Dahuang Calendar Year 372, First Day of the Ninth Month

Along the roads through the Huangjin Tribe territory, bright red banners of the Horizontal Halberd Army fluttered all the way. Garrison troops of the Huangjin Tribe withdrew thirty li from the official roads, checkpoints were canceled, and all soldiers were ordered to remain within their own camps. Even the red tassels on their helmets were cut short to prevent them from being blown by the wind and spotted by some vengeful killing god looking for trouble, who might shout “Ambush!” as an excuse to start war.

The killing god was naturally Pei Shu. The young marshal led his great army, patrolling extensively beneath the opened cities of the Huangjin Tribe. Finally, he punched his fist hatefully at those dejected banners and ordered the army to head straight for Dige.

He left decisively and marched swiftly. All along the way, the officers following him kept weapons in hand, dressed in full battle gear with tense expressions, maintaining a constant state of readiness. When making camp at night, they cooked simple meals, ate hurriedly, then bundled up and gripped their weapons tightly, waiting for the young marshal to suddenly command: “We’re going back to raid the Huangjin Tribe royal palace!”

However, they waited the entire night without receiving that order. It wasn’t until they broke camp the next day and were about to leave Huangjin Tribe territory that a trusted officer finally couldn’t help but voice the question that had been troubling him: “Young Marshal, why do you pass through Huangjin Tribe without fighting?”

On horseback, Pei Shu sat with straight back and slowly turned his head, glancing over that expanse of gray mountains.

This was his birthplace. He had risen to fame here, and had also suffered great injustice here. He had once led the Huangjin Tribe’s golden lions to laugh proudly among heroes, enjoying the worship of the world, and had also been bound by those same golden lions and paraded through the streets as a traitor, suffering attacks from the people. He had once ridden flowery horses to imperial banquets here, and had once worn white robes to witness slaughter here. He had fought life and death for the Huangjin Tribe, and finally endured five years of inhuman days in the bitter crossing of Tianhui Valley.

During those five years, he struggled to survive, battling heaven, earth, and death itself. Day and night, what supported him to live was nothing more than the two words: “revenge.”

In those days when he woke on lonely mountain peaks amid midnight cold winds and wolf howls, he had countless times howled at the moon, swearing that as long as he didn’t die, he would one day lead a great army back and hang Jin Zhaolong on the walls of Huangjin Tribe for five years, until the wind dried his corpse.

Because of this oath, he had persisted for so long, until he met Jing Hengbo.

Now, the oath was about to come true. He led a great army, rode high horses, came with earth-shaking force. Jin Zhaolong and his city cowered to the side in the most cowardly posture, wishing they could shrink into dust. The Huangjin Tribe had no famous generals left, morale had long fallen. With just a wave of his hand, he could watch it all turn to ash and dust, watch it crumble to nothing, watch three thousand li of territory be trampled by iron hooves, jade towers and golden palaces all becoming empty.

He could have his great revenge.

…

Horse hooves clattered as the army rolled away like an angry dragon. On horseback, he sat with straight back, facing toward Dige, departing far from the Huangjin Tribe.

From beginning to end, he never looked back.

In the thundering hoofbeats, after a long time, his deputy general finally heard his calm and firm answer:

“In my heart, her empire weighs more than my hatred.”

…

When the Tortoiseshell Army passed through Huangjin Tribe, just as they had waited for battle, those Huangjin Tribe garrison troops hiding behind city walls, not daring to show a trace of hostility, also held their breath in extreme tension, waiting for the Tortoiseshell Army’s possible surprise return attack. It wasn’t until that black dust cloud connecting heaven and earth had rolled over Huangjin Tribe territory and entered Xiang Kingdom’s borders that everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Pei Shu’s reputation as a killing god could stop children’s nighttime crying in Huangjin Tribe—no one dared attempt to lightly challenge his edge.

News was swiftly conveyed back to the Huangjin Tribe royal palace. Jin Zhaolong, who hadn’t slept for two days and nights, suddenly collapsed onto his couch.

“Finally can sleep peacefully!”

