A sharp, burning pain suddenly struck from her shoulder. Qing Xia frowned and said in a hoarse voice, “Amouye…”

“Don’t worry, she’s fine.” Xi Lin Chen’s voice was also hoarse, but much better than Qing Xia’s. He slowly ladled a spoonful of black medicinal soup, carefully blew on it, and brought it to Qing Xia’s lips, saying, “Take your medicine.”

Tears suddenly streamed down Qing Xia’s face. She had never been a weak person, but for some reason, since arriving in this strange time and space, she had become increasingly prone to tears, as if all the tears she hadn’t shed in her previous life had been saved to flow in this one. Her life was like rootless duckweed, drifting from one place to another without any sense of security or belonging. The world was truly vast, yet there really was no peaceful haven where one could live quietly.

Xi Lin Chen watched her quietly, picked up the white silk cloth used for bandaging from the table, and wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. His voice was calm as he said, “The Mulian people came. I went to the woods behind to rescue Amouye, but Aunt Doihua… Xia Qing, I failed your trust.”

Qing Xia shook her head and said, “You don’t know martial arts. Being able to save Amouye was already not easy. It’s my fault—I shouldn’t have left you all at home when I knew the Mulian people had been restless lately.” Qing Xia’s voice grew lower and gradually became choked with sobs.

After all, Xi Lin Chen was still only a fourteen-year-old youth. Seeing Qing Xia like this made him slightly flustered. He reached out and slowly grasped Qing Xia’s hand, saying softly, “Don’t be sad anymore. You’re injured too.”

“Jema Agu, are you awake?” Banbuer’s voice suddenly sounded outside the door. Qing Xia quickly wiped away her tears. Xi Lin Chen walked to the door, opened it, and Banbuer and Nakedo entered together.

“Jema Agu, I hurt you. Please punish me.” Nakedo suddenly knelt before Qing Xia, lowering his head and speaking somberly.

Qing Xia knew that northern people would never kneel to others lightly. Seeing Nakedo’s dejected appearance, her heart ached. She shook her head slightly and said, “Get up. I don’t blame you.”

“Jema Agu, we two brothers have something to ask of you.” Not only did Nakedo not stand up, but Banbuer also knelt down beside him.

Qing Xia was slightly stunned. After thinking silently, she said sternly, “If you want to go fight the Mulian people desperately and entrust Amouye to my care, then I’m telling you now that I absolutely won’t agree.”

The two brothers were startled, looked at each other, then both turned back. Banbuer said sincerely, “Jema Agu, we’re not going to fight the Mulian people desperately, but we want to join the army. We hope you’ll agree. If you don’t agree, we’ll send Amouye to our grandmother’s house in Mida County. She was Amouye’s midwife and will surely take care of her.”

Qing Xia’s brow furrowed tightly. She looked coldly at the two brothers kneeling on the ground and said sternly, “Since you’ve already made your decision, why bother asking me? Whatever I say won’t change your minds anyway. I can only tell you that some responsibilities you must bear yourselves. Don’t think that by entrusting them to others, you can walk away with peace of mind.”

Banbuer lowered his head and finally said, “I’m sorry, Jema Agu. Although we’ve made our decision, we still had to tell you. Because in our hearts, you’ve already become our family.” With that, he stood up and walked out with Nakedo.

“Xia Qing.” Seeing Qing Xia staring blankly with tears flowing again, Xi Lin Chen asked softly.

Qing Xia said nothing, turned over to face the wall, and didn’t say another word.

Early the next morning, Banbuer and Nakedo got up early, packed their luggage and war horses, and wanted to say goodbye to Qing Xia. Seeing her door tightly closed, they didn’t approach. Amouye curled up in Nakedo’s arms—the little one had cried all night and was now so sleepy that she immediately dozed off.

The three slowly walked out of their home, carefully closing the gates behind them. After taking one last look at the devastated village, they headed toward the village entrance.

It was still before dawn, everything around was misty. As they approached the village entrance, they suddenly saw two figures standing in the fog. Two fine horses heard Banbuer’s voices and suddenly neighed loudly, as if seeing their masters.

“Jema Agu!”

Banbuer and Nakedo exclaimed in unison. Qing Xia and Xi Lin Chen slowly emerged from the thick fog leading their horses. Qing Xia’s beautiful face was cold as ice as she said sternly, “You were planning to leave without a word, weren’t you?”

“Jema Agu, we…”

“Don’t give me this nonsense. Last night you said you considered me family—is this how you treat family?”

Seeing Qing Xia dressed in men’s clothing with her hair pinned up and her face darkened with makeup, Nakedo asked in confusion, “Jema Agu, what are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Qing Xia snorted coldly and said sternly, “Without me accompanying you, you two might not even know the way to Xichuan.”

“Jema Agu, are you going to escort us there?” Banbuer said with great joy.

