The merchant caravan traveling along the main road numbered over two hundred people.

Leading the way were foreign merchants wearing fur coats and felt hats. In the middle were two neat rows of fine horse-drawn carts, followed by a camel train. Guards with curved sabers at their waists flanked both sides of the caravan, while several swift horses patrolled back and forth between the front and rear on lookout.

When they spotted clouds of dust suddenly rising from the south, the guards immediately reacted, whistling loudly as they drew their curved blades and formed defensive positions.

They had spent years traversing the perilous Gobi Desert and were accustomed to fighting on horseback at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, this time they faced not ordinary bandits but the most fierce warriors of the Yelu tribe.

Yaoying dismounted from her carriage and rode to the highest point of the hillside, where she witnessed a bloody massacre on the plains below.

The Crown Prince tore straight through the caravan’s defensive line, his blade falling like a butcher’s cleaver, killing men as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

In less than half an hour, the Yelu tribe had ended the battle.

The caravan was scattered in chaos, its guards falling one after another beneath the Yelu warriors’ blades. The merchants abandoned their goods in desperation and fled in all directions, but before they could run even a few dozen steps, the pursuing horsemen caught and brutally slaughtered them.

The wind carried their desperate screams and shrieks.

The Crown Prince beheaded another victim, his body covered in blood, as he rode back up the hillside. Dismounting, he wiped the sticky blood from his face and, carrying several bloody heads, strode toward the carriage.

“Princess, this is my gift to you…”

He laughed heartily, raising the heads, then was stunned to find the carriage empty.

Horse hooves sounded behind him.

The Crown Prince turned around.

The wind howled along the slope as Yaoying sat astride her horse, still dressed in the formal attire of a Great Wei princess with jeweled hairpins and golden ornaments. Her face was covered with a light veil, her clothes billowing in the wind. Her magnificent dress sparkled with gold and gleamed with splendor, its brilliant colors standing out all the more vividly against the vast wilderness.

Pale sunlight filtered through the gloomy sky, enveloping Yaoying’s face and form as she held the reins. She cast a cool glance at the Crown Prince and the heads he held, her expression serene.

Noble and dignified, she appeared like a goddess descended from the ninth heaven.

It seemed the earlier slaughter hadn’t frightened this delicate Han princess.

The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes, carelessly tossing aside the heads as he shouted to his followers: “Make camp here!”

With that, he mounted his horse and rode back to the main road.

All the caravan guards had been slain, the merchants beheaded. Neither teenage boys nor white-haired elders had escaped the warriors’ blades. Only about twenty beautiful foreign women remained alive, trembling as they knelt before the warriors’ horses.

The Crown Prince circled on horseback and casually selected one of the women, pulling her onto his horse.

A dozen other warriors followed his example, each choosing a woman, preparing to enjoy their spoils of war.

Yaoying turned away.

Tali, her foreign maid, stood beside the Wusun horse, her eyes red and her body slightly trembling.

Yaoying said softly, “If you’re afraid, go sit in the carriage.”

Tali wiped her eyes and shook her head, a desolate smile appearing on her pale face: “Princess, when I was twelve, my uncle sold me to merchants. I was just like them then…”

She pointed to the foreign maids kneeling in the cold wind.

“The merchants took us across the desert to Helong, planning to sell us to wealthy families in Liangzhou. We encountered bandits on the way, many in the caravan died, and I was sold three or four times before eventually ending up in the Central Plains.”

Whether in the Central Plains or the desert, in times of chaos, common people could only submit to the whims of others.

Moved, Yaoying asked, “Where is your homeland?”

Tali pointed westward: “I’ve traveled too far and can no longer remember clearly. I only remember that the merchants took us across the Eight Hundred Li Desert.”

Yaoying: “Your homeland is in the Western Regions?”

The Eight Hundred Li Desert referred to the Moheyan Desert between Lop Nur and Yumen Pass, a stretch of shifting sands between Yizhou and Guazhou. The climate was harsh and arid, with howling winds year-round and not a blade of grass growing on the ground, earning it the name “River of Flowing Sand.”

