses.

Tie Ci smelled the heavy smoke on her—she was smoking even more fiercely this time.

She was considering replacing Di Yiwei’s opium paste. Having gone through such tremendous hardships to obtain this commander, and still hoping to join hands with her to purify the court and benefit women throughout the realm, if she were to be ruined early by opium, that would be too great a loss.

The death states of the corpses on the ground made her eyes narrow.

Because each person died differently—some bodies were completely red, some deathly pale, some colorfully mottled like a dye shop had exploded, and some had already begun rotting.

Huang Ming died in his cell. When discovered, he was still smoking as if burned alive, but there were no scorch marks on his body.

Cui Shi and one of the soldiers were missing.

Di Yiwei swept a glance and immediately said: “Seal the main camp—entry permitted, exit forbidden. Search immediately for Xu Dalin and Cui Shi, and send a hundred men out of camp to search. Inform everyone that if they spot the targets, notify the main camp but do not act rashly.”

Her subordinates took the orders and left. Only then did Di Yiwei say: “How did they die? Such a variety of death states.”

Tie Ci said: “The perpetrator wanted to conceal his methods, so he created all these variations. But precisely because of this, it proves all the more that everyone died from the same method.”

Chi Xue suddenly said: “Poison.”

“Who’s using poison?” Tie Ci looked at the person who died in mottled colors. “This looks like the Poison Maniac’s poison, but you said he was already dead, and that it was his disciple who killed him…”

She stopped speaking, seeing Chi Xue’s face slowly turn pale.

“Cui Shi,” she said.

…

A hundred li from Cangtan Pass, there was an ancient valley. Originally a valley between two mountains with a gentle river flowing through—also a strategic military location in the north. Later, due to earthquakes, the two mountains grew farther apart, the river broke several times, and eventually formed very strange terrain. The ground was uneven, streams appeared and disappeared, and walking through it, one would either suddenly fall into deep pits or tumble into rivers, or even fall into waterfalls formed by ground elevation differences. Over time, this pass was abandoned and few people came here normally.

But if one could cross this chaotic rocky beach, beyond lay broad smooth roads leading directly to Gugu City, the closest city to Cangtan.

At dusk, teams suddenly appeared on that plain.

Quite a number—a full ten thousand troops appearing on this long-abandoned ancient road plain seemed rather突兀.

At the very front of the mighty procession flew the ordinary Yong Ping army banner. Some common people passing by in the distance saw this and knew it was probably the Yong Ping garrison army going to retake Da Qian territory at Cangtan Pass.

But this army was different from usual. Di Yiwei of Yong Ping army was a miser who disliked pomp and ostentation. Her officers and soldiers were all very plain. People were accustomed to seeing the drab Yong Ping army, but today’s troops had brand new, bright banners, weapons gleaming like snow, soldiers in fresh armor, and even their horses were famous steeds and black horses raised in the largest horse ranch of the Chiyuan Regional Administration.

Beneath the banner was a white horse, upon which sat a young general in brilliant golden armor. Slender waist, long legs, black boots below the armor skirt inlaid with bronze boot tips, bright red plume on the helmet—just seeing the back view made one feel spirited and dashing.

The general was surrounded by more personal guards than usual, weapons in formation, banners like a forest.

The young general gazed at the scenery ahead—this was Wuse Plain. The earth’s qi was cold, and those springs and flying waterfalls of bygone days were now frozen, embedded among the earthen yellow and gray-white slopes and various colored stones, truly resembling a vividly colored ground relief sculpture. Directly ahead of the army was a waterfall of modest height, terraced in form and extending dozens of zhang, also frozen into a smooth ice mirror that vaguely reflected the army’s shadow.

Truly a wondrous sight.

The young general didn’t spare it a second glance, raising the whip to urge the horse forward.

This force had elite troops and fine horses, and was about to sweep across the plain.

Suddenly came a “whoosh” sound. Everyone looked up to see dark clouds rising on the horizon. Looking again, those weren’t clouds but countless black arrow shafts covering half the sky.

