Feiyu watched from afar as Rong Pu spoke a few words with Qi Yuansi, and suddenly Qi Yuansi seemed to regain his spirits, even straightening his back.

He nudged Tie Ci and said, “Look, Rong Tea-tea is starting to bewitch people again with his silver tongue.”

Tie Ci glanced over, thinking to herself that this guy’s speed at learning strange phrases was truly astonishing.

She asked, “How so?”

“He’s best at bewitching people’s hearts. I bet he’s gone to fill Qi Yuansi with more of that… poisonous chicken soup. Put someone like this in the imperial court, and he’d be a treacherous minister; if he were reborn as a woman, he’d be a seductive consort.”

Tie Ci looked him up and down, let out a “ha,” and walked away.

This time Feiyu couldn’t stand it anymore. He grabbed her arm and said, “What’s with your strange attitude? If you have something to say, just say it.”

“I’m saying—” Tie Ci drew out her tone, “the seductive consort is being far too modest.”

She shook off Feiyu and walked away. Feiyu was stunned for a moment, then let out a “pff” of laughter, folding his arms and muttering to himself, “If I’m that seductive consort, then are you the debauched emperor who possesses three palaces?”

Over there, the academy twins ran over to tell Tie Ci they had found an ancestral shrine where everyone could stay for the night.

Tie Ci requested that everyone sleep in one place that evening to avoid being scattered and taken advantage of by others.

She went to examine the shrine. It was already quite dilapidated, filled with miscellaneous items inside. Now all the clutter had been cleared to one side, leaving an open space.

Behind the shrine was the mountain, with an open area between the shrine and the mountain face. The entire Fushan mountain body had a very steep incline facing the Da Qian side. The small village was built against the mountain, and they couldn’t find a single place that could completely avoid danger.

However, since they had recently entered winter, there wasn’t much heavy rain or strong wind to affect the mountain body. The possibility of a landslide was very small, so they could only make do here for now.

A fire was lit in the center of the shrine. Everyone warmed themselves by the fire while eating dry rations, found firewood to spread on the ground, each found a corner, and slept in their clothes.

When it came time to sleep, Feiyu found a spot against the wall, moved the fire pit over to warm it up, then laid down tree branches and called for Tie Ci to come sleep there.

He slept in the cold corner, with the warmed spot next to it reserved for Tie Ci. When Tie Ci went over to that position, Tian Wu was about to come sleep there but was kicked away by Feiyu with one foot: “What are you doing crowding around, you big oaf?”

Tian Wu went to the opposite side feeling wronged.

Yang Yixiu sympathetically stood on tiptoe to pat his head, whispering, “My Fat Tiger is just too easily bullied. Why don’t you kick back at him? Aren’t you also a big man?”

Tian Wu’s face lit up with sudden understanding. He earnestly grasped Yang Yixiu’s hands and said, “Brother is right, I’m just clumsy with words. How about brother go help me say this!”

Yang Yixiu immediately withdrew his hands, said “I’m so sleepy,” and ran away with a “da da da.”

The twins Da Wu and Xiao Wu slept by the door. When Da Wu lay down, he kept looking left and right several times, as if searching for something.

Tie Ci cast a questioning gaze his way. Da Wu was a youth with a cool appearance who spoke very little. Frowning, he said, “I keep feeling like I hear some kind of sound.”

Xiao Wu was more lively, giggling as he said, “There you go again.” He turned to explain to Tie Ci, “He always hears all sorts of random sounds, but it’s not always accurate.”

Tie Ci nodded, looked around in all directions, and seeing nothing abnormal, arranged for people to stand watch during the first half of the night while planning to take the second half herself.

There were no longer any people in the village, so the task of reinforcing the mountain body no longer existed. However, she still needed to examine the surrounding mountains. A perfectly fine village had been slaughtered, yet Di Yiwei had received no news of it. The scouts recently sent in this direction had all gone missing. Now that she had stumbled upon this, she needed to at least figure out whether it was mountain bandits, passing brigands, or… the Western Rong from across the border.

The firelight flickered as someone entered. It was Rong Pu’s servant, carrying a thick cloak, speaking softly: “My young master ordered me to bring warm clothing for Captain Ye.”

After speaking, without waiting for Tie Ci’s response, he placed it in front of her and left.

Naturally, Tie Ci couldn’t call out to stop him, disturbing others and making a big fuss over just sending some clothing. She picked it up to cover herself with it, when Rong Wei, who seemed to have been sleeping like a pig beside her, suddenly turned over and very naturally rolled that cloak under his own bottom.

Tie Ci: …You’re becoming more and more like Pu’er Tea.

She was too lazy to argue with this person, so she lay down to sleep. Rong Wei turned over again, seemingly casually draping his arm over her shoulder.

