Li Qingzhi couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“What are you laughing at!” Gao Dazhuang’s voice rose to a shrill pitch in anger.
No one else dared to make a sound.
An Jiu flipped onto the roof, lying on the ridge to gaze at the starry expanse above the plains.
The night wind from the north was biting cold.
When the moon reached its zenith, an unusual vibration came from the ground, startling all the hidden assassins. They quickly dropped to the ground, pressing their ears to listen.
Gao Dazhuang furrowed his brow and immediately ordered, “Mei Shisi, go notify General Ling at once!”
“Yes!” An Jiu vanished, heading towards the army camp.
Over the past few days, they had gathered much intelligence and knew that Ling Ziyue had not stationed any cavalry nearby, nor did he have plans to mobilize cavalry in the coming days. Moreover, the sound was too uniform and powerful to be Song cavalry.
An Jiu reached the military camp at top speed.
The sentries on the watchtower only saw a fleeting shadow in the night, which disappeared when they looked again.
An Jiu went straight to Ling Ziyue’s tent.
He was still awake, gathering his officers to plan defenses against a potential Liao surprise attack.
When An Jiu suddenly appeared inside the tent, all the military officers went on alert, their killing intent flaring up, only to be extinguished by An Jiu’s overwhelming spiritual force.
“There’s cavalry in Hejian Prefecture, over ten thousand strong,” An Jiu said gravely. “They’re not Song cavalry, are they?”
Everyone stared at this mysterious woman. The hem of her dark clothing was embroidered with a white crane in silver thread. Her tight-fitting attire accentuated her petite yet shapely figure, making her look small and thin compared to the burly men around her. On her back was a long, black cloth bundle almost as big as she was, its shape suggesting it contained a bow or crossbow rather than a sword.
Incredibly, such an imposing aura emanated from her small frame.
Ling Ziyue was the first to regain his composure. Noting An Jiu’s attire, he didn’t question her identity but immediately shouted, “Prepare for battle!”
His roar snapped everyone to attention. They cast wary glances at An Jiu as they grabbed their armor from the table and hurried out.
Ling Ziyue issued rapid orders as he walked.
At his command, the entire camp suddenly came to life.
An Jiu hesitated for a moment before following behind Ling Ziyue.
After dispatching his troops, Ling Ziyue finally noticed the shadow-like presence beside him. “Thank you,” he said.
An Jiu was silent for a moment before replying, “We should have sent you information earlier.”
Ling Ziyue smiled without speaking. Any help was appreciated; he had never expected much from others.
“We’ve disobeyed orders,” An Jiu explained, implying that he shouldn’t reveal their assistance.
Ling Ziyue understood her meaning and nodded.
Watching the troops hurriedly leave the camp, he asked, “I heard the Konghejun follows orders. Why did you disobey?”
“We share the same plight,” An Jiu replied.
Ling Ziyue didn’t fully understand but guessed that the Konghejun, like him, was in an unfavorable situation.
He said, “I thought you might say it was to protect the country.”
“I have no home,” An Jiu had never harbored such lofty ideals. She acted on instinct, helping Ling Ziyue purely out of admiration for him as a person. As for Gao Dazhuang’s motivations, she couldn’t say.
Ling Ziyue analyzed that Hejian Prefecture had a large garrison and formidable walls, making it difficult to conquer quickly. Moreover, its proximity to his camp made it easy to reinforce, so the Liao forces were unlikely to target it. If a large Liao force were moving, he would have received some intelligence. The most likely scenario was that the Liao had gathered all their cavalry raiders in one place.
Furthermore, cavalry alone couldn’t take a city. They must have other plans.
Ling Ziyue ordered increased vigilance in the camp, especially to guard their dwindling supplies.
“I should report back now,” An Jiu informed him, disappearing swiftly before Ling Ziyue could respond.
Her speed was slightly slower than those skilled in qinggong, but her high spiritual energy allowed her to conceal all traces of her presence.
Halfway back, An Jiu encountered the deputy general Ling Ziyue had sent out, now engaged with a unit of Liao cavalry raiders. After observing for a while, she realized this wasn’t a chance encounter but a planned ambush by the Liao.
The Liao raiders, their faces hidden behind helmets, were visibly larger and more imposing than the Song soldiers. They wielded their weapons with fierce intensity, their combat prowess evident. The contrast made them seem like a different species, slaughtering the Song troops like apex predators.
An Jiu frowned as she watched the Song soldiers’ blood spatter in their panic.
After a moment’s consideration, she drew her Subduing Dragon Bow and nocked a white-feathered arrow, aiming at a raider who had just impaled a Song soldier with his lance.
Her presence seemed to merge with the darkness.
The bowstring hummed as the arrow shot like a meteor through the night, heading straight for the raider’s neck.
An Jiu had observed that the raiders’ armor was nearly impenetrable, with only a small gap between the helmet and body armor.
The raider, caught up in the frenzy of killing, noticed the arrow too late to dodge.
The arrow pierced his carotid artery, blood gushing like sudden rain.
Someone among the raiders shouted in the Khitan language, and over ten horsemen charged towards An Jiu’s position.
An Jiu nocked four arrows simultaneously, drawing the Subduing Dragon Bow to three-quarters of its full draw for the first time, forming a near-perfect crescent.
The bow creaked under the strain, as if about to snap.
An Jiu released, and the four arrows instantly buried themselves in the raiders’ mounts. The horses neighed in pain, stumbling forward several dozen paces before collapsing and sliding another six or seven paces, crashing into trees as thick as bowls. The nearby horses, startled, suddenly slowed and tried to bolt in other directions.
An Jiu seized the opportunity to lose several more arrows in quick succession, each finding its mark.
Noticing this turn of events, the raider leader blew a shrill whistle.
One of the raiders suddenly leaped from his horse, disengaging from the melee and closing the distance to An Jiu in the blink of an eye, now less than ten paces away.
Startled, An Jiu put away her bow and gripped her dagger, completely suppressing her aura as she quickly moved several paces to the left.
Amidst the chaos of battle, the raider didn’t notice An Jiu’s movement and found her previous position empty upon arrival.
An Jiu watched him intently.
Though dressed like the other Liao raiders, he wasn’t as bulky. Tall and lean, his face was completely hidden by a metal helmet, revealing only a pair of dark eyes.
An Jiu judged him to be one of the elite fighters embedded within the Liao cavalry, likely of the eighth or ninth rank, capable of facing thousands of ordinary soldiers alone. The fact that Liao deployed such skilled warriors in their regular army, while Song’s best fighters were either confined to guarding the imperial city or serving as the emperor’s assets, highlighted the disparity between the two forces.
The man remained on high alert, carefully searching for An Jiu’s location.
However, the gap in spiritual energy was too great for him to detect her. Realizing his opponent’s superior skill, he became even more cautious.