“Enemies—”

“Protect—”

The arrows came from overhead, and in that overhead direction was the frozen waterfall.

Then everyone saw countless black meteors sliding down from the waterfall, swift as lightning like riding a slide, wave after wave sliding down. Called sliding, but from below it looked like flying—just in the sky a moment ago, suddenly near at hand. They could see these were flat sleds like snowboards, each carrying three people: the frontmost holding spears, the middle one wielding sabers, the last standing with bow drawn full.

Da Qian’s army had never seen such formation and composition. In the blink of an eye, those troops would slide right up to them.

One could imagine those long spears at the front would surely topple a batch of people.

The sabers in the middle would behead those who fell.

The arrows at the rear would shoot down the survivors.

One encounter could completely rout an army.

Da Qian soldiers were still dodging and responding to the arrow rain. Trying to retreat now was too late. Before the ice waterfall, terrified eyes could be vaguely seen.

Then a figure flashed like bright sunlight gleaming across snow.

Suddenly appearing at the front of the ice ditch at the bottom of the ice waterfall, where years of water flow had accumulated into a stream, then frozen into thick ice layers.

That ice was so thick that even attacking it with iron picks would only create shallow pits.

That slender figure in golden armor appeared very abruptly, as if having always stood upon that ice ditch. A flash of blue-green light in hand, facing the sliding thousands of troops, drew a long horizontal line.

Like drawing a dividing line on a desk, like children drawing lines for hopscotch.

As if this childish motion, this void stroke, could block the fierce army surging like a gale.

The frontmost soldiers already showed mockery in their eyes.

Even a hundred men chiseling for an hour might not crack open this ice ditch. What fool was this, thinking such a light stroke could split it open?

Did they think they were the Thunder God or Lightning Mother?

A white light flashed, crackling continuously in the air.

Like countless oil pots exploding.

“Crack!” A sound.

A fissure appeared lightning-fast beneath her feet, instantly splitting into a long ditch!

The frontmost soldiers showed terror in their eyes.

How was this possible!

Worse, countless people sliding down wave after wave created vibrations that accelerated the fissure’s collapse. In the blink of an eye, the thin crack became a chi-wide ditch.

The golden-armored figure was no longer in place.

But no Liaodong troops noticed this detail. The frontmost soldiers were already shouting: “Stop! Stop!”

They frantically grabbed the braking spikes equipped beside their sleds, but how could they stop in time?

The sleds hit the fissure—those that got stuck stuck, those that flipped flipped. The disadvantage of excessive speed now showed; no one could check their momentum. Before those in front could get up, those following had already crashed into them. Banging and screaming sounds continued as countless Liaodong soldiers layered like waves crashing against a beach, piling on top of each other, with more and more joining the collision.

Da Qian soldiers naturally wouldn’t miss such a golden opportunity, having already charged forward with spears raised. The two armies, without even a word of challenge, crashed together like two massive tides.

The frontmost Liaodong soldiers, crushed at the very bottom, were now being cut down like melons and vegetables by Da Qian soldiers. These soldiers, accustomed to daily training on ice and snow, reacted quickly and immediately used their weapons to decisively shatter the ice beneath them, falling into the ice ditch to clear obstacles for the soldiers crashing down behind them. The following soldiers rode their sleds directly into the Da Qian soldiers’ formation.

Behind the Da Qian soldiers’ formation, Di Yiwei pulled down her face mask, pale eyes emotionless: “Spear formation, ready!”

The frontmost Da Qian soldiers charged forward, crouching in three ranks, long spears angled forward, aimed at the charging Liaodong soldiers. Dense like a field of dark green reeds.

Though the Liaodong soldiers had lost the initiative, their fierce nature drove them on. Facing the forest of spears, no one stopped, shooting down like arrows.

Shields in one hand, long sabers raised together like a snowy poplar grove.

Now to see whether Liaodong’s sabers were faster or Da Qian’s spears harder.

