Chapter 38

Everyone present, except for those who had been prepared in advance, was thrown into panic.

The young Emperor’s face turned pale. He was shocked. “Imperial Uncle… he has rebelled?”

The sound of fighting grew louder and closer. Bu Nian acted without delay and gave a direct order to Bai Shu and the others. “There is a Buddha cave in the back mountain. Take His Majesty there at once and keep him safe.” He turned to Lian Ai. After a brief pause, he added, “You go too.”

Lian Ai nodded and reached behind him to unfasten the crossbow, gripping it tightly in his hands.

He was not as fearless as Bu Nian thought. He felt fear. He was anxious. He was worried. But he also knew that there were things he had to do, things he could not run from. He had to face them directly.

Bai Shu picked up the young Emperor, and the group began making their way toward the back mountain. The old abbot, who had been deaf and sluggish moments ago, suddenly became clear-eyed and sharp. He and the other senior monks refused to leave. They insisted on staying inside the Hall of the Great Hero, vowing to remain with the Buddha no matter what happened.

“If it is a blessing, it will come. If it is a disaster, there is no hiding from it. I will leave everything to the Buddha. Amitabha…” He sat down and began to meditate.

Bu Nian saw he could not persuade him and gave up trying. He ordered the hall doors to be shut, sealing the monks inside.

Then he drew the long sword from his waist. He had no intention of waiting for death. With a push of his toes, he launched himself toward the sounds of battle. His figure soared across rooftops like a hawk taking flight.

Zuo Lingxue’s twin blades tore through the battlefield with unstoppable force. Ordinary soldiers stood no chance against her.

When it came to single combat, martial world fighters were terrifyingly skilled. One person taking on ten was nothing. Even taking on a hundred was not impossible.

The fighters from the martial world who had pledged allegiance to Gan Yan were all dressed in matching black. Their strikes were ruthless. They killed without blinking.
Helian Qiufeng moved among them, though his attacks lacked aggression. His gaze kept scanning the area, as if he were waiting for something.

Suddenly, a tall figure dropped from the rooftop. Bu Nian, dressed in dark court robes, landed with a chilling presence and swept his eyes across the battlefield. Using his inner force, he projected his voice clearly into the ears of everyone present.

“Those who attack the temple today will be punished for treason. Lay down your weapons and kneel to admit your crimes. If you do, I will let the past go. If you resist, you will be punished without mercy.”

At that moment, Helian Qiufeng pulled a red cloth strip from his robe and tied it to his left arm. He shouted, “The Helian family surrenders! The Helian family pledges loyalty to General Bu!”

The scene erupted. His declaration sent shockwaves through the ranks and shook the morale of the entire field. What followed was even more unexpected. After Helian Qiufeng made his announcement, a group of others around him pulled out red bands of their own and tied them to their arms.

“The Yan family pledges loyalty to General Bu!”

“The Li family pledges loyalty to General Bu!”

“The Wang family…”

Zuo Lingxue stood with twin blades in hand, her face filled with a mix of fury and disbelief. Her eyes locked onto Helian Qiufeng.

The shock hit her so hard that even her usual cold and untouchable composure shattered. The number one beauty in the land now wore a face twisted with rage.

“Helian Qiufeng, you actually betrayed the Zuo family. How could you face my father?”

Helian Qiufeng looked indifferent, completely unmoved. “What a joke. The Helian family was never your family’s subordinate. How is that betrayal?”

He had always looked honest and mild, but now there was mockery in his smile and a cold glint in his eyes. It was as if he had become a completely different person.

Zuo Lingxue was so furious she let out a laugh. “Fine. Fine. Fine. So the Zuo family was just blind to trust someone like you!”

Helian Qiufeng had secretly turned many martial clans to his side in advance, persuading them to abandon Gan Yan and pledge loyalty to Bu Nian. At such a critical moment in battle, he openly defected with his men, delivering a heavy blow to Gan Yan’s momentum. It also stripped Zuo Lingxue of nearly half her fighting force. How could she not be enraged?

She raised her twin blades and leapt into the air, slashing straight at Helian Qiufeng. She would not rest until she tore him apart.

