To her surprise, Chu Tiange didn’t take her side at all, instead breaking into a broad smile. “The Consort of Prince Yao truly has spirit. This prince has never before witnessed such boldness and courage—I imagine everyone here shares my eagerness to witness Her Highness’s equestrian skill once more!”

Only then did the crowd fall quiet. Chu Feiyan shot Chu Tiange a venomous glare, as if in warning.

“Father Emperor, we may begin.”

Jun Beiyue, his black iron scorpion-shaped ring pressed lightly against his lips, finally spoke. Among everyone present, he alone remained coldly composed throughout, his silence utterly unreadable.

At once, all eyes turned toward the embroidered flag in Emperor Tianhui’s hand. Chu Feiyan no longer dared waste any more words, fixing her gaze straight ahead, her body coiled tight as a drawn bowstring, ready to launch.

Emperor Tianhui drew an unconscious deep breath, pausing for a long moment before slowly rising to his feet, his heart pounding all the way up to his throat. Never in his life had he felt such overwhelming anticipation—just how spectacular would this next contest prove to be?

Finally, with trembling hands, he personally lit the thin incense sticks, then abruptly swept down the embroidered flag. “Begin!”

The moment the word left his lips, Chu Feiyan, overwhelmed with tension like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow, flinched violently and bolted forward in a frantic gallop. Ziqing, on the other side, remained utterly motionless.

She didn’t even pick up her whip, one hand holding the bow while the other gently stroked the Blood-Sweating Horse’s head, as though grooming its mane, slow and tender.

Heavens! Could this woman genuinely have lost her mind?

Was this really the moment to be petting a horse’s mane?

Absolutely not!

This was a fierce, high-stakes contest! A battle where victory or defeat would be decided in an instant! A gamble with towering stakes on the line!

And yet here she was, so utterly unhurried, so composed!

Did she have any idea that, at this very moment, everyone’s heartbeat was pounding in perfect rhythm with each stroke of her hand—thump, thump, thump…

Growing heavier, growing slower, all the mounting tension pressed down and compressed, ready to erupt violently at any given moment!

Suddenly!

Ziqing abruptly raised her bow!

“Ah…” Someone in the crowd let out a sudden, startled scream and immediately fainted.

Without warning, Ziqing swung the bow down hard, striking it against the horse’s hindquarters. The Blood-Sweating Horse instantly reared up on its hind legs, letting out a fierce, piercing neigh!

In that instant, with no reins to hold her steady, Ziqing was thrown sharply backward, her upper body suspended in midair!

The crowd’s breath caught all at once, nearly stopping entirely, as the Blood-Sweating Horse slammed its front hooves down hard and shot forward like a loosed arrow, vanishing from sight within moments. At that moment, everyone’s mind held only four words: a runaway, riderless horse!

Amid the shocked uproar, two figures immediately shot forward in pursuit from the side, moving with such speed that no one could clearly make them out—none other than Jun Beiyue and Chu Tiange!

And yet, to everyone’s astonishment, neither of them could catch up to Ziqing!

The runaway Blood-Sweating Horse moved even faster than Ziqing had imagined, her body violently jolted atop its back—had it not been for the reins binding her in place, she would have already been thrown off and trampled beneath its hooves!

Run! Run! The wind screamed past her ears as she experienced, for the very first time in her life, the raw, overwhelming power of true, unrestrained speed.

She could no longer make out anything around her clearly, only fleeting shadows streaking past in a blur—let alone spare a thought for Chu Feiyan.

In this moment, her mind held only her destination—no rival, no competition at all!

As the Blood-Sweating Horse’s powerful legs surged forward without restraint, landing and leaping again and again, every muscle in her body trembled violently, every nerve in her mind pulsed with the strain, faster and faster, more and more urgent, utterly unstoppable!

Her legs offered no support at all, and yet the strain she had to endure was many times greater than what her legs alone could ever have provided!

Galloping onward, swift as the wind!

The crowd raced along the outer edge, whipping their horses forward in pursuit—who had time to spare a thought for Chu Feiyan now? Every single person poured everything they had into chasing after Ziqing, unwilling to miss a single moment of this spectacle.

Amid the galloping crowd, Chu Tiange suddenly slowed his pace, his sharp eyes narrowing as he watched Ziqing from a distance, a concealed dart suddenly flying from his hand!

“Thud!”

“No!”

Ziqing’s heart lurched in alarm. Instinctively glancing down, before she could even register what had happened, her entire body suddenly slid sideways off the saddle!

It had snapped!

One of the two reins binding her to the horse had snapped clean through!

One foot still barely hooked over the saddle, the other leg bent and nearly dangling toward the ground, her entire body hung at a sharp angle off the side of the horse, one hand suspended in midair, the other barely clinging to the saddle!

The Blood-Sweating Horse, already driven half-wild with its frantic gallop, had no capacity to notice any of this, its speed only increasing further. Ziqing couldn’t even manage to pull her dangling hand back to grasp the saddle.

At that moment, only a single rein kept her tethered to the horse’s body—such a terrifying, precarious turn of events left the entire crowd frozen in place, unable to move.

Suddenly, with another sharp “snap,” the second rein broke as well, and Ziqing plummeted instantly, her back about to slam into the ground!

“Ah…”

Many in the crowd cried out in shock. Fortunately—fortunately, her legs managed to hook around the horse’s back just in time, leaving her hanging upside down against its belly!

But her legs—they simply couldn’t bear the full weight of her body. She knew better than anyone that it was impossible.

What was she going to do?

Throughout the crowd, no one dared even breathe, every eye fixed unblinking on that figure, still streaking forward like wind and lightning!

If Han Ziqing made even the slightest mistake, if she fell, death would be certain!

What could be done?

At this moment, this woman’s very life hung by the thinnest of threads!

The only one who could save her was Jun Beiyue—only Jun Beiyue’s concession could stop this!

And yet, to everyone’s shock, Jun Beiyue alone showed no reaction whatsoever. How could Chu Tiange’s trick possibly escape his notice? And yet he watched Ziqing coldly, as though looking at a complete stranger, his expression utterly blank.

The smile at the corners of Chu Tiange’s mouth grew wilder and wilder—everything was unfolding exactly as he had orchestrated. From this moment on, things were about to become very interesting indeed.

His sharp eyes narrowed, and a small throwing knife shot out with lethal precision, slicing cleanly across Ziqing’s knee!

“Ah…” Ziqing let out a sudden, agonized scream—the first time in her life she had ever cried out from pure pain. Her legs could no longer hold on at all, her strength giving way entirely as her whole body plummeted downward in an instant!