A Da Zhou ship!

Hearing the sailor’s explanation, Xuanyuan Zhaoxi suddenly grasped the severity of the situation, demanding sharply, “A Da Zhou imperial ship?”

“Precisely!” the sailor answered at once.

Though there were still no formal, written boundaries governing these waters, Da Zhou imperial ships appearing within what had always been recognized as Eastern Qin’s waters was absolutely no small matter!

Without an invitation from the Eastern Qin imperial house, such an act by the Da Zhou royal family amounted to outright territorial violation!

“To think they actually found their way here!” Xuanyuan Zhaoxi snorted coldly, yet showed no sign of panic, remarkably enough. She instructed an attendant to relay the news to Yanzi while simultaneously ordering, “Prepare for battle! This princess would like to see for herself today whether Jun Beiyue remains a god of war once he’s out on the open sea!”

With that, she turned with a flourish to leave, but at that moment Xuanyuan Lige called out sharply, halting her. “Xuanyuan Zhaoxi, stop right there!”

Xuanyuan Zhaoxi paused, then, remembering the matter of Han Ziqing, said with a smile, “If you hadn’t called out, I nearly forgot all about Da Zhou’s Consort of Prince Yao! The poison, is it? Don’t worry, this princess isn’t foolish enough to touch her personally!”

As she spoke, the corner of Xuanyuan Zhaoxi’s lips curled into a smug, wicked smile. Meeting Xuanyuan Lige’s gaze directly, she deliberately drew out her words. “Someone, throw that… monster into the secret chamber! That’s the real priority here!”

Xuanyuan Lige’s eyes narrowed slowly, radiating an extremely dangerous aura. “Xuanyuan Zhaoxi, release Han Ziqing right now, and surrender to Jun Beiyue—otherwise you’ll bring nothing but disgrace upon Eastern Qin!”

Xuanyuan Zhaoxi froze at this, taking a long moment to recover. “Brother! Since when did you learn to boost another’s morale while crushing your own side’s spirit like this? Surrender? You’re actually telling me to surrender to Jun Beiyue? Heavens, are you really Xuanyuan Lige?”

Xuanyuan Zhaoxi shook her head over and over in disbelief. She simply couldn’t believe it—even in his current fallen state, there was absolutely no way Xuanyuan Lige would ever voluntarily surrender to Jun Beiyue!

The two of them had always been enemies, mortal enemies willing to fight to the death—even facing death itself, neither would ever bow to the other!

And now, with Jun Beiyue having brazenly violated Eastern Qin’s very own waters—something inherently provocative in itself—this man showed no anger at all, but instead wanted to surrender outright!

“Xuanyuan Lige, if Mother Empress could see you now, she would be utterly, thoroughly disappointed in you!” Xuanyuan Zhaoxi said furiously. “For the sake of one woman, you want to surrender—you want to surrender to her man! Xuanyuan Lige, I despise you!”

“Enough out of you!” Xuanyuan Lige snapped angrily. “Don’t rely so heavily on the fact that these are Eastern Qin’s waters, don’t rely so heavily on your navy’s supposed superiority. Unless I’m mistaken, there are Jiaoren nearby—how many of your fine soldiers can possibly withstand the Jiaoren?”

At these words, Xuanyuan Zhaoxi froze at once. “Jiao… Jiaoren? Impossible!”

Xuanyuan Lige offered no further explanation, simply staring at her coldly!

“Impossible. No matter how close the King of Nanzhao and Jun Beiyue may be, there’s absolutely no way he’d lend him Jiao warriors—Nanzhao has never once interfered in any affair within Longyuan! Don’t you dare try to deceive me!” Xuanyuan Zhaoxi said furiously.

“Didn’t Yanzi tell you that the guardian of the Lone Island’s relic in the Qinse Sea Valley is none other than a Black Jiao?” Xuanyuan Lige sneered coldly.

These words shocked Xuanyuan Zhaoxi so badly she staggered back two full steps. Having only just moments ago been swelling with confidence over Eastern Qin’s naval might, she now looked like a wilted flower, shaking her head repeatedly as she retreated!

