"Zhao Qianyi is here."

"Quick, chase her, she’s injured."

"The King wants her alive, don’t shoot arrows."

"She’s here, she’s running up the mountain, surround her quickly."

"Ahead is a cliff, she has no way to escape, the King has said, capture Zhao Qianyi alive, reward of one hundred thousand, promotion by three levels. Brothers, attack!"

...

This was the scene flashing through Zhao Qianyi’s mind before she exhausted her True Qi and fell off the cliff.

After a night of rushing, she climbed a mountain, only to find it was a dead end. With pursuers behind, she had no choice but to slay the Desolate Kingdom soldiers chasing her, but she was already in a depleted state, with less than a tenth of her True Qi remaining, and finally, due to exhaustion, she accidentally fell off the cliff.

As the night passed, the wind and snow gradually stopped, the east was turning white, and the morning light shone on the small mountain village deep in the valley, the world was a pure white.

Outside, soldiers were like tidal waves, fighting continuously, with unending chaos.

But the valley hidden deep in the mountains seemed isolated from the world, calm and without a hint of disturbance.

On a brick bed where the stove fire had gone out, Zhao Qianyi was drenched in cold sweat, her beautiful willow-leaf eyebrows tightly furrowed, with pain etched between them. She was having a nightmare, mumbling in her sleep.

"No..." Zhao Qianyi recalled being forced to leave the Capital, suddenly waking up, and at the same time, heard the soft creak of the door opening, and light footsteps coming from outside.

It was an elderly woman with a face full of yellow spots, wearing a patched cotton jacket, her head wrapped in a white towel, holding a bowl of hot herbal medicine just brewed.

The old woman’s face was full of simplicity and kindness. Seeing Zhao Qianyi awake, she quickened her pace, placed the medicine bowl beside her, helped Zhao Qianyi to sit halfway up, and propped a quilt behind her.

Zhao Qianyi was initially wary, but seeing the old woman’s actions, her vigilance dropped quite a bit. She looked around and sensed something was off about her body, looking down to find herself wearing a coarse cloth garment, with several patches on it.

This made her frown, just about to speak.

The old woman smiled and said, "This is Taohua Village, my husband found you by the river and brought you back. My husband is a doctor, but young lady, you sustained internal injuries, my husband couldn’t do much, so I can only brew some herbal medicine for you."

"The clothes you’re wearing were changed by me." the old woman said.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Qianyi let out a sigh of relief and immediately clasped her hands towards the woman, "Thank you for your great kindness, I will repay it richly if given the chance. May I know your honored surname?"

The old woman waved her hand, smiled, shook her head, as if saying the rescue wasn’t for a reward, and then said, "My husband..."

"Old lady, is she awake?" Before the old woman could finish, an elderly man, dressed in military attire with a sallow complexion, walked in.

The old woman nodded and smiled, "Young lady, this is my husband; it was he who saved you by the river."

Hearing this, Zhao Qianyi hurried to get up to thank him, but the injuries within her made her sit back down in pain as she was rising, saying respectfully, "Benefactor."

Then she asked, "May I know your honorable name, benefactor?"

Seeing Zhao Qianyi’s speech and manner, the old man immediately realized that she was no ordinary person. However, as an ordinary man himself, it was his first time encountering such a situation, making him somewhat reserved, he said, "I am the head of Taohua Village, the villagers call me Village Chief, my name is not pleasant, you can just call me Old Man Cai."

"..."

"Old Man Cai." Zhao Qianyi clasped her hands.

"Young lady, who are you? How did you get such serious internal injuries?" Old Man Cai asked.

"I..." Zhao Qianyi hesitated.

...

Meanwhile.

At the top of the cliff, Yue Yuxi looked at the white mist below, unable to see the bottom, her brows furrowed, "Tuoba Han, did you see her fall off the cliff with your own eyes?"

Tuoba Han nodded, pulled over a general, and said, "It was he who led the chase against Zhao Qianyi, seeing her fall off the cliff with his own eyes."

The general nodded hastily, not daring to look up at Yue Yuxi, trembling as he said, "Under... under the King’s orders, to capture Zhao Qianyi alive..." The general quickly explained that he had no intention of putting Zhao Qianyi to death, and then said:

"However, she was determined to resist, preferring to exhaust herself and fall off the cliff rather than be caught alive by us."

The general knew how much the King valued Zhao Qianyi, and now with her life and death unknown, he feared the King would blame him.

"Useless." The cold words came out of Yue Yuxi’s mouth, everyone around immediately kneeled, Tuoba Han wiping cold sweat.

"I went to great lengths to lure her out with Wei Ying. And you let her escape." Yue Yuxi’s cold eyes swept towards Tuoba Han.

"Gulp..." Tuoba Han seemed to feel it, frightened, he swallowed hard. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Just as he was about to explain something.

"Report——Report——"

Urgent shouts came from not far away.

The kneeling generals heard the anxious sounds, and their faces changed, while Yue Yuxi raised an eyebrow, assuming it was good news from Ling Zhi, the coldness on her face lessened slightly.

But soon, her eyelid twitched fiercely, her face full of frost.

The messenger soldier dismounted and nearly tumbled in front of Yue Yuxi, urgently saying, "Report——, Your Highness, the day before yesterday, the Song Army severely defeated our Dragon Oath Guard on Anchang Plain, resulting in nearly ten thousand guards either dead or captured.

Yesterday at the hour of Si, the Song Army attacked Anchang City, breaking through the city gates in less than an hour, our casualties were heavy, General Ling was seriously injured. Now Anchang City has been occupied by the Song Army, requesting reinforcements from Your Highness..."

The soldier presented the battle report.

"What?"

"Nearly ten thousand Dragon Oath Guards annihilated?"

"General Ling seriously injured, Anchang City occupied by the Song Army?"

"Including the Dragon Oath Guard, Anchang City had nearly one hundred thousand defending troops, how could it have been breached in less than an hour?"

The soldier’s words left shock on the faces of the generals, it was unbelievable.

The coldness on Yue Yuxi’s face was about to turn into solid ice, she never expected that the first battle against the northwards Song Army would end in such a defeat.

Tuoba Han’s body was trembling, fearing Yue Yuxi would, in a fit of anger, have him executed.

The nearby Moon Slave took the battle report, not even daring to pass it up.

"Barbaro."

"At your command."

"Wulin Wood."

"At your command."

"I order you to lead your troops to support Ling Zhi, if pursued by the Song Army, engage them immediately in a counterattack, additionally..." Yue Yuxi, though furious, remained clear-headed, issuing orders to the two.

The two men, with their subordinate troops, left the place.

Yue Yuxi looked again at the kneeling Tuoba Han, turned around, and said as she headed down the mountain, "Find Zhao Qianyi alive or dead. If you can’t find her, don’t bother coming back to see me."

"... Understood..."