To the Han people, the River of Flowing Sand marked the beginning of the Western Regions.

Yaoying said, “Tali, the Yelu tribe won’t cross the Eight Hundred Li Desert. Following me means you may never return home.”

The Yelu tribe roamed around Guazhou year-round. Now the powerful Tibet and Northern Rong coveted the Western Regions, whose states were too weak to resist. Only a legendary Buddhist kingdom still struggled to survive, and its monk-king wouldn’t live much longer. The Yelu tribe wouldn’t rashly cross the River of Flowing Sand to continue westward.

Tali smiled: “Princess, my homeland was just a small city-state. I’ve been gone so many years, it may have already perished. I wish to follow you not to return to the Western Regions, but to escape slavery and get a little closer to home. Perhaps I might find my lost tribespeople.”

She let out a long breath, turned to stroke the Wusun horse, and said quietly: “Princess, the Yelu people are different from the Central Plains people who value poetry and ritual. They seize everything they can take. When they raid caravans or tribes, they kill all the men, not sparing even children, leaving only women and livestock. In their eyes, women are property just like animals and treasure… Please don’t try to stop the Crown Prince out of sympathy for the caravan. In the Yelu tribe, women can never stop men!”

Yaoying smiled faintly: “Tali, thank you for your advice. I understand my situation. Once I reach the Yelu tribe, I will no longer be a Great Wei princess, but a Yelu Khatun.”

She was walking on thin ice now and had no power to save anyone.

Moreover, if she begged the Crown Prince for mercy, he would not only refuse but would become even more brutal, torturing those poor women before her eyes.

Tali’s face reddened slightly – as a lowly foreign woman, she had never before received thanks from a noble person.

“Princess, you needn’t worry too much. You’re as beautiful as a flower, with incomparable beauty. The Yelu Khan will surely listen to everything you say.”

Yaoying thought of the Yelu Khan’s graying braids and aged face and closed her eyes briefly.

She couldn’t be afraid.

As they spoke, the attendants had finished setting up the tents.

Yaoying understood the Crown Prince’s deliberate arrangements but showed no fear as she returned to her tent to rest.

That night, terrifying wolf howls echoed continuously below the hillside.

The next morning when they set out, the road was littered with corpses torn apart by wild beasts.

The captured foreign women followed at the rear of the group. Seeing the corpses, they covered their faces and wept quietly.

Yesterday, they had been singing cheerful Liangzhou tunes while riding camels.

In one night, everything had changed completely.

Sitting in her carriage, Yaoying thought: when the Yelu tribe falls, her fate won’t be any better than these foreign women.

Li De would not send troops to save her.

When he needed the Yelu tribe, he could offer his daughter in marriage, but once he recovered Liangzhou, the Yelu tribe would become insignificant to him. He wasn’t yet arrogant enough to think Great Wei’s current strength could reclaim the Western Regions. The situation in Liangzhou was complex, and he was busy eliminating the remaining forces there, preparing to concentrate troops for a future southern campaign against Southern Chu. He wouldn’t send more troops to Helong anytime soon.

Without external aid, she had only Xie Qing, her attendants, and personal guards. When the Yelu tribe fell, how could their mere dozens escape disaster?

Yaoying didn’t know how the Yelu tribe would decline.

Steppe tribes could rise to power rapidly like the Northern Rong, their influence spanning east to west in just a few years, or they could perish overnight, vanishing like smoke.

She could only adapt to circumstances as they arose.

Throughout the journey, the Crown Prince continued to show greedy, lustful expressions toward Yaoying.

He was brutal and savage. Whenever they encountered merchant caravans or migrating tribes, his eyes would light up immediately as he gathered his men to plunder.

Sometimes he wouldn’t even spare a shepherd’s few sheep.

Tali and Aiyi could speak Turkic and quickly became familiar with the Yelu people, learning much news.

The Yelu Khan had seven sons, three of whom were adults, and six adopted sons.

“The Crown Prince is brave in battle and highly valued by the Yelu Khan. He’s very greedy and often quarrels with other princes over war spoils.”

