Tantai Qingyue had gone off to hunt down Kang Baobao for Ning Chen's sake.

And far away in Xiangzhou, Ning Chen was sharpening his own knife.

In front of the city lord's residence, the twelve hundred men of the modao army stood ready to ride.

Ning Chen strode out through the residence gate with his sword in hand. Murder was written on his face, and he couldn't hide the killing rage coming off him.

Word had just come in that a village under Haiyuan County in Xiangzhou had been massacred.

The whole village, more than a hundred households, five hundred seventy-two people, had been slaughtered. Not one was left alive.

The sword wounds on the bodies looked like the work of katanas, the swords the Zhaohe carried.

The Ning'an Army would reach Xiangzhou any moment.

But Ning Chen wasn't willing to wait a single minute. He set out at once with the modao army.

The massacre had to be the work of the three thousand-odd Zhaohe who had escaped.

"Yuan Long, Qi Yuanzhong, I'm leaving Xiangzhou in your hands for now."

The two of them quickly bowed to take the order. "This officer obeys!"

Ning Chen walked over and swung up into the saddle. "Modao army, mount up!" he ordered, his voice low.

Twelve hundred armored riders poured out through the north gate and headed northwest.

Meanwhile, Tantai Qingyue had chased all night.

She didn't stop until daybreak.

Shiluo Village lay just ahead.

Xiao Yanxi's people had sent word that Kang Baobao was heading toward Shiluo Village.

She didn't know what Kang Baobao wanted in Shiluo Village.

But it didn't matter. All she wanted was Kang Baobao's life.

After chasing all night, both she and her horse were worn out.

Tantai Qingyue stopped to eat something.

Just as she was about to set out again, she spotted black smoke billowing in the distance.

In a few bounds she was up a low hill beside the road. Looking out, she saw the smoke rising from behind a mountain.

Tantai Qingyue thought for a moment, then went down the hill, mounted and…