When she resolutely led Shen Qingzhu into the sea of fire, determined to die, she hadn’t cried either!

But upon seeing her elder sister, somehow she suddenly seemed fragile and vulnerable.

The silver-armored woman on the steed, her armor’s cold light sharp and fierce, nocked an arrow and drew her bow, calmly aiming at Zhao Sheng with a composed expression…

In the brief instant their eyes met, Zhao Sheng’s eyes widened. In a flash, his body reacted first, rapidly retreating and rolling to one side, but the feathered arrow still pierced straight through his collarbone and lodged in his thick armor. The force was so great it made his head buzz – if he had been a moment slower, what would have been pierced was his throat.

The Bai family guard army, following closely behind Bai Qingyan, all rode their horses to rescue people.

Having failed to kill Zhao Sheng but forced him back, Bai Qingyan pulled the reins. The horse neighed and reared as she leaned down and grabbed Bai Jinzhi’s outstretched arm, pulling her onto the horse.

Bai Jinzhi lay across the horse’s back, turned her head to look at Bai Qingyan, and chokingly called “Elder Sister!” Then she could no longer hold on; her vision went black, and she fainted.

Lu Ping dismounted, about to help the severely bloodied Shen Qingzhu onto a horse, when he saw a Liang soldier raising a blade toward him.

Bai Qingyan reached back to draw an arrow from her quiver, nocking, drawing, and releasing with speed so fast only afterimages remained, precisely shooting through that Liang soldier’s throat as she sternly commanded: “Retreat!”

The Bai family guard army’s mounted arrival was too sudden – the Liang army was unprepared and startled, watching helplessly as the well-trained Bai family guards pulled the Jin soldiers onto horses and galloped away.

Bai Qingyan had given orders that this rescue mission was the priority – don’t linger in battle, rush straight to the plank road after rescuing people, and don’t engage the Liang army in combat.

The Bai family guard army remembered Bai Qingyan’s words, leaving immediately after rescuing people without showing any intention of prolonged fighting.

Seeing that the rescuing Bai family guards had all retreated on horseback, only then did Bai Qingyan put away her bow and, leading the guards covering everyone’s retreat, turn her horse around and gallop away with a crack of her whip.

Zhao Sheng broke off the arrow shaft, pressed his bleeding wound, and shouted through gritted teeth: “Archers! Shoot them!”

The archers immediately nocked and drew their bows, shooting toward the direction where Bai Qingyan’s group was fleeing. But Bai Qingyan’s group focused only on escape at extreme speed. Since this was a mountain forest pursuit of Bai Jinzhi, bows and arrows had limited effectiveness. Zhao Sheng had only brought a small number of archers, completely unable to hit the experienced Bai family guards who were skilled at escaping.

“Pursue them!” Zhao Sheng used his sword to support himself up, speaking through clenched teeth.

“Report!” Liang army soldiers charged up the mountain from below, kneeling to report: “Reporting to General Zhao! The Jin army is attacking below the mountain! Our army is leaderless – please have the general descend the mountain immediately…”

The Jin army dared to return and attack!

Zhao Sheng glanced at Bai Qingyan’s group’s figures about to disappear, gritting his teeth. Missing today’s opportunity, who knew when he could kill Bai Qingyan!

“Down the mountain!” Zhao Sheng immediately led his troops down the mountain.

Wang Xiping, fighting below the mountain, saw the scattered torchlight moving down from the mountain and judged that Bai Qingyan had already rescued the people. Even if Bai Qingyan hadn’t rescued them yet, he could lead troops in retreat, drawing the Liang army in pursuit to buy Bai Qingyan time for the rescue.

Wang Xiping immediately shouted: “Retreat! Retreat quickly!”

Wang Xiping turned his horse around and led the cavalry in rapid retreat.

·

Inside Longyang City, Liu Hong sat restlessly, standing atop the city wall, quietly waiting.

The night was dark with strong winds, no bright moon visible, cold winds carrying moisture – a storm was approaching.

