Snow started falling. The serene nature of the fluttering white fluffs at odds with the chaos that they were about to land on. Ye An could hear Ah Lin yelling at the top of his lungs. "Fall back! Get into formation!"

The soldiers shuffled away from the wall as one when thousands of Northern warriors pushed their way through the now breached border.

Xi Chen turned to Ye An, urgency coloring his eyes, "Your Imperial Majesty, I need to head down at once. Please keep close." He didn't wait as his feet started their motion and his eyes zeroed in on the Northerners' attempt to infiltrate the towers by the gate.

"Of course." Ye An replied, the slight tremble in her voice was drowned by the hubbub of the men around them. She didn't want to let her fear show, especially after saying all those things to Xi Chen. But to be honest, she was scared. Ye An had never encountered anything like this and she was too preoccupied during their journey here to fully realize the gravity of what was happening. Now, just like the snow melting into the ground, the weight of reality was finally sinking in. Like an anchor on the seabed, it was holding Ye An captive, bringing everything to her attention.

Xi Chen turned away from the Northerners and quickly bellowed at the archers around them. "Lock the towers this instant!"

After giving that instruction, Xi Chen finally focused his gaze on Ye An. If it was anyone else, they might have missed the dread and fear in Ye An's well-composed eyes. Not him though. With soldiers rushing and bustling around them, Xi Chen's sharp eyes softened as he gently held Ye An's hand. "It's alright, I'm here."

Ye An jerked her hand away. She didn't want Xi Chen to treat her like some tragic damsel in distress. But she caught the hurt look in Xi Chen's eyes, albeit for a brief moment. "It's-" Ye An started to explain but ended up sighing. "There are too many people here."

Ye An could practically see the thoughts running through Xi Chen's mind. His honest eyes bored into hers. "Your Imperial Majesty, I think we need to have a proper talk when all of this ends."

Ye An looked away. "Maybe. But we need to focus on this battle for now. Since I don't plan to die here and I assume that you don't either."

Xi Chen gave Ye An a meaningful look, the gold in his eyes swirled like fresh honey. "Yes. I don't. Not yet, anyway."

After that exchange, Xi Chen led Ye An down the tower. They were at the bottom of the wall in no time. While descending the stone steps, Xi Chen grabbed a soldier who was passing by and ordered him to lock the door after them which he gladly obliged. The door was instantly locked after both he and Ye An stepped out to the now snow-covered ground. 

Xi Chen's original plan was to make a beeline towards Ah Lin but that plan was smashed into smithereens when a throng of Northerners noticed them. It didn't help that they soon recognized Ye An based on the dragon motifs on her armor.

As the Northern warriors marched towards Ye An and Xi Chen, both of them brandished their swords at once. The battle had only just started but Ye An could already smell the iron tang of blood in the air. The cold chill of winter had long since held a tight grasp here and the snow was falling heavier by the minute. For the acrid smell to reach her, there must already have been a significant loss of blood somewhere. It took a lot of effort for Ye An to keep the hand that was holding her sword steady.

With his eyes still on the advancing Northerners, Xi Chen laid out his plan to Ye An urgently. "Ye An, listen closely. We need to station soldiers at the base of the tower to defend the wall, but all of the ground soldiers are with Ah Lin at the gate. So, we need to get to Ah Lin as quickly as possible to pull his men. We need to move fast. Make sure you keep your back on me at all times, do you understand?"

Xi Chen's voice brought Ye An back. She swallowed and nodded with a resolute gaze. She was so out of it that she didn't even notice that Xi Chen had called her name instead of her title.

As a team, both of them moved towards the crowd. A mountain-like Northerner was the first one Ye An noticed. It might have been because of his stature but he stood out from the rest and was at the forefront of the horde of men who were closing on them.

He had a gruesomely mangled face with a sickly greyish tinge and long scraggly hair that was thinning on the top. In his large hand, he held a baton chained to a morning star. The spiked iron ball was almost as large as Ye An's face if not larger. As the man swung his weapon high up in the air to create momentum, Ye An's life flashed before her eyes.

