Jing Hengbo was startled and instinctively dodged with a flash, appearing behind Tie Xingze. She lifted her foot and kicked hard against his back, forcibly kicking him off the treetop.

Her instant teleportation was a matter of split-second thinking. Before Tie Xingze could complete his lunging motion, her foot had already kicked out. Watching Tie Xingze fall in an embracing posture, she suddenly felt a strange sensation in her heart.

The next instant, a dark light flashed as if the sky was suddenly torn apart. A cold gleam appeared and with a “crack” sound, it shot through the treetop, then shuddered violently as a mass of black silk net burst open at the top.

She was already falling at that moment, barely brushing past the net. She saw the net was covered with tiny barbed hooks and broke out in a cold sweat.

This net was targeting her! If she had still been on the treetop, whether or not the arrow carrying the net hit her, it would have immediately burst open. She would have been wrapped up, injured all over, and instantly lost her ability to move!

Recalling Tie Xingze’s earlier motion of embracing her as he lunged down, and the direction he was facing – could it be that he saw that hidden weapon and was trying to save her?

“Bang.” Tie Xingze crashed down under the tree. The arrow in his shoulder and back was violently shaken out, blood spurting wildly. His guards cried out in alarm as they rushed over to help him up. Tie Xingze’s face was deathly pale, the side of his face covered in blood, already unconscious.

Jing Hengbo landed accordingly, staring at him in a daze.

A guard suddenly turned around, his voice already carrying tears, “Your Majesty! How could you treat our King like this!”

Jing Hengbo’s heart was in chaos. She stepped forward, then stepped back.

Tie Xingze slowly opened his eyes, waved his hand to stop his guard’s scolding, and said softly, “Don’t blame… Your Majesty.”

After a pause he continued, “To prove one’s innocence… this alone… is not enough.”

“Your Majesty!” the guards cried out sorrowfully.

“Xingze.” Jing Hengbo took a breath and said slowly, “If I misunderstood you just now, I apologize. Regardless, you saved me just then. So rest well now – I will protect you.”

“Without repelling the enemy, no one can protect anyone.” Tie Xingze smiled indifferently, helped by his guards to sit up. After thinking, he said, “Your Majesty, do you have the courage?”

Jing Hengbo raised an eyebrow, “How so?”

“The Silent Army… is my army after all, and I still understand them somewhat. I can confirm their target is me – killing you all is to eliminate witnesses.” Tie Xingze said slowly, “So being with me is where the greatest danger lies. But I want to use the Silent Army’s weakness to drive back the Fifteen Gangs’ enemies, but you must accompany me. Do you dare?”

This idea aligned perfectly with Jing Hengbo’s thoughts. A seductive smile curved her lips, “Why wouldn’t I dare?”

“Only you and me.”

“Deal!”

Tie Xingze sat up and had his guards bandage his wounds and change his clothes. The wound was tightly bound with three layers of cloth, all blood traces washed away, clean clothes put on, and after taking a pill, his pale complexion gradually regained some color, actually looking somewhat spirited.

Completing this series of actions wasn’t easy. The Silent Army combined battle formations with assassination. In this short time, they had dealt with three more waves of killers, lost one guard, and Tie Xingze nearly gained new injuries.

Among everyone, only Jing Hengbo with her awesome instant teleportation had the highest safety factor. No one could track her movements – they all followed behind her making various futile lunges. While organizing herself, she also pointed out many killing opportunities to various battle groups. Only the river surface was off-limits to her. There, fierce fires blazed and the most important Silent Army experts must be gathered. With such sharp sword energy, if she barged in, she’d likely become a human sieve. It didn’t matter if she became a sieve, but if Gong Yin became one because of her, that would be serious.

Looking up at the distance, the Fifteen Gangs’ forces were getting closer. If she didn’t do something soon and let the Fifteen Gangs see what was happening here, that would be disastrous.

She had no choice but to shout, “Hey! I have something to do – be right back!”

Almost immediately, she heard Gong Yin’s cold shout: “Stop!”

