That night, the First Prince led his followers, carrying swords, to slaughter all the sons and loyal servants of his other brothers. The women became his concubines. Wails and screams echoed along the riverbank, the ground’s snow drinking in the blood, turning a brilliant red.

By the third day, the camp still reeked heavily of blood. Yelu Khan remained unconscious, and the tribe’s remaining elders did not intervene as the First Prince eliminated everyone. The guards patrolling the camp had all been replaced with the First Prince’s followers.

From dawn to dusk, Yaoying’s tent was surrounded by the Yelu tribe’s most valiant riders. Xie Qing guarded her, barely leaving her side.

On the fourth day, a guard suddenly rushed into the tent, anxiously saying: “Princess, the Yelu people want to kill our horses!”

When Yaoying married, she had brought a hundred fine steeds from Great Wei, including the precious Wusun horse Li Zhongqian had given her years ago. After arriving at the Yelu tribe, her horses were cared for jointly by Yelu herdsmen and her guards.

Xie Qing sprang to his feet: “I’ll go check.”

Yaoying also stood up: “You go stop those people. I’ll go find the First Prince.”

The order had come from the First Prince – only by stopping him could they save her horses.

Xie Qing thought for a moment, feeling uneasy. He sent other guards to the horse pen while staying by Yaoying’s side to accompany her to the First Prince.

The First Prince was drinking in his tent. When the slave girl went in to announce them, he put down his wine bowl and stood up laughing to welcome them.

Yaoying entered the tent and immediately scolded with a cold face: “Has the Yelu tribe forgotten its alliance with my Great Wei? If the First Prince doesn’t wish to keep his word, then send me back to the Central Plains! I am a princess of Great Wei, the Khatun that the Yelu tribe married. By humiliating me like this, aren’t you afraid Great Wei will send troops to attack?”

The First Prince looked surprised, narrowed his eyes, and smiled: “The Princess misunderstands. We of the Yelu tribe admire the Central Plains dynasty – how could we break our word?”

He paused, looking Yaoying up and down meticulously, his gaze roaming over her body like a knife.

“Rest assured, Princess. According to our customs, even if my royal father unfortunately passes away, I will keep the promise of friendship with Great Wei. With a new Khan, the Princess will still be the Yelu tribe’s most noble Khatun.”

He said meaningfully: “I will certainly cherish the Princess well in my father’s stead.”

Yaoying lowered her eyelashes, her body trembling slightly, as if unable to face the First Prince’s naked gaze, her pale hands clutching tightly at her sleeves.

The First Prince took in her carefully concealed fear, his heart scratching like hundreds of cat claws. He couldn’t help moving closer, making an exaggerated sniffing motion.

Han women were indeed different from the horse-scented women of the tribe – delicate and soft, snow-white and tender, with an alluring fragrance about them.

Even more delicious than the sweetest cheese.

The First Prince’s face showed intoxication as he stepped forward again, reaching out to embrace Yaoying.

Yaoying retreated in fright, trembling more violently: “First Prince, we people of the Central Plains value propriety above all. If the Khan truly meets with misfortune, I must petition the court and wait for an imperial decree before following your tribe’s customs. Otherwise, I would rather die than suffer dishonor!”

She raised her head, tears in her eyes, rippling with spring sentiment.

The beauty refused to show weakness, yet every movement and every glance revealed how frightened and helpless she felt inside. Faced with this tear-stained face, even the First Prince’s heart softened.

This incomparable beauty would be his sooner or later.

The First Prince smiled meaningfully and said: “I’ll have someone write the letter now. The Princess need not worry about such things.”

Yaoying was silent for a moment, then put on a stern face: “Then why did the First Prince order my horses killed? Those fine steeds are part of my dowry, and thus the Yelu tribe’s property – they were meant as gifts for the tribe’s warriors.”

The First Prince’s lips curled: “Since they’re the Princess’s dowry, naturally they can’t be killed.”

He called loudly for his followers to enter the tent, ordering him to release Yaoying’s horses, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Yaoying with an overwhelming force.

“The Princess is made of water – I can barely contain my desire to cherish you. How could I bear to let you suffer any grievance?”

Yaoying’s shoulders trembled lightly as she turned to leave.

Xie Qing followed behind her.

Back in her tent, Yaoying raised her hand to brush away the tears at the corners of her eyes.

Xie Qing said softly: “Princess, you’ve suffered.”

