“I… I can tell you Yélu Qi’s whereabouts!”

Jing Hengbo was startled, her eyes showing slight confusion. “Oh?”

She indeed had plans to gather information about Yélu Qi from the Yélu family, because when Pei Shu had pursued Xu Pingran, he discovered Yélu family members serving her. The Yélu family’s Third Young Master was a disciple of Heaven’s Gate, and the Yélu family had always fawned over Heaven’s Gate. So the Yélu family might know about Xu Pingran and Yélu Qi’s situation. That’s why she’d deliberately made this detour through Yu Kingdom. But in her thinking, this should be classified information—even if someone in the Yélu family knew, it shouldn’t be a junior like Yélu Zhe.

Yélu Zhe quickly nodded, hearing the approaching footsteps outside, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

In an instant, Jing Hengbo had made her decision. She grabbed Yélu Zhe and vanished in a flash.

Nan Jin watched her leave and followed without hesitation, not even caring about Lei Xi and his group.

At the same time, the tent flap was suddenly thrown open with a whoosh. Jiang Ya rushed in with his men, just brushing past Nan Jin as she hurriedly dropped a single sentence: “Lei Xi is a spy.”

Upon entering, Jiang Ya was shocked pale by the bloody stench filling the tent.

Seven or eight young masters lay dead in the tent. Those fortunate enough to survive were slowly crawling up from the ground. Ignoring Jiang Ya and the others, they roared and pounced on Lei Xi. Five or six people pressed Lei Xi beneath them—cutting with knives, stabbing with swords, tearing with hands, biting with teeth, striking with elbows, punching with fists—attacking viciously with deadly intent amid banging and clanging sounds. Lei Xi’s screams from the bottom of the pile grew sharper and more terrifying. Streams of blood wound from struggling legs, flowing right to the soldiers’ feet.

Jiang Ya and the others turned pale, momentarily stunned into forgetting to act. After a while, those noble young masters struggled and rolled away, each lying on the ground gasping, spitting continuously—the blood foam they expelled contained Lei Xi’s flesh.

Someone still cursed hatefully: “Treacherous thief! When rescue fails, you try to kill and silence—daring to attack us grandfathers, seeking death!”

Jiang Ya looked down at the unrecognizable bloody mess on the ground and shivered. He quickly ordered soldiers to guard the remaining people properly. Meanwhile, he worried about how to handle these people. Though the Yélu family was wrong to rescue prisoners first, detaining these Lin Province prominent family offspring was also risky—one careless move could anger Yu Kingdom. When riding a tiger, it’s hard to dismount. Would these two thousand men have to fight all of Yu Kingdom? But simply releasing them didn’t seem right either—they’d lose their final bargaining chip. Jiang Ya was just a convoy captain, ranked only as a colonel. Thinking this matter could become a national dispute, sweat immediately beaded his forehead.

Suddenly scouts reported discovering large numbers of ambushed Yu Kingdom soldiers in the valley ahead who had lost their capacity to act—apparently someone had already dealt with them first. Everyone looked at each other, wondering what expert had silently helped them eliminate such a formidable ambush force.

Someone said: “Could it be that person…” pointing in the direction Nan Jin had gone.

Everyone nodded. They’d all seen Nan Jin act before, and naturally assumed she’d discovered this tent situation too. In this entire escort convoy, besides this strange female expert, who else could accomplish such things?

Suddenly someone else came running to report that the relative of Commander Ying they’d been ordered to guard had disappeared. Hearing this, Jiang Ya’s expression darkened like water as he snorted coldly: “That boy was probably also a spy! If he escaped, so be it. If we discover his whereabouts, seize him immediately!”

“Yes!”

…

The Yélu family had an extensive estate in Lin Province, Yu Kingdom, housing Yélu De and various branch family descendants. Yélu De was Yélu Qi’s grand-uncle, while Yélu Zhe was Yélu Qi’s cousin. Yélu De’s branch mostly served in Lin Prefecture and surrounding cities, controlling local political, military, and economic power, managing the Yélu family’s southern influence in Yu Kingdom. This was an important branch of the capital Yélu family.

This was information Jing Hengbo had learned from Yélu Zhe, who seemed very cooperative, saying whatever he knew. According to him, last winter the Lin Province Yélu family had received an honored guest. Though his status wasn’t sufficient to contact the guest directly, he had seen her from afar when she arrived. The guest had many followers, all dressed in snow-white clothing. Though slightly weary, their demeanor was proudly transcendent. To receive this honored guest, the Yélu family had specially convened a family meeting, requiring everyone from top to bottom to be thoroughly courteous and respectful to the guest and all her attendants, with no offense permitted.

