“Slap!”
A sealed letter was flung violently onto the desk. Jun Beiyue’s fury was overwhelming—his expression looked as though he could kill someone on the spot. For a moment, not even the Three Great Tiger Generals nor Jun Beichen dared make a sound in the tent!
This letter had just arrived, sent from Mobei!
Could something have gone wrong in Mobei?
Originally, when the three Tiger Generals had heard that the prince had left Mobei entirely in the Princess Consort’s hands, they had all worried a great deal, and Jun Beichen had asked about it several times—but Jun Beiyue had always said there was no problem.
Had something actually gone wrong now?
What kind of place was Mobei?
Once the Xijing battlefield became locked in stalemate, Mobei became the single most critical location—closest to Akbachu, the most likely place to set fire to the rear of Xijing’s forces!
Never mind the Xiliang troops—the Xiongnu alone would be more than Han Ziqing could possibly handle!
White Tiger General hesitated for a moment, about to speak up and ask, when Jun Beiyue cut in coldly, “Second brother, I’m leaving the northern frontier to you. If Wanyan Lie doesn’t withdraw north of the highland plateau, keep fighting.”
“Where are you going? What happened in Mobei?” Jun Beichen asked hurriedly.
“Mobei has been taken. It’s just… the Lord of Nangong City is dead. I need to go there myself!” Jun Beiyue said, and without further explanation, immediately headed for the door.
He was furious—furious at Yingzi’s dereliction of duty. Ziqing hadn’t understood what the Lord of Nangong City meant to Situ Haonan; Yingzi should have known, should have warned her!
He was desperate—desperate because Ziqing was in danger!
Going by the date on the letter, the battle at Mobei had ended long ago. That woman’s talent for warfare had proven even more formidable than he’d anticipated. So many days had passed since the victory at Mobei—knowing Ziqing as he did, she would certainly have pushed deep into Xiliang by now, coordinating with Situ Haonan to strike Wanyan Lie from both sides!
Right now, all Jun Beiyue could hope for was that Wanyan Lie might hold out a little longer.
Long enough, at least, for him to arrive. He knew Situ Haonan’s temperament better than anyone—the moment the war ended, Situ Haonan was sure to come after Ziqing over this!
He might even drag Ziqing back to Nangong City to atone, or even choose to die together with her!
That boy didn’t care about much of anything—except the Lord of Nangong City. That was his one forbidden line, his one taboo!
Jun Beiyue was just about to mount his horse when, to his surprise, all three Tiger Generals and Jun Beichen came rushing out.
White Tiger General grabbed the reins, staring at Jun Beiyue with agitation. “Your Highness, you can’t! Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve—you promised the soldiers you’d personally reward them and share the New Year’s Eve feast with them! The men have been looking forward to it for so long!”
“Fourth brother, a commander cannot go back on his word. What exactly has happened? However urgent it is, surely one more day won’t make a difference?” Jun Beichen also urged. Once someone who only understood strategy on paper, these past months of personally leading troops, following at Jun Beiyue’s side day and night, had taught him a great deal.
“Your Highness, whatever happened in Mobei—if the Lord of Nangong City is dead, so be it! That’s our Princess Consort’s doing, her skill!”
“Exactly, Your Highness—if she can even kill the Lord of Nangong City, who could possibly be a match for our Princess Consort? Don’t worry about it!”
…
Jun Beiyue had no desire to explain this, and no time to spare for explaining it either!
Situ Haonan truly was no match for Ziqing—but Situ Haonan knew Ziqing’s secrets, knew her weaknesses!
And what if that boy resorted to underhanded tactics?
Han Ziqing was clever, undoubtedly—but sometimes, when dealing with people she knew well, it was easy to take things for granted.
She didn’t understand that no matter how justified her reasons for killing the Lord of Nangong City were, none of it changed who he was—Situ Haonan’s own grandfather!
