"No. I don't like it." Mo Ran says again when we're alone. He folds his arms across his chest to show that he means it. If he didn't already look intimidating in his armour, he sure does now.

Still. "Don't tell me no. You know I'm going to do what I think is right," I point out.

He takes a deep breath and sighs. "I gave you my word that I would protect you. I can't do that when you're on the opposite team. True, no one will be killed in this challenge, but that doesn't mean there's no danger."

"I can't protect you when I'm on the Emperor's team either," I argue. "Do you think I'm a hundred per cent 'okay' with that? Of course not. Still, I don't tell you that you can't fight."

He gives me a long look, takes my hand and kisses it. He then leans down and looks into my eyes. "The Emperor is lucky to have you on his team. Return to me safely."

"I will make sure of it," I say with confidence. "So make sure you do the same thing."

He frowns, nods and goes without another word.

It's final battle time. I go to dress myself in Yan Ran's pale blue and black armour and I join the Emperor's team in their temporary base camp. They don't realise it's me until it's too late.

"It's-not-me-it's-not-me!" I cry out when Tang Tang pulls the mask off my face. The things that come out of my mouth sometimes...yeeesh!

Emperor Bei Tang Yi looks shocked to see me. "Where's Xie Yan Ran?"

Errrrrr. "She has a stomachache. She couldn't make it." Understatement of the century; I left Yan Ran hurling up her insides in the garden of Mo Ran's mansion.

No one looks happy about my news. The always suspicious Fang Jian (he likes wearing flower pots as hats; enough said) accuses me of wanting to mess things up for the team. What?

"Fudge bucket!" I shout, stamping my foot. "I'm not here to mess anything up. In fact, our team will definitely win now that you have me. So there!"

When it comes to online gaming, I have never lost. In minutes I come up with a killer strategy for the team. I am also confident that I will have time to check on Mo Ran as well. I don't mention this last part of my plan to the others though. I don't think they'd understand.

My future nephew approves of my strategy, except for one thing; he wants me to stay at the camp and not go into the 'battlefield' because I'm not a Constellation Master. Who died and made him Emperor? Oh yeah, now I remember.

"Why are you staring at me?" Yi asks, hands behind his back. His eyes are on the field. "It's annoying."

"Nothing," I say, then I lower my voice. "We are so gonna lose."

"Did you say something?"

"I was just saying that it would be better if I could go out there and help our team with herbal mixes to get their blood flowing."

"No. Stay here. You'll only get in their way."

I narrow my eyes at him.

Tang Tang and the others lead their troops down the two perimeter lanes of the 'battle zone', I support them from the camp by shouting out useful advice like "ambush the opponent's bushes" and "make charismatic moves". The guys are smart enough to know what I mean. Right?

As soon as Bei Tang Yi's focus is entirely on the battle, I sneak off like Yogi Bear from Jellystone Park. I hurry down the lane that Tang Tang took and find a lot of our team's soldiers playing dead in the woods. Somehow, tomboy Chu Da Li has already 'killed' them all. No one wants to be revived either.

"Get up you cowards!" I yell at them, kicking at a soldier's foot.

"You're dead too, Fei Fei," General Da Li says to me, poking me in the back with the tip of her spear. Her boyfriend, Bai Wu Chen stands next to her and gives me a cheeky grin.

"No I'm not," I say. "What part of me looks dead?"

Da Li lifts the spear and aims it at my chest.

Yikes. That escalated quickly. I run into the trees for cover. Chu Da Li may be a girl, but she is brutal. I'm not sticking around to let her do any damage.

I bend over and creep through the tall grasses. It's not long before I reach Mo Ran's base camp, which is built under an enormous cherry blossom tree. The flowers are a deep pink, while the trunk is creepy, twisted and black. The flowers look almost blood-coloured against the cloudy sky.

Downhill at the base camp, I spot Mo Ran examining the map alongside another soldier. He grows stern and pulls his sword off the wall. He tells the soldier something, and the man runs off, leaving Mo Ran alone.

I creep over to him and hide behind a banner. What's wrong with him? He looks tense.

"If someone from the enemy camp is here, you need to take this urgent message to the Emperor," Mo Ran says. His back is to me but somehow he knows I'm hiding there. He talks to me in a calm tone while watching his surroundings.

I stay still, hardly breathing.

"My army has been infiltrated with spies. They are genuinely killing men in the Emperor's team. You need to warn him."

Oh my God. We are all in huge danger. "Don't worry," I say, pulling my bag of herbs to my backside. I'm going to make a run for it. "I'll tell him."

"Be careful." I hear the words on the wind as I tear off into the field. And I am. I bend over and run as fast and as quietly as I can. I'm not good at much but at least I'm short and small, so not much of a target in tall grasses.

When I reach the base camp, Bei Tang Yi is climbing up on his horse. How come he gets to have a horse in this battle? No one else does.

"Hey!" I cry, waving my hands at him. "Don't charge in yet!"

He pauses to stare down at me. "What is it?"

"King Chen told me to warn you that the challenge has been infiltrated. Spies are killing men on our team."

This news brings loud outcries from the surrounding soldiers at the base camp. Yi frowns down at me. "Why were you anywhere near my Uncle? Are you taking this challenge seriously at all?"

"Of course I am! I just ran-"

"The message he gave could be part of a trap for me." Yi scowls. "He could be using you as a pawn. Did you think of that?"

I gape. "You're crazy. He wouldn't do that."

"Think about it," says Yi. "Would he really let you, the woman he cares about the most, run through real danger to deliver a message that's in my interest?"

I narrow my eyes. "Fine, whatever, don't believe me. But don't you need to at least make plans in case he's telling the truth?"

"Jiah!" He kicks at his horse's sides and the horse breaks into a gallop. I jump out of the way of the animal's hooves just in time.

Okay. Great. How do I save the day now?