Deep in the night, all was silent in the Da Zhou encampment.

Jun Beiyue was reading a letter that had come from Shadow, his brow knit tight. It had been a long time since he’d had any news from that woman — she’d left Shadow behind with Situ Haonan, tossing even him aside, and hadn’t sent a single letter since!

Jun Beiyue sat in silence, pursed his lips, then suddenly rose and headed for the door.

But the moment he stepped outside, he saw Imperial Physician Gu stationed right there, huddled against the cold wind. He had apparently been dozing, but the instant he saw Jun Beiyue emerge, he snapped awake and tried to hide.

Jun Beiyue’s stern brow drew sharply together. His sharp eyes swept over Imperial Physician Gu, then scanned the empty area around them, his already cold face growing colder still.

Imperial Physician Gu instinctively stepped back, while the hidden guards nearby had no choice but to step out into the open, one by one.

Jun Beiyue saw at a glance that these guards were not his own men — they were from the capital!

“Prince Baxian certainly has some nerve!” Jun Beiyue said, nearly grinding the words out through his teeth. The moment he spoke, every guard — even Imperial Physician Gu — dropped to their knees with a thud.

“Prince Yao, forgive us! Prince Yao, spare us!”

They had indeed been sent by Prince Baxian — nominally to protect him, but in truth to watch him.

Jun Beiyue paid the guards no mind. He walked, step by step, up to Imperial Physician Gu and, without warning, drove a vicious kick into him, sending him flying far, far off.

He’d never kept close attendants around him. After Shadow left, Imperial Physician Gu had taken on those duties by default — otherwise, how could these guards possibly get so close to his tent?

“You old fool! Do you take this prince for a three-year-old child who needs watching over? Or a prisoner who needs monitoring?”

Jun Beiyue’s fury raged. He’d thought Imperial Physician Gu had settled down, and never imagined he would only grow bolder!

Imperial Physician Gu trembled with fear, yet he still forced himself to speak his mind — this was a prince he had raised and attended since childhood; he understood exactly what was on the man’s mind.

“Your Highness, it’s so late — where could you possibly be going?”

The moment those words left his mouth, Jun Beiyue’s fists clenched so tight they cracked!

Of course it was Imperial Physician Gu! One guess and he already knew where he meant to go!

Indeed, he meant to go find Han Ziqing. By his own estimate, the stalemate at the northern frontier would hold for at least a while longer, because the Empress of Eastern Qin was also waiting on his next move.

They hadn’t withdrawn their troops, which meant Minhan Mude’er had backed down.

As long as he himself made no move, Eastern Qin wouldn’t move either.

All of this he had already reasoned through. He was neither reckless nor careless — he only wanted to slip away for a few days.

He was a prince, a commander-in-chief. He understood full well the consequences of leaving his army. But at the same time, he was also a husband — a husband who missed his wife, a husband who could not rest easy knowing his wife was alone out there!

“Where this prince goes — does that require your report?” Jun Beiyue demanded coldly.

“Your Highness, this old servant deserves death ten thousand times over, but this old servant—”

Before Imperial Physician Gu could finish, Jun Beiyue cut him off coldly. “Someone — escort Imperial Physician Gu back to the capital at once, and confine him to the Imperial Medical Academy!”

Not killing him was the sole exception — and the greatest mercy Jun Beiyue could offer.

“As for the rest of you — drag them all out and behead them! Send every one of their heads straight to Prince Baxian!”

If he didn’t give Prince Baxian a thorough warning, would Prince Baxian truly believe Jun Beiyue was some child he could keep in check?

Having spoken so harshly, Jun Beiyue turned to leave. Seeing him go, Imperial Physician Gu abandoned all caution and cried out urgently, “Your Highness, think this through! Your Highness, you mustn’t act rashly!”

Jun Beiyue stopped dead in his tracks. A hidden dart slid from his sleeve into his palm — his mercy had always had its limits.

If Imperial Physician Gu had risked his life today to advise him on some other matter, he would certainly have listened carefully. But what Imperial Physician Gu was urging him against was, at its core, a denial of Ziqing — a denial of the woman who had walked with him through brushes with death, again and again, never once abandoning him!