Of course, Jun Beiyue thought this way only because he didn’t know the full circumstances at the time—that the Lord of Nangong City had personally led the assassination attempt.
The letter had only reported the outcome, not the process.
“White Tiger, tell the men there’s a situation on the western frontier. This feast—consider it a debt I owe them,” Jun Beiyue said coldly, placing his large hand over White Tiger General’s, forcing him to release the reins.
The others were about to try persuading him further, but Jun Beiyue had already cracked his whip and charged out, his figure shooting off like an arrow—no one could stop him.
No one knew that what he feared most of all was Ziqing’s identity being exposed. Once it became known throughout the martial world, Ziqing would inevitably become a target for everyone!
Trouble like that wasn’t something they couldn’t handle—it was that they simply had no time to deal with it right now!
Everything was under his control. Once the war fully ended, the peace conference would convene immediately!
He intended to hold the peace conference in Xijing, timed to arrive before the sand-worship ceremony at Mingsha Mountain, so that Xijing would submit to Da Zhou, placing both Akbachu and Mingsha Mountain firmly under his control!
There had to be a reason behind the annual singing sands of Mingsha Mountain, including the hidden chamber beneath it—he had been investigating, puzzling over it, all along!
He intended to properly investigate Mingsha Mountain on the day of the sand-worship ceremony!
The secret of the isolated island had already been delayed a full year because of the war—he didn’t want to drag it out any longer!
No one felt the urgency, the sense of crisis, more than he did—perhaps not even that woman Han Ziqing felt it as keenly as he did!
As long as that woman remained immune to all poisons, she would be in danger—danger, every single moment!
Because there was simply no way to estimate just who in this world, how many people, were searching for someone immune to all poisons, scheming to cultivate a Gu!
Danger unseen, danger that couldn’t be measured—that was the truest kind of danger.
None of this, of course, could Jun Beiyue explain, could he say any of it aloud.
Back at camp, he had appeared calm enough. But the moment he charged out of the camp on horseback, he could no longer maintain that calm at all—he rode like a man possessed, whip cracking, galloping wildly.
From the northern highland plateau to Akbachu, even at his fastest, would take four days—and he had never once traveled to the western frontier of Xijing; he had no idea how long that would take.
All he knew was that, going by the date on the letter, within the next few days Ziqing would be joining forces with Situ Haonan to strike at Wanyan Lie.
For the first time in his life, he felt utterly uncertain about something—and so, for the first time in his life, he was also panicked, desperate, riding forward like a man gone mad.
So consumed with madness that he’d lost all reason, lost the vigilance he should have had!
Suddenly, the galloping horse came to an abrupt halt, pitching forward instantly, and in that same instant Jun Beiyue leapt into the air.
At such speed, even a small stone could cause a horse to stumble—that alone would have been nothing unusual. But at the very moment Jun Beiyue leapt clear, countless sharp arrows came pouring in from every direction—left, right, front, back, even from above—swarming toward him like a storm!
An ambush!
A carefully planned, long-prepared ambush!
Under ordinary circumstances, Jun Beiyue would have sensed something was wrong in the surroundings long before he even got close to this place!
Under ordinary circumstances, even if he’d fallen into a trap, he could at the very least have outrun the arrows and escaped the encirclement!
But just now, his entire heart had been consumed with worry for that woman’s safety—he’d had no spare thought left to consider anything else!
A thousand arrows, like a net, closing in without a single gap!
Jun Beiyue was a trapped beast!
And yet, even unprepared, even a step too slow, he refused to give up. In that instant, he made his decision, unleashing his internal energy in a burst that transformed into countless blades of wind, exploding outward from his entire body, instantly deflecting the arrows that were about to pierce him—and in that same opening, he managed to draw his longsword!
But almost simultaneously, a fierce long arrow came whistling through the air with a sharp “whoosh” and struck him square in the back!
The force behind that arrow was extraordinary. Jun Beiyue spun around violently, and there, behind him, stood none other than…