Dismounting from her horse, Qingxia wrapped the horse’s hooves with cotton cloth. This horse came from Nanjiang and had probably never been to the north before. Qingxia carefully led it toward the frozen river surface.

However, as soon as she approached the riverbank, Qingxia was immediately stunned speechless on the spot. A bone-chilling cold suddenly surged up from her heart. In that instant, Qingxia felt as if her entire body was immersed in ice. Her brows furrowed tightly, blue veins protruded on her pale face, and her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly with sharp, fierce gleams surging and churning in the undercurrents.

The shock lasted less than two seconds. Qingxia raised an eyebrow, turned around, and decisively mounted her horse with swift determination, galloping back in the direction she had come from.

If her guess was correct, the enemies of Zhongbo and the others had come looking for trouble again.

On the wide river surface, chaotic horse hoofprints were everywhere. The number of people would be at least three thousand or more. In such heavy snow, for traces to still remain meant the time couldn’t exceed twenty minutes. But there was only one official road for coming and going, yet Qingxia hadn’t discovered any traces of large-scale travelers. This could only mean that the arrivals had concealed their tracks and circled around from behind Longji Mountain.

Years of professional habits made Qingxia always scout out detailed local geographical conditions and optimal escape routes wherever she went. Behind Longji Mountain was a rocky, mountainous terrain that was extremely difficult to traverse, but there was a small path that led directly to the Western Black Wasteland. This was a secret Qingxia had discovered in Chu Li’s palace archives, because the Xiongnu people had once used this very path to directly attack the Central Plains heartland, causing massive upheaval among the Central Plains people at that time, with countless displaced refugees.

If Qingxia’s speculation was correct, the arrivals were heading straight for this secret passage.

This would also prove that Zhongbo and the others were definitely not the ordinary medicine merchants they claimed to be. Because this small path was considered top secret even in the Southern Chu imperial palace. If it weren’t for Qingxia infiltrating the Privy Council that day to burn the Green Camp military documents, she would never have discovered it.

Right now, she couldn’t worry about their true identities. As soon as Qingxia thought of Zhongbo’s aged figure, she couldn’t simply cross the river and leave peacefully. With this thought, she galloped toward Longji Mountain.

Breaking through earth and expanding territory for ten thousand miles, calmly hidden like immortals on Longji Mountain.

The founding monarch of Great Qin, Emperor Qin Shi Huang, was the first founding emperor to complete China’s unification. Although later generations had mixed opinions about him, no one could deny his tremendous achievements. During Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s reign, he swept away the six states, unified the realm, and brought the Baiyue lands under submission. The national territory nearly doubled in size, completing the first great unification in history and making incomparable contributions to maintaining the orthodox Han lineage.

Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han had always been praised by the world. However, in this strange timeline, the Han Dynasty died in the womb with the wise and martial rule of the Second Emperor of Qin. The Second Emperor of Qin, as the ruler who consolidated the Qin family’s domain, stood forever in the hearts of Qin descendants.

In the eyes of contemporary people, the achievements of the Second Emperor of Qin were considered even greater than those of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

As the location where his heroic soul rested, Longji Mountain represented the dignity and spirit of the Qin clan, standing forever like an eagle on Great Qin’s border, overlooking the masses below.

When Qingxia arrived at Longji Mountain on horseback, large patches of torches had already illuminated this desolate wasteland as bright as day. Over a thousand troops had silently surrounded the foot of the mountain so tightly that not even water could leak through. Inside were several swift carriages with fine horses. Including the drivers, the guard team surrounded the carriages in the center, standing coldly on the outer perimeter.

The standoff between the few and the many continued. Qingxia rode her horse, standing on a slightly elevated mound, coldly observing the confronting forces below.

Under the pitch-black night sky, there were fierce eagles crying out shrilly.

No path forward, pursuers behind!

The most awkward escape route appeared before her eyes once again. Unfortunately, this time Qingxia had neither high-grade explosives to blast through mountains nor heavy machine guns for wide-area suppression, much less could she expect comrades from Division 9 to descend from the sky with helicopters for aerial rescue.

Everything depended on herself alone.

“Yan Pingxi, what audacity you have!” Zhongbo, wearing a blue long fur coat, stood among the crowd. Facing the opponent’s thousand troops, he showed not the slightest fear. His expression calm, he said indifferently.

“Grand Tutor Zhong speaks too seriously.” Yan Pingxi, wearing a light yellow scholar’s robe, sat high on his warhorse. The black cloak behind him fluttered fiercely in the wind, making his temperament appear even more elegant and composed. He smiled faintly and cupped his hands. “Eating the lord’s salary, serving the lord’s affairs—Pingxi dare not accept such praise.”

“What fine words about eating the lord’s salary and serving the lord’s affairs!” Zhongbo’s expression changed, and he said coldly: “You are a court official of Great Qin, eating grain supplied by Great Qin’s people, serving Great Qin’s monarch, not His Highness the Crown Prince!”

“Grand Tutor, such treasonous words are better left unspoken.” Yan Pingxi smiled faintly. “His Highness the Crown Prince is the heir apparent of our nation, the foundation of the state. Serving His Highness the Crown Prince is serving Great Qin—what difference is there? Rather, Grand Tutor, instead of thinking about loyalty to ruler and love of country, you follow traitorous rebels, occupy territories, maintain private armies, establish private lands stretching over three thousand li beyond Yanmen Pass, secretly recruiting and training soldiers. What are your true intentions?”

