Chang'an is good

Li Suining lay in the snow, allowing himself to relax and rest for a while.

Until Yufeng came to her, humming softly, and rubbed her loose hair affectionately with his long beak.

Li Suining picked up the blood-stained golden mask that Yufeng had brought to her as a trophy and said in a weak voice, "Well... This hunt was quite fruitful."

This was the first time she and Yufeng cooperated in hunting, and they successfully hunted down the most ferocious prey in the snowy plain.

Afterwards, Yufeng suddenly stepped back a few steps, shook his wings with messy feathers and blood, and flew away.

After a while, it turned around and flew back, circling above Li Suining's head, making a sharp whistle.

The eagle has the sharpest eyes on the snowfield, and Yufeng sensed the enemy approaching.

The sound of horse hooves gradually became clearer.

The ones coming were the Northern Di troops in the rear who had been blocked by the mountain roads and the other side of the glacier, and had to take a detour under the order of Ashina Tilie. After bypassing the glacier, they followed the traces and marks left by Ashina Tilie and finally tracked them down here.

The leading Northern Di soldiers saw from afar the glaring blood-red patches in the snow ahead.

They waved their whips and shouted in Northern Di: "Quick! There!"

Yu Feng cried loudly, trying to grab Li Suining's robe.

At this time, the big brown horse not far away struggled to stand up from the snow pit, shook off the snow on its fur, ran to Li Suining, bent its two front legs one after another, and made bursts of mournful cries to urge him.

Li Suining put the dagger back into his boots and climbed onto the horse's back with difficulty.

The leading Northern Di soldiers had closed the distance to within dozens of steps. They vaguely saw a big horse rising from the snow, carrying a man and trying to leave. They immediately shouted, but got no response. Knowing it was the enemy, they quickly took out the longbows behind them and tried to stop it.

However, before they could shoot their arrows, they were suddenly attacked by a black eagle flying in the sky. They fell off their horses one after another and fell heavily into the snow.

But the army behind soon caught up, with hundreds of cavalrymen sweeping away the snow and fog.

They soon witnessed Ashina Tilie's horrific death, but judging from the signs of fighting, there was no third person at the scene...

So, the other party killed Tilie on his own? !
Even the brave Northern Di people could not imagine how this was done. They were shocked beyond words and even subconsciously felt fear, but they still quickly followed the horse hoof prints to chase after them!

The other party must have been seriously injured, and with hundreds of people, are they afraid that they can't kill one person?

Li Suining lay on the bumpy horse's back, riding the wind all the way ahead, guiding the direction for the return date.

As they returned exhausted, the distance between them and the pursuers behind them was getting shorter and shorter.

Fortunately, the road was winding and changeable, so the pursuers from behind were unable to shoot arrows.

After running desperately for more than twenty miles, he was about to return and was exhausted again. He suddenly neighed and stopped in a hurry.

There is a cliff edge ahead!
The cliff here is like a giant hand sticking out of a mountain, with steep cliffs on three sides. It is adjacent to the edge of another mountain in front, but it is at least ten feet away.

Yufeng has flown to the opposite side and is circling, urging us to return.

Guiqi retreated in fear. He was always in a bad mood and wanted to curse the bird - how could this broken bird lead the way? It's a horse! It's a horse!
Looking at the impossible to cross ravine, Guiqi neighed and retreated.

At this moment, there was a sound of horse hooves, but it turned out to be an empty horse.

It was brown all over, except for a spot on its forehead that was whiter than snow. It ran through a patch of dry grass half a person's height and appeared in the heavy snow.

That's pomegranate fire.

Liuhuo, who was originally left behind, followed Li Suining alone not long after he left.

But it ran slowly and failed to catch up with the team in time, so it followed the trail all the way until it arrived here.

The pursuers were getting closer, and Liu Huo urged them to return over the cliff.

He still dared not return, whimpering and no longer as majestic as before, with tears in his eyes.

Liuhuo roared in anger, with no idea what he meant. He pushed Guiqi hard and then suddenly ran towards the cliff.

Seeing this, Guiqi's expression and all the fur on his body froze. He no longer hesitated and immediately followed.

When Liuhuo was young, he once carried his master across a trench of similar width successfully. Apart from him, no other war horse in the army could do it.

But now Liuhuo is old.

It also knows that it is old.

The aging warhorse leaped into the air above the cliff. Just as its bent front hooves were about to touch the opposite cliff, it stretched out its legs and clawed forward with all its might, but it could only barely hold onto the snow-covered rocks.

As its lower body was hanging in the air and falling, the young warhorse that was following closely came running over, and in an instant used the falling body of the old horse under it as a bridge to successfully leap up!

