The moment those words left Ziqing’s mouth, Situ Haonan, who hadn’t gotten far, couldn’t help stopping in his tracks. Of all the things this infuriating woman could have said, why did she have to bring that up too!

Meanwhile, Yelu Qianqian, cradled in his arms, had apparently woken up at some point. Her small face was flushed crimson, gazing at Situ Haonan in a daze, smiling foolishly. “Situ, now the whole world knows. I’d rather die than marry into Xiliang now.”

Situ Haonan looked at her, utterly helpless, yet deep down entirely serious. “Silly girl, if I let you marry into that place after all this, would I even still be a man?”

While the two of them shared this sweet moment, Ziqing’s words had thoroughly enraged Wanyan Lie.

Today, it wasn’t only the Xijing royal family who had lost face at Akbachu—Xiliang had too!

Wanyan Lie, breathless with fury, wrenched Yelu Chenyi’s hand off his shoulder and pointed directly at his nose. “You! This prince declares war on Xijing, right here and now!”

“Your Highness, please believe in Xijing’s sincerity. I truly had no idea about Princess Qianqian’s actions. I can apologize to you for this, but please think carefully before acting—don’t let certain people stir up trouble between us.”

Yelu Chenyi’s words rang hollow, yet he was doing everything he could to hold Wanyan Lie back.

Though Xiliang wasn’t as savage as the northern Xiongnu, it was still a slave state—once its ruler was provoked into war, they would stop at nothing, caring nothing for their own lives or anything else.

As the saying went, the barefoot fear no one wearing shoes—Xijing simply couldn’t afford to provoke them.

“Stirring up trouble, ha. Don’t think this prince is a fool!” Wanyan Lie said coldly, his long fingers turning toward Ziqing, his tone equally cold as he issued his warning. “This prince will say it once more—within one month, obediently deliver Yelu Qianqian to my city of Xiliang, or don’t blame me for not giving Jun Beiyue any face.”

A warning? A threat?

Ziqing gently brushed Wanyan Lie’s hand aside, and on that monstrously ugly face bloomed a wild, unrestrained smile—for just an instant, breathtakingly beautiful, radiant enough to topple kingdoms.

“Your Highness, as I said just now—ruining a marriage brings down the wrath of heaven. That’s not something this consort is willing to do.”

Those words caught everyone completely off guard. Even Yingzi, standing nearby, couldn’t help wanting to interject—why on earth would my lady bring this trouble down on herself, on Great Zhou?

This had been the perfect opportunity to sow discord—why deliberately take the blame instead?

But Ziqing wasn’t thinking about it that way at all.

Standing before Wanyan Lie and openly granting her blessing to Situ Haonan had already created enmity between them.

Why bother trying to please him further?

Let Wanyan Lie hate her. Let him hate Great Zhou to his bones!

If Xiliang wanted to lay so much as a finger on Great Zhou, they would first have to trample straight over the heads of the Xijing royal family, wouldn’t they?

Yelu Chenyi—this consort came here today wearing this ugly face for the sole purpose of settling accounts with you!

“Han Ziqing, you! Fine, you’ve got guts—just wait! If you don’t deliver her within a month, this prince will personally come knocking at the gates of the Prince Yao’s residence!”

With that, Wanyan Lie, without so much as a glance at Yelu Qianqian in the distance, stormed off in a fury.

He was gone—and with him, any hope of the marriage alliance.

This was the score Jun Beiyue was settling with Yelu Chenyi. The one she was truly after was Yanzi.

Yingzi had said that Jun Beiyue and Yanzi had been in the sand outside the Mingsha Cave when a wave of sand swept over them and they vanished without a trace. Today, even if she had to dig three feet of sand, she would unearth them.

Paying no mind to the large contingent of Xijing guards ahead, nor the archers who had somehow amassed in the meantime, Ziqing said coldly, “Yingzi, lead the way.”

Just as she was about to enter the city, Yelu Chenyi blocked her path with an arrow. Ziqing raised an eyebrow at him, smiled lightly, and instantly a thunderous “boom” erupted from the direction of the palace not far away!

She didn’t have much gunpowder left, but she made sure every single piece counted.

