The Lord of Nangong City and Madam Situ had been walking along steadily, with Madam Situ urging them on the whole way, eager to reach Yelu Qianqian and deliver her to Xiliang as quickly as possible.

But at this moment, the Lord of Nangong City suddenly stopped in his tracks. From where Ziqing was positioned, she could see everything ahead with perfect clarity — she wasn’t directly behind them, but off to one side, which not only made it easier to stay hidden, but also gave her an excellent line of sight!

Yet nothing seemed to be happening up ahead at all!

Why had the Lord of Nangong City stopped? Not only was Ziqing puzzled, but Madam Situ was puzzled too. Somewhat on guard, she asked quietly, “Father, is something wrong?”

Ziqing immediately strained to listen closely, but the Lord of Nangong City’s guard was exceptionally strong. He leaned close to Madam Situ’s ear and murmured something too quiet to hear, and Madam Situ nodded repeatedly, seeming to approve wholeheartedly of what he said.

“Your Highness, what are they…” a Shadow Guard whispered, thoroughly puzzled.

By rights, if the Lord of Nangong City had noticed someone tailing them, he’d surely have turned back to search directly. But acting like this instead — what exactly was going on?

Ziqing waved a hand, signaling everyone to stay quiet. She gave up trying to listen and instead narrowed her eyes, watching closely for any change in the expressions of the Lord of Nangong City and Madam Situ.

Soon, the Lord of Nangong City finished speaking, and then, to everyone’s surprise, he and Madam Situ each headed in a different direction — one left, one right!

This… what was going on!

“Your Highness, what do we do?” The Shadow Guard was no longer calm at all. After all, in snow-drifted forest this deep, if they lost track of even one person, finding them again would be extremely difficult — especially with fighters as skilled as the Lord of Nangong City and Madam Situ.

Ziqing said nothing, quietly rising to carefully survey the terrain ahead, then crouched back down and simply said four words: “Wait here.”

“Your Highness, what if…”

Before the Shadow Guard could finish, he was immediately silenced by the sharp look in Ziqing’s eyes.

Still, the Shadow Guard’s concern was valid. What if the Lord of Nangong City went to find Yelu Qianqian while Madam Situ was merely a decoy — or the reverse, Madam Situ went to find her while the Lord of Nangong City was the decoy? If so, waiting here would be entirely pointless.

Seeing Ziqing say nothing more, simply brushing the snow off a rock and sitting down, apparently prepared to wait for a long while, the two Shadow Guards exchanged a glance, both growing anxious.

Finally, one of them couldn’t hold back and spoke up. “Your Highness, why don’t the two of us split up and go take a look?”

“Want to make a bet? I’ll wager they’ll definitely come back this way.” Ziqing said with a smile.

Seeing this lady’s smile was no easier than seeing the lord’s — the Shadow Guard found himself momentarily stunned.

“Your Highness, how can you be so certain?”

“To the right lies a cliff, to the left lies the snowy mountain. Do you think Nanny Qin’s hiding place would be beneath a cliff, or up on a freezing mountain?” Ziqing countered.

Throughout the pursuit, she’d kept her distance during the day, only closing in at night!

She hadn’t been foolishly following the people ahead the whole way without thinking — from time to time, she’d study the terrain, memorizing the lay of the land whenever they reached higher ground!

Even the Lord of Nangong City, despite years spent in Mobei, might not be entirely familiar with this particular stretch of southeastern forest.

And it had been nearly a month since she’d first discovered Nanny Qin in the northwestern forest. Whether Nanny Qin had been hiding for a month or just half a month, surviving that long in the icy, snowy mountains would require finding a wind-sheltered cave for warmth!

The direction sheltered from the wind was directly ahead of them — neither left nor right could possibly be it!

The Lord of Nangong City possessed extremely high martial skill and was a seasoned veteran of the martial world. Even if he hadn’t actually spotted anything, he had clearly remained alert the entire way.

What he was doing now was obviously a test.

He wanted absolute certainty.

This father-daughter pair splitting up now, one left and one right, was nothing more than a show — they wouldn’t go far.

This was a form of probing — testing whether there were any followers or tails in the vicinity they hadn’t yet detected!

Hearing Ziqing’s explanation, the Shadow Guards were both filled with admiration. They’d never imagined the princess consort, a mere woman, could think so many steps ahead.

They certainly didn’t dare take her up on that bet!

Under the pale moonlight, Ziqing watched the snowy ground in silence. After sitting so long, she finally began to feel the cold, rubbing her hands together for warmth as she asked, “Still no word from Yingzi?”

The Lord of Nangong City and Madam Situ hadn’t tested for tails earlier and hadn’t waited until later either — choosing to do it precisely now clearly meant they were close to Nanny Qin’s hiding place.

She had no idea whether the Emperor of Xijing and Jun Beiyue would manage to reach an agreement.

With Xijing and Xiliang locked in chaotic war, and Da Zhou now at odds with the Xiongnu as well, given Jun Beiyue’s temperament, he surely wouldn’t concern himself with the special status of Nangong City or the small Mobei town — as long as he had sufficient troops, no matter how formidable the Lord of Nangong City’s skill, he would undoubtedly move to snatch the girl back by force.

The Lord of Nangong City, dressed in full night-travel attire, clearly trying to remain unseen, likely had no wish to openly interfere in imperial affairs either.

As for the Emperor of Xijing, considering the special status of the small Mobei town, he would surely avoid openly deploying troops there — after all, the Emperor of Xijing had no wish to offend the Xiongnu.

Ziqing turned the matter over in her mind from every angle, pondering, waiting.

She wanted nothing more than to see Yelu Qianqian right away, to drag that wretched girl before the Emperor of Xijing at once, so she herself could finally get to the battlefield, bring her mercenaries, bring her gunpowder, and crush Xiliang utterly — let’s see if Wanyan Lie dared to act so arrogant then.

But she had to hold back. At a moment as critical as this, a small lack of patience could ruin everything, especially when facing an old fox as seasoned as the Lord of Nangong City, practically a thousand years in cunning!

Ziqing and the two Shadow Guards waited in place. In the bitter cold, no one dared to sleep, nor dared to light a fire and expose themselves — they could only hold their position and wait for the sky to lighten.

Ziqing estimated that once dawn broke, the Lord of Nangong City and Madam Situ would surely return to this spot.

But very soon, events proved Ziqing wrong.

The sky had just begun to grow faintly light when a tall figure suddenly dropped down out of nowhere, landing not far ahead of them.

Ziqing immediately snapped to alert, assuming it was Madam Situ returning. But upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an old woman instead — dressed in Central Plains style, yet her features…

Ziqing was still puzzling over this when a Shadow Guard whispered urgently, “That’s a Xiongnu!”

A Xiongnu?

A Xiongnu disguised as someone from the Central Plains, showing up here — who was she, and what was she after?

The Shadow Guard glanced around, and seeing no movement nearby, murmured, “My lord, kill her, before she ruins our plans!”

Ziqing shook her head, about to speak, when she saw the old woman pull a five-colored venomous lizard out of her sleeve. The lizard’s tail swung ceaselessly, and within moments, pointed directly ahead!

“Heh heh!”

The old woman’s laugh was deeply eerie — even without seeing her face, the sound alone would have sent chills down anyone’s spine.

Ziqing didn’t even notice she’d unconsciously held her breath, feeling an inexplicable dread toward that five-colored venomous lizard — though exactly what she was afraid of, she couldn’t quite say.

At this moment, she had no time to dwell on it further. She waved a hand toward the Shadow Guards, signaling them to be careful.