Her white horse beneath her whinnied in alarm, raising its hooves as it flew over the encirclement of Nanrong soldiers, leading her troops in retreat.

Under the Ghost-Faced General’s mask, his eyes widened. The skin visible beneath the mask around his neck showed traces of burn scars. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his deputy raising an arrow toward Bai Qingyan. He quickly pressed down on the deputy’s arm… the arrow flew out, shooting straight into the heavy shield protecting the Ghost-Faced General.

“General?!” The deputy turned to look at the Ghost-Faced General in confusion.

The Ghost-Faced General’s throat moved, and after a long moment, his sharp black eyes looked at the deputy as he said seriously: “Withdraw the troops! We cannot confront the Jin Kingdom yet. If we force both the Jin Kingdom and the Great Yan to side with Northern Rong, that would be of no benefit to our Nanrong. Moreover, that Great Yan marriage princess took one of my arrows—she’s surely beyond saving! Retreat!”

“The General speaks wisely!” The deputy nodded and shouted, “Withdraw troops!”

Bai Qingyan heard the sound of the Nanrong army’s gongs signaling retreat. She turned to look toward the Nanrong forces, seeing only a man wearing a ghost mask and general’s armor sitting atop a black tall horse, his posture upright, his entire being cold and restrained. For some inexplicable reason, Bai Qingyan felt he was familiar, yet calling him familiar… he was also very strange.

Bai Qingyan wanted to look more closely, but the general wearing the ghost mask had already turned his horse around and led the Nanrong soldiers in retreat.

After returning, Bai Qingyan frowned deeply, thinking she would need to investigate the origins of this Ghost-Faced General of Nanrong when she got back.

Dong Changlan brought Xiao Rongyan’s group back to Dengzhou City. By this time, Princess Mingcheng had already fainted. Xiao Rongyan had carried Princess Mingcheng the entire way, with Dong Changlan pressing against Princess Mingcheng’s neck. They walked quickly into the mansion, loudly calling for both the mansion’s physician and Dengzhou City’s doctors to be summoned.

After placing Princess Mingcheng in a side room, the mansion physician immediately began stopping Princess Mingcheng’s bleeding.

Meanwhile, the guards who had come with Xiao Rongyan, as well as the Yan soldiers from Princess Mingcheng’s marriage escort, along with a nanny and a maidservant, were all detained under guard.

Xiao Rongyan understood this was perfectly reasonable. After Jin Kingdom rescued the Great Yan marriage princess, the first priority was treating the Great Yan princess, and the second was detaining the Yan marriage escort soldiers and servants together for interrogation to clarify the circumstances.

Yue Shi and Xiao Rongyan’s guards were not inexperienced—they naturally knew how to respond.

After Princess Mingcheng was treated, Xiao Rongyan bowed deeply to Dong Changlan: “Many thanks to Brother Changlan for the life-saving grace!”

Dong Changlan ordered someone to prepare clean clothes for Xiao Rongyan and personally led him to a guest room to change, asking along the way: “How did Brother Xiao come to be with Great Yan’s marriage escort?”

Although Dong Changlan also harbored doubts about Xiao Rongyan, since Xiao Rongyan was after all a benefactor to the Bai family, Dong Changlan naturally treated him with courtesy.

“After concluding my business in Rongdi territory, I remembered Brother Changlan’s invitation to visit Dengzhou. I originally intended to come see if I could contribute to the mutual trade arrangements Brother Changlan mentioned, hoping to profit more in the future. Who would have thought I’d encounter Nanrong forces entangled with the marriage escort? I was too greedy, thinking that if I helped rescue the Great Yan princess, it would put the Northern Rong royal court in my debt, making future business dealings more convenient. Who could have imagined I’d nearly get myself killed there—fortunately, Brother Changlan and Miss Bai arrived in time!” Xiao Rongyan said, bowing again to Dong Changlan. “Yan owes great thanks to Brother Changlan and Miss Bai for saving my life!”

