With a hiss, the ice spike pierced his palm, blood spattering. Still not stopping, it whistled straight toward Yélu Qi’s heart!

Jing Hengbo stared wide-eyed.

The Third Young Master coughed weakly and slowly collapsed. He even closed his eyes, as if this one move had exhausted him, or as if he felt this move would certainly settle everything.

Because the remaining swirling clusters of snowflakes and ice crystals continued condensing into spikes—if one spike missed, there would be another, forming an inescapable net that would cycle endlessly until the person was pierced full of holes.

But the ice spike suddenly stopped.

It halted one finger’s width from Yélu Qi’s heart.

Then it fell.

Not only did the ice spike fall, but all the surrounding ice and snow that had been continuously condensing into spikes suddenly stopped changing, returning to snowflakes and ice crystals that scattered down in fragments.

They shattered quickly, even chaotically—the feeling was like a low-level existence encountering a high-level one and immediately crumbling in defeat.

The Third Young Master opened his eyes in bewilderment. Even Jing Hengbo and Yélu Qi were stunned for a moment.

What was happening?

Jing Hengbo looked at the Third Young Master’s confused expression in the wind and snow. This was still a very young man—though his brow was cold, his eyes were still clear, especially clear, as if untainted by worldly affairs, yet also especially hard, as if unmoved by external things.

Only a tiny gap remained in the disc before her.

Yélu Qi’s figure would soon be invisible.

Suddenly inspiration struck her mind.

Then she let out a piercing scream.

“Xun Ru!” she shouted. “You can’t rush out like this! You’ll get stuck and die!”

Both men in the room were startled and looked up.

Yélu Qi immediately rushed toward her.

The Third Young Master surprisingly didn’t pursue him, but instead struggled to leap to the wall, slapping his sleeve against it.

The disc began rotating outward, opening!

Jing Hengbo was overjoyed and waved both hands with all her strength!

Yélu Qi, who was rushing toward the disc, was forcibly grabbed by her and shot through the opening with a whoosh!

The Third Young Master, who had rushed over, only caught a corner of his clothing. Then the disc began closing again. Through the darkening opening, a beautiful face flashed by with a smile. Jing Hengbo’s voice sounded as smug and flamboyant as ever: “Thanks for opening the door! Bye bye, kiss kiss!”

The Third Young Master stared at the gradually closing disc, seemingly unable to imagine there were women in the world so cunning.

In the last moment before the disc completely closed, Jing Hengbo’s face flashed by again. Very kindly, she knocked on the disc and smiled: “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you—Xun Ru isn’t here!”

The disc closed.

The Third Young Master didn’t try to open it again. In the time it would take to open it, those two should have already escaped.

He stared at the disc, his face expressionless, then suddenly looked down at the ground. There were scattered ice and snow fragments, and also blood that Yélu Qi had spilled.

A strange expression gradually appeared on his face as he said softly, “How could this be…”

“Bang!” The door was pushed open and a large group of soldiers rushed in.

During the Third Young Master’s battle with Yélu Qi, he had been unable to maintain the prohibition at the entrance.

“Where are they! Where are they!” The group shouted loudly. “We are the Jinlin Army, here to protect you all. Quickly…”

Bang! A gust of snowy wind howled past, and that group of figures was swept out with a whoosh, clattering and crashing in the courtyard. They landed with hard, crisp sounds like ice figures shattering. Looking again, everyone’s face was iron-blue—they had been frozen to death.

Inside the room, the Third Young Master wiped his hands with ice and snow, coldly spitting out two words:

“Filthy stench.”

After cleaning his hands, he looked at the wall that had returned to normal, then suddenly shook his head: “Fools. Killing one would have been for your own good. In the future, more people will die.”

But the prospect of more deaths didn’t seem to concern him much. He slowly sat by the broken coffin, pulled over a document from the table, and felt the thick ink marks on it.

The ink was so thick that each character was slightly raised—without looking, one could feel them by touch.

He stared at the document in a trance, then tilted it toward the light. Those thick ink characters showed traces of being explored by fingers.

