The two groups met at a relay station north of Xu Commandery. Comrade Wan Songbai still had full imposing presence—his general’s belly not the least bit smaller, his mustache still sleek and glossy. His retinue of guards, household servants, maids, cooks, plus two masters for tending hunting dogs—not one was missing. For the first time, Shaoshang perceived that Uncle Old Wan had somewhat the bearing of an aristocratic clan’s old young master.

Looking at her own father’s unhurried, leisurely, damn-it-all appearance, Wan Qiqi’s eyes shot little knives that could scatter like heavenly maidens strewing flowers, splitting his belly open to see if her dear father could still swagger!

“Father! You’re still so leisurely! Do you know I…”

“Enough.” Wan Songbai authoritatively interrupted his daughter. “If you have something to say, say it inside.”

Shaoshang secretly pinched Wan Qiqi. Wan Qiqi could only forcibly suppress her anger and follow the Cheng brothers inside—the best room in the relay station. As soon as those around them were dismissed, Wan Qiqi said impatiently: “Father, do you know…”

“I already know!” Wan Songbai said. Then he turned to the three Cheng siblings. “The imperial decree was delivered to me by express horse four days ago, but your mother’s secret report arrived five days ago. I know everything. That heaven-detested, earth-loathed Huang Wen—I have no grievance or enmity with him, yet he inexplicably came to frame me! When I return to the capital for an imperial audience, I must file a harsh complaint against him!”

Hearing this, Shaoshang’s heart relaxed. She said happily: “So the matters Censor Huang memorialized are pure fiction? Uncle, you haven’t disrupted laws and harmed the people?”

Wan Songbai slapped the table, drinking with overwhelming force: “Is your uncle that kind of person?!”

“Father, speak properly! Don’t frighten my younger sister!” Wan Qiqi nervously shielded Shaoshang.

Cheng Shaogong leaned listlessly by the brazier, doing his utmost to stretch out his palms for warmth, muttering: “She’s not frightened anyway.”

“Why did I only set out two days ago? Because I couldn’t go for an imperial audience empty-handed! That dog Huang said I forcibly abducted civilian girls… Hmph! I now have a joint guarantee letter from several great clans in my jurisdiction stating absolutely no such thing occurred. I took pity on orphaned girls and young children without fathers or mothers, so I found some virtuous, respected old gentlemen and matrons to help take them in and look after them. Would I fancy those pitiful girls? Give me a break—every one of them is sallow and emaciated, bones like firewood. Am I blind or crazy?!”

“He also said I seized civilian fields? Is Xu Commandery some fertile land rich for thousands of miles? Seventy percent is mountainous, seventy percent! I’m too busy with garrison farming and land reclamation—why would I seize land? Seize mountain land for what purpose—dig out mountain stones and sand to build Huang Wen a grave mound?!” When Wan Songbai’s tongue got vicious, it was quite spectacular.

“So Uncle also has no land seizure or enclosure matters?” Cheng Shaogong frowned.

Wan Songbai said: “Seizing and enclosing fields has only two purposes: first, for profit—to cultivate or mine; second, to build estates. Can I be Commandery Governor for life or what? What would I seize Xu Commandery land for?!”

Shaoshang detected something strange and glanced at her twin brother: “…These matters are so easy to refute—why would Huang Wen impeach Uncle? Could it be… Uncle has a grudge with him…?”

Wan Songbai was struck dumb, hesitating: “This… I’m not too clear either…” He turned to ask a middle-aged old servant beside him. “Afu, have I offended that Huang fellow?”

Wan Fu was a hereditary Wan family servant who had followed Wan Songbai since childhood, rising to become head steward. He also hesitated somewhat: “…Shouldn’t have. Our family has no dealings with Lord Huang.”

“Hard to say. Father has a big temper and no filter on his mouth. Who knows when he offended someone without even knowing it.” Wan Qiqi rolled her eyes.

“Maybe you offended someone outside and implicated your old father!” Wan Songbai pointed at his daughter and scolded.