The Da Qian soldiers were somewhat nervous.

The Liaodong soldiers charging down with wind and snow created great pressure, while their spears were newly replaced and their numbers limited. A mere three-layer spear formation defense gave them no confidence they could block the Liaodong troops pouring down like a flood.

But they could not retreat. This was a strategy to lure the enemy. In this seemingly small army were their commander and the Crown Princess.

The Liaodong soldiers’ faces grew nearer. Their shields looked very solid, their flat long sabers particularly gleaming, appearing much sharper than their own blue-green spear points. The wind pulled those men’s faces into flat, vicious expressions full of killing intent.

No one spoke, no one retreated, only gripping their spears tighter.

Just an instant.

Thunderous collision.

Everything like a silent film.

In the silent film occurred what no one had expected.

The moment shields met spear points, it was like knives meeting paper shields. The shields were instantly torn apart. Those blue-green spear points seemed bewitched, easily penetrating two-inch-thick shields, then penetrating the soldier behind the shield, piercing through hard skull, stabbing into the second person’s brow, emerging from the back of his head, shooting into the third person’s throat.

One spear.

Red and white exploded like neon, spreading in layers above the blue-green spear points.

Borrowing incomparable sharpness and tremendous impact force, one spear penetrated the three-man formation on the sleds.

Instantly, countless giant human skewers appeared above the ice ditch.

The ice ditch fissure was soaked with blood, becoming a deep red glaze.

Above and below the ice waterfall, brief silence appeared.

The Liaodong soldiers were shocked; the Da Qian soldiers weren’t much better.

Many even blankly touched those spear points, wondering if they’d been bewitched.

The Liaodong soldiers rubbed their eyes, unable to believe how such killing weapons had suddenly appeared on the battlefield.

Only Di Yiwei’s voice remained steady and calm: “Kill!”

The greatly heartened Da Qian soldiers charged into the instantly scattered Liaodong soldiers, stepping over corpses to rush up the ice waterfall. Among them, the Scorpion Camp’s spearhead formation truly acted like a spear point, wherever they passed splitting formations like a blade. These soldiers excelled at close combat with vicious, ruthless methods. Fearing neither sword nor spear, they charged toward sharp edges. One soldier, enduring an enemy blade, leaped onto the opponent’s neck, legs exerting force to break the neck, smoothly reverse-stabbing with his knife to kill the enemy behind, while his other hand gouged out a charging soldier’s eye, then backhanded the corpse in his grip to knock down an oncoming man. Taking advantage of blocked vision, he treacherously shot a small arrow from his waist into the opponent’s abdomen. The returning knife spun close to the ground, severing two men’s tendons.

Six killed in an instant.

This was Scorpion Camp’s norm—their daily competition wasn’t who killed the most enemies, but who killed the most in the shortest time. In early battles with Dayan, the Dayan people would flee at the sight of Scorpion Camp and Blood Cavalry, not because they were cowards, but because even those accustomed to prolonged battlefield slaughter would shiver and feel cold terror facing Scorpion Camp’s killing methods. What was fearsome wasn’t death itself, but their callous disregard for life, their vicious inhumanity—not of this world.

The Scorpion Camp’s king warriors, after one battle, could wear ears dragged out a zhang long.

Endless slaughter created today’s illustrious reputation.

Di Yiwei’s warfare couldn’t be called full of cunning tactics—she simply trained her soldiers to the extreme, to what humans couldn’t achieve, to fearlessness. Under heaven’s myriad battle formations and changes, iron fists could break them all.

The Liaodong soldiers hadn’t expected these seemingly ordinary soldiers to be the world-famous Scorpion Camp.

Their killing momentum made even brave warriors fearful.

The earlier high-spirited charge from elevated position was forcibly suppressed by this wave of spear-skewered meat and killing display.

Black armor like rolling muddy currents gradually submerged the Liaodong soldiers’ white armor formation.

