A commotion erupted beneath the city walls, while the distant sound of approaching hoofbeats drew ever closer. The northern wind howled through the battlefield, whipping the tattered banners still hanging atop the walls.

The embrace was brief.

It was almost as if Xie Zheng had only pulled Fan Changyu into his arms to use the motion to offset the force of hauling her back up.

Before she could fully process what had happened, he had already released her.

In an icy voice, he left only one instruction:

“Stay on the wall. Don’t come down.”

Having said that, he himself gripped his long saber, seized a rope attached to a grappling hook, and slid down the city wall like an eagle swooping low across the ground.

Fan Changyu scrambled to her feet and leaned over the battlements.

All she saw was Xie Zheng charging straight after Sui Yuanqing with his saber in hand.

Many of the “rebellious farmers” below were actually agents planted by Sui Yuanqing.

Dressed exactly like ordinary peasants, they darted through the crowd sowing confusion.

With thousands of people packed together, the constant movement of these agitators turned the area into a chaotic mess.

Xie Zheng’s pursuit was hindered at every step.

From her position atop the wall, Fan Changyu had a clear view of Sui Yuanqing’s movements.

Pointing in a direction, she shouted,

“That bastard’s heading southwest!”

Hearing her warning, Xie Zheng immediately sprang upward, using the shoulders of the tightly packed farmers as stepping stones and racing southwest in pursuit.

The assassins hidden among the crowd instantly swarmed forward to intercept him.

Xie Zheng forced several of them back with a single slash.

Some of the assassins, relying on their patched peasant clothing to blend in, pretended to be innocent civilians and shouted,

“The man in the green ghost mask is killing people!”

“I wasn’t one of the men who climbed the city wall!”

“Why is he swinging a blade at me?”

Some of the uninformed farmers saw Xie Zheng attacking men dressed like peasants and mistakenly believed he was slaughtering ordinary people.

Outraged, they grabbed their tools and rushed forward to stop him.

Against assassins, Xie Zheng could strike mercilessly.

Against innocent farmers being manipulated into the fight, he had to hold back.

For a time, he was completely tied down.

That delay allowed Sui Yuanqing and his attendants to reach the edge of the crowd.

The two men locked eyes across a sea of people.

Sui Yuanqing flashed a provocative smile.

Beneath the green ghost mask, Xie Zheng’s gaze was colder than ice.

Watching from above, Fan Changyu was furious to see Sui Yuanqing escape through such shameless tactics.

She punched the battlement in frustration.

The already damaged wall crumbled further under the blow.

Fan Changyu froze.

She looked at the chunks of earth still falling from the wall, then at her own fist.

Noticing Constable Wang and the magistrate staring at her in shock, she immediately backed away several steps and put as much distance as possible between herself and the damaged wall.

There was absolutely no way she was paying for repairs.

—

By now, He Jingyuan had already led his army to block the only official road outside Qingping County.

Seeing the county residents gathered outside the city descend into complete chaos, he couldn’t immediately understand what was happening.

Then he noticed soldiers wearing Jizhou uniforms mixed among the crowd.

His aged eyelids lowered slightly.

“Why are soldiers from Jizhou here?”

He turned to a personal guard.

“Signal them. Have the Jizhou soldiers hidden among the crowd come here.”

On a battlefield, voices were useless.

Commands were conveyed through flag signals.

The guard immediately took two signal flags and began transmitting orders toward the soldiers already near the edge of the crowd.

The soldiers clearly saw the signals.

Yet instead of approaching, they immediately fled in the opposite direction.

The guard looked toward He Jingyuan.

“General, this…”

He Jingyuan’s voice turned cold.

“They are not soldiers of Jizhou. Most likely they belong to the same unidentified force Wenchang is pursuing.”

“Capture them.”

A young officer immediately led dozens of cavalrymen after the fleeing Sui Yuanqing and his men.

Meanwhile, the hidden assassins continued forcing farmers into the path of the pursuing troops while shouting,

“The army is killing people!”

“The government never cared about common folk!”

“This corrupt dynasty deserves to fall!”

Several assassins secretly stabbed pursuing soldiers amid the chaos.

The remaining soldiers assumed their comrades had been killed by the rebels.

Enraged, they immediately began striking at any civilians blocking their path.

The farmers saw soldiers suddenly attacking indiscriminately.

Some shrank back in fear.

Others, overcome with rage, raised hoes and pitchforks and fought back desperately.

Watching the two groups descend into violence, He Jingyuan frowned deeply.

One of his generals stepped forward through gritted teeth.

“My lord, allow me to lead a thousand men to suppress the rebels and reinforce Commander Hu!”

As He Jingyuan considered the proposal, a black-clad figure suddenly burst through the crowd.

The man wielded a guandao.

Tall and imposing, with a green ghost mask covering his face.

Using a roughened voice, he said,

“The men fleeing in Jizhou uniforms are led by Sui Yuanqing, second son of Prince Changxin. His agents are disguised among the rebels, deliberately stirring conflict.”

