In the hidden compartment, Jing Hengbo heard every word of this conversation clearly.

She was nearly bursting with rage.

Impersonating her to toy with her boyfriend? And making her listen from the side?

What exactly was this Yi Kingdom Great King plotting?

Jing Hengbo swore she would definitely teach him a lesson, but first she had to warn Gong Yin. Yi Kingdom’s ruler’s disguise technique was truly too exquisite—face, gait, expression, even small gestures were all identical. He was also skilled at acting. Right now it was nighttime under dim lamplight in an urgent situation. Gong Yin wouldn’t have time to carefully distinguish and could easily be deceived.

But she herself was trapped, unable to teleport, unable to control objects, unable to make sound. How could she warn him?

Jing Hengbo calmed down and began circulating her qi.

True qi arose from her dantian, passed through crucial points, and brought forth the bright moon’s misty radiance.

Upon circulating qi like this, she was suddenly delighted to discover her Bright Moon Heart Method seemed to have improved. The previously chopstick-thick qi flow should now be thumb-thick. She didn’t know during which breakthrough this had occurred.

She was actually a lazy person, busy with various things, practicing martial arts sporadically. Yet even so she could progress—truly the old immortal’s cultivation method was excellent.

Actually, any high-level cultivation method, once mastered, would naturally circulate within the body. Especially the Bright Moon Heart Method that resonated with nature—as long as there was a moon in the sky, internal tides would continue, breathing and sleeping were all cultivation. Jing Hengbo had also been cultivated through Master Ziwei’s special methods tailored to individual constitution, so even fighting was cultivation. When the time came, with slight effort it would naturally succeed.

She remembered when the old immortal mentioned power levels, he really did shine like a glowing moon. Though she was far inferior to the old immortal, brightening up a little should be possible, right?

This wooden board formed a compartment—there should be gaps, right?

…

Yi Kingdom’s Great King went to pull Gong Yin’s hand, his whole person lovingly leaning toward his shoulder.

Gong Yin saw his large movements and suddenly said: “Is your shoulder injury better?”

Yi Kingdom’s Great King paused slightly, then smiled: “It’s better.”

Gong Yin’s gaze suddenly swept over. Yi Kingdom’s Great King tilted his head, half-hiding his face in the lamp shadows. Under the pale red light and shadow his smile was charmingly hazy, shallowly seductive.

But Gong Yin’s gaze swept directly past her face and landed on the floor.

The dark sandalwood boards—one spot seemed to faintly emit white light.

He moved his steps. Yi Kingdom’s Great King had already seen that white light from the corner of his eye. He’d originally been turning his body around, already blocking that problematic wooden board, but light was dispersive and couldn’t be hidden.

Seeing Gong Yin about to walk over, his eyes rolled and he suddenly cried “Aiya!” exclaiming: “Who’s pulling me!”

Then his body tilted, appearing as if someone had pulled him down. “Splash!” he fell into the water!

Gong Yin’s steps stopped as he turned back to see him falling into water. Just as he was stunned, the floor beneath his feet suddenly trembled, then the entire water pavilion began collapsing!

The water pavilion wasn’t a house structure—just stakes driven into the lake center with horizontal boards laid across, frameworks erected to make a simple pavilion-style viewing platform. Now the stakes were breaking and the entire pavilion was collapsing. Gong Yin inevitably fell into the water.

With a “crack,” the hidden drawer trapping Jing Hengbo also fell into water, mixed among that pile of wooden boards, bobbing up and down in the lake.

With a “splash,” Gong Yin emerged from the water, his gaze sweeping the lake surface. He wanted to find that wooden board that had emitted white light earlier, but now all the boards were broken and scattered across the lake. Each piece looked identical—where could he search?

Not far away, Yi Kingdom’s Great King was splashing and struggling, apparently having cramps, extending his arms toward Gong Yin with a face full of sorrowful pleading.

In some hidden drawer in the water, Jing Hengbo’s cultivation was interrupted, unable to emit white light anymore, while ice-cold lake water gurgled in. Soon it would submerge her mouth and nose.

