Pu Yunshan grasped her hand in return, slowly moving her fingers away. "Wait for me to return. Then, no one will be able to say a single word about your past."
He didn't look back, but turned and strode down the wooden steps, grabbed the bronze sword leaning against the door, and strode out of the Foot Care Hall.
Half an hour later.
Inside the study of the former Prince's Mansion.
Gu Moran was deep in thought, gazing at the map, when the head guard outside shouted, " Pu Yunshan of Green City requests an audience!"
The thick curtain was lifted, Pu Yunshan, dressed in a neat blue outfit with a single sword at his waist, strode inside.
Facing Gu Moran, who was sitting in the main seat, he did not hesitate and slammed one knee heavily on the blue brick floor.
"Your Highness!" Pu Yunshan clasped his hands and raised his head, "The terrain of Bronze Gorge is extremely treacherous, making it difficult for ordinary military formations to maneuver. This humble subject is willing to lead three hundred elite disciples of the Mount Qingcheng Sect, who are lurking around Yi Prefecture, to climb the cliffs and enter the gorge lightly equipped!"
Gu Moran put down his charcoal pencil and stared at him intently. "The two thousand Tubo have the advantage of terrain. Although the disciples of Mount Qingcheng are highly skilled in martial arts, they will be crushed to pieces if they are not careful under the scree and strong bows."
Have you thought it through?
Pu Yunshan stood ramrod straight, his voice clear and sharp like the ringing of a sword. "I've made up my mind. My only request is that after we defeat the enemy, Your Highness remove Qin Hongxiu from her lowly status as a courtesan and grant her a respectable identity!"
"Just for this? Then you don't need to risk your life on the front lines. I can help you. Why gamble with your life?"
"No, I Pu Yunshan, stand tall between heaven and earth, a true man of the Great Yan. How could I be a coward who fears death?!"
You could hear a pin drop in the study.
A hint of appreciation flashed in Gu Moran's eyes. Without saying a word of nonsense, he reached into the divination tube, pulled out a black iron token, and slammed it onto the table with a snap.
"Granted. If you can behead the enemy general and rescue those thousand soldiers, I will personally request the necessary documents for her!"
Pu Yunshan reached out and caught the command arrow, then slammed it down. "Thank you, Your Highness!"
"Wait, go find Xue Huan, get a hundred Subduing Fire Thunder, and take Tuoba Mang with you. Remember, you must come back alive."
"Yes!"
Pu Yunshan suddenly stood up, flicked his blue robe, and strode out of the study.
Night fell.
The doors of dozens of farmhouses, taverns, and hunters' cabins outside Yi Prefecture City opened silently.
Three hundred Mount Qingcheng warriors, carrying long swords and with their feet wrapped in black cloth, formed a silent black line and sped along the southern ridge into the vast dust.
On the other side.
The biting wind, sharp as a knife, whipped ice shards against the sheer black cliffs on both sides of Bronze Gorge.
Inside an abandoned copper mine in the middle of the canyon, the campfire was kept small, with only one or two smoldering embers emitting faint heat.
Nearly a thousand soldiers from Yi Prefecture huddled in a damp, cold cave, their lips turning purple from the cold. Many were wrapped in thin, tattered battle robes, and the groans of the wounded were muffled by the howling wind.
Three miles outside the mine, two steep mountain peaks, like iron clamps, blocked the only exit.
Four wooden watchtowers were erected above the mountain ridge, where more than a hundred Tubo soldiers, wearing heavy raw cowhide coats and carrying hard bows, were roasting mutton around a fire.
"Captain, these sheep of Great Yan are about to collapse." A burly Tubo, chewing on a half-cooked piece of meat, grinned maliciously in Tubo.
"They tried to find water by following the dry riverbed during the day, but we shot them back. If it freezes for another two days, they won't even be able to lift a knife."
The leading Tubo centurion took a big gulp of mare's milk wine, wiped the ice crystals off his beard, and said, "The general has ordered that we not launch a direct attack."