She raised her hand to push it away, then took his hands and folded them peacefully on his stomach, arranging them very serenely.

Feiyu let her arrange him as she pleased.

After all, the persona of pretending to sleep had to be maintained to the end.

After Tie Ci finished arranging him, she still wasn’t satisfied. She took out her jade brush, pressed the brush head, and a section of black ink extended from the tip – this could be used for drawing. She drew two mustache whiskers on Feiyu’s face and even drew the character for “king” on his forehead.

As she busied herself here, greatly entertained, Feiyu could bear it no longer. He opened his eyes and raised a hand to catch her wrist.

The two looked into each other’s eyes. Tie Ci remained unmoved by the reproach in his gaze.

So Feiyu smiled, lying there, pouting his lips, asking for a kiss.

Tie Ci continued to remain unmoved. She turned the brush in her hand, and surprisingly, another section of rouge-colored brush tip popped out from the brush head. She smoothly turned the brush and drew red lips on Feiyu’s hand.

Giving you a gaping red mouth.

After finishing her drawing, she retracted the brush tip and lay down.

Feiyu raised his fist to look at it for a long while, then slowly brought his fist back, pressing it to his lips, and kissed the drawn red lips.

Tie Ci closed her eyes pretending to sleep, but her ears uncontrollably began to burn slightly.

She heard Feiyu’s soft laughter beside her ear.

To the right, Dan Shuang suddenly turned over.

Further right, Chi Xue rustled as she tugged on Dan Shuang’s clothes as a reminder.

Over by the door, Da Wu seemed to sit up again.

In the tightly sealed carriage outside the courtyard, the lamp was still lit, casting the shadow of Rong Pu slowly grinding medicine.

Inside the room, there were sounds of snoring, teeth grinding, and sighing, accompanied by the rustling wind outside, the mysterious grand sounds of the great mountain, and the croaking of wild birds… It seemed both noisy and quiet, both peaceful and clamorous.

Her mood was also both turbulent and tranquil, filled with warmth.

Gradually, she sank into dreamland.

In her dream, yellow sand covered the earth. In a distant oasis, someone was watering horses. Beside her ear came a clear, resonant cry. Looking up, she saw Hai Dongqing’s massive wings tearing through the blue sky, its wingtips skimming the slanted cliffs of Fushan.

And at some unknown time, a faint jingling sound echoed from deep underground. A black coffin lid slowly pushed open, revealing a pale, swollen face.

She woke with a start from her dream.

She heard Da Wu’s sharp cry piercing her ears: “Landslide!”

Everyone was startled awake and hastily jumped up, but there was no movement around them.

Xiao Wu rubbed his eyes and grumbled, “Brother, you’re shouting nonsense again!”

Tie Ci walked to the door, focused her eyesight intently, and looked at the nearby mountain body. As she watched, her expression changed. She suddenly turned and rushed back, shouting, “Get up!”

The people who had been preparing to lie down again were startled and jumped up with a “swoosh.”

Tie Ci grabbed the people on her left and right and shouted, “Go!”

Before her voice faded.

Outside came a tremendous roar. The enormous sound shook the entire shrine, causing it to sway. Yang Yixiu, who had just gotten up, crashed headfirst into Tian Wu, and both cried out loudly.

Tie Ci turned her head. Through the broken window of the shrine, she could vaguely see smoke and dust rising outside, covering the sky and earth, rolling toward them.

Like a black nightmare, it had suddenly arrived overhead.

Given this direction, position, and width, they would be caught no matter which way they ran.

She was about to teleport, hoping to save as many as she could.

Da Wu suddenly came scrambling over on hands and knees. Not knowing what he had found, those broken spirit tablets suddenly fell over in a heap, revealing a cave entrance.

When Tie Ci had entered, she had examined the surrounding ground and ceiling, but the shrine’s offerings like spirit tablets were people’s deities or ancestors. Out of respect, she wouldn’t approach them, much less touch them. Now seeing that there was actually a tunnel entrance hidden here, after her initial shock came joy.

With one kick, she sent three soldiers who were running outside in confusion into the cave.

“Everyone into the cave!”

Over there, Dan Shuang was already grabbing people and throwing them into the cave.

Feiyu came over to grab her, but she flashed away and was outside the building.

Rong Pu was still in the carriage outside the courtyard!

When Tie Ci came outside, the ground shook so violently she could barely stand. Looking up, she saw sand and stones mixed with smoke and dust rolling up sky-high behind her, just half a zhang away from Rong Pu!

Rong Pu had never run so fast before. His face was pale but his eyes were bright as he shouted something at her while waving his arms, seeming to tell her to go back.

The next moment, his figure disappeared from where he stood.

The next moment, Tie Ci appeared in the shrine like a tornado, carrying Rong Pu in one hand while sweeping up two soldiers who hadn’t yet entered the cave.

