"Ah..." Yi Shangyun closed her eyes tightly, covered her ears, and let out a heart-wrenching scream that resounded through the heavens and earth, shaking everything in the world.
In an instant, the trees in the mountains and forests swayed, their branches and leaves rustling, swirling up countless fallen flowers and withered leaves, mixed with the yellow soil all over the ground, rolling and flying incessantly, turning their backs on the clouds above their clothes and sweeping towards the crowd.
Even Yi Junhao, who had just finished dealing with the funeral arrangements of the madam of Wanjiao Pavilion, who was also the wet nurse he had been most concerned about for many years, and was rushing to find Yi Shangyun's whereabouts, was shocked by the earth-shattering shouts that came from the mountains and forests.
He stopped abruptly, his eyes widening in the direction the sound came from. He frowned and muttered to himself, "Something happened to the girl?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he quickened his pace. He had originally intended to continue forward, bypassing the North Mountain and heading straight for the ancient Northwest Road, but upon hearing the sound, he followed the direction from which it came and rushed up the mountain.
Meanwhile, not far from Xuanyuan Han in the mountains, Cheng Liang, leading his generals, encountered the last remaining remnants of Tuoba Ze's army and was engaged in a final battle of swords.
Seeing that he had already turned the tables and the opponent was clearly out of options and waiting to be captured, he seized the opportunity and placed the tip of his sword on the shoulder of the Northern enemy.
Just then, Cheng Liang was startled by a deafening scream from a woman beside him. He looked at the direction from which the sound came with surprise and worry, muttering to himself, "Miss Yi?"
The soldiers around him, who were wrestling with each other in various postures and sword moves, with injuries ranging from minor to severe, were all stunned by the sound. They all stopped what they were doing, holding their weapons, but just stood there quietly, looking at each other, not knowing what had happened.
A moment later, Cheng Liang came to his senses, feeling that something bad must have happened. His master, Miss Yi…
Just now, he had been thinking of not killing a single soldier, but instead choosing to capture the most valiant and skilled enemy among them, so as to persuade everyone else to stop fighting and surrender. But now it was clear that he could no longer think about it any further.
Without even glancing at the most skilled enemy soldier, he swiftly and viciously slit the soldier's throat. Then, he turned and charged deeper into the forest, towards the direction from which the sound had come.
Behind him, the Northern enemy, still in a daze, had his throat slit by a sharp sword and lost his life. Blood gushed from his neck like a fountain, spraying everywhere. Then his body fell heavily to the ground, lying face down with his eyes wide open, as if he had died in a peaceful dream. It was an unreal yet the most real ending.
Seeing his comrade lying dead on the ground, bleeding profusely and his face turning as white as a sheet of paper, a scene of utter misery and unbearable grief, and then looking at the Western Qin soldiers, each one more valiant and skilled in battle than the last, he knew that if the fighting continued, they would all surely lose their lives and die far from home.
And so, all the Northern enemy soldiers who had been fighting fiercely with the Western Qin soldiers, fighting to the death, were instantly terrified and surrendered, kneeling and begging for mercy. "Surrender! We surrender! Let's stop the war! We don't want to fight either! We were all forced into this! Please don't kill us! We all have elderly parents and young children to support. Our families are waiting for us to come home and reunite with them. We can't die!"
Seeing this, the soldiers of Western Qin all held their swords and looked at each other in bewilderment.
Deep in the mountains and forests, the two, Xuanyuan Han and Tuoba Hong, were exchanging more than a dozen blows, each wielding their nimble and swift sword techniques. Their swordplay was becoming increasingly intense.
Tuoba Hong seemed to be outmatched, and was clearly struggling to keep up, feeling powerless to resist.
Suddenly, in a moment of desperation, he raised his longsword and swung it fiercely at Xuan Yuanhan's left shoulder. However, he seemed to have used too much force, and his body swayed as if he was about to fall.
At this moment, Xuan Yuanhan quickly leaned his body slightly and easily stepped aside.
Tuoba Hong failed to stop his attack in time. After dodging, Xuanyuan Han quickly turned around and swung his left hand out, aiming it directly at Tuoba Hong's back.
By the time Tuoba Hong braced himself on the ground with his sword, stood up straight, and wanted to turn back to continue the fight, Xuanyuan Han had already firmly placed his long sword on Tuoba Hong's right shoulder.
Just as Xuanyuan Han was about to raise his sword to remove the black mask covering the other person's face and reveal his true appearance, he suddenly heard a deafening scream from Yi Shangyun.
With a quick glance and a slight sway of his sword, Tuoba Hong seized the opportunity to dodge and escape.