Liu Hong gazed at the undulating hills outside the city, seeing no firelight except for the Fire God Mountain direction where the sky glowed red.

Just as Bai Qingyan had predicted, after nightfall the Liang army actually sent tens of thousands to remove their armor and go to Dragon Mother River to dig channels – they truly intended to flood Longyang City.

However, the Jin army hadn’t been idle either. Following Bai Qingyan’s instructions, Liu Hong had sent people tonight to relocate civilians to the high mountain areas between Longyang City and Youhua City.

He dispatched ten thousand men in five routes to destroy the Liang army’s grain transport routes.

He also had Lin Kangle lead people to harvest wheat, ensuring all the wheat was harvested completely tonight.

Under the cover of darkness, both the Liang and Jin armies were quietly taking action, preparing for battle.

At this point, Liu Hong had to admire Bai Qingyan’s far-reaching vision – she had calculated precisely what method Xun Tianzhang would use against their Jin army.

Liu Hong had also thought about it – if not for Bai Qingyan’s victory against superior numbers in the Nanjiang battle, her great triumph over Xiliang, and her military achievements, given Princess Zhenguo’s age, even though she came from the Bai family, he probably wouldn’t have believed her.

It was precisely because of relying on Princess Zhenguo Bai Qingyan’s great victory in the Xiliang battle that Liu Hong paid such attention to Bai Qingyan’s words, and felt that Jin absolutely could not afford to lose such military talent as Bai Qingyan now!

“Calculating the time, they should be able to make a round trip by now!” Liu Hong’s heart was filled with worry.

“Commander, don’t worry too much!” Fu Ruoxi, who had returned after having her wounds bandaged, consoled him. “Princess Zhenguo’s Sun-Shooting Bow never misses, and with the Bai family guard army and General Wang Xiping’s troops protecting her, nothing will happen!”

Liu Hong nodded.

The Longyang City defense general hurried over to report: “Commander! The south gate reports that a group has arrived outside, claiming to be Bai family guards escorting a woman, requesting to enter the city to meet Princess Zhenguo. This subordinate especially came to ask the commander how to handle this.”

Liu Hong turned to look at the defense general: “Bai family guards want to see Princess Zhenguo?”

“Exactly!” The defense general nodded.

With Bai Qingyan currently absent, it was unclear whether this was real or fake – what if they were sent by the Liang army?

“Have them wait outside the city. After the Princess returns, we’ll ask her first before making any decisions!” Liu Hong said.

“Yes!” The defense general responded and left.

The wounded soldiers returning from Fire God Mountain, having finished getting bandaged at the medical camp, came out filled with worry.

“I wonder if General Wang Xiping can rescue the Centurion!” a wounded soldier worried.

The Centurion the wounded soldiers referred to was Du Sanbao.

In the Nanjiang battle, Du Sanbao had been stripped of military merit for bullying Ji Langhua and demoted from Centurion to Squad Leader.

But in the soldiers’ hearts, Du Sanbao was brave in battle and righteous in character – he had always been the Centurion in their hearts.

“He definitely can – didn’t Princess Zhenguo go too! Did you forget… when the commander tried to stop Princess Zhenguo from going to rescue people, Princess Zhenguo said that the Bai family army’s righteousness is to never abandon any comrade who has lived and died together in bloody battle! Princess Zhenguo will rescue our Centurion and County Princess Gaoyi!”

“During the previous Nanjiang battle, while in the medical camp, I heard the Bai family army say that Princess Zhenguo is like our Centurion – when fighting, she always charges to the front! And that County Princess Gaoyi of the Bai family… even led people to draw away the Liang army to help her brothers escape safely! Fighting alongside such a leader who dares to risk her life with the soldiers and never abandons her troops gives you peace of mind – no wonder the Bai family army is so united!”

“Exactly! Look at those high and mighty generals of ours – they always hide at the very back, just thinking about how to run away quickly if we can’t win and die!”