From somewhere in the distance came the fierce, roaring tumult of battle. His heart lurched; he gripped the battlements and looked down —
Chen Baoxiang’s pale celadon-colored outfit was striking even against the darkness of night. One hand raising a great battle standard, the other gripping a long dao, she was in the thick of the fighting, more than thirty zhang beyond the city gate.
“You cannot even defeat me — and you dare demand to see Her Highness?!”
Her voice rang out like thunder, carrying in all four directions.
The overwhelming force of her presence drove the dark tide of enemy soldiers back several more zhang.
Zhang Zhixu stared in disbelief.
The soldiers flanking Chen Baoxiang consisted of the small number of troops the Grand Princess had assigned her, plus some city defense soldiers drawn from who knew where — a scattered assortment that amounted to no more than a thousand men in total.
The black mass of enemies before them should, by all logic, have had the far superior presence.
Yet wherever Chen Baoxiang’s battle standard swept, the soldiers behind her fought as though they had no regard for their own lives — one fell, and another charged forward to take their place. Blades notched, swords snapped in two, and still they drove forward with growing ferocity.
Against all expectation, they had pinned the enemy back and held them there.
The fighting was fierce. Bodies and injured soldiers had already piled up across the field — and yet the battle line had not yet reached the city gate itself.
Which meant that for more than half a shichen, Song Juqing had failed to break through Chen Baoxiang’s defense.
Clearly growing desperate, the enemy began massing for a second assault. Chen Baoxiang’s side, though holding the line in spirit, was sustaining heavy losses in numbers — it seemed as though she intended to fight with her back against the wall to the bitter end.
Fortunately, the reinforcements he had brought burst through the city gate and pushed to her support just in time.
In the pitch-dark night, the enemy could only hear the thunderous shouts — they had no way to estimate how many had come. For a moment, they faltered.
Chen Baoxiang’s eyes blazed bright. She seized the opening instantly, riding hard and alone toward a heavily guarded position deep in the enemy line.
Blood misted the air. Song Juqing had no choice but to spur his horse out from within the protection of his surrounding guard.
“A woman.” He stared in shock and bewilderment. “What name do you go by?”
Chen Baoxiang raised her dao and grinned. “No name worth mentioning yet — but I’ll have one after tonight.”
Without another word, she urged her horse forward, dao sweeping down in a strike.
The two commanders clashed directly. With no one else pressing in, Song Juqing met her blade for blade, and after only a few exchanges, sweat was flying and his sword was trembling — and he knew immediately that his opponent was not to be taken lightly.
He steadied himself and focused, and before long identified Chen Baoxiang’s weakness: her weapon was of cheap make — the blade brittle.
On his next move, he put his full strength behind it. His fine sword split her blade clean through, sending her whole person tumbling from the saddle.
“This is bad,” Zhao Huaizhu said from the city tower, so anxious she was rising on her toes. “You cannot fall from the horse!”
Looking at the positions of both forces, falling to the ground put Chen Baoxiang in a dead-end. The situation had tilted sharply against her.
A city defense soldier watching nearby muttered, “Who starts a duel and falls from their horse right away — it’s over, she’s going to lose her head and—”
The last word never made it out. The figure that had fallen hit the ground and sprang back up in the same motion, vaulting to the rear flank of Song Juqing’s horse. Her hands moved like thunder — she seized both hind legs and hurled the animal to the side.
The horse screamed. Its body crashed to the earth, dust billowing in every direction.
Song Juqing rolled clear, clutching his leg in astonishment.
How was this woman so impossibly strong.
Not only strong, but bold. She had thrown aside her broken blade and was pressing in for close quarters combat, despite swords being drawn on all sides around her.
“A madwoman.” That was Song Juqing’s first assessment of her.
After a dozen close-range exchanges, having taken several of her punches himself, Song Juqing arrived at his second assessment. “Did you grow up eating rocks?”
Chen Baoxiang wasted no words at all. Every move she made went straight for the kill — aiming to capture the ringleader first and foremost, willing to take injuries herself if it meant wringing his neck.
Song Juqing was gradually losing his footing. He twisted aside to dodge one of her strikes, then used the opening to retreat, kicking one of his own men off a horse and vaulting back into the saddle.
Chen Baoxiang, seeing this, wheeled back onto her own horse as well.
Song Juqing assumed the two of them would now pull apart and leave the fighting to their respective soldiers.
Instead, the woman across from him drew a long breath, and then — impossibly — turned her horse’s head, drew herself up, and bellowed, “Go!”
The warhorse obeyed, exploding forward in a full charge straight at him.
There was no tactic in this at all.
Song Juqing almost laughed despite himself. “We’re both in the court’s service — what are you throwing your life away for?!”
She did not hear him. She came on with furious momentum, every ounce of her intent fixed on ending this with both of them going down together.
When two forces meet head-on, the one with the bolder heart prevails.
Song Juqing cursed under his breath, wheeled his horse, and retreated back into the formation.
His retreat sent the soldiers behind him into immediate panic. Hooves stumbled over one another, and the army’s will began to fracture.
“Tear through them!” Chen Baoxiang roared.
At that, a tide of battle cries erupted from every direction and swept everything before it.
The enemy commanders saw how things stood and immediately urged Song Juqing to pull back. Song Juqing was furious, but he could read the situation clearly enough — to press on now would only mean greater losses.
“All forces, fall back!”
The dark mass of covert soldiers began to withdraw, silent and soundless as they had come.