For a moment, Changling almost thought she had misheard.

“Shen Yao… is he the young master Shen Yao from the Shen family of Luoyang back then?”

“You even know about the Luoyang Shen family, so how could you not have heard…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, vaguely guessing in his heart that Changling had been away from the Central Plains for a long time, which was why she was isolated from news and unaware of the changing winds and clouds outside.

Mingyue Zhou said, “That’s right. Back then, the four great families competed for control of the Central Plains. Whether in military strength or financial power, the Shen family was far inferior to both the He and Yue families, yet they somehow managed to seize half the territory of the Central Plains.”

Changling was stunned, her heart feeling as if countless needle points were drilling into it, throbbing with shock.

Shen. Yao.

How could it possibly be him?

When Shen Tianan, the head of the Shen family, first brought his young master to visit the Yue family, she hadn’t even paid attention to him.

Among the four great families, the Shen family’s only advantage was Shen Tianan’s supreme status in the martial world. He offered up half his military authority for Changsheng to command and assassinated the Crown Prince of Northern Yan as a pledge of allegiance, finally gaining the Yue family’s trust.

However, even after the two families formed an alliance and Changsheng gradually became close with Shen Yao, she still didn’t feel this person was any different from other noble young masters—his speech was proper and conventional, his martial arts neither good nor bad, even the Wang family’s young master was more distinguished than him.

Later, Shen Tianan intended for his son to assume the position of martial alliance leader, thereby assisting the Yue family in contending for the world. There was no tradition of hereditary succession for the martial alliance leader position. To obtain it, one must first claim the top prize at the martial arts tournament. After consideration, Changsheng sent Changling to provide assistance.

Changling was rather reluctant. In her opinion, it would be more reliable if she herself seized this position—but if she became the alliance leader, there would be no one left to charge into battle for the Yue Family Army.

Therefore, since the Yue and Shen families were allies, there was no reason not to help.

To scout the opposition’s strengths for Shen Yao, Changling traveled alone with her sword from south to north, challenging over a dozen major orthodox martial sects. Aside from Shaolin and Wudang who refused to compete, within half a year she ended this journey with a perfect winning record. Word spread among the martial world, and she earned the title “Tomb of Heroes.”

She taught Shen Yao all the unique techniques to counter each sect and cleared away the best of the best fighters for him during the martial arts preliminaries, finally helping Shen Yao fight through five stages and defeat six opponents to enter the finals.

Who knew that on the day of the finals, people from the Demon Cult would actually show up to crash the event? She simply went with the flow, fought spectacularly with the Demon Cult members, pretended to be injured and withdrew, letting Shen Yao take advantage of the situation.

She could have deliberately lost to Shen Yao as originally agreed, but the reason she changed plans at the last minute was to let all under heaven know that Shen Yao obtained the alliance leader position through luck, while the one truly deserving of being the world’s number one was she, Yue Changling.

Even though Shen Yao later was able to command the masses and earn a fine reputation, she had never taken him seriously.

In her view, forget being a hero—he couldn’t even be considered an ambitious villain.

Until she suffered betrayal in the Battle of Taixing, after Changling awakened she had thought about it many times, always assuming he had defected to the Yan Army and couldn’t possibly accomplish anything significant.

Yet Mingyue Zhou was telling her that Shen Yao was the current Emperor of Eastern Xia…

How could such a preposterous thing exist in this world?

“According to rumors, after the two Yue brothers fell in battle, the Shen family’s army narrowly escaped. Taking Yue Changsheng’s handwritten letter, they rallied the troops from the four Sichuan-Shu commanderies under the Yue family’s control in the name of revenge to counterattack Taixing, nearly annihilating our Yan Army… Later, after our Great Yan suffered heavy losses and ceased invasions, the Yue Family Army gradually fell under the Shen family’s command. After that, Shen Yao fought more courageously with each battle, winning popular support. He continued to forge ahead, destroying the remnants of Former Liang. Within two years, he seized the territories of Runan and Linzhang, established his capital at Yecheng, and founded a nation with the title Eastern Xia.”

