Li Shuang held the rope with one hand while precariously balancing among the surrounding blades, using her other hand to wrap the rope around the man’s waist, intending to secure him before bringing him up. However, she struggled to bind him properly with just one hand. Li Shuang grew impatient: “Move your hand a little to help me get this rope around – I need to get you out of here.”
The man didn’t move. Li Shuang’s temper flared, and she looked up, ready to berate him, only to find his crimson eyes gazing at her with impossible tenderness. They held such deep emotion that Li Shuang wondered if she had somehow forgotten a passionate lover from her past in the frontier.
However, faced with such a gaze now, Li Shuang had only one thing to say:
“What are you staring at? Don’t want to get out anymore?”
How infuriating! Was this the time to be staring at someone? No sense of urgency at all!
After her outburst, the man showed no anger, just responded with a serious “Oh,” before suddenly wrapping his injured arm around her waist and forcefully pulling her close.
Li Shuang froze: “What are you doing?”
“Taking you up.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he released his left hand’s grip on the blade, grabbed the rope Li Shuang had lowered, and used the surrounding blade edges as stepping points. Holding her tight, he bounded up the sharp edges, emerging from the trap onto level ground in just a few moves.
Li Shuang had barely blinked before finding herself out of the pit, but the man hadn’t released her. Being held in a stranger’s arms felt distinctly odd, and she immediately pushed against his chest to free herself, frowning as she asked: “You could get out by yourself?”
The man nodded: “The blades were poisoned. I needed time to regulate my internal energy.”
So she had worried for nothing…
There was no time for further discussion – the sound of bandits breaking down doors came from the outer room. Judging by the chaotic footsteps, Li Shuang estimated there were dozens of men. She set her face grimly and tightened her grip on her blade, but before she could act, the man suddenly swept her up in his arms and, moving like lightning, burst through the window.
Li Shuang saw their surroundings blur into streaks, while the man holding her remained the only constant.
When the scenery finally slowed, Li Shuang found herself placed on horseback, with the man mounting behind her. They rode brazenly through the fortress gates, leaving chaos and confusion in their wake.
The frontier night wind cut like knives through flesh and bone, mixed with heavy snow, making everything appear desolate and bleak.
Li Shuang had long since adapted to this harsh, dry climate. In her three years at the frontier, she had participated in dozens of battles both large and small, laying ambushes on freezing nights and defending against enemies under scorching suns. No matter how difficult the conditions, she had always ridden alone. As general of the Changfeng Camp and symbol of Great Jin’s frontier honor, her spine could never bend, she would never show weakness.
This made this current situation – sitting before a man, surrounded and protected by his masculine presence – for Li Shuang…
A first.
Through the heavy snow, they rode, a single horse carrying two riders through the desolate frontier. After covering an unknown distance, they reached a cliff where their stolen horse finally tired, foaming at the mouth as it slowed.
From here, the distant silhouette of Changfeng Camp was visible.
The man dismounted and reached up to help Li Shuang down.
But Li Shuang remained mounted, staring steadily at him: “You know who I am.” It was a statement, not a question. Li Shuang met his eyes directly. She had never told him her identity, and she wore stealth clothes today rather than her Changfeng Camp uniform. Yet the man had asked no questions, simply heading straight for the camp – clearly, he knew her identity.
The man didn’t answer, his hand remaining extended. Only when Li Shuang dismounted herself on the opposite side did he finally lower his hand, his gaze dimming slightly.
The blood on his back had frozen in the cold air.
Li Shuang questioned him again: “Who exactly are you?” She narrowed her eyes, studying him warily, “How do you know my identity, how did you know my movements, and why did you come to help me?”
These questions, though sharp and precise, sank like stones into a vast sea – receiving no response.
Li Shuang’s brow furrowed as she suddenly drew her sword, pointing it at his throat: “If you won’t answer, I’ll take you back to Changfeng Camp for questioning.” This rescue mission had been hastily arranged – theoretically, no one but her closest confidants should have known about it, yet all her movements had been anticipated by this mysterious man.
This involved military matters – Li Shuang couldn’t simply let him go just because he had saved her and appeared benign.
That was what Li Shuang thought.
However, when her blade pointed at his throat, she saw something like a hurt flash through those blood-red eyes behind the hard black mask.
Being treated as an enemy… caused him pain?
Li Shuang was bewildered – what was this person’s deal? Making her feel like some heartless betrayer…
During her moment of confusion, the man suddenly stepped forward, his throat about to meet her blade. Li Shuang hadn’t truly intended to kill him, so she instinctively angled her sword away to avoid wounding him.
This movement encouraged him to take another step closer. His burning palm once again pressed against her back, and before Li Shuang could bring her sword back to ward him off, his next action left her completely stunned.
He cradled the back of her head and, without any warning or reason, pressed his lips against hers…
Just like that… he kissed her!
Their lips met – no one had ever been this close to Li Shuang before. She froze with wide eyes, all her martial arts training, both internal and external, completely forgotten.