He brought those ink characters to his lips and lightly licked them.

…

Jing Hengbo supported Yélu Qi as they moved through the secret passage.

The passage was very narrow—so narrow that two people could only walk sideways, and it wasn’t a downward tunnel. It felt like they were still at ground level. Jing Hengbo guessed this was likely a wall cavity, a very long one that passed through a large area of buildings until exiting the mansion.

A Yélu family mansion in Huangjin territory that wasn’t often used also had such strange design, showing extraordinary foundations.

Jing Hengbo was truly exhausted, breathing heavily, her stomach occasionally gurgling loudly in the dark silence.

Yélu Qi fumbled in his chest, then after a moment took out something to give her, but then withdrew it again. His voice sounded somewhat annoyed: “It’s dirty…”

Jing Hengbo caught the fragrance of sweet potatoes and remembered he had put the stolen sweet potatoes in his chest. He had kept the food close to his heart to save for her?

In the darkness there was both sweet potato fragrance and the smell of blood. Her heart tightened slightly, but she pretended not to hear and changed the subject.

“How are you?” She had just hastily bandaged him, and though he was trying to adjust himself, his breathing remained unsteady—clearly seriously injured.

Yélu Qi’s voice was still that lazy and casual tone: “Not bad, quite vigorous.”

Jing Hengbo rolled her eyes in the darkness. She had an unresolved doubt and couldn’t help asking, “What happened just now?”

That Third Young Master’s impressive killing move was about to succeed when it suddenly failed. No matter how she thought about it, it seemed strange.

Yélu Qi didn’t speak. After a long while he laughed and said, “A blessing in disguise?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you sure you want to hear?” His answer was odd.

Jing Hengbo’s heart jumped again, then she said, “Why wouldn’t I dare to hear?”

“I just don’t want you to be unhappy,” Yélu Qi said lazily. “Do you remember when we were in Da Yan, when you and Gong Yin fell off the cliff and I caught you? At that time I fell for Gong Yin’s plan and was injured.”

Jing Hengbo snorted through her nose, feeling slight sourness in her heart—the fate of this world that drove enemies and friends to reverse positions was sometimes truly too miraculous.

Enemies fighting side by side, lovers parting with swords.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to think anymore. She needed a stable state of mind to face danger, not time for random thoughts.

“Since receiving his injury,” Yélu Qi said leisurely, “I haven’t been well-suited to extremely cold environments, especially can’t lose blood or be injured in cold environments. The wound’s blood will freeze like ice—I must circulate energy to drive away the cold.”

Jing Hengbo thought he had indeed been injured on this cold night. That blood…

“Your changed blood after injury seems to make Nine Heavens Gate’s killing moves retreat…”

Both fell silent. Jing Hengbo looked ahead at the endless darkness, feeling as if they were about to step into a secret.

“Don’t think too much,” Yélu Qi said. “Gong Yin isn’t like Nine Heavens Gate people.”

“Why?”

“This sect is extremely reclusive and secretive—few in the world know of them. If the Yélu clan didn’t have disciples selected by them, I wouldn’t know either,” Yélu Qi said. “This sect’s disciple selection is extremely strict. They also require birth into century-old noble families, require no involvement with the mortal world and never leaving the Gate, lifelong service to the Nine Heavens Gate Master. They’re said to have extremely terrible methods for dealing with traitors—since establishment, no one has ever left the Gate. There are also theories that their martial arts have restrictions preventing them from leaving the Gate. So if Gong Yin were from Nine Heavens Gate, with his great fame, how could Gate people not know? How could they not have sought revenge? And being in the mortal world, how could he not suffer martial arts backlash?”

“Hasn’t he…” Jing Hengbo murmured. “His Prajna Snow is quite problematic…”

“Generally, when legendary hidden gates have martial arts problems, they’re always major problems—he definitely couldn’t have lived so many years.”

Jing Hengbo didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or relieved. After a long while, she exhaled deeply.

