Physician Gu looked on, his vision blurred with tears.

Whoever had attacked Jun Beiyue had been utterly determined to kill him!

Physician Gu stared, stunned, hardly knowing where to even begin treating him. His mind was flooded with memories of that scene back at the Dali Temple in the capital of Da Zhou.

The Prince’s martial skill was so extraordinary, practically unmatched in all the world — how could anyone possibly have struck him straight through the heart?

Physician Gu thought immediately of Han Ziqing!

While Physician Gu stood frozen in thought, Jun Beichen suddenly barked sharply, “Physician Gu, what’s wrong? Don’t you dare tell me he can’t be saved!”

Only then did Physician Gu snap back to himself. “He can be saved — he must be! I’ll stake this old life of mine on keeping the Prince alive!”

As he spoke, Physician Gu hurriedly pulled several pills from his medicine chest, sending them off with the young apprentice to be ground into powder, while he hastily wrote out a list packed with all manner of medicinal herbs, sending Jun Beichen to request them from the West Jing royal household.

“These are for soaking in a bath — the quantity must be large, the more the better! Prepare a large bathtub as well.”

Physician Gu took a deep breath to steady himself, then said earnestly, “Second Prince, for now all we can do is keep the Prince alive. Proper treatment will have to wait until we’re back in Da Zhou. His condition right now…”

Physician Gu’s voice caught for a moment before he composed himself again. “It’s not just the wound to his chest — his vital energy has been catastrophically drained. It must be restored, or treatment will be extremely difficult. Also, send for Physician Sha Qiuzi at once.”

Jun Beichen understood immediately what this meant — it clearly meant Jun Beiyue’s life could be in danger at any moment.

What on earth had happened, to cause wounds this severe? Who had struck that blow to his chest?

And the Consort — hadn’t she been said to be on her way? Why was there still no sign of her?

Jun Beichen had no time to dwell on it further. He grabbed the medicine list and turned to leave at once.

As for Situ Haonan, though his condition wasn’t quite as severe as Jun Beiyue’s, he too had been wounded in the chest and had suffered a similar drain of vital energy, requiring nearly identical medicinal supplies.

Yelu Qianqian rushed frantically toward Hamabachu to find medicine. Facing such a massive disaster, the West Jing forces relocating the capital had naturally prioritized securing medicinal supplies first — after all, aside from food and water, medicine was the most urgently needed resource after a catastrophe of this scale!

Yelu Qianqian and Jun Beichen arrived at the Hamabachu medicine storehouse at almost exactly the same time.

The moment Yelu Qianqian caught sight of the medicine list in Jun Beichen’s hand, she understood immediately what was happening, and after a quick word with the guards, let Jun Beichen go in first.

But to her dismay, Jun Beichen showed no restraint at all, hauling out an enormous quantity of medicinal herbs — every last bit of it meant for Situ Haonan!

Yelu Qianqian was practically in tears with frustration. She hesitated, not wanting to say it, and yet unable to hold back. “Second Prince… Haonan needs medicine too. Could you leave some for me?”

Jun Beichen, having no idea of the wider situation, immediately split the herbs in half upon hearing this, handing part to Yelu Qianqian and saying earnestly, “Take it and go quickly. If the physicians can’t manage the treatment, come find us — Physician Sha Qiuzi will be arriving shortly.”

No blame, no scolding, no hostility at all — only such genuine kindness. He hurried off the moment he’d finished speaking.

In that moment, Yelu Qianqian couldn’t hold back the hot tears streaming down her face. She wanted so badly to crouch down and sob openly — but she didn’t.

She turned and left at once. She delivered the medicine, but didn’t even step inside the tent — she didn’t dare look, afraid that if she saw Situ Haonan, she wouldn’t be able to tear herself away.

Situ Haonan was wounded, unable to move — so she would go in his place to search for Ziqing!

She had to find Ziqing, no matter what!

She refused to let Situ Haonan suffer like this any longer!

