Tie Ci raised her hand, then remembered she wasn’t at her martial school—no one would high-five her here.

However, the person behind her only hesitated for a moment before raising his hand and giving her a resounding high-five.

The high-five put Tie Ci in an excellent mood. She squeezed the horse’s belly with her legs, and the horse slowed down. But the fellow above her head suddenly said, “Even with me supporting you, you can’t sit steadily—what a dunce. Get down!”

With that, he lifted his hand and flung Tie Ci off. Cries of alarm rose from below.

Tie Ci landed in a patch of sandy ground, taking several steps forward before steadying herself. Just as she raised her head, she saw the black-clad rider galloping away dashingly, with a flock of young women chasing after him, calling “Teacher, take me too!”

Those who didn’t chase were all male students. The people from Section A were obviously in good spirits, exchanging meaningful glances with each other.

The new teacher was swamped by the crowd of beauties. Tie Ci didn’t join the commotion, sitting to one side. After a while, cheers erupted from that direction—someone had leaped onto a horse and was racing against the archery teacher.

There was a flapping sound overhead. Tie Ci looked up to see Hai Dongqing perched in the tree, its blazing eyes fixed on the person racing, its enormous wings opening and closing as if applauding and cheering.

Oh, so the one racing was its younger brother.

Cui Shi suddenly walked over, carrying a bow, smiling as he said, “Brother Ye, not good at riding? Then let’s practice archery instead. The horses are limited anyway—we wouldn’t get a turn.”

He pointed to the target diagonally opposite, smiling, “This younger brother will make a fool of himself first.” He drew the bow and shot an arrow that hit the target. Though not dead center, for a scholar who rarely exercised, it was quite good.

Cheers sounded from all around as many people gathered.

Tie Ci showed a troubled expression. Cui Shi became even more enthusiastic, pressing the bow into her hands. “No worries, give it a try. There are archery quizzes every ten days—you’ll have to practice eventually.”

Tie Ci had no choice but to accept it, slowly drawing the bow.

She saw Cui Shi smugly exchange glances with Ma De, who stood watching from a distance.

Tie Ci drew the bow to full moon, released her grip, and the arrow went askew, barely hitting the target’s outer ring.

Everyone’s expressions were somewhat complex. Most offered comfort—all beginners were like this. But inwardly, they couldn’t help feeling pleased.

Though many people didn’t have a bad impression of Tie Ci, they hadn’t bet on her victory either, so naturally they were happy for their wallets.

Tie Ci saw Ma De and his group walking away with smiles.

She sat resting at the edge of the martial arts field when she saw someone approaching with a very eye-catching figure—it was Rong Pu. Today he had unusually shed his wide robes and flowing sleeves for training clothes. She had expected his build to be frail, but while he couldn’t be called robust and agile, he was tall and handsome, causing half the female students in the field to drop their eyeballs all over the ground.

Seeing him walking toward her, Tie Ci thought it best to avoid entanglement with such prominent figures. She casually stood up and walked toward a more secluded area. At the edge of the martial field was a small grove—she dove into the woods.

Rong Pu couldn’t follow because Dan Ye’s aunt Hu Yin had intercepted him. The two walked toward the edge, where the tall woman in colorful robes stammered something while Rong Pu listened with a smile, though his eyes kept drifting in this direction.

This piqued Tie Ci’s interest. What would a Western Rong princess and the Rong family heir discuss together? Her political sensitivity, honed through long training in the court, made her first thought that Western Rong was becoming restless. Looking at the grove that surrounded half the martial field, she thought if she circled around, she might be able to hide behind trees and listen.

She walked into the woods but didn’t expect them to be deeper than imagined—they actually connected to the mountain behind.

The academy was built against the mountain. Having arrived only recently, she didn’t know that the northwestern corner of the academy’s martial field had no walls—this grove was the boundary. Students were usually warned not to enter the forest, fearing they might encounter wild beasts coming down from the mountain.

After walking for a while without encountering Rong Pu and the others, Tie Ci had gone deeper when she suddenly saw a human figure flash ahead. With a whoosh, a cold arrow shot toward her. Tie Ci dodged aside. “Who’s there!”

Rustling sounds retreated. Tie Ci examined the arrow—it was an ordinary iron arrow used by the academy, but practice arrows had their tips wrapped in cloth, while this one had the cloth removed.

