“Liang camp, Xiao Li.”

Lady Yang, supported by a group of loyal servants, stumbled toward the back corner gate under the protection of household guards and official soldiers.

The young child was held in a loyal servant’s arms, sobbing and hiccupping from fright, constantly reaching out wanting Lady Yang to hold him.

The eldest son had already matured, understanding that the household had encountered great calamity. He gripped a dagger tightly in his hand, staying close by his mother’s side the entire time.

“No urgent reports came from the city pass, so how could the border garrison suddenly be attacked…” Lady Yang asked the household guard anxiously while hurrying forward.

“The group who came to report has deceit in them. Whether the border garrison was truly attacked remains uncertain, but that group was clearly coming for you, Madam, and the two young masters. This subordinate will first escort you and the two young masters to escape!”

As they spoke, the group had already rushed to the back corner gate. The official soldiers walking in front had just pulled open the door when a volley of arrows tore through them.

Realizing the back gate route was also blocked, the lead household guard hastily ordered the door closed again. To prevent further casualties from arrows shot from outside, he had all the accompanying people hide beneath the wall base.

The enemy hounds outside the gate shouted: “Hand over Yang Shuo’s wife and children, and we may spare your lives!”

The household guard shouted back: “You rebel traitors surrender immediately, and our general might still leave you whole corpses!”

The words had barely fallen when another dense rain of arrows flew in from beyond the courtyard wall, clearly the enemy hounds outside giving them a show of force.

The timid maidservants and servants who had never seen such life-threatening situations were already quietly sobbing nonstop, asking miserably: “Madam, are we going to die here?”

Lady Yang held the frightened, ceaselessly crying young child, looking at those faces gazing at her in misery, so grief-stricken she couldn’t speak a word.

The household guard used his weapon to block the flying stray arrows, but gritted his teeth saying: “Madam, rest assured. Even if we must stake our lives, we will definitely protect you and the two young masters!”

However, an official soldier covered in blood soon stumbled over from the front courtyard, saying desperately: “Commander, it’s Pei Song! The one attacking the household is Pei Song! The front courtyard can no longer hold!”

At these words, not to mention the household servants, even the household guard and Lady Yang turned deathly pale, a sudden chill running down their spines.

In this instant, they all understood clearly—today’s events were directed at the entire Yang family.

The enemy hounds outside the corner gate had already begun ramming the door. The household guard led people to brace against it from behind, shouting fiercely at that official soldier: “Even if you can’t hold, you must hold!”

Lady Yang had already understood Pei Song’s intention in capturing her and her three children. She lowered her head to look at the sobbing young child in her arms, then looked at the eldest son who was equally afraid but gripping his dagger in silence. As if having made some firm decision, she said to the household guard guarding the door: “General Zhou, you take Yue’er and flee!”

The household guard was shocked: “Madam!”

The boy gripping the dagger also urgently shouted: “Mother, I won’t go!”

Lady Yang’s tear-filled eyes reached out to touch her eldest son’s face. Knowing that taking the young child with them would only be a burden, she said sorrowfully: “Yue’er, you must escape. They’re coming for your father. If Tiger Gorge Pass falls, this crime of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country will be fixed upon your father’s head. You must escape, and in the future when you see Princess Hanyang, you must report clearly that your father is not a traitorous general!”

As Lady Yang said these things, knowing today was a final parting, tears already streamed down her face. After handing the young child to a servant woman, she tore off a corner of her skirt hem, bit her index finger and wrote a blood letter right there on the ground. After making everything clear, she gave it to her eldest son, tears flowing as she said: “Yue’er, you must live well!”

Then she deeply bowed to that household guard: “General Zhou, I entrust Yue’er to you!”

That household guard was also heartbroken, but knowing the situation was urgent, could only endure the pain and accept: “This subordinate will definitely protect the young master with my life!”

When the boy was led away by the household guard, his face and eyes turned completely red from struggling. Large tears fell one after another, his hand stretched out still trying to grasp Lady Yang: “Mother! Mother! Little brother!”

The household guard forcefully locked the boy in his arms, suppressing his grief with a hoarse voice: “Young master, don’t disappoint Madam’s heartfelt intentions. Continuing to stay here, none of us will survive, and in the future there will be no one to clear the general’s wrongful accusations!”

