The Hua Family had never lacked for capable descendants — but this was the first time Hua Yizheng felt such keen regret that A’Zhi had not been born a son. A mind this meticulous, a will this unyielding, a heart so set on protecting her family — whether she entered officialdom or remained in private life, she would have made the Hua Family stronger and more secure.

The hope of restoration might well rest entirely with her. What a pity she was a woman.

Watching his granddaughter drain an entire large bowl of water in one go, Hua Yizheng selected several people and dispatched them at once. But Hua Zhi immediately called out to stop them, raising her voice as she did — “Jia Yang.”

Jia Yang answered and stepped inside.

“Lend me your token.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Jia Yang produced the Seven Lodges Division token and handed it over. Hua Zhi took it and passed it to Chen Shan. “If anyone blocks your path, show them this. Tell them to take you to find him.”

To give the Hua Family another layer of protection, Hua Zhi had set aside all pride. Making use of another’s prestige? Right now she would gladly beat a drum and blow a trumpet announcing herself as the Seven Lodges Division commander’s consort, if it meant any who wished harm on the Hua Family would think twice and pull their claws back.

Looking at the courtyard full of Hua Family members, Hua Zhi wondered whether she could disperse them — at least so they would not all be swept up together if another wave came. But no matter how she thought it through, there was no way. They could not bring danger to someone else’s door, and there was no one willing to take in people who posed a mortal risk to whoever sheltered them.

“A’Zhi, why not rest in your father’s room for a bit?”

Hua Zhi shook her head and was just about to speak when Jia Yang’s voice rang out in a shout: “We’re under attack!”

Hua Zhi was on her feet in an instant, the dagger and hairpin already in her hands, as if the exhaustion of moments ago had been nothing but an illusion. “Everyone, be careful.”

With that, she made to run outside. Hua Pingyu grabbed her and held on — a man of proud bearing, he was now trembling at the mouth, everything in him stripped bare. “Protect yourself — A’Zhi, you must survive this!”

A sting rose in Hua Zhi’s nose. She turned and threw her arms around her father for one fierce moment, then ran out the door. Her life had been a fortunate one — in two lifetimes, both her fathers had loved her dearly, even if neither of them had ever known how to show it.

This wave brought more men than before. Jia Yang was immediately pressed in from all sides, completely reactive — he would not be able to hold for long.

Hua Zhi gave a bitter smile as she charged forward. And it was not as if adding her would make things last much longer — these people had sent all this force just to kill a household of scholars. They were absolutely determined to see the Hua Family dead.

If they could not all live, then let them all die together.

In that moment, Hua Zhi seemed to set herself alight. Though she had been spent just moments before, her offense now was even more ferocious than earlier — yet two fists are no match for four hands, and the two of them still fell back step by step.

Hua Zhi looked back at the courtyard gate, at the family within. She dug in her heels and held her ground — a few paces from the gate — and stopped moving. If anyone wanted to pass her to take the lives of her family, they would first have to take hers.

Inside the gate, there were tears on every face.

They wanted to go out. Even if they could only bite off a piece of the enemy, they wanted to go out — but that one look was plainly a command to hold back. The Hua Family woman giving everything she had to block the way would not permit them to come forward.

Hua Yizheng kept his eyes fixed on the granddaughter who had fallen back half a step then forced herself forward again. His face was numb. If only he could still move freely — if only he could still move freely —

Hua Zhi’s refusal to yield seemed to unnerve even her opponents. Where they should have pressed with everything they had and overwhelmed her, their assault instead slackened.

Hua Zhi’s hands were shaking. The dagger had long since flown from them — either lost in the fray or buried in some enemy’s body — and all she held now was the long hairpin. She herself was spent to the last drop — yet her eyes remained bright and clear. Though her breath came in heaving gasps, the hand gripping her weapon did not waver by a hair. Whoever made a move to pass her faced her attack head-on, and even knowing they were only wearing her down, she held her ground with absolute, unwavering resolve — the posture of someone who would guard with her very life.