“There are many ice and snow martial arts in the wilderness. Since cold-natured martial arts are most useful for swamps, it could also be coincidence.”

Jing Hengbo could only think so. Beside her, Yélu Qi’s voice was low and his breathing rapid. She vaguely felt uneasy and had no mind to investigate further. She reached out to check his temperature, but he turned his head with a smile at that moment, seeming about to say something. Her fingertip lightly touched something soft and moist.

She froze, and he seemed to stiffen too. Then she realized her finger was on his lips and hurriedly tried to pull away, but he lightning-fast raised his finger and pressed down on her hand.

At this moment his finger was ice-cold. For a moment she was actually in a trance, feeling that coldness penetrate to her bone marrow—an unforgettable memory.

Instantly before her eyes was swirling snow, gradually condensing into a human figure. She gazed at that figure, slowly welling tears in the darkness.

That person—she had once tried to use her own warmth to heat him, only to end with separation at the world’s end.

Her hand trembled, and he had already gently released his finger. In the darkness his sigh was also graceful as snowflakes, carrying cold desolation: “The one pressing your hand is me, but the one you’re thinking of isn’t me.”

She shuddered and turned her head away, not knowing what to say and not wanting to say anything.

“Never mind,” he laughed carelessly. “Regardless, what you’re touching right now is me.”

Jing Hengbo never lacked words for verbal sparring—this was thanks to the Research Institute’s four-person group’s daily boredom and constant bickering. After so many years of fighting, even Taishi Lan, who was least skilled with words, could rattle off insults in strings when truly angry. But at this moment she only had silence. Her hand unconsciously brushed down, inadvertently touching a wet patch on his shoulder and back. Smelling the overpowering bloody smell, she couldn’t help saying, “Your…”

“We’re here!” Yélu Qi suddenly said, reaching out to push.

The opening appeared.

The first thing she saw was a wall.

Before them was a high wall, blocking everything tightly.

Jing Hengbo was stunned—a dead end?

Yélu Qi reached out and pushed again.

A revolving door suddenly appeared in the wall. The door was embedded in the wall with the same material and color, not easily visible.

Beyond the door—

Splitting the crystalline heaven and earth, they saw wind and snow again on New Year’s Eve.

For a moment, Jing Hengbo squinted as the brilliant snowy white light outside stung her eyes.

Was there an encirclement outside? She didn’t dare go out immediately because she quickly heard footsteps from both ends of the road, and the sound of armor and weapons clashing.

There were troops.

This should still be within the range of the Yélu family’s large mansion. Before them was an extremely narrow alley that should rarely see foot traffic—dark and long. So the soldiers only needed to guard both ends without entering the alley itself.

This place was a concentrated residential area for officials and nobles. The alley faced other families’ large mansions, but because the Yélu family had suffered an extermination case, the Jinlin Army had surrounded the Yélu family, alarming nearby mansions. How could they dare sleep peacefully? Every house was brightly lit with all guards deployed and patrolling in all directions. After the exhausting battle, plus the severely injured Yélu Qi, no matter which mansion they fled to, they might face endless siege and killing.

Looking at this alley’s ground, it was covered with half a foot of snow without any tracks. This showed the alley was too narrow for convenient passage—ordinary people were unwilling to pass through. Presumably only those in a hurry would take this route.

What to do?

Jing Hengbo was just about to discuss with Yélu Qi when she turned back to see him retreating.

“What are you doing?”

“I suddenly remembered I left an important personal item in the secret passage,” he smiled, his tone apologetic. “I need to go back and get it.”

Jing Hengbo grabbed his sleeve and sneered.

“Stop playing tricks with me. Want to go back and sacrifice yourself to help me escape?”

“You think quite highly of yourself,” he laughed and coughed. “My life is worth much more than yours.”

“Then come back.” She pulled hard, originally just wanting to hold him back, but unexpectedly he stumbled and collapsed against her shoulder.

Jing Hengbo was alarmed, immediately feeling her shoulder grow wet. Without looking she knew it was blood. She shifted her body to move him into her arms and looked down, her heart tightening.