…

At the same moment, Princess Yi Cheng and Yelu Tan entered the traveling palace.

Princess Yi Cheng had thought the traveling palace would be difficult to enter, but tonight she saw no one at all. She was already familiar with the palace guards—a little silver and they let her in.

Only after entering did she learn the guards were all in the inner palace, apparently surrounding some assassin.

Hearing about an assassin, Princess Yi Cheng immediately didn’t want to join the excitement, but Yelu Tan insisted on going. Unable to persuade him otherwise, she had to lead the way.

As she walked, she greedily gazed at Yelu Tan’s new face, feeling this beauty was truly indescribable—even one more glance was worthwhile.

Soon they reached the lakeside and first saw scattered wooden fragments on the lake, someone struggling in the water, someone on the water surface stepping on those floating boards, apparently searching for something.

That person wore white clothes. Though his garments were wet, his bearing was elegant. Princess Yi Cheng had seen countless men and naturally excelled at judging quality from posture and demeanor. At one glance she couldn’t help sighing: “Such beautiful bearing—his face must also be outstanding.”

Yelu Tan looked coldly, first glancing carelessly, then suddenly turning his head sharply, explosive surprise and confusion in his eyes.

He pulled Princess Yi Cheng, hiding behind a nearby artificial mountain. Princess Yi Cheng was startled, complaining: “What are you doing? You scared me to death…” Half complaining, half acting coquettishly while nestling closer, closing her eyes and fantasizing she was truly in that beauty’s embrace…

Suddenly her neck hurt. Hearing a muffled sound, she rolled her eyes and fainted without a sound.

Yelu Tan expressionlessly kicked her to his feet, watching the lake surface.

The one patrolling the lake was indeed Gong Yin. Looking once at “Jing Hengbo” “struggling for help” in the water, he finally swept over and extended his hand.

Yi Kingdom’s Great King was overjoyed, again extending both hands toward him. But Gong Yin grabbed his shoulder and flung him toward shore.

This throw used enormous force. With a “whoosh,” Yi Kingdom’s Great King flew beyond sight…

A large group of guards cried out in alarm, hurriedly rushing to rescue him. Gong Yin glanced in that direction, his expression somewhat shocked yet slightly mocking.

Yi Kingdom—reputation well-deserved. Unfortunately, useless against him.

He had no interest in pursuing this, his attention now entirely on the lake surface. Wooden boards floated everywhere on the lake—which piece contained her?

If she was truly contained in a hidden drawer, she was definitely in danger now. Hidden drawers were narrow with no room to move. Once water flooded in, it would easily submerge mouth and nose, causing suffocation…

Gong Yin was anxious as fire, but his actions remained perfectly composed. Standing in the lake center, he slightly gathered qi. A ball of white light suddenly appeared in his palm.

Looking carefully, it wasn’t white light but a ball of white airflow, rotating into a crystalline sphere. The sphere’s center contained flying snow, crushed ice, and howling airflow—it looked like a small miniaturized ice and snow world.

Behind the artificial mountain, Yelu Tan’s expression changed slightly—seeming pleased, seeming cold.

Gong Yin urged on the ice-snow pearl. The ice-snow martial arts he’d used before weren’t particularly special—many in the Great Wilderness cultivated similar techniques. He didn’t want to expose his identity. But now, ordinary ice-snow martial arts weren’t sufficient to help him find Jing Hengbo in the shortest time.

Compared to concealing identity, naturally Jing Hengbo’s safety was more important.

The ice-snow pearl took shape. Gong Yin pushed outward with both hands.

Instantly snow filled the sky above the lake!

First a cold wind swept by, and the lake water immediately began freezing.

Then moisture in the air instantly condensed, drifting snow falling.

In the scattered snow, Gong Yin’s snow-white palms were like a cold cloud, shooting out countless egg-sized ice beads.

