"There\'s an ambus.h.!.+" Han Qi shouts and make an eye contact with one of the close aides. That person raises the s.h.i.+eld on him and leans onto the wall of the cliff. He then pokes his body out to take a look. Suddenly, his body limps and he fall down as he yells in pain. His chest is pierced with arrows. He then says with his last breath on the ground: "There\'s more than ten marksmen on top the cliff…" Before he gets to finish, his breathing stops.

"What should we do now?" Han Qi grips his hands and shakes his head, "There\'s soldiers chasing after us from the back, and ambush right in front of us."

"Uncle Qi." Brother breathes in deeply, and with a deep voice, "Marksmen numbering more than ten is not considered a lot at all. So, this might be the piece they\'ve hidden. They wanted to block us in this place and drag our time to get out of this valley so that their reinforcement can catch up to us from the back and annihilate all of us in She Yue Valley." Brother turns his horse and looks at the soldiers at the back: "Brothers, if we don\'t head to the front and be scared of the rain of arrows, then we\'ll just be headed for the enemies\' trap. Rather than that, we might as well just risk our life to escape this valley. At the very least, we may still come out of this alive!"

"What the Young General say is right!" Han Qi lowers his head and bends his body with his hand on his fist, "I was too impatient earlier, which caused us to almost fell into the enemies\' trap."

"Young General!" An injured soldier come limping over with a spear on hand, "Thanks to the Young General for not throwing us who are injured aside. Since there\'s still quite some road to go to exit the valley, this me is afraid that he will not be able to go till the end. If so, this me is willing to open the path up for the Young General, this me is willing to be the s.h.i.+eld for the arrows!"

Brother waves his hand and reject sternly: "No! We shall all leave together! I, Han Yue Xiao, is not willing to lose another one of us!"

"Young General! This me is also willing to be the s.h.i.+eld!" "This me is also willing to!" "Please allow us, Young General!" "Young General, please make decisions according to the situation!" All the weak and injured soldiers at the back all rush to the front and kneel down.

"I don\'t allow!" Brother turns the head of the horse and wats to rush out while protecting me. Suddenly, his rein is pulled by Han Qi and the white horse is forcibly stopped.

"Young General, what they say are true."

"Uncle Qi!"

With a trembling voice, Uncle Qi says: "It is not possible to break through the ambush with everyone unscathed. Rather than having them die under the hands of the soldiers chasing after us, we might as well let them be the hero for once. The arrows brought by these marksmen might not be that many, so do make their death to be more worthwhile."

I look at the soldiers with a pale face, unkempt armours, and body filled with injuries. My tears then flow down silently. Although this is a rational sacrifice, but it is still an option difficult to make.

From my back, I feel Brother\'s chest heaving up and down. A while later, a sob can be heard: "Fine…"

All the injured soldiers begin to knock their head on ground [1] and shout at once: "Thank the Young General for allowing us!" They, who have wounds on their face, have strong and steady eyes. They brush their fatigue aside and take out their swords and lift their spears. After wiping their face, they rush out while clenching their teeth.

"Father!" "Elder Brother!" It seems that the ones in the group are fathers and sons or brothers heading to the war together. With them looking at their father and brother sacrificing themselves and becoming the s.h.i.+elds willingly, the sadness felt by them can never be described by words alone.

"Ah!" Those injured soldiers lift their weapons and howl. It is such a great howl that the birds within the valley is shocked and fly out, it is so startling that the sun has lose its colour.

"Hu!" "Hu!" "Hu!" A bunch of flying arrows, just like a storm raining down, falls onto the ground and sends all the great men of You Country into the netherworld. With their body falling like withered leaves, the fall onto the ground. Their eyes looking back to their blood relatives are filled with longing. Smiles appear on their faces, showing their great pride. The red wheel drops on the west side and what remains of the redness covers the sky. All the injured soldiers rush out of the mountain road batches by batches. With tears covering my eyes, I don\'t even know how to blink my eyes and I can only watch, watch as they walk towards their death and vividly remembering their honest face.

The sounds of arrow shooting gradually stops, indicating the arrows that are going to stop raining down. Brother lifts his silver spear and howls: "Brothers, head forth!"

"Ah!" Cries of anger and sadness sounded from the back. The sounds of horse hoof clopping and footsteps tremble even the heaven above. In the whole road filled with blood and dusts, they glance at the sun going down, reminiscence about their blood relatives; tears flowing down from their eyes, so sad that it breaks even the heart that made is made of steel.