If Imperial Physician Gu could urge him not to go today, then tomorrow he could just as easily urge him to drive Ziqing away!

Anyone who wounded Ziqing — no matter how close to him — he would never, ever spare.

But just as Jun Beiyue slowly turned around, a sudden scream rang out from the grain storehouse not far away!

“Fire! Someone, help! Fire!”

The grain stores were on fire!

How could this be? For a moment everyone froze in shock, even Imperial Physician Gu was thrown into a panic — after all, the words “grain stores on fire” all but foretold a defeated army!

Jun Beiyue abandoned all thought of Imperial Physician Gu and rushed straight for the grain storehouse, and at the same time, the great generals began arriving one after another.

In an instant, the entire camp was in an uproar. Men rushing to fight the fire came in an unbroken stream. It was early winter, a season of dry, windy weather — if the flames spread, there was no telling whether they might consume the entire camp!

But this grain store had been personally sited and personally supervised by Jun Beiyue himself, and every conceivable precaution had been taken.

The Three Great Tiger Generals decisively left to calm the troops, settle the unrest in the camp, and guard against the enemy exploiting the chaos, while Jun Beiyue personally directed operations on site — one group of men saving the grain, another fighting the flames.

The scene was chaotic at first, but before long, everything fell into orderly rhythm.

Before dawn broke, the fire at the grain store had been extinguished.

This was thanks to the fire being spotted the moment it started, keeping the blaze small, and thanks to Jun Beiyue’s calm, decisive handling of the crisis.

Though there were losses from this fire, they weren’t enough to affect the army as a whole.

As the sky slowly lightened, none of the Three Great Generals dared leave their posts without Jun Beiyue’s order, no matter how concerned they were for the grain store’s safety.

Jun Beiyue stared coldly at the pile of ashes on the ground, standing there for a full half hour without saying a word, while everyone around him, having survived the scare, quietly congratulated themselves.

The grain store was a critical location within the army — especially now that they knew the great barbarian shaman was embedded with the Eastern Qin forces, Jun Beiyue had placed even greater importance on it, assigning the most trusted elite troops under General White Tiger to guard it.

Open flame was strictly forbidden here. So how, exactly, had this fire been lit?

As Jun Beiyue’s silence stretched on and on, and after everyone’s initial relief, people gradually began to sense something was wrong.

How had this fire started?

It couldn’t possibly have started on its own — this had to be deliberate.

And the grain store, this vital location, was guarded by the strongest elite troops among the Three Great Tiger Armies — a unit personally trained and most trusted by Prince Yao, handpicked by General White Tiger himself!

Could there be a spy among them?

If there was a spy, and they had already managed to infiltrate this deeply, they surely wouldn’t have set just a single fire — once lit, it would have to be one that no one could possibly put out.

Jun Beiyue’s silence gradually infected the atmosphere around him, growing more and more tense. Everyone’s mind was churning with suspicion — what exactly had happened, and who exactly had set this fire?

Finally, Jun Beiyue raised his head and looked at the assembled men, his eyes deep as the sea and cold as ice. Expressionless, he said coldly, “Everyone who went near the grain store today — report to this prince’s tent at once. Anyone who fails to arrive immediately will be executed on the spot!”

The moment he spoke, everyone froze in shock, yet no one dared delay. One by one they hurried toward the central camp, every single one of them clad in the white armor of the White Tiger elite troops.

But soon, everyone noticed something — a woman, also dressed in silver-white armor, walking at the back of the group. This person was, aside from the old women who worked the cook-fires, likely the only other woman in the entire army.

This was General White Tiger’s adopted daughter, Bai Mengmeng. Didn’t she always stay by General White Tiger’s side, attending to him? Why would she be at the grain store?

Bai Mengmeng, of course, knew everyone was watching her. But that was exactly the effect she wanted. She understood perfectly well that even destroying the grain store tonight wouldn’t shake Jun Beiyue in the slightest.

Setting the fire was merely a beginning.

The corner of her lips curled into a cold smile as she walked with her head held high, chest out, radiating a fierce, striking confidence.