Jiu Qing’s pace slowed; he turned to look at Xue Gu.

Xue Gu studied his face closely — it certainly didn’t look fake.

But there were so many masters of disguise in this world, with techniques constantly evolving — the methods of true experts were beyond imagining.

Back then, Jiu’er herself had only learned the basics before practicing on her own, and eventually her disguise skills had become so refined that even Xue Gu couldn’t spot the flaws.

This man before her had skin darker than most ordinary men, with several old scars on his face.

Though he looked rather unattractive on the surface, somehow, looking at him, one felt no sense of distaste at all.

In fact, the longer you looked, the more you’d think this man was actually rather handsome.

How could someone, with a face full of scars, grow more handsome the longer you looked?

Xue Gu narrowed her eyes, turning the matter over in her mind.

But Jiu Qing had already run out of patience and turned to leave.

Xue Gu still hurried after him. “Good sir, this old woman sees that your skills are truly formidable. I’m afraid I’m rather ignorant — might I ask under whom you trained?”

Jiu Qing paid her no attention, walking straight into the main hall.

Long Shiyi went to arrange a room for him; there didn’t seem to be much deference in his manner — they treated each other simply as companions.

Since they were all people Mu Mu had brought along, this kind of treatment was only natural.

But Xue Gu still felt that this man, Jiu Qing, was truly no ordinary person.

The aura that surrounded him always felt distinctly different from that of people like Long Shiyi and Long Yi.

But since he kept his presence so contained, Xue Gu couldn’t quite pin down exactly what the difference was.

“What is it?” Mu Mu came up behind her, also gazing in the direction Jiu Qing had gone, his expression complicated.

“Mu Mu, is this man truly one of your subordinates?” Xue Gu turned to look at him, her face full of doubt.

“Of course not.” Mu Mu had said before that he was a friend from the martial world. He said, “I invited him along. He’s reclusive by nature, and admittedly not the easiest to get along with, but his martial skill is extremely high.”

There was nothing wrong with this explanation — if his skills weren’t high, Mu Mu wouldn’t have invited him along in the first place.

“Don’t worry, Xue Gu. Although he’s not one of my subordinates, he’s a man of great integrity. Once he’s promised to protect Jiu’er, he’ll see it through without fail.”

This time, hadn’t it been Jiu Qing who had brought Jiu’er safely back?

Though her foot was injured, it didn’t look too serious — for Jiu Qing, this could hardly be counted as a failure of duty.

Xue Gu remained deeply suspicious. “A man with skills this formidable — why have I never once heard his name mentioned in the martial world?”

“Xue Gu, you’ve been on Snow Lotus Mountain too long. Ten years is long enough for the martial world to change many times over. Besides, not everyone wishes to make a name for themselves — this friend of mine prefers to keep a low profile.”

Xue Gu still wanted to say more, but Mu Mu spoke first. “I know you’re only worried for Jiu’er’s sake, afraid that someone close to her might harbor ill intentions. But I can guarantee — Jiu Qing absolutely would not.”

Seeing Qiao Mu help Jiu’er back to her room, Mu Mu said, “Let me go check on Jiu’er first.”

“Let’s go together.” Xue Gu set her thoughts aside for the moment and walked with him into Feng Jiu’er’s room.

The room was rather simple — rented temporarily by Qiao Mu and the brothers of the Tianji Hall.

They had traveled by the main road and had already reached this village the day before, but had no idea what Feng Jiu’er and the others had encountered in the wilderness, only that they hadn’t arrived until now.

Still, Qiao Mu had some knowledge of this area.

“You ran into the Senmu people, didn’t you?”

“What are the Senmu people?” Jiu’er looked at her.

“They’re a group of bandits entrenched in the mountain forests around here — they’ve lived in this area for over a hundred years. Actually, since hardly anyone travels this road normally, they haven’t really acted as bandits for many years now.”

She herself had come from a bandit background, so she had some understanding of the bandit groups in the mountain ranges near the capital.

“This time, they probably just happened to spot you passing through and wanted to grab something off you.”

Xue Gu crouched down and took out some ointment to massage into Jiu’er’s ankle. She asked, “When your mount went mad, was it Jiu Qing who saved you?”

“Yes, thanks to him.”

“You’ve been with him these past two days — did he… mistreat you in any way?”

In truth, Xue Gu wasn’t entirely sure what she was trying to ask — she simply wasn’t used to speaking in roundabout ways.

Just who was Jiu Qing really? Was there any chance he was the Ninth Prince in disguise?

Though she felt the likelihood was truly slim — after all, who in this world would really give up their entire empire for the sake of a woman?

The Ninth Prince currently held half the military strength of the state of Bei Mu, with half of Bei Mu’s territory already in his grasp.

If he were to leave at a time like this, he would surely know what consequences would follow.

Once people discovered the Ninth Prince was no longer within Bei Mu’s borders, no shortage of rivals would move to seize his cities.

Xue Gu felt genuinely conflicted — on one hand, she hoped Zhan Qingcheng truly could do what others couldn’t, and give his heart sincerely to Jiu’er.

On the other hand, she didn’t want to… bring about even more frightening consequences…

“Xue Gu, what’s wrong with you? Why does your expression look so strange?” Jiu’er looked down at her, waving a hand in front of her face.

“How would Jiu Qing mistreat me? He’s been very good to me — protecting me with his whole heart this entire time. This time, I really do owe him a great debt of gratitude.”

Xue Gu nodded and quickly gathered her thoughts back together.

But Jiu’er still tilted her head, studying her — she couldn’t help feeling that Xue Gu’s behavior these past few days had been genuinely odd, as if… she were hiding something difficult to say.

“Xue Gu, are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“Why would I be unwell? I’m perfectly fine.” Xue Gu lowered her head, avoiding any eye contact with her, and continued massaging the ointment into her ankle without saying anything more.

Mu Mu’s gaze shifted away from Xue Gu. He looked at Jiu’er and said, “Since you’re alright, we’ll set out early tomorrow morning. I’ve already had people prepare fresh provisions, so there shouldn’t be any problems on the road.”

“Alright.” Jiu’er nodded, and the moment she heard the word “provisions,” her stomach immediately started rumbling.

“Um, could I get a bowl of noodles right now? I haven’t had a proper meal in two days.”

“Anything works — noodles with minced sauce, meat sauce noodles, beef noodles, egg noodles. And if none of that’s available, a bowl of plain white rice with a small side of pickles would do too.”

After nearly two days of eating nothing but wild fruit, her poor stomach simply couldn’t take it anymore — it was awash with acid and ached terribly.

“Oh right, prepare some for Jiu Qing too — make it a generous portion. He’s so tall, his appetite must be quite large.”

“Looks like you and Jiu Qing really did become friends these past two days,” Qiao Mu said with a smile.

Jiu’er had a wide circle of friends — with a personality as good as hers, everyone was willing to get along with her.

Just look — even icy-cold Jiu Qing had been won over by her, willing to carry her all that way on his back.

If it had been Qiao Mu in her place, Jiu Qing would probably have just dragged her along the whole way instead.

Oh dear, the more she thought about it, the more pitiable her own situation seemed by comparison.

This Jiu Qing’s temperament really did resemble a certain prince’s, didn’t it!