Yaoying shook her head to indicate it was nothing, sitting cross-legged on the felt carpet and lowering her voice: “It seems the First Prince won’t immediately kill Yelu Khan. He acknowledges the alliance between Yelu Khan and the Wei Dynasty.”

After that testing exchange, she could confirm the First Prince wouldn’t tear up the alliance. As long as the First Prince still had scruples about Wei, she would be relatively safe.

“But I still feel very uneasy…”

Yaoying shuddered at the memory of Biemutie’s golden eyes.

The First Prince was rough and bold, daring enough to rob Dharmaraja’s caravan – he didn’t seem like someone who could patiently plan an assassination for half a year. But judging from the other princes’ hasty responses that wedding night, the elders’ self-preservation, and the First Prince’s composed yet vicious methods, he must have prepared for a long time.

In less than three days, he had eliminated everyone in the tribe who opposed him.

Not a single person had escaped the net.

How could it be so meticulous without careful planning?

“All the adult princes are dead, including the Khan’s two adopted sons… Biemutie was highly valued by the Khan, yet he’s unharmed and has become the First Prince’s right-hand man.”

“Everyone is trapped in the camp, only the First Prince’s trusted men can come and go,” Yaoying murmured. “I suspect Biemutie is the real mastermind behind everything.”

These past two days Biemutie hadn’t appeared, but she instinctively felt everything happening in the tribe was connected to him.

Xie Qing also had a strong impression of Biemutie – that foreign man was tall and muscular, with bulging muscles and hawk-like sharp eyes, clearly an expert in horsemanship and archery. During Li Xuanzhen’s major battles to recapture Liangzhou, Biemutie showed great valor, and Li De even rewarded him with a precious bow.

He asked puzzled: “Why would Biemutie betray the Khan who valued him so highly to assist the narrow-minded First Prince? Isn’t he afraid the First Prince will kill him after succeeding?”

Yaoying’s hands trembled slightly as a previous suspicion slowly rose in her mind.

What had been just a suspicion now seemed eight or nine parts certain.

She never imagined she would encounter that cold-blooded killer in the Yelu tribe.

Yelu Khan wasn’t frightening, and she could barely handle the First Prince, but against Biemutie, she had no chance at all. She only wanted to avoid him as much as possible.

But avoiding him didn’t mean she would be safe.

Yaoying pressed her lips together, suppressing her unease, and called for a guard who knew some medicine, to take people to Yelu Khan’s tent.

“The Khan is gravely ill. As Khatun, I should care for him, to show my devotion.”

Tali translated her words into the tribe’s language.

The warriors at the tent entrance looked at each other, sending someone to report to the First Prince.

The First Prince had just been aroused by desire and was enjoying himself with a foreign woman. Hearing the news, he squeezed the woman in his arms and said with a grin: “The Princess is so righteous – it’s the Yelu tribe’s good fortune. Let the Princess take good care of my royal father.”

The old man wouldn’t live many more days. If the Princess wanted to care for the old man, let her – it would be good for her to witness the old man’s death with her own eyes, to make her completely submit to him.

Thinking of how the tear-filled Princess Wenzhao had raised her small face to look at him with such touching charm and allure, the First Prince felt even more excited.

Cries came from the foreign woman in the tent.

Yelu Khan’s tent had a strange, corrupt, sour stench mixed with sheep fat and strong alcohol. When Yaoying entered, she could barely raise her head from the stench.

Several foreign women guarded the bedside. Seeing Yaoying, they exchanged surprised glances.

Yaoying gestured for her guard to check Yelu Khan’s purse, took the felt cloth from a foreign woman’s hand, and naturally sat down beside the bed.

The foreign women hesitated, then respectfully withdrew.

Yelu Khan lay among the felt blankets, his face ashen, breathing weakly. The guard looked at his complexion, lifted his eyelids to check, and shook his head at Yaoying.

Yaoying had expected this – Yelu Khan was certainly beyond saving, otherwise the First Prince wouldn’t have dared let her enter the tent.

She remained sitting by the bed, gradually growing accustomed to the tent’s smell.

At night she stayed instead of leaving. Voices came from outside the tent as the First Prince and Biemutie entered one after another.

The First Prince glanced at Yaoying without concern, turning to speak with Biemutie.

Yaoying kept her eyes lowered, her manner docile and submissive.

Biemutie’s pale yellow eyes stared at her for a while, his lips curling into a rakish smile as he said something to the First Prince in the tribal language.

