Silver light exploded above their heads, illuminating the entire battlefield. Snowflakes drifted gently through the air as the heavy sound of hoofbeats thundered across the ground.

Tanmoluojia held Yaoying tightly, embracing her with increasing force as if trying to press her into his very body.

The commanders, soldiers, civilians, and monks stared in shock at their Buddhist Son embracing the Han princess—their expressions even more startled than when they had witnessed the divine phenomenon of Buddha-like fury in the strange celestial signs moments ago.

Thunder crashed repeatedly.

The night wind howled past carrying an icy chill, military banners whipped wildly, and the whistling sounds of arrows cutting through air rose and fell.

Tanmoluojia came to his senses and loosened his hold on Yaoying, pulling her close against him as he turned his horse around.

Their personal guards and retinue immediately followed. Up on the city walls, Pisuo directed soldiers to fire arrows at the pursuing cavalry, preventing them from getting close.

Several hundred people swiftly retreated into the city.

Yuanjue approached, his face slightly flushed, stammering for a long while, unsure what to say.

Tanmoluojia dismounted, turned around, and in front of everyone’s eyes, extended both arms toward Yaoying.

The night wind blew past, rustling his kasaya robe.

Yaoying froze for a moment.

Surprised gasps arose from the crowd as civilians stood at a distance, whispering among themselves.

Tanmoluojia remained composed, wrapping his arm around Yaoying’s waist to help her dismount. His jade-green eyes gazed at her steadily, lingering on her lips for several breaths.

That passionate kiss from earlier had not been a momentary lapse.

Yaoying’s heart pounded wildly, her legs still weak as she steadied herself holding his arm. Catching sight of the retinue that had followed them, her heart tightened. Coming back to her senses, she said, “Haidu Aling has seen my people use gunpowder before—these small tricks won’t frighten him. While other tribes may panic in confusion, he won’t. Those pursuing cavalry must be his subordinates. However, it’s dark now. As long as we make a show of force on the city walls and disrupt their morale, he won’t know how many reinforcements we have. He won’t risk attacking when reinforcements have just arrived.”

“He may not be afraid, but his soldiers will be!”

As she spoke, she waved her hand, signaling her retinue to ascend the city walls.

The guards responded with acknowledgment, carrying, shouldering, and bearing their modified weapons as they climbed the walls. They assembled the equipment in groups of seven or eight, having trained many times before, moving with skillful efficiency.

Pisuo came forward to meet them, asking, “How many troops does the Princess have?”

Yaoying answered, “Over five hundred people…”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt Tanmoluojia’s gaze suddenly turn severe.

He was like a Buddha statue—his countenance dignified and solemn. Even when his expression was gentle, his gaze carried an inexplicable pressure. Being fixed with such a stern look, Yaoying instinctively felt guilty for a moment before remembering their last parting. Anger welled up inside her, and she lifted her chin, meeting his gaze defiantly.

She hadn’t even settled accounts with him yet!

His brows furrowed slightly, but he remained silent.

“Too risky!” Pisuo followed closely behind Yaoying, breaking into a cold sweat of anxiety. “What if Princess had been caught by Haidu Aling?”

Yaoying explained, “Yizhou is garrisoned by the Western Army. The old Northern Rong forces have been scattered, and Haidu Aling has no other allies. His allied army this time is composed of different tribes, and their hearts are not united. Few chieftains truly listen to him. Once their main camp falls into chaos, they won’t be able to launch an attack. I sent people to raid their camp under cover of darkness specifically to cause them to break ranks.”

Pisuo worried, “Won’t those raiders be unable to escape?”

Yaoying shook her head: “It’s fine. They’re far away. Once I made it into the city during the chaos, they would leave immediately. The Northern Rong allied forces won’t catch them.”

Before Tanmoluojia could say anything, she strode up onto the city walls.

Tanmoluojia followed behind her.

The royal court soldiers were exhausted and had already made way for Yaoying’s retinue. In the torchlight, the soldiers swiftly assembled simple bows. Others drew composite bows, nocking arrows with cylinder-like objects attached, aiming the approaching cavalry below the walls with complete concentration.

Xie Chong watched the pitch-black battlefield, waiting patiently. When the cavalry drew near, he raised a flag and waved it.

Several whooshing sounds rang out as a rain of arrows fell.

The royal court soldiers cried out in surprise.

They heard several loud booms as sparks suddenly burst where the arrows had landed, followed by thunderous explosions echoing through the air.

The cavalry’s momentum faltered.

The soldiers continued drawing their bows. Wave after wave of arrows fell as flames hissed and darted about.