Mingyue Zhou spoke on his own, not noticing Changling’s increasingly pale face. Then he heard her take a deep breath and ask, “Eastern Xia… so does that mean there’s also a Western Xia? And who is the emperor of Western Xia? Could it be the He family…”

At the mention of the He family, Mingyue Zhou’s lips curled dismissively as he shook his head. “It’s said that back then the He family had internal strife and couldn’t take care of themselves. By the time they came to their senses, the overall situation was already decided, and given the circumstances they could only surrender to the Shen family… As for the emperor of that Western Xia, his name is Yuan Jue. He’s actually the crown prince of Former Liang, though just half a puppet emperor. The one who truly holds military power is Grand Marshal Wei Xingyun…”

“Wei. Xing. Yun?”

“You know him too?” Mingyue Zhou said, “I heard… after Wei Xingyun betrayed the Yue Family Army, he led his troops in retreat southward. Through fortunate circumstances, he rescued Yuan Jue, supported him as the new ruler, and recruited many former officials of Former Liang for his use. That’s how the current situation of north-south confrontation came to be…”

Just as his words fell, suddenly there came a “puff” sound. Changling spewed out a mouthful of fresh blood—blood from her heart in extreme rage.

Mingyue Zhou hastily supported her, seeing cold sweat streaming down her forehead and her eyelids already drooping unbearably from the weight. He asked urgently, “What’s wrong with you?”

Changling clutched at her chest, feeling as if something had violently struck that spot.

She seemed to see herself helping Shen Yao rise step by step, then saw herself becoming sworn siblings with Fu Liujing, and at Taigu Gorge handing over the Yue family’s vanguard army to Wei Xingyun before departing alone… Frame by frame, the images in her memory drifted past like smoke. Everything began to blur, as if falling into an endless abyss where heaven and earth both plunged into darkness.

Mingyue Zhou frantically checked her pulse and felt it weak and feeble, as if it might quietly fade away at any moment. Not versed in medical principles and not knowing the cause, he could only randomly channel his true qi to her.

He couldn’t understand how they had been chatting and eating meat perfectly fine just moments ago, yet suddenly she was vomiting blood.

Mingyue Zhou couldn’t complete healing her in one continuous effort. Each time his strength was exhausted, he would rest briefly, then continue. He channeled true qi like this for most of the night until Changling recovered some color to her face, and only then did he stop.

Even utterly exhausted, he dared not sleep for even a moment. When the horizon grew faintly bright, he immediately picked up Changling and hurried on, fearing pursuit by Mu Wangbao’s soldiers would catch up again.

Unfortunately, things in this world often don’t go as hoped.

Just as they crossed the last mountain and were finally about to reach Wei City, a small squad of Mu Wangbao’s pursuers suddenly appeared on the road ahead, murderously surrounding them in the middle.

Mingyue Zhou calmly swept his gaze around the circle, looking toward the leader—it was none other than Tao Feng, who had been at Cang Yun’s side.

Tao Feng, dusty from travel, looked at Mingyue Zhou with a smile. “Finally managed to get ahead of you.”

Mingyue Zhou’s expression turned cold as he gritted his teeth. “It seems Master Tao predicted we would come here.”

Tao Feng took a step forward. “Since you had the ability to escape from Mu Wangbao, naturally you could also safely leave Luming Mountain. I merely waited for the rabbit by the tree stump.”

“Worthy indeed of… someone trained by He Jinzhi. But you forgot one thing—behind you is Wei City…”

Mingyue Zhou paused, then a strange smile curved at the corners of his mouth. “Wei City is this prince’s territory.”

Tao Feng suddenly sensed something wrong and whirled around.

At that moment, a black iron spear swept across like breaking bamboo. Tao Feng turned to evade but couldn’t avoid it—the spearhead pierced his shoulder, directly pinning him to the ground.

