At this hour, the Western Pass main camp was surrounded by pitch darkness. Except for the night sentries, all the officers and soldiers had long since retired to sleep.

Jiang Hanyuan walked through the endless rows of military tents and arrived before her father’s command tent.

Light leaked through the cracks in the tent entrance. She did not enter directly but stopped outside and had the guard go in to announce her arrival.

“The General may enter.”

The guard quickly emerged and spoke respectfully.

Jiang Hanyuan entered the tent.

There was no one else inside, only her father, dressed in casual military garments, sitting upright behind a table lit by candlesticks.

Though Grand General Marquis Dingan Jiang Zuowang was renowned for his military achievements, he was not like the typical warrior that people imagined—burly with a swallow’s jaw and tiger’s whiskers.

His features were well-proportioned, with sword-like eyebrows and phoenix eyes. In his youth, he must have been an undeniable handsome man. Only now, with frost touching his temples, and though the lamplight was not particularly bright, it still could not hide the haggard and aged appearance that showed through his face.

In his early years, he had been struck by a stray arrow that injured his lungs and nearly killed him. Though he had suppressed the injury through his strength, in recent years, as he aged and endured the harsh cold of the borderlands, the old wound would occasionally flare up. The torment was considerable, but he had always been strong-willed and extremely patient, so few people knew about it.

Seeing his daughter enter, Jiang Zuowang immediately rose from behind the table and walked toward her.

“Si Si, you’ve arrived? You must be tired from the journey. If you’re weary, go rest first. We can talk tomorrow.” He called her by her childhood name, his brow relaxing and a smile appearing on his face.

“What urgent matter caused the Grand General to summon me?”

Jiang Hanyuan commanded troops stationed at Qingmu Sai, several hundred li north of here, with the direct conflict zone with the Beidi only a few dozen li away. Unless there were military matters, she rarely met with Jiang Zuowang.

She performed the standard military courtesy of a subordinate meeting a superior, then stood straight and asked in a respectful tone.

Jiang Zuowang’s footsteps halted. He paused for a moment, then slowly sat back down.

The tent fell silent for a moment. Night wind slipped through the cracks in the tent entrance, causing the candle flames to flicker.

Jiang Zuowang spoke again, the smile having disappeared from his face: “Li He has already confessed his fault to me. However, you were far too presumptuous, pursuing without waiting for reinforcements! How many men did you have? How many did they have? Even if delayed, the women would not have died! Though you have some experience, fighting four to one! I had thought you were not one for such rash behavior!”

By the end, his tone had become quite stern.

“Yes, the women probably would not have died, but by the time Li He’s men arrived and pursued them, they would likely have suffered fates worse than death.”

Jiang Hanyuan replied calmly.

Jiang Zuowang naturally understood what depths of bestiality unrestrained common Beidi soldiers could reach. His harsh criticism of his daughter was born from some personal concern and anxiety. Refuted by his daughter’s single statement, he fell silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his expression had softened, and he changed the subject.

“Hanyuan, if Father remembers correctly, you’re twenty now, aren’t you?”

His gaze moved from his daughter’s dust-covered shoulders to slowly settle on her face, which resembled her mother’s, as he asked.

“What matter does the Grand General wish to discuss?” Jiang Hanyuan did not answer, only repeated her question.

Jiang Zuowang paused.

The court had dispatched an envoy north—the Imperial Clansman Minister Virtuous Prince Shu Yun. Upon meeting Jiang Zuowang, after exchanging pleasantries, his first question was about his daughter, General Changning Jiang Hanyuan.

“Seven years ago, when the current Regent Lord Qi was still Lord Anle, he came here representing the Martial Emperor to reward the troops. You were present then. You should still remember, shouldn’t you?”

Jiang Hanyuan’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as she fixed her father with a somewhat guarded gaze, not responding.

“This time, Virtuous Prince Shu Yun came personally. Do you know the purpose of his visit?”

His daughter still did not reply.

He gritted his teeth: “He came on behalf of the Regent Prince to propose marriage to Father, intending to make you his consort.”

The air seemed to suddenly freeze.

Jiang Zuowang looked at his daughter and smiled bitterly: “Father knows this news is far too sudden, and you’re probably completely unprepared. Not only you, I am the same. However—”

He changed his tone and rose again from behind the table, wearing a smile as he walked toward his daughter, whose expression had stiffened slightly.

“However, the Regent Prince is a dragon among men, with talents unparalleled in this age. In terms of appearance and bearing, he is one in ten thousand. You should have seen him yourself before. Moreover, you are not, after all, a man. Childhood was one thing, but now you’re grown. It’s not good to waste your years in military camps forever. You should find a good match…”

“Father!”

Jiang Hanyuan suddenly spoke.

“Do you truly believe Shu Shenhui would be a good match for a woman?”

“Do you truly believe someone like me is suitable for marriage?”

She asked twice in succession.

Jiang Zuowang stopped short and gazed into his daughter’s eyes—so like her mother’s—for a moment. Suddenly, a heavy sense of shame and even embarrassment welled up in his heart. He couldn’t even bear to meet his daughter’s gaze and avoided the direct look she cast upon him.