If there was such a thing as the color of death in complexions, this was it.

She remembered Yélu Qi had originally been poisoned and injured, traveled all night, then to draw enemy attention away attracted so many people to besiege him. He must have been injured during the siege. After that, while still under siege, he had pierced the Third Young Master’s heart with one sword, certainly adding internal injury. Finally he had blocked an attack for her.

Old injuries adding new ones—blood loss alone was nearly enough to kill someone.

He had to stop first and rest properly.

But in this crisis-ridden moment with armies surrounding them on all sides, where could they find a safe place to lie down?

Suddenly there were footsteps and commanding voices at the alley entrance. Someone seemed to be passing and was being questioned by the army.

Who would be walking outside on this snowy night?

Jing Hengbo crouched low, not daring to move, hearing that the person being questioned seemed to pass quickly, then came toward this alley. The footsteps were chaotic and hurried, with faint creaking sounds—seemingly from sedan chairs being carried.

“Get in the sedan…” Yélu Qi in her arms suddenly whispered.

“Two people are too heavy…” Jing Hengbo hesitated. She could enter the sedan with Yélu Qi, but once inside they would definitely be discovered by the carriers—equally walking into a trap.

“Separate…” Yélu Qi turned on her lap to glance ahead. “Front master’s sedan, you go; back maid’s sedan, I go…”

In the wind and snow all the sedans were dark. She really had to admire how he could distinguish the master’s sedan from the maid’s sedan.

Jing Hengbo still felt it was dangerous. What if they encountered formidable people?

“Small servant entourage, traveling urgently, passed inspection smoothly… sneaky actions,” Yélu Qi said intermittently. “…Must be relatives of actual power holders in the city, doing shameful deeds, wanting to avoid attention yet rushing to return… best targets…”

Jing Hengbo was very surprised how he could tell all this from one glance.

Before Jing Hengbo could act, Yélu Qi had already slapped Feifei out: “Go cause trouble!”

Feifei’s fluffy big tail flashed like a dandelion in mid-air, darting under the sedan carriers’ feet with a whoosh, tripping one carrier.

The carrier looked down, but Feifei had already ducked under the sedan. The carrier saw nothing and couldn’t help feeling alarmed. The other carriers all showed unease, asking him, “What happened?”

“Inexplicably tripped…” The carrier wiped sweat in the bitter cold.

“Stop dawdling! Hurry up!” An impatient rebuke came from the first sedan—a woman’s voice.

The second sedan was stopped right in front of the opening where the two were hidden. Jing Hengbo was about to send Yélu Qi out when he pressed down on her hand.

His hand was ice-cold. She took a breath and rubbed his hands with both of hers.

Yélu Qi seemed to tremble, looking up at her. She was looking down—their eyes met, each reflecting tiny lights.

Outside, the sedan was lifted again, but before the carriers could take two steps, Feifei darted out again.

It flashed like lightning back and forth under the carriers’ feet several times, finally leaping before one carrier’s eyes. Its snow-white fluffy tail swayed like a graceful snowflake dance. In mid-air it looked back leisurely, its large purple eyes meeting that person’s gaze, slowly blinking.

Whatever that fellow saw, he stared blankly for a long moment, then suddenly leaped up, crashing into the carrier beside him: “Ghost!”

The carriers were already spooked from the repeated stumbles, and hearing this terrifying scream made them feel cold air penetrating their bodies. They all cried out in alarm and crashed together in chaos.

“Ghost!”

“I said this alley has had deaths—we can’t go through! There’s a ghost!”

The carriers scattered in all directions. No matter how the woman in the sedan called out in alarm to stop them, they couldn’t be deterred.

“What’s this about?” Jing Hengbo stared blankly and murmured. “All the carriers ran away—who’s going to carry us? And won’t all this screaming alert the soldiers and cause trouble?”

No one answered. Looking down, Yélu Qi had fainted again, still gripping her fingers as if telling her not to rush in now.

