Isolated town in northern border region

At this moment, Xiao Lie was squatting on a horizontal branch of a large tree, listening to the commotion coming from afar, a slight smile playing on his lips.

He raised his hand, drew a white-feathered arrow from his quiver, nocked it on the iron-framed bow, and slowly drew it to its full draw.

The sound of the taut bowstring was almost inaudible in the night wind.

His gaze pierced through the gaps in the trees and landed on the firelight at the edge of a new army camp in the distance.

A centurion leading the group was gesturing and cursing, as if he had just escaped the chaos and was still angry.

Xiao Lie loosened his grip.

The arrow pierced the night silently and struck the centurion precisely in the throat.

The man didn't even utter a sound, and slowly collapsed, clutching his neck.

The surrounding soldiers were taken aback at first, then someone shouted.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The entire camp descended into chaos once again.

Xiao Lie flipped and leaped down from the tree branch, already nocking a second arrow before landing.

His figure moved so fast in the moonlight that it was almost invisible; with each draw of the bow and release of the string, an officer fell.

He didn't aim at the ordinary soldiers; he only shot at the low-ranking officers wearing eagle feathers.

Over the course of two days, nearly 20% of Peng Xuan's low-ranking officers were lost.

Xiao Lie single-handedly severed most of the New Army's grassroots command chain, causing the various units to lose contact and fight independently.

Some people were paranoid, some shot arrows at the slightest sound, some dared not close their eyes all night, and some secretly huddled at the bottom of the hillside, afraid to make a sound.

Xiao Lie's archery skills were at their peak over the past two days, hitting the target with every single arrow.

When his quiver was empty, he would sneak into the New Army's camp and steal a few more quivers. The next day, the arrows would fly back untouched and land on the archer's throat.

Xu De crouched in a hidden hollow at the back, watching the continuous stream of good news coming from the front, but there was no smile on his face.

He looked at his box of silver needles, which gleamed in the faint moonlight, then glanced in the direction Xiao Lie had left, and muttered something under his breath.

"Thirty-six hours... Don't use them all up."

Hearing Xu De muttering, Ledo casually asked.

"Dr. Xu, are you tired from running around these past few days?"

"Just hold on a little longer, the time is almost right. By tomorrow at the latest, the prince will definitely lead us out of here."

"To be honest, we're not afraid of a direct confrontation; they're just a bunch of greenhorns!"

Xu De swallowed the words that were stuck in his throat and instead gave a serious reminder.

"Don't be reckless! Your prince is risking his life to get you out of here!"

Ledo narrowed his eyes, feeling something was off.

"These greenhorns who scare themselves? Do we really need Your Highness to risk your life?"

…………

By the evening of the third day, Peng Xuan's men were exhausted.

The encirclement was rendered ineffective, with most of the troops scattered throughout the mountains and forests, unable to support each other, and even basic communication was cut off.

Xiao Lie stood on a high slope, looking at the crooked torches in the distance, put down the bow in his hand, and waved to Ledo.

"That's about it..."

"Tell the brothers to turn north and face each other, and then pierce through their last layer of skin in one go."

Ledo clasped his hands in a fist salute.

"This subordinate will take care of it immediately."

He took two steps, then stopped and looked back at Xiao Lie. Remembering Xu De's words, he couldn't help but ask.

"Your Highness, are you alright?"

Xiao Lie raised his hand and pounded his chest.

Do I look like something's wrong to you?

Ledo chuckled.

"Hey! You scared the hell out of me!"

"I knew it was Dr. Xu's first time on the job, and he was acting all mysterious."

Ledo chuckled, but his eyes didn't miss a single detail, constantly scanning Xiao Lie's body.

Xiao Lie stood in the twilight, his back ramrod straight, like a tireless person who would never fall.

But Ledo saw that his hand holding the bow was trembling slightly.

Ledo didn't speak, turned around and disappeared into the shadows of the forest.

Xiao Lie looked down at his hands; the bow was still in his grasp, and the bowstring was still warm.

Xiao Lie did not rest that night.

Like a tireless lone wolf, he crept along the shadows of the mountain ridge to the edge of Peng Xuan's camp.

Two sentries were dozing against a tree trunk, their torches stuck in the mud beside them, casting long and short shadows in the firelight.

Xiao Lie silently drew two arrows, nocked them, and released the string!

Two muffled thuds sounded almost simultaneously, and the sentry's body slid down limply, his spear not even having a chance to hit the ground.

Xiao Lie emerged from the shadows, stopped twenty paces in front of the main tent, and drew his bow and nocked an arrow.