The First Prince listened, looked at Yaoying with lecherous eyes, and replied something in the tribal language.

Yaoying remained motionless.

But Tali beside her changed color, her whole body trembling.

The First Prince kicked toward Tali, shouting: “Worthless slave! Why aren’t you translating my words for the Princess?”

Tali shrank back twice, hiding behind Yaoying, not daring to make a sound.

The First Prince watched Yaoying’s slightly trembling hands and laughed loudly, turning to leave the tent.

Biemutie followed him out.

Before turning away, he suddenly looked back, his gaze like lightning, sweeping over Yaoying’s form.

Yaoying kept her back to him, head lowered as she comforted Tali, her palms damp with sweat.

Soon after, the tent flap closed softly – Biemutie had left.

Yaoying asked Tali in a low voice: “What did the First Prince say just now?”

Tali whispered: “The First Prince said some crude, disrespectful things.”

The First Prince had said he would tear off the Princess’s clothes in front of all the Wei guards – she didn’t dare translate this for the Princess.

Yaoying was silent for a long while, tears flowing down her cheeks as she lay against Yelu Khan’s bed, sobbing quietly.

“Even without you telling me, I can guess… these barbarians from beyond the frontier… what good words could they say?”

“I hate Li Xuanzhen! How heartless! I am a princess of Great Wei, of noble birth, yet cast away to this frontier land, living among these barbarians… and the Khan won’t live long… what will become of me…”

She cried for a long time.

Tali was at a loss, wringing out a cloth to wipe Yaoying’s tears, consoling her with gentle words until she gradually stopped crying.

The fierce northwestern wind howled outside, shadows moving beyond the tent flap.

Yaoying lowered her head to wipe her tears, her eyes red from crying, yet clear and calm beneath.

In the days that followed, Yaoying watched over Yelu Khan daily. The First Prince and Biemutie would occasionally bring tribal elders to check on him.

Yelu Khan’s condition worsened day by day, and after about ten days, he finally passed away.

That midnight, Xie Qing told Yaoying that after the Khan’s death, Biemutie had left the camp with several followers, destination unknown.

Her suspicions were confirmed, and Yaoying’s heart began racing.

Biemutie was indeed no ordinary person.

According to Yelu tribe custom, the tribe members had to hold a cremation ceremony for their deceased Khan, wrapping him in white cloth and placing him on a raised platform to be burned by fierce flames, allowing the Khan’s spirit to return to the embrace of the Zoroastrian deity.

The next day, as night fell, the tribe’s men and women gathered in the square to view Yelu Khan’s remains and bid him farewell.

Under the cold moonlight, the tribe members sang mournful dirges.

The First Prince grew impatient with the singing and barged into Yaoying’s tent, reaching to tear her clothes: “Starting today, I am the new Khan. Tonight is my wedding night with the Princess – no one is to disturb us!”

Xie Qing immediately drew his sword, standing before Yaoying.

The First Prince’s grasp met empty air. His brows furrowed as he sneered: “What’s this? The Princess is unwilling?”

Yaoying, dressed in the Yelu tribe’s women’s formal attire, gracefully bowed to the First Prince. “Please forgive me, First Prince. Tonight is the old Khan’s funeral ceremony. Please allow me to bid the old Khan a final farewell, otherwise, my heart would be unsettled and I couldn’t serve the First Prince wholeheartedly.”

She lowered her voice, speaking gently, the half-exposed neck between her crossed-collar robe white as jade: “Tomorrow, the First Prince will be my Khan.”

This tender, lilting tone immediately made the First Prince weak at the knees. After hesitating briefly, he said: “Fine then! Go!”

Yaoying stood up and walked out of the tent without looking back, arriving at the square where people had gathered.

Great fires blazed in the center. People knelt before the bonfires – some sobbing quietly, some wailing loudly, some sitting in small groups drinking to ward off the cold, some staring numbly as the old Khan’s body turned to ash in the fierce flames.

Yaoying passed through the crowd, stepping one by one onto the earthen platform at the front.

Her hair was braided and crowned with flowers, the braids adorned with pearls and jade, strings of precious stones hanging at her neck, her waist wrapped in colored silk, wearing the embroidered robe that only a Khatun could wear. Walking in the moonlight, she appeared like a goddess from legend.

The crowd stopped crying, all raising their heads to look at her in unison.

