Piercing, earth-shaking, tragic neighing immediately rose to the sky, drowning out all the battle cries. The wounded warhorses wailed in unison, their voices shooting up to the clouds, making people’s ears ring with sharp sounds like ghostly wails.
The shouting suddenly stopped. Apart from the long neighs of the warhorses, the wasteland fell into silence.
At this moment, above everyone’s heads, a tremendous roar suddenly rang out. Rumbling sounds thundered forth, like muffled thunder from the horizon rolling ever closer. In an instant, it felt as if the earth itself was shaking. Enormous roaring sounds drilled up from underground through people’s spines and burst out from their scalps. Everyone’s faces immediately turned deathly pale as they looked around in terror, only to see the same terror and disbelief on their companions’ faces.
“You dare plot assassination against the current imperial prince beneath Longji Mountain! The heavenly gods are enraged—why don’t you flee quickly?”
Qingxia mounted an ownerless warhorse and shouted sternly.
Following her gesture, everyone looked up in terror to see a white wave crest racing down from the towering Longji Mountain, growing from a line to a wall, clouds rolling and sky-high, with the momentum of ten thousand horses and a thousand armies!
“Snow… avalanche!” A well-traveled veteran shouted, immediately throwing down his war blade and fleeing madly toward the vast wasteland.
Like a domino chain reaction, everyone was frightened pale by this fierce natural force. In an instant, they all fled in panic. The black-armored reinforcements that had rushed nearby numbered over three thousand, but seeing this scene, they too were terrified and turned their horses to flee wildly, no longer caring about Qin Zhiyan and the others.
“What are you standing there for? Let’s go!”
Grabbing Qin Zhiyan’s slightly pale and thin wrist, Qingxia leaned close to his ear and shouted loudly.
“Where do we flee?” Qin Zhiyan also shouted loudly. Seeing him leaning close to her ear and shouting, Qingxia couldn’t help but find it somewhat amusing—she hadn’t expected this god-like, composed figure to have such moments of losing composure. Her phoenix eyes swept around, and Qingxia slightly narrowed her eyes, waving to Grand Tutor Zhong and the others, shouting: “Up the mountain! Into the imperial tomb!”
“What?” The Qin family’s imperial descendants immediately widened their eyes.
The snow waves gradually approached. Qingxia and the others pressed tightly against the cracks between rocks, but still large patches of wind and snow surged over them. In the distance, soldiers running on the wasteland stumbled and fell into the deep snow, never to be seen again. At this moment, if they didn’t find shelter, running on the plains would only lead to death.
Qingxia’s petite body pressed tightly into the rock crevice. Suddenly, a trace of alertness arose—icy cold wind howled down from above. Just as she was about to look up, Qin Zhiyan beside her suddenly stepped forward and knocked Qingxia down, embracing her in his arms.
Qingxia’s body stiffened. A warm breath transmitted from Qin Zhiyan’s body. His frame was very thin—beneath his heavy robes, she could even feel his firm bones. Yet this frail body now held Qingxia tightly in his arms. Outside was the overwhelming avalanche, fierce cold winds, and icy snow water, but all of it was kept far at bay, unable to harm her in the slightest.
Time seemed to pass for so very long, yet also like just an instant.
The sounds gradually subsided. Qingxia gently pushed against Qin Zhiyan’s chest, saying softly: “Qin Zhiyan, let me go. How are you?”
Silence, as if suddenly only Qingxia remained in the world. Tremendous panic immediately rose from her heart. Unable to conceal her emotions, Qingxia was suddenly greatly alarmed, crying out in panic: “Qin Zhiyan! Qin Zhiyan! How are you?”
“Cough, cough…”
Faint coughing suddenly rang out, but to Qingxia’s ears it sounded like heavenly music. She struggled to lift her head from Qin Zhiyan’s embrace, only to see darkness all around without the slightest glimmer of light.
Fumbling to pull out a fire starter from her bosom, a weak flame lit up in the darkness. Qin Zhiyan’s pale face was right beside her, his shoulder bright red all over—she couldn’t tell if it was his blood or someone else’s.
“How are you?” She hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, saying: “Are you injured?”
Qin Zhiyan finally stopped coughing, his voice hoarse as he said: “I’m fine.”
Qingxia turned to look and saw Qin Zhiyan’s complexion had become even paler, with even a trace of blood at the corner of his lips. Her heart couldn’t help but tighten sharply. Remembering his carriage that was always so hot it was almost unbearable, she quickly reached out to remove the cloak from her body and draped it over him, saying: “Will this be a bit warmer?”
Qin Zhiyan’s beautiful eyes slowly lifted, looking at this strange woman he had only met a few times. He smiled faintly and nodded, saying: “Thank you.”
“Where is this place?” Qingxia stood up in confusion. She saw that they were now in a huge black cave, surrounded by complete silence. The wind sounds from outside had also diminished. With such a large-scale avalanche, probably even those black-armored reinforcements had no escape route. Thinking that all this was by her own hand, Qingxia couldn’t help but feel afraid in hindsight—if she had been a little slower in her actions just now, the one lying dead under the ice and snow would have been herself.