Across the vast desert, more and more people gathered — not only Jun Beiyue’s men, but also the troops Yelu Qianqian had begged the Emperor of West Jing to mobilize.

Everyone was searching, even digging through the sand by hand.

But a full three days and three nights passed, and still there was no trace of Han Ziqing to be found anywhere.

The Gu Nanny and Baili Weisheng had both vanished without a trace as well. The search parties gradually began losing hope. Throughout those three days and nights, Yelu Qianqian never rested even for a moment, searching around the former site of Mingsha Mountain in every way imaginable, digging up vast stretches of sand and still refusing to give up.

Three days and three nights, and still no word from Jun Beiyue or Situ Haonan either.

The peace conference that had once been planned, the Grand Sand Sacrifice Ceremony that had once been scheduled — all of it was cancelled because of this catastrophe. West Jing was consumed with rebuilding its capital, and thanks to Yelu Qianqian’s repeated pleading, the Emperor of West Jing kept the news of Jun Beiyue’s grave injury from spreading.

The rulers of every nation returned home one by one. With no peace conference held and Jun Beiyue’s whereabouts unknown, no one dared make a move — everything remained frozen in the postwar status quo.

West Liang and the Xiongnu withdrew to their own territories. The Mobei region was ceded to Da Zhou. East Qin retained the northern highlands. And Da Zhou’s domestic affairs continued to be overseen by Prince Baxian.

Yet news of this disaster in West Jing spread throughout all of Longyuan. The Mobei region, being so close to Akbachu, was naturally already abuzz with talk of it.

That lightning-fast war from not long ago, aside from changing which power governed the small Mobei town, had brought no great upheaval to the town itself.

The townspeople had gradually returned, slowly settling back into their peaceful lives.

Even Aunt Yu and Yu Xiaomeng had come back — though ever since learning the truth of Han Ziqing’s identity, mother and daughter had never once bothered Xuanyuan Lige again.

Not just them — none of the other townspeople had gone to see him either.

Back when Jun Beiyue had burned down Aunt Yu’s thatched hut, he too had been present. The people harbored no shortage of suspicion about his identity, but no one dared try to confirm it.

And ever since that day, no one had seen Xuanyuan Lige come into town again!

Some said he’d already left. Others said he still lived in his courtyard, occasionally venturing into the mountains to hunt or gather firewood. Still others said he’d died of illness long ago…

But Xuanyuan Lige hadn’t left — he was still there, all along. He was simply gravely, terribly ill. All his martial skill, and he had no strength left to use it at all — let alone martial arts, even walking any distance left him gasping for breath.

His coughing at night had grown steadily worse. On the bad nights, he wouldn’t sleep at all, coughing through until dawn.

At this very moment, he sat in his courtyard, basking in the sun.

Perhaps the real reason he had chosen to come to Mobei all those years ago, to live under a hidden name, had been precisely because of this body of his.

He had the will, but in the end, no strength to act on it.

He had always understood his own condition perfectly well. That was why he hadn’t left — that was why he’d used Yu Xiaomeng as a pretext to deceive Ziqing, giving her a reason to visit, since otherwise, with the reservations in her heart, she would never have come.

But ever since Ziqing had left, she had never come back at all.

He sat facing southwest, toward Akbachu, having clearly felt the wind grow stronger here in Mobei during that recent storm.

The news he’d received was limited — like everyone else in the town, he only knew that the peace conference had been called off due to the natural disaster, and that Jun Beiyue had yet to reconvene it.

He thought to himself that the only person in this entire world he could trust enough to hand Ziqing over to was Jun Beiyue — the only person he wouldn’t contend against was Jun Beiyue as well.

With Jun Beiyue there, Ziqing should be safe.

He gazed at the setting sun, at the sky ablaze with clouds, and a faint, wistful smile touched his pale, bloodless lips. “Ziqing, come see an old friend once you’re done with everything. I’ll be waiting for you to come…”