Had they not witnessed it themselves, who could have believed a woman possessed such strength?

Yet they all knew she could not hold much longer.

But not all among them had any mercy for Hua Zhi. In the silence, a man in black suddenly called out: “Kill her.”

A collective jolt. The offense that had slowed erupted all at once. Hua Zhi’s hairpin was knocked aside — and just as everyone braced for her to fall defenseless, a short pin appeared from nowhere in her hand. She drove it toward the neck of the man who had spoken. Caught unprepared, the man instinctively flinched aside — and when his eyes met Hua Zhi’s smile, his heart lurched, but it was already too late. Her true target had never been his throat — it was his eye. She had mapped out his evasion path in advance and poured every last scrap of strength into the strike.

With a cry of agony, she succeeded — and she herself was sent flying by a kick from the side, crumpling at the doorway like a broken rag doll. The man in black who had lost his eye came right behind her, blade dropping toward her throat.

Every member of the Hua Family surged forward. Hua Pingyu was fastest — he threw himself over his daughter, shielding her beneath his own body. A searing pain tore through his back. His whole frame shook. He lifted his head and met his daughter’s eyes, the life going out of them.

Then came a resounding crash. Before Hua Pingyu could look up, someone hauled him forcefully aside. Gu Yanxi gathered A’Zhi carefully into his arms, tore something from the cord around his neck — no larger than a little finger — and applied hidden force until it came apart, revealing a hollow interior. Inside lay a pill no bigger than a soybean.

Gu Yanxi placed the pill in A’Zhi’s mouth. Only once this was done did he seem to remember how to breathe, dragging in several ragged gulps of air before pressing his fingers to A’Zhi’s throat, then to her wrist — but in that moment, the sound of his own heartbeat was louder than her pulse, and he could make out nothing at all.

“Yu Mu, go find Commander Wu and have him bring a physician.”

Yu Mu had been deep in combat with the men in black; at his commander’s call he immediately disengaged and sprinted toward the front line where General Wu was stationed.

Gu Yanxi stripped off his outer robe and draped it over A’Zhi, then lowered his head and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Watch me avenge you.”

Hua Zhi had been forcing herself to hold onto consciousness throughout. She knew her father had taken a blade for her, yet she could not move at all. The world before her eyes went dark in waves, and there was not a part of her that did not ache — but she bit down on the tip of her tongue and refused to lose consciousness, and blinked up at Yanxi.

Gu Yanxi felt a stab of anguish deep inside. He could not bring himself to imagine what would have happened if he had arrived even half a step later — if he had arrived even half a step later —

He closed his eyes for a moment, then stood. His expression was serene — yet his eyes were savage, with the look of someone ready to devour the world alive.

Long whip in hand, Gu Yanxi moved toward the men in black as though he were simply strolling through a garden. The men in black attacked first.

Gu Yanxi gave a cold laugh and simply stood where he was. When the first man closed in, the whip snapped out and back — and the man was slammed into the ground, something red and white erupting from him as he went still and moved no more.

Before anyone could react, Gu Yanxi had claimed three more in exactly the same manner.

The men in black all fell back, circling him with wary, cautious steps.

They had retreated — but now Gu Yanxi took the initiative. He began to advance. The whip moved as though it had a will of its own, and once it reached out, it never returned empty. More and more of the men abandoned the others and converged on Gu Yanxi instead.

It was a scene straight from the world of vengeful spirits — and even Patriarch Hua, who had lived a full life, was witnessing something like it for the first time. Yet he found it deeply, fiercely satisfying.

The younger Hua Family members were mostly pale-faced, teeth chattering, some had already run off to one side to be sick — and yet not one of them turned away. Those who had finished retching came back and stood their ground.

These men had died terribly. But by the narrowest margin — those who might have died so terribly had been their own family.