The Return
The snow had just ceased when we set back for the city, the hollow echo of hooves ringing through the barren woods.
Li Jun rode beside me, two guards trailing behind. Half a day from Danxi, my mind churned with plans—chief among them, the secret missive I would soon deliver to the Crown Prince himself.
“Nightfall’s coming.” Li Jun’s gaze swept the terrain ahead. “Bad ground for camping. If we stop, we’ll need double watches.”
I opened my mouth to reply—
—when a wet gasp cut the air. A black-fletched bolt sprouted from a guard’s throat, his blood splattering the snow.
“Ambush!” Li Jun wheeled his horse, shielding me as shadows detached from the trees. No insignia marked them, yet their movements were lethal, precise. Not bandits.
Soldiers.
Steel flashed. I drew the dagger from my boot, parrying a blade aimed for my heart. The assassin’s eyes held no hesitation—only cold intent. They weren’t here by chance.
This was a purge.
“Not Liu Ang’s men,” I hissed.
“No shit!” Li Jun severed an attacker’s arm, but more closed in. Desperate, I lured one into the woods—and detonated the hidden firepowder charges. The blast bought us seconds to flee.
The Revelation
The abandoned temple reeked of damp rot. Li Jun leaned against the wall, his clothes slashed and bloody. My own sleeve was torn, crimson dripping from my fingertips.
“Their belts,” he panted. “Embroidered with wind-hunt纹.”
My breath froze.
Wind-hunt纹—the sigil of Northern Desert spies. Worn only by scouts and saboteurs during wartime.
“The enemy… has infiltrated this deep?”
This wasn’t about silencing me. It was fear—fear of what I might uncover next.
The Token
The corpse yielded a black token. Two characters carved its back:
岭隘
Ridge Pass.
The chaotic border zone where our dynasty clashed with the Northern Desert.
The truth crystallized: The enemy had built a shadow supply line through Moonlit City’s black markets. And I’d stumbled onto its heart.
“So now,” Li Jun pushed upright, “we’re not just fighting local corruption—”
“—but an entire spy network.” I finished, watching snow curtain the world outside.
“Regrets?” he asked.
I wiped blood from my blade, smiling frost. “None. I only wonder now—if the famed ‘Ironblood General’ is another piece on their board.”
The Resolve
But I would be no one’s pawn again.
ns216.73.216.174da2
and then Add to home screen.