In the distance, someone fearfully lowered their telescope, turning to look behind: “Your Majesty! That is…”

The elder under the great banner looked both surprised and unsurprised: “Deep iron and Scorpion Camp. The Crown Princess indeed has deep iron weapons and was so generous as to give them directly to Di Yiwei.”

“Then we…”

“This king just received news that Qiu Wujiu was severely wounded by her and disappeared in the chaotic army.” Prince Da’an said slowly, “With Da Qian having such an heir, neighboring vassals and nations will have no peace. Even at the cost of formal war with Da Qian, this woman must be eliminated early.”

“Awaiting Your Majesty’s command.”

“Proceed as planned.”

“Yes.”

…

In the crowd, Tie Ci didn’t move.

She was waiting.

Waiting for the reaction brought by the deep iron weapons.

Beside her, Di Yiwei was also very quiet, smoke pipe resting at her waist, tapping it with her fingers.

Tie Ci suddenly turned to her: “Commander, for an excellent general, strategic vision is most important, isn’t it?”

“Of course.”

“So even if I act alone, the army shouldn’t change battle plans because of me. That’s a personal matter—no one should sacrifice for another’s private affairs. Commander Di, if anything happens, please don’t be affected and command the battle at your own pace.”

“Alright.”

Wild birds suddenly startled from the sky, fluttering over the mountain cliffs.

Two thunderous cannon blasts sounded behind and to both sides.

Tie Ci turned back to see two armies emerging from behind the rear mountain cliffs.

On the left, banners flew with the two large characters “Murong” prominently displayed. Under the banners, generals clustered around a vaguely visible man in black armor and deep red cloak, positioned in the center army.

On the right were all light cavalry, the type that executed charging and ramming missions. This kind of cavalry was fast but suffered heavy casualties. In the middle of the formation were vaguely two large carts that looked like they carried heavy supplies.

It appeared the left side was Prince Da’an’s personal arrival, while the right side looked like a suicide squad.

Tie Ci suddenly spurred her horse toward the left army.

Behind her followed a mighty force.

The army was all cavalry, sabers drawn and bows ready, killing intent fierce.

Both sides gasped—no one had expected the Crown Princess to charge out first like a suicide squad.

What was her hurry?

Didn’t they say a precious child shouldn’t sit under a dangerous wall? With her status, she should have been a mascot, commanding from the rear to boost morale and earn everyone’s tearful gratitude. Even personally taking the battlefield, she should have stayed protected in the center army. No one had ever seen someone of this status practically wanting to single-handedly hold a pass alone.

Though everyone acknowledged she had the ability to hold a pass alone or even take an enemy general’s head among thousands, the battlefield was perilous and ever-changing. If anything went wrong, the dynasty would have no heir!

Only a few knew what her hurry was.

Di Yiwei’s shout was rarely so loud: “Come back!”

I know you want to run, but you don’t need to run this fast—the formation here isn’t complete yet.

“I am the commanding general, I order you to come back!”

The golden-armored woman on horseback turned a deaf ear, only waving carelessly.

The army flanking from that side didn’t hesitate either, charging straight at Tie Ci. With a buzzing sound, arrow rain like dark clouds covered Tie Ci.

On horseback, Tie Ci crouched low, circled the horse, and directly transferred to beneath the horse’s belly, easily gripping the horse’s belly with both legs as the horse ran faster.

Beside her was another red horse with a black-armored woman standing on it, drawing her bow on the leaping horse back, shooting three arrows in succession from a great distance like a tireless archery machine.

This horsemanship, leg strength, and eyesight were all remarkable. The Liaodong soldiers also showed admiration, thus releasing arrows even faster.

The two horses advanced side by side. Those armored horses were also magnificent steeds, worthy of the words “swift as wind and lightning,” forcibly advancing against the arrow rain toward the center army.

Tie Ci suddenly leaped up, landing on her horse’s head, pausing briefly before flipping down before the arrow rain arrived.

Repeating this three times, her form was graceful, neat and dashing. The Liaodong army thought she was showing off and nearly cheered for her.