“The Second Prince is dissatisfied that the Crown Prince will inherit the tribe and secretly unites with tribesmen, demanding the Yelu Khan banish the Crown Prince.”

“The Third Prince is cruel and vicious, personally killing one of his brothers.”

“Now the Yelu Khan’s favorite is his adopted son Biemuties. When the Yelu Khan went to Chang’an to meet the emperor, Biemuties accompanied him.”

At this point, Yaoying’s heart stirred as she recalled the foreign man she had seen at the banquet that night.

That man’s predatory gaze had unsettled her for a long time.

“Does Biemuties have light yellow eyes?”

Tali nodded: “The Yelu people say Biemuties’ eyes are like an eagle’s. He has no parents – he is the son of an eagle.”

Yaoying’s heart suddenly tightened, her body going rigid.

Golden eyes, no parents, son of an eagle… was it coincidence?

Yaoying steadied herself.

Perhaps she was overthinking – that person couldn’t possibly appear in the Yelu tribe.

Several days later, as the Yelu Khan’s envoys arrived to welcome Yaoying, the Crown Prince gradually became more restrained, no longer daring to openly harass her.

Yaoying proposed letting the captured foreign women help guard the dowry she had brought from Chang’an.

“I’ve brought the most precious and finest silk and brocade from the Central Plains. Each bolt is worth a thousand gold pieces and cannot be exposed to rain or wind.”

Central Plains silk was popular throughout the Western Regions and as far as Arabia and Byzantium. Now with trade routes cut off, a single bolt of fine silk could be traded to a Western Region ruler for a small tribe.

The envoys and Crown Prince’s eyes gleamed, thinking that Yaoying’s dowry would soon belong to the Yelu tribe. They couldn’t let it be damaged and readily agreed.

The next day, the foreign women were seated in carriages carrying silk, covered with thick blankets, no longer having to walk in thin clothes.

Tasked with guarding the silk, they could no longer be casually dragged aside by Yelu warriors for their pleasure.

When the group stopped to rest, Yaoying’s attendants would bring them food.

The foreign women were moved to tears. When they saw Yaoying leave her carriage, they all bowed to her, saying in awkward accents: “You are the most merciful Khatun we have ever met.”

Yaoying sighed.

This was all she could do.

The weather grew increasingly cold, and soon they had to travel through wind and snow.

The Crown Prince’s fierce reputation for taking everything in his path made merchants and tribes in the desert tremble in fear.

Whenever they spotted the Yelu group in the distance, whether merchants, shepherds, or tribes, they would immediately turn and flee. Even the Yelu tribe’s own people dared not risk passing under the Crown Prince’s nose.

Several times before the Crown Prince could even launch an attack, his targets had alertly escaped to rocky slopes unsuitable for cavalry charges.

The Crown Prince was furious.

One rare clear day, they rested in a sheltered spot by the river, letting the horses and camels drink their fill, when suddenly they heard the spirited sound of a pipa coming across the snow.

In the distance, shadows appeared as a caravan of camels and horses moved from west to east, approaching the riverbank.

Several foreign merchants wearing felt hats held pipas, playing and laughing loudly, their music clear and bright.

The Crown Prince’s ears perked up excitedly as he called his men. After days of only capturing a few old horses and female slaves, he had finally spotted a large caravan!

Dozens of warriors mounted their horses with loud battle cries, following the Crown Prince as they charged toward the caravan.

Snow flew in all directions as their hoofbeats thundered like drums.

Xie Qing immediately escorted Yaoying away from the main road.

Yaoying rode to a small hill and looked back at the snow-covered plain, her brows furrowing slightly: there were Yelu tribe tracks everywhere in the snow – how could any caravan dare to approach?

Gazing into the distance, she saw the Crown Prince and his warriors smoothly spread into formation, like a powerful beast opening its bloody maw toward the caravan.

The caravan seemed somewhat panicked, with startled horses rearing and neighing as the pipa-playing merchants turned their horses around.