The arrow whistled through the air, piercing the tent and embedding itself in the wooden pillar in the center of the tent, its white fletching still trembling slightly.

Peng Xuan's angry curses came from inside the tent.

"Who! Who fired the arrow!"

Immediately afterwards, the tent flap was lifted, and Peng Xuan rushed out with a knife in hand, followed by several disheveled guards.

Xiao Lie stood in the moonlight, holding a bow in his hand, his face bearing that infuriatingly sarcastic expression.

"Governor Peng, you've gotten thinner in just a few days!"

"Could it be that the food in the mountains isn't to their liking?"

Peng Xuan's eyes instantly turned red when he saw him.

"Xiao Lie! You actually dare to show yourself!"

Xiao Lie tilted his head.

"Why wouldn't you dare? Your three thousand new soldiers are only good for putting on a show at the gates of Bingzhou City, but once they enter the mountains... they're like headless flies."

"They're not even as strong as wild boars."

As he spoke, he had already taken two steps back without making a sound.

Peng Xuan was thoroughly enraged by those words and pointed his knife forward.

"Chase after him! Whoever takes Xiao Lie's head will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of silver and promoted three ranks!"

The new soldiers charged out with a roar, like a swarm of bees whose nest had been disturbed.

Xiao Lie turned and ran, his pace neither too fast nor too slow, just enough for Peng Xuan's men to see his back but not too slow to catch up with him.

The torches snaked like a long dragon through the mountains and forests.

Peng Xuan rode on his horse, cracking his whip, but Xiao Lie always appeared and disappeared at the edge of the firelight, like a will-o'-the-wisp guiding the way.

After chasing for nearly an hour, Peng Xuan finally reined in his horse.

He realized he had been tricked!

His three thousand men were led by the nose by Xiao Lie and wandered around the mountains for most of the night. By this time, he had no idea where he was.

He was panting heavily when he suddenly gave a fierce order.

"Set it on fire! Burn the whole mountain down! Let's see where he can run to!"

The guards were stunned.

"Commander, we still have people on the mountain..."

Peng Xuan's eyes were red.

"Never mind that! Set it on fire!"

The torch was thrown into the dry grass, and the spreading flames, like a wild horse, instantly engulfed large areas of bushes and dead branches.

Thick smoke billowed into the sky, sparks flew everywhere, and the wildfire spread rapidly eastward with the help of the night wind.

Ledo, who was gathering his troops at the foot of the mountain, suddenly looked up and saw the flames rising halfway up the mountain. He froze.

"Peng Xuan... has he gone mad? He burned his own people to the ground too?"

The squad leader beside him said in a low voice.

"Boss, all our men have been evacuated. Has the breach on the east side been cleared?"

Before Ledo could even catch his breath, he suddenly remembered something, and his expression changed.

"What gap in the east?"

"On the other side of the cliff?"

"Where is the Prince?!"

"Did you see the Prince when you withdrew from the east?"

The squad leader shook his head.

"No! Wasn't Your Highness with General Le?"

Ledo's blood suddenly turned cold.

He turned to look east, but Xiao Lie was nowhere to be seen.

Looking north again, there was nothing there either!

He remembered what Xiao Lie had said.

"I will gather the brothers scattered in various places and lead them to break through the cliffs on the east side."

But the brothers on the east side had already withdrawn, but Xiao Lie was not among them!

He turned around abruptly and grabbed the squad leader.

"When did the prince tell you this?"

The squad leader was startled by his reaction.

"Just last night, His Highness personally came to give the order..."

Ledo's hands began to tremble.

"What about the others? Have the other groups of brothers evacuated?"

The squad leader nodded.

"They've all withdrawn... The Prince personally issued the order, group by group, instructing us to withdraw uniformly from the north, following behind our leader..."

Ledo's knees buckled, and he almost knelt down.

Xiao Lie has fooled everyone!

Xiao Lie made everyone think he was "gathering the team," but in reality he was sending each group to a safe route and leaving himself at the very back.

His hand holding the bow was trembling, not from exhaustion, but because he could no longer hold on!

Ledo scrambled to the hollow where Xu De was hiding and grabbed Xu De by the collar.

"What's wrong with Your Highness? Tell me the truth!"

"If you don't tell the truth, I'll stab you to death!"

Xu De's lips moved, and looking into Le Duo's bloodshot eyes, he finally said what he had been holding back for three days.

"He's been poisoned!"

"The guard's weapon was poisoned. I used acupuncture to seal his meridians. He can last for thirty-six hours..."

"There are three hours left."