Distant red lamp light spread hazily, illuminating this moment’s evergreen trees lush and the strange scene of congealing ice and flying snow on the lake.

In pale red radiance, ice beads flew across the lake, refracting seven-colored flowing light like a sudden shower of brilliant meteor rain.

Flying snow condensing sun and moon over the lake, as if heavenly scenery moved to earth.

The guards rescuing Yi Kingdom’s Great King on shore all turned around, this lake of flying snow and the iceberg-like figure within it reflected in their eyes.

Ice beads shot toward every wooden board, missing none.

Gong Yin concentrated intensely, slightly closing his eyes. In his most familiar environment where he could best perform, he would use ice beads to simultaneously strike all wooden boards, finding the one with different sound due to having a hidden drawer!

Ice beads striking wooden boards happened in an instant.

He couldn’t be wrong!

…

In the dark hidden drawer, Jing Hengbo was struggling.

Lake water had already flooded her nose. Her chest cavity was compressed as if sharp knives were stirring her chest—pain nearly exploding. There wasn’t much air in the hidden drawer, still being invaded by water. She knew drowning would cause suffocation death in three minutes. This seemed already a dead end.

She silently hated being too bold, wanting to know secrets without finishing off Yi Kingdom’s Great King early.

Suddenly her nose felt cold, the floating sensation beneath her disappeared, the water entering her mouth and nose vanished. Dimly hearing cracking sounds and feeling sharp fragments cutting her skin, she woozily awakened and immediately understood—frozen!

For Gong Yin to instantly freeze the lake water—how much power would that consume?

She gritted her teeth, enduring pain throughout her body, again beginning to circulate qi. She also had to strive for self-rescue, to prevent Gong Yin from expending too much energy and help him find her fastest.

Suddenly hearing howling sounds overhead, as if many things were flying by.

…

Behind the artificial mountain, Yelu Tan was also closely watching those ice beads.

He could see Gong Yin seemed to be trying to find one particular piece among these wooden boards, so he was also very interested.

Ice beads struck down with crackling sounds.

Both Gong Yin and Yelu Tan listened carefully.

Yelu Tan suddenly raised his eyebrows—he heard one wooden board near himself had an abnormal sound!

Simultaneously, Gong Yin on the lake also seemed to sense something, turning his head distantly.

Yelu Tan flicked his finger, “crack!” shooting out an identical ice bead, deflecting the one that hit the wooden board containing Jing Hengbo.

Then he shot out over a dozen more ice beads, crackling as they struck the ice beads Gong Yin had shot out.

With added weight from the ice beads, the sound when striking wooden boards would also change.

He wanted to confuse Gong Yin—just one moment would suffice.

Gong Yin indeed paused slightly, frowning—over ten locations had inconsistent sounds! And in different directions!

To remember over ten positions in an instant, moreover on a constantly shifting lake—this difficulty was inhuman. Gong Yin frowned and could only first sweep toward the nearest wooden board with abnormal sound.

As soon as he turned, Yelu Tan pounced out, dragging ashore the wooden board he’d discovered earlier.

Holding the wooden board with one hand and slapping Princess Yi Cheng awake with the other, he swept away while urgently asking: “Where in this palace is safest?”

Others encountering this situation might fumble blindly on the lake for ages, but he knew the person before him couldn’t be judged by common sense—perhaps he’d immediately discover something wrong. It was impossible to carry this wooden board and escape the palace in time. He had to first find somewhere to hide.

Princess Yi Cheng had just awakened, still dazed, instinctively saying: “…The west wing where servants live. Few servants there, very deserted…”

Without another word, Yelu Tan dragged her away.

Gong Yin on the lake had originally been facing away from this direction, but suddenly seemed to sense something and turned back, seeing a black shadow flash by—a familiar silhouette that startled his heart.

By this time he’d also overturned all the wooden boards with wrong sounds—nothing!

Thinking of that black shadow just now, that familiar outline, his gaze gradually cooled. He swept up from the lake and gave chase.

