Yao Ying and her group rode their horses at full gallop through the night. Behind them lay only the endless snowy plains – the Crown Prince’s pursuit troops hadn’t caught up. The next morning, they stopped to rest at a hidden mountain path.

Xie Qing counted the horses and people, reporting to Yao Ying: “No one was left behind.”

Yao Ying nodded and took out several pre-written letters, handing them to different personal guards: “I had already arranged for messages to be sent to Liangzhou, but those letters may not arrive safely, and even if they do, they might not be taken seriously. Take my letters and split them up – go quickly to Xiaoguan, Hangu Pass, Tong Pass, and Liangzhou. Find the garrison soldiers and tell them they must increase their vigilance and prepare for battle.”

She then took out two more letters and gave them to two other guards, “Go directly to Jincheng, ride without stopping day and night, and find a scholar named Du Sinan at the Jincheng Governor’s Office. Tell him his chance for fame and merit has come. If Southern Chu can be made to withdraw their troops, he can become renowned throughout the land!”

The guards exchanged glances and asked, “What if they don’t believe us?”

The princess was just a woman and one who had been married off to ally. Who would take her sudden letters seriously?

Yao Ying urged the guards to depart: “Whether they believe or not, once you deliver the letters, they will at least be more alert. Don’t delay, go now!”

The guards still hesitated, reluctant to leave: “Princess, our duty is to protect your safety. Other matters don’t concern us. You’re not yet out of danger – we can’t abandon you!”

They were guards specially selected by Li Zhongqian for Li Yao Ying, loyal only to Li Zhongqian and the Seventh Princess. Even if the sky was falling, they had to stay by the Seventh Princess’s side.

Yao Ying lifted her hand to brush aside the disheveled strands of hair at her temples. After riding through the night, her hair was loose and unkempt, her appearance haggard, but her eyes remained clear and calm: “With great enemies before us and the nation in peril, can you truly not distinguish what matters most? There’s no time to waste! Go!”

The guards exchanged glances and lowered their heads, unwilling to move.

Yao Ying felt dizzy and stumbled twice before steadying herself: “The situation is dire. Your journey ahead may not be safe. I’m entrusting the future of Great Wei and the lives of millions of citizens to you.”

She bowed deeply to the guards.

“Whether you live or die, you are Great Wei’s most loyal warriors! If you can make it back to Chang’an alive, I will toast to you!”

In the wind and snow, her delicate frame trembled slightly, looking so pitifully frail.

Yet so determined.

The guards bit their lips, tears in their eyes, saluted her with clasped hands, took the letters, mounted their horses, and galloped away in clouds of dust.

Yao Ying watched their retreating figures. A night’s exhaustion washed over her, her limbs trembling slightly. Suddenly she coughed, blood trickling from her lips.

“Princess!”

Xie Qing immediately caught her in his arms.

Yao Ying lay in his embrace, her whole body shaking, coughing up several mouthfuls of bloody foam.

A guard handed over a water skin. Xie Qing helped Yao Ying drink a few sips, frantically wiping the blood from her lips with his sleeve. Afraid of hurting her, he pulled out his inner garment sleeve and gently wiped her chin.

After resting a moment, Yao Ying struggled to stand, leaning against her horse’s back, taking several breaths: “We can’t delay… not even for a moment…”

Bie Mudie had left a day before her – she feared there wasn’t enough time.

Yao Ying’s gaze turned to the other guards.

“You… follow them… we need people reporting to every direction… whoever arrives safely first, immediately alert all the passes!”

The guards tearfully agreed, helped her onto horseback, turned their mounts, and galloped off in different directions.

Hoofbeats thundered as snow and mud flew into the air.

Finally, only about ten guards remained with Yao Ying. Xie Qing drew his sword and said sternly: “We can’t send any more people away! Princess, you only have us left! The Yelu pursuers could catch up at any moment!”

Yao Ying lay on horseback and gave a bitter smile: “Ah Qing… it doesn’t matter how many guards remain by my side… it’s all the same…”

The Yelu people wouldn’t catch up. When Bie Mudie incited the Crown Prince to kill the Yelu Khan and the warriors loyal to the old Khan and his brothers, the Yelu tribe was already destroyed.

