I Cannot Ride a Horse

The night was deep and heavy, with shadows flickering around the tavern.

Beneath the seemingly boisterous clamor of troops resting and being rewarded, countless hidden guards who had blended into the streets quietly emerged from every corner, silently converging in the same direction: the north city gate.

Gu Chengyin stood in the shadows of the downstairs corridor, quietly waiting for 'Fake Luo Zhao' to come down.

Taking advantage of this brief interval, he closed his eyes. In his mind, the map of Luoshui Commandery—which he had only glanced at for a moment earlier—unfolded in meticulous detail, every marker and route exceptionally clear.

On the surface, there were three main roads leading from Luoshui Commandery to the Divine Capital.

Aside from Dawn City on the due north route, there was Double River City on the eastern route and Yellow Bell City on the western route.

These three cities acted exactly like a moat around the outer perimeter of the Divine Capital. Each stationed a heavy force of eighty thousand troops, guarding the vital choke points.

Other than these, the remaining cities in Luoshui Commandery were situated in remote locations with weak military forces of about ten thousand each. Furthermore, their routes were circuitous, making it difficult for them to pose any substantial threat in the short term.

However, according to the latest situation marked on the military intelligence map in Shangguan Yunying's hands...

The eighty thousand defenders of Double River City on the eastern route had already split off forty thousand to march west. They had completed over half their journey and were rapidly bearing down on North River City.

Yellow Bell City on the western route, also with eighty thousand defenders, had dispatched forty thousand troops eastward. They too had covered more than half their distance, forming a pincer movement from the east and west with the army from Double River City.

Conversely, Dawn City on the northern route, which was the closest, had only sent out ten thousand troops southward. Moreover, their movement was sluggish, their speed noticeably lagging behind the eastern and western routes.

The remaining seventy thousand troops inside the city held their ground tightly, making no move at all.

Gu Chengyin keenly sensed the anomaly regarding Dawn City and, after a moment's thought, reached a conclusion.

The chief commander of Dawn City was quite shrewd. He knew that his city was situated directly north of North River City, serving as the shortest straight-line path to the Divine Capital.

Remaining holed up and refusing to venture out was precisely anticipating the most likely direction of a breakout attempt, waiting in comfort for an exhausted enemy.

That symbolic force of ten thousand marching south was likely only sent out out of necessity, under some sort of pressure.

Just as his train of thought reached this point, a clear, cold voice laced with a hint of urgency interrupted his deductions:

"Deacon Gu, we can set off now."

Gu Chengyin looked toward the voice, and his eyes couldn't help but light up.

Shangguan Yunying had changed out of her magnificent but cumbersome scarlet palace dress, replacing it with a sharply tailored black night-ops martial suit.

The garment clung tightly to her form without a shred of excess fabric, perfectly outlining the slender figure and smooth curves forged by years of cultivation. It was proudly full where it should be full, and impossibly slender where it should be slender.

Her back and shoulders were straight as a pine, her waist cinched like a willow, and her legs were long and straight. In her movements, there was an inherent beauty that combined both flexibility and power.

"Deacon Gu?"

Shangguan Yunying sharply noticed that Gu Chengyin's gaze was lingering far too brazenly. The tips of her ears growing slightly warm, she spoke up to remind him, her tone carrying a trace of barely discernible embarrassment.

If it were anyone else who dared to look at her like that, she would have gouged their eyes out long ago.

But facing this newly appointed deacon who held Her Highness's edict, she could only tactfully deter him.

However, in the next second, Gu Chengyin's expression turned solemn. He pressed his palms together in front of his chest and gave a slight bow.

He was actually... giving her a brief Buddhist greeting?

Shangguan Yunying was taken aback. She subconsciously looked down, only to realize that the jade Buddha pendant around her neck, which was supposed to be worn close to her skin, had been left outside her clothes in her haste.

Although she did not believe in Buddhism, this was an amulet of protection given to her by her elders.

So... Deacon Gu was paying respects to the Buddha? Had she misunderstood? He was actually so sincere and reverent...

