Mo Li’s laughter grew more maniacal and every time his whip lashed Lin Tie, it was as if it struck the spine of the Lin family’s army, causing them to lower their heads in despair. Yet, Lin Tie was even more despairing than they were. These men were not only his comrades but also his family. They had eaten together, lived together, and shared their lives openly and honestly. He had once promised to bring them all back safely, yet now, because he was at the mercy of another, these same comrades had suppressed their fighting spirit and adopted the posture of sheep awaiting slaughter, sinking into a pit of helpless struggle. He could almost foresee that, after this battle, there would no longer be a Lin family’s army. These familiar faces in front of him would all be consumed by the flames of war.

What right did he have to cause so many people to accompany him to the grave? If his teeth hadn’t already been shattered by Mo Li, he would have bitten his tongue to end his life. His gaze swept over the faces of his comrades, and from his dry eyes, two streams of bloody tears slowly flowed. Finally, his gaze landed on Lin Dan, and his eyes brightened slightly.

While everyone else had been forced back several steps by the Xiongnu army’s battle cries, she alone stood firmly at the front, not retreating even half a step. She did not avoid his gaze, staring straight into his eyes as if to confirm his resolve.

Lin Tie immediately shouted, “Lin Dan, give your father a swift death!”

Lin Dan urged her horse forward but did not raise her bow. She was calculating the distance between them, trying to see if there was time to save Lin Tie by the time she charged into the enemy ranks. But unfortunately, he was too far and there were thousands of soldiers and horses between them. No matter how skilled she was, it was impossible to reach him in an instant and rescue him. No, she could have. But due to a subconscious concern, she didn’t practice her martial arts to the absolute peak.

Now it was too late to train. She was unwilling to admit it, but she had to accept that in her current state, she couldn’t save Lin Tie.

Mysteriously, in the depths of Lin Tie’s mind, a voice told him that this daughter of his might be the only hope for the Lin family’s army, so he shouted persistently, “Lin Dan, if you are still my good daughter, then grant your father peace! Do you remember the poem I taught you when you were young? Do you remember the words your grandfather often said?”

Lin Dan reached for the bow on her back and said slowly, “I remember. The soldiers sings of the sword march, swearing to annihilate the Hu’s beyond the Yumen Pass. Dying on the battlefield for the country, there’s no need to return wrapped in horsehide. Our Lin family would rather die standing than live kneeling! Father, I remember it all!” As soon as her words fell, she raised her bow and shot.

The arrow whistled through the air and struck. Lin Tie looked down at his bloodstained chest and laughed heartily. He spoke intermittently, “I, your father, have fought, countless, victorious battles, but never, have I felt, as happy, as today! Lin Dan, you are, the backbone, of our, Lin family. You are, my pride! Dying on, the battlefield, for the, country, there’s, no need, to return, wrapped, in horsehide! Father, dying for, a worthy cause, is an honor! Do not, blame yourself……” With that, his head slumped, and there was no further sound.

In just a few words, Lin Dan’s eyes had already reddened. Yet Mo Li and his soldiers had not fully processed what had happened. Weren’t the people of the central plains supposed to be spineless? Weren’t they supposed to hold filial piety above all else, never daring to kill their own fathers? How could this person have done it?

However, Lin Dan didn’t give them time to react. She raised her sword and charged into the enemy ranks, heading straight for Mo Li. Li Xian immediately shouted, “Kill! Avenge General Lin!” Watching Lin Dan become surrounded, he was filled with shock. If General Lin had remained strung up on the platform, suffering humiliation at the hands of the Xiongnu, the spine of the Lin family’s army would have been broken too. The battle would not even need to be fought. They would have already lost mentally.

But Lin Dan’s decisive action awakened the buried fierceness in their bones. General Lin’s sacrifice ignited their fury and fighting spirit, giving them a chance to turn the tide of battle. Li Xian drew his sword and charged into the enemy lines trying to catch up with Lin Dan, but she only pulled farther ahead.

Her swordsmanship was exquisite, her martial arts unparalleled. Any enemy who approached her lost their head within a single exchange, falling dead beneath her horse. She paid no mind to anyone else, her bloodshot eyes locked only on Mo Li. Everywhere she passed, blood mist sprayed, and no one could stop her.

For the first time, Mo Li felt a trace of fear in his heart, but he did not retreat. Instead, he faced her directly. He was the commander-in-chief. He could not show cowardice on the battlefield. If he couldn’t win, his soldiers would come to his rescue. Would his vast army be afraid of a mere girl?

Unfortunately, he underestimated Lin Dan’s martial arts prowess. After only one exchange, he nearly lost his head. Luckily, he tilted backward just in time, narrowly avoiding the lethal blow, though the intense force of her sword made his skin tingle. His horse, however, was not as fortunate. A line of blood shot up as its head was neatly severed. The horse’s four legs staggered forward a few more steps before suddenly collapsing.

Mo Li fell to the ground and hadn’t yet risen when Lin Dan knocked him unconscious with a single palm strike and slung him over her horse.

As Lin Dan carried Mo Li out of the encirclement, the Xiongnu soldiers tried to rescue their commander-in-chief but were all cut down by her. She became a figure covered in blood, her armor dripping thickly, making her appear terrifying. Gradually, the Xiongnu soldiers who surrounded her backed away, their eyes filled with fear.