The guards on both flanks moved forward, slowly raising a banner.

Yaoying was taken aback: why weren’t the caravan’s guards drawing their weapons, but raising a banner instead?

Did they know they couldn’t match the Crown Prince and were simply surrendering outright?

It was too far to see what was embroidered on the banner. Just as she was about to ask Tali, one of the Yelu Khan’s envoys behind her suddenly gasped sharply, letting out a terrified cry.

“Stop!”

The envoy’s face turned pale as he shouted at the Crown Prince, then realized the Crown Prince couldn’t possibly hear him and hurriedly galloped down the slope.

“Fuman, stop!”

He shouted while urging the warriors to sound their horns.

The mournful horn calls rang out as dust rolled forward and hoofbeats fell like heavy rain, but the Crown Prince and his warriors continued charging, their blades flashing.

The caravan’s guards in the distance seemed completely unafraid of the Crown Prince. Facing the fierce Yelu riders charging from all directions, they still stood tall, holding their banner high, completely motionless.

The brilliant post-snow sunlight fell on the fluttering banner – it was snow-white, covered in intricate patterns.

The guards held the banner while gripping their swords on horseback, calm and composed.

As if this single banner could hold back thousands of troops.

The envoy was scared out of his wits as he galloped forward, grabbed a horn, and began blowing it himself.

The horn’s long call echoed across the horizon.

The well-trained warriors immediately reined in their horses when they heard the warning horn. Even the Crown Prince at the front pulled his reins and turned back with furrowed brows.

The envoy rode frantically, shouting in Turkic to the Crown Prince: “Fuman, that’s the Royal Court’s caravan! They’re the Buddhist Prince’s subjects!”

The Crown Prince’s face darkened.

On the slope, Yaoying raised her eyebrows in surprise.

The Crown Prince, who would rob any caravan and plunder any tribe he saw, actually turned back from such easy prey.

He spat toward the caravan, seeming to curse something, then at the envoy’s urging, turned his horse around and led his warriors back.

The banner-bearing caravan quickly restored order, with the merchants returning to the front as pipa music rang out again.

They seemed to pay no mind to the brutal Crown Prince as they continued toward the river.

As if nothing had happened.

Their composure carried a hint of condescending arrogance.

Yaoying descended the slope and returned to the Yelu group.

The envoy was quietly advising the Crown Prince before the tent.

The Crown Prince’s face was gloomy.

The envoy couldn’t help raising his voice: “Fuman, have you forgotten the Khan’s warning?”

The Crown Prince cast a sinister glance at the distant caravan before storming off.

Soon came the agonized screams of horses as the Crown Prince vented his anger by whipping them by the river.

The Wusun horse was startled, snorting nervously.

Yaoying stroked her mount’s neck to calm it, then looked up toward the arrogant caravan not far away.

The caravan wasn’t particularly large. Besides a dozen merchants in brocade robes and felt hats, the remaining thirty or so people were guards wearing light armor and carrying curved swords and quivers.

Unlike the Yelu warriors’ light riding gear, the caravan guards wore finely crafted, ornate silver armor that looked more like a ceremonial dress than battle armor. Beneath their armor, they all wore identical dark brocade robes with silver scroll patterns embroidered on the hems.

In Liangzhou, only tribal leaders could afford such fabrics.

This was a wealthy caravan.

No wonder the Crown Prince had been so excited to see them.

The Crown Prince was brutal and greedy – why had he suddenly backed down?

Yaoying’s gaze swept around until she saw the banner that had frightened off the Crown Prince, its snow-white fabric covered in elaborate golden patterns worked in gold and silver thread.

Many in the Yelu tribe followed Zoroastrianism, with impressive black and red battle flags.

Yet the guards’ banner was white.

Back in her carriage, Yaoying asked Tali: “What did the Crown Prince and the others say just now? Who are these merchants?”

The envoy and Crown Prince had spoken in their tribal language.

Tali said quietly: “This servant heard them say the caravan belongs to several major clans of the Western Royal Court.”