Only then did the boy’s struggling strength diminish, but he still stared fixedly without blinking at the distant Lady Yang and child, biting his teeth, letting those two figures blur in his tears, a extremely painful choking sound emerging from his throat.

–

The enemy hounds outside the gate finally broke through the door bolt. Just as they were about to attack through the door, unexpectedly two carriages drawn by paired horses rushed out, knocking over several enemy hounds before splitting up and heading in different directions down the long street.

Pei Song killed his way over from the front courtyard. Seeing this situation, his expression turned cold and severe.

The enemy hound responsible for blocking the back gate knew he had made a grave error. Scrambling up from the ground in embarrassment, he half-knelt and cupped his fists toward Pei Song: “Master…”

Before finishing one sentence, Pei Song kicked him tumbling to the other side: “Useless!”

He coldly swept his eyes over the two carriages driving away in different directions from both sides of the long street, ordering: “Chase!”

The remaining enemy hounds immediately split into two groups, chasing after the two carriages separately.

At the same time, the Yang household guard led Yang Yue, who had changed into servant’s clothing, over another courtyard wall. Yang Yue looked from atop the wall at the two carriages traveling far down the distant long street, his eyes red as he hoarsely called: “Mother…”

The household guard urged: “There are still enemy hounds searching the household. Young master, quickly follow this subordinate…”

–

The enemy hounds who gave chase soon intercepted one of the carriages. The driver was hooked through the neck by an eagle claw hook thrown by an enemy hound, dying violently at the carriage shaft.

The enemy hound lifted the carriage curtain to see Lady Yang half-holding the young child, sitting inside the carriage.

Perhaps because she had already witnessed bloodshed earlier, seeing the driver who died miserably at the carriage shaft now, Lady Yang’s face actually showed no fear. She only lowered her head, gently comforting the five-year-old young child beside her.

The enemy hounds behind made way, and Pei Song slowly stepped forward, opening his mouth to say: “Song merely wishes to bring Madam and your children to reminisce with General Yang. Why would Madam avoid Song to this extent?”

Lady Yang’s eyes were full of righteousness, a cold smile at the corner of her lips: “My general has no past to reminisce about with a dog traitor who colludes with the enemy and betrays the country!”

These words were truly grating. Pei Song’s mouth corner arc slightly restrained, then stretched even longer, saying with implication: “Madam might as well guess how Song left the pass in former times, and today, why was able to safely enter the pass during the two armies’ battle?”

Lady Yang’s face showed a slight pause in anger.

Pei Song smiled warmly, already in a posture of having victory in hand: “Madam, don’t make things difficult for General Yang.”

Lady Yang, with one arm half-embracing the young child, sat motionlessly in the carriage. When two lines of clear tears rolled down her eyes, the corner of her lips still carried the previous cold smile, speaking with an extremely proud attitude: “If he truly commits such pig-and-dog inferior acts, my more-than-ten-years of husband-wife bond with him ends here today!”

Pei Song only thought Lady Yang had a strong character, saying: “Madam also said it—more than ten years of husband-wife bond. Why go to this extent? Madam might as well first come with Song. When you see General Yang, he will naturally explain to Madam.”

But Lady Yang suddenly laughed. In Pei Song’s astonished expression, she finally seemed unable to hold on anymore, blood spilling from the corner of her lips as she laughed saying: “Too late.”

The young child beside her had both eyes tightly closed, black bloodstains remaining at the corner of his lips—clearly the poison had already taken effect.

Pei Song’s expression turned thoroughly gloomy. He braced his hand heavily on the carriage door, even creating cracks in that high-quality wood material, asking in uncontrollable fury: “You took poison?”

Lady Yang’s face still carried a satisfied smile, saying weakly: “If he is forced by you, I must not let him have concerns. If he truly becomes your accomplice, my An family from now on will have no further connection with him…”

After saying this, she just closed her eyes slowly with that smile, and the hand that had been half-embracing the young child also dropped down.

All the schemes were disrupted. Pei Song kicked the carriage hard in anger.

Just then, enemy hounds rode up on horses. Upon reaching close, they hurriedly dismounted along with the bound boy on the horse’s back, cupping fists toward Pei Song: “Master, the person in the other carriage was captured alive!”

