“Yes, a few years ago my martial arts were completely ruined, and I became a cripple!” She stared at Yun Poxing, who was already at the end of his rope. “But I heard there was someone called Yun Poxing who feared the reputation of my Bai Family Army so deeply, like a child fears his father! To bolster his courage, he allied with rats and wolves like Nanyan to boost his momentum, and secretly colluded with my grandfather’s deputy general Liu Huanzhang. Only by gathering a million-strong army and using every underhanded scheme could he slaughter all the men of my Bai family!”
“I thought… even if I’m a cripple, if I gave my all, I could surely sever your head! But what a pity—before this cripple even exerted herself, you’ve already been routed and become fish on my chopping block… ready for me to slaughter at will. How utterly disappointing!”
Her expression grew cold: “It seems without Nanyan’s assistance, without Liu Huanzhang passing information, Yun Poxing is inferior even to a woman and a cripple like me!”
Yun Poxing’s eyes blazed with fury as he gritted his teeth: “You insolent child, you insult me too much!”
“For you, stating facts is insulting you too much?!” She glared, grinding her teeth as she looked at Yun Poxing. “You severed my seventeenth brother’s head and carved open his corpse—wasn’t that the ultimate insult?! Though you used treacherous schemes to kill my grandfather and the Bai family men, as an enemy marshal fighting for your motherland, Western Liang’s benefit, I respect you. But you, a seven-foot-tall man, raised your blade against a ten-year-old child. Severing his head would have been one thing, but disemboweling and desecrating the corpse! You’re unfit to be human! I despise you!”
Yun Poxing thought of that ten-year-old Bai family child who maintained his proud spirit even unto death. He clenched his jaw and shouted: “In war between armies, whether children or elderly, once they take up blade and sword, they are warriors! Where is there room for such womanly kindness?!”
The moment Yun Poxing finished speaking, an arrow shot through the air, piercing through his knee in the blink of an eye, so fast that not even its shadow could be seen. Blood sprayed as Yun Poxing fell to one knee with a scream, cold sweat pouring as he glared at Bai Qingyan through gritted teeth.
“Marshal!”
The remaining Western Liang soldiers drew their blades, but surrounded and intimidated by the Bai family generals, they dared not move.
“This arrow is for my seventeenth brother!” Her eyes were cold and deep.
Another arrow pierced through Yun Poxing’s right knee, and he collapsed to kneel in disgrace.
“This arrow is to make you kneel and apologize to my seventeenth brother!”
“If you want to kill me, then kill me! I, Yun Poxing, am not afraid!” Yun Poxing roared.
“Kill you?” She gripped the Sun-Shooting Bow tightly. “Killing a helpless wretch like you would be too insulting to this Sun-Shooting Bow.”
“Little Marshal Bai! Use my blade! I don’t fear Yun Poxing’s blood sullying my precious sword!” Cheng Yuanzhi hurriedly drew his treasured blade and offered it. “If it gets dirty, I’ll wash it and use it again!”
Unable to bear the humiliation, Yun Poxing gritted his teeth and drew his curved blade toward his neck, seeking to end his life.
“Clang—”
Before Yun Poxing’s raised curved blade could touch his neck, a feathered arrow struck his wrist, and the curved blade clattered to the ground.
“Marshal!”
The remaining Western Liang soldiers’ eyes turned red like cornered mad dogs, baring their teeth and glaring at Bai Qingyan.
“Yun Poxing, today I’m letting you go…” she said.
“Little Marshal Bai! You cannot! He killed the Marshal, killed the Deputy Marshal! How can you let him go!” Cheng Yuanzhi’s eyes widened. He had waited so long for this moment, wanting nothing more than to strip Yun Poxing’s tendons, flay his skin, and chop off his head to use as a chamber pot. How could she just let him go?!
She didn’t change her tone, only suppressed her hatred as she looked at the stunned Yun Poxing and said: “I give you three years to roll back to Western Liang and prepare. After three years… come with all your Yun family descendants to assault our gates. If you don’t come, I’ll lead the Bai Family Army straight into your Kingdom, slaughter your Western Liang people, and exterminate your Western Liang royal family! I’ll butcher your entire Yun clan, leaving not even chickens or dogs alive!”