Realization dawned on He Jingyuan.

No wonder.

Studying the young man before him, he couldn’t help asking,

“May I know who this hero is?”

Xie Zheng replied coldly,

“Just a wandering commoner. Not worthy of speaking my name before Your Excellency.”

Even as he spoke, his gaze shifted toward the young officer who had volunteered earlier.

“Lend me your horse and bow.”

The officer suddenly felt his collar tighten.

Before he could react, he was yanked from the saddle.

After stumbling several steps and finally regaining his balance, he looked up to see the masked man already riding away.

Embarrassed and angry, he shouted,

“What audacity—”

His voice died when he met He Jingyuan’s gaze.

Ashamed, he lowered his head.

The masked man had taken his horse from five paces away.

He hadn’t even been able to resist.

The difference in skill was obvious.

He Jingyuan said nothing.

He merely watched Xie Zheng ride away for a long moment before ordering,

“Sound the horns. Form ranks.”

The rebels were in complete disorder.

Only by stabilizing the situation first could casualties be minimized.

The mournful sound of ox-horn trumpets echoed across the battlefield.

Shield-bearing soldiers formed the front ranks.

They struck their sabers against their shields in unison.

At the same time, thousands of soldiers roared together.

The thunderous cry seemed capable of shaking the clouds themselves.

The display successfully intimidated everyone present.

The farmers pointed their tools toward the soldiers, but fear was evident in their eyes.

Many unconsciously stepped backward.

He Jingyuan spoke in a powerful voice.

“I am He Jingyuan, Governor of Jizhou. You are all people under my jurisdiction. Why have you rebelled?”

Upon hearing his name, the farmers immediately reacted.

Though they still clutched their tools, quiet murmurs spread through the crowd.

The hostility on their faces softened.

Some even began weeping.

After a moment, one farmer lowered his hoe and knelt.

Tearfully, he cried,

“Lord He, you must seek justice for us!”

Once the first people knelt, more followed.

Then more.

Soon, farmers throughout the crowd were dropping their tools and falling to their knees.

“We had no choice!”

“We were driven to this!”

Even those still unwilling to surrender understood that everything was over.

Farmers who only knew how to swing hoes could never defeat a trained army.

Rebellion was punishable by the extermination of entire clans.

At this point, obedience and repentance offered their only chance at mercy.

Soon the area beneath the city walls echoed with sobbing.

Some cried sincerely.

Others merely pretended, hoping to avoid punishment.

Regardless, the rebellion had been quelled.

The magistrate collapsed onto the wall and gasped for breath.

Remembering how close he had come to dying, the flesh on his face still trembled.

Turning to Constable Wang, he said,

“Constable Wang, you saved my life. I will reward you generously.”

Constable Wang himself was covered in wounds.

Dragging his blood-soaked body across the battlements, he pushed aside the corpse of an assassin and gently wiped blood from the face of a fallen young constable.

His eyes reddened.

With a bitter smile, he said,

“I was only doing my duty.”

“If Your Excellency wishes to reward anyone, give more compensation to the families of these boys.”

Looking at the dead constable, he continued,

“This is Xiao Wu. The youngest constable in the yamen.”

“He was the most filial of them all.”

“He had an eighty-year-old blind grandmother at home.”

“Every month after receiving his pay, he would buy a piece of meat from the butcher and make meat porridge for her.”

He pointed at another corpse.

“That’s Li Da.”

“His wife is pregnant. The baby is due in two months.”

“Now the pillar of that household is gone… I don’t know how the family will survive…”

By the end, his throat felt clogged.

Not another word came out.

He simply covered his eyes with blood-stained hands.

Fan Changyu stared silently at the dead constables.

Her lips pressed tightly together.

She looked down from the city wall.

But neither Xie Zheng nor Sui Yuanqing could be seen anywhere.

—

The moment He Jingyuan’s troops began pursuing them, Sui Yuanqing and his personal guards fled according to their predetermined route.

The assassins remained behind to delay the soldiers.

As he ran beside Sui Yuanqing, Mu Shi fired a signal arrow into the sky.

Yet the thousand soldiers they had hidden on the hillside never came.

Watching more and more pursuers close in while their assassins were slaughtered, Mu Shi prepared to fire a second signal arrow.

Sui Yuanqing stopped him.

“There’s no need.”

A cold smile curved his lips despite the fury in his eyes.

“The commander who came is He Jingyuan, not Wei Xuan.”

“One of the empire’s greatest generals.”

“Most likely he has already discovered our thousand-man ambush.”

Mu Shi’s heart sank.

“Then this subordinate will protect Your Highness with my life and escort you back to Chongzhou.”

Sui Yuanqing merely laughed.

He even slowed his pace.

The pursuing cavalry soon caught up, loosing arrows while urging their horses forward.

Dodging an incoming arrow, Sui Yuanqing casually caught it.

As a cavalryman rode past, he seized the reins and vaulted onto the horse.

The rider was shocked.

He swung his saber backward.

Sui Yuanqing leaned away from the strike and drove the captured arrow directly into the man’s throat.