"Your Imperial Majesty!" Xi Chen yelled as he pulled her out of the way, narrowly missing the blow of the weapon himself in the process. The morning star landed on the hard ground with a heavy thud, its spikes embedded deep into the earth before the monstrous Northerner yanked it free.

As Ye An took in the cracks on the frozen ground, she came to her senses. This was neither the place nor time to be spacing out. She needed to be at her best so that she wouldn't end up being a burden to Xi Chen.

"My apologies. I'll be more careful from now on. Don't mind me." Ye An said as they were finally enveloped by the enemy.

In a split second, Ye An was already by the side of the gigantic man who was ready to throw his spiked weapon down for a second time. Xi Chen followed closely behind. Before the Northerner could react, Ye An crouched down as she slid past him, her eyes trained on the Northerner's exposed ankles. This was her lucky day. Most of the time, the people living around the region during this time of the year would have boots on due to the extremely cold weather but this Northerner apparently didn't for some reason. Maybe they ran out of large boots. Anyhow, it was an opening that Ye An was grateful for.

As she passed by the Northerner's ankles, her lithe sword slit them in one clean line. The entire thing happened so quickly that Ye An was already half a mile away when the Northerner realized that the cut hit one of his important arteries and he had started bleeding to a certain death.

Xi Chen who was at the forefront when it happened was quietly impressed by Ye An's skills. He felt slightly embarrassed thinking about how he had tried to comfort her on top of the wall. However, the embarrassment was short-lived.

When Ye An slipped past the gigantic Northerner, she let one of her gloved palms graze the snow-covered ground as she turned to face Xi Chen to check on him. Her long ponytail made an arc in the air as her eyes widened. "Watch out!"

But it was too late. A boomerang that was lined with the sharpest blade sliced the sides of both Xi Chen's calves as it flew by in a circular motion around the young lieutenant. Without hesitating, Ye An sheathed her sword and pulled her crossbow out in one movement. The crossbow was nocked in an instant and an arrow went flying towards the owner of the bladed boomerang. The arrow shot true. Right at the heart of the Northerner which instantly killed him. Ye An also took this chance to aim an arrow at the neck of the gigantic Northerner just to make sure that he wouldn't pose as a problem anymore.

Xi Chen wasted no time. Even with his bleeding calf, he reached Ye An in three long strides and pulled her up. There were too many of them and only the two of them. Xi Chen knew that this was not the time to fight. This was the time to run.

"Let's go. We need to get out of here. Our goal is to get to Ah Lin. We need to avoid confrontation as much as we could." Xi Chen said as he ran alongside Ye An.

"But your wound! Are you sure you could run? You're still bleeding!" Ye An asked anxiously as she put her crossbow back and pulled her sword out to prepare for anything that might come their way.

Xi Chen smiled as he looked down at Ye An. "It's nice to have you worry about me."

Ye An couldn't believe him. How could he still smile when he was probably losing buckets of blood? The darkened patch on his boot was already spreading. Even the leg of his pants was swiftly stained with red. But this was no time to argue.

Ye An tried her best to shield Xi Chen as they moved through the crowd of Northerners. Xi Chen watched with silent pride as he witnessed Ye An's sword-fighting skills for the first time as she carve out a path for them.

"There he is!" Ye An exclaimed breathlessly as they were nearing the ruined gate. Beads of sweat were forming at her temples.

Ah Lin who always gave off an energy of someone who was careless and carefree now had the most serious expression displayed on his face. The area around his eyes was tight with tension as he ordered the men under his watch. "You there! Grab some men and protect the entrance to the tower!"

"Noted, Captain Zhang!" The soldier answered and efficiently pulled the men who were near him to the base of the towers.

"Ah Lin!" Xi Chen called out as soon as they were within Ah Lin's earshot.

Ah Lin's focus on the battle momentarily lapsed, but he quickly recovered as he let out a breath of relief, "You're finally here!"

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