Yang Xian arched his eyebrows as he shot more arrows after stabilizing the horse. He laughed. "You're right. But why would you want to dirty your hand if it's unnecessary? It'll just leave a bad taste in your mouth."

Wei Liuying's eyes flickered when she heard what Yang Xian told her. There was never any need for her to add the count for the people whom she killed because of her situation. It was not like she liked killing either. She only chose to do it because it was necessary for her to kill if she wished to survive.

Her brain recalled the time when she first scheme for her mother.

She was nothing more than a young girl barely at the age of 7. At that time, her mother was in plight because she was accused for wounding a pregnant concubine in the residence. Because she had son and daughter, they didn't treat her that harshly, but if the matter didn't settle properly, it would affect her reputation a lot.

Even if every woman in the harem scheme to kill others, they always maintained their reputation on the front. No one wanted to be labelled as unvirtuous woman by those around them.

The young Wei Liuying set up a trap to force the other concubine to tell the truth. As the result, a concubine was beaten up to death. Wei Liuying still could remember the fear and guilt she felt, but her mother praised her greatly and prepared much more food than what she could possibly eat for several days.

'If I do well, Mother will reward me.'

The young her only wanted her mother's affection. But as she grew up, she realized that no matter what she did, it would never be given to her. Her mother would always blame her for being born a woman and 'took' all the intelligence that was supposed to be Wei Hong Zheng's.

From a long time ago, Wei Liuying had frozen her own heart.

She didn't want to get hurt anymore.

Dzing!

The sound of arrow leaving its bow pulled her back to reality. She looked at Yang Xian's broad back and smiled faintly. "Isn't it necessary? If I don't kill them today, they're going to kill me."

With that, Wei Liuying stole another arrow and shot it to the horse of the man who was coming in their direction. The man was wearing an armor, and she was not that confident about her skill, so it would be safer for her to shoot the horse instead.

Yang Xian was amused. "Don't you believe that I can protect you?"

Dzing!

"I don't need anyone's protection."

Yang Xian looked back and saw the cold glint on the young girl's eyes. Different with scheming girls who could only do something through the hands of their servants and people around them, Wei Liuying had to do it by herself.

The servants around her were placed by Feng Chun. All of the information that she could get were already controlled by Feng Chun's servant to make sure that she would never know some matters. Unfortunately, they forgot that it was possible for Wei Liuying to sneak out herself if she truly wished to gather information.

If she was alone, she could bypass Wei Family's guards with no problem.

Her martial arts were enough to do that.

But Feng Chun had long planted people who were far weaker than her to be her servants. They wouldn't be able to get out of the residence by themselves without the help of others. This prevented Wei Liuying from escaping to some degree.

Besides, with Ji Shu's men guarding Wei Xiao Hua's residence, it was harder for Wei Liuying to escape even if she wanted to.

"Is this really your first time killing?"

"If you mean directly, then yes," Wei Liuying replied with indifference. Her hands moved quickly to reload the arrow and shot it. "But if it's through scheming, I believe I have killed too many people to count."

Dzing!

"I see," Yang Xian was impassive in his answer. He shot the last men and then checked at the arrows on his back. There were only two left. "I'll fetch the arrows back."

Wei Liuying arched her eyebrows. "I'll do it."

"No. You guard the horses."

Before Wei Liuying could voice her disagreement again, Yang Xian had already jumped off and rushed to the men who had fallen due to their arrow. He pulled back the arrow, tearing the flesh and caused blood to spurt out. His movements were swift as he picked all the arrows and inspected them on his way back.

Some can be used again while a few of them were broken due to the force.

He had no other choice but to toss it away.

On the horse, Wei Liuying watched everything that occurred. Her slender fingers were holding the horse's rein tightly to make sure that it won't run away. "I didn't know that you can retrieve the arrows."

"It's normal in battlefield. Aside from collecting enemies' head, we also collect the arrows if it can be used again when the battle had ended," Yang Xian replied. "This can reduce the time needed to produce more arrows."

"I see."

Wei Liuying looked at the arrows, which still has the stain of blood. Yang Xian tossed it to his back without caring for the blood. For him, this was nothing more than a common matter that occurred every single day. After all, he had lived in the midst of battlefield for years.

"Move back a bit."

Without answering, Wei Liuying shifted her body to the back. Yang Xian hopped up to the horse and held the rein once more. The horse tightened the rein even more as if it was acknowledging that the one who held it was his master.

Wei Liuying watched the rein with curiosity. Back when she trained with Teacher Tu, she didn't pay attention to the rein at all. After all, she had to master how to ride horse in the shortest time possible. She had to make sure that she was doing things correctly to make sure that she wouldn't fall.

"The horse knows who hold the rein?"

"Hmm?" Yang Xian had begun to urge the horse to move again. He nodded without looking back. "Horses are much smarter than what you think. They'll know who is holding the rein. Some war horses can even know the master's thought and proceed forward even while betting its life."

Wei Liuying was stunned. She looked at the horse with her black eyes. "I never knew that."

Yang Xian chuckled. "If you follow me and His Highness to the North, you'll be able to find out many more things."

"About war?"

"That's just one thing. There are many other important matters that you can learn."

Wei Liuying didn't answer immediately. She was looking at Yang Xian's back with her thoughts swirling inside her head.

"Why Strategist Yang wants me to be part of your men?"

Yang Xian arched his eyebrows. "It was His Highness who wants it."

"Isn't it the same?"

The same?

How can it be the same?

Turning his head, Yang Xian could see the young girl was looking back at him with a cold gaze. It was as if she was only stating a fact and refused to be refuted no matter what. Besides, her gaze seemed to be telling him that she already knew, so he didn't have to lie.

Yang Xian sighed and turned his head again. It was true. He also wished to have her in the army, to be exact, he was the first one who wanted it. Rather than leaving someone like her to plot in the harem of her future husband, wouldn't it be better to use her talent to help them in war? Her intelligence would be a waste to be used in such small scope.

He was sure that their army would be even more invincible that way.

At the same time, the number of lives lost would be reduced.

"You will be able to shine better on the frontline rather than this muddy water in the capital city."

Wei Liuying's eyes flickered. "How can you be so sure?"

"I trust my judgement."

"Can't your judgement be wrong?"

Yang Xian's lips twitched. It was impossible for him to be correct at all times. There were times when he had to make amendments to his plan because the situation in the battlefield changed rapidly.

Dropping her eyelids, Wei Liuying stared at her own hands that were holding onto Yang Xian's robe. "I'll think about it."

Yang Xian's eyes lit up when he heard her answer. Previously, Wei Liuying only glared at them coldly and didn't even want to do it because they didn't know each other that well. This time, Wei Liuying didn't reject them outright and said that she would think about it.

It meant that she might do it.

"I didn't expect you to change your mind so quickly."

"Don't you know my position?"

"Yeah," Yang Xian admitted. He had gathered some information and naturally, the rumors about Wei Liuying drifted to his ears. Though, it was a rumor that was hard to believe because he had met her directly.

Why would Wei Liuying seduce Ji Shu when she was so averse to get close to the Imperial Family?

It just didn't make sense.