Upon hearing the sound, Tuoba Hong also abandoned the idea of continuing the fight and turned his gaze to the direction where Yi Shangyun was, seemingly also shocked by the unprecedented scream.
At this moment, Tuoba Ze, who was closest to Yi Shangyun, saw that even his younger brother was no match for the extraordinary swordsmanship of the King of Western Qin.
With a thought, Tuoba Ze swiftly flew to Yi Shangyun's side, scooped her up from the ground beside the rock, drew his precious, gleaming, sharp short sword inlaid with countless rubies and emeralds from his waist, and quickly pressed the gleaming tip of the sword against Yi Shangyun's slender neck from behind.
Then, he arrogantly and loudly provoked Xuan Yuanhan, "King of Western Qin, come here! Aren't you always 'one man can hold off ten thousand,' so majestic and powerful? Rumor has it that everyone trembles at the mere mention of your name, the God of War? Aren't you going to great lengths to capture me, the prince? What, thanks to you, I'm now severely injured and standing weakly before you, and you don't even dare utter a sound? Or..."
As Tuoba Ze spoke, he suddenly stopped, looked down at Yi Shangyun, who, despite suffering severe internal injuries, could still easily restrain both of Yi Shangyun's hands from behind with one hand and seemed to be still in a daze, gave him a sly smile, and continued loudly, "Even the King of Western Qin, you too are 'unable to resist the charms of a beautiful woman,' worried that if you take a step forward, you will disturb this prince, and this prince might accidentally push the woman you love most into this bottomless abyss?"
"Hahahaha...hahahahaha..." Tuoba Ze burst into maniacal laughter as soon as he finished speaking. While laughing, he glanced back at the almost vertical cliff behind him and slowly retreated step by step, dragging his clothes and clouds.
As Xuanyuan Han watched and listened to all of this, he suddenly felt as if he had tinnitus, with a constant buzzing in his ears. The sound was deafening and continuous, making him so dizzy that he felt like he was about to suffocate.
He seemed not to see or hear what Tuoba Ze was doing or saying at all. He only saw Xuan Yuanhan gradually raise his two thick eyebrows, and the long sword he was holding tightly in his hand, along with his whole body, was trembling incessantly.
He stared blankly at everything that was happening before him, as if he had suddenly remembered something, and looked extremely frightened.
More than a decade ago, when he was still young and ignorant, he and his mother encountered a group of mysterious and fierce masked men in black at the foot of this mountain. It was there that he met the woman who was about to give birth, a woman he could never repay or forget in his life.
To save him, the woman, right before his eyes, from the very spot where Yi Shangyun was now standing, fell from the almost vertical cliff, unable to bear the humiliation, resulting in the deaths of both herself and her unborn child.
And now, in the same place, it seems as if that scene from many years ago is being replayed.
That day, he could only obey the woman's arrangements, hiding in the tall grass, helplessly watching the woman fall to her death in front of him.
At this moment, he seemed to be hallucinating, mistakenly believing that the woman being held hostage before him was the same woman from before. Was it that heaven had taken pity on him, giving him another chance to choose and make amends?
So this time, shouldn't he have listened to that woman again and agreed to hide obediently to save his own life, so that he could continue to protect Xi Qin and more people who need his protection in the years to come?
He thought that this time he had to be brave; he should stand up and speak out to stop it. He not only had to protect Xi Qin, but also the mother and child.
What should he choose?
He was afraid, of course he was afraid, he was very afraid, he was terrified, more afraid than ever before, more afraid than ever before.
That's why he started trembling involuntarily, almost instinctively.
"Don't jump, don't jump, don't jump! Come back to me! Come back to me! I won't let you die! Come back! Come back..." Suddenly, Xuan Yuanhan dropped the long sword in his hand and, as if he had gone mad, covered his head, lowered his eyes, and shouted furiously.
This shout shocked the mountains and rivers, causing the earth to tremble.
This shout startled Tuoba Ze, who immediately stopped in his tracks, stunned, and silenced his wildly maniacal laughter.
Upon hearing this shout, Tuoba Hong immediately shifted his gaze from Tuoba Ze and Yi Shangyun to Xuan Yuanhan, staring at his eyes in surprise. He hadn't expected that this Spirit Void War God, the King of Western Qin, would appear so broken. But what was the reason? Was it truly just for a woman? Tuoba Hong wondered to himself.
Just then, Yi Junhao and Cheng Liang, who had heard this earth-shattering scream, rushed over and caught up with it.
Upon seeing the scene before them, both of them were immediately stunned.
Cheng Liang shouted, "Your Highness!"
Yi Junhao exclaimed in surprise, "Girl!"
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