A resounding victory

"A fool's dream!"

Gao Yue swept his Heaven-Piercing Halberd fiercely through the air and lunged at the Western Chu cavalryman nearest him.

After a brief cry, the Western Chu cavalryman was thrown from his horse.

Gao Yue snatched the reins from his hands and vaulted into the saddle.

"Chen Lin, you thought you could capture me so easily?"

As Gao Yue struck down the Western Chu soldiers closing in on him, he reached into his robes, took out a Signal Flare, and lit it.

The dazzling light shot into the heavens, tearing through the heavy curtain of night.

As that light faded, another deafening explosion rang out beyond the West Corner Tower.

The breach that had been fully repaired was blasted open once more with gunpowder.

At the sound, a mocking smile curled across Gao Yue's lips. "Today, Yan Pass will belong to Northern Liang. Chen Lin, out of respect for your years as a general, I can point you toward a way out."

"Submit to Northern Liang."

Chen Lin's expression darkened when he saw the breach in the wall blasted open again.

He had not expected Gao Yue's men to carry so much gunpowder.

What shocked him even more was that Gao Yue had laid out such an intricate chessboard, yet he, Western Chu's commanding general, had only seen it today.

Remembering what Yang Qing had told him before, Chen Lin felt a stifling weight in his chest.

He had never imagined that, by this day, event after event would unfold almost exactly as Yang Qing had predicted.

He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.

Looking at the still-smug Gao Yue, he said gravely, "You are mistaken, General Gao."

"With Northern Liang's iron cavalry surrounding you, does General Chen have any other path left? As far as I know, Zou Donghai, who is holding the other side for you, was wounded earlier. Do you think he can withstand Wan Li's elite troops?"

"And since I have come here, naturally, I have made every preparation."

Gao Yue raised his Heaven-Piercing Halberd high and shouted to the men behind him, "Soldiers of Northern Liang, heed my command! Follow me into Yan Pass! Whoever stands in my way dies!"

"Kill!"

That furious roar thundered above the West Corner Tower like mountains collapsing and the earth splitting apart.

The sneer on Gao Yue's lips grew more pronounced. Just as he was about to charge forward, he suddenly heard a cold voice say, "Gao Yue, why don't you look at who is charging in behind you?"

Gao Yue looked at Yang Qing. "Who are you, to dare make such a racket here? Naturally, those behind me are the hot-blooded soldiers of Northern Liang!"

Yang Qing smiled faintly. "General Gao, take a look before drawing your conclusion. There is no hurry."

Hearing this, Gao Yue turned to look.

But the troops streaming through the breach were not the Northern Liang reinforcements he had stationed nearby. They were an endless flow of Western Chu soldiers.

"How... how could this be?"

Gao Yue stared at the Western Chu soldiers glaring at him with hatred, his eyes wide and his tongue tied in shock.

Yang Qing sat upright in his saddle. "General Gao, do you still not understand?"

Gao Yue pulled on the reins, making his horse turn several times beneath him.

Everywhere he looked, he saw Western Chu soldiers. There was not the slightest trace of Northern Liang's army.

His pupils contracted sharply, and he blurted out, "You... you have played a fine game of chess!"

Chen Lin glanced at Gao Yue. "So Northern Liang may wallow in the same mire as our Western Chu scum, but we may not turn your scheme against you?"

With that, Chen Lin shouted sternly to the soldiers around him, "Seize him!"

Gao Yue tried to break out of the encirclement alone, but more and more Western Chu soldiers closed in, until they engulfed him like a surging tide.

When the crowd parted, Gao Yue appeared before Chen Lin and Yang Qing in an utterly wretched state.

Not a patch of flesh on him remained unscathed. Blood streamed over his body, as though he had just been dragged from a pool of blood.

His horse had collapsed on the ground, dead.

He, too, lay sprawled on the ground.

Yang Qing and Chen Lin parted the soldiers surrounding Gao Yue and walked slowly up to him, looking straight into his eyes.

"Gao Yue, the troops you stationed beneath our West Corner Tower have been all but wiped out by our army. Here, you alone remain. Did you ever imagine that one day you would become Western Chu's prisoner?"

Gao Yue spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm. "The victor becomes king; the loser, a bandit. I fell into your hands today. I have nothing more to say!"

Then he fixed his gaze on Yang Qing. "Chen Lin, you certainly have a fine strategist!"

With that, Gao Yue laughed three times, snatched the saber from a nearby soldier, and drew it across his own throat, killing himself.

Looking at Gao Yue's fiercely staring eyes, Chen Lin sighed. "Men, clear this place. Gather our fallen soldiers' bodies with care. And hang Gao Yue's corpse from the main gate tower of Yan Pass!"

Chen Lin turned his horse, but his gaze suddenly fell on someone. Silently, he dismounted and slowly walked toward that figure.

Seeing their commanding general approach, the Western Chu soldiers withdrew to either side, leaving a path through the middle.

Yang Qing also dismounted and followed Chen Lin to that corner.

There, a man sat quietly against the wall, his eyes nearly closed, his head tilted high toward the place where Chen Lin had stood earlier.

Dried blood stained his shoulder, and an arrow with its tail snapped off still protruded from the wound.

There was another wound on his neck, its flesh torn outward, but drained of blood until it had turned a grayish white.

"Qifeng, look. We have wiped out every Northern Liang soldier Gao Yue brought here!"

As he spoke, Chen Lin unfastened his cloak and slowly draped it over Liang Qifeng's long-cold body. "Go in peace. As long as I, Chen Lin, remain, Yan Pass will stand!"

As Chen Lin spoke, his steps became somewhat unsteady.

He raised a hand to rub the slightly swollen corners of his eyes, then turned to Yang Qing. "Lord Yang, will you come with me to take a look up ahead?"

Before his words had faded, a rapid clatter of hooves came from ahead.

Yang Qing looked up. The rider was Bu Er.

Upon reaching Yang Qing, Bu Er quickly dismounted and saluted both Chen Lin and Yang Qing.

"Reporting! When the Northern Liang bandits to the east saw Gao Yue's corpse, they trembled in terror and lost all will to fight. Our soldiers pressed the attack in one mighty surge, sending them fleeing in every direction and shattering their ranks."

"Unfortunately, that whelp Wan Li escaped!"

Hearing this, Chen Lin clapped his hands and laughed heartily. "Good! Very good! Truly worthy of Western Chu's hot-blooded sons! Let those Northern Liang villains see for themselves—is our Yan Pass a place they can so easily humiliate?"

With that, Chen Lin turned to Yang Qing once more. "Lord Yang, without your brilliant stratagem, Yan Pass would surely have been in grave peril! I will submit a memorial to His Majesty today. You are fully deserving of this honor!"