Jing Hengbo had always been very self-aware, always feeling that while she wasn’t stupid, her brain capacity was still a tiny bit smaller than these others. So she could only not rush and continue waiting.

When the carriers ran and shouted, soldiers from both sides were alerted and all rushed this way. From far off someone called: “What’s happening!”

“Useless! Useless!” The woman in the sedan cursed loudly, snapping out a waist token: “Don’t use these bastards to carry! Please have the general arrange several soldiers to escort this lady home!”

The iron-blue token gleamed eerily in the snow. When the commanding officer saw it, his expression changed dramatically. He hurriedly accepted it and agreed, ordering soldiers to pull away those disheveled carriers and calling for several young, strong soldiers.

Jing Hengbo immediately understood the opportunity had come!

With different people carrying, the inconsistent weight front and back would no longer be obvious.

She quickly pinched Yélu Qi awake: “Must stay conscious for one minute!” She quietly opened the secret door in the wall.

The secret door faced directly toward the maid’s sedan. The maid was opening her window and leaning out to look when she suddenly felt something wrong beside her. Turning her head, her expression was horrified.

Before she could cry out, Jing Hengbo waved her hand and Yélu Qi had already fallen into the maid’s sedan. Jing Hengbo saw with her own eyes that the moment Yélu Qi entered the sedan, he gripped the maid’s throat with one hand.

Relieved, she flashed.

The next moment she was sitting on a woman’s lap.

That woman was wrapped in thick fox fur, holding a hand warmer, giving orders to those outside: “Hurry up…” Suddenly feeling her legs grow heavy, she turned her head.

Jing Hengbo’s dagger hadn’t even emerged when the woman’s eyes rolled back.

She fainted.

Jing Hengbo touched her face—it was sticky, presumably covered in blood.

No wonder. In the middle of the night in a sedan chair, after ghost incidents, suddenly having someone appear on her lap with a blood-covered, fierce expression—this beauty was lucky not to be scared to death.

Quite good, saved trouble.

She quickly wiped her face with the woman’s precious fox fur, then stomped hard on the sedan bottom to signal departure. The soldiers carrying the sedan were already in position. During the personnel change there was inevitable chaos, so no one paid attention to any movement on the wall side.

The sedan was lifted. Jing Hengbo heard the soldiers in front quietly laughing with those beside them.

“They all say Lady Yao is a rare beauty, delicate and weak, small enough for palm dancing. I see rumors really can’t be trusted—this is clearly a plump beauty…”

Jing Hengbo chuckled, turning to look at the unconscious woman. Indeed a beauty, just rather pale. By the snowy light outside, she curiously examined her face and clicked her tongue.

This woman’s eyebrows were sticky and scattered as if coated with glue, her eye corners red—she had just returned from adultery!

…

The sedan traveled forward without going far. Jing Hengbo took the woman’s fox fur and put it on herself, lying down comfortably.

She wasn’t worried about Yélu Qi—no commotion from behind meant all was well. Nor was she worried about Yélu Xun Ru—someone who could survive in such an environment until today would never die from being blind and alone in the snow.

She only needed to think about what to do next.

“You’re naturally unrestrained, unsuited to careful planning and preparation. That would make you mentally tired and irritable, leading to mistakes. You only need to hang a distant goal there, then do well with each step before you. If every step under your feet is solid, no pit can trap you afterward.”

In this world, who understood her best?

That man far away in Imperial Song, divine as ice and snow, forever unshakable.

In this brief moment, she seemed to have a dream. In the dream were still those seemingly indifferent but actually gentle words. When she woke, her eye corners were slightly wet. She wiped with her finger—the fingertip was crystalline.

One dream like floating life. Opening her eyes again, heaven and earth remained cold.

A voice came from outside: “Madam, we’ve arrived.”

She pinched the still-unconscious woman awake. The woman woke with an “Ah!” Jing Hengbo’s dagger pressed against her waist: “I’m a female bandit! If you want to live, do exactly as I say!”

The woman nodded like a pecking chicken.

“Have everyone carry the sedan under the corridor with the sedan door facing the wall, then have them all withdraw, not one remaining.”