Tanmoluojia watched from the side for a while, then took a composite bow from a soldier and shot several arrows in rapid succession.

These arrows flew with fierce momentum, their whistling echoing through the air. Where they landed, flames erupted violently, forming snaking lines of fire that merged into a blazing inferno, roaring higher with the help of the wind.

Horses whinnied repeatedly, fearful of the night fires, rearing up with loud neighs.

The Northern Rong cavalry grew restless.

Haidu Aling looked up at the majestic holy city looming in the darkness, tasting blood between his teeth.

If Tanmoluojia was the nemesis of the Wahan Khan, then Princess Wenzhao must surely have come to be his nemesis.

She had allied with the royal court through treaties, and while the Northern Rong were in civil strife and concentrating forces to attack the royal court, she had secretly colluded with various noble clans to organize volunteer armies, recapturing over a dozen important towns in one fell swoop. Then using threats and inducements, she had made the various prefectures submit to her, pacifying the Western Regions. Next, coordinating with Li Xuanzhen, she cut off communication between the eastern and western Northern Rong forces, causing the tribes on the Northern Rong’s eastern border to flee back into the deep mountains in disarray. Meanwhile, his five thousand troops were blocked outside White City, unable to recapture Yizhou in the east, forcing them to flee westward, enduring countless hardships before finally finding several Northern Rong tribes in Samarkand.

All the tribes he had secretly won over behind the Wahan Khan’s back, the horse farms he had painstakingly developed, the craftsmen he had nurtured… all his life’s work had fallen into Li Yaoying’s hands.

Before he could establish a firm foothold in Samarkand, Li Yaoying had opened up the Northern Route trade path. Lured by profits, the tribes along the Northern Route were unwilling to help the Northern Rong restore their nation. In a few more years, with Li Yaoying governing the Western Regions and winning people’s hearts, the Western Army would grow stronger, making restoration even more distant.

That was why he had endured humiliation, pledging allegiance to the sovereign state near Samarkand, and marrying a foul-smelling princess to borrow troops for his eastern return to restore his nation.

Unexpectedly, internal strife suddenly erupted in the royal court—a heaven-sent opportunity. He diverted his attack to the royal court and fearing the Western Army would come to their aid, he sent out a force disguised as royal court troops to attack the Western Army, burning, killing, and plundering their territory to provoke hatred between the two countries. Judging from the Western Army’s reaction, they seemed to have fallen for the trick.

But just as he was about to capture the holy city, Princess Wenzhao had arrived!

Only Princess Wenzhao could command such “heaven-descending thunder and fire”!

Haidu Aling didn’t believe in so-called divine punishment or godly retribution. He knew it must be some new device developed by Li Yaoying’s craftsmen, but these weapons were truly uncanny. Using them to raid camps at night had a tremendous effect—even the chieftains would feel fear, let alone the soldiers with little experience.

After the raid, there was no way to quickly restore morale.

Those routing troops had fled who knows where, and he needed to quickly gather them back and stabilize their spirits.

Haidu Aling gritted his teeth and waved to his subordinates.

Soon, the horn signaling retreat sounded, and the cavalry withdrew in an orderly fashion into the darkness.

The soldiers on the city walls cheered quietly, asking the Western troops with smiles: “What kind of thing is this? It’s so powerful!”

The Western troops answered with grins: “These are thunderbolt arrows and firebombs.”

Everyone was curious, gathering around the Western troops and their weapons, clicking their tongues in amazement.

Although they were still under siege, finally seeing reinforcements arrive after days of encirclement had encouraged everyone, rekindling their fighting spirit.

At this moment, there was no distinction between royal court people and Han people—they were comrades fighting shoulder to shoulder, friends sharing life and death.

Pisuo smiled watching the soldiers joke around, then looked toward the Northern Rong allied army’s main camp surrounded by fire in the distance and breathed a sigh of relief. But thinking about how Haidu Aling would surely attack again after daybreak, his heart tightened once more. With only a few hundred reinforcements, they couldn’t change the overall situation.

With the enemy temporarily withdrawn, everyone was exhausted. They lay down to rest where they were, soldiers falling asleep clutching their long sabers.

The fierce wind howled as the water froze into ice.

Yaoying stood at a windswept spot, shivering slightly from the cold, her body swaying.

She hadn’t closed her eyes for several days and nights.

Tanmoluojia walked over, bending down to drape a cloak over her and tightly fastening the ties: “They won’t attack again before dawn. Go rest.”

Yaoying looked at him, unable to hide the fatigue between her brows: “What about you? Are you tired?”