The guards who had originally filled the hall quietly withdrew. Light footsteps could be heard on the roof tiles—these were guards Jin Zhaolong had stationed on the roof, also withdrawing now that the crisis had passed.

Jin Zhaolong’s eyes were full of bloodshot veins, but his expression finally relaxed as he gazed at the canopy decorated with heavy brocade dragons, revealing a look of relief in his eyes.

Relief that he hadn’t chosen to block Pei Shu’s path, relief that Pei Shu had actually passed through Huangjin Tribe without fighting, abandoning his revenge. Though he was very puzzled by this—from his understanding of Pei Shu, this man would never give up a chance for revenge even if it meant risking his life. Had he somehow changed his nature now?

But for him, this was ultimately a great blessing. After the battle at Dige, who knew if Pei Shu would still have the strength to return for revenge?

He let out a long sigh toward the canopy and comfortably closed his eyes.

Then he suddenly opened them again.

In that moment when he had just closed his eyes, something seemed wrong?

Above was the canopy with heavy brocade dragons. Through the coiling bodies of those golden flying dragons with decorated scales and armor, he could vaguely see the coffered ceiling of the hall. The coffered ceiling of the sleeping chamber, with flying cloud bands, decorated lotus petals, embracing cloud dragons, the dome high and deep. That cloud dragon in the center of the coffered ceiling somehow looked strange—particularly black, particularly prominent, the coiling lines particularly clear, the scales on it seeming to shimmer with mottled light. And that cloud dragon’s head somehow looked like a human face…

He suddenly shivered and sat up abruptly.

After sitting up, he realized with shock that the face wasn’t an illusion—there really was a face up there… no, not above, right in front of him!

He leaped up instantly. His speed couldn’t be called slow, yet with a “rip” sound, the canopy tore and something dropped down heavily. For a moment, he thought the cloud dragon from the coffered ceiling above had fallen down!

Jin Zhaolong immediately drew the blade he always kept at his back.

But in a blink, his blade silently fell onto the bedding. A long, black, snake-like thing suddenly slithered over, wrapped around him with a snap, constricting and tightening. He heard his bones creaking and groaning, his breathing stopped and his head spun, the strength in his hands immediately vanished. He still tried to stretch his foot to reach a mechanism on the bed, but a hand reached over and pressed down on his foot.

For a moment, he thought another person had appeared, but that hand was thin, long, and black, gleaming with the mottled light of scales—like a human hand yet not quite human. When he turned his head, he saw an equally long, black face with scales on the cheeks. That face stared fixedly at him, then suddenly grinned at him.

This smile was so terrifyingly indescribable that it seemed all the fear and darkness of his entire life rushed at him in an instant. Jin Zhaolong’s eyes rolled back.

He fainted.

Silence fell over the hall. After a while, light footsteps sounded.

On the golden brick floor, a delicate female silhouette was reflected. Her skirts swayed as she moved. Jing Hengbo’s long sigh was also leisurely: “Fainted already? What a coward!”

She beckoned, and the grass person came bouncing and sliding over, carrying Jin Zhaolong. Feifei followed behind, her eyes gleaming mischievously.

This monster was Feifei’s captive—after Feifei had lured the beast-men into the swamp, she had conveniently caught this injured grass person who couldn’t escape in time. Jing Hengbo had just used it to frighten Jin Zhaolong.

These creatures actually didn’t have much killing power, but few people weren’t scared when seeing one for the first time. Jing Hengbo felt a bit regretful that when dealing with these creatures at the swamp, her experience was insufficient—she had only thought about victory without considering capturing them. Otherwise, releasing a few grass people for Mingcheng to play with would have been great fun.

Grass people had excellent jumping and concealment abilities, skilled at finding paths from grassy corners. At this time, because the Huangjin Tribe royal palace had been on alert for several days and the powerful enemy had left, the tense emotions relaxed and vigilance naturally had gaps. The grass person actually managed to bring Jin Zhaolong out of the palace without incident. When Jin Zhaolong leisurely awoke, he was already on Jing Hengbo’s horse back, tied up thoroughly.

When Jin Zhaolong learned that Jing Hengbo planned to take him to Dige and hand him over to Pei Shu, his vision went black.