Pei Song coldly swept his eyes over that boy in fine clothes. The other party had already seen the deceased Lady Yang and child in the carriage, and was currently so frightened his legs kept shaking, looking foolish, even forgetting to cry.

Pei Song used his sword tip to lift the other’s chin, his cold gaze at this moment seemingly substantial: “Your lady gave herself and the young child poison. Why didn’t she give you any?”

The boy’s entire body shook like a sieve, completely unable to answer.

When the enemy hound also sensed something wrong, Pei Song’s sword edge had already ruthlessly slashed. The boy couldn’t even emit a scream before blood gushed like a fountain as he fell to the ground.

“Heh.” Pei Song let out a cold laugh with murderous intent in his eyes: “Luring the tiger from the mountain, is it?”

He shook all the blood from his sword, lazily yet coldly ordering: “Bring that little brat back to me.”

All the enemy hounds hurriedly rode off in pursuit again.

The remaining enemy hound looked at the deceased Lady Yang and child in the carriage, carefully inquiring: “Master, then these mother and child…”

Pei Song raised his eyes to scan toward the direction where the city pass was located, a fierce look overflowing from the bottom of his eyes: “Bring them to see Yang Shuo.”

–

“Flee quickly! The Xiling people have broken in!”

“I heard the border garrison has already been wiped out! The nearby villages were also all slaughtered—human heads are all impaled on sharp stakes at the village road entrances!”

Someone grabbed a fleeing merchant to refute: “Tiger Gorge Pass’s city gate is solid as gold and impregnable, and occupies a natural stronghold. How could the Xiling people break in so easily?”

The merchant forcefully yanked his grabbed bundle, cursing: “Still solid as impregnable? That Yang Shuo already surrendered to the Xiling people, opening the city gates in submission—you don’t know?”

“Could such a thing happen?”

“Otherwise, did those Xiling people who killed their way into the pass grow wings and fly in?”

……

The city had completely descended into chaos like a pot of porridge. The streets and alleys were full of people fleeing the city with their families in tow.

In this bustling confusion, a rider galloped from the distance, the person on horseback shouting hoarsely: “Make way! Everyone make way!”

The fleeing crowds were forced to yield to both sides. Vendor stalls that hadn’t been moved in time were knocked over, melons and vegetables rolling everywhere on the ground, complaints rising from the crowd.

But the Yang household guard leading Yang Yue in urgent flight on horseback didn’t dare stop for even a moment. Behind him were still over a dozen enemy hound riders in relentless pursuit. The enemy hounds had no scruples—encountering common people unable to dodge in time, they simply rode their horses right over them.

On both sides of the official road on rooftops, there were also enemy hounds skilled in light-footwork chasing them along the high and low eaves and tiles in urgent flight, occasionally releasing cold arrows from mechanism crossbows.

The Yang household guard desperately whipped, all along urgently shouting for the common people on the official road to make way. But ahead, an old man pushing a wheelbarrow with his family fleeing the city seemed to have his wheelbarrow knocked over in the crush, things tied to the cart scattering everywhere on the ground.

The old man was picking up things from the ground with his granddaughter. Hearing the commotion behind them, they only then saw a horse galloping toward them head-on. The old man was so frightened he hurriedly threw himself forward to protect his granddaughter squatting in the middle of the road picking up flatbread.

The Yang household guard on horseback, seeing this, could only grit his teeth and fiercely pull the reins.

Also because of this slowdown, the enemy hounds who had been chasing the entire way all caught up.

After the Yang household guard drove back the old man and granddaughter, he viciously kicked the horse’s belly wanting to shake off the enemy hounds again. But the enemy hounds who had chased from the rooftops had already swung down on eagle claw hooks, curved blades unsheathed directly slashing at the horse’s legs.

When the horse neighed and fell forward, the Yang household guard protected Yang Yue as they jumped from the horse’s back, rolling on the ground to dissipate force while dodging that row of short arrows like steel nails shot from mechanism crossbows.

But because protecting someone made him unable to act freely, the Yang household guard’s back still took an arrow. When he got up from the ground with the boy, his lips were already white.

