“Zhan Yuheng, what are you doing?” Jiu’er was so startled by everything before her that she nearly fainted.

Without knowing when it had happened, she found herself laid down among the sea of flowers by Zhan Yuheng.

He was pressing down on her, his upper robe torn open, his scorching lips pressed against her delicate skin.

“You…” Her hands fell upon his shoulders, and Feng Jiu’er was just about to push the man off her.

Suddenly, a gust of icy wind swept in — a cutting, bone-cold presence so frigid that Jiu’er felt the very blood and energy within her surge and churn.

Zhan Yuheng had not failed to sense the approaching killing intent, yet the person in his arms was the one he had waited ten years for. Even if it meant being injured, he was unwilling to let her go.

With a casual wave of his hand, a thunderous boom rang out — the powerful force of a palm strike drove Zhan Yuheng flying sideways through the air.

He managed a mid-air somersault, barely landing steadily on the ground.

Yet within his chest, a mouthful of foul blood surged and churned. He held it back for quite some time, but ultimately could not. His mouth opened, and with a gasp, a rush of dark blood came pouring out.

“…Ninth Imperial Uncle!” Feng Jiu’er finally saw clearly who had arrived.

In the moonlight, that silhouette was glacially cold and remote — tall and slender, yet radiating an indescribable desolation and solitude.

Her heart fell into chaos. With frantic hands she gathered her clothing back into place and scrambled up from the ground. “Ninth Imperial Uncle, you… Older Brother Heng, you’re hurt!”

Those memories that lingered and swirled in her heart made her, the instant she saw Zhan Yuheng spit blood, instinctively want to go to him.

But her wrist tightened — she had already been pulled back by Zhan Qingcheng.

“Ninth Imperial Uncle…” Jiu’er pressed her palm closed. Knowing that Zhan Yuheng had only suffered internal injuries with no immediate threat to his life, she let it go.

Right now, her own crisis was no smaller than Zhan Yuheng’s — in fact, it was far, far greater.

She could clearly feel the utterly cutting killing intent radiating from Ninth Imperial Uncle.

Having known him all this time, she had never felt such a terrifying aura from him before.

Ninth Imperial Uncle was already cold enough at the best of times, but in this moment he was more like a ten-thousand-year glacier — the ice within him impossible to thaw any further.

“Ninth Imperial Uncle, just now it was only…” She did not know what she wanted to explain, but whatever explanation she had, the moment he turned to look at her, she forgot it entirely.

Zhan Qingcheng swept his sleeve and turned, walking toward the gate of the chrysanthemum garden.

Feng Jiu’er’s heart lurched, and she immediately wanted to run after him.

Ninth Imperial Uncle was injured — in that moment when he had turned, a trace of blood had unmistakably slipped from the corner of his exquisite lips, a sight so chilling it shook her to her core.

His health had already been poor of late. The last time he had been poisoned by the scorpion’s venom, it had triggered the Gu Poison within his body to flare, damaging his heart meridian.

During this period, he was not supposed to circulate his true energy at all.

Yet just now, when he had clashed with Zhan Yuheng, his true energy had been stirred nonetheless. The moment it moved, it instantly provoked the poison gu, dealing another blow to his heart meridian.

“Jiu’er!” Just as Feng Jiu’er turned to chase after Zhan Qingcheng, Zhan Yuheng’s hoarse call from behind brought her footsteps to a halt.

Feng Jiu’er turned to look at him. The man amid the sea of flowers was just as strikingly handsome as ever.

He stood there among the blossoms — just like the young master of years past — gazing at her with eyes filled with such devoted, besotted depth.

Though she still could not untangle the scenes flashing through her mind, nor the feelings from those days and the feelings of right now.

Yet in the end, Feng Jiu’er spoke with calm detachment: “Let the past go with the wind. I am now a member of Longwu Court, and I must return with Ninth Imperial Uncle to attend to my duties. Your Highness — farewell.”

“Jiu’er! I am not ‘Your Highness’ — I am your Older Brother Heng.” Zhan Yuheng chased after her, but in the clear breeze, that slender figure had already walked far away.