That Western Ling soldier was yanked by He Yi and stumbled back. He Yi stood behind the ballista, aimed at Wen Yu on the city tower, and began adjusting the ballista arm.

Mu Youliang on the distant city tower saw this scene and roared: “Catapults, release!”

The launched rolling stones traced arcs across the battlefield like meteors, continuously smashing down into the Western Ling army formation. But due to poor accuracy, few actually hit the ballistae.

However, when those massive rolling stones struck the ground, they could claim the lives of at least three to five Western Ling soldiers. As the launched rolling stones gradually closed in on the ballistae, it was clear the Chen army on the tower was calibrating while launching.

The Western Ling soldiers still adjusting the ballistae had their lives threatened by those massive rolling stones inching closer and closer. They felt as if a huge guillotine hung over their heads, not knowing when it would fall.

Shrouded by this fear, their hands couldn’t help but tremble when calibrating the ballistae. The giant ballista bolts they shot toward the tower also lost their accuracy.

He Yi’s eyes were cold and sharp. Without blinking, she calibrated the ballista’s main arm to its final height. Staring at Wen Yu beating drums on the tower where the ballista bolt point aimed, she shouted deeply: “Tighten the windlass, release the arrows!”

Over ten Western Ling soldiers gritted their teeth and exerted all their strength to turn the ballista’s windlass. Just as the three giant bows were nearly fully drawn and the giant arrows were about to shoot when the windlass was released, commotion arose from the military formation ahead.

He Yi raised her eyes to see a Great Liang female general with blood streaming down her face leading a cavalry unit like a sharp awl, breaking through layers of surrounding Western Ling troops and galloping toward this direction.

She realized something was wrong. The moment her command to “release” left her lips, the female general on horseback had already used her spear point to hoist up a Western Ling soldier and hurl him this way.

The giant arrows about to leave the string along with the ballista’s main arm were all knocked off course by the heavily smashing soldier. When the windlass loosened, the Western Ling soldiers pushing the windlass on both sides were all sent flying backward. The giant arrow pierced through that soldier’s corpse and shot off-course toward the battlefield ahead.

He Yi was furious beyond measure. But before her anger could erupt, Gu Xiyun had already spurred her horse to knock down countless soldiers and close in. Two short-handled sabers were slung on her back. She wielded a long spear and swept powerfully toward He Yi.

He Yi had left the war chariot in haste and hadn’t brought a suitable weapon. Now forced to retreat, her calf struck the ballista. She used the momentum to lean backward against the ballista to dodge.

The drum sounds from the city tower remained vigorous and magnificent, shaking the blood in one’s body as if surging together with the drum beats. Gu Xiyun’s strike unsuccessful, she switched the long spear from her left hand to her right, made a full circle on horseback, forced back the Western Ling soldiers who came forward to interfere with her, roared, and thrust heavily again toward He Yi on the ballista.

He Yi pushed off the ballista with one palm for leverage and flipped up, landing awkwardly on the other side of the ballista. Gu Xiyun’s forceful spear successfully pierced straight through the ballista’s main arm, sending wooden splinters flying in all directions.

After her lingering fear came overwhelming fury. He Yi loudly commanded the soldiers below to take the opportunity to surround and kill her.

The personal guards on the war chariot saw He Yi in danger and were extremely anxious. They quickly took He Yi’s sword and threw it over, shouting: “Princess, catch the blade!”

Gu Xiyun gritted her teeth and forcefully twisted the spear shaft sideways. That ballista’s main arm was completely torn into a pile of wooden fragments. She pulled out the long spear and deflected the long spears the Western Ling soldiers thrust at her. However, He Yi, who had obtained her curved golden sabers, showed no fear at all and swung her blades to chop directly at Gu Xiyun.

Gu Xiyun used the spear shaft to block, but was shaken by that tremendous force until her tiger’s mouth went numb.

With weapons at hand, He Yi was like a leopard that had found its fangs again. After this leaping chop missed, she landed, filed her two golden sabers against each other, and chopped toward the legs of Gu Xiyun’s war horse.

