After being forced into a marriage with a wealthy family, the virtuous wife caused a huge uproar.

Princess Jinyang and her two companions also witnessed the sudden fire at the fork in the road.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is so wicked! Young Madam Gu, you must be alright!" Princess Jinyang shouted, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Princess, what's wrong?" Fang Yuening was unfamiliar with the horse track used for the martial arts examination.

"Young Madam Gu has entered the most difficult horse trail." Princess Jinyang cried anxiously.

"Princess, why don't we tell her to stop?" Yu Qiannian knew a little bit about it.

Her father ran down that road and mentioned it when he got home.

The martial arts examination horse track was a challenge that many men in the capital took in order to prove their horsemanship skills.

Many dropped out halfway through, too afraid to finish the race.

"It's no use. The Crown Prince is here today to make things difficult for Madam Gu. He won't agree." Princess Jinyang knew the Crown Prince's temperament well; he was vindictive.

Madam Gu, relying on Lord Gu's influence, had a quarrel with her elder brother, the Crown Prince. Today, the Crown Prince forced Madam Gu to compete in order to get revenge on her.

Gu Ce spurred his horse past the three girls, closely following Rong Yingluo's figure.

"There are three trenches a hundred paces ahead. Tell the horses to speed up!" Gu Ce shouted again.

This time, Rong Yingluo heard it clearly; it really was Gu Ce's voice, reminding her what the obstacle was ahead.

Rong Yingluo knew nothing about the future, and it would be a lie to say she wasn't worried at all.

Now that Gu Ce has arrived, he knows what lies ahead and tells her in advance, giving her greater confidence in reaching the finish line smoothly.

After walking for a few more breaths, she indeed saw a sunken section of road not far ahead.

This time, she didn't hold back and lashed the horse's rump with her whip.

The horse, feeling pain, sped up.

Upon reaching it, she spurred the horse and charged forward, sending it soaring into the air and successfully leaping over a ditch about ten feet wide.

As she crossed over, Rong Yingluo glanced down.

This sight sent chills down my spine.

There were bamboo splinters at the bottom of the trench.

If a person falls off, the horse will surely die. If the person is riding on the horse's back, the horse may stop them from dying. However, if a person falls directly off, they will also surely die.

But before she could calm her frightened heart, Gu Ce's voice came again: "Fifty feet from here is the next one, which is even wider than the previous one."

Rong Yingluo steadied herself and gripped the reins tightly with both hands.

At this moment, she was filled with fighting spirit.

She and her master traveled all over the country and encountered all kinds of difficulties.

One year, while passing through a mountain, the master and his apprentice encountered a pack of wolves. She was only thirteen years old at the time.

Master said that when the enemy is strong and we are weak, we should use our momentum to overwhelm the opponent and make the enemy tremble with fear. In this way, we have already won three points.

Now she was facing the same wolf pack she had faced years before, where she and her master had fought off ten ferocious wolves. She believed she could defeat them just as easily today.

With enough courage, Rong Yingluo was no longer afraid of anything. When another trench appeared, she crossed it even more gracefully than the previous one.

When the third trench appeared, she and her horse leaped across it as if it were flat ground.

Rong Yinglu guessed that the horse she chose had probably run this road many times, as if it knew how to deal with it every time it got close.

The experienced horse knows the way, and at this moment, it has a huge advantage.

"Good partner," Rong Yingluo praised, and even took a free hand to stroke the horse's back.

Soon, another crossroads appeared, and once again, a crucial choice was presented.

Before Gu Ce could even offer a word of warning, he used the same tactic to force Rong Yingluo into the middle of the horse path.

Gu Ce's face was as black as ink, and his worries intensified. He had never seen Rong Yingluo ride a horse before and had no idea how capable she was.

He could only follow behind her, constantly reminding her.

"There's a cave ahead, only wide enough for one horse to pass through. People should hide beside or under the horse," Gu Ce shouted again.

What?

Rong Yingluo was startled and immediately threw off one of the stirrups, ready to hang on the side at any moment.

Sure enough, not long after, after turning a corner, a small man-made hill appeared in front of us, blocking our way, with only a small cave for horses to pass through.

The entrance to the cave is only about the height of a person. If a person were to ride a horse straight up, they would be knocked off before entering the cave. If their feet were still in the stirrups, they might get caught and dragged along, which would certainly result in serious injury or even death.

As soon as Rong Yingluo saw the cave, she nimbly swung her leg, gripped the saddle tightly with both hands, and used a stirrup to position her legs horizontally beside the horse.

However, the horse was running continuously, making it very difficult to keep its body still. With mountain walls on both sides, it was easy to get scraped by them, and excruciating pain would instantly follow.

But in the face of life and death, she dared not relax in the slightest, and dared not loosen the grip on her hands even a little.

Her back and legs were rubbed multiple times in a short period of time.

She was drenched in sweat when the horse finally emerged from the cave.

She had never suffered like this in her entire life.

At this moment, Rong Yingluo felt a strong hatred rising in her heart.

"Yuwen Yi, if I don't die today, you will die in the future." She silently repeated these words in her heart, but her hands did not stop moving.

Once out of the cave, she used all her strength to flip back onto the horse, her hands aching so much that she could barely hold the reins.

Gu Ce could see from afar that the back of her clothes was torn, and he knew that she had rubbed against the mountain wall.

"Liuli, you must hold on," Gu Ce murmured to himself.

At this moment, he also felt intense hatred towards the Crown Prince. How could someone so intolerant, a mere heir apparent, possibly shoulder the responsibility of ruling a country and caring for his people like his own children?

If he were truly a prince, then the crown prince should prepare for his wrath.

Gu Ce's eyes followed Rong Yingluo's retreating figure intently.

"There are steep slopes ahead," he warned again.

Rong Yingluo's fighting spirit intensified.

The so-called high and low slopes are a stretch of road that is undulating like waves, and if a person does not control the road well, it is easy to be thrown off the horse.

Rong Yingluo pulled on the reins, slowing the horse down.

She lay prone on the horse's back, lowering her body.

When the slopes appeared, the horse was already moving at a relatively slow speed, and it passed through smoothly.

Soon they reached the third fork in the road. There was no need to choose; the horse would simply take the path where no flames appeared.

She was mentally prepared.

Gu Ce saw this from afar and saw no need to scold the Crown Prince anymore.

Princess Jinyang and the other two followed closely behind Gu Ce, not daring to approach and disturb him.

They all knew how important Gu Ce's reminder was to Mrs. Gu.

After the competition ends, they will take good care of Mrs. Gu.

"There's a pontoon bridge ahead, only wide enough for one horse to pass at a time." Gu Ce's reminder reached Rong Yingluo's ears once again.

Floating bridges are a common tool used by soldiers to cross rivers during military campaigns.

The martial arts examination horse track brings together every imaginable scenario.

Warriors who successfully overcome each obstacle will be invincible on the battlefield.

At this moment, Rong Yingluo felt admiration for the royal family for building this racecourse to train military generals.

The soldiers who marched out from here protected the people of Nanxia Kingdom, ensuring their peaceful lives and resisting countless invasions from enemy forces on the border.

When Rong Yingluo saw a pond in the distance, the pontoon bridge also came into view.

The pond wasn't large, maybe twenty zhang wide at most, but the bridge was very narrow, and someone unskilled at horsemanship could easily fall in. She didn't know if there were any man-made dangers underwater. But after seeing the spikes while crossing the moat, she strongly suspected that there were definitely deadly things lurking underwater.

But just as she was about to ride her horse onto the pontoon bridge, flames suddenly broke out on both sides of the bridge.

"Damn it!" she finally couldn't help but curse out loud.