Slender, delicate hands, fingers like tender jade—no one knew just how many days and nights of grueling practice these ten fingers had endured. If not for that peculiar remedy Xuanyuan Lige had provided, they would surely have already been ruined beyond repair.
Her progress in zither technique had grown skilled enough to make even Xuanyuan Lige envious, yet no one knew just how brutally hard she had trained behind the scenes to achieve it.
At this very moment, the hands Ziqing held clasped behind her back, every single finger coiled with tension, remained an unknown quantity even to herself—she had no clear sense of just how formidable Situ Haonan’s mother’s true skill might be. But more importantly, she herself had no idea just how much her own strength had grown throughout this journey from the capital, through all her ongoing training along the way!
Only through actual combat could the true force behind these ten fingers ever be properly measured!
Just as she could strike from a distance with wind blades, she was equally capable of precise, ruthless close-quarters combat. At this moment, those clear, bright eyes weren’t fixed on Situ Haonan’s mother’s sword at all—instead, they were locked onto the most vulnerable point of her entire body… her eyes!
“Watch the blade!”
Situ Haonan’s mother shouted sharply, her sword suddenly ringing out with a metallic clang, shaking rapidly to produce countless illusory afterimages, all converging toward Ziqing at once, making it impossible to discern where the actual blade truly was, leaving no clear way to defend against it!
“Not watching it!”
Ziqing snorted coldly and wildly, refusing to even look at it or dodge it at all. Instead, she suddenly raised her hand sharply, and instantly a piercing, sharp whistling sound cut through the air—”whoosh…”
“Wife, careful!”
The city lord shouted in alarm, immediately rushing forward to shove his wife aside, raising his own sword to block instead. With a resounding “clang,” he precisely deflected that blade of wind!
Situ Haonan’s mother, having fallen aside, stared in stunned disbelief. Even without seeing it directly, she could clearly feel it—that wind blade had been heading straight for her own eyes!
The city lord felt a flicker of genuine shock inwardly. Han Ziqing’s wind blade technique was entirely different from Jun Beiyue’s sword-light wind blades—Jun Beiyue relied on a unique form of internal energy, while Han Ziqing’s technique came entirely from the raw strength of her hands!
Compared to profound, deeply cultivated internal energy, a mere pair of bare hands capable of this was, frankly, rather terrifying!
Suddenly, Situ Haonan’s mother scrambled back up, furious. “Han Ziqing, how vicious of you! If we don’t teach her a proper lesson today, she’ll only end up bullying our Xin’er down the road!”
But the moment these words left her mouth, Situ Haonan, who had remained silent throughout, suddenly slammed his hand down with a loud “smack,” shattering the table entirely beneath his palm. “Enough, both of you!”
He roared furiously, his face flushed red with anger. “Have you two had enough of this nonsense? This is getting tiresome! Isn’t this all pointless? Han Ziqing, get out, get out of here right now, just leave already!”
Everyone froze in shock, before anyone could recover, Situ Haonan had already shoved Ziqing straight out, pushing her all the way out the door!
Ziqing’s brow furrowed, about to strike back, when Situ Haonan planted himself firmly in the doorway, shouting back into the room at his parents, “Enough, enough already! Whatever you have to say, save it for when Jun Beiyue gets back, or go find him yourselves. What’s the point of causing such a fuss with a woman like this, is it really that interesting? Let’s go!”
With that, he grabbed Ziqing firmly and strode off, leaving behind only the sound of Situ Haonan’s mother shouting furiously, “You wretched boy, how dare you!”
But despite all the shouting, Situ Haonan’s mother never actually gave chase—which, without question, meant they had lost this particular confrontation.
Ziqing could see clearly that Situ Haonan was giving both sides a graceful way out of this. That this fellow could still leave with her at this point was, honestly, rather unexpected.
She didn’t struggle against him, letting him grip her tightly, until finally, once they’d passed through the city gates, she said flatly, “Let go. I’m not going back there to die.”
“Going back won’t get you killed, but it’ll be miserable for me.” Situ Haonan said helplessly, finally releasing his grip.
“Will it, really?” Ziqing shot back.
Situ Haonan rolled his eyes repeatedly. “Caught between the two of them, you think that’s easy for me?”
“Since ancient times, loyalty and filial duty have rarely coexisted perfectly. You could certainly choose filial duty—no one would blame you for that.”
