"These violent delights have violent ends."

　　Hari leered at Chen Qing, intrigued. He was taken aback—while other women scurried past him trembling with fear, Chen Qing remained eerily calm, her face a mask of indifference. This unusual composure piqued his curiosity.

　　"Look up," Hari commanded.

　　Chen Qing slowly raised her head, and the moment her face came into view, Hari was spellbound.

　　She appeared to be in her early twenties, draped in a flowing yellow robe that contrasted with her snow-white skin. Her figure was gracefully curvaceous, and her beauty carried an ethereal purity. But it was her eyes that captivated him most—large, luminous, and strikingly clear, they shone with a brilliance like starlight, almost too dazzling to meet directly.

　　Hari turned to his subordinates and barked, "This one stays with me. The rest of the women are off-limits—they’re reserved for General Sisen."

　　Several centaur soldiers surged forward, ready to drag Chen Qing away.

　　Jiang Er burst into tears, clinging tightly to his mother. Chen Qing knelt down, wiped his tears with her hand, and gazed firmly into his eyes. "My little Jiang Er," she said softly, "you’re a big boy now. You must learn to be strong. Don’t worry—Mom will be okay."

　　Strangely, as Jiang Er looked into his mother’s clear, calm eyes, he felt a surge of strength kindle inside him. The tension in his chest eased, and his small hands, which had been desperately clinging to her, slowly relaxed and let go.

　　Chen Qing received “special treatment”—she was tied onto a camel-horse. The rest of the humans were forced to march on foot, their hands bound and all strung together along a single rope like a line of grasshoppers, with the lead end fastened to the back of a wagon.

　　Up ahead, centaur soldiers drove the procession forward with cracking whips. Those captives who couldn’t keep up with the wagon’s pace stumbled and fell, only to be dragged mercilessly along the ground until they died.

　　By dusk, the centaur troop had reached the grassy plains fringing the Southern Gorge Forest. They made camp there, intending to set out at first light on their return to the tribe.

　　Separating the centaur territories from the Southern Gorge Forest stood the Misty Mountain Range. Even from a distance, thick fog could be seen coiling up from its peaks.

　　The quickest route back to the lands of General Sisen’s tribe was to cut straight through the basin valley that pierced the mountains. The alternative was a narrow, winding mountain path that curved around the slopes—a much longer and more time-consuming journey.

　　Among the centaurs, it was said that the basin within the Misty Mountain Range was a grim and frightful place, haunted by demons well-versed in dark magic. For that reason, whenever the centaurs came to raid the Southern Gorge Forest, they always took great care to bypass the Misty Mountain Range altogether by skirting its flanks.

　　Strangely, as Jiang Er looked into his mother’s clear, calm eyes, he felt a surge of strength kindle inside him. The tension in his chest eased, and his small hands, which had been desperately clinging to her, slowly relaxed and let go.

　　Chen Qing received “special treatment”—she was tied onto a camel-horse. The rest of the humans were forced to march on foot, their hands bound and all strung together along a single rope like a line of grasshoppers, with the lead end fastened to the back of a wagon.

　　Up ahead, centaur soldiers drove the procession forward with cracking whips. Those captives who couldn’t keep up with the wagon’s pace stumbled and fell, only to be dragged mercilessly along the ground until they died.

　　By dusk, the centaur troop had reached the grassy plains fringing the Southern Gorge Forest. They made camp there, intending to set out at first light on their return to the tribe.

　　Separating the centaur territories from the Southern Gorge Forest stood the Misty Mountain Range. Even from a distance, thick fog could be seen coiling up from its peaks.

　　The quickest route back to the lands of General Sisen’s tribe was to cut straight through the basin valley that pierced the mountains. The alternative was a narrow, winding mountain path that curved around the slopes—a much longer and more time-consuming journey.

　　Among the centaurs, it was said that the basin within the Misty Mountain Range was a grim and frightful place, haunted by demons well-versed in dark magic. For that reason, whenever the centaurs came to raid the Southern Gorge Forest, they always took great care to bypass the Misty Mountain Range altogether by skirting its flanks.

