“Your Majesty! Something terrible! After eating, all the soldiers are poisoned!”

The soldier’s report shocked the officers present. Jing Hengbo quickly stood up, urgently ordering officers and physicians to investigate immediately. She herself hurried off, appearing very anxious, though before leaving she didn’t forget to sweep the unfinished roasted soybeans and broad beans into her pouch. After taking two steps, she turned back to glance at Nan Jin, pointing at Gong Yin with a show. “Keep a good eye on him!”

Gong Yin watched her run off, a faint smile appearing in his eyes. Nan Jin remained expressionless, her gaze slightly contemptuous.

Such an act.

Over there in the camp, figures ran about in chaos—clearly the look of major trouble. Gong Yin watched from afar, saying, “Those assassins who haven’t gone far should have seen this scene.”

Nan Jin hummed in agreement.

“Let’s leave for a while,” Gong Yin said. “It’s inconvenient for me to encounter Yu Guangting.”

Nan Jin nodded, understanding his meaning.

The camp’s chaos was temporary. The poisoned soldiers would wake up within half an hour at most—nothing serious would happen.

After Nan Jin discovered someone poisoning upstream and dealt with it, she told Jing Hengbo. Jing Hengbo decided to use this to her advantage—if they were going to be poisoned, they might as well act the part convincingly. While the cooks were washing pots by the stream, Nan Jin poured a bowl of poisoned water. The small amount of poison remaining in the pots used to serve soldiers would cause them to faint briefly after eating. Those fleeing assassins still lurked nearby—seeing this scene, they would surely return to report. When Yu Guangting heard, he would immediately come to take advantage.

Such scheming naturally couldn’t fool Gong Yin. When he discovered Jing Hengbo had become quite adept at strategizing, he felt relieved and decided to avoid the area to prevent encountering Yu Guangting.

“Let’s go up the mountain,” Nan Jin said, looking at the blue-gray peaks ahead.

Gong Yin saw the gleam in her eyes, knowing her killing intent toward Pei Shu hadn’t dissipated. But he was also somewhat worried about Pei Shu, fearing the man might do something inappropriate in his impulsiveness, so he nodded.

The two headed up the mountain with tacit understanding, both going in the direction Pei Shu had left—one wanting to kill, one wanting to prevent killing, but both remaining silent.

As Nan Jin walked, she lowered her head to smell flowers and leaves, examine soil, her expression growing increasingly strange.

After several instances, Gong Yin finally asked, “What is it?”

Nan Jin turned to look at him, saying lightly, “I thought you planned never to ask about my affairs.”

Gong Yin fell silent briefly, then said, “What the Long family and I owe you, I’ll find ways to compensate. Beyond that, there’s nothing to ask.”

Nan Jin raised her head, staring at the setting sun as if completely unafraid of its glare. After a long moment she said, “You didn’t grow up in the Long family, yet you’re more cold-hearted than Long family members. But also more truly devoted—it’s just that all your feelings go to one person, with none left for others.”

Gong Yin’s tone held no apology. “Thank you for understanding.”

Nan Jin turned her head away. After a while, she smiled bitterly, murmuring, “Do you know, if you weren’t such a contradictory person, perhaps I wouldn’t have…”

She didn’t continue, and Gong Yin pretended not to hear.

There was a type of person both extremely cold and hot, ice and fire intertwined like flames in snow—more tempting, making one’s heart flutter and plunge in.

But fate was fate. Even if red threads were tied from birth, there would come a day to step out and break them.

The atmosphere grew somewhat silent. Fortunately, Long family members were naturally aloof. Soon Nan Jin returned to normal, actively answering Gong Yin’s question. “From childhood I was nurtured and trained with various medicines, knowing all scents under heaven. My nose is very sensitive. Walking this way, I’ve detected many special odors.”

“How special?”

“Pei Shu’s scent has been present throughout, though faded now. After him, at least two or three other groups of special people have been on this mountain.”

“How special?”

“One group carries heavy toxic qi. They should be wearing very loose robes, carrying many weapons and medicines, so that their robes brushing these grass leaves left traces.” Nan Jin pointed to faint gray marks on nearby deep green grass. “This seems to be a drug that controls consciousness and stimulates physical ability. I’ve used it—very…” She paused before saying, “Very painful.”

Gong Yin didn’t respond, his long lashes lowering like shadows. The more he owed this woman, the more he felt unable to repay.

Nan Jin’s discovery also made him frown. At this time, such a group appearing on the mountain near Jing Hengbo’s camp was no good sign. Who were they after?