Seeing the enemy hounds behind had all completely gathered, the Yang household guard held his blade across in front, saying to Yang Yue: “Young master, flee quickly. This subordinate will hold these traitors here!”

The boy said with red eyes: “If we go, we go together!”

The several enemy hounds closest had already attacked. The Yang household guard rushed forward to intercept them, but being outmatched, his blade pressed against their eagle claw hooks was forced to retreat repeatedly. Looking back to see the boy still standing in place, he couldn’t help but roar: “Go!”

The boy only felt that from birth until now, he had never shed as many tears as today. He gritted his teeth, just as when he had ruthlessly left the household abandoning his mother and little brother, fled forward in extreme pain, no longer daring to look back even once.

Suddenly, a heart-piercing sharp pain came from his calf. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Looking back, he only then discovered an arrow in his calf.

And further back, the Yang household guard knelt on the ground with his back to him, no longer moving.

An enemy hound pulled out the blade inserted in his body. Together with the other enemy hounds, they walked toward the boy. The boy stared fixedly at the household guard’s kneeling back, his eyes instantly blurred by tears.

“Uncle Zhou…” He choked out the words.

Dying at this time actually became the least frightening thing. Only thinking of how he carried his mother’s entrustment, how the entire Yang family in the future might bear the wrongful accusation of betraying the country—even though the boy knew escape was already impossible, he still endured the intense pain, dragging his injured leg and struggling with all his might to crawl toward the end of the long street.

The enemy hounds behind knew he was already at the end of his strength, so didn’t rush to chase anymore, forming a fan shape and unhurriedly closing in, as if wanting to capture him alive.

The boy crawled along grabbing whatever he could find to throw backward, collapsing in crying shouts: “Get away! All of you get away!”

The enemy hounds who had completely closed in had lost patience. Pei Song’s instructions were only to capture alive—he didn’t say they couldn’t be missing arms or legs. Seeing the boy like this, they immediately wanted to swing their blades to cripple one of the boy’s hands.

As the blade fell, an arrow pierced through the heart. The enemy hound raising the blade still wanted to look forward with wide eyes, but everything in his vision appeared as countless overlapping images. That enemy hound just fell straight down like that.

The other enemy hounds realized there were reinforcements. Raising their eyes to see someone galloping on horseback from the distance, they immediately split off personnel to intercept, while the rest wanted to take the boy away.

But the person on horseback drew the bow and nocked an arrow. Between one tightening and one release of the bowstring, the arrow had already shot out like a meteor. The several enemy hounds wanting to grab the boy instantly fell to the ground with arrows in them.

The enemy hounds were shocked and dismayed. When they tried to think of countermeasures again, that person had already ridden close. The long blade unsheathed, where the cold blade passed, blood splattered.

By the time the Wolf Riders caught up, over ten enemy hounds had all perished under Xiao Li’s blade.

Yang Yue lay on the ground. From their broken armor, he couldn’t discern their origins, but seeing they were all Liang people who had also killed Pei Song’s enemy hounds, at this critical moment he couldn’t think about anything else. He immediately identified himself and pleaded for rescue: “I am the son of Great General Yang Shuo, Defender of the West. Pei Song raided the general’s household, wanting to capture my mother and little brother to coerce my father. I beg you to save my mother and little brother!”

Speaking thus, he again used the hands full of scars from crawling earlier to urgently take out from his bosom the blood letter Lady Yang had written, handing it to the leader, his eyes full of sorrow, clearly having grasped them as a life-saving straw.

Xiao Li took the blood letter. After reading the fresh red, heart-piercing characters on it, his expression became increasingly cold and severe.

Without a word, he folded the blood letter and returned it to Yang Yue before saying: “I’ll go to the general’s household now. You continue fleeing south. When you meet the Great Liang reinforcements, clarify everything to them.”

Then he instructed two Wolf Riders at his side: “You escort Young Master Yang to rendezvous with the Great Liang reinforcements.”

News that Xiling wanted to attack Tiger Gorge Pass—Wen Yu must have already transmitted it back to Liang territory. Even if deploying troops from the north and south borders came too late, Fan Yuan had earlier gone deep into the Western Frontier with him pursuing Pei Song.

