Xiao Jue turned back while mounted on his horse.

In that moment, amidst the countless surging crowds, there seemed to be a faint, subtle call that suddenly reached his ears, piercing through layers of clamorous obstructions.

That voice was so familiar that he immediately turned back with delight and anticipation, hoping to see radiant blossoms blooming the moment his gaze returned.

However, he was disappointed. Looking around, he saw thousands of unfamiliar faces with uniformly indifferent expressions. Everyone was hurrying forward toward their own destinations. Behind him, twilight gradually gathered, and the street lights along the river-like thoroughfare began to ignite. One by one, the street lamps lit up like stars in sequence. Above the prosperous celestial avenue with its multicolored, dreamlike flower shadows like tides, the flow of people moved like a river, yet it could not carry the heavy boat of longing.

This was his territory, his subjects, yet among the myriad seas of people, he had carelessly lost track of her.

Unwilling to give up, Xiao Jue’s gaze swept across every face, even every person’s figure, hoping to find some similar silhouette.

His eyes passed over a shabby but clean little wine shop by the street. In the dark corner sat a man and woman. The man looked up, noticed his gaze, smiled, and casually raised his cup in a natural toast toward him.

He must be some wandering traveler fallen on hard times. Seeing a stranger’s searching gaze, he was still willing to raise his cup in invitation. Xiao Jue had always been sensitive to others’ goodwill, so despite his troubled mind, he politely nodded before turning his gaze away.

As for the female guest hidden behind the man, showing only half her face, he intuitively felt it inappropriate to look—presumably she was that wandering guest’s earthly companion.

He reined in his horse, raised his head to the sky, and jade-yellow moonlight fell on his face. His long eyebrows, handsome and elegant, were knitted into a frown.

Had that call just now truly reached his ears, or was it merely a hallucination from excessive worry and anxiety, or was Chang Ge somewhere far away calling to him from the depths of her heart?

Xiao Jue’s sigh dispersed into the March spring night breeze carrying the sweet fragrance of milk vetch.

Qin Chang Ge’s sigh was deeply buried in her stomach.

She had completely lost her appetite but forced herself to appear interested as she finished an entire bowl of noodles.

The man rested his chin on his hand watching her, his expression doting, truly like looking at his soon-to-be concubine. After she finished eating, he even reached out to wipe a bit of soy sauce from the corner of her mouth with his own sleeve, the gesture extremely tender.

Qin Chang Ge stared at his robe—its style extraordinarily simple and comfortable, looking unremarkable, yet of a quality that only royalty and nobility could recognize as absolutely extraordinary. She fingered the dirtied sleeve corner and said, “I don’t know how to wash clothes.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t make you wash them,” the man said casually. “I’ll throw this robe away tomorrow—my clothes never last more than one night.”

Qin Chang Ge blinked, momentarily unable to find a suitable expression to convey her worship or contempt. This single garment was worth half a year’s food expenses for Xiliang’s common people, yet he wore it for just one day before discarding it. How extravagant… Lord National Advisor.

Since this robe was destined to be abandoned tomorrow anyway, better to make good use of it today. Qin Chang Ge smiled and grabbed his sleeve, wiping her hands and mouth with it.

Bai Yuan’s sleeve immediately became a pitiful sight, looking like a rag.

Withdrawing her hand and smiling at the imperturbable Bai Yuan, Qin Chang Ge said, “Since I’m your concubine, I demand the same treatment. Where do you buy your clothes? I also demand one garment per day.”

She thought that since Bai Yuan changed clothes daily, he naturally couldn’t carry such large clothing bundles to Xiliang himself. He would mostly buy ready-made clothes, and Xiliang’s highest-end clothing shops were naturally those opened by Huang Meng’s Heng Ji. As long as she stayed in hotels with him, there would be plenty of ways to let Huang Meng know who she was.

But Bai Yuan seemed not to hear her words, merely leaning sideways in his chair, looking up at the flickering stars outside the small shop. His eyes flowed with rippling light, and the wind stirred his wide robes. His posture was graceful and light. Though he was clearly just sitting in the dark hall of a small shop, he seemed positioned beneath moonlit treetops in vast wilderness, coldly observing the alternating prosperity and decline of worldly affairs through a clear melody.

His slightly lowered eyebrows and absent expression gave one a feeling of deep coolness and desolation, like moonlight shining on snow behind dark mountains.

Yet in just an instant, he had already turned back with his usual smile to look at Qin Chang Ge, saying, “Fine, one garment per day. Now I’ll take you to change clothes.”

He stood up, took Qin Chang Ge’s hand, and walked out of the small shop. They moved against the flow of people, gradually turning past the main avenue, walking through East Peace and West Mansions, heading toward the eastern part of the city.

The eastern city housed the Shan Du Battalion garrison—this was the imperial guard army protecting the capital region. The military camp occupied vast grounds with few residential areas nearby. Outside the military camp lay Yingdu’s largest lake within the city walls, Jade Shuttle Lake, named for its jade shuttle-like shape. Originally an imperial garden, it was later abandoned by Xiao Jue who didn’t wish to disturb military training.