　　As night deepened, the atmosphere became suffocating, the oppressive silence intermittently shattered by the groan of distant thunder.

　　The centaurs had constructed a rough-hewn stockade from felled trees, imprisoning both humans and camel-horses within its walls under the watch of four guards.

　　"Identify yourself!" a guard demanded sharply, hearing hoofbeats approach through the gloom.

　　"Enough of that racket! Are your equine eyes failing you? It is I!" a centaur soldier cursed as he emerged from the darkness.

　　"Ah! It is you, sir! I beg your forgiveness!" The guard, recognizing the visage of General Hari's confidant, immediately descended into a fawning bow.

　　"General Hari commands the presence of the human girl captured today. Do not dally! Produce her immediately, lest you face the consequences!"

　　"By your order, sir!" The guard scrambled into the enclosure, found Chen Qing, and propelled her out to the waiting aide.

　　Chen Qing was ushered into Hari's tent, where the feeble glow of an oil lamp cast long, dancing shadows.

　　Outside, the soldier pressed his ear against the rough fabric, muttering sourly, "Curse this fate. He indulges his pleasures within, while I keep watch in the cold. A wretched lot."

　　He listened intently but heard only silence. "Perhaps the General possesses a formidable skill, to have subdued her without a sound," he whispered. Abruptly, Hari's voice cut through the stillness, "Is someone there? Enter!"

　　The soldier complied with haste.

　　Within, he found the General and the human girl standing in silent confrontation. Her bonds had been severed, and her garments remained undisturbed.

　　Such alacrity? Can the General's vigor have faded so swiftly?he pondered, bewildered.

　　Hari turned his head with ponderous slowness, his eyes clouded and vacant. "You," he intoned with hollow resonance, "will accompany her. You are to release every human captive. Immediately."

　　"I... what? Release them?" The soldier stood aghast. As he made to voice his disbelief, the human girl turned her gaze upon him. In the tenuous light, he beheld her eyes—vast, luminous, and ablaze with disquieting intensity.

　　Those eyes, possessing a cutting, aqueous clarity, emitted a coruscating light that pierced his own vision like a thunderbolt. An electric convulsion seized his entire frame.

　　Then, as if by some strange compulsion, the centaur soldier’s consciousness began to blur. In a daze, he replied woodenly, “As you command… I will release the humans.”

　　Chen Qing followed him to the enclosure where the captives were held and, using the same method, seized control of the four guards’ wills.

　　She took a sword from one of the guards, entered the stockade, and cut the bonds from the prisoners’ hands. After opening the gate, she urgently directed them to mount the camel-horses inside and flee toward the entrance of the Misty Mountain Range.

　　After the earlier ordeal, fewer than fifty humans remained—mostly young women and children—with only about twenty camel-horses available. They had to ride two to a mount.

　　Chen Qing helped Jiang Er onto a camel-horse, climbing up behind him, and led the group toward the Misty Mountain Range.

　　Just as the humans began their escape, a bolt of lightning split the sky, illuminating the scene for a group of centaur soldiers patrolling in the distance.

　　Shouting alarms, some rushed off to report to Hari, while two others gave chase.

　　The centaurs were all master archers. The two pursuers notched arrows and let them fly. With a series of sharp whizzes, several of the fleeing women in the rear were struck and fell dead from their mounts.

　　Chen Qing tugged sharply on the reins, drawing her sword. She wheeled her camel-horse around and charged toward the two centaur soldiers.

　　The lead centaur quickly drew his bow and shot an arrow at her.

　　With lightning-quick reflexes, Chen Qing ducked beneath the projectile, then raised her sword and in one clean motion, beheaded the soldier.

　　By then, the second centaur had closed in. Discarding his bow, he drew the sword at his waist and swung it wildly toward Chen Qing’s head.