The Black Jiao—among the Jiaoren, an extraordinarily formidable and ferocious breed, their scales so hard that no weapon could pierce them. In the ocean, the Black Jiao were, without exaggeration, true rulers of the deep!

“Hand over Han Ziqing! The secret of that black-clad man’s identity is your only bargaining chip left. Don’t blame me, your own brother, for not warning you—when the ships of two royal houses clash in open battle, that becomes a war between two nations. If you lose, you’ll have no choice but to become a prisoner of war!” Xuanyuan Lige’s tone was ice-cold—this was no mere reminder, but an outright warning!

Xuanyuan Zhaoxi was stunned. She hadn’t even considered this outcome until Xuanyuan Lige spelled it out. Given the current balance of power between Eastern Qin and Da Zhou, should she lose, Mother Empress would absolutely not come to her rescue!

Yet to abandon everything halfway now would mean Yanzi and the black-clad man would never trust her again, and everything she’d so painstakingly planned would come to nothing!

Yanzi had promised—within half a year, even before the Gu was fully cultivated, they could help her destroy the entire royal house of Western Chu!

Mother Empress and every high minister at court had always pinned their hopes on Xuanyuan Lige alone; no one had ever once considered that she, the future empress, might be capable too!

This time, she would make every single one of them see her true worth!

“No!” Xuanyuan Zhaoxi suddenly cried out. “No! I finally managed to make contact with Yanzi, finally got this chance—I absolutely will not give it up!”

As she spoke, she suddenly turned a furious glare on Xuanyuan Lige. “So what if there are Black Jiao? So what if Jun Beiyue commands Jiao warriors? If he really dares to deploy Jiao forces, this princess will fight him to the very end!”

As long as it wasn’t Jiao troops borrowed directly from Nanzhao itself, she had nothing to fear!

If Jun Beiyue dared to openly deploy Jiao warriors, she would absolutely make a massive scandal of it, spreading the news across the entire continent of Longyuan—then let’s see how Jun Beiyue would explain the origins of these Black Jiao to the King of Nanzhao!

The black-clad man’s identity was her bargaining chip in any negotiation with Jun Beiyue!

Han Ziqing’s origins were an even greater bargaining chip in any negotiation with Jun Beiyue!

“Brother, let’s make a bet—I bet he won’t dare use Jiao troops!” Xuanyuan Zhaoxi said, forcing herself to calm down, though her confidence had clearly wavered.

Xuanyuan Lige gave no answer, his eyes narrowing into two thin, dangerous slits, radiating an aura of overwhelming menace. Were he not so grievously wounded, Xuanyuan Zhaoxi would surely have no chance of surviving this moment.

“Someone, get moving already—throw that monster into the secret chamber, right now!” Xuanyuan Zhaoxi urged loudly, as if deliberately provoking him!

“Yes!” The guard didn’t dare delay and hurried off at once.

“Signal all nearby warships to converge immediately! Send word by falcon at once—Prince Yao of Da Zhou is attacking by sea, and we are mobilizing to meet him in battle! I want the entire continent of Longyuan to know—Jun Beiyue has come!”

With that, Xuanyuan Zhaoxi swept her sleeves and strode briskly toward the highest deck of the ship!

Meanwhile, Jun Beiyue’s ship had already drawn quite close to the Eastern Qin vessels; the crews of both ships could now see one another clearly from a distance!

A radiant black shadow leapt from the water onto the deck—none other than Jiao Cha!

“Your Highness, there’s movement to the northeast and west—Eastern Qin must be mobilizing more forces!” Jiao Cha reported. The Jiaoren possessed an innate sensitivity to disturbances within the sea.

No sooner had he spoken than the ship ahead sounded a loud blast of horns—a signal unique to the seas.

“What does that mean?” Jun Beiyue asked, standing on deck with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing coldly at the ship ahead.

“Reporting to Your Highness, that is… that is a warning from the other side, demanding we withdraw from their territorial waters,” a sailor answered timidly.

“Full speed ahead. Jiao Cha, submerge and stand by. After I sound three blasts of the horn, destroy their ships!” Jun Beiyue said coldly, his handsome, gaunt face betraying almost no expression at all…