Unable to stand due to unbearable pain, Yun Poxing looked up at the woman before him, seething with a murderous aura yet maintaining cold self-control, and felt terror in his heart.
“Move aside!” She raised the Sun-Shooting Bow high, commanding the Bai Family Army to step aside and clear a path for Yun Poxing.
“Little Marshal Bai!” Cheng Yuanzhi clasped his hands and knelt down. “You cannot let Yun Poxing go! We must avenge all the Bai Family Army!”
“Little Marshal Bai! You cannot let him go!”
The Bai Family Army soldiers were unwilling to step forward with the determination to fight to the death rather than yield.
Her bloodshot eyes swept over the unwilling Bai Family Army soldiers, and she roared: “Those who disobey orders will be executed! Move aside!”
Military orders are like mountains—even though the Bai Family Army soldiers were unwilling, they could only step aside, grinding their teeth and glaring furiously at Yun Poxing.
Unable to walk on his legs, Yun Poxing was supported by the remaining Western Liang soldiers. He looked at Bai Qingyan: “You’re really letting me go?”
“You only have three years! I just hope that in three years you’ll be stronger… don’t let me win as easily as cutting vegetables and melons, as simply as today!”
After speaking, she stepped aside, and the Bai Family Army soldiers also reluctantly cleared the path, filled with indignation.
Despite Bai Qingyan’s words, the Western Liang army remained uneasy, raising their blades to guard around Yun Poxing, their expressions wary as they carefully and tentatively passed through the midst of the Bai Family Army, who wanted nothing more than to devour them alive.
Soon, the remaining Western Liang soldiers helped Yun Poxing exit the canyon mouth. A robust Western Liang soldier carried Yun Poxing on his back and fled rapidly into the black night, as if afraid the Bai Family Army would change their minds.
“Little Marshal Bai, why did you let him go?!” Cheng Yuanzhi couldn’t help but ask in anguish. “Though it was a military order! This subordinate is unwilling! Yun Poxing severed the Deputy Marshal’s head and hung it in their camp to humiliate our Bai Family Army! Little Marshal Bai is the Deputy Marshal’s eldest daughter… how can you let your father’s killer go!”
Bai Qingyan gazed into the darkness, her fists clenched tightly. Only when she could no longer see Yun Poxing did she turn to look at Cheng Yuanzhi, forcibly suppressing the hatred in her eyes: “I know General Cheng is unwilling, and all the soldiers are unwilling! My grandfather, father, uncle, and brothers died so brutally! Am I willing?! I’m even more unwilling! But if I hadn’t let Yun Poxing go today, after this battle in Nan Jiang… the Crown Prince would certainly not leave a single member of the Bai Family Army alive!”
In the howling cold wind of the canyon, the woman’s resolute voice rang out: “Do you think, when grandfather went to war… why would His Majesty have Prince Xin, who never involved himself in battlefields, hold the golden tablet and arrow to supervise the army? Do you think Prince Xin dared to force his grandfather to march out and engage the enemy?! Do you think how Prince Liang dared to forge letters and falsely accuse his grandfather of treason and betraying the Kingdom?! Because the current Emperor and the court’s power-seeking, flattering, treacherous subjects… have long viewed our Bai Family Army as a fierce tiger beside their beds, eager to eliminate us! Why?! Because you are the Bai Family Army! Because you carry the black banner with the white python! Because they view the Bai Family Army as the Bai family’s private army! Because our Bai Family Army is too fierce! Because our Bai Family Army can fight one against ten! Because the great reputation of the Bai Family Army… shakes all nations with awe! Because the prestige of our Bai Family Army is unmatched in all of Jin!”
“That Bai Qingyan can still stand here today, fighting and sharing life and death with you all! I should kneel in gratitude to General Fang Yan! Kneel in gratitude to General Yue Zhizhou! Kneel in gratitude to loyal Bai family servants Wu Zhe and Ji Tingyu! It was they who sacrificed their lives and risked everything… to deliver the military records back to the capital, clearing my grandfather’s name of the false charges of being obstinate in seeking military glory! Clearing my grandfather of the crime of treason and betraying the Kingdom! Forcing His Majesty to severely punish Prince Xin and restore justice to our Bai family, and to spare the lives of our Bai family’s surviving women!”