“These people closely followed Pei Shu’s route—the paths match.” Nan Jin answered his question, then pointed back to a fork in the road. “That’s a path up from the southern slope, opposite our direction and inconsistent with that earlier group’s route. Just now on that rock under that tree, someone rested—should be a woman with a special scent.”

“A woman?”

Nan Jin nodded. “There’s fragrance, so a woman. Her special scent was already very faint, but because it’s so distinctive—a smell I can hardly forget—I recognized it. It’s the scent of golden ointment, longevity fruit, and such things produced by Puluó and other small countries north of Blackwater Marsh.”

Gong Yin raised an eyebrow—he knew who it was.

Among the Tortoiseshell gangs, the Frenzied Blade Alliance had close ties with the foreign small country Puluó due to marriage connections, repeatedly transporting so-called “precious medicines” like longevity ointment into Shangyuan City. Shangyuan’s city lord Ming Yan’an was deeply dependent on these substances. It could be said half of Ming Yan’an’s destruction was caused by these intensely fragrant drugs.

The person specifically responsible for transporting these medicines into Shangyuan was the Frenzied Blade Alliance’s Sixth Young Lady, Meng Potian.

Though she no longer did this work, long-term exposure to those places and participation in refining such medicines had gradually permeated her skin, leaving traces of scent. Ordinary people naturally couldn’t detect this, nor could those without deep memory of these substances. That Nan Jin could detect it—though she didn’t say so—he could imagine what she’d experienced.

To become the medicine vessel tied to the Long family head’s foundation required knowing all medicines under heaven, tasting all medicines under heaven, and enduring all medicines under heaven.

Nan Jin stood upwind, back straight, so thin the wind could break her, yet her gaze was tough as unbreakable iron vines.

Gong Yin looked away, turning to examine their surroundings. “There are many paths leading in all directions here, with several small trails. The downward paths are hidden by grass—easy to get lost. This person could very well be lost on the mountain.”

Meng Potian appearing and getting lost on this mountain wasn’t strange. Gong Yin’s Long family associates had recently left his side to travel nearby areas, gathering information related to Di Ge. He knew Seven Kills and others, unwilling to remain idle, had already pursued from Di Ge and would likely arrive soon. Meng Potian, caring for Pei Shu and unwilling to travel and play with Seven Kills, might have separated from the group to find Pei Shu first.

Thinking of the several groups on the mountain—Pei Shu, the mysterious force, Meng Potian—somehow Gong Yin felt a faint unease.

…

At this moment atop the mountain cliff, the battle of wits between Pei Shu and the cloaked man was reaching its conclusion.

Pei Shu’s body was thrown out by Ming Cheng’s spring-loaded false hands, half his body already over the cliff edge.

The cloaked man’s shower of ice and snow followed his falling trajectory, also covering half the cliff edge.

Ming Cheng laughed with a grating sound, wiping ice fragments from her face. Her sleeves fell, revealing only bare elbows remained of her hands. Iron springs extended from the center of her elbows—as for her hands, they were still on Pei Shu’s ankles, transformed into who knows what ghastly shape.

When she moved, the springs trembled, causing the two claws on Pei Shu’s ankles to shake as well. The cloaked man’s expression changed dramatically as he shouted, “Don’t move!”

Pei Shu suddenly burst into loud laughter in midair.

“Taking a wretch with me—truly unwilling!”

In his laughter, he pointed his sword at the cliff edge. The cliff was now covered in ice and snow—impossible for a person to climb, the sword couldn’t hold either, sliding to the bottom when touched. But Pei Shu borrowed this moment’s force to flip violently in midair.

Rather than trying to climb back up, he flipped in midair. His ankles connected to Ming Cheng’s arms—this flip immediately pulled Ming Cheng forward. She’d been prostrate on the ground, which was now covered in thick ice and snow. This slide was extremely fast. Before the cloaked man finished speaking, Ming Cheng had been pulled off the cliff by Pei Shu!

The cloaked man instinctively leaned forward but then his eyes flashed and he stopped himself.

In that instant he’d weighed everything—sacrificing the mostly useless Ming Cheng to kill Pei Shu, thereby alienating and even destroying Gong Yin and Jing Hengbo, was worth it.

But Ming Cheng, being such a person, was more alert than anyone at life-and-death moments. Evil understood evil—knowing the other wouldn’t save her, she immediately shouted as she slid out, “Only I know the other half!”

Others heard this as gibberish, but the cloaked man naturally understood—the other half of the founding empress’s tomb map was known only to Ming Cheng throughout the world.