The woman tremblingly complied. Fortunately it was cold, so her trembling voice didn’t seem strange to anyone.

When the soldiers withdrew, they muttered: “They say Lady Yao is generous, but carrying her all this way without even reward money…”

Someone sneered: “I heard she’s fallen from favor!”

…

With no one left in the courtyard, Jing Hengbo forced the woman out of the sedan and looked back at the maid’s sedan—no movement.

She entered the room, whistled to summon Feifei, made a rope gesture. Feifei tore a large curtain into strips. Jing Hengbo had Feifei guard the woman while she connected the cloth strips into rope, first tying up the woman and gagging her, then went to check the small maid’s sedan.

The sedan was full of blood, with two unconscious people—one maid and Yélu Qi.

Jing Hengbo woke the maid, forced her to help carry Yélu Qi, and sent him to Lady Yao’s fragrant bed in the inner room. She ordered Feifei to watch this maid.

Yélu Qi’s shoulder wound was still bleeding. Jing Hengbo frowned, turned to the terrified Lady Yao and said: “Find a doctor.”

The woman shook her head desperately. Jing Hengbo smiled: “What excuse should we use? Are you pregnant?”

Lady Yao looked more panicked, shaking her head so hard it might fall off.

“Did you miscarry?”

Shaking her head.

“Are you about to give birth?”

Shaking her head.

“Is your lover about to give birth?”

Lady Yao’s head stopped shaking halfway, making gurgling sounds in her throat. Her eyes suddenly welled with tears—pleading tears.

It must be said, a beauty’s pitiful pleading was quite pleasing to the eye. Jing Hengbo always enjoyed beautiful things, felt slightly better, and knowing she absolutely wouldn’t dare shout now, removed the cloth from her mouth and smiled while propping her chin on her hands across from her: “Then what excuse would be good?”

“There’s a doctor… who has some friendship with me…” Lady Yao trembled. “I could summon him in the name of catching cold…”

“If you call a doctor in the middle of the night, won’t your husband be alarmed?”

“Where does he care if I live or die!” The timid, pitiful beauty suddenly bristled with fury, instantly radiating killing intent. “He’s busy embracing that little hussy. Even if I died in front of him, he wouldn’t spare me a glance!”

Oh, she’s a resentful wife.

“Who will fetch the doctor?”

“Your little beast…” Lady Yao was also clever, immediately saying, “Just secretly place a note on the doctor’s desk. The traveling doctor lives in the next courtyard… He’ll come when he sees it.”

Feifei went to deliver the message. Jing Hengbo cheerfully lifted her chin, looking left and right, sighing: “Ah, you’re not telling the truth, are you? Ah! Such a beauty, actually being neglected by her husband? Tsk tsk, who could bear to neglect such a beauty.”

Lady Yao’s eyes immediately filled with tears. Whether to appease her or because she was too lonely in the deep chambers and finally found someone to complain to, she actually grabbed her and began tearfully lamenting.

The beauty’s melodious complaints made Jing Hengbo yawn repeatedly. She soon understood the situation. It was just that her powerful, high-ranking husband was a philandering carrot. Originally Lady Yao was the apple of her husband’s eye—otherwise she wouldn’t be brought on trips. Who knew that traveling to this remote small city, there were actually Imperial Song noble sons who presented her husband with peerless beauties from Imperial Song. As they say, old love can’t compare to new passion. The delicate Lady Yao was quickly displaced by the radiant Imperial Song beauty. Seeing her status decline, Lady Yao was left alone in her empty chambers…

Lady Yao’s lament had reached its third climax when Jing Hengbo suddenly interrupted.

“Your husband is the Huangjin Tribe chief?”

Lady Yao made an “eh” sound.

“Your husband neglected you, so you went out to secretly meet a lover? Who is your lover? Since you just came to this small city with such status, how did you have opportunity to meet outsiders?” Jing Hengbo threw out her second question. “This lover is also a new lover, right? Hmm, let me guess…” She touched her chin with her finger, her eyes flying charmingly. “An Imperial Song noble son?”

