The distant mountains were lush and green.
Towering Hangu Pass stood just behind them. A troop of riders escorted a carriage hurtling down the official road, the wooded mountains on either side streaming backward as clouds of dust billowed up. Looking farther back, another troop of riders was actually pursuing them.
"Those damned dogs are about to catch us!"
The leading rider spoke anxiously as he lashed his horse. Another rider growled, "If it comes to it, we'll fight those relentless dogs to the death. Keep running like this, and we'll be caught sooner or later."
Their leader immediately dissuaded him. "Those are all warriors recruited by the court. Compared with them, we couldn't withstand a single blow. It wouldn't matter if we died, but what about the ladies and their children?"
"Damn it! That dog Huo Guang is determined to root us out to the last. Exile to the Western Regions-who could reach that place alive?"
Whoosh!
A sharp arrow came flying, and one of the galloping riders fell at the sound, killed outright by a single shot.
"Elder brother!"
A grief-stricken cry rang out. The man was about to turn back and fight to the death, but several more arrows hissed through the air. Two struck his shoulder and abdomen, instantly shooting him from his horse.
Falling from a horse at that speed naturally killed him at once. Not even his corpse remained whole: his foot caught in the stirrup, and his frightened horse dragged him across a stretch of boulders, tearing him into several pieces in an instant.
"We can't escape!"
All the fleeing riders finally acknowledged this cruel fact. They turned to fight the Mounted Inspectors sent by the court, but in barely a quarter of an hour, the Mounted Inspectors had killed every last rider