Qin Chang Ge looked at the distant lake, calculating inwardly. Could Bai Yuan be illegally using the imperial palace? That would be too bold, and with hundreds of thousands of stationed troops nearby, wouldn’t this be seeking death?

Naturally, Qin Chang Ge hoped Bai Yuan would seek death, but no matter how she looked at it, Dongyan’s Lord National Advisor didn’t seem like the type to do foolish things.

In front of Jade Shuttle Lake stood a small mountain conveniently named Jade Shuttle Mountain. Though not particularly treacherous, it was exquisitely formed. Bai Yuan took Qin Chang Ge’s hand and walked toward the mountain, climbing all the way to the summit.

On Jade Shuttle Mountain, with the bright moon shining, the two walked toward that lunar radiance. Their robes fluttered and long grass swayed as they walked along mountain paths long untrodden. Soon their garment hems were dampened by dew from grass tips. Continuing upward, the grass grew increasingly lush, with unknown wildflowers blooming in scattered points. The dew on their garment hems carried traces of pure, clean fragrance.

Though Bai Yuan’s steps seemed unhurried, he reached the mountaintop in the blink of an eye. Even Qin Chang Ge didn’t exert much effort, only feeling her body light and ethereal as if about to fly. She secretly assessed his martial arts, comparing him with all the masters she knew. She felt that even Chu Feihuan in his prime would probably be slightly inferior to him. She wondered if Shui Jingchen, having mastered his swordsmanship, could match him shoulder to shoulder. Yu Zixi wouldn’t die facing him, but winning would be very difficult. Ban Yan might achieve a draw? To truly defeat him, only Su Xuan could do it.

As for herself and Xiao Jue—one had found that her previous life’s supreme martial arts hadn’t saved her from death, so in this life she focused more on escape techniques and assassination self-defense, taking a crooked path that made it difficult to reach the pinnacle. The other had unfortunately been taught poorly in fundamentals by those second-rate martial instructors in his household from the beginning, starting to learn supreme martial arts too late. If not for his excellent natural constitution and diligent practice to make up for deficiencies, forcing his way into the ranks of masters, he would now be merely a second-rate kung fu emperor.

While Qin Chang Ge was absorbed in evaluating the world’s martial arts masters, she unknowingly found herself standing atop the mountain peak. Looking casually into the distance, she saw military camps everywhere across the lake, their lights interweaving with the starlight across the sky. She could faintly see moving torches—those were night patrol soldiers. Qin Chang Ge’s heart suddenly trembled as she thought: My Xiliang’s strategic military garrison is completely exposed to this person’s view from here. Though this place is still far from the military camp and ordinary people couldn’t see the arrangements clearly, with Bai Yuan’s eyesight, haven’t the military secrets of our capital-stationed forces been completely observed by him?

Just as she was considering how to remedy this security breach, she suddenly heard Bai Yuan laugh and say, “Riding the clear wind and moonlight, treading on clouds and gathering starlight, leaping ten thousand ren high, listening to the fierce wind—life’s most satisfying moment is enjoying such falling beauty. Ruhua, do you like it?”

“Huh?”

Before Qin Chang Ge could react, Bai Yuan had already grabbed her hand and jumped down!

The wind roared fiercely past her ears. Her hair was pulled straight in the rapid descent, then whooshed open like black satin, flying among the verdant cliff faces.

In the tremendous wind, the smooth-as-mirror, jade-green Jade Shuttle Lake spun as it rapidly approached, like a huge piece of heaven and earth’s jade, waiting for the two to crash boldly into it and sink to the bottom.

In that instant, Qin Chang Ge had only one thought—Ruhua doesn’t like falling; Ruhua likes knocking you down.

Bai Yuan suddenly raised his hand.

A thread of pale gold and light blue radiance flew from his palm, striking with a snap against a tree jutting diagonally from the cliff wall. Bai Yuan pulled with the momentum, and their plummeting descent immediately paused.

With just this pause, Bai Yuan lifted his leg mid-air and, as if walking on solid ground, carried Qin Chang Ge “step by step” to that tree.

Behind the tree was a stone crevice that looked too small for even an infant to enter. Bai Yuan reached out and pried open the stone crevice.

The moss-covered stone crevice was actually pried open by him, revealing a cave large enough for a person to enter. Qin Chang Ge stared at this cave in astonishment, only now discovering that both sides of the cave were painted with gray-black lacquer over wooden boards, deliberately carved with many wrinkles to look like cliff faces. Moss was even planted on them. Among the gray-black and verdant cliff faces, it was truly impossible to see anything special.

Even if you could see it, it would be useless. This stone cave was halfway up the cliff at nearly right angles above and below. To enter, you’d first have to jump off the cliff. How many people in this world would risk bungee jumping without any safety measures just to crawl into a hard-to-find cave?

Was this cave originally here, or was it newly opened by Bai Yuan?

