Where was A’Li, indeed?

In the desolate northern desert, northwest of Xijing, at the very edge of the sands, within the borders of Xiliang.

Bordered to the east by Xijing’s desert, to the west and south by Xiliang’s barren mountains, and to the north by the Xiongnu plateau.

This had always been a no-man’s-land, claimed by no one, a place of dry, bitter cold year-round, home to a unique people — the Mobei clan!

Their blood carried both the wild, untamed passion of the Xiliang and Xiongnu peoples, unafraid to love or hate openly, and the kindness and warmth of the desert peoples of Xijing.

This was a hospitable tribe, a small nation governed by a chieftain system.

The chieftain stood at the head of the clan, with several elders beneath them overseeing various clan affairs — organizing large hunts, managing shared food stores, conducting religious ceremonies, forming guard troops, and so on.

Whether chieftain or elder, all were chosen unanimously by the people, which meant reputation carried great weight here.

There were many such tribes scattered along the fringes of the Longyuan continent, but what made the Mobei clan uniquely distinct was that here, men and women were treated as equals.

Women could hunt just as men did, could become elders, even chieftain.

Xuanyuan Lige had studied the Xiongnu even more than he’d studied Da Zhou, and he knew a fair amount about the Mobei clan as well — yet he had never once imagined he would end up here himself.

Ever since he’d first woken up after being rescued and brought all this way, though he’d remained groggy, appearing as though asleep, he had actually retained some awareness — enough to know he’d been saved by a girl.

At this moment, he stood by the window, gazing silently out at the northern plateau, the bright moonlight draped over his purple robes and silver hair like a sheer veil. Seen from outside the window, he looked like some elven prince who had wandered into someone’s home — beautiful enough that one hesitated to disturb him.

But the moment the girl saw he was awake, she rushed back inside as if electrified, brimming with excitement. “You’re awake! Hey, you’re finally awake! Ha, I told you — there’s no one Yu Xiaomeng sets out to save that she can’t bring back to life!”

Her name was Yu Xiaomeng, only seventeen years old this year, yet already the most famous young woman in the entire Mobei clan. She excelled at fine handiwork, capable of embroidering the finest brocade in the clan, reserved exclusively for the chieftain and elders. She could handle rough labor just as well, brave enough to head into the mountains alone to hunt, always returning within three days with a full haul.

It was only a pity she was still so young — otherwise, she would have surely been in line for the position of elder in the next selection.

Having lost her father at a young age, she had supported the household alongside her mother through embroidery work.

The girl approached him now, bright-eyed and fresh-faced, nothing like the delicate, powder-and-rouge ladies of the Central Plains — her small face flushed with natural health and vitality.

Originally beaming with excitement, the moment she reached Xuanyuan Lige and saw his expressionless face, she immediately fell quiet, then gave an awkward little laugh. “You’re awake!”

“Why did you save me?” Xuanyuan Lige asked flatly, showing no curiosity about anything, treating it all as unfamiliar.

“What makes you so sure I saved you? Maybe I’m planning to sell you off instead,” Yu Xiaomeng teased.

“Where did you get the medicine?” Xuanyuan Lige asked next.

The reason he’d been so weak was that he’d gone far too long without taking his medication. That bottle of pills had come from his master, Jue Mingzi — without the formula, only a physician as skilled as Sha Qiuzi could possibly replicate it.

Though the Mobei clan, like the Xiongnu, possessed mysterious shamanic medicine and no shortage of miraculous remedies, he didn’t believe for a moment that the Mobei clan’s shamans could formulate medicine for his particular ailment.

Facing Xuanyuan Lige’s question, Yu Xiaomeng answered without hesitation. “I went back and found it! Dug for an entire day and night, and finally found it!”

As she spoke, she produced a small porcelain bottle — none other than the very medicine bottle Xuanyuan Lige always kept on him, which had fallen into the sand when he’d collapsed in the desert.

She’d actually managed to find it!

“Anyone with a constitution like yours has clearly been chronically ill for a long time — you’re bound to carry medicine on you. I couldn’t find it on your person, so I went back to where I found you and searched the ground. And sure enough, there it was! Impressive, right?” Yu Xiaomeng grinned, pure and sweet, with a hint of quiet pride.

Yet Xuanyuan Lige showed no reaction at all, simply asking again, flatly, “Why did you save me?”

“You!”

Yu Xiaomeng took a deep breath to calm herself and said earnestly, “Why are you so strange? Shouldn’t you be asking who I am first, or where this place is? Aren’t you curious? And besides, does saving someone need a reason? Was I supposed to just watch you die? It’s not saving someone that needs a reason. You and I have no quarrel — why wouldn’t I save you?”

Finally, Xuanyuan Lige’s expressionless face shifted slightly, his brow furrowing faintly. He’d tolerated the girl talking to herself along the way, but now that they were actually conversing, he found he could barely stand her… chattiness.

“This is the Mobei clan’s territory. You’re a person of Mobei.”

Xuanyuan Lige said, stepping back and offering a proper, gracious bow. “Miss, thank you for saving my life.”

Yu Xiaomeng, who had been somewhat irritated a moment ago, immediately brightened again. Not just her, but every person of the Mobei clan — even the Xiongnu — held a particular fondness for the refined courtesy and cultured elegance of the Central Plains people.

Even the Xiongnu, though generally unfriendly toward people of the Central Plains, harbored deep respect, even reverence, for the cultured and learned.

“You — you already know this is Mobei territory! No… no need to thank me!” Yu Xiaomeng was so delighted she could barely speak. In her understanding, a formal bow like that was an extremely solemn gesture in the Central Plains — especially when a man offered it to a woman, it represented a mark of great respect.

This man valued her!

“You… you don’t need to do that, I don’t deserve it! You’re still very weak, you… you should sit down first — no, no, no, you should lie down!”

Yu Xiaomeng, overjoyed to the point of babbling incoherently, pulled Xuanyuan Lige toward the bed, chattering nonstop. “Tomorrow I’ll go fetch the shaman. Don’t worry, we have a saying here — any illness that can be treated with medicine will surely get better! Don’t worry too much. Rest for now — I’ll go make dinner! I’ll be right back!”

She said this without even waiting for Xuanyuan Lige’s response, rushing energetically out of the room — only to quickly dash back in again, out of breath, her small face flushed pink, looking less like a young woman and more like an innocent child.

“That… I still haven’t told you — my name is Yu Xiaomeng. Yu as in jade pendant, Xiao as in dawn light, Meng as in dream. My name was given to me by our clan’s Grand Scholar Elder — he said Xiaomeng means the dream you have at dawn, half-asleep, half-awake, a dream that feels neither entirely real nor unreal, one that could come true!”

Yu Xiaomeng, nervous at first, grew more and more earnest as she spoke — having a name with such meaning was something she took great pride in.

“Miss Yu, you’ve already told me that.” Xuanyuan Lige said, his tone utterly cold. The formal address “Miss Yu” abruptly created distance between them.

He was cold by nature — Han Ziqing had simply been the one exception.

“Oh…” Yu Xiaomeng felt a little embarrassed, clearly sensing the man’s distant coldness, but she quickly shrugged it off, remaining as warm as ever. “Well then, you can just call me Xiaomeng.”