…

Yelu Tan ran wildly with Princess Yi Cheng. She gradually couldn’t keep up. Yelu Tan, carrying such a large wooden board, was also inconvenienced. Hearing Princess Yi Cheng’s continuous wailing behind him, his heart grew slightly annoyed. He simply turned around and knocked her unconscious again in the grass.

Then he smashed the wooden board. The hidden drawer fell out with Jing Hengbo inside. Yelu Tan bent down to look at her face and snorted coldly.

Indeed it was Jing Hengbo.

The hidden drawer shattered and Jing Hengbo escaped confinement. Standing up with effort, wooden fragments still stuck to her body, she didn’t bother with them and grabbed Yelu Tan, saying: “These people are too evil. Let’s get out first, then plan how to settle accounts later. Oh right, I have an important discovery to tell you…”

Yelu Tan was suddenly grabbed by her. First stunned, then alertly flashing killing intent, he slowly raised his hand while looking at her head, hearing the last sentence and pausing, slowly lowering it.

Jing Hengbo didn’t look at him at all. At this time, who else could come save her besides Gong Yin? Besides Gong Yin, who else could freeze this lake surface? Besides Gong Yin, who else had this whole body of cold qi? This needed no thought at all.

She couldn’t imagine another person was ambushing here at this time—and it was Yelu Tan, who shared the same origin as Gong Yin.

She pulled Yelu Tan as they ran wildly, saying: “How’s your body? Was using internal force just now inappropriate…” Casually turning her head and seeing him shocked: “You took off your mask? If people see this…”

Suddenly distant laughter seemed to come from someone—a familiar voice. Jing Hengbo was stunned, then delighted: “Master Ziwei, that old immortal!”

Hearing this, Yelu Tan’s eyes flashed with killing intent again, his hand slowly rising once more.

Jing Hengbo’s powerful reinforcements had arrived. He couldn’t hear secrets anymore—better to kill her.

When Jing Hengbo died, she would definitely be extremely shocked and pained. If the wife knew, she would certainly be very pleased.

“Ziwei came—I wonder if Xun will also come?” Jing Hengbo said cheerfully.

Yelu Tan’s hand paused again, his expression changing drastically in an instant.

“Let’s go see them.” Jing Hengbo pulled Yelu Tan toward that direction.

Yelu Tan’s expression changed again, seeming expectant yet joyful yet unwilling yet pained—complex as a tangle of chaotic snow.

“Eh, why did your hand suddenly get cold?” Jing Hengbo suddenly looked down at his hand, then patted her forehead, understanding: “Right, they don’t know how many people came. You shouldn’t appear before too many people now. Let me go see first, make sure there are no outsiders before you appear.”

Yelu Tan pursed his lips, once again raising his palm.

Long nights bring many dreams—resolve this now to avoid being discovered by Xun.

…

Gong Yin followed the direction that black shadow had swept away, chasing all the way. Not many steps in, he tripped on something. Looking down, a woman had fainted behind an artificial mountain rock.

He originally wanted to ignore her, but the frost flowers congealed on that woman made him stop.

With a light pat, Princess Yi Cheng awoke and stared blankly at Gong Yin.

“Where is the person who was with you just now?” Gong Yin asked.

Yi Cheng didn’t answer, her gaze roaming over him repeatedly, recognizing him as the person from the lake earlier.

Her gaze also fell on Gong Yin’s face. As a disguise master, she could tell at a glance this was a mask, made by a Yi Kingdom expert at that.

“I…” She softly leaned toward Gong Yin, panting as she raised her hand, seeming to point in a direction, whispering: “…I saw…”

To learn Jing Hengbo’s whereabouts, Gong Yin had to patiently support her, his arm loosely supporting while trying to push her body as far from himself as possible.

“He’s at…” Princess Yi Cheng suddenly tore off Gong Yin’s mask. “I’m lying to you… Ah! You!”

Laughter suddenly turned to a cry of alarm. She stared at the face before her in a daze, her complexion instantly paling then flushing deep red.

