Although Li Ke was a prince, he had spent many years leading troops in battle, and there were few women in the military camps. He was not good at dealing with women. Seeing Miao Feng's eyes filled with tears and on the verge of crying, he became somewhat flustered. He wanted to get her a handkerchief to wipe her tears, but he was so clumsy that he almost knocked over the candle holder.
Watching the usually calm and composed Li Ke in such a panicked and awkward state, Miao Feng couldn't help but smile, and the tears in her eyes receded with the smile.
At this moment, she felt the distance between them shrink, but she also knew that the difference in their statuses was too vast for there to be any outcome. She could only bury this affection deep in her heart.
Li Ke did not expel Miao Feng according to the imperial decree. However, he did not want to strain his relationship with the other generals in the army over such a matter. So, he devised a compromise: he sent Miao Feng to a small village a dozen miles away.
He arranged for her to stay with a farming family to recover from her injuries and gave the family a considerable amount of silver, asking them to take good care of her.
In reality, Miao Feng had only met Li Ke once. Yet, that single encounter left Miao Feng unable to forget him for a long time. Li Ke's image was firmly etched in her heart.
Miao Feng eagerly wished for her injuries to heal quickly. Even if women were not allowed to enter the military camp, just being able to see Li Ke's military tent from a distance outside the camp would have been a great comfort to her.
But what she didn't expect was that just as she recovered from her injuries and could finally get a distant glimpse of the military camp, the enemy launched a night attack on the Tang army's camp that very day.
Li Ke's army of a hundred thousand had already reached a seventy percent casualty rate due to illness and injury. The enemy, like fierce tigers entering a flock of sheep, engulfed the entire camp in flames.
At this moment, Miao Feng disregarded the taboo of women not entering the camp. She used her instantaneous movement technique, flashing her way to the outside of Li Ke's command tent.
However, Li Ke's command tent was already engulfed in flames. Many enemy soldiers were waving their flags and shouting, "The Tang army's commander-in-chief has been burned to death! The Tang army is finished!"
Upon hearing this, Miao Feng's eyes turned red. She was a grandmaster of the Xuanmen sect. Although she appeared to be only in her early twenties, she had been practicing mystical arts for over 50 years. In the Xuanmen, age was not the most important factor; cultivation was. Many Xuanmen practitioners never descended from the mountain in their lives and died at over a hundred years old, yet still looked like they were in their teens or early twenties.
Miao Feng was the same. Both in appearance and in spirit, she was like a young girl, which was precisely why she had fallen so deeply in love with Li Ke.
Hearing that Li Ke was burned to death, she completely disregarded the Xuanmen's prohibition against using mystical arts on mortals. She employed the Five Elements Thunderfall technique, using the military camp as a target, and summoned lightning from the heavens to strike. In an instant, the entire camp, except for herself, who had used a Vajra Protective Shield to preserve her life, was annihilated by the lightning. The entire camp was scorched into a barren land.
She gazed at the devastation around her, the charred corpses scattered haphazardly. She felt no fear of abusing her powers or violating taboos, nor was she afraid of divine retribution. She simply felt an overwhelming grief in her heart. The person she cared about most was gone, and she felt the entire world should accompany him in death.
A taboo broken once was broken anyway; what was one more? Miao Feng looked up at the sky, identified the direction, and used her instantaneous movement technique again, flashing to the enemy's main camp.
Instantaneous movement was one of the highest mental techniques in the Xuanmen. Even with Miao Feng's high level of cultivation, she could not use it multiple times consecutively. Moreover, she had just used the Five Elements Thunderfall technique, and her spiritual power could only support her to teleport into the enemy camp; she had no strength left to return.
This journey was tantamount to seeking her own doom.
However, she didn't care about that. She had only one thought now: she had to avenge Li Ke, even if it cost her own life.
Thus, under the heavy encirclement of the enemy, she severed the enemy commander's throat with a single stroke of her blade.
Watching the enemy forces surge forward like a tide, Miao Feng channeled all her spiritual power, intending to use herself as a catalyst to summon heavenly lightning again. This time, she no longer had the strength to maintain the Vajra Shield, but she harbored no regrets in avenging Li Ke.
Just then, shouts of intense battle erupted from all around the enemy camp. Countless Tang soldiers charged in from all directions.
These Tang soldiers were like divine troops descended from heaven, their soldiers and generals fierce. Leading the charge was a young general, astride a white steed, his golden armor gleaming in the firelight, making his face even more handsome and imposing, filled with an aura of solemn killing intent. It was none other than Li Ke, whom Miao Feng longed for.
