The moment he saw the command token, General Cai dismounted from his horse and dropped to one knee.

“Reporting to the Crown Prince.”

“By the Crown Prince’s order — engage the enemy at once.” Lingling said in a low, firm voice.

General Cai looked up at the person on horseback, his expression deeply conflicted.

“What — have you suddenly forgotten how to recognize the Crown Prince’s command token?” Lingling looked down at the kneeling man with cold eyes.

“This official naturally recognizes it.” General Cai dipped his head.

“To see the token is to see the Crown Prince himself. Since you recognize it, why are you not carrying out the order at once?” Lingling’s low voice fell from above.

“Yes.” General Cai clasped his fists. “This official obeys!”

He rose from the ground, vaulted into the saddle, and immediately rode back.

After issuing the order, Lingling moved quickly up to the city wall.

Yet to her surprise, the enemy’s encampment in the distance showed no sign of movement whatsoever.

She hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand. A soldier stepped forward.

“Miss Lingling, what are your orders?”

“Relay my command — open the city gates and send out a thousand elite soldiers. Prepare for battle!” Lingling gripped her fist tightly.

More than an hour earlier, when she had read the words Feng Jiu’er had left behind, she had felt unsettled.

She had not imagined the other side would infiltrate so quickly, burning down her grain storehouse.

“Yes.” The guard dipped his head, turned, and hurried off.

Lingling raised her spyglass and looked out beyond the city once more.

After a moment, she curved her lips in a cold smile. “Feng Jiu’er — whatever scheme you are running, this time I will not let you live to enter this city!”

Suddenly, a strange gust of wind swirled up from behind her. Lingling spun around, and her body instantly went rigid.

“You — how can this be?” She stared wide-eyed at the woman who had appeared without warning, her gaze sweeping left and right.

The places that had just been guarded by soldiers — the soldiers were crumpling to the ground one by one, as though they had been struck by some unseen force.

“What have you done to my people?” Her gaze snapped back to Feng Jiu’er, and Lingling demanded in a cold voice.

“Your people are just as foolish as you are!” Feng Jiu’er curved her lips slightly. At some point a short blade had appeared in her hand, now pressed against Lingling’s throat.

Lingling glanced downward, and dared not move a single muscle.

“Didn’t you only ever know a few tricks from the lower rungs of the martial world? When did you become this formidable?”

“The lower rungs of the martial world?” Feng Jiu’er curved her lips again. “Did Feng Qingyin tell you that?”

“No wonder — if Feng Qingyin had told you the truth, you would never have dared to come here in person to kill me. Am I right?”

“I trust that my lady is not that sort of person. Feng Jiu’er, don’t try to drive a wedge between us!” Lingling’s low voice rose in response.

“What sort of person your lady is, you should know better than I do. Jian Yi had me — he did not die. You have no such luck.”

Jiu’er furrowed her brow as she looked at Lingling, her presence coldly razor-sharp.

Thinking of what this woman and Feng Qingyin had done to Jian Yi and left him in such a state — even now, there was still a knot of rage lodged in her chest.

Not willing to waste another word on her, Feng Jiu’er pressed forward, and the short blade made a light, deliberate pass across Lingling’s throat.

“The command token — hand it over!”

A hot, stinging pain flared at her throat. Lingling dared not even breathe too hard.

“What — what command token?”

“Don’t play games with me. Hand it over immediately, or this next cut goes across your face.” Feng Jiu’er said with a furrowed brow.

The woman showed no sign of moving. Feng Jiu’er gave a small flick of her wrist, and the short blade dragged a fine line across the underside of Lingling’s jaw.

“The Crown Prince’s command token — hand it over!”

Lingling did not dare risk it. She unclasped the token from her waist.

“The token is a fake — it is useless to you.”

Feng Jiu’er paid no attention to her words and casually took the token.

While Feng Jiu’er was examining the token closely, Lingling suddenly snapped her sleeve wide open. From within the sleeve, a cloud of powdered drug shot straight at Feng Jiu’er’s face.

“Ruin that face of yours, and let’s see how you go about enchanting people after this!” With a cold snort, Lingling retreated at full speed.

What she had not expected was that Feng Jiu’er was even faster.

With a casual swing of her hand, not a single particle of the powder landed on her. She lunged hard toward Lingling.

Lingling had been about to escape off the city wall. She had not even had time to turn around before a layer of toxic powder landed full across her face.

“Ahh!” She let out a sharp cry, clutched her face, lost her footing, and toppled backward off the city wall.

Lingling had chosen a somewhat secluded spot from which to observe the enemy’s encampment.

The surrounding soldiers had all collapsed, and for the moment no one else knew what had happened on this stretch of wall.

Feng Jiu’er stood at the edge of the city wall, glanced downward, then turned and vanished from that section of the wall.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, the city gate swung open. Hundreds of soldiers came thundering out on horseback, surging forward in a great tide.

Even without an enemy army in sight, every soldier was sharp and primed, fully ready for battle.

Yet a full quarter of an hour passed. Outside the city wall, there was nothing — only the chill wind blowing in steady gusts. Not a single enemy soldier appeared, and not even the sound of a battle horn reached their ears.

After an indeterminate stretch of time, two soldiers came rushing up.

“Report!” One soldier looked toward General Cai on his horse.

“Speak.” General Cai turned and looked back, eyes filled with barely contained fury.

They had been pushing the enemy forces back from within the city one engagement after another — and now, after linking up with the forces from outside, they were expected to take orders from some consort’s attendant.

General Cai was deeply resentful, yet Lingling held the Crown Prince’s command token. He had no choice but to comply.

He had followed Lingling’s word, led a thousand elite soldiers out the gate, waited this long — and there had been nothing. Now, seeing Lingling’s subordinates arrive, it was easy to imagine General Cai’s mood.

“Fighting has broken out on the city wall. Miss Lingling’s whereabouts are unknown.” The arriving soldiers reported. “Our other brothers are making their way there to provide support.”

General Cai turned and looked toward the not-so-distant city, drew a long breath, then wheeled his horse around.

“Pass the order down — all brothers fall back into the city.”

“Yes.” General Cai’s attendant dipped his head and turned to address the men. “Back into the city! Move!”

The great column of troops, having stood in the open beyond the city gates enduring the cold northwestern wind for a quarter of an hour or more, filed back in.

By the time a different unit arrived on the city wall, Feng Jiu’er and her companions had already slipped away in different directions.

Before long, another large building in the city burst into flame.

This one housed everyday supplies — the soldiers’ clothing, bedding, boots and socks, tents, and more.

The two armies had only merged that morning, and many of these items had not yet been distributed. Now, a fire of unknown origin consumed them.

Huo Baixue led her brothers in and out like ghosts. She set the fire and vanished, leaving only a handful of soldiers guarding the building who had no time at all to grasp what was happening.

The grain storehouse fire had not yet been fully put out, and now the supply depot was burning.

The soldiers on the city wall had already taken casualties. Below the wall, the soldiers who had marched out ready to fight were making their demoralized way back.

In the span of a single quarter of an hour, the entire city had fallen into total chaos.

General Cai sat his horse inside the city gate, watching the fire glow in the distance, sighing deeply one breath after another.

“Report!” A soldier came before him and clasped his fists.

“What is the situation?” General Cai asked in a heavy voice.

“Reporting to General Cai — the fire at the grain storehouse has been extinguished. The grain that was saved… is barely less than half.” The soldier did not dare even lift his head.

“Who set the fire?” General Cai’s voice grew even heavier.

The soldier glanced up for just a moment, then immediately lowered his head again.

“For the moment, we have not been able to identify who started the fire.”