But Lin Dan was relentless. She lifted her sword and continued chasing after them. Wherever she went, the enemy’s formation fell into chaos. In an instant, the ground was covered with corpses, thick as fallen wheat stalks in autumn. She was like a grim reaper harvesting souls and her methods were brutal.

Many other soldiers of the Great Wei Dynasty, like Lin Dan, had been driven into a bloodthirsty frenzy. Their hearts were full of vengeance and they only thought of taking the heads of these Xiongnu soldiers to honor their fallen comrades. No one even considered retreating. The battle raged from dawn until dusk, and when the Lin family’s army finally came to their senses, the Xiongnu army had already fled in panic, leaving behind a field of carnage.

The soldiers looked at each other, their eyes welling with tears.

Standing on a distant hill, Ding Mujie was astonished. The battlefield was too far away for him to see the details, but he could see a lone figure charging into the Xiongnu army, breaking through the cavalry on her own. After her, the Great Wei’s army surged forward, the left and right flanks scattering the Xiongnu cavalry, then dividing them into smaller groups for elimination.

Wherever that lone figure went, the Xiongnu soldiers fell in droves, unstoppable. Ding Mujie was speechless with awe. His eyes were glued to that figure, not daring to look away. Only when the Xiongnu army retreated, leaving behind smoke and ruin, did that figure slowly rejoin the Great Wei’s troops. He exhaled heavily. Victory! A war that had seemed impossible to win had ended in a victory for the Great Wei Dynasty! The outcome he had been unable to change had been effortlessly rewritten by one person. Was that Lin Dan?

Ding Mujie mounted his horse and rode swiftly back to the camp. As he neared Lin Dan’s tent, he overheard the surrounding soldiers recounting the battle with awe in their voices. The invincible warrior had indeed been Lin Dan! He slowed his pace, shaking his head and laughing bitterly, the sound full of sorrow and self-mockery. In their past life, when he had confined Lin Dan to the back courtyard, preventing her from taking the battlefield to avenge her family, what had she been thinking? She had the ability to determine the outcome of an entire war, yet she had been delayed by a selfish, self-serving man. He had insulted her dignity, ignored her abilities, and finally stripped away her freedom. He was utterly unforgivable! If he had let her go, perhaps not in this life, but even in their past life, they could have lived a different fate!

The more Ding Mujie thought about it, the more ashamed he felt. When he finally reached the tent, he couldn’t bring himself to take another step forward. He was afraid to face Lin Dan. But the commotion inside immediately pushed all his thoughts aside, and he rushed in.

Inside, Lin Qing had fiercely grabbed Lin Dan by the collar, shouting in fury, “How could you kill Father?! How could you bring yourself to do it?! With your skills, you could have broken through the enemy lines and saved him! Why did you shoot him with an arrow?! You’re heartless! Are you even human?!”

The military officers surrounding them hurried to intervene, their eyes red and swollen, clearly having cried.

Lin Dan didn’t say a word. She calmly pried Lin Qing’s fingers off her collar and walked out of the tent. She made her way to the training grounds, where bodies and coffins were lined up. The soldiers standing vigil quickly stepped aside, giving her an unobstructed path. She walked to the front, silently facing the rows of dark coffins, and knelt down without a word. Inside those coffins lay the sons of the Lin family, as well as other fallen soldiers.

Lin Qing ran after her, tears streaming down his face as he yelled, “You, a murderer who killed your own father, have no right to kneel here! Get out!”

Li Xian could no longer bear it. He threw a punch at Lin Qing’s face and, furious at his own weakness, yelled, “Do you think breaking through the enemy lines and rescuing General Lin was an easy feat?! Lin Dan is human, not a deity! She doesn’t have wings! Why did General Lin seek death? It’s because he wanted to sacrifice himself to save everyone else! If he hadn’t died, no one here would have had the will to fight. Without that will, all of us would be dead and the borders we protect and the homeland we defend would have been trampled by the Xiongnu’s iron cavalry! As General Lin said, he died with honor, without regret! If not for his sacrifice and your sister’s resolute action, would you still be standing here, alive, berating her? You owe your sister your life! I owe her my life! Every single one of us here owes her our lives!”

Choking back his tears, Li Xian added, “That arrow should have been shot by you or me, but none of us had the courage to bear that responsibility. We let General Lin down! Only Lin Dan stepped forward to do what we should have done. General Lin wasn’t wrong, we’re all cowards! Your father, your grandfather, your brothers, uncles, and all your kin lie here, and their spirits are watching from above. Ask them if they ever blame Lin Dan?”

Lin Qing recalled his father’s final words. He had said that he was happier than after any victory because the Lin family had found a new backbone. Without a doubt, that backbone wasn’t Lin Qing, it was Lin Dan. His father had not blamed Lin Dan in the slightest. On the contrary, he was proud of her. And the sin of killing their father should have been borne by the youngest son— by Lin Qing. It was his cowardice that had forced this burden onto Lin Dan.

What right did he have to blame her? Was it his incompetence that gave him that right? As he calmed down, remorse began to show on Lin Qing’s face.

But at that moment, Lin Dan drew a dagger from her boot and, without hesitation, plunged it into her abdomen. Slowly, she said, “Will my blood cleanse the sin of killing my father? If I do not die today, I will one day flatten the Xiongnu. I ask all you soldiers and the spirits above to bear witness for me.” With that, she drove the dagger into herself two more times, each cut more forceful than the last.