There was no choice but to fight desperately.
Si Lan leaped onto Lie Yunhua’s back and looked down at Lu Qianqiao. He was still sleeping, completely unconscious, looking so peaceful. But perhaps this was for the best—this way he wouldn’t know that his family had abandoned his life in pursuit of honor.
Si Lan’s eyes burned with heat: “General! I won’t let you die!”
Lie Yunhua neighed loudly and was the first to charge out through the opened pass gate, like a red meteor. The two thousand men followed behind hesitantly and slowly, but the battlefield of life and death allowed no moment’s delay. They were almost immediately pierced through their formation by the peasant soldiers with overwhelming force—Wu Shuang’s target was the still-open pass gate!
Bai Zongying had somehow gotten up onto the platform and shouted loudly: “Close the gate quickly!”
The stone gate made harsh creaking sounds, ignoring the cries of the two thousand remnant troops in the distance, and slowly closed. This struck morale to its lowest point. Most had no heart to continue fighting—those who could flee fled, those who could hide hid. Only Si Lan persisted in charging at the front.
The words “fighting alone” were something he and the General had never experienced in their five years of battlefield career together. Who would have thought they would experience such tragedy today?
Before and behind were nothing but flashing blades and battle cries. Cut down one, and ten more rushed forward.
How he wanted to let Lie Yunhua carry the General away from this hellish battlefield without regard for anything!
But he couldn’t! Li Yan stood on the platform with his longbow drawn to full capacity. He knew that the moment they showed the slightest cowardice, the War Ghost’s arrow would pierce Lu Qianqiao’s heart.
The honor of the War Ghost clan, the spirit that could not be defeated or retreat, was stricter than iron law.
Every War Ghost awakened this way—in the sounds of slaughter, in the blood constantly splashing on their bodies—awakening the ancient bloodthirsty nature deep within them, growing into powerful, invincible, true War Ghosts.
A sharp pain shot through his shoulder. Si Lan could no longer hold on and dropped to one knee, barely using his long blade to block the fierce attacks from above. Even though he was a demon with a robust constitution, he couldn’t resist five thousand troops with the strength of one person. He didn’t even know how much blood he had lost, or whether he would survive this time.
Lie Yunhua suddenly let out a mournful neigh—it had been lassoed around the neck by a group of peasant soldiers who were pulling it down hard. Capture the leader first—everyone understood this principle. What could make them happier than an unconscious general hanging on a horse?
Si Lan used his last strength to rush forward, trying to protect Lu Qianqiao beneath him, but the next moment he was grabbed by a great force from behind and lifted into the air.
Exhausted and bewildered, he raised his head. The sunlight was so blinding he could barely make out that he was being carried by a giant bird, whose other claw held Lie Yunhua. Lu Qianqiao was securely strapped to the horse’s back, showing no wounds.
“What kind of dangerous operation are you conducting?”
A soft, sweet female voice from the bird’s back asked in amazement.
Such a familiar voice, so headache-inducing, a voice that made one want to cough up blood just hearing it. But Si Lan suddenly felt that her voice sounding at such a moment was more beautiful than celestial music.
A hand grabbed his back, easily pulling him up, and he landed on the broad bird’s back, gasping heavily, too exhausted to move. The next moment, the unconscious Lu Qianqiao was dropped beside him, his black hair softly covering his face, looking quite disheveled.
Si Lan struggled to lean over, checking him from head to toe, and only truly relaxed after confirming the General was uninjured.
“Are you still alive?” A hand poked at him as Xin Mei crouched opposite, staring at him with wide eyes.
Si Lan took quite a while to recover before speaking: “You… how did you come to be here…”
Xin Mei looked down at the peasant soldiers below who were shouting chaotically and continuously shooting arrows, then shook her head: “Let’s leave first. We’ll talk later.”
Si Lan was immediately alarmed: “No! We can’t leave!”
Before he finished speaking, an extremely sharp, piercing sound came thundering from the distance like lightning. Xin Mei spun around suddenly to see a War Ghost standing on a distant platform, longbow in hand, aimed at them, having shot the first arrow.