Brother lower his body and covers me tightly. I feel nervous and listen to my surroundings. As expected, no sounds of arrow shooting out can be heard. With tears flowing down, I thank the soldiers. Although they are merely p.a.w.ns, they are very brave and loyal, they are the real heroes!

"Set the fire!" A shout echoes from within the valley.

Brother straighten his chest and look. Borrowing the light from the sun going down, I raise my head and look at above the cliff walls. More than ten orbs can be seen lighted on the cliff. The military officer wave his hand to one side and a number of cloth ball heighted more than few tens of feet appeared on both side of the cliff. "Release!" The cloth b.a.l.l.s are pushed down the moment it is lighted. At that moment, the fire flies around and ignite the bushes that are dried. A huge fire suddenly set the narrow pathway on fire and black smokes rise.

One fire ball roll towards some of the soldiers and innumerable screams can be heard. Soon after, the smell of burnt meat enters my nose. Brother urges the horse to run faster but soon see that the path ahead is blocked by dried trees and bushes. The scattered flames fly over with the help of autumn wind and caused the road ahead to be lighted up. With the road head being blocked and soldiers chasing after us from the back, are we destined to lose our lives here? She Yue Valley. She Yue Valley [2], what an ominous name.

"Young General, all the trees and gra.s.s here are spilled with oil. The fires are spreading very quickly as well! Coughs hack" Uncle Qi breathes in a thick smoke and is choked.

Brother covers my face with his hand and call out to the back: "Brothers, cover your nose and mouth. Do not breathe in any of the smokes!"

"Ah!" Countless screams can be heard and the crackling sound made by the burning woods made our heart feel agitated and scared. Brother tighten his grip on his spear and thrusts his spear into the dried tree branches blocking our way. "Ugh!" With an angry growl, he picks the burning branches off. Uncle Qi has also walked up and help Brother out with his lance. The both of them pick off two think branches and take out their weapon. They want to continue doing it, but find the head of their spear and lance are stuck within the burning woods.

"This!" Uncle Qi frustratingly sigh, "Haa!"

At current moment, the wind blows strongly and the flames lick towards the sky. With the heat wave brus.h.i.+ng past us, the smokes and flare shoot up the sky. The valley has turned into a sea of flame. All the soldiers have begun to scatter. Their saddles and clothing are burned and the burnt smell makes my nose feel painful. With their endless scream, the scene in front of me seem as if I\'m in the land of Shura. The colour of gold and red covers the whole of She Yue Valley, the colours are so vibrant that the dusk sky is incomparable to it. The heat wave swallows us whole and our face feel hot. The clothes on us are also drenched in sweat.

Brother shouts to the sky: "Is it that the G.o.d wants us of the Han Family to be annihilated!" The heart wrenching shout echoes around the valley. The emotions of grief, unwillingness, despair and other emotions are mixed together, resounding from the one behind me.

"Rumble~" A low sound can be heard from faraway, and I raise my head to take a look at it. The dusk has paled away without anyone knowing when. Cloud appears on the sky that is turning dark gradually. "Rumble~ Rumble~" sounds become more and more clearer.

Uncle Qi extinguished the flame on his nice beard and exclaim excitedly: "Young General! It\'s thunder!"

The deep rumble of the thunder become more and more clearer. As if wanting to break out of the dark sky, as if tearing the restraints of the dark clouds, as if struggling to find. "Crack!" The lightning lights up the sky like the sun, like a precious sword that tears the dark sky apart. The thunder comes by so fast that we are not able to cover our ears, the lightning comes by so fast that we are not able to cover our eyes. The purple coloured lightning sow the seeds of hope into our heart. The mountain breeze blows the flame up, making it appear as if a raging sea. Carrying the heat with it, it rushes over. Brother stand there with his spear on hand and stare at the sky, unmoving.

[1] Knocking one\'s head on the ground as they kneel/grovel on the ground means to show their deep emotion (grat.i.tude or forgiveness/pleading). In this case, they are showing extreme grat.i.tude

[2] Refer to [2] of ch 9.1, and of course, the name of our MC and her brother are Han "Yue" Xia and Han "Yue" Xiao. Get the reference?

Once again, I cried (not really since I\'m tl-ing this in cla.s.s) at the sacrifice of those soldiers… I can say say I won\'t be able to forget them even though they are nameless here……

The Han Family and these Han Soldiers deserve better treatment and lord to serve than having such a s.h.i.+tty King…… *weeps in the corner*