Seven days and seven nights, no reinforcements arrived. They were trapped in this mountain valley, ammunition and provisions exhausted. The commanding general gave the order – fight to the death, kill as many as possible.

They had defeated the enemy many times before, striking fear into their hearts, but this time, they would fall here.

However, this battle, fighting many with few, had absolutely bought time for the main force.

“Charge!”

Iron armor and silver robes flashed under the blazing sun. His figure was lean, face sallow, lips so parched they had peeled a layer of skin, but his eyes remained dark and clear.

The silver spear in his hand pointed forward, followed by the long battle cries of a hundred warriors behind him who had fought to exhaustion yet remained valiant, as they charged toward thousands of enemy troops.

Halberds, spears, shields, and lances – soldiers kept falling, yet even in death they took down several enemies, using their flesh and blood to drag the enemy to mutual destruction.

He killed dozens more, until his war horse was cut down, then continued fighting on foot with his spear, slaying nearly a hundred more, before finally being pierced by over ten spears and halberds, falling to his knees on the ground.

“Kill him!”

The enemy leader, a bearded giant, had an unusually fierce light blazing in his eyes.

“Kill him!”

He knelt on the ground, yet there was no trace of fear or submission in his eyes, even a faint smile on his lips.

“Susu, I’m coming.”

The soldiers hesitated to advance, until the bearded man roared again, then they approached with spears, thrusting fiercely toward his body—

“No!”

“No! Lian Yu!”

She cried out loudly, suddenly sitting up, sweat dripping into her eyes, stinging and painful. But that lean, pale yet handsome and resolute face before her – who else could it be but her most beloved?

“You’re dead too…”

“Who were you fighting? Those uniforms… weren’t Li Zhaoting’s army…”

She stared at him in a daze, tears falling.

“But I finally get to see you—” She was heartbroken yet overjoyed, but then thinking of something, her voice trembled: “What about Lotus Seed? If you’re gone too, who will take care of her?”

“Oh, Feng Suzhen, so you still remember you have a daughter and a husband. I don’t want to hear about your dreams, and who I fight is none of your business.” The other person said coldly, his jawline hard and cold as if they were strangers.

Suzhen was stunned, but saw him raise his hand. Her vision blurred, and something struck her forehead – not very painful, but in her shock and confusion, she still cried out. Then a pile of green things were thrown at her, “smack” “smack” hitting her forehead and face. This time it really hurt. She just stared at him blankly, not understanding.

On the quilt, half a bed of green apricots.

“I gave Xier away to someone else. You didn’t want her anyway, and I’m planning to give myself away too.” His Adam’s apple moved slightly, and he walked out with a flick of his sleeve.

Door, table, stool, warming stove, silk curtains… Suzhen’s gaze moved from his figure to herself, from far to near, finally realizing this probably wasn’t the Hall of the King of Hell, but rather…

She was wild with joy, yet couldn’t help being shocked and suspicious. That day, clearly—

She almost immediately threw off the covers to get up, wanting to chase after him. As she stood, she instinctively covered her heart, but though her body was weak, there wasn’t that kind of excruciating pain from those wounds…

She stood frozen in place again.

The door was suddenly pushed open.

“Lian Yu…” she murmured.

“I’m not Sixth Brother. But I love you just like Sixth Brother does.” The person stood in the doorway, backlit, a small face weathered by wind and frost, but eyes bright and shining.

“Princess…” Suzhen blurted out, her voice trembling slightly.

The other had no other words, striding over to embrace her.

“You finally woke up, Susu.” She held her tight, her shoulder immediately becoming wet, hearing the same trembling voice in her ear.

“Seventh Master and Ninth Master have gone on missions. Wuqing, Leng Xue, Zhuque and the others are also handling affairs in the martial world, but once our message went out, they all rode frantically back. They’re all on their way back now.” Another person walked in, kneeling on one knee: “This subordinate greets Master.”

Suzhen felt this person looked strangely familiar: “Good sir, you are… haven’t we met somewhere before?”

It was a man in dark clothes, appearing about the same age as Lian Yu, similar build, but with a baby face, smiling to show two rows of white teeth, looking very amiable.

“We’ve never met. But this subordinate knows Master in great detail.” He smiled slightly.

“This subordinate is Xuanwu.” he said.

Suzhen was truly dumbfounded. Xuanwu was dead, so was she dead or not… Seeing her expression of mental overload, the young man smiled again: “Xuanwu is just a title. If there’s an old Xuanwu, there must be a new Xuanwu. This subordinate is Xuanwu’s twin brother.”

“Master saved both brothers from danger in our youth. We should have entered the palace together to serve Master, but Master was benevolent and didn’t want us both to face danger simultaneously. But since elder brother is no longer here, I came. From now on, this subordinate is Xuanwu. Oh, and Master bestowed this subordinate upon Master’s wife.”

“Because Master’s wife is truly infuriating – oh, these aren’t this subordinate’s words, but Master’s exact words. From now on, this subordinate will be Master’s wife’s shadow.”

Having met an old friend’s brother, Suzhen’s eyes grew warm. She wanted to rush forward and give him a bear hug, but hearing this, she was dumbfounded again. She hadn’t forgotten the shadow guard’s job duties – she didn’t want someone perched on the rafters day and night monitoring her every move.

Xuanwu seemed to know what she was thinking, throwing the preserved fruit in his hand at her: “Master should worry about Master’s problems first. Master’s wife’s problems can be considered later, hehe.”

Suzhen knew this was true. With a belly full of questions, she looked toward Lian Xin.

Lian Xin still had tears in her eyes: “Susu, five years. We all thought you were dead.”

Thousands of miles away, in the imperial city.

Three days had already passed.

When Miaoyin went to the Buddhist hall to pray, she couldn’t help glancing toward the depths of the room.

