“For the rest of your life?”

The Emperor of Xijing laughed contemptuously. “Situ Haonan, who exactly do you think you are, that you could protect and defend Qianqian’s homeland for the rest of your life?”

Situ Haonan was the young master of Situ City, the heir apparent to the position of Leader of the Martial World!

How could he possibly spend his entire life protecting and defending Qianqian’s homeland?

The imperial court and the martial world had, since time immemorial, never interfered with one another!

“Situ Haonan, what could you possibly offer me as a guarantee for the rest of your life!” the Emperor of Xijing scoffed disdainfully. Seeing that Situ Haonan had nothing to say, he continued coldly, “Could it be that you, the esteemed young master of Situ City, intend to marry into my Xijing imperial family as a live-in son-in-law?”

The Xijing imperial house was a house of emperors, while Situ City, within the martial world, could be considered every bit as much a house of kings in its own right!

When a princess took a husband, he was generally someone of lower standing than herself—to put it kindly, called a prince consort; to put it bluntly, that meant a live-in son-in-law who’d married into the family.

If the man were of equal standing, or only slightly lower, then it would simply be the princess marrying out to him—there would be no need for him to marry in.

The Emperor of Xijing had spoken the words “marry in” quite deliberately—it was, plainly, an insult directed at Situ Haonan.

Even Ziqing couldn’t help but frown at this. And yet, to everyone’s surprise, Situ Haonan remained kneeling on one knee, not rising, and though he had clearly just been insulted, he lifted his head high, calm and composed, and answered earnestly, “That is exactly what I mean.”

“Situ!” Ziqing exclaimed, startled!

For an ordinary man, marrying in was simply marrying in—but for Situ Haonan to marry in would mean giving up Situ City entirely, giving up the martial world entirely!

“A man takes responsibility for his own actions. If I dared to take Qianqian away, then I dare to bear the consequences for it!” Situ Haonan paused, then lowered his voice. “I only want to find her again, as quickly as possible.”

Even though he understood perfectly well the gravity of the consequences, a real man had to act with courage, take responsibility, and be willing to give up whatever was necessary.

If only he had been more resolute, more decisive back then, and simply ignored that girl entirely, things would never have come to this.

But since he had already taken her away, then all the consequences that followed, he had to bear without a single word of complaint.

He couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer. If he hadn’t been so irresolute back then, letting Yelu Qianqian go, perhaps Ziqing wouldn’t have had to come in person to clean up this mess for him.

The Emperor of Xijing hadn’t expected Situ Haonan to answer with such firm conviction. Though Situ Haonan came from an illustrious background, the emperor had never thought much of the boy.

Han Ziqing was right—he really did have only two choices: either hold onto his grudge against Da Zhou and sacrifice his daughter, or let her have her happiness and let bygones be bygones with a laugh.

Even setting all else aside, no one could guarantee with absolute certainty that even if Yelu Qianqian were sent to Xiliang, Wanyan Lie would spare Xijing as a result. But at the very least, Situ Haonan’s devotion to Qianqian was something he could trust.

To gamble his daughter’s entire future on a matter of pride, just to take a risk over a moment’s anger—no matter how furious the Emperor of Xijing was, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

The Emperor of Xijing stared at Situ Haonan for a long, long moment, then abruptly released his grip on Ziqing’s collar. He raised his hand as if to strike Situ Haonan across the face—yet Situ Haonan, who could clearly have dodged, made no move to avoid it at all.

The Emperor of Xijing’s hand froze mid-strike, stopping just short of actually landing the blow. He lowered his hand, gave a bitter, repeated laugh, and took the wolf-fang pendant from Situ Haonan’s hands, cradling it in his palm. In an instant, his eyes filled with hot tears.

This wolf-fang pendant—he had given it, once, to his empress, the woman he had loved most in all the world.

And this wolf-fang pendant was also what the empress, before she died of illness, had passed on to Qianqian.

In truth, all of it—whether marrying Qianqian off to Xiliang, or Chenyi and Yanzi joining forces to search for the human gu—all of it had been in service of his eastward campaign, his ambitions of expansion.

Now, what he was truly giving up, was that eastward campaign itself.

