The Azure Cloud Guards who had caught up continuously shot arrows at the scouts. Zhao Bai used her long whip to coil around an eagle claw hook from a scout who had fallen from his horse, then flung it out to firmly hook onto the hardwood at the carriage eaves.

After the steel cable pulled taut, she directly borrowed that force to leap up from her horse’s back, flying straight toward the carriage roof.

Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, the scouts led by Pei Yuan swung their long scythe-like curved blades in full circles to hack at Zhao Bai. Zhao Bai parried with her sword. After she had climbed onto the rear wall of the carriage, scouts who had reached the carriage roof before her also raised their blades to hack densely at her hands gripping the carriage eaves.

Zhao Bai had no choice but to spin her body and switch hands on the carriage eaves to dodge.

Pei Song and Jiang Yichu with her daughter, sitting inside the carriage, could only hear the dense chopping sounds coming from overhead. The carriage roof and body must have had iron plates embedded in them—the vibrating sound of blade striking iron plate sent chills down one’s spine.

Jiang Yichu covered her daughter’s ears in time, but A’Yin still couldn’t help bursting into sobbing tears in this extreme terror.

Whether disturbed by the crying in this chaotic situation, or agitated at being caught up to by the Azure Cloud Guards, Pei Song raised his eyes with a somber expression and called out: “Pei Yuan.”

The scouts surrounding the carriage were held back by the arrows released by the Azure Cloud Guards behind them and couldn’t focus all their efforts on attacking Zhao Bai.

After hearing Pei Song’s call, Pei Yuan quickly ordered over ten scouts to split off and intercept the pursuing Azure Cloud Guards, while the remaining scouts followed him to surround and attack Zhao Bai.

Zhao Bai clung to the carriage eaves dodging the blades falling from the roof, nearly circling around to the front of the carriage. The scout driving the carriage, while frantically cracking his whip, also drew his blade to hack at Zhao Bai.

Zhao Bai had been hanging from the carriage eaves for too long, and her strength was somewhat depleted. When she spun and switched hands once more to avoid the curved blade falling from the scout on the roof, as soon as her sword-holding hand was freed, she swept it toward the ankles of that scout on the roof.

That scout’s Achilles tendon on one side was directly severed by Zhao Bai. Under this intense pain, he stumbled on the carriage roof, and the blade about to fall was also a beat slower.

Seizing this opening, as Zhao Bai forcefully leaped up toward the carriage roof, her other hand grabbed that scout’s injured ankle and yanked downward with force.

That scout was successfully pulled down from the carriage roof by her, and the blade delivered by the driving scout also struck empty on the carriage’s outer wall.

Before Zhao Bai had time to catch her breath, she drew out another long blade from her back, using the blade’s spine braced against her shoulder and neck for leverage to bear the forceful strike from Pei Yuan, who had just climbed onto the carriage roof. At the same time, she used her sword to catch the opponent’s blade, preventing the blade edge from pressing toward her neck.

The force with which Pei Yuan pressed the blade diagonally was so great that his facial expression became somewhat ferocious. Zhao Bai likewise gritted her silver teeth and stubbornly held on. Seeing a scout below about to shoot a cold arrow at her, Zhao Bai hooked Pei Yuan’s ankle with her foot. While borrowing his force to steady herself, she leaned backward to dodge that arrow.

The opponent’s curved blade scraped all the way down Zhao Bai’s two blades and sword, even striking sparks.

Pei Yuan also discovered that Zhao Bai was using him for leverage. While withdrawing his blade to change his strike and chop down again, he also engaged Zhao Bai in leg techniques.

When the pressure on her hands suddenly decreased, Zhao Bai used her two arms holding blade and sword to push off and grip the carriage eaves. Her legs suddenly exerted force, forming scissors, immediately tripping Pei Yuan off the carriage roof.

With his left arm unusable, he could only desperately cling to the roof’s edge with his blade-holding right arm.

But Zhao Bai imitated the scout who had previously dropped his blade on her from the roof, bringing both her blade and sword down together.

To save his right hand, Pei Yuan could only release his grip and roll off the speeding carriage.

Zhao Bai took a heavy breath before finally landing at the front of the carriage. When the driving scout’s expression changed drastically and he raised his blade to hack at her again, she directly struck with blade raised and ended his life.

However, three crossbow bolts suddenly flew out from inside the carriage. Caught off guard, Zhao Bai used both blade and sword and barely managed to deflect the arrows, only for a new round of crossbow bolts to shoot out again.

This time Zhao Bai couldn’t avoid them all. An arrow struck her abdomen. She decisively raised her blade to sever half the arrow shaft. With one hand supporting herself with her sword and one hand covering her abdomen, fresh blood still soaked through the black and white civil-military robe she wore, then seeped out from between her fingers.

Zhao Bai raised her eyes with a pale face. Through the latticed holes in the carriage door where arrows had broken through the silk paper, she saw Pei Song holding the crossbow and his utterly cold eyes.

Three more short arrows had already been loaded on that crossbow.

