This is—

The Wolf-faced Prince’s lips were tightly pressed into a line, yet he made no sound. However, a sharp gaze shot out from behind the mask, scanning over the group that had suddenly erupted in attack, and suddenly, it landed on one rider among them.

The person, dressed in white attire, donned armor yet did not hide a refined and ethereal demeanor like that of Ruyun’s.

And when he reached in front of the hillock, looking down at the panicked crowd below, a slight, satisfied smile flickered in his clear eyes as if watching a chess board, that he laid out, come to fruition.

In just this instant, the Wolf-faced Prince immediately understood—

This was all a chess board orchestrated by this person!

Just now, they were ambushed on the grassland, attacked by archers hidden in the woods, the very arrangement made by this person. He had his subordinates wear dark blue garments, not only to help the archers hide among the spruce trees but also to deceive them; afterward, after a bout of ambush, these archers retreated immediately, which naturally led the Turkic soldiers, unwilling to let it go, to charge into the woods in pursuit.

Yet, they never managed to capture them.

If he hadn’t guessed wrong, this group likely dug deep ditches on both sides of the route beforehand, or perhaps they were hiding in the ditches on both sides of the woods, for only in such a way could so many men and horses be concealed, allowing the ambushing archers to quickly hide away.

And these Turkic soldiers, in their anger post-ambush, couldn’t spare the effort to distinguish much and directly chased out of the woods.

Then, just at that moment, they encountered this other troop coming from the other direction. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Of course, not just a mere coincidence.

This must be when the other party had accurately calculated the timing, ensuring that when they rushed out of the woods, this troop was just emerging from the pass between the two mountain bases, making them think they were ambushed at that spot.

Although the Wolf-faced Prince sensed something was amiss and hesitated beforehand, at that moment, an arrow appeared, striking the opposing troop.

The other side, unaware of the situation ahead while emerging from between the mountains, and suddenly being hit by an arrow, naturally assumed it was the other side’s doing, so troops from both sides were stirred into a conflict, clashing fiercely.

And having fought to a double loss at this point and realizing things weren’t right as they were about to call it a retreat, this group appeared!

What a strategy!

What a vicious strategy!

The Wolf-faced Prince turned back to look at the figure in white armor standing atop the hillock, a serene aura about him, as if untouched by the worldly chaos before them, yet—

Uncertain if it was an illusion, those clear and tranquil eyes seemed to flicker with something unusual, as if boiling, in the reflection of the sea of blood and mountains of corpses.

Then, he gently raised his hand.

The cavalry behind him had also completely charged out of the woods by now, assembled atop the hillock, their formation ready for a charge!

This caused even the Turkic soldiers, who had just endured a bloody battle, to become somewhat panicked.

Someone shouted loudly, "Prince, what should we do!?"

Fortunately, because the Wolf-faced Prince timely called for a retreat just now, their troops had gathered together, not deeply entangled in the battle upfront and unable to extricate themselves. Yet now, after half an hour of pursuit and further fighting, they truly had no strength left for another battle.

As everyone anxiously looked at the Prince, he abruptly raised his hand and pointed to a small path heading east across the grassland—

"Retreat!"