The command tent fell into silence.

After a moment, she spoke again, breaking the silence, her tone having turned flat.

“Never mind. I know your position is not easy either. Accept if you will.”

Having said this, she made no further pause but turned and left the tent.

She strode through the dark camp toward the exit, walking faster and faster, until she went straight through the camp gates, untied her mount from the hitching post, and mounted up.

“General, what did the Grand General want with you? Hey, where are you going? Wait for me!”

Yang Hu had just refused to rest, clutching his injured arm and insisting on waiting here. Seeing this, he immediately spurred his horse to chase after her.

Her mount was a large jujube-red horse named Tianlong, a divine steed from Dayuan that her maternal grandfather had given her long ago. If allowed to run freely, ordinary horses could never catch up.

Yang Hu had barely chased for any distance when he saw the figure of horse and rider ahead completely disappear into the night, vanishing from sight.

Jiang Hanyuan galloped wildly, racing in one breath to Iron Sword Cliff more than ten li away. Reaching the end of the road, she finally stopped.

She released her horse, climbed to the cliff top, and stood at the cliff’s edge.

In the Yanmen Xixing Pass, the cliff faces were mostly black rock. On clear days, viewed from afar, they resembled rows of iron mountains. The slope where she now stood was the same, named Iron Sword Cliff for its towering height.

Tonight, dark clouds covered the sky with no moon overhead and no starlight.

Facing the deep autumn cold of the borderland night wind, she stood alone for a long time, then suddenly kicked off her boots, embraced a stone, and leaped down into the cliff below.

This was a place she had frequented since childhood. She had jumped from here countless times. Below was a spring pool, and at this moment, the water surface was pitch black, like a giant’s mouth opened from the earth’s surface.

She fell like a stone into the water, sinking straight down to the pool’s bottom, deep as the underground.

The world became completely silent at this moment, and her heart seemed to stop beating entirely.

She closed her eyes and curled tightly into a ball at the bottom of the water, like a fetus hidden deep in its mother’s womb, lying perfectly still.

After a long while, Jiang Hanyuan suddenly opened her eyes, released her limbs, and with her bare toes touching against the nearby rocks, her body rose swiftly from the bottom like a nimble snake.

With a splash, she suddenly broke through the water’s surface.

She casually wiped the water from her head and face, put her boots back on, whistled to summon Tianlong, mounted up again, and galloped away.

At dawn, Yang Hu led men to find this place. On the ground by the water’s edge, they saw a line of characters carved with a knife point:

“Do not seek.”

With Virtuous Prince Shu Yun still present, Jiang Zuowang privately summoned Fan Jing back for consultation.

Fan Jing was originally from Jiang Hanyuan’s maternal family and had come over more than ten years ago. He regarded Jiang Hanyuan as his young master, and his loyalty to her probably exceeded even that to Jiang Zuowang. Naturally, there was no need to hide this matter from him.

Only now did Fan Jing learn the purpose of Virtuous Prince Shu’s northern journey. The shock in his heart can be imagined.

“The Grand General agreed?”

He was utterly astonished. The words had barely left his mouth when he realized his mistake.

The other party held regency over the court, essentially no different from the emperor himself. With such matters, once broached—and with Shu Yun coming personally—what room did a general have to refuse?

Moreover, thinking further, though this matter was sudden, there was nothing particularly strange about it.

The founding High Ancestor of this dynasty had originally been a northern feudal lord. Decades ago, using the lands of Qin and Yong as his base, he established the foundation of the state during the great chaos of mutual conquest. Subsequently, the succeeding Sage-Martial Emperor was even more brilliant in talent and strategy. During his twenty-plus-year reign of southern campaigns and northern battles, he finally eliminated the last separatist power more than ten years ago, completely ending a century of war and division to unify the realm.

But simultaneously, the prolonged internal strife in the Central Plains had given the northern Beidi people an excellent opportunity for southern invasion.

At that time, the north was dominated by two great nations—Wei and Jin—divided by the middle reaches of the Yellow River, with Wei to the west and Jin to the east. Between Wei and Jin, there had originally been protracted tug-of-war confrontations, but later, as the Wei state continued to rise, the Jin Emperor hoped to ally with the northern neighbor, Beidi, to help resist Great Wei. Facing Beidi encroachment, he repeatedly retreated and fed the wolves with territory. In the end, not only did he fail to preserve his foundation, but the major territories of Shuozhou, Hengzhou, and Yanzhou, which had originally served as Jin’s northern gateway, all fell into Beidi’s hands.

After the internal strife was settled and the great undertaking completed, the Martial Emperor turned his attention to the northern borders, planning to march north and reclaim the important northern gateways of Shuo, Heng, and Yan territories. Unexpectedly, on the way to launch the northern expedition, his old wounds flared up, and he fell seriously ill, causing the plan to fail.

The Martial Emperor died several years later, and the Crown Prince succeeded to the throne as the Bright Emperor.

