WebNovels

Chapter 22 - Chapter 22: Perilous Game

Subtitle: Secrets Hidden in the Lock, Truth Revealed Under the Light

The candle flame flickered within the main tent, casting two silhouettes onto the felt wall—restless spirits dancing in the flicker of flame and shadow. The firelight leaped and swayed, distorting the shadows as if they were alive, whispering secrets only the night could understand.

Chu Hongying did not utter a word as she placed the half-roll of the mechanism diagram sent by Helian Sha and the broken lock side by side on the table. Her movements were slow and deliberate, her fingers pausing almost imperceptibly as they brushed against the cold metal. Ten years had passed, yet every time she touched the lock that bore the Lu family's blood debt—each touch scalded her heart anew.

The moment the metal pieces met, the candle flame shuddered violently. A crimson light shot out from the lock's core, racing along the patterns on the diagram, dyeing the snowy shadows on the table a dark, ominous red. The light pulsed with a life of its own, throwing eerie shadows across the tent.

Gradually, the light merged, piecing together before her eyes a complete, detailed map of the Northern Frontier. It depicted glacial fissures, hidden underground rivers, and even several concealed paths not marked on any military map. At its center, three bold characters emerged starkly: "Wolf's Throat Pass."

Her pupils constricted sharply, her breath catching in her throat.

That handwriting—she would never forget it in her lifetime. Memories flooded back—the figure of her father, Lu Heng, always busy in his workshop, his hands calloused from years of crafting mechanisms, sketching her first mechanism diagram on the snow.

"Hongying, remember—the locks of the Lu family guard secrets, but also righteousness." Her father's voice echoed across ten years of wind and snow, as clear as if spoken yesterday.

The Lu family's highest secret—the Lock Terrain Map. Legend said it used the lock as a key and the diagram as a guide to open a forbidden gate buried deep beneath the frozen plains. She had thought it was merely a clan myth, never expecting to see it revealed in her lifetime.

"With blood as the key..." she murmured, her fingertip unintentionally brushing the lock's edge. A bead of blood welled up and was quietly absorbed by the lock's surface. Following this, a faint, humming resonance echoed through the tent, as if the lock were breathing—or sighing in satisfaction.

In this moment, she was no longer just the sole survivor of the Lu family—she was its final key. The weight on her shoulders suddenly felt tangible—not the armor of a general, but the expectations of an entire lineage.

Inside the tent, the three of them sat facing each other, the candlelight dancing in their eyes.

Zhao Dashan, having scoured all military records and maps, shook his head in frustration. "Never heard of any 'Wolf's Throat Pass.' It's as if it never existed."

Shen Yuzhu's slender finger traced the mountain ranges and waterways on the map, his expression thoughtful. "If it runs beneath the glacial fissures at the border, it must be an ancient war passage. What Helian Sha wants isn't the land itself—but the gate."

Chu Hongying looked up, her gaze sharp. "Luring the tiger into the trap?"

He smiled faintly, the candlelight softening his features, yet a wisp of cerulean flickered deep in his eyes. "To lure you into the trap, he must first be certain you will take this step."

Their eyes met—steel against steel, sparks flying in the dark. In that silent exchange, a thousand unspoken words passed between them.

That night, the north wind carried a blade's edge. Flames erupted suddenly in several spots across the camp.

Under the guise of investigating the lock's origin, Chu Hongying moved with thunderous force. Within moments, several hidden enemy agents were uprooted simultaneously, leaving behind only scorch marks and not-yet-congealed bloodstains on the snow. She walked through the flames without looking back. Snow hissed beneath her boots; the fire had no warmth left for the living. Behind her came the kneeling remnants of the enemy—and the wind that cut short their final cries.

In the distance, Shen Yuzhu stood quietly outside his tent, watching the firelight dye her armor blood-red. A strange, almost tender shiver stirred in his heart—a feeling he dared not name.

Deep in the night, a cerulean light flared brightly within Shen Yuzhu's tent.

Golden needles lay arranged in formation, ancient chants whispered low. The light surged from within him, spiraling and intertwining, gradually forming a cocoon of radiance. Suddenly, the light rays twisted wildly, rebelling like frenzied serpents! Frost instantly spread, covering the table and walls.

"Ugh—!" He forced down the chaotic energy, but still spat a mouthful of blood that glimmered with an unearthly blue light.

The light tore madly at his chest as hallucinations overtook him—Chu Hongying stood alone on the icy plains, a colossal wolf spirit looming behind her, ready to swallow heaven and earth. He strained to shout her name, but his voice was swallowed by the blizzard.

The tent flap was thrown open violently, a cold wind sweeping in as Chu Hongying strode swiftly to his side. With one glance taking in the disarray and the blue blood at his lips, she spoke not a word, but pressed her palm firmly against his chest. A warm, robust force poured forth, steadying his raging qi.

Strangely, the out-of-control blue light channeled into her palm, swirling and weaving between the two of them. The light seared her fingertips, yet she did not pull away—the heat felt like his heartbeat trembling beneath her touch. She realized, then, that she had gentled her own strength, her touch softer than it had ever been in any prior healing.

Their energies merged—the threads of fate resonating through both their veins for the first time. In the snowy silence, a single thrum echoed between them—she could no longer tell if it was his heartbeat or her own.

He looked up, his voice faint. "Hongying... if I am no longer 'Shen Yuzhu,' would you still be willing to trust me?"

She was silent for a long moment. Even the sound of the wind seemed to still.

"I do not know where fate will take you," she said at last. "But as long as you still look my way—"

She turned her hand to grasp his fingers tightly. "—I will not retreat."

The blue light between their palms gradually calmed, transforming into a slender stream that quietly seeped into the patterns of the Lie Feng spear beside them. At that instant, the lock of fate gave a faint tremor.

Before dawn, the main tent was brightly lit. Chu Hongying stood clad in armor, the Lie Feng spear grounded at her side.

"He wants me in his game, so I will enter." Her voice was cold and clear, like shattering ice. "But the one entering won't be the prey."

She ordered Zhao Dashan to assemble a team of elites and set off immediately for Wolf's Throat Pass herself, leaving Shen Yuzhu in the camp as the final safeguard.

At parting, he placed a signal arrow into her palm. "If you have not returned by nightfall, fire the arrow."

She nodded, gazing into his dark, unreadable eyes. "If I do not return, you light the lantern."

As she turned to leave, Shen Yuzhu's hand moved—so swift it was almost unseen. His fingers brushed against a loose fastening strap beneath the edge of her armor.

"Your tie," he said quietly. "It's coming undone."

She glanced down and secured the strap herself without a word.

She did not say it was the first time he had ever reached out to touch her—nor that she hoped it would not be the last.

The Lie Feng spear's tip caught the first light of dawn, faintly mirroring the lingering wisp of cerulean in his sleeve.

In the shadows outside the military camp, a dark figure watched as Chu Hongying and her party tread away through the snow, quietly releasing a messenger pigeon. Thinking himself clever, he never noticed the pair of clear eyes watching from the higher watchtower.

Gu Changfeng idly blew out the candle beside him, a subtle, inscrutable curve lifting the corner of his mouth.

On a distant snow-capped peak, Helian Sha gently stroked the wolf-tooth pendant at his neck, his whisper carried on the wind like a chant:

"The bait has been taken. It is time to close the net."

The night wind swept over the snowy plains as the three players' pieces slid into place.

Dawn had yet to break, but the scent of death was already in the air.

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