Ahead, grass and trees swayed like waves. Tie Ci gave chase, but when she was about to catch up, she discovered she had been chasing a rabbit all along. She was about to give up when she saw the plump rabbit and became interested. The dining hall food lacked salt and oil—since she was in the mountains, she might as well hunt some game.

The rabbit’s white form leaped through the vegetation. Tie Ci reached behind her waist where she carried a delicate folding bow.

Before she could grasp it, the ground suddenly gave way beneath her feet. Her body tilted, and Tie Ci thought, “Oh no, did I encounter a hunter’s trap!”

With a crack, the loosely piled grass and branches broke. Tie Ci’s jade brush at her waist trembled—she was about to shoot out thin chains when she heard chaotic footsteps behind her, suggesting quite a few people had arrived. Her mind stirred. Looking down, she saw the trap below had no broken stones or iron spikes, so she withdrew the jade brush. In the next moment, she fell into the trap with a thud, rolled over, and cried out “Ouch.”

Silence above, then laughter erupted.

The voices sounded familiar—it was that batch of people she had previously offended.

Those people didn’t show their faces, but someone said, “Bring the basket over.”

Rustling sounds, dragging noises across the ground, then something crashed down with a splash.

Someone above called down, “Today you’ll learn a lesson, boy. If you’re smart, don’t waste Teacher He’s letter of recommendation—go home early.”

Everyone laughed heartily and left.

Tie Ci sat in the trap, hearing hissing sounds from all four walls, like something slimy sliding down the earthen walls toward her. The sky had darkened, the forest was dim. Tie Ci lit a fire starter she carried and saw countless snakes crawling down the trap walls toward her.

They had dumped a basket of snakes.

For an ordinary student, trapped in a pit at nightfall in the forest with hissing sounds from all sides and snakes approaching—even if the snakes weren’t venomous, the fear and disgust alone might make them sick.

But for Tie Ci…

Moments later, she sat comfortably against the trap wall, having lit a fire. The fattest snake she had selected was skinned and skewered on a branch, slowly roasting.

The other snakes were all thrown outside the trap. She planned to roast this snake for dinner while taking several others as takeout to deliver one each to Ma De and his friends.

The midnight forest wasn’t as quiet as imagined, filled with various noises—wind, insects, night birds flapping their wings, water… But precisely because of all these miscellaneous sounds, they emphasized the forest’s silence even more. Overhead, there seemed to be the distant cry of an eagle, quickly fading away.

Suddenly among these subtle sounds came some rustling—very light, easily missed if not paying attention. Tie Ci listened carefully for a while, then suddenly called out, “Is someone there?”

The rustling immediately stopped.

Silence returned all around. Tie Ci waited quite a while but didn’t hear that sound again.

Perhaps she had misheard.

The roasting skewer gradually emitted an enticing aroma. In the distance, desolate and powerful howls pierced the current silent stillness.

Tie Ci frowned and looked up, remembering that deep mountains had many wolves. Encountering a wolf pack would be troublesome.

This made her abandon the idea of eating slowly. She stood up, intending to climb out of the trap along its walls.

Though the trap was deep, it wasn’t a problem for her.

Something suddenly fell from overhead—she thought it was rain until she realized it was soil.

Looking up, she met the half-crescent moon overhead and two points of green glow.

Tie Ci almost shrieked about ghosts before realizing what was happening.

The wolves had come!

The wolves had really come.

Green little lanterns appeared one after another around the trap’s mouth, twinkling like stars overhead in a complete circle.

Tie Ci’s heart sank.

A wolf pack had truly arrived.

She had heard wolf packs fought with tactics, extremely fierce and cunning—the rumors were true. Though they had already arrived, they had a wolf howl in the distance to send false information while ambushing above her.

Those wolves surrounding the trap’s mouth continued digging at the soil, wanting to widen the opening so she couldn’t get out, burying her alive.

Tie Ci hesitated no longer and leaped up the wall.

A howl, then a wolf suddenly leaped down toward her.

The massive body was like a cannonball, viciously colliding with her!

At the instant the hungry wolf struck her, Tie Ci drew her blade!

With a squelch, the white blade went in, the red blade came out, and stinking hot blood splashed all over her.

However, Tie Ci was also knocked back into the pit by this collision.

This moment’s delay allowed those wolves to all jump in together—over a dozen wolves instantly filled the entire trap.