Cheng Song’s thinking was more direct: “Since we can’t figure it out, let’s not think about it first. We should hurry back to the capital. After Uncle has his imperial audience and explains things clearly, we can consult carefully with Grandmother and Mother.”

Wan Songbai slapped his knee forcefully, unburdened: “Exactly! Even if Qiqi’s eldest mother can’t figure it out, your mother’s brain—one of hers equals ten others—she’ll definitely understand. We’ll rest briefly today and set out tomorrow morning.”

The younger generation all voiced agreement.

All along the way, what Shaoshang worried about most was whether Uncle Old Wan had actually committed illegal acts. Now hearing this explanation, her mind was greatly settled, so that night she slept soundly and deeply. The next morning when the convoy set out, Wan Songbai was eager for his imperial audience to cry injustice, so he proposed taking shortcuts. After all, the two groups had already joined up—they needn’t fear missing each other.

Thus, except for Cheng Shaogong who continued shrinking in the carriage, the rest all rode on horseback, chatting and laughing through the day. At night they camped at the mountain’s base, then continued traveling early the next morning.

“This area isn’t far from Shouchun. Niaoniao, won’t you go see Ling Buyi?” Wan Songbai, belly protruding, teased.

“I won’t!” Shaoshang flatly refused. “Finally without anyone supervising… *cough cough*, I mean, a man has his high tower in the northwest, rising level with the floating clouds. Lord Ling is currently laboring for the nation—how could I go disturb him…”

How could Wan Qiqi not know her sworn sister’s thoughts? She smiled and looked at Cheng Song, who made a funny face. Cheng Shaogong poked his head from the carriage window: “What are you pretending in front of us for? If you have the ability, pretend so Lord Ling believes you too.”

Shaoshang turned on him: “Didn’t you originally disdain Ayao for being naive and lacking opinions? Now you’ve been delivered Ling Buyi as a brother-in-law—aren’t you beside yourself with joy? When he comes home for meals in the future, you can accompany us together!”

Cheng Shaogong was about to retort when suddenly an arrow shot through the air, narrowly missing the carriage. Immediately whistling sounds rose all around and the guards ahead shouted loudly—”Bandits!”

This time was different from that incident in Hua County. Shaoshang had Comrade Old Wan Songbai above her, two brothers on either side, and Wan Qiqi was also skilled in riding and archery from childhood, so she wasn’t particularly worried.

They saw fifty or sixty bandits swarming from ahead, dressed in all manner of ways—some in hunter garb, some in common street clothing, some wearing old armor. Each had their face covered with black cloth.

Initially everyone wasn’t particularly tense. After all, their side added up to nearly a hundred people. Who knew this batch of bandits would be unexpectedly troublesome? When the guards fired arrows in volleys, they knew to use woven rattan shields joined together for defense. When guards charged on horseback, they knew to raise long spears as horse barriers. When it came to close combat, the bandits actually parried, slashed, and maneuvered freely—each had considerable martial skill.

The two sides fought intensely for over half an hour. With one whistle from the enemy leader, the bandits retreated completely.

Wan Songbai led Cheng Song to assess casualties. Cheng Shaogong held his sword guarding beside Shaoshang, puzzled: “Are bandits this brazen these days? Daring to rob official troops in broad daylight!”

Shaoshang said: “Yes, these bandits are quite strange too. They didn’t even shout ‘This mountain was opened by me’ or anything first.”

Wan Qiqi came over: “Maybe they want to kill us all first, then take all the wealth? Father and I encountered vicious mountain bandits outside before. If they can’t win, they flee. If they can win, they exterminate everyone to avoid leaving traces for people to report to authorities.”

Shaoshang thought this made sense.

At this moment, the leader of the guard team Ling Buyi had left suddenly stepped forward. He bowed to Shaoshang: “Young Mistress, the situation isn’t good. This subordinate requests to fetch reinforcements.”

“The situation isn’t good? Didn’t we win a great victory?” Shaoshang didn’t understand.