She could hardly believe her eyes—the face she’d been obsessed with, fallen in love with at first sight, believed belonged only to immortals, actually existed and was right before her now.

Instantly all thoughts of Yelu Tan and Lu Zhuohong were cast to the nine heavens. She trembled with excitement, her teeth chattering, unable to speak for a long while.

Gong Yin, having his mask torn off, flicked his sleeve to push her away. Princess Yi Cheng crumpled his original mask in her hands. Gong Yin could only resign himself to this, kicked her aside, and prepared to leave.

“Immortal!” Princess Yi Cheng suddenly pounced forward, hugging his leg. “Don’t go! Don’t go! Please don’t go!”

Gong Yin looked at her coldly. Princess Yi Cheng thought: Ah, so beautiful! Before she’d actually thought Yelu Tan had a cool temperament—now she finally knew what truly cold as ice and frost meant!

“Young master!” She sensitively detected a trace of killing intent from Gong Yin and hurriedly said: “I want to report something to you. Someone is impersonating you!”

“Who?” Gong Yin’s killing intent lessened slightly.

“He’s called…” Princess Yi Cheng wanted to tease out the conversation to speak more with Gong Yin, but his coldness was a kind of pressure she dared not delay. She said softly: “He’s called Yelu Tan.”

Gong Yin paused slightly.

“He seemed to fish something out of the lake…” Princess Yi Cheng offered more intelligence.

That would be Jing Hengbo then. Gong Yin finally confirmed she was safe and breathed a long sigh of relief. But what to do next—he rarely felt slight hesitation.

Originally he should unhesitatingly go snatch back Jing Hengbo, but the one who’d appeared was Yelu Tan.

Among Nine Heavens Gate’s inner disciples, there were also different ranks. Though Yelu Tan wasn’t the highest level, he was much higher than people like Namur. With great family background, special constitution, and valued by Xu Pingran, he was a relatively special existence among inner disciples.

Yelu Tan coming down the mountain must be on Xu Pingran’s orders, targeting either him or Jing Hengbo.

Then whether he should appear before him, and how to appear, required careful consideration.

Of course, the prerequisite was confirming Jing Hengbo’s safety.

Distant cackling laughter could be heard. Just hearing this laughter, one knew Master Ziwei had arrived.

With Master Ziwei present, it was absolutely impossible for Yelu Tan to harm Jing Hengbo.

Gong Yin relaxed slightly but still worried about Jing Hengbo’s safety. His figure flashed as he swept toward that direction.

Princess Yi Cheng gazed dreamily at his retreating figure, jumped onto the road, and hurriedly found her old lover, whispering a few words.

The night wind scattered her low murmuring.

“…I must keep him here!”

…

Yelu Tan’s palm rose, frost-white condensing in his palm center. Jing Hengbo’s neck was right before him.

Jing Hengbo suddenly flashed away several zhang, poked her head to look in a direction, beckoned to him and said: “No outsiders! All people we can trust. Come over, let’s join them and get out early to avoid being surrounded by Yi Kingdom’s Great King.”

She waved to the distance while speaking, greeting from afar.

Yelu Tan hesitated somewhat. He feared encountering Yelu Xun if he went over, yet also somewhat anticipated meeting her. He wanted to go kill Jing Hengbo—any later, when Yelu Xun and Master Ziwei came over, there’d truly be no opportunity. But going over like this seemed somewhat inappropriate…

After brief consideration, he decided on a quick battle and resolution. From Jing Hengbo’s gestures, Master Ziwei and Yelu Xun were still distant—he still had time to kill Jing Hengbo, destroy the evidence, then see how that blind girl was doing lately.

He flashed forward in pursuit. Before arriving, an ice blade flashed from his sleeve, directly stabbing toward the back of Jing Hengbo who faced away from him.

Jing Hengbo suddenly vanished again. The next instant, a hand grabbed his front clothing.

That hand was clearly not fast, yet he couldn’t dodge. Looking down, he saw deep purple sleeves on that wrist.