He felt very wronged—Pei Shu had already spared him, so why did the Queen still meddle and personally risk capturing him? Why, when he sought redemption and offered ten thousand taels of gold and ten thousand elite troops, did the Queen just eat snacks, crack sunflower seeds, and smile without speaking?

“That’s because,” after a long time, Jing Hengbo gazed toward Dige’s direction and said leisurely, “in my heart, his sacrifice weighs more than my empire.”

…

Dahuang Calendar Ninth Month, Third Day

The army arrived at Xiang Kingdom’s border.

Xiang Kingdom was the last barrier before reaching Dige. Dige had continuously issued orders demanding that Xiang Kingdom resist with full force—if they disobeyed, the Yuzhao Dragon Cavalry behind Xiang Kingdom would first break through Xiang Kingdom’s southern defense line.

So when the Horizontal Halberd Army arrived, they saw banners flying on the border, Xiang Kingdom’s army in neat formation, with the Regent Princess and her husband personally leading troops, mounted before the battle lines.

This was almost the most presentable formation Pei Shu had encountered along his march from Tortoiseshell. It immediately made his warlike nature explode, and just as his blood boiled and he was about to order battle, he saw the opposing side suddenly charge forward with cavalry without sounding gongs, beating drums, shouting challenges, or inviting battle.

The Horizontal Halberd Army was dumbfounded—cavalry making surprise attacks did happen, but that was usually with ambushes or charging down from high ground, using terrain and momentum to scatter the enemy’s formation. Who would meet on flat ground like this, charge without even seeing the enemy clearly, without proper formation, in one wild rush?

Even more ridiculous was that leading the charge was the Princess Consort, Xiang Kingdom’s Grand Chancellor, and one of Xiang Kingdom’s current two rulers—Yong Xizheng. He personally charged at the front, heading straight for Pei Shu.

To put it nicely, this was called the ruler personally campaigning and leading by example. To put it harshly, it was recklessly entering dangerous ground like a foolish brute.

Pei Shu sat motionless, coldly smiled and reined in his horse, unhurriedly waiting for this fool to charge up to him.

In his view, this kind of charge without strategy or formation was simply suicide. If it were him trying to conquer the world, he would definitely feel insulted, wheel his horse around and leave, casually letting any subordinate cut off the man’s head.

His spear lazily patted his leg as he considered whether to slap him to death or stab him to death.

Yong Xizheng ignored the shouts of his soldiers behind him trying to stop and catch up, charging ahead alone at breakneck speed.

Pei Shu coldly smiled and raised his spear.

The Xiang Kingdom Grand Chancellor wore light clothing and thin armor, his garments fluttering, which looked even more displeasing to Pei Shu—dressed like that, he dared to pretend to be a fierce general on the battlefield!

Did he think Pei Shu was made of mud and paper?

Just as he was considering whether his spear point should target the man’s chest or crotch, Yong Xizheng, who had been charging wildly and was only a horse’s head away from him, suddenly pulled his horse’s head and executed a beautiful sideways dodge, brushing past Pei Shu’s horse.

As they passed, his long spear lightly tapped Pei Shu’s spear. In the clear ring of metal, he said softly: “Please give my regards to the Queen.”

Pei Shu was stunned.

Looking up again, the cavalry following Yong Xizheng all executed the same horse-pulling sideway dodge, flowing like water past the soldiers behind Pei Shu who were ready for battle.

This left a group of aggressively postured soldiers standing dazed, looking at their weapons and the enemy’s retreating figures, completely baffled.

A spear point flashed behind him. Pei Shu turned and blocked—the attacker was indeed Yong Xizheng. After their spears clashed, he smiled softly again: “Xiang Kingdom has repaid past kindness and fulfilled old agreements. May the Queen’s great enterprise succeed and protect Xiang Kingdom’s peace.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he withdrew his spear and charged past Pei Shu again, looking as if he couldn’t match Pei Shu and was fleeing on horseback.

Pei Shu looked up in amazement and saw in the distance, under the great banner, the Regent Princess of Xiang Kingdom seemed to smile gently.