The guard leader said: “Young Mistress, look at where we’re currently located.”

Shaoshang and the others looked around. This place was right in the middle passage of a mountain forest with dense woods on both sides. Shaoshang still didn’t understand, but Cheng Shaogong already said gravely: “Dense forest, deep mountains, long narrow passage. Father said this terrain is most suited for ambush troops.”

The guard leader bowed: “Young Master sees clearly. Though the bandits were beaten back, they only left ten or twenty corpses, while we suffered thirty or forty casualties. The dead are one thing—bury them on site and settle accounts later. But what about the wounded? Should we abandon them here? But if we divide manpower to care for them, we’ll lose more combat strength. Before exiting this mountain, if there are more ambush troops, we’ll be hard-pressed to resist.”

Shaoshang was greatly surprised: “Will those bandits really come again? Weren’t they all driven off?”

The guard leader said: “Best if they don’t come. But we must prepare for the worst to be thorough. If something happens to Young Mistress, we deserve ten thousand deaths.”

Shaoshang sensed the situation’s severity and said solemnly: “Then from whom do we request reinforcements? That relay station we left yesterday didn’t seem to have many people.”

The guard leader said: “Xu Commandery is northwest of Shouchun. Marquis Cui’s great army is forming an overwhelming force from north to south on Shouchun. We can send light cavalry directly north. Regardless of which troops we encounter, as long as we present the Young Master’s name, they’ll surely send people to rescue us.”

Understanding in her heart, Shaoshang immediately had someone retrieve brush, ink, and silk from the carriage. She wrote four letters requesting rescue by hand, stamped the private seal Ling Buyi had left her at the signature, sealed them with fire wax, and handed them to four vigorous riders.

Watching the four riders gallop away, Wan Qiqi smiled: “Perhaps we’ll waste some of your husband’s favors for nothing.”

After finishing cleanup, Wan Songbai also felt they shouldn’t linger here and ordered the convoy to hurry forward. After rushing most of the day, with dusk approaching and about to exit this gloomy mountain forest, who knew masked men dressed as bandits would charge out again from the dense forest on both sides, attacking from front and rear, forming a pincer movement.

Without words needed, killing cries shook the heavens again. This time Shaoshang couldn’t laugh. Watching their side’s casualties grow increasingly severe while the enemy methodically closed in, both Wan Songbai and Cheng Song who’d personally engaged in combat were covered in blood, their faces mixed with sweat and grime.

This displayed the psychological quality of Ling Buyi’s subordinate guards. Even in this situation, they remained calm and collected. The guard leader still commanded the household servants to slowly tighten their circle, fighting while retreating into the mountain forest.

By full dark, this wave of bandits was beaten back again. Counting casualties—even including the Cheng brothers—those remaining with combat ability numbered fewer than thirty.

The guard leader directed everyone to hide in a giant boulder cave in the mountain forest, had people pull up intact carriages to surround it as a horse barrier, and extinguished torches and lanterns. Shaoshang asked: “We can exit the mountain forest ahead—why don’t we charge out?”

Before the guard leader could speak, Cheng Song, his face covered in blood, said wearily: “Now we have few people while the bandits’ numbers are unknown. In open terrain, we’d be even more doomed. Better here with cover and concealment. Plus with darkness and dense forest, they temporarily don’t dare come. But come daybreak…”

Shaoshang understood, her heart turning cold.

The guard leader consoled: “Young Mistress, don’t be afraid. Perhaps at daybreak, reinforcements will arrive.”

Shaoshang hadn’t even caught her breath when she suddenly heard Wan Qiqi’s alarmed cry from the leather tent—”Father! Father!”

Shaoshang and the Cheng brothers immediately sprang up and rushed over. Only after entering the leather tent did they see by the dim lamplight Wan Songbai lying on a stretcher covered in blood, emitting weak groans. Wan Qiqi cried: “Just now the steward carried Father back, saying he took a blade to the chest and was heavily hammered on the back.”

