The pungent smell of blood filled the air, so overpowering that not even holding one's breath could stop it. The rust-like scent could penetrate the mucous membranes, skin, and bones directly to the brain, causing a throbbing headache that was impossible to escape.

"Cough! Pah!"

Xiang Ling felt something heavy pressing down on her, a weight that made it nearly impossible to breathe, and a strong foreign object sensation in her mouth.

Her awareness quickly cleared up, and upon opening her eyes, Xiang Ling's vision was still quite narrow. Beneath her was a grassy ground soaked in blood, and in her mouth was probably dirt splashed in from falling.

Even though her brain was still in a chaotic state, a subconscious reflex prevented her from making any sudden movements. Instead, she focused on breathing quietly to regain her strength.

After confirming that the only sound around was the wind whistling across the grassland, her body gradually regained control from the numbness of awakening. It was at this moment that she used her right elbow to prop up the ground, pushing the weight off her body, and immediately rolled away. She picked up a fallen curved knife from the ground while remaining alert to her surroundings.

After a quick scan to confirm safety, Xiang Ling finally calmed down slightly and stood up to carefully observe her surroundings.

Simply put, it was a battlefield, and the weight on her was the corpse of a warhorse.

Looking closer, this was the site of a small-scale skirmish. Judging by the attire of the bodies, the skirmish likely involved the Jiangdong cavalry scouts and the grassland nomads in the northwest grasslands.

A skirmish had broken out between a scout cavalry unit and the grassland nomads, with more nomad bodies on the ground than Jiangdong cavalry. The cavalry's armor and equipment were still intact on their bodies, indicating that the Jiangdong troops had emerged victorious—if it had been the nomads, with their loose tribal alliance and lack of resources, they would have looted all the quality equipment from the Jiangdong soldiers.

She... yes, she was a member of this scout team.

Xiang Ling, with her head throbbing, struggled to recall countless flashes of memories before finally piecing together the situation.

Not long ago, as a new recruit carrying a special decree from the Emperor through the Ministry of War, she had joined the ranks of the Jiangdong army. During her first deep reconnaissance mission into the grasslands with the scout unit, she found herself in a battle for life and death.

While Xiang Ling's skills were good, they were not yet invincible. Moreover, on the battlefield, outstanding individual prowess did not guarantee absolute victory. When enemies surrounded from all directions, even a master swordsman might fall to a stray arrow at any moment.

It seemed she had been knocked down by such an arrow attack, with her mount shot from beneath her. The brief period since joining the scout team had not provided enough training in riding skills to handle such situations, and she ended up falling to the ground and being pinned down by her own mount.

Fortunately, her comrades managed to eliminate the enemy after suffering nearly half of their ranks in casualties. Otherwise, even if she was pinned under her horse, she would have surely been discovered by the enemy.

Next, she needed to return to the vanguard camp of the Jiangdong cavalry. Though the distance wasn't too far, it would still take time on foot.

Time was of the essence. The grassland nomads encountered here were just scouting parties like their own. The next wave would likely be another attack by the nomads aiming to break through the Yanmen Pass and head south. Without timely reinforcement, the Jiangdong Right Flank Army establishing a forward camp outside the pass would suffer significant losses...

"Hmm?"

Running tens of meters in the direction her memories guided her, Xiang Ling suddenly froze.

Something seems off.

No, now is not the time to ponder about this. I must quickly return to the forward camp and join the stationed troops in battle. I came to the northwest frontier with the goal of accumulating military merit through warfare, and now is the time to be on the front lines.

On the vast grassland, there were almost no landmarks, but luckily, I could still follow the traces left on the ground by the Eastern Army's cavalry in retreat to confirm the path. With Xiang Ling's speed, his full-speed running was already comparable to that of a war horse.

Finally, at sunset, the outline of the vanguard camp appeared in sight.

However, what was unexpected was that the Jiangdong Army, known for its strict military discipline and fierce combat capabilities, was still calmly cooking their meals when they received news of the enemy's approach. Although there were soldiers fully armed for daily guarding in the camp, this scene was nothing like being prepared for battle.

"Who goes there... a scout?"

As Xiang Ling descended from a small grassy slope, the guard at the camp gate noticed him immediately, drawing his bow and arrow, though only partially.

But Xiang Ling's actions completely took the guard by surprise.

"What's going on?!"

Xiang Ling almost stormed angrily to the gate, grabbed the captain of the gate guard, and demanded, "The enemy could attack at any moment! Where is the readiness for war? The camp's defenses? Hasn't the outpost been notified?!"