Sound after sound of air being split came from the sky. Dozens of iron spears whooshed toward them in response. Before anyone could react, more than half the surrounding soldiers were run through the chest and fell dead.

Tao Feng abruptly raised his head, his expression changing drastically. “Black Iron Battalion!”

From the dense forests on both sides of the road, soldiers clad in black armor surged out layer upon layer. The leading general came forward with imposing momentum, stopped before Mingyue Zhou, and clasped his fists. “This subject arrived late. Please forgive me, Your Highness!”

“Li Hu, your timing is just right.” Mingyue Zhou nodded faintly, his gaze falling on Tao Feng again. “This prince was still troubled by insufficient evidence to convince Father Emperor of Cang Yun’s treason. I didn’t expect you would directly bring people and deliver yourselves to my doorstep.”

Tao Feng staggered to his feet, suddenly grasped the iron shaft with both hands, and forcibly pulled it out. Li Hu alertly protected Mingyue Zhou behind him as Black Iron soldiers all around uniformly raised their spears. Who would have thought Tao Feng would turn the spear point toward himself to commit suicide? Others simply couldn’t stop him in time. Just as the spear hook reversed toward his neck, a gleaming whirlwind blade flew in, narrowly cutting across Tao Feng’s right wrist, bringing forth a spray of blood. Tao Feng cried out in pain and lost his strength—the long spear fell to the ground with a clang.

“Soul-Reaping Blade…” Tao Feng spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. He saw the whirlwind blade buzz in the air and spin back, falling into one person’s hand. That person had a robust build but a face gaunt like a scholar’s. In a flash he leaped behind Tao Feng and knocked him unconscious with one palm strike, no longer giving him a chance to take his own life.

This series of actions took only the blink of an eye, yet that person was unhurried and supremely composed, giving off an indescribable sense of oppressive force. He stopped before Mingyue Zhou, knelt on one knee, and said, “Your Highness.”

Mingyue Zhou furrowed his brow. “Tianpo, why aren’t you guarding the princess? How did you end up here?”

Not far away, someone responded, “Naturally because I came too.”

That voice was sweetly naive and pure, familiar enough to startle Mingyue Zhou. He turned his head and looked into the distance at the young girl in red robes and magnificent attire swaggering toward them.

Her coiled hair hung low with precious jade hairpins inserted at an angle. This outfit appearing in this place was rather incongruous, yet she was lively and charming. After meeting Mingyue Zhou’s gaze for a moment, her eyes darted about countless times. When she drew near, she spoke first. “Third Brother, if I hadn’t detected unusual movements at Mu Wangbao and summoned Li Hu, you’d be the one lying on the ground now.”

Even if Mingyue Zhou wanted to scold someone, after hearing this sentence he couldn’t very well discipline his own sister in front of everyone. And indeed it was true—Tao Feng’s appearance had been beyond his expectations. If he hadn’t discovered Li Hu hiding in the shadows beforehand, he probably wouldn’t have been able to respond so calmly.

Seeing him silent in contemplation, the young girl smiled proudly. Then she noticed Mingyue Zhou holding a woman in his arms. Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, “Third Brother, you went out for a trip and not only came back covered in injuries, but also brought back a sister-in-law!”

Mingyue Zhou’s face turned an ugly shade. “Mingyue Fei, don’t speak nonsense.”

“Who’s speaking nonsense? Look, look—you’ve even given her the gilded ring,” Mingyue Fei had an identical ring on her own finger. She bent down and pointed at Changling’s hanging hand, her eyes widening exaggeratedly. “If this isn’t a betrothal token, what is?”

As soon as Mingyue Fei finished speaking, the soldiers around couldn’t help but cast their gazes over. Even the normally expressionless Tianpo lifted his eyes. Mingyue Zhou coughed unnaturally and no longer paid attention to Mingyue Fei, turning to ask Li Hu instead, “Is the military physician here?”

