Clang! Clang! Clang!

Blade met blade and the sparks went up.

Han Gaochi had not earned his name in Xiliang for nothing. The skill in him was formidable; the strokes came fast and Yue Congyun gave ground without a pause, in danger from every one of them.

The Fourth Prince wanted to help her, but Che Mingzhe had him tied up and he could barely keep himself whole.

Xing Shan could not stop the smile coming onto his face.

Just then hooves rang on the stones.

Xing Shan turned his head to look, and his face changed completely.

A body of horse in fine equipment came on at a gallop, and the man at their head carried a saber over ten feet long.

The smile came onto Yue Congyun's face.

The man who had come was Feng Qizheng.

"Miss Little Yue — back!"

Yue Congyun feinted and pulled out fast.

Feng Qizheng sprang, driving off the horse's back with one foot, and came down on Han Gaochi like a hawk on a hare, the modao falling with the motion.

Han Gaochi threw his own blade up crosswise without thinking.

Then came a sight to stop the heart.

Han Gaochi's blade was cut straight through, and the man behind it was cleaved into two halves, alive as he stood.

Not only the Xiliang soldiers — Yue Congyun and her people were left open-mouthed and staring, and the sight of it chilled a man to the bone.

Xing Shan was frightened almost out of his life. There was no blood left in his face, his hands and feet went soft under him, and he came straight off his horse.

Che Mingzhe's eyes were full of terror.

That one stroke of Feng Qizheng's carried more terror in it than men could stand against.

The Xiliang soldiers were frightened out of their souls.

"Deputy General Yue — catch!"

One of the Ning'an Army threw over the silver spear in his hands.

Yue Congyun caught it, and the smile came onto her face... with the spear in her hand a moment ago, she would never…