If fired again, with her injured abdomen and restricted movement, she might not be able to dodge.

Just as Pei Song’s hand on the mechanical crossbow’s trigger was about to press down again, Zhao Bai released her hand from her abdomen, holding blade in one hand and sword in the other, prepared to fight to the death. But Jiang Yichu, who had been protecting A’Yin all along, suddenly released her daughter and lunged forward to embrace Pei Song desperately: “I won’t let you hurt A’Zhao!”

This forceful collision knocked the mechanical crossbow in Pei Song’s hand off angle, and all three short arrows embedded themselves in the carriage’s inner wall.

“Heir’s Consort!”

Zhao Bai was equally anxious, her lips pale, only her eyes still churning with murderous intent. She seized this opportunity and hacked the carriage door open with one blade. As the blade edge continued pressing toward Pei Song, he blocked it with the specially crafted mechanical crossbow in his hand. She was about to use her sword as well, but the hand holding the sword was immediately entangled by the steel cable from an eagle claw hook.

Zhao Bai was yanked and stumbled. Pei Song then kicked her already injured abdomen. In that instant, Zhao Bai’s expression was especially pained, but she bit her teeth so hard that not even a muffled groan escaped.

She fell at the carriage shaft. If not for one hand still forcefully gripping the carriage door, she would have been pulled right off the carriage by the scout riding behind.

Zhao Bai swung the arm entangled by the steel cable, trying to shake off the cable. But after the eagle claw hook’s steel cable locked tight, her wrist became a stress point. With both ends pulling tight, in this situation it could only get tighter and tighter—she couldn’t shake it off at all.

Under this tremendous pain, a pained roar finally escaped from Zhao Bai’s throat. However, she wrapped the sword blade around the steel cable, disregarding how the cable continued pressing against her leather bracer as if it would cut into her flesh, competing in strength with the scout on horseback behind her, and moreover trying to sever that steel cable with the sharp sword.

But time clearly wouldn’t wait.

As Pei Song retrieved the sword hidden beneath the carriage seat and unsheathed it to stab at Zhao Bai, Jiang Yichu once again embraced the arm with which Pei Song held the sword. Tears flowing like opened floodgates, she cried until both eyes were swollen red, choking out her plea: “Qin Huan, A’Huan, I beg you, Elder Sister begs you, don’t kill A’Zhao, don’t kill A’Zhao!”

Pei Song laughed self-mockingly. Looking down at Jiang Yichu from his superior position, his attitude so unyielding, yet his eyes still revealed a trace of fragility and the resolve of one who knows there’s no turning back. He said: “But Elder Sister, the ones who have always wanted my life are them.”

Tears streamed down Jiang Yichu’s face, unable to speak.

Just as long ago when she had urged Pei Song to stop, Pei Song had countered—having massacred the Prince Changlian’s household line until only A’Yu and A’Yin remained, would A’Yu spare him with such national and family vengeance?

Since there was no turning back, then even if it was wrong, he could only continue being wrong.

“Heir’s Consort, there’s no need to beg this wolf…”

Zhao Bai gritted her teeth and spoke with difficulty. The blood gushing from her abdomen had already soaked a large area of her armor red. She drew breath, still competing in strength with that scout behind her.

Jiang Yichu retreated to the carriage window. The two out-of-control horses galloped wildly along, cold wind pouring in through the carriage door, causing the curtains on both sides to flutter. One could vaguely see the earth and stone steep slopes rapidly passing outside.

This section of official road was built along a cliff—the terrain was extremely treacherous.

The tears on her face were swept away by the wind. She looked at Pei Song with a smile, equally resolute: “A’Huan, you always say Elder Sister is heartless toward you, but everything Elder Sister treasured has already been destroyed by you.”

Seeing this, Pei Song was greatly alarmed, afraid that Jiang Yichu would jump out just like that. He quickly promised: “Elder Sister! Don’t move. Don’t you want me to spare her? I won’t kill this servant!”

As if to prove the credibility of his words, he also threw the long sword in his hand onto the carriage floor.

A’Yin was frightened by this situation. Her initial sobbing had turned into wailing. She crawled from the carriage using hands and feet, calling Jiang Yichu “Mother.”

Hearing her daughter’s call, tears flowed even more fiercely from Jiang Yichu’s eyes, yet she didn’t even dare lower her head to look at A’Yin once more.

Zhao Bai also shouted in pain: “Heir’s Consort, don’t!”

Her left arm had been strangled until it nearly lost all sensation, but fortunately the steel cable finally snapped at the sword edge under the extreme tension. Zhao Bai threw her long sword without hesitation, directly taking the life of the scout urgently pursuing on horseback behind.

But before she could stand up, when the carriage wheel ran over a protruding stone while speeding, the carriage lost its balance and pitched forward.

A’Yin was small and in the rear. She had been crawling forward to embrace Jiang Yichu, but because of this violent jolt, her entire body was practically airborne as she was thrown forward.

