"Hyah!" Shaoyu roared again, chopping at Meng Tian with a flurry of brutal spear strikes. Metal rang sharp and shrill as sparks sprayed; for a heartbeat Meng Tian could only parry and give ground.
But it lasted only an instant. The two riders flashed past each other, wheeled, and thrust—glinting spearpoints skimmed perilously close to their eyes, then crashed together. They split apart once more.
They reined in and faced off at a distance.
Shaoyu cut down several Qin horsemen who rushed him, then pulled his mount back in line and stared at Meng Tian.
Along the approach, Qin cavalry eased off their reins and held back, cowed by the killing intent boiling off the youth; none dared to charge in blindly.
"Name yourself," Meng Tian said, gaze fixed and grave. Their exchange had been brief, but the boy's skill had caught his attention.
"Shaoyu, of the Chu Kingdom's Xiang clan."
"So you're the famed Xiang Yu. No wonder you fight like that."
"And you are?"
"Meng Tian of Qin."
"So it was your Meng family troops who smashed our left wing?" Shaoyu's eyes burned with rage.
"You flatter us," Meng Tian replied, quite pleased with himself. "Oh, and Xiang Yan—that would be your grandfather? Highest bounty on the field… claimed by our Mengs." His smile went cold; he meant to goad the boy.
"Bastard!" Xiang Liang bellowed.
Shaoyu's jaw clenched; veins stood out on the hands that gripped his spear. His fury was white-hot.
"Shaoyu! Keep your head—he's baiting you!" Long Qie shouted from behind.
"You think you can kill me?" Meng Tian added, still needling, voice dripping with disdain.
"YAA!"
Shaoyu exploded forward, hacking down again. Spears locked, grinding into a deadlock.
"You're desperate to have my head? Too bad. Revenge takes strength," Meng Tian said coolly. "And you're surrounded."
As his words fell, waves of Qin heavy cavalry thundered in, raising a choking wall of dust. The ground trembled.
"Immediate withdrawal—otherwise the Xiang line ends here," Fan Zeng said, face like iron.
"Protect Shaoyu with our lives!" the Xiang riders cried, voices resolute.
"Think you can leave? Impossible," Meng Tian snapped.
The ring of armored horse closed tight… when, on the cliff not far from the battlefield, several figures appeared out of thin air. The man in front smiled faintly. "Well now. Perfect timing."
It was Goku, with Xiao Li, Xue Nu, Chi Lian, and Nongyu at his side.
Xiao Li's eyes flickered with surprise as she looked at the besieged youth. "That's… Shaoyu?" (Being the incarnation of the Tear of Life, time hadn't touched her face. The other three women, though, were more mature—and even more dazzling—than before.)
Chi Lian had fully grown into the sultry, soul-stealing allure of legend. Only her outfit differed from the original tales: still crimson, still tracing every dangerous curve, but far less revealing—if anything, the restraint made her more devastating.
"You came all this way just to save that boy?" Xue Nu asked, curious. "How unexpected. He's not even a beauty."
"Hey—maybe hold the roast, yeah?" Goku shot her a look. "Besides, he's a kid I actually admire. I won't let him die because of my butterfly effects… Let's go. Time to make an entrance."
---
Thousands of Qin riders encircled Shaoyu's band, arm-mounted crossbows leveled. Any twitch and a storm of bolts would shred them; resistance was meaningless.
"Damn it… Is Chu's last hope going to die here, again?" Xiang Liang's eyes burned as the ring drew tighter.
"Shaoyu, we'll break the line. If you see a gap—you run. Don't look back," Long Qie said, back to back with him, voice grim.
"No. We live together or die together. I won't abandon you," Shaoyu said, jaw set. Barely more than a teenager, but already a general's heart—the makings of the future Hegemon-King. It was that same loyalty—and overconfidence—that would one day seal his tragic fate.
"Do not fear!" Fan Zeng cried from the saddle, gaze like a blade. "Guard Shaoyu with your lives! The Xiang bloodline must not end here!"
"Guard Shaoyu!" the scant dozens of surviving riders roared, eyes bright with a death-defying resolve.
"Fine spirit," Meng Tian said evenly. "Useless here." His hand chopped down. "Loose!"
Bolts hissed from every direction—dense as rain, inescapable.
The Xiang riders tightened around Shaoyu, ready to meet steel with flesh—to win him a heartbeat to escape.
Ten paces. A blink, and the quarrels would hit. Fear widened eyes, but nobody flinched.
Time seemed to freeze. A flute's pure notes drifted on the wind; feather-snow began to fall. The temperature plunged. The bolts touched the flakes and furred over with rime, then shattered on the ground like brittle glass.
Snow dusted the Qin riders—freezing their limbs. Shouts broke into panic.
"Snow?!"
"So cold—my body—!"
"I can't move! What is this—?!"
A white-haired beauty floated down, blue robes rippling, flute at her lips—Xue Nu's death-song turning the battlefield to winter. For a beat, even hard men forgot to breathe.
Screams followed. "Snakes! A—A swarm—!"
At their feet, serpents writhed in a black tide; riders locked up with terror, legs shaking, petrified to step.
Through the living carpet glided a woman of mature, bewitching grace: Chi Lian.
"Well, well. Meng Tian, was it?" A man appeared before her in a blink—Goku—voice mild. "This kid and I go back a bit. How about doing me a favor and letting them walk?"
Two more unmatched beauties descended like falling petals. A single brush of Nongyu's strings pulsed outward; an invisible wave rippled across the plain. Qin riders toppled from their saddles in a ring and lay still, breathing but unmoving.
"You are… who?" Meng Tian's eyes flicked over the four women, then fixed on Goku. His brow tightened.
"You're not qualified to know my name," Goku said, calm as a lake.
"Oh?" Interest sharpened Meng Tian's gaze—until he noticed the old sword hanging carelessly at Goku's waist. His face changed, voice dropping. "That blade… Could it be the number one weapon on the rolls—Mo Sword?"
_____
T/N:
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