Yelu Qi’s call: “Hengbo! Don’t run around!”

Pei Shu’s cursing: “Damn woman, what are you doing? Stop right there!”

And Seven Kills’ chaotic shouting: “Hey hey hey, where are you going? Take big brother to play too…”

Jing Hengbo had already gone far with Tie Xingze, each on a horse.

When the two broke out, they deliberately chose an open area so the Silent Army could see them.

Sure enough, just as the two had rushed out about ten zhang, there was a thunderous crash behind them. The ground flipped over and a large mass of dark crowds burst forth from the earth.

Several zhang ahead, a row of bushes suddenly shot skyward. Beneath the bushes was a row of cavalry – black armor without luster, iron blades forest-cold, spanning across the road, blocking their path.

The Silent Army indeed had preparations on the periphery.

Jing Hengbo didn’t even pause, spurring her horse to charge directly. Her horsemanship had been continuously trained and was now quite good.

Ahead was a stern formation, behind was silent pursuit. Fortunately, the Silent Army ultimately had different roles – those who wanted to be assassins couldn’t be archers. If a volley of ten thousand arrows came from behind now, Jing Hengbo and Tie Xingze would become porcupines.

“What do we do?” Seeing the Silent Army formation ahead standing unmoved, Tie Xingze quickly asked her.

“Charge.” Jing Hengbo laughed crystallinely.

She showed no killing intent, only cunning light flowing in her eyes.

The two crouched low and frantically spurred their horses. Three zhang… two zhang… one zhang…

The Silent Army saw the two actually weren’t stopping and were suicidally crashing toward them. Their eyes seemed to show surprise, but these people were well-trained after all and remained expressionless, truly like silent branches extending across the horizon.

These branches wove a dense formation. A leader-like figure in the center waved his hand, and the soldiers uniformly raised their long spears, spear points like a forest, waiting for the two to crash into them with their bodies.

The distance of several zhang was covered in an instant. Jing Hengbo could already see a large mole on the iron-like face of the central leader.

She suddenly asked Tie Xingze, “Do you dare trust me?”

“I dare!”

“Good, don’t stop!”

The silent Silent Army’s surprised eyes reflected the maniacs charging like suicide bombers.

The two horses rushed like fierce wind toward the spear forest. With such momentum, both humans and horses would inevitably be skewered on the spear points.

“Whinny.” Two shrill neighs – both horses simultaneously crashed into the forward-leaning spear points, their chests shattered, pierced through on the spear heads.

But the leader with the mole noticed something wrong.

The riders had disappeared!

The next instant, “slash slash” – two soldiers beside him clutched their throats and fell from their horses, blood splattering everywhere, daggers gleaming coldly in their throats.

He had no time to think and swung his blade fiercely, but a heavy foot had already kicked him from behind, booting him onto a dead soldier’s horse.

A long silk cord went “whoosh” and looped around his neck. He swung his blade to cut it, but the cord suddenly tightened. His eyes bulged and he made choking “wu wu” sounds from his throat.

Two human figures landed – one took his original horse, the other mounted another dead soldier’s horse.

Without further delay, they cracked their whips and three horses charged wildly through the formation.

Only then did Jing Hengbo’s laughter ring out.

“Borrowing your general for a bit – come chase us if you dare!”

…

The Silent Army was silent as a withered forest.

Even those who had just been beside that leader didn’t immediately understand what had happened.

They had clearly seen the horses galloping at that unrelenting speed, with no reaction time for the riders. They had clearly felt their spear points touch those two people’s hearts, then suddenly the people vanished.

Then comrades died and the deputy general was captured.

This appearing and disappearing like ghosts… was this lightness kung fu?

Hoofbeats thundered as Jing Hengbo and Tie Xingze, dragging the general, took advantage of everyone’s stunned moment to break through this encirclement.

At the last moment, Jing Hengbo had grabbed Tie Xingze and teleported, flashing behind the general. She used telekinesis to control two daggers to kill two soldiers, freeing up two horses, while Tie Xingze simultaneously kicked the general away and looped the silk cord around his neck.