Pei Song was busy protecting Jiang Yichu. Fortunately, Zhao Bai was right at the carriage shaft and caught A’Yin.

To prevent A’Yin from being injured, and before the carriage continued rolling, she jumped from the carriage toward the inner side of the official road while holding A’Yin, rolling several circles on the ground before dissipating the force.

Although A’Yin wasn’t injured, she was frightened and cried incessantly.

The broken arrow in Zhao Bai’s abdomen had been driven in another section during the rolling. She was now in so much pain that she could barely stand. She could only look with pale face toward where the carriage had rolled to the cliff’s edge, supporting herself on the frozen earth and struggling to crawl forward, calling hoarsely: “Heir’s Consort…”

The carriage struck the two horses as it rolled. The startled horses pulled the already overturned carriage and continued galloping wildly. Fortunately, the four walls of the carriage plus the roof were all embedded with iron plates, so it didn’t immediately fall apart from this pulling and rolling.

But ahead was a bend requiring a sharp turn. The two horses turned in their urgent run, but the carriage couldn’t swing around due to inertia. The carriage was directly flung off the official road, crashing into an old pine tree at the cliff’s edge. The carriage shaft was severed where it caught on hard rock at the cliff opening. Pei Song, in the tumbling, had picked up his sword and timely severed the harnessing rope, so the carriage wasn’t carried directly off the cliff by the horses.

However, he had rolled and fallen out of the carriage at the shaft while severing the reins due to inertia. The carriage, having experienced such tumbling, was already beyond bearing the load.

The carriage floor shattered. As Jiang Yichu fell downward with it, Pei Song extended nearly half his body over the cliff edge to grab one of Jiang Yichu’s hands.

“Elder Sister, hold on.” The shattered wood from the broken carriage shaft had injured his chest during the earlier tumbling. Now lying at the cliff edge and exerting force was no different from torture. His expression was so pained it was somewhat ferocious, but more than that was terror and relief.

Terror at nearly losing Jiang Yichu, and relief that he had caught her.

Jiang Yichu’s entire body was suspended in air. The wind on the cliff was piercingly cold. Her face was also completely bloodless and pale, yet she showed no concern for her own life or death, only asking: “Where is A’Yin?”

Pei Song spoke with difficulty: “She was saved by Hanyang’s Azure Cloud Guard.”

Jiang Yichu indeed heard A’Yin’s crying. She smiled as if relieved and said: “Then that’s good.”

Pei Song sensed something was wrong. As the arriving scouts grabbed him and helped him pull Jiang Yichu up, he urgently extended his other hand to Jiang Yichu: “Elder Sister, give me your other hand too.”

Jiang Yichu refused. Pei Song was so frightened he began threatening her: “If anything happens to you, I won’t spare that little bastard and Hanyang’s lackey!”

Jiang Yichu heard the approaching sound of horse hooves and the Azure Cloud Guards loudly calling “Commander,” knowing that Zhao Bai’s reinforcements had arrived. She only looked at Pei Song with a smile.

Pei Song feared that smile of Jiang Yichu’s. He nearly pleaded: “Elder Sister, give me your other hand, I beg you…”

Tears, because of his slightly sideways straining posture, slid across his nose bridge and fell onto the hand with which he desperately gripped Jiang Yichu.

Jiang Yichu finally reached her hand toward him. Pei Song was overjoyed, doing his utmost to extend his other hand to pull Jiang Yichu up.

But the hand Jiang Yichu extended landed on the hand with which Pei Song was tightly gripping her, prying open one by one the five fingers that clamped her wrist like iron pincers.

Unable to pry them open, she even cruelly dug her nails into the back of his hand.

Pei Song called to Jiang Yichu like a madman. At first he still called her “Elder Sister,” but by the end he was directly roaring her name with full name, as if he hated her utterly, begging her.

Jiang Yichu remained unmoved throughout.

The pain didn’t make Pei Song release his grip, but the gushing fresh blood made his palm slippery, no longer able to hold on.

As Jiang Yichu fell downward amid Pei Song’s desperate roar, her face still bore a smile—gratified, tender, yet resolute.

As if beneath that ten-thousand-foot abyss was not death, but a reunion with an old friend.

Zhao Bai, prostrate on the official road not far away, heard Pei Song’s desperate crying roar. Her hands were covered in blood and mud. In that instant, tears surged from her eyes. She still struggled to crawl forward with difficulty: “Heir’s Consort…”

Pei Song stared with bloodshot eyes at that ten-thousand-foot abyss shrouded in clouds and mist, then suddenly began laughing almost maniacally at the cliff’s edge, laughing while tears streamed endlessly: “Jiang Yichu, you’re ruthless enough!”

He staggered to his feet. When scouts tried to support him, he pushed them away with one sweep. Still laughing crazily, as mountain wind filled his robes, he looked up at the sun’s shadow in the sky, tears streaming down his face as he mocked himself: “Qin Huan, you’re just a pitiful wretch!”

But from today on, that pitiful wretch was completely dead.

Living in this world now was only Pei Song!