Under the setting sun, she rode forward as if to welcome her husband. Yong Xizheng’s horse hooves seemed particularly light because of this.

Pei Shu gazed at those suddenly departing figures. Though still somewhat puzzled, he knew Xiang Kingdom was blatantly letting them pass. He quickly called to his officers for a round of “fierce pursuit.”

This pursuit lasted several hundred li, chasing across plains and wilderness, mountains, rivers and swamps, along routes without Yuzhao Dragon Cavalry or Kanglong Army, straight into Dige territory.

When entering the area around Dige, those “fleeing in panic” Xiang Kingdom troops seemed to have learned earth-escape techniques and suddenly vanished.

They left only bags scattered everywhere—opening them revealed clear water and dry rations.

Pei Shu stood at the mountain pass, watching his soldiers collect the “spoils of war,” looking thoroughly depressed.

The officers thought he was unhappy about not getting a satisfying battle, so none dared approach. They busied themselves with work, staying far from him.

Only one officer inadvertently walked near him and suddenly heard the young marshal slap his thigh hard, suddenly understanding: “Now I get it! Yong Xizheng also has a secret crush on her! Damn it! Where do all these toads wanting to eat swan meat come from!”

…

Dahuang Calendar Ninth Month, Fourth Day

Outside Yuzhao Palace, a large group of palace servants stood with hands bound, and under the corridors stood a large group of ministers, heads bowed in respectful attention.

People continuously exited the hall, all emerging with pale faces, sweating profusely, stumbling steps. Between the opening and closing doors, faint roaring could still be heard from within the hall.

“GET OUT!”

A fierce shout echoed in everyone’s ears as the last minister stumbled out.

Everyone looked at each other, then looked back at the distance—palace walls stretching endlessly, green trees and red flowers, bright sunshine. Yet in everyone’s eyes, it seemed they saw iron weapons like blades and black clouds pressing down on the city.

“Weapons like fire, invasion like forest… Dige is still going to war…” The ministers shook their heads and sighed as they departed.

Inside the hall, Zou Zheng’s face was iron-blue as he viciously threw a military report to the ground.

The floor was already scattered with papers in complete disarray, many with black feathers attached, indicating extremely urgent military reports.

“Even Xiang Kingdom passed through so easily!” Zou Zheng paced rapidly back and forth in the hall. “Impossible! This is impossible! What do they mean the Regent Princess and her husband personally led troops in pursuit for days and nights… With Xiang Kingdom’s military strength, if they really fought with everything they had, even if Pei Shu were a war god, he couldn’t have arrived this quickly and bypassed the Yuzhao Dragon Cavalry’s defense line!” He furiously smashed and re-smashed the military reports. “There must be something fishy! There must be!”

The military reports fell to the ground, papers torn. Some papers landed on bright yellow phoenix and bird skirt hems spread in a corner of the hall. Those hems didn’t move at all—the lustrous sheen of the brocade flickered in the darkness like countless blinking eyes.

“And the Yuzhao Dragon Cavalry!” Zou Zheng said fiercely. “Outward compliance but inner defiance! For Pei Shu to reach Dige, he absolutely couldn’t have bypassed southern Xiang Kingdom. I ordered them to guard the southern border of Xiang Kingdom, not letting even a fly pass. How did they guard it! How!”

“Your Majesty.” A woman’s voice echoed eerily and coldly from the corner of the great hall. “Please calm yourself. In this state, you don’t look like an emperor.”

Zou Zheng shuddered all over, pressed his lips together, stopped his agitated pacing, and looked back.

Mingcheng slowly emerged from the shadows, dragging her ten-foot-long skirt train. Since her marriage, she had loved wearing skirts with very long trains, longer and longer. Sometimes when she walked out of corridors, her skirt train was still in the hall.

She loved the nobility and elegance of long skirts trailing on the ground, loved the rustling sound of brocade rubbing against the floor when her train passed through wooden corridors, loved seeing everyone prostrate behind her train, constantly eating the dust raised by her skirt hem, loved this design that made the waist appear more slender and delicate because of the heavy train—it helped her regain a bit of confidence as empress and woman. Otherwise, every time she walked through those corridors, gardens, and golden brick floors, she couldn’t help thinking of Jing Hengbo, thinking of that woman lazily walking through flower corridors with naturally perfect curves that created beautiful scenery no matter how she dressed, making all other women fade into moss under gray stones, emitting faint bitter tastes.