Simultaneously, “bang!” came from behind—a palm strike. Amid churning blood and qi, he heard a familiar voice laugh: “Take my tiger punch!”

This voice struck his heart and lungs more than the fist. He “wah!” spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Only then did the ice blade fall to the ground, dropping into his own pool of blood with a tinkling sound.

Yelu Tan slowly raised his head.

The one holding him was Master Ziwei, with a face like a supreme beauty, looking at him with an expression both agitated and strange, loudly calling: “Ah ah, Gong Yin? Gong Yin?”

A figure turned around—Jing Hengbo, smilingly propping her chin, said: “Counterfeit goods, counterfeit goods.”

Beside her was Yelu Qi, glancing at him once, smiling somewhat strangely, then removing his cloak to drape over Jing Hengbo.

Jing Hengbo sneezed, trembling as she put on Yelu Qi’s clothes, giving him a white look while saying: “Not pretending to be paralyzed anymore?” Then smiled at Yelu Tan: “Know why I discovered something was wrong with you? First, Gong Yin wouldn’t remove his mask for no reason. Second, seeing me fall in water, how could Gong Yin possibly not give me clothes after rescuing me? Look, even Yelu Qi knows to give me something thick to wear.”

Yelu Qi laughed: “The way you put it makes it sound like I’m quite inconsiderate.”

Jing Hengbo chuckled, looking completely pleased with herself.

Yelu Tan was filled with pain, his heart burning like fire. He paid no attention to what they were saying. Their joyful reunion was nothing but cold mockery to him, but he didn’t care about such mockery now. All his attention was behind him—there was breathing behind him. Was it Yelu Xun? What was she doing? Why wasn’t she speaking? She’d punched him, then what did she want to do? Stab him with another blade?

Thinking this felt painful, yet he also felt indifferent. Life was inherently painful—either struggle through pain to achieve great nirvana, or perish in pain to achieve great liberation. Both were happiness.

Yelu Xun was indeed behind him.

She didn’t speak, looking down at the bloodstains Yelu Tan had spat out, recalling where that earlier “clinking” sound had come from, gently prodding that ice blade with her foot.

The corners of her mouth imperceptibly pursed slightly.

“Who is this guy? Why does he feel familiar?” Jing Hengbo curiously poked her head to look at Yelu Tan’s face. “Also, why would someone impersonate Gong Yin for no reason? This disguise is really similar!”

Saying this, she reached out to tear the disguise from Yelu Tan’s face.

Yelu Xun suddenly came around from behind, patted Jing Hengbo’s shoulder and asked: “Hey, where’s the real Gong Yin?”

Reminded by this, Jing Hengbo immediately forgot about tearing off the disguise, looking around: “Eh, where is Gong Yin?”

“What are you dawdling here for? What could happen to him?” Master Ziwei picked her up. “Yi Kingdom’s army is coming. Either leave or fight—what do you plan to do?”

“I want to wait here for Gong Yin.” Jing Hengbo said. “Old immortal, you must be very idle lately. If there’s a fight, you go first. I want to first tear off this guy’s mask and see exactly who he is. Why does he feel so familiar?” She again reached to tear the mask.

Yelu Xun suddenly patted her shoulder again, saying: “Oh right, I almost forgot something important. Recently I got something—let me show you.”

Yelu Qi’s face suddenly showed a meaningful smile as he turned to glance at Jing Hengbo.

Jing Hengbo withdrew her hand. “What?”

Yelu Xun chuckled as she pulled out a brocade pouch.

“Oh, you’re giving me a brocade pouch.” Jing Hengbo smiled as she accepted it. “Really embarrassing…”

“When I came over, I was stopped by a girl holding this brocade pouch, asking me about her fiancé.” Yelu Xun smiled as she spoke. “Her fiancé’s description sounded very familiar to me, so I took the brocade pouch and brought it for you to see.”