They charged wildly with Blood Cavalry following behind—one of Di Yiwei’s two trump cards, famous for long-distance raids, endurance, and leaving no survivors. Blood Cavalry always trained only on flat plains a hundred li from the main camp, so when Di Yiwei had troubles, Blood Cavalry wasn’t much affected, but appeared at the main camp immediately after Di Yiwei regained military authority.

Blood Cavalry in red clothes and red armor, wherever they passed like fire spreading across plains. Three thousand could run with the momentum of thirty thousand. Though their horses couldn’t match Tie Ci’s and Dan Shuang’s, they could keep up relentlessly.

Facing the oncoming arrow rain, Blood Cavalry acted like Tie Ci—all flipping over uniformly, transferring beneath their horses’ bellies. From afar, no one was visible on the horse backs, like a red ghost army.

When the two sides were about to collide, Blood Cavalry suddenly scattered. Everyone flipped up from beneath their horses’ bellies. After a whistle, silver light flashed and long serpents danced—their hands suddenly extended long chains, the chains flying in large circles, whistling as they wound toward the opposing cavalry’s horse legs and heads.

Cavalry generally wouldn’t use such long weapons—after all, one couldn’t leave the horse back, and overly long weapons would create passivity. For dense charging cavalry, flexible long weapons would entangle each other. No one had expected Blood Cavalry to use chain-like weapons. The well-trained Blood Cavalry were obviously very experienced—the countless silver circles they threw covered everything while never intersecting. Whistling sounds continued as they quickly entangled opponents. The clubs at the chain ends struck hard against enemies’ backs, heads, and arms—contact meant broken tendons and bones.

Just one charge filled the air with snapping and screaming. Another whistle, and Blood Cavalry retracted their chains, expressionlessly urging horses over corpses. Three to a group, silver light flowing on their chains, snapping together in mid-air, they raced around enemies. In the crossing movements, several enemies were bound together. Blood Cavalry didn’t pause, charging forward wildly. The chained cavalry were dragged down, strangled, trampled by hooves…

Like silver scythes cutting grain, falling in waves. The vanguard heavily damaged, flags signaling frantically in the rear. The Liaodong people, worthy of their reputation for warfare, quickly stabilized. The center army formation shifted, separating from the vanguard, creating distance from Blood Cavalry, choosing to suppress Blood Cavalry’s charge with dense arrow rain first.

The heavily armored elder under the great banner began retreating under escort.

The black-armored girl on the red horse suddenly flipped up, leaping over the horse’s head.

Several Blood Cavalry riders leaped up, using their bodies as bridges to support her.

Immediately arrows rained toward her like a storm.

The girl was armored from head to toe—black armor with an additional blue-green thin armor outside. Facing the oncoming arrow rain fearlessly, she steadily drew her bow toward the hastily retreating elder.

Someone in the crowd suddenly looked up with shocked eyes.

He recognized this thin armor!

How many days and nights in the tent, he had watched his master grind deep iron piece by piece, wearing the iron bar down to needles, fingers covered with accumulated scars, creating unparalleled sharp threads, then weaving them strand by strand into this thin armor.

Was it Ye Ci?!

No! This figure…

Opposite, the girl released her arm.

“Whoosh.”

The deep iron arrow flew like streaming light, alone meeting the arrow rain. Wherever it passed, sparks flew and wood chips scattered. Countless arrowheads exploded, arrow shafts shattered, creating a blank path through the arrow rain—the vacuum zone formed by the deep iron arrow breaking through air and obstacles. The next instant, that arrow reached the center army banner!

Still three chi from the banner, with a tearing sound, the great banner split in half.

The heavily armored elder below the banner looked up in shock.

Suddenly he grabbed the bound Mu Si behind him, holding him in front.

He grabbed so forcefully that he tore off half of Mu Si’s face mask. Slanted sunlight illuminated Mu Si’s suddenly raised face.

The black-clothed girl in mid-air was thunderstruck.

At the same time, someone cried out: “Where is that golden-armored woman from the beginning?!”