“Brother Xiao, you mustn’t do this!” Dong Changlan gestured for Xiao Rongyan to rise. “Brother Xiao should go bathe and change clothes first. If Father learns that Master Xiao has arrived, he will surely be delighted.”

Xiao Rongyan smiled and nodded, bowing once more before following the Dong mansion servants into the guest room to wash and change.

As soon as Bai Qingyan arrived, she had the Bai family guard troops return to the Dong mansion to treat their wounds. Without even time to change out of her armor, she brought Lu Ping straight to where the Great Yan marriage escort and Princess Mingcheng’s nanny and maidservant were being detained.

While they were still held separately and hadn’t figured anything out yet, this was the easiest time to extract information.

Dong Qingyue had the same thought. The two met at the entrance to the Dengzhou military camp.

“Uncle, I’ll interrogate the servants and nanny at Princess Mingcheng’s side. Uncle can interrogate the others!” Bai Qingyan said.

Dong Qingyue nodded.

Lu Ping followed beside Bai Qingyan. As soon as they pushed open the door to the heavily guarded barracks, they saw the nanny and maidservant huddled together, continuously backing away.

Seeing that it was the female general who had come, the nanny realized… Jin Kingdom had a killing god who was the legitimate eldest granddaughter of Duke Zhenguo. Looking at Bai Qingyan’s age, she guessed Bai Qingyan’s identity and immediately knelt to kowtow: “Many thanks to Princess Zhenguo for your life-saving grace! We don’t know how our princess is doing. We beg Princess Zhenguo to show mercy and let this old servant and Xique go care for our princess!”

The old nanny’s tears immediately flowed as she spoke, pulling the palace maid Xique, who was nearly scared senseless, to kneel beside her.

Bai Qingyan could see that this old nanny was genuinely anxious about the Great Yan princess’s condition, so she said: “Rest assured, a physician has already gone to examine the Great Yan princess. Before I can let you attend to the Great Yan princess, I have several matters I’d like to ask both the nanny and this palace maid. Please answer truthfully, otherwise I dare not let you attend to the Great Yan princess.”

“Princess Zhenguo, please ask. This old servant will surely speak truthfully and hold nothing back.”

Seeing the nanny kowtow, the maidservant quickly followed suit: “This servant will also surely speak… speak truthfully and hold nothing back!”

Seeing this, Lu Ping brought a chair for Bai Qingyan.

“Great Yan sent the princess to Rongdi territory for a marriage alliance. Since envoys were already sent to Jin to request passage, why not travel directly to Northern Rong through Jin territory, but instead make a detour through Nanrong territory? Isn’t this unnecessary?” Bai Qingyan sat down in the chair and asked calmly.

“In reply to Princess Zhenguo, we are merely servants… we know nothing about the route. For the princess’s safety, except for General Peng, who led the marriage escort, even the personal soldiers protecting the princess didn’t know! Moreover, the route was decided by His Majesty before departure. If Princess Zhenguo doesn’t believe this, envoys can be sent to Yan—His Majesty will surely provide Jin Kingdom with an answer!” the nanny said hurriedly.

What the nanny beside Great Yan’s Princess Mingcheng said was quite reasonable.

Bai Qingyan asked again: “Tell me how you encountered the Nanrong army?”

“This old servant was accompanying the princess in the carriage, reading local records about Northern Rong customs and geography, when General Peng, who had come to escort the marriage, suddenly gave the order to turn around and retreat. But before we could withdraw, those Rongdi people came charging from all directions on horseback with flags raised, surrounding us. Then there was chaotic fighting. This old servant and Xique kept protecting the princess inside the carriage until suddenly that white-clothed man burst in, claiming his surname was Xiao and his given name was Xiao Rongyan. He said he was an old friend of our Ninth Prince and had come to rescue Princess Mingcheng! Later, seeing that the carriage couldn’t hold up, Master Xiao wanted to take the princess and flee. When getting off the carriage, the princess’s neck was struck by an arrow…”