She wasn’t moss—she was the true mistress of this Yuzhao Palace. Her grace should earn the admiration and worship of all people in the world.

Thinking of Jing Hengbo, thinking that she might be under Dige city at this very moment, a surge of malice rose in her heart, like poison, spreading in deep, shadowy green.

Zou Zheng looked with distaste at her skirt train—he had always hated such long skirts, so dragging and cumbersome. He constantly worried that they hid weapons.

But he still absorbed Mingcheng’s reminder. What Mingcheng meant wasn’t that he didn’t seem like an emperor, but was hinting that he didn’t seem like Gong Yin.

Gong Yin was cool and noble, never having a moment of losing composure in his entire life. No one had ever seen him roar in anger, and nothing in this world could make him roar in anger.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, Zou Zheng’s voice had slowed, infinitely weary.

“Must we really yield the throne to that inexplicable woman…”

“Yield the throne?” Mingcheng laughed coldly. “If you yield the throne, what would I be?”

“You’d be the State Preceptor’s wife!” Zou Zheng impatiently muttered.

“Heh heh.” Mingcheng gave another more mocking cold laugh, but said: “Do you really think she can stop Jing Hengbo and protect Dige?”

Zou Zheng didn’t speak. By now, with the war going badly, various tribes not contributing effort, even the usually protective Yuzhao Dragon Cavalry not obeying orders, he vaguely felt something was wrong. He had stolen another’s appearance and position but hadn’t been able to steal the real authority and armies. At this moment, though the dragon cavalry and Kanglong existed, he felt empty-handed, with no confidence to resist any army.

When he had initially ascended the throne amid officials’ appeals, he had felt the world responded to him, great power in his grasp, governance smooth and orders obeyed, supremely honored. That’s why he had issued the decree to execute the Queen—how could a Tortoiseshell Queen pass through six kingdoms and eight tribes to oppose his dragon cavalry and Kanglong?

But now in this situation, besides placing hope in that woman, who else could he rely on?

At least that woman’s “army,” in his view, was invincible within Dige—even Jing Hengbo couldn’t match it.

He didn’t answer, and Mingcheng didn’t speak either. After a while, she said: “We can’t place all hope in outsiders’ hands. If anything goes wrong, we’ll be eternally doomed.”

“Then what do you think we should do?” Zou Zheng said irritably.

After waiting a while without an answer, he turned his head and saw Mingcheng staring thoughtfully toward the palace gates.

Her voice was very light, yet carried a faint killing intent seeping quietly from between her teeth.

“If you dare come, I dare kill.”

…

This couple whispering in the great hall didn’t know that at this moment, another pair of eyes was watching in this direction.

Xu Pingran was on the roof of a certain palace hall, quietly gazing toward Yuzhao Palace’s main hall, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally flicking the letter in her hand.

Her gesture was light, but the motion of flicking the letter seemed a bit quick. She was usually calm and steady as deep waters and high mountains, rarely making unnecessary movements. The subordinates around her secretly glanced from the corners of their eyes, all guessing what news from the snow mountains had made their lady seem so restless. Yet it didn’t seem like nervousness—rather, there seemed to be considerable excitement and joy. Though this joy was hidden, those who had followed her for years could still sense this unusual feeling.

Xu Pingran was indeed very joyful and excited.

Because the letter said someone had brought news of her son…

She suddenly raised her finger. With a flutter of wings, a carrier pigeon appeared on the back of her hand.

A subordinate behind her removed the note and respectfully said: “Madam, the Horizontal Halberd Army is no more than twenty li from Dige city.”

A faint smile appeared at the corners of Xu Pingran’s lips.

Events were so perfectly timed.

At the moment before claiming the imperial throne, she had received news of her son.

Everything she had hoped for was before her eyes.

Kill Jing Hengbo and her followers, seize this Dahuang empire.

The future was hers, and even more so, his.