Chapter 54: The Princess’s Escape

“Silence.”

Yuange whispered swiftly into Shen Zhaoqing’s ear, the usual playfulness absent from her voice. Clutching Shen Zhaoqing, her form became a blur of red and black, like the wind itself, as she shot towards the grand tent’s exit!

“Stop her!”

Icy malice surged in Gu Chang’an’s beautiful eyes. With a sharp cry, her Frostbright Sword, which had been knocked aside, arced impossibly through the air, circling back to strike at Yuange’s heart.

Before the blade even arrived, its chilling sword energy had already frozen every table and chair within the tent solid.

With a ferocious roar, Tuoba Yanxue’s saber also descended.

There was no flashy sword light, only the purest, most direct cleave. As the saber swung, the very air seemed to split, carrying a terrifying, battle-hardened aura that sealed all of Yuange’s escape routes.

The combined assault of two Void Refinement realm powerhouses was enough to make any cultivator of the same rank perish on the spot.

However, Yuange’s objective had never been to fight.

Facing this certain death, a mad curve instead appeared on her lips.

“Open!”

The pupil of her left eye instantly transformed into a dazzling golden vertical slit.

An invisible beam of light precisely struck the empty space between Tuoba Yanxue and Gu Chang’an.

“Golden Crow’s Burning Heaven Eye: Void-Shattering Light!”

Boom!

With a muffled thud, that section of space seemed to be forcibly torn and twisted by an unseen power. Gu Chang’an’s sword energy and Tuoba Yanxue’s saber aura were both deflected by this distortion, violently colliding with each other.

A terrifying energy shockwave erupted from the point of impact.

Seizing the chaos of the explosion, Yuange, still cradling Shen Zhaoqing, didn’t hesitate for a moment. Like an arrow shot from a bowstring, she plunged into the swirling snowstorm outside the tent!

“Pursue!”

Gu Chang’an and Tuoba Yanxue burst out from the shattered encampment. Their faces were grim as they watched the figure rapidly vanishing into the darkness.

The piercing wail of alarm horns echoed throughout the entire Frost Iron Defense Line.

Countless torches ignited, and the roars of soldiers and the shouts of generals instantly set the silent, snowy night ablaze.

Meanwhile, the instigator of all this, along with a bewildered Shen Zhaoqing, was frantically fleeing through the snow.

“I say… Princess, what kind of play are you putting on now?” Shen Zhaoqing, tucked under Yuange’s arm and having swallowed a mouth full of snow, spoke with a mumble. “Attacking the camp in the middle of the night? Do you know how grave this offense is?! Tomorrow, on the wanted posters of Yan State and the Great Yan Dynasty, my face will probably be bigger than yours!”

Yuange paid no mind to her complaints.

Her state was one of unprecedented focus, her movement art pushed to its extreme. She weaved through the dense forest, leaving only afterimages in her wake.

Behind them, Gu Chang’an’s icy sword intent clung to them like a parasitic bone, relentlessly tracking their every move. The distance between them was slowly closing.

“If you don’t put me down, I’m going to scream for help!” Shen Zhaoqing made one last struggle.

Yuange’s footsteps abruptly halted. She released Shen Zhaoqing from under her arm, but her hand remained clamped tightly around the other woman’s wrist.

Huddled behind a colossal fir tree, both women gasped for breath.

Just as Shen Zhaoqing was about to unleash another torrent of complaints, she met Yuange’s startlingly bright eyes.

Those amber-gold pupils, usually filled with cunning and mischief, now held something Shen Zhaoqing had never seen before—urgency, desperation, and a hint of… vulnerability and reliance that Yuange herself might not have even noticed.

She leaned in close to Shen Zhaoqing’s ear, her warm breath mingling with the cold of the wind and snow, seeping into her.

“Trust me this once,” her voice was soft, with a barely perceptible tremor, “Only by finding it before he does…”

“Can we survive.”

*We*?

Shen Zhaoqing was stunned.

This was the first time she had ever heard the word “we” from the mouth of this crazy princess, who usually treated her as mere prey.

Before she could react, Yuange had already pulled her along, rushing once more into the deeper darkness.

Ahead lay the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Mountain, a legendary place where demonic beasts ran rampant and death was certain. Its dark, jagged silhouette, outlined against the snowstorm, resembled an ancient beast poised to devour its prey.

Behind them was Gu Chang’an’s ever-nearing, overwhelming sword intent, and the fury of the entire human military camp.