“Miss, she’s already gone.”

Seventeen said quietly.

Miaoyin nodded, lit incense at the Buddhist shrine, and left with Seventeen.

“Girl, send someone to inquire about the whereabouts of Huichun Hall.” Miaoyin couldn’t help glancing back at the Buddhist hall once more.

This place was originally built to pray for the safety of the child in her womb. After all, the deep palace was different from other places.

She never expected it would become a sanctuary that sheltered a person for five years.

“Miss, hasn’t this matter already been resolved?” The loyal maid still used the title ‘Miss’, fear and unease showing in her eyes. “This servant always feels that person was full of evil aura, whether immortal or demon unknown. We’d better not seek her out.”

That person was a woman.

Seventeen always remembered her appearance – dressed in a black cloak, head and body tightly covered, only a pair of aged, indifferent eyes visible above the half face veil.

She was Miss’s personal chief palace maid. Usually when the Emperor didn’t come, she would rest on the small couch beside Miss to keep her company.

That night at midnight, she was still sleeping when awakened by Miss’s sharp scream. That woman had appeared before their couch just like that.

Miss’s face was deathly pale. She understood why. She called loudly for help, but though her mouth opened wide, no sound came out, and her body couldn’t move either.

Separated by just a door, the palace maids and guards were all blocked outside.

“I’ll show you something.”

That was a voice like a knife cutting, as aged and unpleasant as her eyes.

Miss stared at her fixedly. She was shocked, but what shocked her even more the next moment was that, as if the stars had shifted, the three of them were suddenly under the vast night sky.

City walls, wilderness.

Wind swept through every pore of their bodies.

Ahead, several figures appeared.

Some standing, some lying. The ground was stained crimson.

But what made her legs go weak was that the standing ones were none other than… herself and Miss!

Beside them were two guards, and further away was the Empress.

The two lying on the ground – one was Lord Wei, Wei Chenghui, and not far from Wei Chenghui was another acquaintance of theirs, Feng Suzhen.

Her heart grew cold, shivering all over. In her panic, her gaze met Miss’s, whose face was even more frighteningly pale, staring ahead fixedly.

However, just when she thought this was the worst nightmare, she saw the Empress glance over, then another Miss showed a vicious light in her eyes, and then the guard beside her stabbed swords into the already bloodied Feng Suzhen on the ground…

She watched in terror, suddenly discovering the scene had changed and the three of them were back in the hall.

She heard the sound of her own breathing, realizing she could speak again, but instead didn’t cry out, only stared at the visitor in shock, even forgetting to protect Miss.

“What on earth is happening? Who are you…”

Low, hoarse, trembling, and carrying a barely perceptible anger, Miss spoke first.

The woman in black didn’t answer. Under the black clothing, her barely visible eyes flashed with pain, but it quickly dissipated. She sat down on the ground and said softly: “I come from Huichun Hall. Imperial Consort Miao, this is your tomorrow.”

“What are you saying?” Miss looked at her incredulously, fear and anger both deepening in her eyes. “How could I… how could I kill someone…”

At this moment, they both forgot to call for help.

“The human heart is very frightening. Until a certain point, we don’t know how dark we can become. In the end, it’s all about resentment meeting, love parting, seeking but not obtaining, unable to let go.” The woman laughed softly.

“I only want to ask you – do you want such a tomorrow, or do you want to change it?”

…

That night arrived as expected.

The Empress looked over with meaningful eyes.

Miss looked at the guard, who nodded and turned to draw his sword.

“Seventeen,” Miss said, “I don’t want to see this scene. Come with me to the side. What about the Empress?”

Gu Xiluo coldly watched the guard’s suddenly trembling back, then nodded and followed them to the dark area by the city wall.

“We must never mention this to the Emperor. If we violate this oath, heaven and earth will not tolerate us.”

The two swore together in the darkness.

Where Gu Xiluo couldn’t see, her guard lifted a female corpse from the sedan, exchanging it for the already unconscious woman on the ground, placing her in Miss’s sedan.

The corpse’s face was made by that woman to match Feng Suzhen’s appearance, so realistic it could fool anyone. Huichun Hall truly lived up to its reputation.

Miaoyin looked at her maid’s face, knowing what she was thinking.

If that woman in black hadn’t appeared, in that situation, she might not have minded Feng Suzhen’s death. Li Zhaoting had brought this childhood sweetheart into the palace again – she really couldn’t fathom this person’s position in Li Zhaoting’s heart.

However, regarding that year’s national case, if not for Judge Li fearlessly convicting Young Master Wei despite all opposition, if not for Lian Yu taking full responsibility and letting the Court of Justice investigate thoroughly, then she would have been bound to that despicable scoundrel of a fiancé for life.

She owed those two a great debt.

Moreover, she couldn’t treat her the way Gu Xiluo or perhaps Wei Wulei would.

She had considered her a friend.

Her final courage and methods in perishing together with Wei Chenghui were what she respected. A youth in simple clothes with thin wine and lean horse, pointing his sword at the empire, daring to fight the powerful and wealthy, daring to write for justice – this was what she had hoped for as a young woman. What she couldn’t achieve, someone else had accomplished.

Killing her would vent her jealousy, but she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life in fear and anxiety, worried about secrets being exposed. This person should have vast heaven and earth, drinking from flowing cups while watering horses, living a legendary life.

Therefore, she agreed to that woman in black.

That was a strange person.

She asked why not directly save Feng Suzhen. She said that was her chosen fate, which she couldn’t control.

She might be able to save a life, or perhaps not, but she couldn’t change someone’s destiny no matter what.

Because life is given by heaven, but fate is created by oneself. People always like to blame heaven and others, not knowing that one thought leads to heaven, one thought to hell. Cause and effect, retribution, always depends on oneself.