“Old Master Zhong! Where are you?” Qingxia suddenly called out loudly. Who knew that just after one shout, another earth-shaking tremor suddenly struck. Qin Zhiyan reacted quickly, stepping forward to support Qingxia’s waist. The violent shaking lasted nearly half the time it takes to brew tea before gradually stopping. Qingxia stuck out her tongue like a child who had caused trouble, smiling embarrassedly: “I’m really stupid. Another avalanche—if I keep shouting, we two really will go to the underworld together.”
Qin Zhiyan’s eyes appeared very bright under the firelight, like brilliant gems. Qingxia had never noticed before that this man’s eyes were so beautiful. In their few encounters, she had only glanced hurriedly, only feeling that he had extraordinary bearing. Now at such close distance, she suddenly realized he was also a handsome man.
Thinking this, Qingxia suddenly discovered she was leaning against Qin Zhiyan’s embrace in a very intimate posture. She quickly pushed away his hands and straightened her body, concealing her panicked expression and deliberately asking seriously: “Do you know what place this is?”
“Heh…” Qin Zhiyan suddenly smiled slightly, his smile like gentle June sunshine, light and warm.
“Didn’t you just want to enter the imperial tomb? This is the Great Qin Imperial Tomb.”
“What? This is the Great Qin Imperial Tomb?” Qingxia immediately widened her eyes, asking foolishly.
“Yes,” Qin Zhiyan nodded, saying: “Follow me.”
What was originally just a piece of fractured rock had, after the tremors, cracked open to reveal a large opening. Inside was a pitch-black cave entrance, like a ferocious beast opening its giant maw. The original exit had been sealed by heavy snow. Qingxia could only follow behind Qin Zhiyan, slowly walking toward the so-called imperial tomb.
“Is Emperor Qin Shi Huang really buried in here? Isn’t he buried at Mount Li?”
Qin Zhiyan walked ahead, his voice indifferent as he said: “That one is fake.”
“Oh!” Qingxia answered dejectedly. She remembered that the first assignment when she joined Division 9 was to apprehend a group of international tomb-raiding syndicates. She and her comrades had maneuvered with them for over a month before finally capturing them. At that time, those people’s target was precisely Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb at Mount Li. Who would have thought that after all that effort, it turned out to be fake.
“Ah!” Qingxia suddenly cried out. With her exclamation, the fire starter in her hand immediately went out, and the entire cave was instantly plunged into darkness again.
“What do we do? There are no more torches.” Qingxia frowned. Her bundle was still on horseback; she only carried a few personal items. She did have flint, but in this bitter cold with ice and snow everywhere, where could she find dry branches and wood to light a fire?
At this moment, warmth suddenly enveloped Qingxia’s hand. She paused slightly, her first reaction being to withdraw her hand. But Qin Zhiyan’s voice rang out low beside her ear. His other hand wrapped around Qingxia’s shoulder, turning her body toward him and gently patting her back. His slightly hoarse voice said softly: “Don’t be afraid.”
Don’t be afraid—did he think she was afraid of the dark?
“Don’t be afraid,” Qin Zhiyan said again in a low voice. “Follow me.”
The pitch-black path seemed to suddenly become so very, very long. Outside was the howling cold wind, roaring blizzard, and countless people dying miserably in nature’s fury. Qingxia followed behind Qin Zhiyan, her right hand held tightly by his, walking slowly toward the pitch-black front without a trace of light.
Qin Zhiyan had a very pleasant scent about him. Qingxia’s nose had always been very useful. Through the scents in the air, she could detect how many people were within fifty meters, and could further guess their identities and status, even roughly determine their preferences. Relying on her keen sense of smell, she had successfully completed many outstanding missions. Her former colleagues at Division 9 often joked that she was the reincarnation of a hunting dog.
At this moment, following beside Qin Zhiyan, unable to see his face, his figure, their clasped hands, or the path beneath their feet—in complete darkness—a faint herbal fragrance gently surrounded her. The rich scent of fritillaria was like summer pears, emanating a fresh, pleasant aroma.
This man’s physical weakness was well known throughout the world. However, his brilliant record of victories in every battle, his resounding reputation for making the Xiongnu flee in panic, his lofty and transcendent status—all of this always made the world easily forget that he was actually a person plagued by illness. Qingxia had heard of this man’s legendary deeds more than once in the Chu imperial palace, but now that he stood before her, Qingxia felt somewhat bewildered. Could such a person really be the Great Qin war god who made the Xiongnu tremble at the mere mention of his name? Could he really be the primary enemy that the three eastern nations deeply feared?
“Careful!” A low voice suddenly rang out beside her ear.
Lost in thought, Qingxia still alertly stopped her steps abruptly. But even so, she still bumped into Qin Zhiyan’s back. His upright spine knocked against Qingxia’s nose, making it ache. She sniffed and rubbed it with her hand, her voice somewhat muffled with a trace of annoyance at being teased: “You did that on purpose!”