Jun Beiyue’s shadow guards and Chu Tiange’s crossbow squad were both renowned as elite killing units.
On the bridge, battered by the howling crosswind, the two forces now clashed head-on. Jun Beiyue had suffered only superficial wounds, while Chu Tiange bore both old injuries and new, blood flowing without pause.
Jun Beiyue rarely struck first — but once he did, he never held back.
His eyes went cold, and he said quietly, “Leave Chu Tiange to me!”
With that, he pushed off with a burst of force, soaring into the air. At the same instant, the crossbowmen watching him closely unleashed volley after volley without pause!
The shadow guards rose as well — though it looked as though Jun Beiyue moved first, in truth, everyone’s movements happened almost simultaneously.
From the cave mouth, Ziqing watched as arrows streaked through the air above and below the bridge, black and white figures darting and clashing with lethal speed — utter chaos at first glance.
Yet within that chaos lay a strange order. Jun Beiyue cut straight through the storm of arrows toward Chu Tiange, and though the arrows came flying straight at him, they were knocked from the air by his shadow guards before ever reaching him.
He trusted these shadow guards completely, moving as though no one else existed, his short blade thrusting straight for Chu Tiange, intent on killing him.
Chu Tiange, pressing a hand to his abdomen, retreated again and again under the protection of his remaining crossbowmen — yet, to his credit, in this moment he showed Jun Beiyue the one thing worth respecting: he didn’t turn to flee down the bridge toward the mountain forest.
“Jun Beiyue! You’ve thrown my Western Chu into chaos — you have some nerve!”
Chu Tiange finally spoke coldly. For Western Chu to fall into internal rebellion — this had to be the work of a deep-cover spy planted for years. How long would such an operation need, to seize control of Western Chu’s military without ever raising suspicion?
Chu Tiange couldn’t fully piece it together, but he was certain Jun Beiyue was involved somehow. He must have known all along that Western Chu would descend into chaos, that his hundred thousand cavalry would find their own rear ablaze — otherwise, he would never have dared engage with a mere sixty thousand tiger troops against his hundred thousand, matching him head-on like this.
“You’re wrong,” Jun Beiyue said, a cold smile touching his lips as he landed ten paces from Chu Tiange. Every arrow that streaked toward his back was intercepted by his unseen shadow guards, and every bolt fired directly at him was likewise blocked.
The shadow guards moved with such speed, flickering in and out of visibility, that they rivaled the arrows themselves! Their strength was more than enough to counter Chu Tiange’s crossbowmen entirely.
In other words, right now, on this bridge, it still came down to a duel between these two figures — one white, one red.
Chu Tiange knew perfectly well his crossbowmen couldn’t stop this man.
“I’m wrong? How am I wrong?” he demanded coldly, stalling for time.
“You don’t need to know,” Jun Beiyue replied. Then, without warning, he stamped his right foot down hard, using the impact to launch the short arrow at his feet straight back at Chu Tiange!
At the same moment, the shadow guards closed in, locked in combat with the crossbowmen all around them. Chu Tiange glanced briefly toward the cliff below, his eyes flickering — and then, unexpectedly, he leapt into the air!
Jun Beiyue immediately pursued. With no crossbowmen in the way, the two faced off directly once more. In an instant, Chu Tiange fired his crossbow; Jun Beiyue blocked it with a single strike, then raised one leg in a perfect ninety-degree kick, sweeping viciously at his abdomen.
But Chu Tiange had clearly resolved to fight to the death — he let the short blade knock away the incoming strike, thrusting instead straight for Jun Beiyue’s heart, then suddenly wrapped both arms around Jun Beiyue’s leg and yanked downward with all his strength!
Everyone gasped in shock. Looking again, both leaders had already been carried far off by the fierce crosswind. In such powerful gusts, staying airborne too long risked being swept clean off the bridge entirely — and once off the bridge, there was nothing to brace against, nothing to anchor to. Only internal power could hold one steady against the wind’s relentless force.
This was the true horror of Three Realms Cliff. Even the most formidable master, one misstep, would pay a devastating price to make it back to solid ground.
At once, both crossbowmen and shadow guards alike froze, all combat ceasing. They settled onto the bridge to steady themselves, staring in shock at the scene unfolding before them.
Jun Beiyue’s short blade was buried in Chu Tiange’s chest — while Chu Tiange’s arms remained wrapped tight around Jun Beiyue’s leg!
The two of them hung suspended in the crosswind, staying aloft purely through Jun Beiyue’s own strength!
Everyone knew the crosswind at Three Realms Cliff always howled straight across the bridge, and not far beyond, it churned into a full cyclone, plunging straight down into Innocence Gorge below.
Which meant — if Jun Beiyue’s strength failed even for an instant, both men would be swept away by that cyclone together.
The bottom of Innocence Gorge was said to have no bottom at all.
And this — this was clearly Chu Tiange’s intention: to drag Jun Beiyue down to die with him.
At the cave mouth on the opposite cliff face, Xuanyuan Lige showed not the slightest interest in the fierce battle above. He had been playing “War Begins” continuously for three full days and nights now, matching the raging battle below, each ringing note surging and magnificent, rivaling the very call of a battle horn.
He seemed impervious to fatigue, the curve of his lips growing ever wider, as though anticipating some particular moment yet to come.
As for Ziqing, she had long since stopped paying any attention to the battle below — her focus was entirely fixed on that one man. Jun Beiyue.
It was rare to find a duel so captivating, rarer still to find someone whose outcome she couldn’t predict.
She had to admit — the instant he’d been dragged off the bridge by Chu Tiange, she’d actually felt a flicker of delight.
She was curious just how far this man’s abilities truly extended. But she couldn’t ignore the faint knot of worry tightening in her chest, either — a feeling she didn’t particularly enjoy.
Suddenly, one of the shadow guards broke rank and charged forward, and at nearly the same instant, one of the crossbowmen did the same, both rushing toward their respective masters. But neither possessed the composure needed for such a feat.
The moment they left the bridge, chasing after the crosswind, they couldn’t hold steady at all — in an instant, they went whistling straight past the two leaders and out of sight.
Only then did Yingzi, leader of the shadow guards, truly panic — and Tiema, leader of the crossbowmen, was equally alarmed.
They couldn’t save their masters. Going further would only mean certain death.
“Fall back! Hold the gates! Send thirty thousand troops to reinforce the capital!” Chu Tiange suddenly roared, resigned to death, channeling every last drop of his internal power in a final, desperate effort to drag Jun Beiyue down with him!
But at that very moment, Jun Beiyue released his short blade entirely — and pressed both hands against Chu Tiange’s head instead!
“No!”
Tiema cried out in alarm. Jun Beiyue was clearly about to use Chu Tiange’s own head as leverage — and in a sudden burst, he launched himself back into the air. Chu Tiange roared furiously, “Fall back and protect my father, secure the capital!”
Tiema immediately dropped back down — not to obey Chu Tiange’s command, but because his gaze had suddenly snapped toward the northeast, crying out in shock, “Prince Xiang! They’re retreating!”
At the base of the mountain, Western Chu’s hundred-thousand-strong cavalry was retreating in disarray toward the city gates — without ever having received the order from Chu Tiange himself!
Great Zhou’s tiger armies and the western frontier cavalry surged forward in immediate pursuit, their momentum fierce and unstoppable, like wolves and tigers loosed upon the plains!
How could this be?