Carrying a belly full of questions, Qin Chang Ge was gently but irresistibly pushed into the cave by Bai Yuan. Inside were stairs leading downward, winding and meandering for an unknown duration until suddenly light appeared ahead.

It was a stone chamber the size of an ordinary house, decorated extremely luxuriously with vermillion curtains, golden lamps, gauze screens, and emerald drapes. The stone chamber contained two stone platforms—one with brocade mattresses and silk quilts, with a night-shining pearl suspended above, and another piled with various garments, all robes of precious materials.

Qin Chang Ge took a few steps forward and suddenly drew back her foot.

Below her feet, everything was crystalline blue with rippling water waves, as if it were the waters of Jade Shuttle Lake.

But this was clearly a stone chamber—where could lake water come from? And if it was lake water, why weren’t her shoes getting wet?

Looking carefully, she discovered that the center of the floor wasn’t stone at all, but transparent massive crystal, polished extremely fine. You could see the deep blue lake water beneath. Walking on it felt like walking on water.

This was indeed the bottom of Jade Shuttle Lake.

Qin Chang Ge suddenly remembered a certain famous martial arts character’s adventure in a famous martial arts novel from her previous life, which also vaguely involved an experience in a lakeside stone chamber. But that person ultimately learned supreme martial arts—what about herself? She didn’t seem to have such good fortune.

This stone chamber was luxuriously rich and splendid, with brocade quilts exuding alluring charm. What if this certain someone’s lustful desires flared up and he directly wanted to have their wedding night tonight—what then?

Qin Chang Ge happily ran toward the stone platform piled with clothes, laughing sweetly, “I’ll sleep on this bed.”

Bai Yuan leaned against the stone wall, smiling, “Those are my clothes. You want to sleep in my pile of clothes?”

He reached out and grabbed Qin Chang Ge, his expression gentle as he said, “Come, Ruhua. We shouldn’t waste this beautiful time and scenery. Since I’ll marry you as my concubine sooner or later, why don’t we have our wedding night here today?”

“She’s still in Yingdu.” In the Grand Tutor’s mansion, Chu Feihuan looked calmly at Xiao Jue. “Your Majesty, do none of your people have any news?”

“None—what a bunch of useless people!” Xiao Jue paced anxiously back and forth. After just one day, he already showed signs of mental exhaustion with faint dark circles under his eyes. Today he had already driven ten ministers who came to report out of his door. The gold-inlaid brick floor beneath his feet seemed about to be worn thin by his ceaseless pacing.

Baozi knelt on a brocade chair with his hands pressed together, murmuring to himself. When Xiao Jue leaned in to listen, he heard: “God, my stinky mama doesn’t kill living things, doesn’t harm people, doesn’t steal others’ belongings, doesn’t set fires or poison people… she’s most honest, kind-hearted, and virtuous… please definitely protect such a good person’s safety… never mind, I’m too embarrassed to say this, let me start over… though my mama kills living things, harms people, steals things, sets fires and poisons people, is treacherous, cunning, and morally corrupt, she’s actually not too bad… really…”

Unable to bear listening further, Xiao Jue reached out and pressed his son’s sleep acupoint—please be quiet. If heaven truly has knowledge and you pray like this, the gods and Buddhas of the nine heavens will immediately strike you down with lightning.

Some people truly bring more happiness when they don’t speak than when they do.

Chu Feihuan carefully lifted Baozi onto the bed and covered him with blankets, saying, “Your Majesty, don’t think he doesn’t worry about Chang Ge. He’s just seeing your anxiety and getting a bit panicked himself, using nonsensical talk to relieve his tension.”

Xiao Jue sighed and sat down beside his son’s bed, gently smoothing his hair. “I know… it’s just that I can’t help worrying. The group of people from Zhongchuan have been captured, and Qi Heng has been found, but no one knows where Chang Ge’s carriage went. We only know it was taken by someone with extremely extraordinary martial arts. Master Chu, you know that among the world’s martial arts masters, except for Su Xuan on our side, the rest can all be considered our enemies. With Chang Ge in the hands of a powerful enemy, how can I set my mind at ease?”

Chu Feihuan nodded, “Zhongchuan’s ‘Hidden Fox’ has been lurking in Yingdu for many years. If it were a Yingdu martial arts master, they should recognize him. Since they don’t know, it should be someone from outside Xiliang—a person from another country.”

“Could it be Shui Jingchen?” Xiao Jue suddenly turned around.

“Can’t be certain,” Chu Feihuan frowned slightly. In the lamplight, he seemed even more haggard than Xiao Jue, his face pale without a trace of color. Continuing to sift through the mountain of various intelligence from Huang Meng, Chu Feihuan slowly said, “Whoever it is, I can confirm that he hasn’t left yet. Your Majesty, if we can’t find them, we’ll have to think of another way.”

“You mean, draw them out?” Xiao Jue reacted extremely quickly.

“Yes, choose an opportunity, present a bait, and lure the snake from its hole.” Chu Feihuan’s gaze turned toward the sleeping Baozi, a trace of compassionate smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

“Your Majesty, Rong’er’s sixth birthday is approaching.”