When the man tasted her essence, he was like a parched man finding sweet spring water, almost greedily drinking in her flavor, parting her lips to invade her mouth. As if he wanted to devour her, to possess her.
After a brief moment of shocked paralysis, Li Shuang finally snapped back to her senses.
This scoundrel!
Fury rose in Li Shuang’s heart as she drove her fist into the man’s abdomen with full force, holding nothing back.
The man gave a muffled grunt, clearly in pain as he doubled over, yet still refused to release Li Shuang, clinging to her contact as if reluctant to let go.
Just as Li Shuang resolved to use more severe measures, the clouds on the horizon suddenly brightened – dawn was approaching.
Li Shuang felt the man’s body suddenly tense as if fighting some intense pain before he abruptly released her and stepped back.
Li Shuang brandished her sword and shouted: “Don’t think about escaping!”
But before she finished speaking, the man had already leaped off the mountaintop. Li Shuang’s pupils contracted as she rushed forward to look for any sign of him, but by then, he had vanished completely.
Just like that, as suddenly as he had appeared, he disappeared from before Li Shuang, leaving no words or clues behind.
Li Shuang stood alone atop the mountain, gazing at the sunlight on the horizon as she violently drove her sword into the ground and covered her mouth, grinding her teeth in rage.
“Bastard!”
When Li Shuang returned to camp, daylight had fully broken. As soon as her figure appeared in the distance, the sentries on the watchtower spotted her and immediately reported upward. Qin Lan, whom Li Shuang had left in charge of camp affairs, quickly rode out to meet her.
Reaching Li Shuang’s side, Qin Lan dismounted and studied her intently for a long while. Seeing she was unharmed, he finally seemed to relax, his tightly pressed lips loosening slightly: “General.” He still bowed respectfully before saying, “General must be tired, please mount up.”
Li Shuang was indeed exhausted and didn’t stand on ceremony with Qin Lan. She mounted the horse, allowing him to lead it by her side as they walked. She asked: “Has Li Ting returned?”
“Yes, the military physician has examined him. The young master was only frightened, nothing serious.”
Li Shuang sighed: “Father was right – Li Ting may seem capable, but he’s been spoiled too soft in the capital. When trouble comes, he’s like a delicate young lady, needing more tempering.”
Qin Lan acknowledged this with a sound, “The young master is still not of age, General shouldn’t be too harsh with him.” He paused, glancing slightly at Li Shuang on horseback, and after some thought, asked quietly, “This subordinate heard from the young master that last night at the bandit fortress, a mysterious man wearing a black mask came to assist. General…”
Hearing about this person, Li Shuang recalled the scene atop the mountain before dawn, feeling both embarrassed and angry. But she could hardly show such emotions before her soldiers, so she merely wore a cold expression and cut off Qin Lan’s words: “Don’t mention it.”
Hearing this, Qin Lan looked up at Li Shuang in surprise, but seeing her displeased expression, he lowered his gaze and softly replied: “Yes.”
His position gave him no right to say more to Li Shuang. Even asking too many questions would be overstepping.
Entering the camp, soldiers immediately gathered around them. Li Ting, wearing thick fox fur, ran out of his tent. Upon seeing Li Shuang, his eyes immediately reddened as he threw himself into her arms: “Sister!”
Being embraced by his soft form, even Li Shuang’s hard heart softened for a moment. Li Ting was, after all, the brother she had lovingly raised, and letting him accompany the supply convoy had been her mistaken decision – she couldn’t blame him.
Li Shuang sighed, pushing Li Ting away: “Go back inside.” Then she raised her head and ordered Luo Teng and several other deputy commanders to be summoned.
As the old manor servant escorted Li Ting back, protecting him from the cold wind toward his tent, Li Ting kept looking back at Li Shuang longingly. He saw her already giving orders to the arriving deputy commanders:
“Last night we went with too few men and failed to eliminate the bandits. Today we have no such restrictions – gather three thousand troops and destroy that den. Show no mercy.” Li Shuang’s expression was fierce, her eyes cold as ice. “Let this serve as a warning – show everyone, including the Western Capital, what fate awaits those who dare provoke our Great Jin.”
Show no mercy – this meant Li Shuang wanted no survivors.
Li Ting watched Li Shuang, saw her blade-like gaze and frozen expression, and felt dazed. In his eyes, Li Shuang had always been the sister who played and joked with him, sometimes even seeming a bit unserious. Only now did he understand why people in the capital sometimes called his sister a daughter of wolves and tigers behind her backs – it wasn’t an exaggeration at all.
Those who fought for the nation put the nation first, using strategy and tactics where blood and killing were commonplace matters. It was because people like her used their flesh and blood as walls to guard the frontier that the common people of Great Jin could live in peace, and why he could spend half a day arguing with the Prime Minister’s son over something as trivial as a candy figure in the capital.
At home, Father often said he wasn’t as good as his sister. Li Ting had always thought it was just because he was young, but now he truly realized that the distance between him and Li Shuang was vast – so vast they seemed to exist in entirely different worlds…
Li Ting bit his lip and silently returned to his tent.