The next moment, this whole pile of people disappeared into the cave entrance.

With a tremendous crash, like a giant wall toppling, the sky suddenly collapsed. The mountain body pushed forward like a bulldozer, crushing earth and smashing walls. Everything in its path was engulfed.

The shrine was flattened in the smoke and dust before their eyes.

Those mountain masses, carrying everything they encountered, became a rolling torrent of earth and stone, continuously surging forward. One house after another silently disappeared in the fog until half the small village was instantly obliterated, and only then did the torrent’s momentum slow slightly.

After the disaster came devastation everywhere.

In the cave, people listened silently to the sounds above. The cave entrance wasn’t completely sealed, and sand and stones kept falling down. Colonel Yu led his men in continuously using their weapons to push aside the larger rocks to prevent the entrance from being blocked.

After a good while, when they heard it was quiet above, Colonel Yu was about to go up, but Tie Ci gestured for him to wait.

Sometimes landslides would trigger chain reactions. It was better to wait here until dawn.

In the darkness, everyone quieted down.

The entire cave was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Someone’s breathing was heavy, making wheezing sounds that seemed to come from far and near.

Tie Ci suddenly felt something like wind brushing under her robe. She reached out to catch it but caught nothing.

In this cave below, the space wasn’t large and clearly had no exit. Where could wind come from?

The air here was turbid, and with dozens of people squeezed together it felt even more stifling. Colonel Yu stopped a soldier who wanted to light a fire stick. After all, they didn’t know when they could get out, and burning up all the air would be troublesome.

Colonel Yu was taking a headcount. In the chaos just now, no one knew exactly how many people had made it inside.

He had the soldiers spread out as much as possible. In Tie Ci’s field of vision, the crowd slowly dispersed in this room-sized space.

Because she was focusing her eyesight intently, skeletons gradually appeared in her vision, slowly moving in the darkness.

This feeling made her uncomfortable. She blinked and turned off her X-ray vision.

The roll call began: “Gazi! Here! Zhang Erde! Here! Yang Yixiu! Here…”

One by one they called out. Tie Ci listened and heard that basically everyone was accounted for. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Thanks to Da Wu shouting out that warning in advance, and the fact that the mountain body was some distance from the shrine, it had given everyone time to enter the cave.

If this had happened while they were deep in sleep, they would certainly have been buried alive on the spot.

Xiao Wu’s voice sounded nearby. Tie Ci asked him, “Can your brother predict the future?”

“That’s hard to say.” Xiao Wu replied. “He’s more like he can hear some bad sounds in advance, but it’s not necessarily accurate. Captain, don’t listen to him every time. It might cause trouble.”

Tie Ci hummed in acknowledgment, understanding his meaning. Da Wu had the ability to predict by hearing sounds in advance, but it worked sometimes and didn’t work other times. Moreover, making judgments based on sounds inherently had many uncertainties and was prone to error.

If she relied entirely on his supernatural ability to act, it would cause problems.

Tie Ci hadn’t planned to do so anyway. She also had several abilities herself, but she tried not to use them if possible.

She trusted more in the abilities she had cultivated through training.

Moreover, for some reason, she always felt that when heaven gave you one advantage, it would inevitably seek compensation elsewhere.

Someone was approaching nearby, with a clear and refined aura – it was Rong Pu.

Tie Ci heard him say softly, “Thank you for saving me, I…”

Over there, Colonel Yu was calling out, “…Li Yun!”

A soldier responded, then said, “Hey, there seems to be someone next to me who’s not speaking. Which brother is injured? Hey, hey, brother… Aiya, a ghost!”

This shout startled everyone.

Tie Ci had already flashed over.

At the same time, she activated her X-ray vision again.

Only then did she see that at the edge of the room, there were square, broken objects that looked like coffins.

This reminded Tie Ci of her earlier dream, making her heart tighten involuntarily.

Looking carefully, there seemed to be corpses in the coffins, lying flat.

There was no particular stench in the air though. Was it because they had long since decayed into skeletons?

That soldier seemed to have fallen into a coffin and was flailing his arms and legs trying to climb out.

But for some reason, even though the coffin was just a thin wooden board that he could jump out of, he seemed to be hooked by something. After struggling several times without success, he was so frightened that he screamed repeatedly. The surrounding soldiers were also alarmed. Except for a few who rushed forward, the rest didn’t dare move for a moment.

These were all brave warriors from the army who usually feared nothing under heaven or earth, but that didn’t mean they weren’t afraid of ghosts. Especially since they had been sleeping soundly when the landslide suddenly occurred, and had barely escaped into the cave with their nerves already on edge. Hearing the word “ghost,” their minds immediately exploded.

Tie Ci suddenly focused her gaze and grabbed the soldier with one hand while pulling something out of the coffin with the other.