At that time, Old Master De had specially selected several outstanding young family members, deliberately arranging for them to appear before the guest, hoping this branch might be lucky enough to catch the guest’s eye and become another Third Young Master, rewriting this branch’s destiny. Yélu Zhe was among them. After receiving permission, he had entered the courtyard to serve tea to the guest.

When he brought servants into the hall, he couldn’t see the legendary mysterious guest and was about to leave disappointed. But suddenly he heard the sound of cups and dishes shattering from the inner hall, along with someone’s slightly urgent breathing—as if the person inside was extremely angry. Yélu Zhe became curious, thinking this room only allowed that noble person to enter casually. That noble person was legendarily proud and coldly aloof—how could they have such loss of composure?

Then he heard a woman’s voice from inside, cold and slightly trembling: “Yélu Qi, do you really think I won’t kill you?”

Hearing this name, he was extremely shocked, never imagining that Yélu Qi—rumored to have long betrayed the family—was actually with that noble person, apparently captured. Curious, though he had walked out, he immediately circled to behind the building. He’d been to this courtyard before and knew the window gauze of the inner room’s outward-facing window was light-colored at the top, somewhat transparent. So he climbed a tree far behind that building, secretly observing the activity inside.

Because he didn’t dare approach closely, he could only see a general view from far away. He saw one person standing and one sitting in the room. The standing person wore snow-white clothing with a long dress sweeping the ground. The sitting person had wide robes with broad sleeves and a leisurely posture. From afar, both appeared beautiful in bearing, without the tense confrontation he’d heard.

The two were conversing, but neither spoke much. It felt like question and answer, each sentence carrying weight. The white-clothed woman had originally stood steadily but gradually began moving, walking faster and faster. Suddenly she stopped before the man, pressing both hands on the armrests of his chair and leaning down slightly.

At that time the woman had her back to him. From his angle, it looked as if the woman was bending down to forcibly approach the man intimately. This shocked him greatly. Thinking this woman was rumored to have noble status, high and unattainable, and quite advanced in age—if that man was Yélu Qi, he was young enough to be her son. How could she be so improper? Could it be that the more legendarily noble, lofty, pure and untainted a person was, the more they hid filth and impropriety privately?

Then he saw the woman suddenly stand up straight—whether pushed away by the man or rising on her own was unclear. The woman reached for a cup from a nearby table and offered it to the man. The man didn’t move at first. The woman said something unknown, and the man finally raised his hand to accept. When he raised his hand to accept, Yélu Zhe finally saw what appeared to be restraints on his wrist…

“Then what?” Seeing him suddenly stop speaking, Jing Hengbo urgently pressed for more. Thinking of Yélu Zhe’s description of Xu Pingran and Yélu Qi’s interaction, she somehow felt a very strange sensation in her heart.

“Then I heard my ancestor calling for me.” Yélu Zhe’s eyes rolled. “Fearing discovery, I didn’t dare watch anymore and immediately went back. What happened afterward… I don’t know.”

Jing Hengbo stared into his eyes, clearly feeling this fellow was being evasive—there was definitely something important he hadn’t said.

“Oh, so that’s how it was.” She said slowly. “Then it seems that honored guest also left, certainly taking Yélu Qi with her. This lead is broken—what would I go to the Yélu family for? To cause trouble? I’d better take you back to the military camp.” She turned to leave.

“Wait,” Yélu Zhe said urgently. “I haven’t finished. At that time, watching the man and white-clothed woman converse from afar, when the white-clothed woman moved rapidly, she had turned around. When she turned, I saw the man also seemed to make a downward reaching motion, as if hiding something.”

“Where is it?” Jing Hengbo spread her hands. “After they left, you certainly went to look. Bring it for me to see.”

“I didn’t find it.” Yélu Zhe said dejectedly. “That’s why I said Your Majesty should perhaps go see personally… Rumor has it Yélu Qi has always loyally assisted the Empress. Surely Your Majesty wouldn’t abandon him?”

“I’m more concerned with where that white-clothed woman went afterward—did she leave any words about her destination?” Jing Hengbo didn’t answer his question, asking about what concerned her most. In her heart, she understood it was unlikely Xu Pingran would inform the Yélu family of her destination.

She had arranged armies to search for Yélu Qi on the snow mountain, and news had continuously returned saying the snow mountain seemed sealed, then that disturbances seemed to have occurred there for a period. Later, someone descended the mountain and the army immediately pursued but lost the trail. Later they inadvertently rescued a severely injured outer disciple of the snow mountain and learned a civil war had occurred there. The original sect location had now moved, but no one knew where.

Jing Hengbo didn’t know what had happened at the snow mountain, but intuitively felt Xu Pingran likely hadn’t returned there, or had returned but left again for certain reasons. She’d taken away that monster army the snow mountain had cultivated, ultimately suffering heavy losses. If the snow mountain had experienced some power reshuffling as a result, it was possible.

