Yu Jin Chang An - Chapter 12
She knew who this man was. They had met only a handful of times, exchanged only a few words—yet some unexplainable instinct told her his identity.
There was something between them, something invisible and unfathomable, binding her to him in ways she could not name.
On a battlefield soaked in blood, his arms locked around her shoulders, forcing her cheek against his neck. His strength was overwhelming, suffocating—yet within that crushing power, she felt a security she had never known. It was as if his will wrapped around her, possessing and shielding her in equal measure.
But this could not be allowed. She was a general, carrying the weight of soldiers and the lives of Lu City’s people on her shoulders. She could not afford even a moment’s weakness.
Li Shuang’s hand twitched, ready to push him away, when he seemed to anticipate her thought. Without resistance, he released her.
Her eyes lifted from his embrace, and what she saw made her falter.
The surrounding Xi Rong warriors had frozen where they stood. Their fists still gripped their blades, yet not one dared to move. Every gaze, wide and unblinking, was fixed in the same direction.
Following their line of sight, Li Shuang’s heart lurched.
In the black-masked man’s hand dangled a severed head. The heavy beard, the tiger-skin cap—Ashina Du, the Xi Rong commander himself.
He… he had slain the enemy general in an instant.
Just moments ago, hadn’t he been on the wall with a blade to Li Zhangyi’s throat? How had he crossed the battlefield unseen, struck, and returned before she could even draw breath?
She dared not dwell on it.
A ripple of silence spread outward like a stone dropped into still water. The chaos of battle seemed to collapse into a single, dreadful stillness.
The masked man tossed the head to the ground as if it were nothing more than refuse.
“Get lost.”
His voice was low, but it carried like thunder. As if in answer, war drums from the Xi Rong camp rolled across the plains. Their army, moments ago pressing forward with murderous fervor, began to fall back. Step by step, formation by formation, until they withdrew ten li beyond Lu City.
The retreat was so sudden it stunned even the Changfeng Camp soldiers.
Li Shuang herself struggled to comprehend what she had just witnessed. She stared at him, unable to keep the tremor from her voice.
“Who are you?”
His crimson eyes burned like embers in the dark. He reached out, fingertips brushing her blood-stained cheek with unexpected gentleness.
“I am here to protect you.”
Li Shuang froze, breath catching in her throat.
Then his words twisted, jarringly absurd amidst the blood-soaked silence:
“Today I came wearing clothes, so I’m no longer a shameless wretch. Will you marry me now?”
“…What?”
The sheer abruptness of it nearly made her laugh—and in fact, she did. A startled, disbelieving laugh that escaped her lips despite herself. She shook her head, both exasperated and oddly relieved.
“You can cut down a commander, yet you ask this nonsense at a time like this… Just who—”
“General!” Qin Lan and Luo Teng’s voices cut through the night.
The black-armored man’s gaze shifted toward them. He turned back, tilting his chin toward the wall where Li Zhangyi still stood frozen.
“Do you still wish to enter the city?”
“Of course,” Li Shuang said firmly.
“Good.”
He stooped, picked up a bow from the ground, and in a motion almost casual, nocked an arrow. The string thrummed.
A distant cry split the night. Li Zhangyi staggered on the wall before tumbling headfirst to the ground, his skull bursting open like an overripe fruit.
The arrow had cut him down as easily as if he were nothing.
Silence gripped them all. Even the veterans of Changfeng Camp, men who had seen a lifetime of death, could not disguise their shock. Such a shot—such power—was the mark of a skill so far beyond their reach it bordered on myth.
The man touched her cheek again, wiping away the blood as though it offended him. His voice was low, steady, carrying a chilling devotion:
“As long as you will it, I will remove every obstacle before you.”
Li Shuang stared into his crimson eyes. The battlefield, the cold, the weight of duty—everything seemed to vanish for a heartbeat, leaving only the unshakable promise in his words.
“Why?” she whispered. “Why do you protect me? Who are you really?”
She reached to strip away his mask, but he tilted his head back, evading her hand as easily as breath.
Qin Lan surged forward, palm outstretched to seize him. But within two exchanges, the man had already vanished into the night, gone with the wind, as though he had never been there at all.
Again, he disappeared without leaving a name.
Li Shuang stood motionless, staring into the darkness long after he was gone, until Qin Lan’s quiet “General” pulled her back. She cleared her throat, forcing composure, and scanned the battlefield.
The soldiers were still staring at her, their expressions charged with questions they did not dare voice.
Who was this man who had decapitated Ashina Du, routed the Xi Rong army with a single word, saved their general, and… asked her to marry him?
Even Li Shuang did not know.
Her chest tightened with something unnamable as she gave the only order she could.
“Enter the city.”
The first battle against Xi Rong had ended not with strategy, nor with valor—but with absurdity.
And none of them yet knew that this absurdity was only the beginning.