With a shriek, she pulled out a person.

The voice was hoarse and aged.

Tie Ci pushed the soldier aside and flicked her hand, lighting a fire stick.

The light illuminated an old person’s face – disheveled hair, face covered in ash, tattered clothing, wrinkled all over.

She covered her eyes with her arm, turning her head to avoid the light.

Tie Ci was stunned. She had thought it was some assassin or enemy, but hadn’t expected it to be an old person.

And the kind of dying, obviously harmless, frail old person.

Tie Ci moved the fire stick away a bit, still holding her with one hand as she lifted her out.

Suddenly her leg hurt – something sharp had bitten her hard. She hadn’t sensed any threat before, so she was surprised.

Before she could react, a whoosh of wind passed beside her, the scent of wood and leaves flashing by. Then came a weak, sharp cry as a small shadow was thrown out.

Tie Ci looked up, saw clearly what it was, and instinctively reached out to catch that shadow in her hand, shouting, “Feiyu! This is a child!”

Feiyu stood still and said, “He injured you.”

Tie Ci took a breath.

She had long ago realized that between herself and Feiyu, there were great differences in their worldviews.

But now was not the time to argue.

She only said, “You should know this is a civilian child who couldn’t really hurt me.”

Feiyu’s tone was unaffected: “On the battlefield, civilian children are most easily driven by others to harm people. This is the border region, not far from Western Rong or Liaodong. These two people sneaking around and hiding here are already suspicious, and they attack you. If not kill them, should we keep them for New Year?”

Tie Ci couldn’t deny that his words made sense, nor did she want to contradict him publicly at this time. She just looked down at the person in her hands. It was indeed a child, who looked seven or eight years old by the face but only five or six by body size, with a sallow complexion and hair, so thin that a gust of wind could blow him away.

Tie Ci remembered the wind she had felt brushing past her robe earlier – perhaps it was this child quietly passing under her robe.

From his movements just now, he was very agile and nimble.

Now the child was trembling in her palm like a winter-worn fledgling.

Tie Ci had always felt sympathy when seeing weak and helpless children, as it reminded her of her own childhood. Determining that these two posed no threat, she released them. The two immediately embraced each other and shrank back into that broken coffin.

Colonel Yu came over and asked a few questions. The two remained silent, just holding each other’s heads, showing only a pair of thin, trembling shoulders.

Scattered in the coffin were some moldy dry cakes and grain husks that couldn’t hold together – presumably the food of these two.

Tie Ci glanced at Chi Xue, who understood and stepped forward.

Tie Ci then ordered the others to spread out more to avoid putting too much psychological pressure on them.

From the corner with the coffin came Chi Xue’s gentle, soft words. She took out various small foods from her bosom, and the fragrance of fried foods spread. The trembling shoulders slowly lifted.

Tie Ci sat to one side, unconsciously playing with the pendant at her neck.

Feiyu walked over and sat beside her, whistling softly.

Tie Ci said nothing and turned around, showing her back to him.

Feiyu moved to sit in front of her again.

Tie Ci turned away again.

Feiyu moved again.

After three rounds like this, someone couldn’t stand it anymore. Qi Yuansi said coldly, “Are you two playing the four-direction worship ritual?”

Feiyu replied, “Yes, we’re praying to heaven to quickly take away those little bastards with ulterior motives.”

Qi Yuansi: “…”

Tie Ci smiled and stopped moving.

Though they were close enough to talk normally, Feiyu insisted on leaning close to her ear, his warm breath hitting her earlobe as he whispered, “Are you angry?”

“No. You were looking out for me. I’m not so ungrateful.”

“Then why do you keep turning your back to me? Though your back view is also very beautiful, especially the line from your waist down…” Before Feiyu could finish speaking, Tie Ci covered his mouth with her hand.

He chuckled in her palm, extending his tongue to lick her palm.

The wet, tickling sensation made Tie Ci couldn’t help but smile. She pinched his mouth flat and said, “Are you a cat?”

She suddenly thought of those few small cats they had adopted together, wondering which mountaintop of the academy they were now ruling as kings.

Feiyu spoke muffledly, and when Tie Ci released his mouth, she heard him say, “Yes, I’m your big cat who acts spoiled and can catch fish to feed you.”

Tie Ci smiled, her gaze softening considerably. After a while, she said, “I’m turning my back to you because I was thinking – we’ve actually always been back to back.”

Feiyu frowned and smiled, “What nonsense are you talking about again?”

“Between you and me, there have actually always been great differences.” Tie Ci spoke slowly. “Personality, worldview, how we conduct ourselves, our perspectives and approaches to people and situations… If we add birth and position to that, then how far can you and I really go?”

Author’s Note: From now on, if the title doesn’t specifically note “First Update” or “Second Update,” they are all single updates.