Their coordination was perfect, and the anxious Jing Hengbo finally relaxed.

If Tie Xingze’s trust in her had been insufficient, if he had shown even slight cowardice during that suicidal scene, if his reactions and coordination hadn’t been so good, she might not have been able to execute this plan perfectly.

She turned to glance at Tie Xingze. After all that action, his wound seemed to have reopened, with blood seeping slightly from his shoulder and a layer of fine sweat on his forehead, gleaming faintly under the starlight.

He was truly fighting desperately.

Jing Hengbo sighed softly in her heart, suddenly wishing very much that Gong Yin was before her.

Only those clear, bright eyes of his could illuminate all the dust of this mortal world.

Hoofbeats thundered behind them – the Silent Army had indeed pursued. This army had its soul. Though they were betraying, their essence remained loyal and steadfast, so they absolutely wouldn’t abandon their general and would certainly pursue.

Jing Hengbo and Tie Xingze flanked the general, controlling him between them. This relied on Tie Xingze’s superb horsemanship – he could make three horses maintain almost the same pace while controlling the silk cord around the general’s neck, neither strangling him nor loosening his breathing, always maintaining a semi-suffocated state.

This was highly difficult, and it was fortunate these three horses were all Silent Army mounts, well-trained and naturally keeping the same stride.

Because the general was controlled by Jing Hengbo and Tie Xingze, the pursuing Silent Army naturally didn’t dare use assassination techniques, following at a distance. It looked like a great army following their general into battle.

This wild pursuit created an imposing spectacle. The distant Fifteen Gangs members had already seen it and stopped uncertainly.

Jing Hengbo took a breath – the first step of her plan was complete. Seeing this scene, the Fifteen Gangs would think this was Jing Hengbo leading a great army to actively engage them, which would naturally cause alarm and unease.

Now she needed to make the Silent Army think the Fifteen Gangs had come to help her, so they wouldn’t speak up to reveal the truth.

She also couldn’t let the Silent Army turn back – that would expose flaws too.

“We can’t travel together anymore,” Tie Xingze suddenly said.

“Why?”

“You take Deputy General Wang to the left, I’ll go right alone,” Tie Xingze pointed at the captured Silent Army general. “We’ll split into two paths. The Silent Army will pursue in two groups because both sides have targets they can’t abandon. This way, from the opposite side’s perspective…”

“It looks like a two-wing pincer movement!” Jing Hengbo’s eyes lit up.

“Right.”

Once the Silent Army showed a two-wing “pincer” formation, the Fifteen Gangs would be even more uneasy.

And the Silent Army’s strength would also be dispersed – a large portion remained in place to divide and conquer that group of experts, the rest pursuing Tie Xingze and Jing Hengbo would now split in half again. Encountering the Fifteen Gangs members, they would also feel tense.

Only then would there be an opportunity to exploit.

It was just that this separation…

Jing Hengbo hesitated slightly. Tie Xingze was already leaning over to tell her how to control Deputy General Wang, what force to use. Looking at his open, bright eyes, she felt some of her thoughts really seemed quite absurd.

With a whistle, the three horses suddenly separated. Tie Xingze galloped right while she rushed left dragging the deputy general. The Silent Army behind them reacted excellently – also with a whistle, the dark mass of troops flowed like water into two halves. Indeed, half pursued Tie Xingze while half followed her relentlessly.

She controlled her horse’s speed, galloping across the wilderness. Wind rushed past her ears, and she could see ahead that the Fifteen Gangs members numbered no less than several thousand. They had all stopped, watching the Silent Army’s great force pressing close, then suddenly splitting into two routes to rapidly encircle them. The Fifteen Gangs members were indeed very alert and uneasy, beginning to contract their formation and assume battle readiness.