The cavalryman died instantly.

Sui Yuanqing tossed the corpse aside.

Mu Shi had already stolen another horse and rode up beside him.

With a roguish grin, Sui Yuanqing said,

“If we want to return to Chongzhou, four legs are faster than two.”

Now mounted, they no longer regarded the pursuing soldiers as a threat.

Then—

Whoosh!

A white-feathered arrow tore through the air.

It passed so close to Sui Yuanqing’s ear that he felt the wind from it.

The arrow buried itself deep into the frozen earth several yards ahead.

Its white feathers trembled.

Everyone was stunned.

Had the arrow been aimed directly at him, it would have entered through his back and exited through his chest.

Even Sui Yuanqing’s expression changed.

Turning around, he searched for the archer.

The official road had been churned into mud.

Snow still lingered among the trees on either side.

At the far end of the road stood the man in the green ghost mask.

His guandao rested casually in the ground.

A great bow hung in his hands.

An arrow was already nocked.

Yet he wasn’t even bothering to aim.

Behind the mask, his eyes were indifferent and lazy.

The moment Sui Yuanqing saw him, his face darkened.

“Split up!”

he shouted.

Though his guards didn’t understand why, they immediately scattered.

A cold smile touched Xie Zheng’s lips.

The moment he released the first arrow, a second was already on the string.

His movements were impossibly fast.

Arrows flew like meteors.

Within moments, more than a dozen had been fired.

One after another, Sui Yuanqing’s guards fell from their horses.

Watching them collapse around him, Sui Yuanqing no longer had time to care about the archer.

He pressed himself low against his horse and rode desperately forward.

By the time Xie Zheng emptied his quiver, he had already caught up.

Passing a fallen cavalryman, he casually reached down and snatched another quiver.

Discarding the empty one, he continued the pursuit.

Only Mu Shi remained at Sui Yuanqing’s side now.

Looking back, Mu Shi’s eyes nearly split with rage.

“Your Highness, be careful!”

Sui Yuanqing glanced over his shoulder.

His heart lurched.

The masked man held nearly ten arrows between his fingers.

Spread in a fan shape across the bowstring.

When he released them, they surged forward like a swarm of locusts.

For the first time in his life, Sui Yuanqing felt genuine fear.

He had never witnessed such terrifying archery.

Who exactly was hidden beneath that green ghost mask?

Forced to turn around atop his horse, he desperately deflected the incoming arrows with his sword.

But one arrow struck the horse’s leg.

The animal screamed and collapsed.

Sui Yuanqing was thrown from the saddle.

He rolled across the ground several times before finally stopping.

Hoofbeats drew closer.

Only a few yards separated them.

Yet now the masked man seemed in no hurry.

Instead of charging forward, he gently reined in his horse and approached at a leisurely pace.

Sui Yuanqing’s face turned green.

This method of toying with prey like a cat playing with a mouse…

Wasn’t it exactly what he himself had done to the little maid atop the city wall?

What relationship did that maid have with the masked man?

When he had tried to take her away, hadn’t she called out his name?

Afraid Xie Zheng would harm Sui Yuanqing, Mu Shi charged forward on horseback with his spear.

“Do not harm my general!”

Xie Zheng caught the spear shaft with one hand.

Twisting it sharply, he then jerked upward.

Mu Shi was flung from his horse.

His palms nearly lost a layer of skin from gripping the spear too tightly.

The pain forced him to let go.

Using Mu Shi’s own weapon, Xie Zheng sat calmly atop his horse and leveled the silver spear at Sui Yuanqing’s throat.

There was faint mockery in his voice.

“The heir of Prince Changxin. Sui Yuanqing?”

Sui Yuanqing bit down so hard he tasted blood.

Veins bulged on his forehead.

After suppressing the humiliation, he suddenly burst into laughter.

“That’s right. I am.”

Below the road flowed the raging Nu River.

Even in the depths of winter, the swift current never froze.

Sui Yuanqing glanced at it discreetly.

Then he relaxed completely beneath the spear point.

“And who are you?”

“If you’re going to take my life, surely you’re not afraid to tell me your name?”

Xie Zheng said nothing.

If Sui Yuanqing were captured by the army, they wouldn’t kill him immediately.

Using him as leverage against Prince Changxin would be far more valuable.

Sui Yuanqing was deliberately trying to trick him into revealing information.

Seeing the attempt fail, Sui Yuanqing suddenly grinned.

“The little maid on the city wall… what is she to you?”

“Her skin is wonderfully fair.”

“The taste of kissing her was sweet too.”

The temperature around Xie Zheng dropped instantly.

That moment of distraction was exactly what Sui Yuanqing had been waiting for.

He slapped aside the spear aimed at his throat and dove headfirst toward the river.

Xie Zheng reacted immediately.

His spear swept sideways and struck Sui Yuanqing across the waist.

A muffled groan escaped him.

The next instant, his body vanished into the raging river.

Only a spreading patch of blood remained floating on the surface.