A faint trace of guilt and a quiet shift in her perception of Gu Chengyin's character rippled through her heart.

True Luo Zhao, hovering to the side, took in this entire scene and almost laughed out of sheer anger.

She saw with absolute clarity exactly where Gu Chengyin's gaze had initially landed.

It was only after Shangguan Yunying spoke up that he shifted his eyes to the Buddha pendant, his movements as smooth as flowing water and drifting clouds, without the slightest hesitation.

"This guy... his reactions are certainly fast," True Luo Zhao scoffed coldly, the light in her eyes growing even icier.

"Your Highness."

The sound of familiar footsteps came from behind. Before Shangguan Yunying even turned her head, she instinctively bowed in greeting, her posture exceedingly respectful.

Gu Chengyin raised his eyes to look, and a flash of awe likewise swept through his gaze.

Although Shangguan Yunying appearing in her martial suit was already a stunning beauty, the 'Fake Luo Zhao' slowly walking over at this moment was like a bright moon hanging in the sky, instantly making all surrounding radiance dim by a few degrees.

She wore a pure black cloak of simple design but extraordinary material, completely shrouding her figure beneath it. Her face was covered by a light veil of the same color, revealing only a pair of eyes.

Yet it was precisely this pair of eyes: with every glance, they held a disdainful and solitary arrogance.

It was as if they harbored a thousand years of frost and ten thousand miles of empire. That was a majestic presence cultivated only by one who had long sat at the apex, wielding the power of life and death. No matter how she tried to conceal it, its sharp edge could not be hidden.

However, the moment the gaze of those phoenix eyes met Gu Chengyin's, that world-scorning solitary arrogance and icy coldness reacted like snow meeting the sun.

It melted away in an instant, turning into an absolute, even somewhat bewildered... submission.

Shangguan Yunying, who was bowing her head, did not see this fleeting change.

But Gu Chengyin saw it.

True Luo Zhao saw it even more clearly, her eyes nearly splitting open in fury!

Her Dao heart, tempered over many years to a state of near perfection, almost cracked in that split second!

She had never imagined, much less could she accept it.

That the lofty and supreme herself would actually reveal such an expression!

Even when facing her imperial father, she only showed respect based on bloodline, strictly abiding by human ethics and etiquette, but in her bones, she had never truly submitted to anyone.

Yet this absurd but very real scene playing out before her eyes was like the sharpest ice pick, viciously piercing through her understanding.

True Luo Zhao took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing her surging rage and an icy sense of disgust that felt almost like a desecration.

When she looked at Gu Chengyin again, there was not a fraction of warmth left in her eyes; it even transcended murderous intent.

It was an absolute calmness that sought to completely dismantle the other party from the very meaning of existence, premeditating the delivery of the most extreme agony.

Death? That would be letting him off too easily.

Only a state where he could neither beg for life nor pray for death would alleviate the hatred in her heart.

"General Chen is already waiting at the north city gate."

Shangguan Yunying's voice slightly broke the stagnant atmosphere.

She skillfully assisted 'Fake Luo Zhao' in mounting an exceptionally magnificent black warhorse, whose four hooves were faintly surrounded by swirling air currents, before nimbly vaulting onto another horse herself.

However, when she turned her head, she found that Gu Chengyin was still standing in his original spot, making no move toward the warhorse prepared for him.

"Deacon Gu?" Shangguan Yunying asked in confusion.

Gu Chengyin looked at the steed before him, which was clearly not of an ordinary breed, and then felt the pitifully thin Qi Condensation stage true energy within his own body, having just barely crossed the threshold of cultivation.

A thorny problem lay before him: did the warhorses in this world also practice immortal cultivation?

If it were just an ordinary steed, he could still control it with brute strength.

But if this horse had more true energy than he did... then once they hit the road, it was hard to say who would be riding whom.

Gu Chengyin calmly met Shangguan Yunying's bewildered gaze and said frankly:

"Yunying, you might not believe me if I say this."

He paused.

"I don't know how to ride a horse."

Shangguan Yunying: "..."

Her hand holding the reins instantly froze.