The moment the wolves jumped down, Tie Ci had already retreated behind the fire pile, back against the pit wall.

Looking up again, another ring of green little lanterns lit up above—the wolf pack was fighting in waves, circle after circle around this trap, replacing each fallen circle with a fresh one until they wore her to death.

The pit immediately filled with an unbearable stench. Green little lights flickered with hunger and bloodthirst. Those gaping mouths with snow-white fangs stained dark red with blood flashed closer and closer in the firelight.

Tie Ci crouched down and picked up two thicker branches, lit them in the fire pile, and stuck them into the trap walls left and right, giving herself more maneuvering space and preventing the wolves above from sneak attacking while she fought the pack.

The wolves indeed retreated, becoming more crowded and thus more agitated. A wolf with a robust build suddenly leaped up and pounced down from above.

Cold light flashed in Tie Ci’s hand with a soft hiss, and the wolf’s belly sprayed blood as it fell.

But two other giant wolves charged from left and right, forcibly knocking the wolf’s corpse onto the fire pile. With a whoosh, the fire was extinguished.

Tie Ci had no time to curse or praise these wolves’ cunning, because the moment the fire died, all the wolves madly rushed forward!

The instant the fire was extinguished, Tie Ci stepped on a wolf corpse and leaped up again.

But once again she was pressed back into the pit by the wolves swarming from above.

Wind swirled, air currents surged, and the two torches stuck in the walls also went out.

Instantly, in this trap the size of a small room, howls, the sounds of flesh colliding, sharp blades piercing, weapons entering meat, bones cracking, blood splashing, gasping… wove together in this quiet mountain forest and deep night into a battle song that made listeners’ flesh crawl.

Tie Ci could no longer remember how many times she had swung her blade or how many wolves she had killed. When one circle died in the pit, another would immediately replace them, like waves of wolves, one after another without end.

Black shadows pressed down from above. She raised her arm and swept, something splashing all over her with nauseating hot stench.

Claws grabbed her from behind, sharp claw tips piercing the flesh of her shoulder. She grasped those claws, bent down and executed a shoulder throw, and with a thunderous crash, she smashed that wolf to death against two other wolves, the three rolling into a pile.

Foul wind struck from the side. Without looking aside, she turned and lifted her leg, knee like iron. With a crack, the hard wolf head made a shattering sound, eyeballs popping with a snap.

…

Her fluid movements gradually slowed. The bloody smell grew thicker, wolf corpses layered the ground, making each step uneven. Tie Ci felt as if she were walking with difficulty through a sea of blood, surrounded on all sides by viscous, stinking blackness like the tar her master had described—slowly and heavily surging up, gradually binding her joints and limbs, while her breathing grew heavier, each breath bringing burning heat in her chest…

She knew she was nearly exhausted.

Trapped in this small space, unable to fully deploy her skills, forced to engage in close combat with these relay-fighting wolves, it was extremely draining.

If she could break out, these wolves couldn’t match her, but whenever she looked up, she could see those green lights coldly glowing.

The hot flow within her body circulated poorly, reversing downward. Where it met blockages, the rapids crashed against shores.

She felt her heart and lungs might explode. With a sharp turn, the blade in her hand shattered a wolf’s jaw.

Suddenly with a whistle, wind sounded overhead as something heavy fell. She dodged somewhat slowly, and with a bang, the thing smashed down a wolf that was about to pounce on her, though it didn’t hit the ground—the pit bottom was full of wolf corpses.

Tie Ci’s mind was working a bit slowly now. While mechanically swinging her blade and striking, she subconsciously looked up in confusion, then the world went dark as another wolf fell.

Gaps appeared in the encirclement and were immediately filled again.

Tie Ci flared with anger, spun in a circle, and swung her blade with tremendous force. Swish, swish, swish—three wolf heads flew into the air.

The splashing blood stained the half-moon red.

With a bang, as if something inside her also suddenly exploded, the rapids finally broke through the dam, giant waves soaring to the sky—

Tie Ci’s vision blurred.

In the next instant, she heard wind and bird calls, her back sinking as she fell into something seemingly hard yet soft.

A faint scent of wood and leaves.

She looked up into eyes darker than night, more radiant than the bright moon, quieter and deeper than stars and seas.

Those eyes blinked at her, then frowned with a look of disgust as he held her at arm’s length and set her on a tree branch.

Then he smiled and said, “Leave the rest to me.”