Guiqi suddenly fell to the ground, his hooves slipped, and he slid out with a neigh, throwing Li Suining off on his back.

At the same moment, the hissing sound of the pomegranate fire, along with the snow and rock fragments, fell down the cliff, echoing until it disappeared.

According to legend, when a group of antelopes need to climb over steep cliffs, the old antelopes will use their bodies and lives as a bridge to help the young antelopes cross. This is a survival instinct and also shows the love of a mother for her calf.

In addition to these two, Liuhuo, from Jiangdu to Taiyuan, and then from Taiyuan to Beidi, has always been practicing its loyalty and courage.

Its body may age, but its loyalty never diminishes.

In the year when the candle is about to go out, it stubbornly runs thousands of miles, as if it is waiting for this moment.

The Northern Di troops arrived quickly, and they all reined in their horses, and none of their horses dared to try to cross the cliff.

Looking at the traces of slipping horses' hooves on the opposite side, the Northern Di people were shocked, and some even showed a moment of admiration.

The leader raised his hand and asked the generals beside him to put away their longbows.

The man and his horse seemed to have fallen down a slope in the snow on the opposite side. There were rocks blocking the view, so the exact location could not be seen at all. No matter how many arrows were shot, they would be wasted.

Thinking of the news he heard in the tent this morning and the death of Ashina Tilie he had just witnessed, the general ordered a retreat and chose a detour first.

Even if the nearest road goes around to the opposite mountain, it will take at least half a day, or even longer.

Li Suining fell into the snow and tried to get up, but fell down again.

Guiqi walked to Li Suining with difficulty, wailing, and fell beside her.

Li Suining turned over and lay on his back in the snow. He put his fingers to his pale and bloody lips and blew a whistle.

There was no response, so she continued to blow the second, third, and fourth notes until she ran out of strength.

Large flakes of snow hit the woman's eyebrows. Her pale eyelashes, which were pressed by the snowflakes, trembled, and a round teardrop rolled down from the corner of her eye, passed through the end of her eyebrows, and stuck to the snowflakes, melting them instantly. After accumulating some more strength, Li Suining blew the whistle again, repeating it over and over again, refusing to give up.

I don't know how long it was before I heard an eagle's cry.

When Li Suining was about to blow the whistle again, he suddenly realized something. He pulled out the short knife from between his boots, stuck it into the snow, propped himself up and sat up, looking to the side in front of him.

Yufeng flew in front of Li Suining, circled for several times while chirping, and then suddenly flew away, circling not far away.

Until a hint of brown appeared behind it.

In the bitter wind and snow, the old horse waded slowly and laboriously through the thick snow.

Li Suining stared blankly until the old horse with scratches all over its body came in front of her, neighed, broke its legs and knelt down weakly.

Li Suining suddenly hugged its head tightly, pressed his forehead against its, and cried like a lost child. He called its name with gratitude: "...Lihuo!"

After circling for a while, Yufeng landed on Guiqi. Guiqi, who was gasping for breath due to exhaustion, turned upside down and threw it down. Yufeng was covered in snow and flapped his wings vigorously. After flapping his wings clean, he folded his wings to his side, looking quite proud.

Yufeng was most familiar with the terrain in this area. There was a rapids at the bottom of the cliff where Liuhuo fell. The water flowed very fast from top to bottom. The ice was not thick, and the surface of the ice was covered by snow, so it was impossible to see the real shape at first glance.

Liuhuo fell into the water and was washed downstream. Yufeng chased it all the way and brought it back.

There were many cuts on Liuhuo's body, some were scratched by rocks and some were cut by ice, but he bent his limbs when he fell, so his legs were not seriously injured.

The horse's legs are the most important part of a warhorse. If the legs are broken, the horse will die. Even though Liuhuo was determined to die, he never gave up on survival at the last moment, just like his master.

Exhausted, Li Suining lay down again. Liuhuo and Guiqi stood on her left and right, shielding her from the wind and keeping her warm.

Li Suining sometimes closed his eyes, and sometimes looked quietly at the sky where heavy snow was falling.

She narrowly escaped death this time, but she has no regrets about her decision. If she had the same choice a hundred times, she would still make the same choice.

The half-human, half-ghost returns against the will of heaven. Walking in this world, wherever she goes is an adventure. A life-threatening calamity hangs over her head, and she doesn't know when it will suddenly and unreasonably come, making all her efforts collapse... Rather than being caught off guard by this calamity, it is better to lead it into a cage, trap it in a controllable and knowable situation, and take the initiative to kill it, at least to gain the initiative. Thinking about it now, this ray of initiative may be her only chance of survival.

