Before Shang Ruyi could react, she heard a shrill, anguished scream. The warhorse, both frightened and in pain, suddenly reared up, forelegs flailing, letting out one tortured neigh after another.

But in the next instant, that long, shrill neigh was drowned out by an even harsher sound!

The sound of arrows whistling through the air!

The archers behind them had already been taut with nerves; one by one they had drawn their powerful bows to the limit long ago, just waiting for the final order to loose.

And that command was precisely that sharp cry just now!

In the army of the Western Turks, aside from the orders spoken from the Khan’s own mouth and the drums that signaled an attack, there was one other command that, for these archers, was the most direct—branded straight into their minds, their hearts, even the memory of their limbs—and that was the sound of the whistling arrow!

So long as they heard that sound, every archer would loose the arrow in his hand.

Thus, in that moment, countless razor-sharp whooshes of arrows splitting the air rang out one after another, even overpowering the howl of the icy wind. Shang Ruyi’s eyes flew wide open as she watched stars scatter and rivers surge—hundreds, thousands of arrows came shooting toward them, even forming a curtain of light in the air. And in the blink of an eye, those sounds of rending wind were drowned out by an even more horrific roar—

"Ah!"

That roar of agony was like a gale; when it suddenly erupted, it shook Shang Ruyi’s ears till they rang. She turned her head, only to see that all those arrows had followed that whistling arrow and gone straight for Ashina Shali’s warhorse.

But with the horse rearing upright, the burly body of Ashina Shali on its back became the target.

In an instant, his entire person was turned into a hedgehog!

"Shali Khan..."

Shang Ruyi wanted to say something, but the shock was so overwhelming that her throat went hoarse; the sound she forced out was scarcely audible, immediately swallowed by the wind shrieking past all around them. Yet a flash of clarity streaked through her mind; she hurriedly turned her head to look behind her.

From the moment they set out, throughout the march all the way to this place, there had always been someone following at Ashina Shali’s side—yet now, that person had suddenly vanished. As Shang Ruyi turned, her gaze instantly picked him out among the crowd: a figure standing tall on horseback, longbow in hand, the fingertips shimmering with a glint of cold light!

It was Ashina Zhuxie!

She did not know when he had fallen back behind them, and just now, when Shali Khan had ordered the archers to prepare to loose, he too had taken out his own bow and set arrow to string.

Only, the arrow on his bow was the whistling arrow Shali Khan had just given him!

That one shot guided every arrow in the hands of the archers behind; those arrows fell like a torrential rain, in an instant shooting the completely unprepared Shali Khan to death. With a thunderous crash, his huge, powerful body toppled heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Yet in that same moment, the bow in Ashina Zhuxie’s hand was drawn open once more.

The arrowhead was still aimed forward.

Shang Ruyi suddenly sensed something. Before she could turn her head, she heard a startled cry at her side—

"Father Khan!"

Prince Yiasu, riding beside them, saw Shali Khan struck by arrows and fall from his horse, and immediately wheeled his mount, spurring it toward Ashina Shali, whose body was now bristling with dozens of shafts, blood gushing wildly. The fallen Khan slid from the back of his warhorse, that horse itself riddled with hundreds of arrows and no longer able to stand.

And the arrow in Prince Zhu Xie’s hand was aimed precisely at—

Shang Ruyi shouted at once, "Prince Yiasu, don’t go over there!"

Just as her shout left her lips, there was a sharp "whoosh," like a streak of lightning flashing before her eyes. Prince Yiasu seemed to sense something as well; instinctively he yanked back on the reins, began to turn his head, but before he could even see clearly, he felt a sudden weight in his chest. His entire body froze on the saddle.

He seemed unable to believe it; he seemed to have lost the ability to react, standing there in a daze. No one knew how long it was—or perhaps, it was only an instant—before the chill spreading from his chest stabbed into him, making his whole body shudder. He slowly lowered his head.

An arrow had buried itself in his chest!

"Prince Yiasu!"

Shang Ruyi shouted, but it was already too late. In the next moment, hundreds, thousands of arrows once more followed that whistling arrow and came screaming through the air. In the span of a single blink, Yiasu was riddled with dozens of shafts, his body convulsing again and again under the impact, until at last he could hold on no longer and toppled from his horse.

Heaven and earth seemed to overturn in that instant.

Shang Ruyi could not believe her own eyes, could not believe her own ears, could not believe this world she stood in. Yet right in front of her, the most brutal, blood-soaked scene was unfolding; in her ears the shrill hiss of arrows tearing through the air kept echoing, interwoven with the cries of shock and enraged shouts all around. And the whole world seemed, in the moment Yiasu fell, to be dyed blood-red.