Lady Yao stared at her blankly.

Her facial expression said everything. Jing Hengbo laughed heartily, completely unsurprised.

The Jinlin Army was the Huangjin chief’s royal army. That Lady Yao could command them made her identity obvious. Someone who could secretly meet with Lady Yao at midnight—local officials probably wouldn’t dare, only Imperial Song noble sons would have such romantic audacity.

“You…” Lady Yao’s expression wasn’t just surprise—suddenly there was disgust. She looked Jing Hengbo up and down. “You weren’t sent by that bitch, were you?”

“Which bitch?” Jing Hengbo was startled, then understood she must mean the newly favored beauty.

“You’re very much like her!” Lady Yao said through gritted teeth. “Not the face, but the bearing and charm! She’s also your type—a naturally seductive little vixen. Every blink, every raised eyebrow wants to steal men’s souls!”

A woman from Imperial Song noble families sent to the Huangjin chief, very similar to herself?

Jing Hengbo felt something was very wrong about this.

She was about to ask when footsteps came from outside—the doctor had arrived. Jing Hengbo waved her hand, and the teacup on the table suddenly flew up, hovering over Lady Yao’s head under her horrified gaze.

“If you say or do anything wrong later, what’s hanging over your head will be a knife!”

After speaking she chuckled, cut Lady Yao’s bonds, pushed her outward, and hid behind the curtain.

Lady Yao stared tightly at her figure, actually forgetting the threat. She unconsciously learned her graceful bearing and also gracefully stood up to greet the doctor.

Hidden behind the curtain, Jing Hengbo listened to the activity. Lady Yao had her own vulnerabilities and didn’t want to make a scene. She told the doctor she had met a distant cousin while out, the cousin was injured, and asked the doctor to treat him.

The doctor didn’t ask much, bandaged and medicated Yélu Qi. When leaving, he said meaningfully: “Madam should take better care of her health. Having too many relationships isn’t good for your wellness and beauty.”

Behind the curtain, Jing Hengbo almost laughed out loud—such jealousy!

It seemed this Lady Yao was quite restless. With her husband embracing beauties in front, she was seducing various men behind. Both familiar and unfamiliar could become intimate guests.

After the doctor left, she came out to see Yélu Qi’s complexion seemed better, slightly relieved. She thought when he woke they’d leave, still needing to rush to Ash Gray Valley to find his antidote. This time she had to contact Seven Kill and the others.

She was concerned about the earlier Imperial Song noble son matter and casually asked: “The noble son who sent your chief a beauty—who was it?”

Lady Yao looked somewhat resentful yet excited, snorting coldly: “Xuanyuan Jing’s eldest son, Xuanyuan Wei.”

Jing Hengbo suddenly turned around.

…

Half an hour later, Jing Hengbo was in Lady Yao’s secret room, examining a thick stack of documents.

The documents were Huangjin Tribe top secret papers listing exactly the Ash Gray Valley plan. Huangjin Tribe, Xuanyuan family, Yélu family plus Fei Luo with beast control abilities planned to conduct deep exploration of Ash Gray Valley. The documents were contracts between families, mentioning advance preparations, profit sharing, and specific action plans.

These documents were obtained by Jing Hengbo through demonstrating makeup techniques in exchange, plus appropriate threats.

Lady Yao sat before her, saying proudly: “The old man had me keep everything. After falling for that bitch he wanted them back, but I had copied everything. Hehe, he doesn’t even know I can read, otherwise how would he give me such things.”

Her expression was proud but her eyes deeply lonely. Men in high positions were mostly fickle and heartless. After so many years as his pillow companion, receiving all love and rewards, yet he didn’t even know she could read.

Whether he loved the person or just that beautiful body and brief youth—she understood clearly. So she was willing to trade this priceless intelligence for Jing Hengbo’s brand new makeup techniques.

Preserving beauty meant preserving favor, preserving favor preserved everything—she was very clear about this.