Li Hu nodded and reached out to take the person from Mingyue Zhou’s arms, but Mingyue Zhou brushed past him as if he saw nothing, prompting Mingyue Fei to burst into mischievous laughter behind them.

“This young lady’s meridians have suffered severe trauma. Though it’s an old chronic ailment that has gradually healed, her body is still extremely weak…” An old military physician sat in the spacious carriage, bandaging the wound on Changling’s shoulder. “Has she engaged in martial combat recently?”

Mingyue Zhou hadn’t yet recovered from the phrase “old chronic ailment.” “She can’t use martial arts?”

The old military physician shook his head. “Someone whose foot has just healed can still walk a few steps, but if forced to run…”

Mingyue Zhou recalled Changling’s world-shaking strike at the cliff of North Jade Mountain. Thinking about it now, with her martial arts cultivation, how could she not know her own condition?

Mingyue Fei, who had been at the carriage entrance all along, lifted the curtain with an exclamation and asked, “Then isn’t sister-in-law going to die before she even gets through the wedding ceremony?”

The old military physician choked on these words. “It’s not quite that serious. Though this young lady is gravely injured, she still has true qi protecting her heart meridians. If she can rest quietly for several months with careful recuperation, it should pose no problem.”

Only after hearing this did Mingyue Zhou breathe a sigh of relief. “Good. You may leave now.”

The old military physician nodded, then looked hesitantly at the wounds covering his body. “Your Highness’s injuries…”

“Prepare the medicine first.”

The old military physician was perceptive. Hearing these words, he naturally took the hint and left. Mingyue Zhou ignored Mingyue Fei’s strange smile and asked, “Did you bring any clothes?”

Mingyue Fei rolled her eyes and crawled into the carriage to pull out a set of men’s clothing from a low cabinet. Mingyue Zhou glanced at it and furrowed his brow. “This single layer is too thin. Do you have anything thicker?”

“I’m not out here on a pleasure trip. Why would I bring so many clothes?”

“Then give her the outfit you’re wearing,” Mingyue Zhou glanced at his own sister. “You wear this single layer.”

Mingyue Fei gasped and pointed at her own nose. “Don’t I get cold too?”

“She’s a patient and you’re bursting with vitality. Wearing a bit less won’t hurt you.”

Mingyue Fei: “…”

Am I still even your real sister?!

After the Black Iron Battalion soldiers cleared the scene, they set off to return to the city.

The Mu Wangbao people had mostly died or been wounded. The remaining survivors were all shackled and taken along with the troops. Tao Feng was especially gravely injured. Li Hu ordered the military physician to keep him alive only to interrogate him after returning.

Mingyue Zhou questioned Li Hu for a while. When he returned, he had already changed into a suit of armor. He rode his horse alongside the carriage for some distance, and seeing Mingyue Fei dragging her feet, he couldn’t help but say, “Why is the change taking so long?”

“You can come in now.”

Mingyue Zhou leapt directly from the horse’s back onto the carriage board. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the carriage, he froze.

Changling hadn’t awakened, but after changing into luxurious brocade robes, her entire person appeared especially striking and brilliant. Mingyue Fei had even braided her hair over her shoulders—lying there with closed eyes, she seemed graceful as a startled swan, truly not of this mortal world.

Mingyue Fei, changed into men’s clothing but still looking like a little girl, propped her chin on her hands. “Where did you find such a stunning young lady?” Seeing Mingyue Zhou not responding, she moved closer to him. “Third Brother, given our current situation, we can’t just casually accept people of unknown origin, especially… beautiful ones.”

“I was able to escape from Mu Wangbao because she saved me.”

“By herself? That makes it even more suspicious.”

Mingyue Zhou looked up at Mingyue Fei. “Who let you come out? Don’t you know the entire Eastern Xia martial world is searching for you?”

“This is Great Yan territory, and besides, the Black Iron Battalion is accompanying us.” Mingyue Fei said dismissively, “Moreover, half the Central Plains martial world has been poisoned, and their sect leaders are in our hands. What big waves could they possibly stir up?”

