Chapter 9: Dragon

“Hey, these Karluks are chasing this way.”

From the high slope, Li Xiao and the others were surprised to find that after the forty-plus Karluks crossed the river, they did not immediately join the main force to surround the people on the bank.

Instead, they galloped in the direction of Li Xiao and his group. It seemed they wanted to continue pursuing the group that had fled ahead of them.

There were about ten people in the group running for their lives ahead, their identities unknown.

The forty-plus Karluk cavalry behind them were also chasing desperately regardless of everything.

“It seems that among this group of people ahead, someone has an extraordinary identity!” Li Dashan said in a deep voice.

“Regardless of who those people ahead are, as long as it’s fighting Karluks, our Hexi Fortress definitely has to lend a hand,” Li Xiao said in a cold and grim voice.

If half of the Karluks hadn’t been stopped at the Dragon Bone River and there were still more than a hundred of them, Li Xiao would never take the people around him to their deaths.

But now, only forty-plus had charged to the south bank of the Dragon Bone River.

If he didn’t kill them, Li Xiao would be letting down the spirit of his cheap father in heaven.

Hearing Li Xiao’s words, the young men of Hexi present all showed interest and nodded silently.

The battle at the Northern Mountains not long ago had caused heavy losses to Hexi Fortress, and everyone had a grudge against the Karluks.

Given the chance to kill Karluks, no one would chicken out.

Moreover, they had eighteen people on their side, plus the ten being pursued; their apparent strength was about the same as the Karluks.

“Do it!”

“Charge down.”

“Kill these Karluks.”

“Revenge!”

The eighteen able-bodied men of Hexi Fortress all voiced their agreement, reaching a consensus.

Li Dashan also nodded gently: “Good!”

“Listen to my command later. Let the Karluks get close first, greet them with bows and arrows, and then charge down.”

Everyone nodded silently. Li Xiao did the same, acting according to Sixth Uncle’s orders.

Although he was considered the Young Lord of Hexi Fortress and, barring accidents, would be the future Fortress Lord, he was still young after all.

His prestige among youths like Dahu and Tie Tou was unquestionable, but in the eyes of adult men like Li Dashan, the identity of Young Lord wasn’t enough to convince them.

So Li Xiao wouldn’t recklessly snatch command but silently learned and accumulated experience.

However, he still expressed his thoughts, saying: “The Karluks have come from afar, raiding over a long distance, and just swam across the river. Their horses are exhausted and can’t pick up speed. This is our advantage.”

“Also, I observed that the chase all the way here has consumed a lot of the Karluks’ arrows. We can use bows and arrows for ranged shooting more.”

Li Xiao’s words surprised Li Dashan and the others. They didn’t expect that experiencing battle for the first time, he would have such insight.

And his observation was detailed; Li Xiao even discovered some points they hadn’t thought of.

“Da Long is right, the Karluks’ horse strength isn’t as good as ours,” Li Dashan nodded and said.

Chen Erqiang also chuckled: “It seems Da Long is born to fight battles. The future of our Hexi Fortress depends on you.”

The others also showed satisfied expressions.

At this moment, Li Xiao’s influence in the hearts of these people quietly increased a little.

But to reach the Old Master’s level where his word was law, Li Xiao still needed more battles to convince more people.

Although power can be inherited, prestige must be earned by one’s own hands.

…

Swish~

With a shrill whistle, a Karluk arrow shot straight into the back of a Khitan warrior.

The sharp arrowhead pierced the muscle and came out through the chest.

“Ali~”

Kunji shouted, but could only watch helplessly as the Khitan warrior fell from his horse.

The Karluk pursuers behind were getting closer and closer, constantly shooting arrows, leaving fewer and fewer guards around Kunji.

Although the Khitan warriors also used their few remaining arrows to take out quite a few pursuers.

But even with a one-to-one exchange, their side was losing out.

She knew these Karluks were deliberately avoiding her.

They wanted to capture her alive.

“Big Brother, I might not be able to go back.”

Kunji looked toward the southwest, her eyes becoming a bit red, murmuring softly to herself.

She regretted it.

She shouldn’t have come to this barbaric Jin Prefecture.

Although she had long known Chuluoduo was an embroidered pillow (good-looking but useless), she didn’t expect this bastard to be even more incompetent.

That guy was a muscular waste, a complete idiot. Kunji watched helplessly as he was defeated by the Karluks.

Even more hatefully, when the army collapsed, this bastard actually abandoned her and fled with his men.

This resulted in her original two hundred guards now being reduced to just thirty-odd people.

She almost hated Chuluoduo to death now.

If she could go back, she would definitely break off the engagement with this bastard.

Such a fiancé was better off discarded.

Unfortunately, she might not have the chance to do so.

When another guard beside her died under Karluk arrows, Kunji’s face gradually showed despair, and she tightly gripped the curved saber at her waist.

Then her face showed determination. She was a daughter of the Xiao clan; even if she died, she absolutely could not be captured alive by the Karluks and used to threaten her big brother.

“Kill!”

“Catch her.”

The distance between the two sides was getting closer. As the guards around Kunji were taken out one by one, the Karluk cavalry behind let out excited roars.

