Weng Jin led his few thousand broken men in flight, and they moved fast. They were running for their lives, after all.

"We're done for — the Ning'an Army has caught up with us!"

"Run! Ning Chen is coming for us!"

Weng Jin rode flat out with his men, glancing back as he went. Not far behind them the dust was boiling up into the sky, and his face was a dreadful white.

Xiliang's army had had the courage frightened clean out of it.

They had sent out a hundred and fifty thousand men... and now, what with the dead and the runaways, there were only these few thousand of them left.

Rumble!!!

Ten thousand horses came on at the gallop, and the ground shook.

The Ning'an Army kept closing in.

The Xiliang soldiers whipped their horses for all they were worth, hoping to run a little faster.

The Ning'an Army swept down on them like a flood.

The Xiliang soldiers looked back and their hands and feet went to water. Several of them were so terrified they pitched right off their horses.

"Hyah!!!"

Weng Jin swung his whip until his horse's rump was striped with blood.

He knew perfectly well that if the Ning'an Army caught him, there would be no way out alive.

His regret was deep enough to split his guts. He should never have come this time.

He was born to one of Xiliang's great and powerful houses, with rank and riches to enjoy for the rest of his life... He had only come along to scoop up some credit. How could he have known it would turn out like this?

Weng Jin gave no thought at all to military credit now. All he wanted was to keep his skin.

Too bad. From the moment he decided to march on the Great Xuan, the countdown on his life had begun.

Ten thousand horses came on at the gallop, and the spirit came off them in waves.

The Xiliang soldiers who had fallen from their horses were trampled into pulp under the Ning'an Army's warhorses.

The Xiliang…