Tie Ci pressed her lips tightly together.

From the perspective of identity and position, she had no reason to help either side.

Just watching would be fine.

But though she planned to stand aside and watch, the attackers didn’t plan to let her go.

Suddenly strange sounds came from ahead, quite similar to the weird long notes that sand-controlling guy had made in the air earlier.

The opposing formation showed commotion, then split off a unit. Their leader raised his hand toward Tie Ci’s direction, and his followers all raised their bows and shot arrows.

This time they were fire arrows—countless deep red projectiles arcing toward the tall tree.

Tie Ci sat in the tree, already in a complex mood. Seeing those menacing fire arrows rushing toward her, she sneered, raised her hand and pinched. A flash of lightning struck the arrows with the implicit sound of wind and thunder.

With a bang and explosion, the fire arrows burst into balls of flame in mid-air.

The white light’s momentum wasn’t spent—it struck an archer’s shoulder. He screamed and fell backward, his voice full of terror.

He wasn’t the only terrified one. That flash of white light obviously exceeded everyone’s expectations. Countless people were shouting, calling “Seitan! Seitan!”

In Western Rong, that meant “god.”

Tie Ci knew that those with innate abilities were mainly concentrated in Da Qian and overseas territories. This Western Rong region had very few, and this tribe had complex and numerous beliefs, deeply convinced of divine fate and miracles, easily deceived.

Almost immediately, the attacking formation fell into chaos.

The oasis troops’ morale greatly increased and they immediately began counterattacking.

Several confused attacking Western Rong soldiers saw a group of people dressed as Western Rong soldiers gathered under the tall tree who hadn’t joined the fight. Thinking they were important figures, they pounced over to capture them.

Those Da Qian soldiers had long been itching to fight. Constrained by opposing positions from joining battle, when enemies came to their faces, how could they let them go? They immediately struck back with their blades.

Later even Tian Wu, Yang Yixiu and others joined the fighting. Tie Ci didn’t stop them, considering it good practical combat experience for these academy students. After all, she was there to cover them.

Her attention remained focused on that sand-controlling person from before.

If she wasn’t mistaken, he should also be an old monster, skilled at controlling wind and sand, with extremely profound inner strength and a very violent temperament.

Having thoroughly offended him today, afterward it would definitely be a fight to the death.

His inner strength was indeed formidable. Earlier, even combining several people’s strength, they could barely match him in the tug-of-war.

Being able to injure him was thanks to the advantages of weapons and protective armor.

So if truly facing him, she’d need to be cautious.

As she pondered this, Feiyu sat under the tree, slowly carving small trinkets while facing the battlefield ahead, occasionally glancing at the black sand-heavy sky edge with thoughtful expression.

Western Rong soldiers also came to attack him, but they were no match. When he casually let corpses pile up at his feet and comfortably propped his feet on the bodies, no more Western Rong soldiers tried to trouble him.

This battle proceeded quickly. An hour later, the opposition left behind dozens of corpses and retreated.

During retreat, wind also rose. When that wind swept past, the vast crowds had vanished without trace.

This left the victors with no way to pursue even if they wanted to.

The oasis side began counting corpses. Dead comrades were buried directly under sand pits, severely wounded horses were killed for meat, damaged curved blades were buried in sand caves with their masters.

Soldiers who had lost comrades sat silently in the winter desert, arranging the corpses neatly in a row. Everyone surrounded them in a circle, shoulders touching, undulating like sea waves, chanting something that was neither quite song nor quite poetry in low voices. The tune was very distant with peculiar rhythm, accompanied by those wave-like chanting motions that made one’s thoughts wander, as if raising one’s eyes to where red sun and golden sand ended, one could see the gates of the divine kingdom opening with a rumbling sound.

Even in their opposing position, everyone couldn’t help but be solemn. Even Feiyu stopped the blade in his hands and listened quietly for a long while.

Tie Ci asked him softly: “Did you understand this song?”