If the sick prince of Yi Prefecture wants to preserve his reputation, he must send a large army to rescue him.
Once their main force arrives, the army will surround and wipe out Yi Prefecture's camp in one fell swoop!
Be careful, everyone! Judging by the time, their soldiers will arrive in half a day!
Before he finished speaking, several pebbles suddenly slid down from the steep, mirror-like cliff above his head.
The centurion jumped to his feet, grabbing his scimitar stuck in the ground. "Who's up there?!"
All around was the howling wind; it was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.
Several Tubo soldiers were about to nock their arrows and fire wildly upwards.
Suddenly, a very faint whooshing sound rang out in the wind!
"Pfft!"
The Tubo sentry standing at the very edge didn't even have time to scream before a blue sword tip pierced his throat.
The sword was drawn, and the blood that had just spurted out half a foot was frozen by the cold wind.
Immediately afterwards, at the top of the cliff, hundreds of dark figures plummeted down the ropes hanging from the rock face like large birds!
They lightly tapped their toes on the protruding rocks a few times, silently, while the three-foot-long swords in their hands drew dozens of fierce, cold streaks in the wind and snow.
"Enemy attack--!!"
The centurion roared in shock and rage, drawing his sword to strike the warning gong hanging on the watchtower.
But he had only taken half a step when a figure in cyan light swept through the air, stepping on the flying snow!
Pu Yunshan's face was ashen. He poured his Fourth Rank internal energy into the sword, and the bronze sword emitted an extremely clear sword sound. The long sword slashed out like a white ribbon.
"Clang!"
The centurion's iron scimitar was cleanly sliced off like mud. The remaining force of the blade still lingered, slicing fiercely across his breastplate, tearing through a thick layer of iron scale armor, and sending him flying more than two zhang away, crashing heavily into the stone wall and coughing up blood.
" Green City disciples, form the Gold-Splitting Sword Formation! Seal off the valley entrance, leave no one alive!"
Pu Yunshan landed and rolled to dissipate the force, then stabbed the Tubo guard who lunged at him in the heart with a backhand strike, and gave a stern order.
The three hundred elite martial artists from Mount Qingcheng were all skilled fighters in the martial arts world. They were not usually adept at large-scale battles, but in this narrow, rugged, and treacherous mountain terrain where climbing and leveraging were essential, the agility and lethality of martial arts masters were brought to their fullest potential.
Three people form a group, their longswords intertwined and complementing each other.
Some climbed onto the watchtower and slit the throat with a backhand strike; others rolled on the ground and severed the horse's legs; still others used the rock face to bounce back and launch a series of stabbing attacks.
The two hundred-odd Tubo elites guarding the valley entrance didn't even have time to form a battle formation before they were cut down like grass by the ghostly swordsmen who descended from the sky.
Screams, the clash of weapons, and the cracking of bones echoed through the narrow passage.
In the short time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
More than two hundred Tubo soldiers defending the front line at the valley entrance were annihilated, and all four arrow towers were set on fire by Green City disciples with oil, the flames soaring into the sky and illuminating the originally dark valley.
Hearing the commotion deep inside the mine, the soldiers initially thought it was a night attack by barbarians and gripped their tattered spears, preparing to fight to the death.
When they saw the young general in the firelight, holding a long sword and wearing Great Yan blue robe, they were all stunned.
Pu Yunshan strode quickly to the mine entrance, cleaved through the barricades blocking his path with a single sword strike, raised the blood-stained black iron command arrow high towards the dark, dense mine shaft, and roared with all his might:
"Order from Prince Yi's Residence! Green City reinforcements have arrived, and the valley entrance has been breached! Those who can wield swords, follow me on a counterattack and fight your way out!!"
In an instant, nearly a thousand Yi Prefecture soldiers, who had escaped from their desperate situation, roared with deafening fury. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they grabbed their weapons and surged out of the mine like a tidal wave.