All six chief generals of the Northern Frontier dropped to one knee before Huo Shengnan and declared loudly, "We stand ready to follow General Huo's orders!" These six generals were all Yuchi Chong's trusted men. He had spoken with each of them in private beforehand, and had not even concealed Huo Shengnan's identity from them.
Although Huo Shengnan had not been with the army long this time, she had served throughout as Yuchi Chong's senior adviser. Most of the officers did not know her true identity, but they knew that her relationship with him was far from ordinary. Now she no longer concealed who she was. Turning around, she peeled off the Human-Skin Mask and revealed her true face.
Huo Shengnan had enjoyed great prestige in the army in the past. Although she was a wanted criminal in Great Yong, the charge brought against her had been the assassination of the Black Hu prince Wanyan Chixiong. Under Great Yong's laws, this was clearly a heinous act of treason, punishable by death without pardon. Most commoners, however, saw it differently. In private, they even regarded her as a national hero, and this was all the more true within the army. Far from diminishing her standing among the Northern Frontier's soldiers, the incident had considerably enhanced her reputation. She revealed her identity publicly not merely because she had the authority of the Tiger Tally Seal behind her, but because someone needed to step forward now, shoulder the burden, and show the troops the way.
Huo Shengnan was actually taking an enormous risk. After all, she was still a criminal wanted by Great Yong.
Sure enough, no sooner had she revealed her identity than someone accused her, "Huo Shengnan, you are a wanted criminal of Great Yong! Haven't you already defected to Hu