This time she was like a gambler who was not afraid of her life, but if she didn't gamble, she would only end up being killed by this disaster.

Why should the situation she won with her own strength be destroyed by an unreasonable fate?

She must come to Beidi, and she must break this calamity. Why should she go to see her uncle the prince who always has good luck with this calamity? She must become a truly "person" who is not burdened by bad luck before that, and then kill him fairly and neatly.

What does it matter if she survived a life-and-death situation? Winning is winning. She won gloriously, worthily and happily.

Li Suining lay in the snow, his body broken and weak, but his soul joyful and majestic.

She waited quietly for her strength to recover, the next arrangements already clearly arranged in her mind.

Going south from here, taking a shortcut and riding for three days, one can reach the tribes guarded by her people. Those tribes have long been unwilling to submit to the Northern Di royal court, so Ashina Tilie is not in a hurry and indeed cannot spare the time to rescue the elderly, the weak, women and children in those tribes.

Therefore, this road leading to the south is still controlled by Li Suining's men. If she is luckier, she will meet patrolling soldiers on the road.

After meeting up with the soldiers in the rear, he would gather enough men and horses, bring sufficient food and gunpowder, and then lead his troops to rescue the trapped soldiers. The death of Ashina Tilie would definitely shake the morale of the Northern Di army. At that time, Li Suining would use fireworks as a signal and attack from both inside and outside with the soldiers in the mountains. He was confident that he could defeat the remaining troops of Ashina Tilie in one battle.

After that, after resting, we can go straight to the Beidi royal court.

Now that the huge obstacle, Ashina Tilie, is dead, as long as we can get close to the Beidi royal court with the help of spies, we will be able to kill the Beidi Khan.

The Northern Di people have always had a tradition that as soon as the Khan dies, even the army on the march must return immediately.

Everything ahead is promising and under control. The only trouble is that he is injured too badly and his plan might be delayed. But at this moment, feeling the warmth of the horse's hair beside him, Li Suining feels at peace.

She became drowsy and her consciousness became blurred several times, but she never dared to allow herself to lose consciousness completely.

I don't know when the snow stopped.

The snow on the ground was shaking slightly.

Yufeng, who had been paying close attention to the situation around him, whistled a warning.

The vibration was intensifying and the earth was shaking.

Li Suining calmed down and judged for a moment, concluding that it was the noise caused by the horses' hooves. The formation was so large that there must be no less than several thousand cavalry.

After careful observation, the noise came from the south, so the troops coming from there should not be the Northern Di Army.

Although she still had 2,000 troops in the rear, they were scattered and would not gather without orders.

Whose person could that be?

This place is close to a cliff and is a dangerous road. Those people and horses will probably not pass by here in a hurry, so it should not pose a threat to her safety.

While Li Suining was still thinking, Guiqi stood up and suddenly went in the direction where the horse hooves sounds came from.

Guiqi was alert and would not approach rashly if it saw the Northern Di soldiers. Li Suining did not say anything to stop it.

About a quarter of an hour later, the ground began to shake more violently, and the snow on the trees began to fall.

There was a downhill slope ahead. Li Suining stared for a long time and finally saw a hint of black emerging from the snowy white ground.

The soldiers were in order, wearing black robes, black armor, and carrying the Xuan Ce military flag.

And what appeared in the eyes of the leading young man was a black robe, black hair, and red snow all over the ground.

Sixteen years ago, the woman who fell down in the snowy field, now slowly stood up from the red snow, holding a short knife.

The fields were vast and empty, and she was the only one in the silence.

The cold wind blew her hair and the silver snow wet her clothes. She was broken, disheveled and silent, but her body seemed to be surrounded by the energy of mountains and seas, and her whistling shook the heaven and earth.

In Wu Jue's opinion, that was clearly the bone structure of an emperor who had finally been completed after being tempered in the sea of ​​fire and blood and finally reached nirvana...

What is the will of heaven? -- From now on, she is the will of heaven for all people.

What is national destiny? -- From now on, she is national destiny!

Wu Jue suddenly understood the full meaning of the calamity that Tianjing mentioned. His heart and soul were shaken for a moment. He staggered off his horse, ran a few steps, and suddenly fell to the ground, kowtowed with tears in his eyes: "... Congratulations, Your Highness, for escaping this calamity!"

The soldiers behind him dismounted and knelt on one knee in the snow, clasping their fists in unison and saluting: "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you!"

Amid the sound of countless salutes and swords clashing, Cui Jing quickly ran forward. (End of this chapter)