　　She evaded the blow, then swept her blade horizontally across the soldier’s abdomen. A sickening ripechoed as his belly split open, spilling his entrails onto the ground. The soldier crumpled, dead.

　　Chen Qing flicked her sword clean of blood, sheathed it at her waist, and turned her mount back toward the direction the humans had fled, urging her camel-horse onward into the night.

　　In an instant, a light rain began to fall. Seated in front of his mother, Jiang Er tilted his head back and looked up at her as if she were a stranger.

　　For as long as he could remember, his mother had been the picture of gentleness and kindness; he had never seen her wield a blade. Yet today, he watched her dispatch two fierce centaur soldiers with just a few crisp, decisive moves.

　　He was utterly stunned by her prowess. It took him a long moment to collect himself. "Mother," he finally said, "you're incredible!"

　　"Jiang Er, you must remember my words, every single one of them," Chen Qing said, her tone grave. "If anything happens to me, you must go to the Misty Mountain Range and find the grand mages Tianyouzi and Xuanjizi of the Divine Blessed Clan. Tell them that Jiang Sheng and Chen Qing have accomplished the mission entrusted to them. Then, ask them to take you in as their disciple. Do you understand? Find Grand Mages Tianyouzi and Xuanjizi."

　　"No! I won't listen! I don't want you to die! You can't die!" Tears welled up again in Jiang Er's eyes and streamed down his face.

　　"Child, you are not to cry!" Chen Qing's voice was firm. "You must learn to be strong. What is the creed of our hunter clan?"

　　"Face death to live; only through death comes true life," little Jiang Er recited promptly. As a child of the Wolf-Tribe, he knew the clan's maxim by heart.

　　"Correct. Every person meets their end. It is better to die standing than to live on your knees. Your father died honorably on the battlefield, never once lowering his head to the enemy. One must live with integrity; only integrity fosters true courage. Do you understand?"

　　"Mother, I understand."

　　Chen Qing's hearing was exceptionally keen. The sound of pursuing hoofbeats was drawing nearer. She glanced back and saw, a little over a hundred meters away, a cluster of glinting points of light moving rapidly toward them.

　　Those flickering lights were the luminous flowers carried by the pursuing centaur soldiers. The lights grew steadily closer, while the fleeing humans were still a considerable distance from the entrance to the Misty Mountain Range pass.

　　Chen Qing desperately whipped the camel-horse, pleading for more speed. But the centaurs' natural gait was far swifter than the laden camel-horses, and with most mounts carrying two people, the gap between pursuer and pursued narrowed relentlessly.

　　When the distance shrank to a single bowshot, the centaurs unleashed their arrows.

　　Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh...The air hissed with the sound of the incoming volley.

　　Thud-thud-thud...Jiang Er glanced sideways and his heart leaped into his throat—several arrows slammed into the earth perilously close to them. It was too close.

　　Chen Qing handed the reins to Jiang Er, quickly showing him how to guide the beast. Then she turned fully around on the saddle, her back to her son, and faced the onslaught.

　　Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh...Another volley sang through the air, thicker and sharper this time. A veritable hailstorm of arrows descended upon them.

　　Chen Qing closed her eyes, focusing her will. " Turn! " she shouted, flinging her hands violently to the right. As if commanded, the arrows swerved en masse, whistling harmlessly into the turf on their right flank.

　　It was a breathtakingly narrow escape. Without Chen Qing, that volley would have slaughtered many more.

　　" On my order! Nock! Draw... Steady... One... Two... Loose! " The command rang out from the centaur commander in the distance. The voice was unmistakably General Hari's.

　　A unified twangof bowstrings was followed instantly by the deadly whistle of flight. A denser, more furious storm of arrows fell, the shorter distance making them even more lethal.

　　Gathering the dregs of her strength, Chen Qing again hurled her hands outward. Once more, the arrowstorm wavered and was deflected, thudding into the ground beside them.

　　But after two such exertions, Chen Qing was spent. Sweat drenched her brow, and she gasped for air, her vision blurring from the mixture of sweat and rain. The rain began to fall heavier.