Though she knew some Western Rong, a country had countless regional dialects, not to mention Western Rong itself was a multi-ethnic nation with very complex languages. She could hear the desolate and lofty tune of this song, but couldn’t understand the lyrics.

Rong Pu suddenly walked over and said softly: “Golden sands vast and boundless, green fields stretching far. Eagles fly in high heaven, moon falls on great wilderness. Mend my old robes, trust me with long spear. To the divine kingdom I go, think not of old homeland.”

Tie Ci chewed grass roots and said: “Do you believe there are gods?”

Rong Pu said: “Everyone has their own god in their heart, for example…”

“For example, anyone who blasphemes against god will immediately be struck by lightning.” Feiyu cut off his words and tossed something over. Tie Ci caught it and saw it was actually a pit carving—carved with a string of little people, one climbing on another, wrestling with a hand reaching down from black clouds overhead.

Pit carving was extremely difficult to begin with. What was even more remarkable was that though this carving wasn’t particularly fine, it managed to express the postures and expressions of that struggling scene vividly in just a square inch with a few strokes, greatly surprising Tie Ci.

She stared at Feiyu: “Just how many things do you know?”

Feiyu glanced at Rong Pu and said with a smile: “I know many things. I’m your treasure boy.”

Dan Shuang sat to one side and couldn’t help interjecting: “Insignificant carving tricks—how can they compare to grand scholarship?”

Rong Pu smiled slightly.

Only then did Tie Ci suddenly understand.

So when Rong Pu displayed his erudition, someone had to show off his skills like a peacock to step on him.

Without changing expression, she looked at the pit carving and discovered that the Eagle Chief statue at the bottom was different from others’ realistic style—it was actually abstract. A perfectly good tall man was carved to look like a monster.

She understood—this one also caught his eye as unpleasant.

Looking up, Eagle Chief was striding over with straight smoke rising behind him into the gray sky.

The squad members vigilantly gathered behind Tie Ci.

A sandstorm and a battle had changed the standoff situation between both sides. Now the other party had lost the conditions to hold Tie Ci and negotiate with her. Even using troops to surround her was useless—many soldiers looked at Tie Ci with awe, and some prostrated themselves in worship from afar.

They probably also regarded Tie Ci as a divine person like that old sand-controlling monster.

Though vigilant, they couldn’t maintain completely hostile attitudes either. After all, when the sandstorm came, Eagle Chief had tried to protect Tie Ci. Just now could also be considered Tie Ci helping Eagle Chief.

Tie Ci sighed inwardly: “Let’s write off our previous grievances. I have some things I want to ask you. If you’re willing to answer, that’s best. If not, we’ll take some water and food and leave.”

Eagle Chief sat down across from her: “What do you want to ask? Go ahead—consider it thanks for your help just now.”

Tie Ci jerked her chin toward him, then toward the soldiers outside.

Eagle Chief was silent for a while, then said: “We are Western Rong royal troops.”

Though expected, she still felt surprised. Tie Ci looked up at him.

Then she heard a story whose traces could be found in the histories of many fallen nations.

Qiu Wujiu returned to his country to cause trouble, allying with the First Prince to kill the old king.

The old king was carried back to the royal palace severely wounded and gave the token representing royal succession to the queen.

The First Prince wasn’t the queen’s biological child, but over the years, due to his steady and humble character, he had actively yielded the Wolf Chief position to the queen’s own son Dan Ye. Therefore he was greatly valued and loved by the Western Rong royal couple and controlled most of the royal city’s armies.

Initially the queen didn’t know the First Prince was the culprit behind the scenes. When the old king was dying, he still entrusted the First Prince to manage the royal city and guard the palace. Once the great king died, to stabilize people’s hearts, they would keep his death secret.

But the night the old king died, the queen nearly died at the First Prince’s hands. Moreover, the First Prince used the old king’s severe injuries as pretext to lure all the princes into the palace, allying with his uncle to create a massacre.

