The north and south gates of the old city were vastly different. The south gate faced a stretch of Gobi Desert, flat and wide, offering no place to hide.
The north gate, however, was flanked by mountains, forming a natural enclosure. Cavalry could not pass from either side and would have to attack the gate directly. This meant fewer attack points, significantly increasing the difficulty for the barbarians to assault the north gate. Consequently, the north gate was relatively peaceful, without the immense pressure on the south gate.
Li Man'er was skilled. With a few leaps, she ascended the city wall. Her movements were silent and agile, allowing her to hide behind the battlements without anyone noticing.
Li Man'er held her breath, about to make a move, when she suddenly heard voices from the direction of the city tower.
"General."
"General."
Li Man'er cried out inwardly, "This is bad!" and quickly dodged into her spatial realm.
Qi Yihan arrived at the city tower, feeling a faint, familiar scent in the air as if in a trance.
"General, what is it?"
"Nothing." Qi Yihan stood on the city tower and asked the commanding officer, "We cannot let our guard down here. We need to patrol more diligently."
"Yes, General, rest assured. The men are alert."
Qi Yihan nodded, reached out to touch a soldier's hand, and checked the thickness of their clothes. Satisfied, he asked, "Have you had hot soup?"
"Yes!" a man with a red face from the cold shouted, "General, the soup was numb and spicy, with a layer of oil. Drinking it warmed us up from head to toe."
Qi Yihan expressed his satisfaction. "That was General Li's treat for you."
"Yes, we know."
"We all know, brothers."
Only then did Qi Yihan turn to leave the city tower. For some reason, as he passed a section of the battlements, he caught another faint, extremely familiar scent.
Inside the spatial realm, Li Man'er was terrified. She wondered what this Qi Yihan was up to, coming to the city tower in the middle of the night and nearly catching her.
Fortunately, Qi Yihan soon left. Li Man'er, taking advantage of the guards' momentary distraction, quickly scaled the battlements and flattened herself against the outer wall of the city tower.
She moved like a gecko clinging to a wall, slowly descending. If one looked closely, they would see she was wearing strange devices on her hands and feet. These devices seemed to exert a suction force, keeping her firmly attached to the wall, preventing her from falling.
The vigilant soldiers on the city tower would never have imagined that right under their noses, someone was slowly climbing down the tower, making not a sound.
Finally, Li Man'er reached the base of the city wall. The moment she landed, she retreated into her spatial realm.
The guards on the tower, perhaps sensing something, peered down.
It was pitch black below the city wall. Where the light shone, there was nothing.
"What are you looking at?"
"I thought I heard something."
"How is that possible!" Another man, unwilling to believe it, leaned out and looked. He also found nothing.
"You must have misheard. Perhaps it was the wind."
The two men returned to their posts. Li Man'er waited a while longer, seeing no abnormalities, and then quickly exited her spatial realm, taking a shortcut up the mountain.
Crossing directly over the snow would be time-consuming, arduous, and prone to accidents. In the dark, even skiing would expose her to unforeseen dangers.
Going over the mountain was different. It was relatively safer and would keep her movements hidden.
Li Man'er moved at a good pace. The snow in the forest was lighter than outside, and there were no large animals at the edge of the woods, so she traveled unimpeded. She soon descended the mountain and arrived near Xiashitan.
There was a lot of snow, but Li Man'er was clever. She quickly found a path suitable for skiing. This path had likely been made by barbarian scouting parties, and now it served her well.
Li Man'er took out her ski equipment from her spatial realm and skied towards the barbarian encampment.
Honestly, her equipment was far superior to that of the barbarians. Although the "track" was rudimentary, it was still within her control.
She wasn't moving at full speed, stopping and starting frequently. As dawn approached, she finally reached the vicinity of the barbarian camp.
Li Man'er entered her spatial realm, changed her attire, and drank a few sips of water from the spiritual mist spring. The fatigue of the night instantly vanished. Her cold hands and feet warmed up, her stomach no longer felt empty, and she felt as energetic as if she had drunk a case of Red Bull.
Li Man'er observed secretly. She noticed that the barbarian camp's security was lax. Many guards were dozing in sheltered spots, and some had wine jars at their feet, appearing to be drunk.
"Heaven helps me." Li Man'er adjusted her scarf, picked up her weapon, and walked out openly.
During the previous raid, she had collected a considerable number of barbarian clothes and weapons, thinking they might be useful someday.
And now, they were coming in handy!
She was small and had her face completely covered. Normally, she would have been stopped and questioned long ago. However, the entire camp had been celebrating a wedding the previous night. The barbarians were also confident that the people of Zun Country would not dare to attack them outside the city walls. As a result, the entire camp was steeped in revelry. The after-effects of this celebration meant many were not fully conscious or were sleeping too soundly to notice Li Man'er.
This provided Li Man'er with an opportunity. She walked boldly into the camp, and surprisingly, no one stopped her.
However, Li Man'er did not let her guard down. She was entering the lion's den, and even with her spatial realm as a safeguard, she could not afford to be careless.
Li Man'er first made her way to the barbarian field kitchen and found several large barrels filled with water. She quickly took out some medicine and threw it in, anticipating the barbarians' reactions after drinking it.
After leaving the kitchen, Li Man'er headed straight for the central command tent. She searched for a long time but couldn't find it, as if all the tents looked the same.
This infuriated her.
However, she soon discovered a tent that was different.
This tent wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. Externally, it looked identical to the ordinary tents. But beside it were three or four smaller tents, like satellites, encircling the main tent.
Li Man'er immediately concluded that this must be the commander's tent.
Just as she was about to approach it, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her and quickly darted into her spatial realm.
Two groggy soldiers stumbled over. They turned a corner and found a sheltered, deserted spot to relieve themselves.
Li Man'er frowned. These two were too inconsiderate, urinating here. It smelled so bad.
"You know, how did our princess fall for that pretty boy?"
"You call him a pretty boy? He's handsome, like a woman."
The two of them chuckled.
"Oh, I really don't know what the King was thinking. Doesn't he know what Manmuhahe means?"
"We both know what it means. How could the King not know? But I think the King must have another plan. Haven't you noticed his attitude towards Manmuhahe is completely different from before?"