Shaoshang was fine, but the Cheng brothers had been watched over by Wan Songbai since childhood. The two families’ friendship was deep, surpassing blood relations. Both brothers prostrated before the stretcher calling out.

Wan Songbai opened his eyes with difficulty, firmly grasping Cheng Song’s arm: “It’s, it’s my carelessness. Should have taken the long way around… How could, how could I take this road…”

Tears flowed from Cheng Song’s eyes. Cheng Shaogong’s face was pale, his lips trembling. Both were unable to speak.

“This can’t be blamed on Uncle.” Shaoshang sighed. “Now the north is all Marquis Cui’s great army. Even if Peng the Rebel wants to flee, he’d flee south, giving my father a chance to earn merit. Who could imagine bandits would emerge here!”

“You… you must leave…” Wan Songbai gripped Cheng Song’s wrist tightly, his reddened eyes full of self-blame and regret. “My worthy brother has four sons and one daughter total. Now more than half are in my hands. I… I can’t let you all perish here… If I die, I’ll have no face to see my worthy brother… You grope down the mountain in darkness, ride swift horses and go…”

The guard leader standing outside the leather tent lowered his head slightly, exchanging glances with his subordinates behind him, mutually understanding—if they only protected Young Mistress alone in leaving, they had relatively good confidence. However, judging by those bandits’ fierce style, leaving behind all these wounded, they’d only have a dead end. Yet if it truly came to the final moment, they couldn’t care about so much…

Before Wan Songbai finished speaking, Cheng Song shouted: “What are you saying, Uncle! If we only care about our own lives and flee, even if we survive, we’d have no face to see people!” He gripped Wan Qiqi’s hand in return. “Qiqi, if we die, we die together!”

Wan Qiqi’s eyes brimmed with hot tears. She threw herself on Cheng Song, choking and unable to speak.

Cheng Shaogong stood dazed for a long while, gazing at Wan Songbai in a trance: “Uncle, when I was small and Father took us hunting in the mountains, I’d always slack off and refuse to climb. Fearing Father would beat me, you’d secretly carry me on your back…”

Thinking of past events, Wan Songbai shed hot tears.

Shaoshang’s eyes grew hot.

Actually Uncle Old Wan was a man who loved children very much. He wasn’t even particularly sexist—he doted on all those daughters before, properly selecting husbands for all twelve daughters and sending them off with generous dowries. If not for continuing the family line, he actually might not have coveted sons so much.

Wan Songbai’s heart was deeply moved, yet he still insisted they leave first. After both sides argued, they decided to wait one more night. If reinforcements hadn’t arrived by near dawn, the younger generation would leave first.

Walking outside the tent, Cheng Song said quietly to Shaoshang: “Little Sister, we’ll split into two routes later. Lord Ling’s guards will protect you and Qiqi, and Shaogong too. I’ll bind Uncle on my back and go from the other side.”

Shaoshang’s heart ached as she forced a smile: “Can we think positively? Maybe reinforcements will come.”

Cheng Song said coldly: “I can’t abandon Uncle, but we can’t all die in one place. If… you must avenge me later!” Finishing this sentence, the tall, stalwart youth turned and left. For an instant, Shaoshang seemed to see Old Man Cheng’s reliable back.

That night there was no starlight or moonlight. In the cold, silent mountain forest, everyone waited silently.

Past midnight, just as everyone drowsed, faint wailing sounds came from ahead. Shaoshang suddenly awoke—earlier they’d set many bamboo spikes and foot caltrops on the ground ahead. Could it be… Before she could figure it out, sounds of combat came from outside again.

—That group of bandits actually felt their way up the mountain before daybreak!

Shaoshang had no choice but to draw her sword, protected by two guards while leaning back. Watching the front gradually being overwhelmed, the guard leader rushed back covered in blood: “Young Mistress, we can’t hold the front. This subordinate will escort you out first.”

Shaoshang said calmly: “Fine, but take Elder Sister Qiqi and my Third Brother.”