The war horse neighed and collapsed. Gu Xiyun sensed danger, jumped down from horseback, and rolled on the ground to avoid the long spears those Western Ling soldiers stabbed at her. She had barely found an opening to stand when another golden saber cleaved down from above her head.

Attack and defense reversed. Gu Xiyun could only abandon the long spear, draw the two sabers slung on her back, and while panting, crossed them to block He Yi’s descending golden saber.

To destroy the ballista He Yi had personally calibrated, she had charged too fiercely alone. She hadn’t brought many Great Liang cavalry, and those still alive were now all mired in bitter combat.

He Yi’s eyes and brows were full of killing intent. Her shoulder and arm muscles tensed as she continued pressing the blade downward.

Gu Xiyun knelt on one knee on the ground, using her shoulder against the spear shaft for leverage. Her teeth were nearly biting blood, but the fierceness in her eyes yielded nothing to He Yi.

This actually made He Yi appreciate her somewhat. Her gaze swept over her and looked toward the princess in dark robes beating drums on the high platform of the tower behind her. She said coolly: “Your Great Liang’s little princess is going to lose. With such martial prowess, how about switching allegiance to this princess?”

Gu Xiyun sneered, almost squeezing two words from between her teeth: “Bullshit!”

Her arms suddenly exerted force, forcibly flipping open that golden saber He Yi was pressing down. With a fighting style that disregarded her life, she attacked He Yi while roaring: “My princess has received the Mandate of Heaven and will surely unify this realm and rule over the eternal cosmos!”

…

On the city tower, the wind still blew the iron caltrops on the dragon banner against the flagpole with sharp clanging sounds. Stray arrows flew horizontally. From time to time, soldiers at the embrasures were struck by arrows flying up from below and tumbled headfirst off the walls.

Mu Youliang shouted to convey orders. Soldiers rushed about in the chaotic arrows, filling gaps in the battlements. But with their numbers, they clearly couldn’t outlast the Western Ling side.

Zhao Bai’s robe front had been grazed with chaotic arrow marks and blood had seeped through. When stray arrows approached the high platform, her sword-cleaving movements also showed subtle delays.

Wind swept up Wen Yu’s long hair loose behind her, making it fly in disarray. In her usually serene eyes, as she beat again and again toward the war drum before her that stood taller than a person, only boundless sharp determination remained.

Where her tiger’s mouth had torn, the seeping fresh blood had already dyed her entire palm red. Because of her posture of continuously raising her arms to beat the drum, it flowed backward across the back of her hand, then down her forearm, finally dripping to the ground at her elbow joint mixed with sweat.

The loose hair at her cheeks also stuck together from being soaked with sweat. Under the scorching sun, her face even showed a pallor almost like ice and snow, yet the aura emanating from her entire being was as vigorous and majestic as those drum sounds.

At this moment, what Wen Yu could hear in her ears, besides her own rapid heartbeat, were only the drum sounds and the sounds of slaughter from the battlefield below.

Physical strength exhausted, her arms already so sore and numb they were in sharp pain. Each time she swung the mallet, the muscle tissue of her shoulders and arms seemed to tear apart again. The sweat beads falling from her temples—she couldn’t tell if they were from pain or exhaustion. But she still didn’t stop, and the sharp determination in her eyes didn’t diminish in the slightest.

In this instant, many people floated through her mind—her father the king, her mother the empress, her elder brother, General Gu and his son, Minister Zhou, her teacher…

They were all watching her.

In a trance, they seemed to truly stand behind her, helping her lift that drum mallet, beating even more heavily toward that war drum before her, transforming all unwillingness and unyielding spirit into magnificent drum sounds that struck out.

Shaking heaven and earth.

Another drop of sweat rolled past Wen Yu’s temple. As it fell from her cheek, beyond Tiger Gorge Pass, amid the melee of ten thousand troops, Xiao Li’s black iron blade handle was struck by a falling sweat bead.

He used his long blade to break through the human wall, forcibly tearing out a path in the splashing blood as he spurred his horse. Sharp whistle sounds rose and fell. The Wolf Cavalry followed close behind, withdrawing with him from this disrupted battlefield.

Because of their disruption, they had even nearly attacked directly to the tower chariot standing in the center of the military formation. The Western Ling troops originally fiercely attacking Tiger Gorge Pass tower immediately diverted a large force to pursue and annihilate them.