Grand Tutor Zhong’s expression grew solemn, and he finally sighed deeply: “In the battle at Yanmen Pass, our Qin soldiers fought valiantly to the death, driving the Xiongnu back three thousand li. If not for treacherous officials like you in court, persuading His Majesty to withhold military supplies at the crucial moment, Great Qin’s north would have no more threats. When treacherous ministers hold power, they become the nation’s parasites.”

“Hehe,” Yan Pingxi laughed coldly. “Grand Tutor sees me as a parasite of the nation, but I see Grand Tutor as a rebellious traitor. We each serve our masters—different paths cannot work together. Further idle talk here serves no purpose. I’ve come on orders this time to bring the Third Prince back to the capital to recuperate. Please, Grand Tutor, present the Third Prince and obediently return with me.”

Grand Tutor Zhong laughed coldly and said sternly: “Just with you people? You think far too highly of yourself.”

“Whether I think too highly of myself, I, Yan Pingxi, know in my heart.” With that, he suddenly raised his hand. Gleaming blade edges and sharp arrows instantly all aimed at Grand Tutor Zhong and the others. Bone-chilling killing intent slowly rose in the air. Yan Pingxi laughed coldly: “If the Third Prince insists on defying the imperial command, I can only act first and report later, then bring His Highness’s corpse back to the capital.”

As soon as he finished speaking, orderly blade edges simultaneously unsheathed. Under the illumination of countless torches, fierce red light flickered, reflecting off the pitch-black armor and emanating a terrifying blood-red glow. A thousand black-armored cavalry quietly formed ranks on the plain, yet not a single sound of clamor could be heard. The bitter wind swept across the mountain foot, producing low, mournful sounds like prowling beasts in the walking darkness, adding another layer of heavy oppression to this deathly silent night.

Yan Pingxi smiled coldly, slowly retreating step by step. Rows of crossbow archers immediately advanced, concealing him behind them. Grand Tutor Zhong’s eyes were ice-cold. The Eighteen Iron Guards all had solemn expressions, showing not a trace of panic, only coldly staring ahead. That bearing was no less imposing than the thousand-strong army led by Yan Pingxi.

A cold crow suddenly flapped its wings with a sharp cry, swooping over the crowd toward the distant ancient road.

The tense atmosphere was about to explode. Grand Tutor Zhong came beside the third carriage. His aged features suddenly showed a trace of martial spirit, and his hunched back seemed to straighten in an instant.

“Cough, cough!”

A low, hoarse coughing sound suddenly rang out. The voice wasn’t very loud—even rather weak—clearly the sound made by someone who had long suffered from illness. But this single cough struck the black-armored army like a thunderclap. Almost simultaneously, everyone’s pupils contracted, their palms involuntarily sweated, and their feet unconsciously stepped back in unison.

This was a very strange scene. As soon as that coughing sound rang out, the entire army’s encirclement uniformly retreated one step. After unconsciously completing this action, those black-clothed, black-armored soldiers looked at each other without exception, all seeing indescribable panic in their comrades’ eyes.

A pale, slender hand slowly opened the carriage curtain. A man with a slightly pale complexion, wearing a blue long fur coat, held his hand to his mouth, coughing lightly. With Grand Tutor Zhong’s support, he slowly descended from the carriage, step by step walking forward to stand between the Eighteen Iron Guards and the black-armored army. Then he slightly raised an eyebrow, his cold, sharp eyes glancing indifferently at the mass of black troops, and said sternly: “Feng Yukun, Li Qun—you’re doing very well indeed.”

The originally deathly silent thousand-strong army immediately fell into panic. Yan Pingxi furrowed his brows tightly and suddenly called out loudly: “Qin Zhiyan, we’ve come on royal command to bring you back. Don’t continue this pointless resistance!” Knowing that failure to complete this task would certainly mean death without a complete corpse, he no longer even addressed him as “Your Highness,” calling him by name directly.

Qin Zhiyan raised an eyebrow. A faint anger slowly gathered in his narrow eyes. He frowned slightly, seeming to contemplate something, then asked indifferently: “What relation are you to Yan Su, who once served in my army’s stables?”

Yan Pingxi’s expression immediately changed drastically. Uncontrollable fury surged up as he said through gritted teeth: “That was my father!”

Qin Zhiyan nodded and said in an indifferent voice: “Your father was greedy for wealth and lustful. He was bought by Xichuan and added poisonous grass to the fodder in my army’s stables, attempting to destroy my nation’s Northern Expedition army. After I discovered this, he was beaten to death with clubs. Indeed, like father, like son. Your father was a soldier who betrayed the army; you are a minister who usurps the state. Very good, very good.”

“My father was wronged! His Highness the Crown Prince has already cleared my father’s name—you framed and killed him!” Yan Pingxi flew into a rage, shouting loudly in fury.

“Hmph…” Qin Zhiyan laughed coldly once, neither refuting nor arguing, only giving Yan Pingxi a cold look. With a contemptuous laugh, he said softly: “Is that so?”