Feng Zhiwei looked at his eyes that held no trace of amusement and slowly smiled as well, saying: “Nowhere. I’m waiting for the Commander to capture the real culprit.”

“Perfect, we share the same wish.” Ning Yi smiled even more warmly.

Feng Zhiwei twitched the corners of her mouth, thinking that since the person wasn’t even dead, why was His Royal Highness following along for such a trivial matter? She stood leaning against his horse, looking up with great admiration at the extremely magnificent black horse, smiling: “Your Highness, this is a black steed tributed by the neighboring country of Dayue, isn’t it? A rare breed in the world. I heard Dayue can only tribute a few each year.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the Tenth Prince Ning Ji’s gaze suddenly turned over, looking at Ning Yi with some concern.

Ning Yi’s expression remained unchanged. He lowered his eyes to look at Feng Zhiwei, who calmly met his gaze. That woman slightly raised her head. Though she had the pale appearance of a young man, her eyes remained calm and clear—really showing nothing abnormal.

His gaze deepened slightly. He gave a very brief “Mm” and turned his face away somewhat absent-mindedly.

Feng Zhiwei seemed not to notice his sudden emotional shift and enthusiastically reached out to stroke the horse’s body. Ning Ji’s expression changed dramatically as he called out: “Don’t touch Nie Dian carelessly! Its temper is viol—eh?”

That famous steed with an extraordinarily temperamental nature suddenly had a change of heart today. At Feng Zhiwei’s touch, it only yielded symbolically, then shifted its body slightly and even moved a bit closer to her.

By this time Ning Yi had also turned his head back, some surprise in his eyes. Feng Zhiwei withdrew her hand and smiled sheepishly: “I apologize. This horse is truly beautiful—I couldn’t resist.”

She smiled faintly with an innocent look, innocently thinking that not long ago the wide-robed guest had chatted with her casually, mentioning that the Second Prince and Sixth Prince had once competed for Dayue’s famous steeds, finally making such a fuss that the Emperor nearly invoked ancestral family law, and the Sixth Prince was confined for three months because of it. Looking at it now, the story was indeed accurate.

“Boom!”

Before they had finished speaking, the constables who had received orders to search the small courtyard were just about to kick open the gate when a tremendous sound suddenly came from within the courtyard.

In an instant, half the courtyard wall collapsed. The furnace that had been continuously brewing medicine by the wall flew up and smashed into several constables charging at the front. Those people jumped away with howls of pain, while more people were knocked to the ground by the blast.

Amid the spreading gray smoke, two figures suddenly flew up from the courtyard ruins. One wore wide black robes and a black wood mask—precisely the wide-robed mysterious guest who had kept Feng Zhiwei busy for quite a while. The other was unfamiliar. Seen from afar, he had a slender build and wore a gauze hat. His sky-water blue robes danced like flowing clouds. His movement technique was extremely strange—rising straight up from the smoke and dust, his entire body still as a frozen abyss. The dusk sunlight struck his shoulder, and the sky-water blue emanated a faint watery luminescence, like a jade-carved divine statue rising in dazzling light.

In that instant everyone below looked up. Even Feng Zhiwei squinted her eyes, feeling that even without seeing his face, his temperament and bearing were already overwhelming.

In just that instant of being awed by such elegance, those two had already rushed close. It seemed they had originally been sparring in the small courtyard, and by coincidence were disturbed when Feng Zhiwei brought people, so they broke out of the building.

The wide-robed guest noticed Feng Zhiwei and gave a surprised “Eh” as he swept past. That blue-robed, gauze-hatted man, however, followed closely behind like light smoke. His hand reached out toward the wide-robed guest’s shoulder. The wide-robed guest instinctively dodged, but that person surprisingly didn’t change direction and reached straight for Feng Zhiwei’s face.

In the sunlight his fingers were like jade, but the fingertips showed a coral-like red.

This person’s speed was shockingly fast. Feng Zhiwei’s eyes blurred as the fierce wind already pressed against her face. Just as she was lamenting her flower-like, jade-like countenance’s imminent farewell, Ning Yi at her side suddenly gave a cold snort.

Before the snort ended, his sleeve had already swept up in the wind, and amid the billowing, a jade-green light flashed.

Heaven and earth both brightened for a moment.

The brightness was overwhelming—everyone instantly closed their eyes. Feng Zhiwei was no exception, but she struggled to keep a sliver of her eyes open trying to see the situation. Vaguely, soft fabric suddenly brushed across her face—sky-water blue as clear and pure as heaven, like the color of the firmament after being washed by wind and rain. The pale, sparse sunlight seen through the fabric’s warp and weft seemed润and clear because of it, and that feeling brushing her face was soft and light, like a dream shattered at the height of glory.

Then she felt moon-white radiance flash, the dreamlike sky-water blue faded, and a gorgeous jade-green silk ribbon swept horizontally before her eyes. Pale gold mandala flowers bloomed seductively, and a moist droplet suddenly fell on the point between her brows.

That droplet was a vivid red color, sticking between her brows like a rouge beauty mark carelessly placed by fate.

All these various changes happened in an instant. Feng Zhiwei suddenly felt confused in her heart. She didn’t understand what had happened, but a faint chill arose in her heart. Then she felt her body lighten as she was involuntarily pulled away.

Three figures vanished in an instant.

The scene fell into deathly quiet.

After a long while, someone gave a soft snort, then came Ning Ji’s voice, carrying some shock and unease: “Sixth Brother, you’re injured!”

The Nine Cities Commander was greatly alarmed and hurriedly rushed over to inquire. Ning Yi’s face was expressionless as he looked lightly in the direction Feng Zhiwei had disappeared. He was no longer sitting on his horse, and his former saddle had somehow flipped over.

Just now, when he had exchanged palm strikes with that blue-robed man and instinctively tried to save her face, that damnable woman had first tampered with his saddle.

Very clearly, earlier she had deliberately brought up the old matter of Dayue’s tribute horses, causing him displeasure and distraction, and took the opportunity to install a simple barb on his saddle. When he swept down from the horse to intercept that person, he pulled the barb, flipping it up to prick the horse’s body. When the horse moved, his movements were slowed by a beat, so not only did he fail to stop the other party, he even sustained some injury.

Did she know that blue-robed man? Had the two agreed to attack him together?

Ning Yi’s face was expressionless, but a sinister coldness grew between his brows. Without a word in response to the Commander’s concerned inquiries, he slowly drew a silk handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe the bloodstains on his hand, then casually tossed it away. The silk handkerchief floated to the ground, with several delicate flowers embroidered on it, trembling in the wind, vivid as life.

Then he turned around indifferently and stepped on that exquisitely embroidered beauty’s handkerchief, grinding it into the mud without the slightest care.

The dusk sunlight seemed brilliant but was actually cold, separating out the slight chill of his smiling lips.

Good, good, well done—