At this moment, Li Ke was like a god descending, cutting through the enemy ranks as if they were mere weeds, beheading enemies as easily as chopping vegetables.
Wherever his blade touched, he was invincible.
The moment Miao Feng saw Li Ke, Li Ke also saw her.
Li Ke saw the dagger stained with blood in her hand and the enemy commander lying at her feet. He was visibly stunned, and his great saber faltered for a moment.
"It's you?"
Seeing Li Ke's star-like eyes gazing down at her, Miao Feng felt that everything she had done was worthwhile at that instant. In this moment, she felt as if she were bathed in the warm spring sun, with flowers blooming all around her.
"Damn woman, I'll kill you to avenge our commander!" At this moment, an enemy soldier seized the opportunity of Miao Feng's daze and lunged with his sword towards her neck. The blow was close, powerful, and fast.
Miao Feng realized it when it was too late to dodge.
She could only watch helplessly as the gleaming blade swung towards her neck. At this moment, her heart was filled with an indescribable mix of joy and sorrow.
She would die. She had known this when she unleashed the Five Elements Thunderfall technique. She just hadn't expected it to be so soon. In this moment, she did not fear death, but she felt regret. She wished she could have looked at Li Ke a little longer; she felt sadness, not wanting Li Ke to see her die so ugly, her neck severed. It must look terrible.
She knew she wasn't beautiful. She had never cared about it before, but in front of him, she wished she could be more beautiful, at least die with some grace. But at this moment, she had no choice.
Her feelings were also mixed with joy. She was happy that Li Ke was alive. As long as he lived well, she didn't care about anything else, not even her own life...
The cold gleam of the blade swept towards her neck. Most people, knowing they couldn't dodge, would have closed their eyes in fear. But she kept her eyes open, looking at Li Ke in the cold light. This was the last glance, and she couldn't bear to close her eyes. If she could, she wanted to engrave his image into her soul. In her next life, she would meet him sooner.
Just as she thought she was doomed, the icy edge of the blade stopped beside her neck. The edge had touched her skin, and the biting cold permeated through her skin into her blood, then flowed into her heart. This was the second time she had been so close to death.
The last time was when she jumped off a cliff. Back then, she felt no fear of death, nor any joy in living.
But this time was different. Although she still didn't fear death, her heart was filled with regret. But not dying filled her with ecstatic joy.
Especially seeing the person who saved her, with such a gleaming long saber, made her heart leap with happiness as if it would jump out of her mouth.
"Be careful! This is the enemy camp. One careless move and you could lose your life," Li Ke's long saber had already decapitated the enemy soldier just as his blade was about to strike Miao Feng's neck.
The saber, having lost its wielder, naturally lost its momentum and stopped at the last moment, narrowly saving Miao Feng's life.
Was he talking to me? The sound of her heartbeat pounded against her eardrums like a drum. Miao Feng could see Li Ke's lips moving, but she couldn't hear what he was saying.
Li Ke shook his head and chuckled lightly, like a gentle breeze rippling a spring pond, stirring Miao Feng's heart, "You're stunned, aren't you? Seeing you alone charging into the enemy camp, killing their commander, I thought you were something else! Come up!"
He said this while sitting on his horse, extending a hand to Miao Feng, who was on the ground.
As if guided by an unseen force, Miao Feng raised her hand and clasped his calloused palm. She was easily pulled up behind him and sat on the horse's back.
As they rode together on the same horse, Miao Feng felt as if she were sitting on a cloud. Her body felt so light that she could only hold tightly onto the armor in front of her, otherwise, she felt she would float away, soaring into the sky.
She used all her senses to experience the man in front of her: his broad back, his imposing physique, his long black hair carrying a unique, dignified and subtle fragrance, including his heavy breathing from charging through the enemy ranks, and his powerful heartbeat.
Everything about Li Ke fascinated her.
She didn't know how long she had been sitting behind him until the person in front of her spoke, "Alright, it's safe now. You can get down!"
Only then did she notice that the sky had already turned pale. A rising sun was about to burst forth on the horizon, and the clouds in the sky were dyed with a magnificent layer of red. The person in front of her was also illuminated by this splendor, turning into the most dazzling light.
"So beautiful!" Miao Feng blurted out involuntarily, looking at Li Ke.
Li Ke was adjusting the saddle. Hearing Miao Feng's words, he thought she was referring to the sunrise on the horizon and casually replied, "Mm, it is quite beautiful."
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Li Ke paused, stopping his hand from adjusting the saddle, and turned to look at Miao Feng, "Who exactly are you?"