That had been a man’s dream—his own dream, and Chenyi’s dream as well.

Today, they had failed, and the price paid was Xijing’s princess, and Xijing’s peace.

The Emperor of Xijing let out a long breath, and with a wave of his hand, signaled for the surrounding archers and wolf-warriors to withdraw. Clearly, he had made up his mind, had reached his decision!

Once every last threat had withdrawn, only then did Ziqing quietly let out a breath of relief. Though she had been fairly confident, in truth she had still been somewhat nervous underneath it all.

After all, this had been an enormously important decision—one that concerned not only their own lives, but the fate of the entire western half of the Longyuan continent.

And to her, the greatest significance of the Emperor of Xijing’s decision lay in this: it resolved the crisis facing Da Zhou’s western border.

Had Yelu Qianqian never fled in the first place, Da Zhou’s western border would have been safe regardless—Jun Beiyue had already calculated that, even if Xiliang threw caution to the wind and fought with everything they had, even if they managed to destroy Xijing entirely, they still wouldn’t be able to touch Da Zhou.

What she had truly feared was Xijing and Xiliang joining forces against Da Zhou!

Now, at last, she could finally breathe a great sigh of relief!

The most pressing matter now was to find Yelu Qianqian as quickly as possible!

The Emperor of Xijing looked down at the wolf-fang pendant in his hand. Though he had agreed to Situ Haonan’s request, he remained entirely unfriendly, not even sparing him a glance, and said coldly, “If anything at all happens to Qianqian, I will never let either of you go.”

Ziqing understood this all too well!

If anything happened to Yelu Qianqian, then no matter how hard she and Situ Haonan tried, it would all have been for nothing.

Where exactly had that wretched girl been taken, and by whom—and where was she now?

“We’ll go find her right away!” Situ Haonan said at once.

But Ziqing said instead, “I’ll go find her. Haonan, you take troops to reinforce General Dugu, and bring provisions as well!”

Hearing this, a complicated look flashed through the Emperor of Xijing’s eyes. He hadn’t expected Han Ziqing to be so generous. “The western border—you still have troops to spare?”

Ziqing was hardly foolish enough to deploy what few troops remained at the western border, nor would she use what little gunpowder she had left, except in the direst of circumstances.

But Situ Haonan had his own resources to offer, didn’t he?

“Haonan has considerable influence within the martial world at his disposal—I trust the Emperor of Xijing wouldn’t turn that away. As for provisions, my Da Zhou can provide a hundred thousand measures of grain!” Ziqing said earnestly.

Between her and Yelu Qianqian, there was the bond of sisterhood; between Jun Beiyue and Situ Haonan, there was the bond of brotherhood.

But her reasons for doing this weren’t entirely for the sake of Yelu Qianqian and Situ Haonan alone.

After all, this wasn’t a private matter—this was a matter of state, a matter concerning the nation’s future and the welfare of its people.

She had always kept public and private affairs strictly separate, and such generosity on her part also served to leave herself a way out, just in case.

Nothing in this world was ever absolutely certain. What if… what if something happened to Yelu Qianqian, and the Emperor of Xijing changed his mind? She wouldn’t be able to stop him.

While searching for Yelu Qianqian, she hoped Situ Haonan would personally lead the campaign, and she hoped that the alliance between Xijing and Da Zhou would become a reality here and now.

A hundred thousand measures of grain was more than enough to demonstrate Ziqing’s sincerity—and more than enough to tempt the Emperor of Xijing.

The Emperor of Xijing agreed readily. “Ha, why would I ever turn that away! All I want to know is—do you have any leads at all on Qianqian’s whereabouts?”

What the Emperor of Xijing cared about most, after all, was still Qianqian’s whereabouts!

“I do,” Ziqing said flatly. If the group that had smuggled Qianqian across the border hadn’t crossed into Xijing territory, then there was only one possibility—they had headed northwest.

To the west lay Xichu, and beyond that, the Xiongnu lands.

Whoever had abducted Yelu Qianqian must have had a purpose, and must be taking her westward—could it be… they intended to circle around through the northern desert and enter Xijing that way?

“The northern desert…” Ziqing murmured to herself.