No, it should be said that from the moment Bie Mudie became the Yelu Khan’s adopted son, the Yelu tribe had become his prey.

She had previously thought the true reason for the Yelu tribe’s overnight destruction was the Crown Prince’s greed.

Now she understood – not just the Yelu tribe, but all the tribes of Helong would perish in one night.

None would escape.

“I can’t escape.” Yao Ying closed her eyes briefly. “He already sees me as his prey. I can’t escape.”

Son of the eagle, a descendant of wolves, the Golden Tent Northern Rong had swept across the entire grassland like a storm in just a few short years, dominating the Northwest for over a hundred years, successively conquering the Royal Court and Central Plains, with power extending from the East to the Western Fulin, reaching as far as the Black Sea, making countless nations in both East and West tremble – that man with light golden eyes.

Bie Mudie was Haidu Aling.

That Northern Rong leader who finally had no rivals after the deaths of Tanmoluo in the Western Regions and Li Xuanzhen in the Central Plains, a tyrant who delighted in killing, who led his iron cavalry to drag the Central Plains – peaceful for not even three generations – back into the flames of war, ruthlessly torturing the common people.

Yao Ying couldn’t escape his grasp.

But she still had to risk her life to flee.

Not only that, but she, despite her insignificance, was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, attempting to use her tiny, weak strength to obstruct Haidu Aling’s plans.

She didn’t know how to lead troops in battle or arrange military formations. She was just a weak woman with only a few dozen personal guards. She couldn’t stop Haidu Aling.

So let those who could stop him do so!

The Central Plains was her homeland, where her mother and brother were, where countless ordinary people like her yearned for peace, and where strangers had once reached out to help her when she was in danger.

May the times be peaceful and the years bountiful, the rivers clear and the seas calm.

May the mountains and rivers be as beautiful as paintings, and peace and joy prevail.

The peace in the Central Plains was brought with the lives of tens of thousands of heroes, with righteous men like Xie Wuliang who held the world in their hearts. It shouldn’t be trampled and destroyed so quickly.

She had to return, to reunite with her brother.

Yao Ying caught her breath and continued directing the guards: “You also go to Jincheng… Haidu Aling must have blocked the east-west routes… you must be careful to hide your tracks on the way… ride as fast as you can… don’t delay…”

The guards exchanged glances, but before they could say anything, Yao Ying’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier, her body swaying, about to fall from horseback.

Xie Qing rushed forward, stepped into the stirrups, and caught her.

Yao Ying, drifting in and out of consciousness, tugged at his sleeve: “Go to Liangzhou… tell… tell Li Xuanzhen… Haidu Aling has come…”

Xie Qing gave a soft “mm” of acknowledgment. “Princess, you’ve already sent many people. Someone will surely find the Crown Prince.”

From the moment that man who called himself Bie Mudie left the tribe, the princess had been trying every way possible to send out messages, using every method she could think of.

Now, she needed to consider her situation.

Yao Ying’s breathing grew faint as she lost consciousness.

She hadn’t slept in half a month, and after galloping through the night, she couldn’t endure such hardship.

Xie Qing looked down, opened his cloak, and carefully wrapped it around Yao Ying.

He looked at the remaining guards: “Besides the Yelu people, we don’t know how many Northern Rong soldiers are behind us, and the east might also be blocked… With nowhere to retreat and danger ahead, we face not just one tribe or group of warriors, but an army of tens of thousands, cavalry that has swept across the grasslands. You can seek your path.”

The guards clenched their fists angrily: “You think you’re the only one with a loyal heart and righteous gut? We won’t abandon the princess! Death means nothing!”

“Right! We all swore an oath to protect the princess, willing to die ten thousand deaths. If you want to leave, you leave!”

“Very good.” Xie Qing nodded, tucking the unconscious Yao Ying deeper into his robes to protect her from the cold wind. “We’ll escort the princess back to the Central Plains.”

No matter how many enemy troops they faced or what hardships lay ahead.

He would take the princess home.

The long wind howled as the guards silently mounted their horses, following behind Xie Qing.

The snowy plain stretched endlessly as fierce winds roared.

They escorted the sleeping Seventh Princess, setting out on their journey east toward home.