The spring night wind was cool as deep water, yet her cheeks burned at this moment. Since her transmigration, she had experienced countless dangers but rarely experienced war and battle formations, much less commanded alone or had experience turning the tide of battle. Yet at this moment she felt no panic or tension, only her blood boiling slightly throughout her body, as if it would boil this cool air. She yearned for collision, yearned for confrontation, yearned to toy with thousands of troops in the face of battle, to clash and spark her own wisdom in the sharp radiance of iron armor and cold mail.

She had been lazy all her life, only now realizing she was still warlike in her bones.

Or rather, she was willing to fight to protect her beloved.

They were getting closer to the Fifteen Gangs.

Close enough to see the faces of the front-most Three Gates, Four Leagues, Seven Gangs, and Thirteen Protectors – alarmed yet forcibly maintaining composure.

She raised her hand and removed her hair tie, letting her long hair cascade through the air.

Tightening her robes, she flashed and appeared on the adjacent horse, grabbing the deputy general.

The Silent Army pursued closely behind. She silently calculated the distance – at the point where they could see the scene ahead but their voices might not be clearly heard, she flashed.

The next instant she appeared on the horse’s head of the Lingxiao Gate Master.

“Gate Master, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

The Lingxiao Gate Master and others had been tensely watching the person leading troops toward them. Seeing that head of long hair, they confirmed it was a woman and were wondering if it was the Black Water Queen when suddenly she appeared above them. In the dark night her laughter rang out as she stood on the horse, her downward-looking face showing deep eyes hiding a trace of mockery.

Jing Hengbo’s previous performance in Daimao had left a deep impression. All the big shots instinctively shrank back, drawing blades and swords to protect their chests, shouting together: “Your Majesty!”

“I’m back!” Jing Hengbo responded quickly, suppressing any angry curses that might follow. “Thank you for traveling a hundred li to welcome me. Here, help me watch this!”

She raised her hand and hurled the deputy general she’d been carrying into the crowd of Fifteen Gangs members.

Everyone instinctively caught him before reacting. Jing Hengbo had already turned around.

Her daring to turn her back to everyone shocked them again. Jing Hengbo was already facing the charging Silent Army, raising her hand with a grand gesture: “Boys, deal with them!”

This shout stunned both sides.

The Silent Army thought Jing Hengbo was telling the Fifteen Gangs to deal with them. Because Jing Hengbo stood at the very front of the Fifteen Gangs on a horse’s head, her commanding gesture from above truly looked like she was ordering the masses.

The Fifteen Gangs naturally wouldn’t think Jing Hengbo was giving them orders – she had clearly just arrived with this mass of dark soldiers!

The deputy general was thrown into the midst of the Fifteen Gangs members. Someone fumbled to pick him up, examining him carefully but naturally not recognizing him. While puzzled, Jing Hengbo yanked the silk cord she’d been holding, causing the general to convulse from suffocation. From a distance it looked exactly like the gang members were torturing him.

The Silent Army immediately became furious.

“Kill!” A soldier drew his blade with a clang and spurred his horse toward the Lingxiao Gate Master’s mount.

When martial artists are attacked, self-defense is the first reaction. The Lingxiao Gate Master struck with his sword and lopped off a fine head.

A figure flashed – Jing Hengbo disappeared, leaving only crystalline laughter: “Boys, do well!”

Hoofbeats thundered, dust billowed. The deputy general’s capture and their comrade’s death completely provoked the Silent Army. Blades rang out in unison, cold light blazed through armor, yellow dust swirled between heaven and earth and the crowds. The entire Silent Army crashed forward.

The Lingxiao Gate Master shouted: “Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!”

The Fifteen Gangs members had barely figured out the situation before they were already embroiled in combat.

Blade-light and corpses fell together, blood and dust shared the same color. Horse against horse collisions, blade against spear friction, the shattering of bone and muscle and the bursting of organs, the ferocity of slaughter and the intensity of screams – viewed from above, they looked like a mass of mutually slaughtering black ants, writhing and constantly revealing dripping blood. Life was cheap as dust at this moment, merely dirt beneath a superior’s boots.

A figure flashed as Jing Hengbo lightly landed on a nearby tree, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead and breathing a sigh of relief.