Dragged along by Yuange, Shen Zhaoqing stumbled through the snow, her mind a chaotic mess.

****

Above the ruins of the main military tent, the wind and snow howled, a mournful lament.

The torn fabric of the tent flapped violently in the gale, like banners for wandering souls. Shattered tables and chairs mixed with ice-bound tea sets, creating a scene of utter devastation.

At the center of this chaos stood two figures, their auras colder than the northern winds and snow.

Gu Chang’an, clad in a green robe, fluttered in the wind and snow. In her hand, she tightly gripped the Frostbright Sword, now returned to her palm, its blade radiating a chilling cold that froze the falling snowflakes mid-air.

Her perpetually icy face was now etched with a murderous aura capable of cracking metal and stone. In her star-like eyes, sword intent had almost materialized, prickling the skin of anyone who dared to look.

“She went towards the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Mountain.” Gu Chang’an’s voice was devoid of inflection, yet each word seemed to be squeezed out through clenched teeth. “I will bring her back.”

Before her words fully faded, she was about to ascend with her sword.

“Halt!”

A deep shout, imbued with unquestionable authority.

Tuoba Yanxue, holding her Azure Fang saber, stepped forward, blocking Gu Chang’an’s path. The faint saber scar at the corner of her eye appeared particularly menacing in the torchlight. The undefeated general of Yan State’s face was now darker than the bottom of a pot.

The main military tent had been destroyed, and “important supplies” had been snatched right under the commander’s nose. If word of this got out, Tuoba Yanxue and the entire Frost Iron Legion’s reputation would be fit only to be used as doormats for the Demon Race.

“Immortal Gu, I respect you as a master of the Qingyun Sect, but this is the Frost Iron Defense Line, not your immortal sect’s back mountain!” Tuoba Yanxue’s voice was as hard as iron. “You know better than I what kind of place the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Mountain is. Demonic energy soars to the heavens, the terrain is complex, and ancient remnant species that even the Myriad Demon Kingdom cannot command reside there. If you rush in alone, are you trying to cause more trouble for my army?”

Gu Chang’an didn’t even bother to lift her eyelids, simply uttering two cold words: “Move aside.”

“Impossible.” Tuoba Yanxue stood her ground, her phoenix eyes filled with a soldier’s unique stubbornness and iron will. “Shen Zhaoqing… she is now under my Northern Army’s jurisdiction. Her safety is the responsibility of my Frost Iron Legion. If you wish to save her, you must follow my command!”

“Your command?” Gu Chang’an finally raised her eyes to look at her, her gaze like that directed at an overconfident, stubborn rock. “By the time you assemble your army, that demoness will have already led Zhaoqing deep into the territory. Can your soldiers keep up with my sword?”

These words left no room for courtesy, almost igniting Tuoba Yanxue’s fury on the spot.

But she forcefully suppressed it.

Because Gu Chang’an was speaking the truth. In terms of individual pursuit capabilities, even her most elite scouts couldn’t hold a candle to the Qingyun Sect’s chief sword immortal.

Tuoba Yanxue took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She stared at Gu Chang’an, enunciating each word: “I don’t care how fast your sword is. All I know is that the outer three hundred *li* of the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Mountain are covered by my army’s array formations. The stronger your spiritual power, the greater the suppression you will experience. As a royal, that demoness princess undoubtedly possesses secret arts to circumvent some of this suppression. If you pursue her alone, and are surrounded by the demonic army, you will be committing suicide!”

She paused, her tone taking on an undeniable commanding edge: “You will act as bait. Pursue them. I will immediately gather the Azure Wolf Iron Cavalry, three hundred elites, both men and mounts clad in dark armor, and bring three Spirit-Shattering Crossbows to encircle them from the eastern valley.”

“You only need to delay them, to force them into my pre-set encirclement before they enter the inner mountain. At that time, with ten thousand arrows firing, no matter what kind of princess she is, she will be left behind for this general!”

These words were clear, decisive, and fully displayed the demeanor of a renowned general.

However, Gu Chang’an merely scoffed after hearing them.

“An encirclement? General Tuoba, you seem to have misunderstood something.”

She lifted her head, her clear, cold eyes meeting Tuoba Yanxue’s for the first time. The possessiveness and obsession within them almost overflowed.

“What I want is not to kill that little sparrow.”

“What I want is for my junior sister to return, completely unharmed.”