Yaoying stood on the earthen platform facing the crowd, feeling hundreds of strange eyes fixed upon her.

Tali stood beside her, clearing her throat.

Yaoying waved her hand, looked around, and spoke slowly: “The Khan once told me that the Yelu tribe are descendants of the divine wolf, that the blood of the divine wolf flows in every Yelu warrior.”

The Yelu men and women below looked at her in surprise.

The Princess’s pronunciation was clear, her voice crisp, speaking not in the Han language they couldn’t understand, but clearly in their own Yelu tongue!

Tali also looked at Yaoying in disbelief: The princess could speak their language!

Yaoying’s expression remained calm as she looked at the grieving strangers before the fire: “My husband Yelu Hazhu was a brave warrior. At twelve years old he left his parents with tribal followers to lead armies in battle for his territory. He led you to defeat one arrogant enemy after another, found rich lands for you, and captured countless cattle and sheep. He protected you, nurtured you – he was the son of the divine wolf, a valiant father, a wise Khan.”

She glanced into the distance – the First Prince and his followers hadn’t noticed what was happening here yet.

“And you…” Yaoying’s tone suddenly turned satirical, her gaze sweeping over the numb faces of the tribal warriors, “You are so cowardly! The First Prince Fu Man cruelly killed his brothers, betrayed his father, and slaughtered your tribesmen, yet you hide like docile sheep, turning a blind eye. You have sullied the divine wolf’s bloodline, bringing shame to the Khan’s spirit in heaven!”

A pond-like silence fell over the black mass of people.

The Yelu tribe’s young and old, men and women stood motionless, staring blankly at Yaoying.

The First Prince’s followers flew into a rage, turning back toward the tent to report to him, but were stopped by others.

Yaoying stood before the bonfire under the silver moonlight, meeting the crowd’s silent gaze. She quickened her pace, calling out: “The Khan’s spirit in heaven watches us now! I, Princess Wenzhao of Great Wei, Khatun of the Yelu tribe, will personally avenge the Khan, using the traitor’s fresh blood to sacrifice to the Khan’s spirit!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the First Prince’s followers pushed through the crowd toward her. She immediately turned and jumped down from the platform. Xie Qing, hidden in the crowd, leaped up to catch her, making several bounds to escape their pursuit.

“Catch her!”

More and more Yelu warriors joined the chase.

Xie Qing carried Yaoying, running at full speed. Yaoying pulled a whistle from her sleeve and blew it with a whooping sound.

The sharp whistle sound carried beyond the camp. Suddenly, several sharp sounds splitting the air rang out around the quiet camp. In the pitch-black sky, several silver points of light flashed like meteors across the heavens, making bone-chilling whistling sounds as they fell toward the camp.

The Yelu people had never seen such a terrifying sight. They stared dumbfounded at the falling stars.

The silent dome of heaven seemed torn in two by invisible hands as bright points trailing silver tails howled down one after another.

Then fires broke out everywhere.

Tent after tent suddenly burst into flames, bright yellow fire reaching toward the sky in clusters.

The warriors pursuing Yaoying stopped in terror.

From the stunned crowd came an anguished cry: “Divine punishment! Divine punishment! This is divine punishment sent by the Khan’s spirit in heaven!”

The Yelu people were panic-stricken. They tried to flee but their legs were weak and wouldn’t move.

“Divine wolf protect us! Heavenly Spirit above!”

“I am not Fu Man’s man!”

They knelt on the ground, wailing and trembling, begging for mercy.

The entire camp fell into chaos.

The First Prince, drinking in his tent, finally realized something was wrong and rushed out, seeing the flashing lights in the sky. His eyes widened, a trace of fear crossing them.

“Divine punishment! First Prince, this is divine punishment!”

“The Khan’s spirit has appeared!”

The First Prince’s face twisted. Hiding his fear, he drew his sword and cut down several followers who turned to flee, shouting angrily: “Don’t be afraid – this is sorcery!”

He rushed to the square carrying his bloodied sword, cutting down fleeing followers as he went, his eyes gleaming with bloodthirsty cold light.

The tribe members grew more terrified, no longer daring to follow him, scattering in all directions.

Meanwhile, at the riverbank on the camp’s eastern edge, Yaoying quickly mounted her Wusun horse, giving its belly a hard squeeze. Under the protection of Xie Qing and other guards, she galloped away toward the Central Plains.

Behind them, the great fires in the camp continued to burn fiercely.