“Someone used a brocade pouch to ask about her fiancé, why bring it for me to see…” Jing Hengbo opened the brocade pouch in confusion, her fingers touching something, smiling: “This thing has quite a special texture…” She slightly pulled it out, then her finger froze and her facial expression also froze.

Yelu Qi smiled meaningfully as he studied her expression, glanced at Yelu Xun, then finally looked at Yelu Tan.

Jing Hengbo maintained the position of half-opening the brocade pouch with her finger pulling the thing halfway out, staying dazed for a while. After a moment she quickly pinched the bottom of the pouch again, then stayed foolish for another while. Master Ziwei became curious and leaned over to look, but she slapped his face away.

“Where did this thing come from…” Jing Hengbo said after a long while, her voice weak as gossamer.

She now forgot everything, her mind full of this brocade pouch. The thing inside was too familiar—one look revealed it was Gong Yin’s. Gong Yin would definitely keep this close to his body and treasure it, never willing to give it to anyone, much less to his rival’s sister Yelu Xun.

Fiancée?

Her mind was somewhat confused. She definitely didn’t believe it, but couldn’t understand how this had happened.

Now forget Yelu Tan—even if Taishi Lan came, he might not be able to draw away her attention.

“A girl gave it to me, asking me to help find someone.” Yelu Xun said leisurely. “She said half a month ago, at Daimao’s border, she met a man. At that time that person was trapped in danger, needing to rescue someone. This girl fell in love with him at first sight, not hesitating to sacrifice herself as substitute, rescuing him from the dangerous situation. At that time this girl also had selfish motives—she fancied this man and used marriage contract to threaten him, demanding he agree to marry her before she’d risk the rescue. That man was pressed for time with no other choice, so he agreed to the girl’s demand, made a marriage contract with her, and gave her this brocade pouch. Then the girl couldn’t find him. Her family wanted to arrange her marriage, but she refused to death, getting beaten many times. Later she told her family that the man she’d privately pledged herself to was definitely extraordinary, certainly better than what her family found. So her family escorted her out to find this fiancé, wanting to see for themselves—if she couldn’t find him, they’d drag her back to marry. With her whole life at stake, she was determined to find her fiancé, holding the painting in the brocade pouch and asking everyone she met. She happened to encounter us. We felt the painting looked familiar and didn’t want such a painting casually shown to people, so we promised to definitely help her find the person, took the brocade pouch, and now bring it for you to see. Are you familiar with this thing? Tell me, who is this man?” Saying this while propping her chin, smiling as she looked at Jing Hengbo.

Yelu Xun was very clear that given Jing Hengbo and Gong Yin’s relationship, casually making up some melodramatic story of a man’s betrayal would be useless—Jing Hengbo wouldn’t believe it instead. So she told the truth, only switching the protagonist, eight parts true and two parts false—most believable.

Jing Hengbo’s face had already opened a soy sauce shop, changing colors magnificently. The time period Yelu Xun mentioned seemed to be when she’d entered the dead end forcing Gong Yin to come to Shen Tie? She’d later vaguely heard Gong Yin mention once or twice that he’d constantly encountered obstacles on the road, delaying time. Could it be that during that time, Gong Yin was forced to make a marriage contract with someone to escape?

She carefully thought through everything Yelu Xun had said, feeling the time, place, and people all matched. Without having participated or heard about it, it would be impossible to know about Gong Yin encountering obstacles.

She also wondered if this was something Yelu Xun herself had done, but felt Xun didn’t seem so kind-hearted—saving her brother’s rival? Gong Yin had once truly wanted to kill Yelu Qi!

“Hehehehe.” Master Ziwei immediately understood this was about Bai Pu Forest. His eyes rolled as he thought it seemed Yelu Xun was causing trouble. He could skip doing good deeds, but had to participate in causing trouble. He immediately said: “You’re talking about Bai Pu Forest at the border between Daimao and Shen Tie, right? This old man once passed by there—there were traces of array formations set up there, quite remarkable great arrays too. Yo yo, even if it were this old man, it would take several hours to break through.”