Seeing Yaoying might not understand, she paused before explaining, “The Royal Court is far in the Western Regions, beyond even Gaochang. It’s an ancient holy city. Because the noble Buddhist Prince lives there, the Western Regions countries call the holy city the Royal Court. The Buddhist Prince is the ruler, governing various small countries and tribes, with four powerful clans loyal to him. The Western tribes all follow Buddhism – from rulers to subjects, they all obey when the Buddhist Prince gives an order.”

Yaoying hadn’t expected to hear about the Royal Court: “How did the Royal Court’s private army appear here?”

The two places were so far apart, separated by the Eight Hundred Li Desert – why would the Royal Court’s private army travel to Helong?

Tali answered: “This servant doesn’t know clearly. When I was in my homeland, the Royal Court had already declined. The Buddhist Prince was under house arrest in the temple then, and no one followed the Royal Court’s orders…”

“The Crown Prince’s people say the Royal Court’s private army has been traveling between Helong and the Western Regions these past two years, seemingly trading with the northern steppe tribes. They carry the Buddhist Prince’s banner, and the Helong tribes dare not attack them.”

“They all say the Buddhist Prince is an incarnation of Ananda, with boundless divine powers. Whoever dares to kill the Buddhist Prince’s subjects will surely face divine punishment.”

Yaoying was somewhat surprised.

The Buddhist ruler of the Western Regions was undoubtedly Dharmaraja, whom the Northern Rong deeply feared. It wasn’t surprising that half the Western Regions countries followed Buddhism and were willing to follow the Buddhist Prince, but the various barbarian tribes were savage with mixed beliefs – how had Dharmaraja’s reputation become so influential in Helong?

A single banner had terrified the Yelu Khan’s envoy and made the Crown Prince swallow his anger, forced to watch his prey leisurely pass back and forth before him without being able to strike…

Yaoying couldn’t help wondering: could that monk have divine powers?

Whether Dharmaraja had real divine powers or not, the caravan bearing his banner safely escaped the Crown Prince’s clutches, replenished their water, and leisurely departed.

Cheerful pipa music echoed across the desolate desert.

The Crown Prince’s face was dark as he suddenly turned, drew a sword from an attendant’s waist, and struck.

The horse he had been whipping gave one final whinny as its head rolled, blood spraying out to stain the riverbank red.

The Yelu tribe continued onward.

That night as they stopped to camp, Yaoying was sleeping in her tent when she suddenly heard rapid hoofbeats.

She immediately got up and dressed, gripping the dagger hidden in her boot.

Xie Qing lifted the tent flap and entered, saying softly: “Princess, the sound is coming from the Crown Prince’s direction.”

Fearing the Crown Prince might harm the Princess, he had been watching the Crown Prince’s movements all night.

Yaoying frowned slightly.

Xie Qing sat cross-legged before Yaoying: “We’re almost at the Yelu tribe – the Crown Prince shouldn’t dare act rashly. I’ll keep watch here tonight. Please continue resting, Princess.”

Exhausted, Yaoying didn’t think too much about it. She made a sound of acknowledgment and lay back down to sleep.

The next morning, after a hasty breakfast of dried rations, they set out, but the Crown Prince was nowhere to be seen.

His followers said he had gone hunting last night, complaining about the coarse dried food.

When the Yelu Khan’s envoy heard this, he flew into a rage and was about to ride out in pursuit when hoofbeats like raindrops came from the east as the Crown Prince and his warriors returned.

They were all drunk, with freshly butchered meat and stolen felt blankets hanging from their saddles.

The envoy could only sigh helplessly, not daring to publicly rebuke the Crown Prince as he ordered the group to move out.

Two days later, they finally reached the Yelu tribe’s royal tent.

Yaoying left her carriage and was escorted to the front of the tent amid drums and music. Before she could take in the tribe that would be her new home, a familiar tall and straight figure suddenly appeared before her.

She stared in shock.

Li Xuanzhen stood before the royal tent, his face haggard and unshaven. He cast her a faint glance, his phoenix eyes lowered, fingers tightly gripping his sword hilt.