They say that night blood flowing from the palace gates stained the square, and the red stains in the stone cracks couldn’t be washed clean even with water carts.

The queen was severely wounded but fortunately had prepared in advance, summoning her own tribal army and breaking out of the palace gates.

The great king had his own directly commanded royal army, utterly loyal, who also protected the queen in breaking out of the royal city during the upheaval.

The queen led the palace consorts and princesses in escaping the royal city, originally planning to gather her own tribe and other friendly tribes’ forces to war with the First Prince, reclaim the throne and palace. However, before she could join with her own tribe, she encountered Qiu Wujiu.

With the First Prince’s pursuing troops behind and Qiu Wujiu’s people blocking the path ahead, the queen let the princesses escape in the night while preparing to stay behind as rearguard herself, but was betrayed by a consort and captured alive by Qiu Wujiu.

Qiu Wujiu hung the queen from the city gates and drained her blood.

The princesses and consorts who surrendered to Qiu Wujiu were awarded by him to his trusted generals. Those who wouldn’t surrender, he gave to the First Prince.

Regarding these sisters and stepmothers who had witnessed his brutality, the First Prince showed no mercy. Those women all met terrible ends.

The former royal princesses who fell into Qiu Wujiu’s subordinates’ hands didn’t all escape with their lives either. One princess was awarded to a general named Zuo Siyan who had a cruel nature and special preferences, then was made into a human vessel.

That general placed the human vessel outside his tent—the wax-sealed corpse knelt forever with mouth open, receiving the spit of passersby.

This army was part of the royal forces. In that battle outside the royal city where they were attacked from within and without, before they could fight properly, news came that the queen was captured. Military morale collapsed, soldiers scattered, this army was swept out of the royal city, fighting and fleeing in chaos, driven by force into the northern desert.

With great difficulty they found this oasis, but sandstorms would come from time to time, each one brought by that black-robed person. After they ended, while soldiers were still in confusion, they would be attacked with heavy casualties. Originally nearly twenty thousand troops, now only over six thousand remained.

Serious battle losses affected morale, but they had no choice. Outside the desert were layers of surrounding armies, staying in the desert was just constantly being whittled away. Helplessly, he chose to attack inward, using Fushan’s special terrain to try to create a passage for surprise attacks on Di Yiwei’s forces and occupy Yong Ping as their own territory.

Listening, Tie Ci thought perhaps this was why the opposition, despite having superior forces, didn’t immediately sweep away this royal army.

They wanted to force this army to be vanguard troops, crossing the harsh region lying between Da Qian and Western Rong, opening a passage to Yong Ping, then reaping the benefits themselves.

But this Eagle Chief, even knowing the opposition’s sinister intentions, had no choice but to comply. Doing so might offer a thread of hope; not doing so meant slaughter at the gates.

Such sinister open schemes weren’t what straightforward Western Rong people were good at.

Tie Ci developed some interest in that former Liaodong Grand Chancellor Qiu Wujiu.

Behind the crowd, Feiyu’s gaze turned toward beyond the desert.

That old fox Qiu Wujiu was more vicious and difficult than he’d imagined.

From this Eagle Chief’s tone, Qiu Wujiu had formed a large army in a short time, which wasn’t reasonable. A person who’d been away from his country for decades might have some influence, but it would only be minor. His rebellion base was right next to Liaodong’s Liang Shiyi’s Xining Pass. Without Liang Shiyi’s indulgence and tacit consent, he couldn’t have succeeded.

The two must be colluding.

The eldest was ordered to patrol the borders. If Liang Shiyi truly intended rebellion, he would definitely strike at him. He needn’t rush to act.

But these Western Rong people probably weren’t old Qiu’s match. Once Qiu Wujiu seized Western Rong, he and Liang Shiyi might very well combine forces to divide Liaodong.

They might even reach for Da Qian…

Tie Ci was also pondering these things. Di Yiwei said the agents sent to Western Rong and Liaodong had all lost contact. Very likely there were traitors among them. With Liaodong and Western Rong currently colluding, they would root out all the agents.