The captain was briefly intimidated by Xiang Ling's furious demeanor. It was unlike any ordinary soldier he had seen before; such authority was only seen in high-ranking officers. After a moment, he realized that Xiang Ling was just a regular scout cavalry and frowned, pushing Xiang Ling's hand away.

"Watch your tone! Recruit!" he reprimanded.

"Sorry."

After a brief moment of confusion, Xiang Ling realized that his actions of reprimanding and questioning came naturally, as if this muscle memory was ingrained from countless repetitions.

Fortunately, the captain had some recollection of Xiang Ling, remembering the new recruit who had recently arrived but was quite adept and had cleaned up the cavalry camp proficiently. So, he listened to what Xiang Ling had to say.

"Never mind, what happened to you? Weren't you supposed to be on a reconnaissance mission with the scout team? What about the readiness you mentioned?"

Upon hearing this, Xiang Ling finally noticed something amiss.

"Where is the team? Didn't Captain Xubin return with them?"

"Neither of the two cavalry squads has returned. Commander Yang has already dispatched a team to contact them."

"How is that possible?!"

Xiang Ling wanted to shout out instinctively, but he restrained himself, pondering quietly, "I followed the trail of the cavalry until near the camp... which means their tracks disappeared near the camp..."

"Hey, you haven't answered my question."

The captain also realized something, "How did you end up like this?"

"We encountered a grassland patrol, outnumbered by them. I was knocked unconscious at the time. After eliminating them, Captain Xubin should have led the team back."

Even the nearby ordinary soldiers could tell that something was amiss, despite not exchanging whispers. Various speculations started forming in their minds.

"Everyone, stand by! I will inform the commander."

The captain said loudly, then turned to Xiang Ling, "You wait in the barracks."

The scout cavalry barracks were separate from the infantry ones since scouts were light cavalry and did not require heavy armor support. So, with most of the troops sent out yet to return, the cavalry barracks were almost empty.

However, it was not completely empty.

"Xiao Ling? How come you're back so soon!"

Walking into the camp, a young man who was oiling and maintaining armor and weapons on the empty ground in front of the tent looked up in surprise at Xiang Ling.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call her a young girl. Similar to the Xiang Ling that was saved by the Supreme One before, this young girl was a child that Xiang Ling encountered on her way to report to Yanmen Pass, about the same age as Xiang Ling.

Back then, she made a living by stealing and pickpocketing, but unfortunately ran into Xiang Ling, and after being easily subdued, she latched onto Xiang Ling. Despite the unpleasant introduction, their similar backgrounds and the cheerful nature of the girl made Xiang Ling feel closer to her. Eventually, she reluctantly agreed to bring her into the military after being constantly pestered.

Although the military system of West Chu was quite strict, Xiang Ling had special orders from the Ministry of War and the royal family in hand. At that time, the commander of the Jiangdong Army treated her as an insider, so he did not make things difficult for her and the girl.

Oh, right, the girl had no name, she was just commonly referred to as such.

Compared to Xiang Ling, who was brought back to the palace and could eat and drink without worry and diligently train, the girl was almost described as fragile. Even in the military, she could not engage in combat like the soldiers, but could only do activities in the camp such as maintaining equipment and transporting supplies. Of course, in a way, this was also a good thing, at least Xiang Ling did not have to worry about her safety.

"Well, there was a bit of an accident."

Xiang Ling sat down on the ground as well, casually picking up a curved knife and selecting a sharpening stone from a pile of tools to sharpen it. As she sharpened, she roughly recounted her experiences.

"Whoa! Xiao Ling, you actually survived in that situation, that's amazing, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" Xiang Ling sighed, and said helplessly, "I was knocked off my horse right away and even got knocked out by my own mount."

Honestly, it was a bit embarrassing to talk about.

"But that's not important!" The girl insisted, "Those were steppe people! Being able to survive is already impressive!"

The girl actually had no concept of Xiang Ling's strength, but she knew from the rumors passed down that the steppe people had always been a major threat on the empire's northwest border - at least before Xiang Ling took over the defense in the northwest.

"Maybe..."

Xiang Ling could only smile helplessly at this, there was no point arguing with the girl on this matter.

"Oh, and then what? The others in the camp received orders to assemble and depart earlier, do they have some work to do?"

"Work? Does finding missing persons count?" Xiang Ling suddenly felt a bit tired, her eyelids closing slightly.

?!!

In that split-second of closing her eyes, a crimson image flashed, and Xiang Ling seemed to sense the arrival of something ominous, her heart pounding as if it were about to leap out of her chest, the beating sound dense like drums on the battlefield.

What was this terrible premonition all about?

Woo-woo—woo—woo-woo...

The horn outside the camp and the urgent bell ringing in the camp caused the entire camp to fall into chaos.