Li Chen was furious to the point where his eyes almost bulged from their sockets. Qu Qing threw himself at him, restraining him. With a hand, Qi Yunying muffled Li Chen’s mouth. All the while, Qi Yunruo rode his horse out of the forest, toward the north west.
“Chase the Han prince!” yelled one of the Qiang soldiers. And immediately, they turned directions and went after Qi Yunruo.
Li Chen clawed at the ground, so much so that red stained his fingertips. Meanwhile, Qi Yunying and Qu Qing lowered their heads, no longer looking toward where Qi Yunruo had gone off. They could only strive their best to restrain Li Chen, until the group of over a hundred Qiang soldiers disappeared in the night. Following that, Qu Qing and the guards dropped to their knees before Li Chen.
As he gazed in the direction in which Qi Yunruo had vanished, Qi Yunying’s heart gradually sank.
Dawn had already spread through the horizon. Li Chen stood. Raised his head to look above.
The sky of the northwest was unexpectedly clear. Above, a flock of geese broke through the blue. In the morning, the birds of the forest made their calls and cries. The violence of the night did not affect them.
Who pitied the lost shadow, separated by countless clouds?
As Qi Yunruo rode Hong Xun, behind him rang the voices of other horses and people neither far nor close away. Qi Yunruo did not glance behind, clutching to the reins. He only looked forward. Hong Xun understood the danger of their situation. It was already exhausted, but did not slow down from the start. Qi Yunruo heard from behind him the sounds of the Qiang tongue, of them yelling angrily at him in a mesh of voices. All of a sudden, a sound so loud it could be heard over all the shouts. Qi Yunruo lowered his body to the horse without thinking. A sharp arrow pierced flesh. He gritted his teeth, clamped his legs tight on the horse’s body. “Go!”
Struck by an arrow, Hong Xun neighed, shrill to the ears. But it galloped at a higher speed. Blood continued to flow from the wound on its behind. Qi Yunruo fought back his tears and said softly, “Keep holding on for a while, Hong Xun. Just a little more and it’ll be enough.”
When Hong Xun was more than a hundred feet away from a cliff, another arrow struck it. And the steed collapsed on the ground in an instant. Qi Yunruo fell off. He could hear the excited cries behind him, and turned to glance at his pursuers. Then he looked at the cliff.
Qi Yunruo stoked Hong Xun who was crying out softly. Rubbed his head on the horse’s belly. Hong Xun’s body twitched, eyes glistening with tears. Qi Yunruo rose to his feet. All of a sudden, he broke into a sprint toward the cliff and threw his body over the edge.
“Scoundrel!” The leader of the group of Qiang soldiers stopped his horse. With a howl, he ran to the cliff’s edge. And he saw that the heavy currents of the river had already washed away the Han Prince.
“What should we do? The Second Prince said to capture him alive! Only then can we force the army stationed in Yushu Pass to surrender!”
The leader of the group of Qiang soldiers narrowed his eyes. “Go down from the other side. We must see either him or his corpse!”
“Yes.”
The currents of the Yun River roared. Qi Yunruo floated up and down the water, and quickly lost consciousness.
Ever since Li Yao had been moved to Bo Ge’s large tent, Cheng Sijie left the royal capital of the Qiang. But he did not return to Xinyuan Country. It was because the act of Yushu Pass capturing his spies had caused him great upset. The spies he had planted in Yushu Pass had been very useful and important to him. If Zhao Weidu truly captured them all, he didn’t know how much effort and time it would take to replace them.