Yélu Zhe indeed shook his head, but added: “However, the day grandfather saw the honored guest off, I was ordered to arrange carriages and horses. When the guest emerged, she was walking and talking to someone beside her. I vaguely heard a sentence—something about someone desperately escaping from the snow mountain…”

Jing Hengbo’s eyebrows shot up—the snow mountain had indeed had problems during Xu Pingran’s absence!

This made her feel somewhat better. If the snow mountain had problems, Xu Pingran would certainly be uneasy and shouldn’t have the heart to continue torturing Yélu Qi, right?

“Then let’s go take a look.” She quickened her pace, heading toward the Yélu family estate Yélu Zhe had indicated.

Yélu Zhe lowered his head, hiding a cold smile at the corner of his mouth.

…

A quarter-hour later, Jing Hengbo had already slipped into the Yélu family estate. After several more flashes, she’d entered that normally empty courtyard specially used to receive honored guests.

Yélu Zhe’s expression was very unpleasant. He had originally thought that with the Yélu estate’s tight security, it would be completely impossible for the Empress to bring him in without alerting anyone. Once discovered, he’d have a chance to escape and capture the Empress.

As long as he could capture the Empress, today’s disgrace of him and the Lin Province offspring being captured could be offset—he might even earn merit. Who knew the Empress’s lightness skills were even more terrifying than legend—simply not achievable by human strength, more like ghosts and spirits coming and going suddenly.

Jing Hengbo’s Bright Moon mental technique had progressed in recent years. She easily sealed his true qi. Forget about moving—Yélu Zhe couldn’t even raise his voice.

Yélu Zhe pointed at the main room: “That’s the room, with an inner chamber inside.”

Jing Hengbo entered the room. Inside was pitch black with nothing visible. She took out flint and lit a candle on the table. The air carried slight decay—clearly no one had lived here for a long time.

She slowly moved through the room, indeed seeing a chair that was very large and wide. She stared at it blankly, thinking: was the one who sat here originally Yélu Qi? After so much time, was he still well? Still with that old witch? Had the old witch abused him?

Standing beside the chair, her fingers unconsciously caressed the armrest. Suddenly she paused, stopping her hand and touching again.

Then she immediately crouched down, looking up at the back of the armrest by candlelight. Indeed, she seemed to see faint carved marks. She simply felt carefully along the entire chair and touched some subtle traces on the chair legs too.

But the chair legs were in dim light where nothing could be seen clearly. Anxiously, she overturned the chair.

“Boom.” A sound louder than expected, followed by a crisp “crack” as it struck the ground. She turned to see an iron grating had somehow fallen in the room’s center, separating her from Yélu Zhe. Yélu Zhe was backing away while laughing wildly. Outside the courtyard, lights and shadows moved—the Yélu family seemed to have been alerted too.

Yélu Zhe’s laughter was full of triumph and wildness: “Didn’t expect this, did you? Heh heh, what kind of family is my Yélu clan? Did you think you could just break in and walk out? Don’t blame your bad luck—actually, every room in this estate has different traps. I just can’t let Your Majesty experience them all.”

Jing Hengbo watched him, smiling as she raised her eyebrows—had he lost his mind? Hadn’t he studied her? Didn’t he know her teleportation wasn’t lightness skills, that there was simply no cage in the world that could confine her?

Yélu Zhe continued laughing wildly: “I heard the Empress appears and disappears like a ghost? You can come out right away, can’t you? But I haven’t finished that story yet. I think after I finish, Your Majesty might not want to come out!”

Jing Hengbo’s eyes suddenly turned cold. She waved her hand, sending a bookshelf crashing down on Yélu Zhe’s head. Books scattered all over him with rustling sounds. Yélu Zhe’s power hadn’t recovered and couldn’t dodge in time, getting bloodied by the impact. However, buried in the pile of books, his laughter continued unabated.

“Your Majesty, since you’ve overturned the chair, don’t leave yet. Take a good look at what’s buried under this chair.” His laughter was harsh like night birds, startling leaves to flutter. “I’m sorry I lied to you earlier. That day in the tree, I actually saw everything to the end. Guess what I saw?” He struggled to get up, found a black candle among the books, and lit it. The thing immediately emitted blue-black smoke, swirling chaotically and eerily like human faces. Covering his nose, he pointed at the chair and smiled as he backed toward the window.

“Your Majesty, tell me—is Yélu Qi dead or alive? Is he buried under this room…” He had already exited through the window, winking at Jing Hengbo from outside: “Hurry and dig! See whether this poison candle burns out faster, or you dig up your old friend’s corpse faster?”