“Hmph!” Qing Xia turned her head and climbed onto her horse. Xi Lin Chen beside her smiled and said softly, “Xia Qing is worried and wants to join the army with you to provide protection.”

“What? How can she join the army?”

“Shh!” Xi Lin Chen quickly lowered his voice and said, “Why can’t she? If I weren’t standing here, would you recognize her? She’s also worried about you.”

Banbuer’s nose immediately felt sour as he said softly, “We… we’ve wronged her.”

“Alright,” Xi Lin Chen patted Banbuer’s shoulder and said quietly, “Keep it down. Xia Qing will be embarrassed.”

The sun slowly rose, and everyone slowly headed toward Xichuan, leaving behind the village that had given Qing Xia a year of quiet life.

They didn’t yet know that because of their decision today, everything in the future would change dramatically. The great wheel of history was slowly turning, and fate would eventually entangle those people’s star charts together.

The great nation of Xichuan dominated the northwestern part of the Chinese continent with vast battlefields and extensive territory. Its territory stretched from west to east across Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, and even occupied large areas of Inner Mongolia to the north. From the current four-nation situation, if judged solely by territorial area, it could indeed rank first.

But the northwest was bitterly cold, and the north was mostly desert wasteland. Therefore, in terms of national strength, it was actually inferior to Eastern Qi, which had the smallest territorial area. The population was around ten million, which was only a fraction of the current population numbers. For over a hundred years, the Xichuan royal family had repeatedly planned eastward expansion, but either these plans died in their infancy under pressure from the combined three nations, or they were suppressed by Southern Chu and Eastern Qi, or attacked by the powerful northern Qin. Thus, for a hundred years, although the Xichuan royal family was martial and warlike, they had achieved no success in their eastward expansion plans. Instead, continuous wars had greatly consumed national strength. Now, even the Southern Xiongnu people, who had been pursued and driven everywhere by Qin Zhiyan from the north, dared to swagger and show off their might in Flame Emperor City, the throat of Xichuan’s northern territory.

Because of the sparse population, Xichuan’s military recruitment was not as strict as Northern Qin’s. As long as one had residential registration documents and a recommendation from the local magistrate, one could enlist.

Baiyuan County had just been attacked by the Mulian people, and the magistrate’s entire family had died tragically. The newly appointed magistrate didn’t understand the situation. Under Qing Xia’s sweet talk, he easily issued four letters of recommendation. After settling Amouye with her grandmother and instructing the villagers to relay a message to Yang Feng when he arrived, Qing Xia took the three youths to the Flame Emperor City camp.

Upon arriving at Flame Emperor City, the group was stunned by the spectacular scene of densely packed crowds at the city gates. They saw at least ten thousand northern barbarians standing at the city entrance, waiting for Xichuan’s selection. Qing Xia’s group had traveled far to reach this place, thinking that having recommendation letters would make recruitment easy as pie. But seeing the current situation, it wouldn’t be so simple.

“Cough! Kid, instead of staying home to nurse, what are you doing here?” A group of crude, burly men suddenly began shouting mockingly. Nakedo frowned and was about to rush forward, but Qing Xia quickly reached out to stop him. She didn’t respond, just glanced at them sideways with a light expression that nevertheless carried a trace of contempt and disdain.

The group of strong men flew into a rage. These people were idle troublemakers who would cause problems even when there were none. Seeing this androgynous youth look down on them like this, how could they tolerate it? Just as they were about to step forward to teach him a lesson and show off, suddenly sharp bells and drums sounded from the city gates. Everyone turned their heads in unison and saw a silver-armored general in his twenties walking onto the high city tower, wearing a saber and a large red cloak, standing majestically on the tower.

“If I could be as imposing as him someday, that would be wonderful.” Banbuer gazed at the tower in fascination, daydreaming about the day he might reach such heights.

But Qing Xia frowned slightly, thinking to herself, “Could this be Yan Hui? How is this different from what people say outside?”

“This big brother,” Xi Lin Chen was perceptive and observant. Seeing Qing Xia frown, he grabbed the arm of a nearby man who looked relatively kind and asked softly, “Big brother, is this general on the tower the nation-defending General Yan Hui of Xichuan?”

Seeing Xi Lin Chen’s modest and polite manner, the man quickly replied quietly, “No, why would General Yan personally come to Flame Emperor City to select soldiers? This time it’s the eldest son of the Shi family from Wenhua City, Shi Xing. If we’re selected, our unit will become the Shi family army in the future.”

“Ah? Not the Yan family army?” Nakedo was stunned and asked somberly, his voice carrying a trace of dissatisfaction and frustration.

The man laughed and said, “I can tell you’re outsiders. Which year doesn’t Xichuan recruit under the banner of the Yan family army? But the Yan family army has always claimed to be invincible with ten thousand men—how would they easily select barbarians for enlistment?”