The defending generals inside Tiger Gorge Pass were also uncertain with surprise, secretly wondering where this reinforcement force outside the pass had come from.

Just as Yang Shuo arrived at the tower, his deputy general pointed toward Xiao Li’s group withdrawing into the yellow sand desert: “General, earlier when the Western Ling army’s offensive was fierce, a cavalry unit appeared from somewhere in the great desert and ambushed the Western Ling army from behind, almost killing their way to the tower chariot where the Western Ling commander was! This drew the Western Ling army to circle back, and they withdrew.”

Hearing this, Yang Shuo narrowed his eyes and examined that withdrawing cavalry. But they were too far away—he could no longer clearly see the uniform style that cavalry unit wore.

The deputy general said quite puzzled: “Though the thirty thousand Western Ling troops’ offensive is fierce, Tiger Gorge Pass has natural barriers to defend. Let alone thirty thousand—even another hundred thousand Western Ling troops couldn’t take it. Why would that cavalry unit need to work so hard to help us…”

He seemed to find it amusing and was about to shake his head when, thinking of the recent rumors in the city, he suddenly seemed to realize something. His smile disappeared as he looked at Yang Shuo, who hadn’t spoken from beginning to end, and said: “General, could those be reinforcements sent by the Princess?”

Rather than reinforcements, more like “supervisory troops” to oversee their defense.

After all, rumors that Yang Shuo would surrender to Pei Song had long spread throughout the city.

But after asking that question, the deputy general felt somewhat uncertain. Western Ling had besieged Chen Kingdom for a long time. Earlier, Chen Kingdom had even borrowed troops from Great Liang to break the siege. How could they now spare manpower to come to Tiger Gorge Pass to help them?

Yang Shuo didn’t answer. Only after that cavalry unit had led a pursuit force of Western Ling troops completely out of sight in the great desert did he say in a deep voice: “Full military alert. Defend Tiger Gorge Pass to the death.”

The deputy general hurriedly clasped his hands in acknowledgment.

–

The tower of Tiger Gorge Pass could no longer be seen behind them at all. Ahead was a low sand dune. Xiao Li had half his face covered with a face cloth to prevent inhaling sand and dust while galloping on horseback.

Since killing his way out of the military formation, he had seemed to be pondering something. At this moment, he suddenly called Zhao Youcai’s name: “Youcai.”

Zhao Youcai hurriedly spurred his horse forward: “Marquis, what are your orders?”

Xiao Li said: “You take the Wolf Cavalry and lead this Western Ling force on a long detour before shaking them off, then go rendezvous with Old Tiger.”

Zhao Youcai hurriedly asked: “Marquis, where are you going?”

Xiao Li’s cold and stern eyes showed deep concentration. He only said: “Pei Song isn’t among the Western Ling troops. Something’s suspicious.”

Earlier, Xiao Li had killed his way alone right to the Western Ling command formation. Hearing him say this, Zhao Youcai knew it couldn’t be false. But with Western Ling attacking the city with such great momentum, yet Pei Song—the true commander of troops—wasn’t at the front lines, this was truly suspicious.

Zhao Youcai knew Xiao Li must be going to search for Pei Song’s tracks. He hurriedly slapped his chest: “Rest assured, Marquis! This subordinate guarantees to lead those Western Ling barbarians so far they can’t walk back, then shake them off!”

Xiao Li didn’t say more. He selected over ten personal guards. When they rounded the sand dune ahead, he chose another route to circle back.

His personal guards were all the Wolf Cavalry’s most outstanding scouts. After receiving his orders to search privately, they all failed to find any trace of Pei Song.

The sun that had passed midday slowly sank westward. Xiao Li’s collar was already soaked through with sweat. After hearing the scouts’ reports, he gripped the water pouch he had just drunk from, his brows furrowing. On that handsome face, there was rarely some hidden restlessness.

He screwed on the stopper and hung the water pouch back at the front of his saddle. Just then, the last scout he had sent out rushed back, panting heavily: “Marquis! This morning, a unit of troops from the Western Ling army went up along a dried riverbed—they seem to have gone searching for a water source!”