Helian Qiufeng was nowhere near her level. He raised his sword and barely blocked the first strike. The impact knocked him back several steps. When he tried to block the second, he was already struggling to hold his ground. At that moment, Bu Nian flashed between them, lifting his sword to intercept Zuo Lingxue’s attack.

Their weapons clashed in a cross-shaped lock. Both held firm against each other’s force. Their eyes met, and Bu Nian said in a low voice, “Today, it’s time for the two of us to settle things.”

Zuo Lingxue’s strength was no match for his. Her strike failed to break through. She shifted her weight and pulled back using her qinggong, stopping a few paces away to steady herself.

She gave her blade a sharp flick, then casually shifted back into stance. Her entire presence radiated killing intent. “I was thinking the same thing.”

The moment she said the word “thinking,” strength surged through her legs. By the time she finished the last word, she was already in front of Bu Nian. Her twin blades cut in two arcs, one high, one low, sweeping with her flaring sleeves. She moved like a butterfly spinning through the air, elegant to the eye. But the instant an enemy relaxed their guard, they would be dragged into that deadly dance and torn to pieces.

Lian Ai fired his suspended crossbow. A black-clad man charging at them with a long blade dropped instantly, an arrow buried deep in his chest. Only one bolt remained in the holder. He bit down on his lip, pulled ten fresh bolts from the quiver, and began reloading. His focus narrowed to his hands. In that moment of distraction, he didn’t see the enemy coming in from the side. A blade slashed toward him, aiming to split his side open, but before it landed, Bai Shu struck first. His whip cracked through the air and sent the attacker flying.

“Stay close. Don’t fall behind!” The enemies kept coming in waves. Some of them were skilled, and Bai Shu was starting to struggle.

“You don’t need to worry about me. Just do what the General told you to do.” Lian Ai reloaded at top speed, not even raising his head. “If I die, I die. It won’t be your fault.”

Bai Shu could hardly recognize him as the same person who, a year ago, had collapsed pitifully into Bu Nian’s arms. But he was right. Right now, nothing mattered more than carrying out the General’s orders.

Their guards were cut down by the flood of enemies that kept pouring in. The ground was piled with corpses as far as the eye could see. Blood splashed across their faces, and no one could tell whether it came from their own men or from the enemy.

The young Emperor buried his head in Bai Shu’s chest. His whole body was shaking. He didn’t dare look up. He had loved hearing eunuchs tell stories about the battlefield and had even imagined leading the army himself. But now that he was seeing the real thing, a hellish scene of death and blood, all his past fantasies were instantly crushed.

They turned a corner. Bai Shu suddenly stopped.

He slowly lowered the young Emperor to the ground, his face tense and filled with caution.

Lian Ai felt a sense of dread rise in his chest. Bai Shu must have sensed a powerful enemy ahead. That was the only reason he would stop and take a more agile stance to prepare for combat.

“Master Helian, take His Majesty and go. I’ll meet you later at the Buddha cave.” Bai Shu didn’t even look back. The whip in his hand traced the ground lightly, like a living snake.

Lian Ai picked up the still-stunned young Emperor. As he turned, his line of sight shifted, and he finally saw the figure Bai Shu had been wary of. It was Zuo Luan, the father of Zuo Lingyu and Zuo Lingxue.

Zuo Luan was a seasoned martial master with a long-standing reputation in the jianghu. His inner strength and combat awareness were leagues beyond that of any rising talent. Bai Shu knew that if he had to fight Zuo Luan, the odds were four to six at best. He had a slight edge, but the outcome was far from certain.

Lian Ai held the Emperor tightly and dashed past them, but Zuo Luan had no intention of letting them escape so easily. He channeled inner force into his blade and flung it like a throwing weapon, sending the curved blade hurtling toward them with terrifying speed.

“You’re not getting away!”

Seeing the weapon closing in fast, Lian Ai had just enough time to twist his body and shield the young Emperor. A tearing sound followed. His arm was sliced open, and blood instantly soaked through his sleeve.

