Huo Qilang lay in ambush behind the main gate. After she cut down seven men in succession, Liu Mian roared an order for the archers to climb ladders onto the walls. In her haste, she had only snatched up a sleeveless coat of scale armor and pulled it on. Barely the size of a vest, it left everything but her chest and back exposed to the arrows.
The archers had barely mounted the wall when they discovered, to their astonishment, that only one person lay in ambush beneath the trees behind the gate, armed with nothing more than an ordinary Horizontal Saber. The Yab soldiers immediately drew their bows and loosed. Attacked from three sides, Huo Qilang faced a rain of arrows and had no choice but to turn and flee. Fortunately, the brothers Xu Lai and Xu Xing charged over with great long shields to cover her, saving her from being turned into a hedgehog on the spot.
The Xu brothers were twins, as close as two people could be, their movements perfectly coordinated whether advancing or retreating. Once their shields covered Huo Qilang, the three hurried backward, withdrawing from the front courtyard into the central courtyard behind the spirit screen.
Song Yinghui directed the others to return fire with crossbows against the archers on both walls, pinning the enemy down and preventing them from climbing over. But once Huo Qilang abandoned the front gate, the Yab soldiers stepped over their comrades' bodies and surged through the narrow entrance. More than a dozen rounded the spirit screen and charged toward the central courtyard's building with Horizontal Sabers in hand.
A tall woman with a scarred face stood beneath the covered walkway, saber in hand, with the building's south door at her back. Her blade pointed downward, gleaming a wet