Tanmoluojia raised his eyes, gazing at her for a long while.

“Tired,” he said softly.

Very tired.

But he felt nothing, caring nothing for his body’s exhaustion and pain.

The imperial guards’ betrayal, the civilians’ doubts, the monks’ accusations—he cared for none of it.

These were consequences he had long anticipated.

Even if the whole world cursed him, it wouldn’t shake his resolve.

But she had come.

She looked at him with concern, asking if he was tired.

In that instant, all the fatigue buried in his deepest depths surged up. He felt very tired, wanting to stop and rest for a while, to recover his spirits before continuing onward.

On his lonely journey, suddenly a brilliant, radiant light gently enveloped him, dispelling the endless darkness—bright, warm, gentle, seemingly separated by thousands of mountains and waters, unreachable, yet seemingly omnipresent.

He grew covetous, wanting to possess this light for himself. After gazing at her longingly for a long time, he finally reached out and cupped this radiance in his hands.

Tanmoluojia supported Yaoying as he led her to rest.

In the flickering firelight, the two walked shoulder to shoulder, pressed close together, step by step into the distance. The wind lifted his monk’s robe and the silk ribbons binding her hair. The firelight stretched their shadows very long, merging them into one, inseparable.

The soldiers all stood up, making way, watching as the two figures departed.

The long street was bustling as civilians emerged from their hiding places, countless eyes fixed on the pair. Their expressions varied—some with tears streaming down, some dumbstruck, some dejected and disappointed. Everyone in the city was there, but not a single word could be heard, only the sound of Tanmoluojia and Yaoying’s footsteps.

Yaoying trembled slightly.

Suddenly her hand felt warm as another hand reached out and grasped hers, a warm palm caressing the back of her hand.

She startled, lifting her head.

Tanmoluojia lowered his gaze. Under the silent watch of his faithful followers, he held her hand, radiating an innate dominance. His gaze was serene, determined, brooking no objection. The corner of his lips lifted slightly, revealing an extremely light, faint smile, like a lotus flower gently swaying in the Three Lives Pool, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow.

From today onward, walk this path with me.

Yaoying looked at him as memories of their time together flashed through her mind: his god-like appearance on the dunes when he saved her from Haidu Aling; how even on his deathbed he still planned for the royal court’s lasting peace; how he endured illness alone; how he sat at his desk studying Buddhist scriptures while she curiously tugged at his sleeve; how he galloped thousands of miles to save her, then left alone; how he lay on his back, seemingly mad, asking if she was leaving…

During their last meeting, he had spoken gently, promising to take good care of himself.

All the worry, anger, resentment, and longing that had accumulated in her heart since their parting vanished in this moment. The tip of her nose tingled, her eyes growing hot and wet as she smiled at him, her fingers scratching lightly at his palm.

Tanmoluojia’s body suddenly stiffened, his eyes darkening as he gripped her fingers tightly.

He walked into the council hall and pushed open the door to an inner room, pulling her inside.

Yaoying looked around. The room had no grand bed, only a desk with meditation cushions and a couch. The desk was piled with maps and documents, clean and neat, with a faint scent of agarwood incense—clearly his quarters.

He had her sit on the couch before stepping out. Soon, attendants brought food. She ate some, took a bath, loosely tied up her long hair with a ribbon, changed into clean clothes, and lay down on the couch.

After days of hard riding, she felt as if she had been crushed, her whole body aching with sore bones and particularly painful thighs.

She dozed off, and in her half-asleep state felt a figure sit on the edge of the couch. She opened her eyes.

Tanmoluojia sat leaning against the edge of the couch, looking down at her, dark circles under his eyes.

Yaoying was drowsy. She turned to her side, shifting inward slightly, and patted the couch: “Master, come lie down.”

She had just bathed, her skin snow-white, cheeks flushed as she lay on her side. Her luxuriant black hair fell loose, wearing only a light-colored inner robe that clung to her curves. The collar was loose, faintly revealing the soft, undulating shadows within. Her red lips were slightly parted, her eyes misty.

Like a flower bud covered in dew after the rain.

A sweet fragrance wafted through the air like the rich scent of flowers.

Tanmoluojia bent down and pulled up the brocade quilt to wrap Yaoying tightly, bundling her up completely before lying down.

Outside the city were a hundred thousand fierce Northern Rong allied troops. Their food was gone, their weapons depleted. He didn’t know how many more days he would live…

He had many things to consider.

But she had come, braving the flames of war to be by his side, lying on his couch. At this moment, he didn’t want to think about anything else—his heart was filled only with her.