Mingyue Zhou said gravely, “Do you think I know how I was captured to Mu Wangbao?”

“I was about to ask you that. We clearly agreed to meet at Drunken Immortal Pavilion to discuss strategy, but I waited all night and you never came. Half a month later, if I hadn’t received your message by carrier eagle, how would I have thought you’d be imprisoned in Mu Wangbao?”

“It was Second Brother.”

She gave him a puzzled look. “What?”

He succinctly recounted what he had witnessed in the Mu Wangbao dungeon. The more Mingyue Fei listened, the angrier she became. Finally she slammed the table hard. “Second Brother is quite capable, helping outsiders from both within and without. If Tianpo hadn’t found a way to bring me out of the palace, I’d probably still be kept in the dark. This time you see Mingyue Sheng’s true face, right? You keep sparing him every time. I said long ago he can’t be allowed to live.”

When she said these words, there wasn’t a trace of a smile. At such a young age, when she smiled she was naive and innocent, but when her face sank it faintly revealed a ruthless quality. “Those Eastern Xia people dared to make a move against you. Hmph. I was merciful enough to spare those ruffians, but this time I’m going to chop all those old bones into pieces, stuff them in sacks, and send them back!”

Mingyue Zhou glared at her. “That’s not our intention. Don’t cause unnecessary trouble. However, since Mingyue Sheng has already colluded with foreign enemies, he’s probably also leaked where those sect leaders are detained.”

“During these days when I couldn’t find you, I felt uneasy and used your transfer order to move that group from Anding Prefecture… Don’t worry, no matter what, they’ll never guess where I’ve imprisoned them. Even if they discover it, they absolutely can’t break in…”

Mingyue Zhou pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised his eyes. He heard Mingyue Fei say quietly with a smile, “Great Zhao…”

She had only said two words when Mingyue Zhou signaled her to be quiet. Mingyue Fei was unconcerned. “She’s still unconscious… Even if she heard, it’s nothing. Those bald donkeys may eat vegetarian food, but their martial arts are anything but vegetarian.”

“Eighth Sister, don’t be disrespectful.”

Mingyue Fei shrugged and said no more.

Mingyue Zhou looked at Changling thoughtfully for a moment. Shortly after, he pulled Mingyue Fei off the carriage. The two rode horses to the end of the procession to find Li Hu to discuss something or other.

Just moments after the two left, Changling, who had been lying motionless, slowly opened her eyes.

In truth, from the time Mingyue Fei changed her clothes, she had already regained consciousness.

It was just that while her brother was away, Mingyue Fei had turned her over and examined her for quite a while. Unable to fathom the little girl’s intentions, she had regulated her breathing to feign unconsciousness.

After seeing the two siblings walk far away, she unhurriedly sat up and peeked through the window gap. She saw the carriage was passing through a gorge with the army. Her thoughts turned over and over.

The first time she heard the name Mingyue Zhou, it felt somewhat familiar. She hadn’t expected him to be a prince of Yan Kingdom.

She remembered that back then, Yan Kingdom’s crown prince was the eldest prince Mingyue Jun, who had also crossed blades with Changsheng on the battlefield several times. Everyone said he possessed heroic military strategy and would certainly inherit Yan’s throne.

Mingyue, Mingyue—all the “Yue” generation. She should have thought of it, but there were many people surnamed Ming in Yan Kingdom. Besides, over ten years ago Mingyue Zhou was just a child, and she had spent years fighting on battlefields, naturally not paying much attention to trivial matters of enemy royal families.

Changling thought to herself, “No wonder Granny Chu didn’t mention a word about her grandson’s identity. If I’d known beforehand that this Mingyue Zhou was a prince of Yan Kingdom, I mostly wouldn’t have risked my life to save him.”

Mingyue Zhou’s phrase “battlefield enemies but not bitter foes” might not be wrong, but enemies were ultimately enemies, especially those who invaded her territory.