In this scheme of stealing the sky and changing the sun, timing, psychology, and actions all had to be perfectly controlled. The slightest error and she would now be meat filling wrapped up in the middle.

Fortunately, she had succeeded.

Once misunderstandings led to killing, people with blood in their eyes wouldn’t have the mood or opportunity to slowly explain. Both the Silent Army and this batch of Fifteen Gangs members would be involuntarily swept into this torrent of war – either be crushed to powder themselves or crush others to powder.

Jing Hengbo sat on the tree branch, gazing at that battlefield. She claimed she wanted to seize Daimao and conquer the world, but actually rarely visited battlefields herself. Only today did she understand that war was truly the most cruel machine. She saw flesh and blood bubbling up in the battle group like boiling foam, making her somewhat nauseous. Thinking that she was the instigator of this slaughter made the nauseous feeling even more intense.

She supported herself against the tree, wanting to vomit, when suddenly a pair of hands gently patted her back.

She was so startled she nearly fell, and was about to draw her blade when those hands caught her. Gong Yin’s voice said, “It’s me.”

Jing Hengbo immediately went limp, taking the opportunity to throw herself into his embrace. Gong Yin held her, his hand gently stroking her back.

Miraculously, smelling the not-very-pleasant smoky and bloody scents on him now, her earlier nausea slowly faded. Thinking the crisis was resolved and Gong Yin was safe – this was the best thing. As for all those deaths, who was to blame?

Above her head, that person used his characteristic tone that seemed uncaring but actually very concerned: “Well done. You’re getting smarter.”

Jing Hengbo laughed “pff” and looked up, then widened her eyes: “How did you end up looking so wretched?”

Gong Yin indeed looked quite bedraggled now. His white robes were unrecognizable, half black and half red from smoke and bloodstains. His hair was burned short by a section, and his sleeves and chin still bore traces of dark fire oil. Jing Hengbo had never seen him so slovenly. Too concerned to tease him, she quickly examined his whole body. Fortunately there were no wounds. She exhaled in lingering fear: “To force you into this state – what formidable Silent Army!”

She felt somewhat distressed. The Silent Army must have used deadly force against him there, yet he could still break away to come here – how difficult that must have been.

“They only excelled in numbers,” Gong Yin said dismissively, then suddenly smiled. “Are you indirectly praising yourself for being more formidable?”

“Based on today, it seems so,” Jing Hengbo said without modesty. “Don’t criticize me anymore from now on.”

“Even idiots have moments of inspiration,” the venomous-tongued emperor said lightly, then quickly asked before she could react, “Where’s Tie Xingze?”

“He went to lure another group of Silent Army,” Jing Hengbo searched around with her gaze, suddenly pausing. “Strange, he clearly didn’t go far, how can’t I see him… Oh oh, over there, I see the Silent Army. They’ve pursued to behind the Fifteen Gangs, right near us… This is good too, perfect to give the Fifteen Gangs a front and rear pincer attack… But we shouldn’t linger long, we might be exposed at any moment…”

At this time the plain was full of people everywhere. They were positioned at the central location on this tree. Jing Hengbo saw the second wave of Silent Army was already close to the Fifteen Gangs members, naturally close to them too, but with so many people and such chaos, she couldn’t see Tie Xingze.

Gong Yin suddenly said, “Wait!”

Jing Hengbo stopped talking. She too had noticed something wrong.

The fighting battle group seemed to show signs of stopping.

The Silent Army group she had lured, fighting all the way, had already pressed to the center of the Fifteen Gangs members, but somehow the sounds of battle there seemed to have stopped.

The stop was only momentary, like an illusion, then she felt a commotion rapidly spreading from inside outward.

Gong Yin suddenly pulled her hand, saying urgently, “Go!”

His reaction couldn’t be called slow, but it was still a step too late.

“Crack.” With a splitting sound and thunderous crash, the tree they were on suddenly fell down.

All around – Silent Army soldiers, Fifteen Gangs members – suddenly turned their blades and swords toward the tree and rushed over.