Chapter 154 — Battle of Huanglong Prefecture
Chapter 10 — The Lord Who Fled
Torchlight wavered along the walls.
It was night, and the wind was cold.
But the air within the city was heavier still.
Yelü Ning stood alone.
His hand rested upon the parapet as he gazed outward.
There was only darkness.
No lights, no banners, no shadow of horses.
That made it clearer.
No enemy could be seen—
and yet they were here.
He already knew.
This fortress could not endure.
No one needed to say it.
Numbers were dwindling.
The eyes of the men had changed.
Orders no longer carried to the end—
there were no men left to hear them.
Like teeth falling out, the lines of defense had thinned, gaping in places.
Some had died.
Others had already fled.
What could not be seen was as good as gone.
There was no need to ask where they had gone, or why.
A suffocating resignation settled over the city.
The walls still stood,
but the order within them had already collapsed.
Yelü Ning closed his eyes.
It was only for a moment.
Yet in that moment, everything was decided.
There was only one way to endure—
and it led to death.
There was only one way to live—
and it lay beyond these walls.
He opened his eyes.
The decision was made.
He summoned the commanders.
They gathered.
No one spoke first.
The answer was already written on their faces.
Yelü Ning spoke.
"Open the gate."
It was brief.
Someone asked,
"An attack?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"We leave."
When the words fell, no one objected.
There was no strength left for it.
The gates opened.
They had been closed for a long time.
The sound of them opening echoed through the city.
It was not loud—
yet everyone heard it.
People stopped.
They set down what they held.
They looked at one another.
They understood.
Yelü Ning mounted his horse.
He did not look back.
The lights upon the wall flickered.
They still burned in their place.
But what remained within them was no longer the same.
He passed through the gate and rode out.
The wind brushed his face—
cold.
Yet there was breath in it.
Behind him, the gates closed again.
A heavy sound rang out.
It was the sound of an ending.
Yelü Ning did not stop.
He drove his horse into the darkness.
In that moment,
Huanglong Prefecture was abandoned.