She recalled the conversation she had just overheard, not yet fully grasping what “half the Central Plains martial world has been poisoned” meant. At that moment, she suddenly heard urgent horse neighing ahead. A soldier shouted loudly, “Ambush!”

That roar immediately turned into screams echoing through the empty valley. In an instant, a rain of arrows descended from the sky. The Black Iron Cavalry immediately fell into chaos, hastily defending on one hand while spurring their horses with whips trying to rush out of the gorge on the other.

But those arrows seemed to have eyes, specifically targeting the mounts beneath the Yan soldiers. The wounded horses became uncontrollable, bouncing and scattering in all directions. In a moment, men and horses tumbled everywhere.

Fortunately, the vegetation at both ends of the gorge wasn’t high. Mingyue Zhou calmed down in time and saw through the enemy’s bluff—their numbers weren’t many. So he ordered the Black Iron Battalion cavalry to take shields on the spot to intercept, knowing that once they weathered the first wave of arrows, it would be their chance to counterattack.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the arrow formation stopped, the black-clothed ambushers actually leapt down from both sides, drew their long swords, and engaged face-to-face.

What was this?

Everyone was shocked. The ambushers abandoned the advantageous high ground and actively jumped into the trap—could they be throwing themselves into the net?!

The next moment, they saw clearly the skills of the attackers—they weren’t ordinary soldiers, but every one a person from the martial world—all attacking in Mingyue Zhou’s direction!

Li Hu, who had already fought his way to the front, suddenly realized. He turned and called out, “Your Highness, be careful—”

Mingyue Zhou protected Mingyue Fei behind him and calmly glanced at Tianpo.

Tianpo’s eyelids didn’t even move. He unhooked the whirling blade from his waist. It only left its sheath when the attackers came within three feet, suddenly transforming into dozens of different phantoms to calmly deal with the encirclement. Wherever he passed, fresh blood sprayed. One could only see rolling snow-like blade light but not the person!

Those martial world swordsmen, seeing they couldn’t break through Tianpo’s defense and fearing encirclement by those thousand soldiers, stopped pressing the attack. As if by prior agreement, they spun around and retreated back up the gorge, disappearing without a trace.

These people came and went in such haste that even Mingyue Fei was baffled. “Where did these assassins come from? Why did they run before finishing the fight?”

Mingyue Zhou surveyed the surroundings, then as if suddenly remembering something wrong, he shouted at Li Hu, “Where’s the carriage?!”

Li Hu was stunned. In the dangerous chaos just now, he had only focused on protecting Mingyue Zhou and Mingyue Fei completely, temporarily putting the person in the carriage out of his mind. A soldier ahead said in panic, “Your Highness! That carriage was abducted by the thieves!”

Mingyue Zhou’s whole body trembled. Mingyue Fei said in shock, “This… how is this possible?”

Changling also found it strange.

From the moment she heard that “ambush” call, the carriage had raced forward out of control like a runaway, the carriage shaking violently up and down. She had no choice but to lift the curtain to see what was happening outside.

Unexpectedly, with one glance she saw a group of masked black-clothed people leaping down, charging into the military formation.

“This sword formation…”

Changling vaguely felt those techniques looked familiar. Before she could think further, the carriage wheel stumbled, throwing her entire body against the carriage wall corner. She barely managed to steady herself and discovered the driver had already disappeared.

The horse went mad, charging wildly. Just as she was preparing to leap out of the carriage, suddenly a white-clothed person landed out of nowhere on the carriage shaft, one hand grasping the horse’s reins to slow the horse’s speed, the other hand lifting the carriage curtain.

“Pardon this offense to the beauty, truly sorry.”

The wind lifted the face covering, revealing the young man’s exquisite features. He didn’t seem to mind, his bright black eyes curving with a smile full of mirth. “But since we came such a long way, we cannot return empty-handed. We can only trouble Your Highness the Princess… to take a trip with us.”