Below the mountain, wave after wave of soldiers swarmed up the bluestone steps like a plague of locusts, impossible to count or kill off.
The morning sun had just risen, casting brilliant rays across the sky.
Ghost-Headed Saber stood alone on the steps, guarding the only route to the mountain estate, fighting bloodily without retreat.
At that moment, what he saw was neither the enemy nor the mortal danger before him, but the tragedy of his family's flight toward the gorge all those years ago...
Back then, there had been no Ghost-Headed Saber, much less a Supernatural Ability User who could turn the tide. There had only been the slaughter of his entire clan, something he could never forget.
When they reached the outskirts of the gorge, Imperial Court agents ambushed them. His mother took more than a dozen arrows protecting him, her corpse left exposed in the wild. The steward, personal guards, servants, and his closest relatives... one after another, they fell into pools of blood, not a single body left intact.
In the end, only Xu Ersan managed to fight his way out with Guan Feng on his back, under everyone's protection. Perhaps Heaven had favored them: when they had nowhere left to turn, they found the small river leading downstream. They jumped into the water and drifted with the current, surviving only because of that.
And there was more!
His father's plan to send the thirteen generals and their families away through the Spirit-Communicating Tunnel had also failed. After Niu Xi and the others rushed out of the tunnel, they traveled less than thirty li before encountering another Imperial Court ambush.
Thirteen families, more than a hundred people, all killed.
From the very beginning, the ruler of the Southern Border had never intended to spare a single