Chapter 50: I Will Take Responsibility

"Damn that butcher!"

Bai Ling slammed her clenched fist against the stone doorframe, her knuckles bruising against the rock as she hissed a bitter curse. The faint, desperate hope she had clung to vanished entirely. Her amber eyes swirled with a mixture of grief and pure, suffocating frustration.

"Three whole years..." she murmured, her voice trembling slightly with repressed anguish. "Three years of blood, sweat, and sleepless nights carving out this stronghold from solid stone to give these starving families a safe haven from Yan’s slave pits. And now... all of it is going to turn to ash."

Before her despair could take root, a hand reached out and rested firmly upon her leather-clad shoulder.

Bai Ling turned, startled, and found Shen Qingxue stepping into her personal space.

Shen Qingxue’s sheer veil fluttered with her heavy breathing. Her obsidian eyes were colder than ancient glacial ice, burning with a suffocating, lethal malice so dense that even Bai Ling, a veteran rebel commander who had survived dozens of skirmishes, felt an instinctive shiver of pure dread crawl up her spine.

"Do not speak of giving up your home, Sister Bai," Shen Qingxue said, her voice laced with venomous, bone-chilling resolve. "I will stand by your side and defend this mountain. And when the corrupt dogs of Governor Yan march into this gorge, I will help you slaughter every single bastard responsible for this atrocity until their blood stains the river red."

Bai Ling stared at the veiled girl, thoroughly stunned. The sheer, terrifying aura radiating from this teenage swordswoman felt less like a young sect disciple and more like a primordial god of war stepping out of a sea of blood.

I couldn’t help but chuckle softly, stepping between them with a relaxed, easygoing smile.

"Well said, little wildcat," I said with a smile, patting Qingxue’s head to calm her fiery temper. "If you have already resolved to defend your mountain, Leader Bai, then standing around weeping won’t change the trajectory of the arrows. Preparation is the only thing that decides life and death. Naturally, as a guest, I can step in if the situation turns truly catastrophic. But this is your home, your war, and your people, it is far better if you forge your own victory with your own hands."

Bai Ling was a remarkably smart woman; she understood my meaning immediately. An immortal master was not an errand boy to be summoned for every mortal skirmish. By offering his presence, he was giving them an unshakeable safety net, but the actual battle had to be fought by their own grit.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, she bowed respectfully with hands clasped. "Senior’s wisdom is absolute. If Senior is willing to offer guidance, could you help us reinforce the gorge entrance and prepare tactical traps along the outer approach?"

"Traps?" I grinned broadly, my eyes gleaming with mischievous light. "Setting lethal ambushes for arrogant imperial armies happens to be one of my greatest specialties. Let’s go."

Leaving the infirmary, we hurried back into the main subterranean basin. Bai Ling didn’t waste a single breath, her crisp commands echoed off the vaulted cavern ceiling, instantly assembling forty of the stronghold’s elite scout militia, including Tie Shan and his recovered squad.

The hardened border fighters, armed with notched iron broadswords, hunting bows, and heavy wooden shields, immediately dropped to one knee before me, their rough voices booming in unison: "Greetings, Immortal Senior!"

"At ease," I said casually.

Bai Ling stepped forward, her amber eyes scanning her loyal fighters with solemn gravity. "Brothers, the rumors are true. The imperial slavers planted a tracking mark upon the captives. Governor Yan’s vanguard will arrive at our doorstep before the moon reaches its peak. We are holding the gorge to the death. If the outer defenses fall, our duty is to bleed them for every inch of rock, buying our elders, wives, and children enough time to escape through the deep mountain tunnels!"

A scarred veteran scout stepped forward, his eyes filled with desperate urgency. "Leader! If the imperial army is coming in full force, you must take the rear guard and escape with the civilians right now! You cannot stay here!"

"I agree with Old Liu!" Tie Shan barked, taking a heavy step forward. "Leader Bai, our lives are cheap border trash! We are completely replaceable! If thirty of us die, the world won’t shed a tear. But you are the soul of the Iron Valley Resistance! If this stronghold falls, you are the only person who holds the vision, the mind, and the capability to gather the scattered remnants and build another sanctuary elsewhere! Please, take the secret route and leave the gorge to us!"

Bai Ling looked at her battered, loyal men and let out a soft, self-deprecating chuckle.

"Stop speaking nonsense, Tie Shan," she said, shaking her head with a wry, resolute smile. "Who told you I was special? Without every single one of you swinging blades and digging tunnels beside me, I am just a lone woman with two short swords. I am no more irreplaceable than any man kneeling on this gravel. I brought you into this mountain, and I will not run away while my brothers bleed for my mistakes. We stand together."

The militia fighters clutched their weapons, their eyes reddening with deep emotion, wanting to protest further.

"Enough chatter!" Bai Ling commanded sharply, her voice cutting through their sentimentality like a whip. "We have less than two hours before the drums sound! Form up and move out to the gorge entrance! Double time!"

"Yes, Leader!"

Together, the entire contingent, Shen Qingxue, Bai Ling, forty heavily armed rebel scouts, and I, streamed through the cavernous corridor, passing through the shimmering concealment formation and emerging into the rugged, shadowed depths of Wolf Fang Gorge.

The twilight sun was sinking fast, casting long, jagged shadows across the sheer limestone cliffs flanking the narrow valley floor.

I stepped forward onto a raised rocky outcrop, clasping my hands behind my back as I took the lead. My divine sense expanded, mapping every crack in the stone, every loose scree slope, and the natural choke points of the canyon.