Although they also suffered losses in the process, capturing that Khitan noblewoman ahead was still a piece of cake.

Swish~

The next moment, the leader of the Karluk cavalry drew his bow and nocked an arrow, a cold smile on the corner of his mouth.

His target was Kunji’s warhorse.

Without the protection and cover of guards, Kunji was like a little ewe ready for slaughter.

Accompanied by the whistle of the arrow, the warhorse under Kunji suddenly neighed shrilly. Its hind leg was pierced by the arrow, and the horse collapsed directly onto the ground.

“Ah~”

Kunji screamed in terror. Although she was fortunate not to be crushed under the horse, she was thrown far away, feeling as if all her bones were broken, and blood flowed from her forehead.

“Wu-ou wu-ou~”

“Hahahaha~”

Seeing Kunji fall from the horse, the Karluk cavalrymen let out excited shouts.

Some began to surround and kill the remaining six Khitan warriors, while the Karluk cavalry leader led men charging toward where Kunji had fallen.

He wanted to capture this woman alive personally.

At this moment, Kunji only felt pain all over her body; she couldn’t even stand up to run.

She watched helplessly as the Karluk cavalryman got closer and closer to her, even clearly seeing the disgusting, hideous laughter on his face.

“Big Brother~”

Kunji’s expression was full of horror.

The first person she thought of wasn’t Dahe Chuluoduo, whom she had already given up on, but her big brother, who had been both a brother and a father to her since childhood.

She didn’t expect that one willful choice of hers would result in falling into the hands of the Karluks.

“No, I can’t let the Karluks threaten Big Brother,” Kunji said firmly in her heart.

Gripping the dagger tightly, she placed it against her chest.

She took a deep breath.

Huff huff huff~

“You can do it.”

While encouraging herself, she closed her eyes tightly, wanting to end it all.

But feeling the coldness of the dagger on her skin, her hands trembled violently at this moment. The small dagger felt like a heavy burden of a thousand jin, and she simply couldn’t stab down.

Between life and death, there is great terror.

Having lived a life of luxury since childhood, she simply couldn’t disregard life and death.

“Hahahahaha~”

“Ridiculous woman.”

“Be a good girl and come back with me!”

“I will present you to the great Yabgu. Maybe the Yabgu will have pity and allow you to become his concubine.”

The Karluk cavalryman galloping from afar also saw Kunji trying to commit suicide and let out a disdainful laugh.

He had raided other tribes with his tribe many times and captured countless women.

Regardless of how they struggled and resisted, very few dared to end their own lives.

Greed for life and fear of death is human nature.

So, he was also certain that Kunji didn’t dare to die.

The distance of dozens of meters vanished in a flash. The Karluk cavalry leader laughed hideously and soon rushed in front of Kunji.

Leaning down from his horse, he knocked the dagger from Kunji’s hand with his whip.

Laughing, he reached out, wanting to grab Kunji’s clothes and throw her onto his horse.

In front of this strong Karluk man, the high and mighty Kunji was like a helpless little ewe, unable to do anything, her mind blank, leaving her at his mercy.

But just as the Karluk was about to grab Kunji, a shrill whistling sound suddenly came.

Swish~

Accompanied by the dull sound of iron piercing flesh~

The Karluk cavalry leader’s movement suddenly froze. He stood stiffly on the spot, his face full of hideous and painful expressions.

Then, with an unwilling and fearful expression, his whole body fell heavily to the ground.

Thud~

Hearing the muffled sound of the corpse hitting the ground, all the Karluks were stunned. Then they came back to their senses and shouted in gibberish Karluk.

“Enemy, take cover quick.”

“They are on the hill over there.”

“Quick, shoot arrows.”

The Karluks shouted in panic, while Kunji sat dazed on the ground.

On her originally terrified and despairing face, a look of hope gradually emerged.

Looking down, the arrogant Karluk man from just a moment ago was now lying dead at her feet.

The fatal wound was an arrow that entered from one of his temples and exited from the other, skewering his head like a candied haw.

“Dead?”

Kunji felt faintly excited inside. After checking carefully, this Karluk was indeed thoroughly dead.

And she also discovered that on the fletching of the arrow that killed him, a small block character was carved!

“Dragon?” (Long)

The Khitans were deeply influenced by Han culture, and not a few people knew Chinese characters.

She recognized at a glance that a scrawled character ‘Dragon’ was carved on the arrow.

This should be the name of the arrow’s owner, and it was a Han person.

She hurriedly turned her head and looked in the direction from which the arrow had come.

Only then did she discover that on the southern hillside, a team of cavalry had appeared at some point.

Standing at the very front was a man on horseback—no, it should be said a big boy, as his face looked a bit childish.

Holding an empty bow, his other hand nimbly drew another arrow from the quiver. His eyes, sharp as a falcon’s, scrutinized every Karluk, as if looking for his next target.

And behind him, more than a dozen riders were also shooting arrows down at the Karluk cavalry from high ground.

It was just that their arrows had only just been released.

Kunji’s gaze fell on the young man from afar. Intuition told her that this young man was the one who had just saved her.

(End of this chapter)