The backup intelligence was originally for future opportunities, to sell at the right price at the right time.

She looked somewhat jealously at the woman before her intently reading documents. Rare beauty aside, what was even more remarkable was her subtle noble bearing. Her quiet expression reading documents by lamplight reminded one of high-ranking dignity, while her slender fingers lightly gathering documents showed composed grace in the snow light.

This type of woman—she could tell at a glance that this woman was different from them.

Jing Hengbo turned a page and suddenly her eyes focused.

On that plan roster, the Kang Long Army name appeared prominently!

In the Ash Gray Valley operation, elite soldiers from Kang Long Seven Color Battalions would participate! They also secretly deployed a batch of titled lieutenants!

Titled lieutenants were special military positions in Kang Long Army—half practical, half honorary. Generally awarded to warriors showing exceptional performance in war, killing over a hundred in one battle, or beheading enemy chiefs. Titles included Courageous, Brave Hero, Martial Achievement, Loyal Brave, etc. These were Kang Long Army’s elite backbone, each capable of fighting ten thousand, idols of the whole army. As long as they didn’t die early in battle, they were almost all future general material.

Kang Long Army actually participated in this plan? And sent so many elites? Did Gong Yin know about this? What was Cheng Gumo thinking? From the plan, this elite Kang Long batch undertook the most dangerous task of first entering the valley to find safe routes. How could Cheng Gumo use Kang Long Army’s elite forces to clear paths for others?

Even thinking with fingers, there was something fishy!

Also, Seven Color Battalions!

Jing Hengbo’s gaze was very cold.

During the original palace gate confrontation, those five who committed suicide in protest, demanding Gong Yin deal with her and pushing the conflict to climax—they were from Seven Color Battalions.

That night when Kang Long Army rioted, it was also initially driven by Seven Color Battalions.

Hehe, finally she could meet them face to face.

Jing Hengbo carefully examined those signed contracts by lamplight. Not seeing anything unusual, she suddenly heard slight movement from the bed. Turning to look, Yélu Qi had awakened and was silently gazing at her.

He looked somewhat weak but his eyes remained extremely bright, containing faint joy.

Awakening from life-and-death unconsciousness to first see her composed and tranquil by lamplight—truly a warming, comforting thing.

Jing Hengbo smiled at him, waving the contract in her hand.

She didn’t plan to hide anything from him. If they planned to go to Ash Gray Valley together, there was no need for concealment. Being disloyal to teammates on life-and-death paths often hurt oneself in the end.

“See what’s fishy?”

Yélu Qi smiled upon getting the contract.

“Cheng Gumo’s copy has slightly different ink color,” he said. “Do you have Blue Sea coral powder? If not, ordinary coral powder will do.”

Coral powder was brought. Yélu Qi read through the contract, sprinkled powder on several blank areas, and heated it with fire. Words immediately appeared.

Once these words appeared, they almost completely changed the contract’s meaning, making Kang Long Army’s tasks heavier and more dangerous while reducing rewards. Clearly an completely unequal contract close to betrayal.

“Blue Sea coral powder hides writing, while Western marshland shark oil can make writing disappear after a period,” Yélu Qi said. “When contracts are signed with everyone getting copies, Cheng Gumo definitely demands to see each copy. So other people’s contracts had key content hidden with coral powder, while Cheng Gumo’s copy definitely had shark oil added. When brought out as evidence later, it would be blank paper.”

“Kang Long Army got played,” Jing Hengbo’s lips curved upward.

“Very pleased?” Yélu Qi teased her.

Jing Hengbo didn’t answer, her eyes flowing. Obviously planning mischief. Yélu Qi loved seeing her cunning expression most, smiling as he put away the contract.

Then his smile froze.

Because Jing Hengbo was saying to Lady Yao: “You said Xuanyuan Jing’s eldest son is the one who presented the chief with a new favorite? You said tomorrow the chief is hosting Young Master Xuanyuan? You said Xuanyuan Jing might also come? Then good, arrange it—I want to dance for Young Master Xuanyuan.”