“Bah! Just who do you think I am, Situ Haonan? Jun Beiyue is still lying there unconscious right now. I promised to accompany you on this mission to Nanzhao, and I’ll see it through. Those two old fools got exactly what they deserved—always spoiling that wretched girl Xin’er rotten, never once considering how many messes I’ve had to clean up for her over the years! You scolding them was absolutely right! Perfectly, completely right!”
Ziqing stopped abruptly, studying Situ Haonan with suspicion. Was this really the son of those two elders? Was this really Situ Xin’er’s own brother? “Situ Haonan, you really are… quite the peculiar one!”
“Peculiar? What does that mean?”
“I’m praising you! Special, unique, truly good!” Ziqing said earnestly.
“That sounds a little strange somehow, your tone doesn’t quite match the words.” Situ Haonan looked at her suspiciously, rubbing his chin, his characteristic gesture whenever he narrowed his long, narrow eyes in thought.
“I really am praising you. You’re nothing like your parents, or your sister.”
“I was sent off to my grandmaster in Xijing the moment I was born, raised by him ever since. Xin’er, on the other hand, has been by our parents’ side since birth—parents naturally dote on their daughters, that’s just how it goes.” Situ Haonan paused, then added with a rueful smile, “Actually… aside from being unreasonable about matters concerning Xin’er, my parents are quite decent people otherwise. That girl just happens to have a special bond with them, earning their particular favor. And, well, as parents, they’re deeply concerned about their daughter’s reputation out in the world.”
Ziqing said nothing, simply watching him.
If they truly cared about her reputation, shouldn’t they have raised her properly instead of expecting everyone else to simply tolerate her behavior?
Situ Haonan looked somewhat embarrassed, then laughed again. “That… what I really mean is… please, do me a favor, don’t hold a grudge over this. Once Beiyue gets back, our two families will need to get along smoothly, won’t we?”
Given they were his own birth parents, the fact that Situ Haonan could still reason so clearly and fairly left Ziqing genuinely grateful. She looked at him for a long moment, saying nothing.
“Hey, Han Ziqing, would you stop staring at me already? Say something!” Situ Haonan said urgently, masking his own flustered nerves—if she kept looking at him like that, he might genuinely forget just whose wife she was supposed to be!
Did this woman have any idea? The first time had been love at first sight. And today, watching her argue so righteously, so unyieldingly, against his own parents at the Situ estate, he’d fallen for her completely. He genuinely liked a woman like this!
“Can this relationship still be salvaged? I’ve ruined the relationship between Beiyue and Situ City, haven’t I?” Ziqing said flatly.
“Not at all. If you’d simply given in to them today, that would have brought shame on Beiyue instead!” Situ Haonan said earnestly. Jun Beiyue’s relationship with Situ City had, after all, been built entirely through his own connection with Situ Haonan!
“Truly, you did him proud today. If he’d been here himself, my parents probably wouldn’t have dared shield Xin’er so shamelessly, dredging up old grievances like that.”
Situ Haonan spoke with genuine conviction, waiting for Ziqing’s response—likely the most words she’d exchanged with him in one sitting all night.
Unfortunately, Ziqing still said nothing further, simply nodding, silently vowing to herself instead: Jun Beiyue, don’t worry, I will absolutely never bring shame upon your name…
As dawn approached, Ziqing wasted no further time, setting out that very night directly toward the southern frontier checkpoint. She was finally about to enter Nanzhao.
The long border stretched from the mountain range where Situ City stood all the way to the coastline. This was a place that had known no warfare for over a hundred years, and unlike other regions with towering city walls, this border was instead enclosed by iron fencing, which made the towering, imposing checkpoint gate stand out all the more strikingly.
This was Da Zhou’s checkpoint—both entry and exit required thorough inspection, along with official documentation from local authorities, or passage through this gate would be denied. And beyond this gate, roughly three li further, stood another massive city gate—Nanzhao’s own checkpoint, which similarly required rigorous inspection and formal entry permits from the Nanzhao royal family.
Ziqing stepped down from the carriage, watching the border guards, and couldn’t help but marvel at how such elaborate entry and exit procedures closely resembled those of the modern world. Nowhere else on the continent of Longyuan had anything quite like this—Nanzhao truly was a kingdom worth investigating.