The frontier was under attack, and the three armies had no commander. Chu Shutong, a deputy general, stained his armor with blood and seized the marshal’s seal before tens of thousands of soldiers. A single order shattered the court’s suspicions. He cared nothing for political schemes, only life and death. With his long halberd, he swept through enemy ranks, yet amid the raging fires of war, Lu Lingyi turned the tide with a desperate counterattack that lasted seven days and seven nights. She was not born into a military family, yet she was the hidden piece in his army no one dared speak of: she knew the enemy camp’s defenses, could break through strange weapons and fire traps, and even infiltrated the enemy commander’s stronghold alone to burn their supply route. At last, Chu Shutong understood that the war was not won by his spear alone. She had paved the way with her life. The marshal’s seal had long ceased to be a symbol of power. It was a responsibility, the abyss she had shouldered for him.