So on this journey she needn’t think of contacting old agents—who knew which were bait.

She asked again where Qiu Wujiu’s main camp was now. Eagle Chief said Qiu Wujiu’s whereabouts were mysterious. Currently a trusted deputy general beside him was handling affairs in his place; Qiu Wujiu himself rarely appeared.

The main army was stationed at Zeye City in Western Rong’s southern border, three hundred li from the royal city and also three hundred li from Liaodong’s northwestern border pass Xining Pass.

The main army numbered one hundred thousand, mostly composed of Western Rong tribal armies, sixty percent cavalry, plus well-equipped heavy cavalry battalions.

The First Prince occupied the royal city with a group of tribal armies supporting him, claiming two hundred thousand.

When they fled, they had hoped that after Qiu Wujiu slaughtered the royal family, he and the First Prince would engage in the next round of fighting for power.

But what was desperate was that after exterminating the Western Rong royal family, Qiu Wujiu automatically withdrew from the royal city, stationed at Zeye, giving the First Prince time to purge and control the royal city, and expressed that he only sought to restore his family’s former glory, not the throne.

So the two factions currently coexisted relatively peacefully.

Eagle Chief even suspected that these waves of harassing armies came in turns from both sides, because each time the organization, weapons and equipment were somewhat different.

Even if Qiu Wujiu yielded, not disbanding his army remained the First Prince’s major concern. For Qiu Wujiu, the First Prince was currently still someone requiring vigilance.

This led to both sides being unwilling to expend too much military strength elsewhere, giving this scattered royal army breathing room.

Tie Ci listened silently, estimating the forces of all sides and their possible future plans. She thought both Western Rong and Liaodong would likely face chaos, possibly unable to settle down for several years. Since Yong Ping’s agent system was already destroyed, this was a perfect opportunity to rebuild.

If they needed to maintain stable control over Western Rong and Liaodong during the coming years of turmoil, this royal army could be useful.

But she had another important question to ask now.

“In your story, you mentioned the fates of many Western Rong royal family members. So what about Dan Ye?”

……

While Western Rong was in turmoil, the military camp at Yong Ping Garrison maintained a busy yet peaceful atmosphere.

Di Yiwei sat in the main tent, listening to the person Tie Ci had sent back report what happened in the small village at Fushan’s foot.

Hearing that they had taken advantage of the landslide to open a passage, her pale eyes flickered.

The generals present had already paled, all saying how dangerous—if not for Ye Ci’s team encountering it, who would know the mountain had been opened with a gap.

Di Yiwei immediately ordered troops dispatched to Fushan’s foot to seal the passage on Yong Ping’s side.

Chi Xue had been staring at her intently. After Di Yiwei finished giving this order, she paused before saying: “Leave people to guard the passage day and night. Don’t seal it completely. Once Ye Ci and others return, immediately open the way to receive them.”

Deputy Commander Ye sat beside her, always positioned one foot behind her, his tall figure slightly bent toward her direction. Now he said: “What if when Ye Ci and others return, they’re followed by…”

He glanced at Chi Xue and didn’t continue, but everyone understood his meaning.

What if Ye Ci returned followed by a large army, and that army took the opportunity for a surprise attack—Yong Ping’s forces would suffer casualties.

Chi Xue immediately said: “But we can’t shut out meritorious officers who risked death entering enemy territory, can we?”

Deputy Commander Ye said: “But we also can’t put Yong Ping’s one hundred fifty thousand troops in crisis.”

Chi Xue took a deep breath, suppressed her anger, and smiled: “The Fushan passage was discovered by my master. Without my master’s alertness, Yong Ping’s one hundred fifty thousand troops would already be in crisis. Now that my master has sent back news and Yong Ping’s forces are prepared, if under these circumstances you still can’t protect yourselves and Yong Ping…”

She smiled sweetly: “Then Commander Di’s great reputation doesn’t match reality.”