Gritting his teeth, he turned to check on the Emperor. “Your Majesty, are you hurt?” The young Emperor’s voice caught in his throat from fear, but he still forced himself to sound composed. “We… we are fine.”

Zuo Luan’s intent was clear. He meant to kill the Emperor today. Just as he was about to leap forward to finish them off, Bai Shu’s whip lashed around the hand that still held his second blade.

He shouted to Lian Ai fiercely, “Go!”

The two men clashed. Lian Ai didn’t waste the chance. He carried the young Emperor and rushed toward the back mountain.

There was only one path through the back mountain. Under constant ambush, the group finally reached the legendary Buddha cave. Lian Ai brought the young Emperor inside to take shelter while the others stood guard at the entrance. By now, almost all the guards who had been shielding them had fallen.

“Am I… am I going to die?” The young Emperor was terrified. In this life-or-death moment, he no longer cared about using formal speech.

Lian Ai kept his eyes on the cave entrance while speaking gently to calm him. “It won’t happen. The General will kill every last one of those traitors. Your Majesty must believe in him.”

At the mention of Bu Nian’s name, something changed in the young Emperor’s defeated expression. “Yes, yes, that’s right. General Bu is the god of war. He will defeat Imperial Uncle for sure!”

Song Qiao looked down at the flood of martial fighters coming up the mountain. He raised a hand over his head. Then his fingers curled in, as if crushing something in his palm.

“Fire!” he shouted.

On both sides of the slope, soldiers positioned like wings raised their crossbows in unison. In the next instant, arrows rained down from above, cutting down the martial fighters charging up the mountain.

Those further behind saw what was happening and scrambled for cover behind large trees.

Song Qiao let out a cold laugh. “A mob like this thinks they can defy fate? Men, show them what the Bu family’s army is capable of!”

As soon as his voice fell, a thunderous roar rose from the hillside.

“Yes!”

The sound echoed across the mountain, shaking the air. Just hearing it was enough to stir the heart.

“What’s going on? Why are they this strong?” Panic spread among the attackers. “This isn’t what we were told. Weren’t there only seventy or eighty imperial guards?”

“These aren’t imperial guards at all. This is Bu Nian… this is the Bu family’s army!”

“We’ve been tricked!”

While the enemy fell into chaos, several figures from the Bu family’s army leapt forward. They moved swiftly, with clean, decisive strikes. One by one, they dragged the surviving martial fighters from behind their cover and cut them down without mercy.

“You… who the hell are you?” One man coughed blood from his mouth. On the verge of death, he still couldn’t accept it. He wanted to know who had killed him.

The man standing above him wore a cold expression. He pulled the sword from the dying man’s chest and said flatly, “Deathsworn.”

Inside the Buddha cave, oil lamps flickered. The stone walls were carved with rows of Buddha statues and scriptures. All was still. No sound of birds or beasts. Everyone held their breath, ready for what might come.

Facing the countless carved Buddhas, Lian Ai clutched the crossbow to his chest. In silence, he prayed. He hoped the General would win this battle, and come out of it without a single wound.

The young Emperor couldn’t sit still. He kept glancing toward the cave entrance. And as if answering his anxiety, the sound of fighting suddenly erupted outside.

“Ah! They… they’re coming!” The young Emperor’s face turned pale. He spun around and hid behind Lian Ai, revealing only the top of his head while clutching tightly at Lian Ai’s robe.

Lian Ai had no time to think about rank or status. He placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder and gave it a light pat, his eyes never leaving the cave entrance. “Don’t be afraid. I’m still here.”

He said it aloud, but even he didn’t have much confidence in those words.

The Yuanmo crossbow had already been reloaded, but there were only ten bolts left. Once those ten were gone, he would have no choice but to fight with his bare hands.

At the height of this tense silence, the sound of fighting outside suddenly stopped. And when the killing stops like that, it usually means someone has won.

Lian Ai didn’t even dare to blink. His fingers trembled slightly as they gripped the trigger. Then, he heard a voice from outside the cave.

“Your Majesty, come out. Don’t make me send someone in to drag you out.”

It was Gan Yan.

Lian Ai and the young Emperor both went pale in an instant.