The guard leader nodded and turned away. Not long after, he returned, carrying the knocked-unconscious Wan Qiqi on his shoulder and dragging the dazed Cheng Shaogong by hand. Over there, Shaoshang saw Cheng Song had already bound Wan Songbai on his back and was about to mount a horse.

In the shadowy firelight, the siblings looked at each other from afar, not knowing if they’d ever meet again. Shaoshang couldn’t suppress her tears, emitting a low “Second Brother” from her throat.

Just then, brilliant fireworks suddenly rose in the distant sky—golden, purple, orange, and red sparks forming a strange pattern in the air. The guard leader was overjoyed, shouting loudly: “It’s the Young Master! The Young Master has come!… Brothers, hold on a bit longer—the Young Master has brought troops!”

While speaking, he also withdrew a dark, slender cylindrical iron device from his chest, then raised it high toward the sky and pulled the fuse. A huge, brilliant firework instantly soared into the air—this time Shaoshang saw clearly. In the sky was a fierce, savage beast head.

With renewed confidence, their side’s courage greatly increased. Cheng Song quickly put down Wan Songbai and joined the battle. For a time, killing cries thundered through the mountain forest. Not long after, rumbling hoofbeats approached from far to near. This gentle yet dense mountain forest seemed like vegetables being sifted in a winnowing basket—dewdrops barely condensed on the leaves all rolled down, dampening everyone’s faces and garments.

When the cavalry group came into view, Shaoshang immediately saw that familiar tall, slender figure at the front, along with the pair of deadly weapons in his hands.

She finally saw the legendary Beast Pattern Cloud-Breaking Battle Axes. Supposedly the Emperor had offered ten thousand gold pieces to have a former dynasty master ironsmith personally forge them from black iron. The axe blades were sharp and keen, leaving no blood trace. Both sides of the axe bodies were carved with bloodthirsty, ravenous beasts. The axe handles were rather long—when separated they could serve as short halberds; when joined they could serve as long weapons.

If the Vermillion Phoenix Gilded Halberd Ling Buyi had wielded before was like a gorgeous, brilliant golden crow whose dazzling radiance none could withstand, then this pair of pitch-black battle axes were iron-blooded phantoms—silent and bloodthirsty.

Ling Buyi never used flourishes when fighting, just simply swung and hacked. Immediately all around was a churning sea of blood and slaughter, like the Grim Reaper swinging his scythe harvesting lives. Thick blood splattered across his fair face, coldly indifferent.

This was the first time Shaoshang had seen him kill at such close range. Her heart felt inexplicably terrified and anxious.

The front cleared out. The guards who’d been standing beside Shaoshang immediately stepped forward several paces, kneeling on one knee before their young master’s horse hooves. Only the guard leader didn’t leave Shaoshang’s side, kneeling beside her instead.

Ling Buyi transferred the right-hand battle axe to his left hand as well, then slowly dismounted, standing a dozen steps from Shaoshang, coldly watching her.

Cheng Shaogong’s head wasn’t dizzy anymore. He swallowed, somewhat envying Wan Qiqi sleeping soundly against the mountain rocks, then with great survival instinct retreated several large steps, yielding the stage to the male and female leads.

Shaoshang was at a loss. She knew the man was very angry but didn’t know how to make him less angry. He currently had military duties—she didn’t know if he’d set aside some important task to come rescue her.

When Ling Buyi had left the capital, she’d promised to “obediently wait for him,” yet…

She steeled her resolve—if he wanted to rebuke her, she’d let him scold her. If he still wasn’t satisfied, hitting her a few times was acceptable too.

“…Come here.” Ling Buyi said.

Shaoshang stared at him blankly.

Ling Buyi raised his right hand as if dyed in blood and beckoned to her.

Shaoshang suddenly felt her heart full of grievance. Her skirt and robe fluttering like flying, she threw herself into his broad embrace.

Ling Buyi’s left hand holding the double axes hung at his side. His right hand stroked the girl’s hair and nape, sighing: “Good that you’re all right.”