Jing Hengbo made an “uh” sound, believing three more parts. She suddenly stuffed the brocade pouch into her chest and grabbed Yelu Xun’s hand: “Sister, that whoever, that whoever’s fiancée and such, where is she now?”

Yelu Xun’s eyes rolled. “I arranged her at an inn in Huan Capital called Chang An.”

“Then let’s go.” Jing Hengbo immediately pulled her to leave. “I’ll go find that girl to have a chat, a chat.”

“Chat about what?” Yelu Xun refused to leave. “Aren’t you waiting for Gong Yin?”

Jing Hengbo now definitely wouldn’t wait for Gong Yin. She had to resolve his fiancée before Gong Yin found them, otherwise dealing with that girl in front of him would be awkward—too light or too heavy wouldn’t work, and historical legacy problems couldn’t be cleaned up thoroughly, causing big trouble.

It was better not to let men see some of women’s faces when defending love. She ground her teeth with a ferocious green face and fangs. Yelu Xun seemed to hear the sound of sharpening knives toward the fiancée.

Yelu Xun lowered her head to “look at” Yelu Tan, slowly rolling up her sleeves.

Some things were originally just jokes, but unexpectedly ended up being useful like this.

“I’ll just leave a sign for Gong Yin.” Jing Hengbo casually drew a circle on the ground, sprinkled some ice chips, tore off a piece of Master Ziwei’s sleeve and half-buried it under a stone, writing “Chang An Inn” on the stone. Then she urged everyone to leave quickly.

The Yi Kingdom guards weren’t moving, indicating Gong Yin wasn’t being besieged—probably delayed by something. When he saw the sign, he’d know to follow and find her.

The Yelu siblings naturally were happy to see this happen. Master Ziwei also happily picked up Yelu Tan, because he suddenly discovered that since catching this boy, Yelu Xun suddenly wasn’t so clingy with him. Though Master Ziwei didn’t understand the real reason, he was very happy to see this situation. If having this boy could make Yelu Xun show some face and not pester him, he didn’t mind carrying him for life.

At this time Yi Kingdom’s guards also began surrounding them, but for these few people, breaking through the encirclement was really easy. Several figures quickly tore through the night and departed.

In a corner of the traveling palace, someone looked up at those figures with Jing Hengbo’s face but very gloomy eyes.

It was Yi Kingdom’s Great King.

A figure slowly emerged from behind the artificial mountain, also watching the direction the group had departed.

He was Gong Yin.

He’d already come over earlier and seen all of Jing Hengbo and the others’ actions and dialogue.

Several times he’d planned to go out and explain, several times he’d dismissed the thought.

Yelu Xun’s behavior was strange—he wanted to observe clearly from the shadows first, confirming whether she intended harm to Jing Hengbo.

As for that fiancée business, looking at Jing Hengbo’s appearance, she seemed very happy to resolve it? Then he might as well see how Her Majesty Queen planned to resolve it.

As for misunderstandings? Misunderstandings were arranged for those inexperienced men and women whose mutual feelings weren’t firm.

Let Her Majesty Queen go deal with Yelu Xun. Gong Yin felt this blind girl was truly an even more troublesome woman than Jing Hengbo.

He suddenly waved his sleeve. Behind him, Princess Yi Cheng who’d been quietly approaching immediately fell flat on her face.

Princess Yi Cheng lay in the mud with tears of excitement—ah ah ah, the way he waved that sleeve was truly infinitely graceful ah ah ah…

A pair of boots suddenly stopped before her. Princess Yi Cheng looked up joyfully to see that face that made her suffocate every time she saw it.

Gong Yin looked at her without any emotion. He was very familiar with women’s infatuated gazes—felt no different from summer flies.

“You know disguise?” he asked.

Princess Yi Cheng nodded desperately.

Gong Yin pondered slightly. He felt today’s Yi Kingdom Great King was quite strange.

“Help me change faces,” he said. “The kind no one could discover.”