No words could carry more force than that single boom.

Han Ziqing said nothing—but her silence spoke louder than words.

Yelu Chenyi, forcing back the blood threatening to spill from his mouth, growled, “What exactly do you want? Where is the Prince of Great Zhou? I want to see him!”

The Prince of Great Zhou—was this to be a matter of state negotiations? Such formal address, all of a sudden?

“Crown Prince Yelu, you should be preparing for war. His Highness Prince Lie said he’ll personally come knocking at my Prince Yao’s gates in a month. A month isn’t long—surely your Xijing wolf army won’t prove so useless?”

“You!”

At last, Yelu Chenyi raised his hand and struck her—hard. “Han Ziqing, you! You! You’ve got nerve, I’ll give you that!”

Ziqing certainly did have nerve—she had deliberately provoked Wanyan Lie to the point of no return, and so what?

After all, she had Xijing guarding Great Zhou’s western gate for her now!

Xiliang could never be on good terms with Xijing again, so Yelu Chenyi had no choice but to obediently guard Great Zhou’s western border. Of course, he didn’t have to—but not doing so would mean abandoning Xijing entirely.

Ziqing could have avoided provoking the Crown Prince, but she chose to provoke him anyway, chose to stoke his fury, precisely so that Yelu Chenyi, out on the battlefield, would be reminded at every turn that every effort he made wasn’t just for Xijing—it was helping Great Zhou too.

Every effort he made would only make Han Ziqing more justified in refusing to send Yelu Qianqian to Xiliang.

How could he not want to vomit blood?

Yelu Chenyi’s raised hand hung in the air. Ziqing wasn’t afraid of him, but all the Shadow Guards and mercenaries nearby watched intently—if Yelu Chenyi dared make one more move, the five gunpowder-carrying mercenaries would surely lunge at him.

“Your Highness, I’m not here for you. Excuse me.”

Ziqing said coldly, stepping aside just as Yelu Chenyi’s furious hand came down, and calmly walked straight into the city of Akbachu.

The mercenaries and Yingzi cleared the way ahead, the Shadow Guards followed behind—altogether their group numbered fewer than ten, yet ahead of them stood nearly a thousand guards, virtually every soldier in Akbachu gathered, with two or three hundred archers alone.

But their fear of the gunpowder, and Yelu Chenyi’s forced restraint, was enough to keep them from acting rashly.

The Emperor of Xijing let out a long, heavy sigh, speaking earnestly. “Consort of Prince Yao, what is the meaning of all this? You said you took Qianqian away for Situ Haonan’s sake—you’ve already taken her, so what more do you want? Let’s talk this through properly!”

Talk it through properly?

Had anyone ever given her the chance to talk things through properly, back then?

Her face had suddenly been ruined, her whole body had suddenly gone weak, forcibly soaked in corpse-poisoned blood water.

Who had ever given her the chance to talk things through properly?

The Emperor of Xijing—still pretending?

Seeing Ziqing ignore him, the Emperor of Xijing could no longer hold himself together. Though Wanyan Lie had left, he had to find some way to appease him regardless, all while preparing for war, and here, he had to suppress the news at all costs and placate Han Ziqing as quickly as possible to prevent things from escalating further.

The Emperor of Xijing, nearly frantic with anxiety, shouted furiously, “Chenyi, get over here! All because you listened to that vixen Yanzi’s poisonous words—hurry and find the antidote, hurry and hand the person over!”

Since the hard approach hadn’t worked, it was time to try the soft one.

Yelu Chenyi had never in his life felt so choked with fury, yet he had no choice but to yield for the moment. He glanced at the five mercenaries, a calculating gleam flickering in his eyes—those five mercenaries were Han Ziqing’s greatest source of confidence; he had to find a chance to strike at them.

He took a deep breath and said, “Han Ziqing, I can hand over the antidote to you, and I can hand Yanzi over to you as well, if you agree to withdraw from Akbachu and negotiate peacefully with us.”

Hand Yanzi over to her?

Ziqing couldn’t help laughing out loud. “Yelu Chenyi, if you’re not in such a hurry to prepare for war, then come with me. This consort will take you to find Yanzi herself!”