Bai Qingjue, riding swiftly forward with his troops, looked up and saw the crossbow arrows flying over his head toward the siege ladders. He noticed that the Bai family army brothers fighting desperately at the Yecheng Pass gate were nearly unable to hold on, the gate was slowly closing, and the Xiliang soldiers were charging directly at them... He fiercely squeezed the sides of his horse, leading the charge, and shouted loudly, "Quickly break into the city! Kill!" "Kill!" Bai Jinzhao chased on horseback, closely following her third brother, swearing to become the vanguard and break into the city first, just like her eldest sister had done back then. The Crossbow Arrows whistled through the air. Bai Qingyan heard the sound and didn’t even have time to look up. Instinctively, she grabbed the reins of Bai Jinse beside her and urgently pulled back the horse... Shen Qingzhu, guarding Bai Qingyan, suddenly drew his sword, pulled the reins, and with his body and the horse he was riding, shielded Bai Qingyan, cutting down with one sword the arrow flying toward her. Bai Qingyan’s horse, Taiping, and Bai Jinse’s horse reared up. Bai Jinse, almost instinctively, grasped the saddle tightly with both hands, trying to keep her body as close to the horse’s back as possible. Having just cut down a Xiliang cavalryman, Bai Jinxiu shouted, "Xiao Qi!" The crossbow arrow, in the blink of an eye, lodged into the ground right by Bai Jinse’s horse’s front hooves. Immediately following, a crossbow arrow as large as a silver spear grazed Bai Jinse’s leg and deeply embedded itself in the ground beneath. Bai Jinse clutched the saddle tightly, gritting her teeth to avoid being thrown off, her heart nearly leaping out of her chest, her back drenched in cold sweat. If her eldest sister hadn’t grabbed her, at that moment... she feared she would have been pierced by two crossbow arrows. Bai Qingyu had already charged forward, guarding his eldest sister and seventh sister, his silver spear like a dragon in his hands, each thrust taking a life. The rıghtful source is 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝕟𝕖𝕥 The horse’s hooves landed on the ground. Bai Jinse heard her eldest sister call her and turned her head, only to be grabbed by her elder sister, who pulled her onto her horse’s back. Bai Jinzhi was still too young. Even if allowed to ride along beside her, Bai Qingyan would not be at ease. Seated behind Bai Qingyan, Bai Jinse, afraid of squeezing her sister’s abdomen, clung tightly to her armor... Taiping’s gallop was not fast, always staying behind the heavy shield troops and ladders, moving with great agility, dodging crossbow arrows. Bai Jinse turned to look back, hearing the tragic screams of their own soldiers being hit by arrows. Once she looked back... her eldest sister pierced the charging lead Xiliang commander with a single spear thrust. A feathered arrow grazed past Bai Qingyan’s face. She turned and shoved Bai Jinse heavily to the right side, protecting her from another arrow. Drawing her spear amid the galloping horses, hot blood splashed across half of Bai Jinse’s face. Her nostrils were filled with the intense scent of blood, and she could taste the salty blood of the enemy in her mouth. The urge to retch rose in her throat, but she forced it down, reminding herself... this is the battlefield! This kind of slaughter is for the sake of never having slaughter again in the future! Massive crossbow arrows from the bolt thrower continued to whistle rapidly. Bai Qingyan’s eyes were dark and determined as if sinister, showing no fear. Her charging speed did not slow down... "Xiao Qi!" Bai Qingyan took the Sun Shooting Bow from behind with one hand and tossed the silver spear to Bai Jinse. Bai Jinse grabbed the silver spear and saw her eldest sister drawing arrows amid the arrow rain, aiming at the Xiliang military flag on the city tower, shooting... then drawing another arrow, nocking, and shooting again... at an astonishing speed! Fearing something might happen to Bai Qingyan, Shen Qingzhu closely followed without considering his safety. The Xiliang cavalry that had charged to the front swung their bloody scimitars straight toward Shen Qingzhu. With one hand, he blocked with his Longsword, feeling the air whistle past his temples as the Xiliang cavalryman’s ear was pierced by an arrow, causing him to fall from his horse. Shen Qingzhu turned to look at Bai Qingyan, seeing her steadily aiming at the city tower. In a blink, the arrow quiver on the horse’s back was empty, and their eldest young lady kept drawing arrows and nocking, helping the Bai family army press forward. The fluttering military flags on Yecheng Pass’s city tower fell one after another, some directly dropping below the city walls, others crashing into Xiliang’s crossbowmen. "General! Our Xiliang military flags have fallen!" one commander shouted, turning his head. "Shoot! Shoot those bastards dead! Spare no arrows!" Ye Shouguan grasped the sword at his waist tightly and strode toward the fallen Xiliang military flags, picking one up, grabbing a nearby spear to hoist the flag, and planting it firmly on the city wall, loudly rallying the soldiers, "Even if the military flags fall, our morale must not! Behind us are our families! We must not let a single Zhou person enter!" The soldiers’ voices of affirmation cracked the sky, and the originally cold-stiffened bodies boiled with hot blood, fiercely shooting arrows at the Zhou army, desperately trying to halt their advance toward the city gate. On the other side of the city wall, the commanders loyal to the Ye family, hearing Ye Shouguan’s order to have the soldiers on both peaks of Yecheng Pass flank the Zhou army from the rear, wiped the blood from their faces and hurried over... "General! Is it wise to recklessly order the soldiers on both peaks to charge out?" the general asked uneasily. "How else can we save the Emperor?" Ye Shouguan stared ahead, asking gravely, "Should we let the Zhou have the Emperor hanging on a cloud ladder to threaten our Xiliang soldiers?" Ye Shouguan’s initial plan was to hold the high ground on both sides of Yecheng Pass. As long as the high ground was held, even if Zhou captured the pass, they wouldn’t dare enter the city, for they could be trapped by the Xiliang soldiers on the slopes at any time. Hence, Ye Shouguan was prepared to abandon Yecheng Pass and relocate the troops to the peaks, holding those heights at all costs as the last resort to secure the pass. But even with a retreat, Ye Shouguan wanted to fight this battle as if there were none, to begin with, knowing that a fallback, which would mean retreating to the mountains, would severely damage Xiliang’s morale! But unfortunately, Xiliang’s Emperor, Li Tianfu, was in the hands of the Zhou army! Ye Shouguan calculated that with the proud Bai Qingyan leading the Bai family’s main forces while pregnant, and with the Bai family’s offspring, even the youngest, all on the battlefield, they were here seeking revenge! Thus, the Bai family’s descendants should be leading the main forces of the Bai family army, all present here! Grinding his teeth, Ye Shouguan said, "The sentries on both peaks have not found any signs of an army climbing the mountains to attack the city, and with Bai Qingyan and the Bai family offspring all here, they want revenge for the Bai family army who died at Yun Poxing’s hands... and the Bai family generals, so they want to take Yecheng Pass, which Xiliang has never lost, in one fell swoop, thereby directly threatening Yunjing and destroying Xiliang! Bai Qingyan surely put all her main forces here!"