“You!” Deputy Commander Ye angrily rose.

“Sit down.” Di Yiwei said lightly.

One command, one action—Deputy Commander Ye immediately sat but his anger wasn’t gone. He said coldly: “You’re just a training student’s maid. How are you qualified to speak wildly in this military command tent and interfere with military affairs? Get out!”

Chi Xue ignored him, only looking at Di Yiwei: “Commander, just as your duty is protecting home and country, my duty is protecting my master. I want to hear your promise.”

Di Yiwei’s pale eyelashes blinked: “Ai, you young people, how are you like old men, worrying about imaginary troubles all day? Ye Ci and others have achieved great merit—how dare I wrong meritorious subjects? Go on, rest assured. Even if she’s followed by a million troops, I’ll bring her back.”

Chi Xue stared at her, bowed deeply, and withdrew without a word.

As soon as she left, the other academy students waiting outside the tent gathered around: “How was it?”

Chi Xue smiled: “No problem.”

Everyone dispersed with relief.

Chi Xue stared at the gray sky. This gloomy weather, with north winds growing stronger and stronger, looked like snow was coming.

She wondered how the Crown Princess was doing.

Someone quietly approached from behind. A hot paper package suddenly appeared before her.

She turned to see Zhao San standing behind her, jacket open, grimacing from the heat.

Seeing her, he quickly adjusted the grimace to an appropriate angle: “Fresh hot buns just from the pot. Eat quickly. This weather is too cold.”

Chi Xue warmed her hands with the bun, shared one with him, and said: “Commander Di’s behavior makes me uneasy.”

Zhao San’s mouth was stuffed with bun: “Mm?”

Chi Xue smiled and didn’t continue.

Just now, when that question was raised, she had sensed Di Yiwei’s momentary hesitation.

Commander Di might know her master’s identity. In other words, knowing her master’s identity, she still dared send her master to execute such difficult and dangerous missions—clearly someone who didn’t take imperial authority seriously.

So regarding the question of whether to seal the passage when Ye Ci returned home, she could hesitate. She must have considered completely sealing the passage to end future troubles forever, only refraining due to the Crown Princess’s identity or Ye Ci’s merits.

Then if someday Yong Ping’s forces truly faced great crisis and needed to sacrifice or surrender the Crown Princess, what would she do?

Chi Xue dared not think.

Every point the Crown Princess wanted to gain required paying countless difficulties and costs.

She prayed everything would go smoothly.

Zhao San saw worry between her brows, even forgetting to chew her bun, staring blankly. Knowing his character, Chi Xue gently comforted: “Nothing wrong, don’t overthink. Everything’s fine.”

She asked him: “Didn’t you already leave the military camp? How are you back again?”

“I’m waiting nearby to receive my master,” Zhao San said. “Afraid you’d be cold, wanted to come… see you.”

As he spoke, he lowered his head, boot tip drawing circles on the ground.

Chi Xue forced a smile and suddenly said: “Better not come. I’m afraid of delaying your real business.”

“What real business could I have?” Zhao San immediately became anxious: “Just helping my master send and receive some messages…”

He suddenly realized he’d let something slip and quickly shut his mouth, expression annoyed.

Chi Xue smiled: “Your master is just a minor official’s son from Liaodong. Why would he need to establish an intelligence network?”

Zhao San’s forehead broke out in sweat.

He didn’t want to lie, but couldn’t tell the truth either.

Chi Xue suddenly grasped his hand.

Zhao San’s whole body trembled, momentarily almost frightened.

He was fond of Chi Xue, but Chi Xue was gentle and strong. His admiration for her mixed with looking up and respect—he never dared any disrespect.

Never dreaming Chi Xue would take the initiative to hold his hand, Zhao San felt as if he were being burned on a stove, all his consciousness concentrated on the soft touch of his hand, his mind a chaotic din.

He heard Chi Xue say even more gently: “Zhao San, do you like me?”