When the Bright Emperor was Crown Prince, he had indeed seemed mediocre among his brothers, but he had been magnanimous and virtuous since childhood, so his succession was what the people desired. Unfortunately, during his years on the throne, first there were continuous natural disasters, then princely rebellions occurred. The Bright Emperor was physically and mentally exhausted and had no energy to spare for the lost northern territories. Last year, he too died of a serious illness. The twelve-year-old Prince Jian succeeded to the throne, becoming the third-generation ruler of Great Wei. The following year, year, the era name was changed to Tianhe, making him the current Young Emperor.

The Young Emperor had not yet come of age and could not rule personally. Before the Bright Emperor’s death last year, he designated his third brother Lord Qi as Regent Prince, entrusting the Young Emperor to him and another assistant in government.

Though Fan Jing had been stationed at the border for many years, he vaguely knew that the current court situation was somewhat delicate.

Lord Qi had been enfeoffed as Lord Anle in his early years. His maternal family was noble, and when the Sage-Martial Emperor was alive, he doted on his son. Even when lingering on his sickbed, he had sent him to represent himself in inspecting the northern borders and rewarding the troops. That day, the bearing of that young Lord Anle had left a deep impression on Fan Jing. Though many years had passed, the scene remained vivid in his memory. However, regarding the regency, with his qualifications and age, probably not everyone was convinced.

In earlier years, when the court’s focus was not on the northern borders, Jiang Zuowang, who had guarded the frontier for over twenty years, was forgotten. But in recent years, as northern border problems became increasingly prominent, he naturally regained attention. With his current reputation, at this time, the Regent Prince’s choice of his daughter as consort had obvious purposes.

Jiang Zuowang remained silent.

Fan Jing hurriedly apologized: “Please don’t blame me, Grand General. It’s just that—”

For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

“Fortunately… fortunately the Regent Prince… is talented, and with the General… they could be called a good match…”

Finally, he could only mumble these words, even feeling himself that this talk was weak and powerless.

Jiang Zuowang waved his hand: “You’ve been by her side for years. She’s probably closer to you than to me. Where might she have gone?”

Fan Jing immediately defended Jiang Hanyuan: “The General has been steady and capable since childhood. Nothing will happen to her. The Grand General can rest assured. Perhaps she just couldn’t think it through for a moment and went to clear her mind. She was originally going to Yunluo City this time—perhaps she went there again?”

Jiang Zuowang frowned deeply: “I didn’t expect Hanyuan’s reaction to this matter to be so strong. It’s my oversight. Go immediately with a few men to check Yunluo City.”

“Yes, sir!”

Fan Jing hurriedly departed. Jiang Zuowang remained lost in thought for a long time, then suddenly began coughing, his face showing pain as he gripped the table’s edge and slowly sat back down, his expression dejected.

Half a month later, on this day, the tenth month, day of Yihai, the autumn air was crisp and clear. The imperial Huguo Temple in the western suburbs of the capital welcomed a special day.

Imperial Guard General Liu Xiang had cleared the temple yesterday, driving away all idle people. This morning, he led five hundred imperial guards to deploy around the temple grounds and surroundings.

In terms of security strictness, not even a fly could hope to get over the walls.

The reason for such caution was that today was the birthday of the current Young Emperor’s mother, Empress Dowager Lan. The Empress Dowager advocated simplicity over extravagance and was devoutly Buddhist, serving as a patron of Huguo Temple. Therefore, Huguo Temple had painted a mural for her as a birthday tribute.

Today, the Empress Dowager brought the Young Emperor and the accompanying retinue to unveil the mural.

Not only that, but also accompanying them were various princes and officials led by the Regent Prince. At this moment, though all the people had already entered the temple, Liu Xiang still dared not relax in the slightest.

Everything inside and outside had been arranged properly, but taking advantage of a free moment, Liu Xiang still personally came out to inspect the front and back once more. Seeing that there were indeed no oversights, he finally felt at ease.

He hurriedly gave instructions to his subordinates outside the temple’s back gate and was about to enter to attend to his duties when he suddenly saw someone approaching from the end of the mountain path opposite. That person wore azure robes and black boots with a bamboo hat. Because the hat brim was pulled low and they hadn’t come close yet, he couldn’t see the face clearly, but judging from the figure, the person should be quite young.

Liu Xiang immediately signaled his subordinates to drive the person away. That person stopped beside the mountain path and said something to the approaching imperial guards.

Liu Xiang saw his subordinates return while the newcomer still hadn’t left. He became annoyed and strode over to him, shouting sternly.

“General, that person says they know you and asks you to come over—they have something to say.”

Liu Xiang was startled and looked at the other party over again.

The newcomer still stood by the roadside, their figure composed and quiet.

He really couldn’t think of who it might be. Frowning, he approached.

“Who exactly are you? Don’t you know the road is forbidden today? Leave quickly—”

The person opposite raised their arm and slightly lifted the hat brim, revealing the face beneath—young and clean, with clear, deep eyes.

“Uncle Liu, it’s me. Hanyuan.”

The newcomer smiled slightly at him and spoke.