From his understanding of Fan Yuan, when Fan Yuan learned he had led the Wolf Riders out of the pass, to prevent abnormalities at Tiger Gorge Pass, he would definitely bring the Liang army soldiers who had adapted to the cold barrier to continue going deep into the Western Frontier.

This was also one of the reasons he used to convince Wen Yu to permit him to lead the Wolf Riders to block the Xiling army.

Yang Yue worried about his mother’s safety and opened his mouth wanting to refuse. But after seeing clearly that their group was only just over twenty riders, he ultimately found a few fragments of remaining rationality again. All words choked in his throat.

——The enemy hounds in Pei Song’s hands who raided the Yang household alone numbered over a hundred, let alone how many Xiling soldiers had mixed into the city still slaughtering common people, everywhere creating chaos, stirring up the people and military inside the pass into panic, collapsing into scattered sand.

With such disparity in military strength, these twenty-some cavalry riders going would very likely be throwing their lives away in vain. How could they bring along himself as a burden?

Realizing this, Yang Yue’s heart became even more grief-stricken. He endured the intense pain in his leg and knelt up, kowtowing once to Xiao Li: “May I ask benefactor’s honored surname and great name?”

Xiao Li had already mounted his horse again, only replying with four characters: “Liang camp, Xiao Li.”

Although the war flames from Great Liang’s north and south border conflicts hadn’t spread to the Western Frontier, after Wei Qishan’s death from illness, he didn’t pass the throne to his own son but instead entrusted all of Northern Wei to his adopted son—this matter still spread throughout various places among the common people.

Subsequently, Northern Wei’s new ruler Xiao Li’s name, along with his illustrious military achievements, had become thunderously famous throughout these two years.

Yet at this moment, what he placed before his own name was Liang camp?

As Yang Yue stood astonished, Xiao Li had already led the Wolf Riders away on horseback.

Yang Yue looked at his retreating figure, in this instant even unable to attend to grief, saying in a daze: “Lord Xiao only recently left the pass? How could he currently be inside the pass?”

–

Xiao Li rode his horse in urgent flight the entire way, his jaw tensed extremely tight.

From discovering that passage under Jiashi Mountain leading directly to the border garrison, he knew Tiger Gorge Pass couldn’t avoid this catastrophe.

Only at that time he still didn’t know how much Yang Shuo participated in this matter.

When they arrived, the entire border garrison was already a scene of flames. The garrison troops inside the camp encountered a surprise attack, and were scared out of their wits by the Xiling people appearing inside the pass, thinking Tiger Gorge Pass had been breached. Military morale collapsed, with no will to fight. In the end, those who died died, those who fled fled.

On their way down the mountain leading the Wolf Riders, he caught several deserters and inquired about the camp attack situation. The deserters all said Yang Shuo had opened the city in surrender, letting the Xiling people enter the pass.

At that time, Xiao Li couldn’t determine whether this was a show Yang Shuo and Pei Song put on together, or a conspiracy Pei Song planned alone.

After all, if it were the former, after Tiger Gorge Pass fell, Yang Shuo could also push all responsibility onto that abandoned for many years tribute passage. Claiming he knew nothing about it, that internal city chaos let the Xiling people outside seize an opportunity, resulting in Tiger Gorge Pass being breached. He surrendered to Xiling out of necessity to protect the common people inside the city.

Now, seeing that blood letter from Lady Yang, everything finally became clear.

Yang Shuo was not Pei Song’s person.

On the contrary, everything Pei Song schemed was to force Yang Shuo to rebel!

The Xiling army that entered the pass with him burned, killed and slaughtered inside the city, creating panic, precisely to make the garrison troops and common people inside the city deeply believe Yang Shuo had colluded with the enemy, cutting off Yang Shuo’s retreat.

By then, whether Yang Shuo surrendered the city or not, the garrison troops inside the pass had already collapsed into scattered sand, no longer able to resist the enemy. Tiger Gorge Pass being captured would only become inevitable!

If Pei Song then captured his family as coercion, having reached this point of no retreat, who knew what choice Yang Shuo would make?

Xiao Li only felt a ball of fire burning in his chest—scorching pain, yet wrapped with endless fury.

“Hyah!” He fiercely whipped, his cloak and forehead hair strands all swept backward by the wind along with his long hair, like a wolf returning from the wilderness seeking vengeance.