Like a black cloud flashing past, the cloaked man finally flew out, reaching the cliff’s air space in a blink. By then Ming Cheng had already slid off the cliff, desperately using chains on her body to hook a protruding cliff stone. The chain bore two people’s weight, pulled taut, slowly cutting through Ming Cheng’s wounds again, severing her broken wrists once more. She screamed in agony, her whole body shaking as if about to fall any moment, yet refusing to let go.

But she couldn’t support this much longer—the chain was too thin to bear two people’s weight.

Fortunately the cloaked man arrived then. His left hand lifted Ming Cheng while his right hand shot flying knives, cutting the claw chain connecting Ming Cheng to Pei Shu’s ankles.

The moment the chain was cut, surprise flashed in his eyes—in that instant before he arrived, with Ming Cheng hanging with Pei Shu at cliff’s edge, Pei Shu had the chance to use Ming Cheng to flip back up the cliff. Why hadn’t he?

This thought flashed by as his knife shot out and the chain broke.

He threw Ming Cheng back onto the cliff. At the moment of throwing, the chain wasn’t completely severed when suddenly Pei Shu’s face appeared before him!

Pei Shu had actually used this throwing force to leap up from below the cliff, approaching him and immediately reaching to tear off his hood.

The cloaked man was alarmed but not flustered. At this moment came a light “clang”—the chain broke completely. The cloaked man’s free hand was already extending palm-first toward Pei Shu’s crown.

He stood on solid ground while Pei Shu was in midair. If Pei Shu didn’t want to die, he had to dodge first.

Who knew Pei Shu wouldn’t dodge, still reaching straight for his face. The cloaked man had to raise his head to avoid Pei Shu’s hand first.

With his head raised, his palm’s aim was off. That strike grazed Pei Shu’s cheek, hitting his shoulder instead.

“Rip!” Half the cloak tore away. Pei Shu laughed loudly, “Ah, so it’s you!”

Before his voice finished, he was already falling straight down.

The cloaked man rushed to the cliff edge, staring unblinkingly at Pei Shu’s figure. This time no more tricks occurred as he watched Pei Shu’s form pass through misty clouds and disappear.

The cloaked man still felt uneasy, thinking of Pei Shu’s last words—had he seen his face?

In that lightning instant, he couldn’t be certain whether he’d dodged or not. Cold light flashed in his eyes as he prepared to order subordinates to arrange ropes to search below, insisting on seeing the corpse.

Before turning to speak, he suddenly felt bone-chilling cold behind him, cleaving like a sword with indescribable speed. In a blink, his back hair stood on end.

This was natural warning of life-and-death danger!

He faintly heard Ming Cheng’s alarmed cry as his heart sank.

Slapping his palm on the cliff edge, his entire body flipped up. At the moment of rising, “rip”—his back cloak split completely into left and right halves like a pair of black wings fluttering in midair.

The black wings flashed down to the cliff, covering Ming Cheng’s frightened eyes. The next instant she was lifted as the cloaked man leaped into midair, plunging into the forest.

This series of actions was lightning fast. From beginning to end the cloaked man never looked back. By the time Gong Yin and Nan Jin arrived, the cliff was empty of people.

The two had seen figures moving on the mountain from afar and hurried over. Gong Yin caught a glimpse of that cloak and immediately struck, but the distance was too great for success.

Gong Yin wanted to follow up with another strike, but then he heard Pei Shu’s laughter from below the cliff.

The two swept to the cliff top, seeing ice and snow everywhere. Nan Jin’s expression had already changed. She crouched down, picked up an ice fragment to examine, and sneered, “Snow Mountain!”

The Long family and Snow Mountain martial arts shared the same source but were incompatible as fire and water. What Long family members hated most were Snow Mountain people.

One who could display this ice and snow true qi was definitely not an ordinary Snow Mountain disciple. Nan Jin didn’t say anything before turning to pursue.

Layer upon layer of ice and snow covered the cliff. Gong Yin swept to the edge to look down. Pei Shu’s laughter still echoed through the mountains and wilderness.

Gong Yin lay at the cliff edge in the same position as the cloaked man earlier, examining cliff edge traces and observing cliff vegetation, pondering whether Pei Shu had truly or falsely fallen. Suddenly he felt cold wind behind him, chopping down viciously.

“Whoosh!” White robes flew as Gong Yin flipped up and turned around in surprise—behind him, Meng Potian held a flat blade, her face full of shock and tear tracks, shouting loudly, “You!”

Gong Yin was also stunned, seeing the fury and killing intent in Meng Potian’s eyes. Connecting this to the recent situation, he suddenly felt this was bad. He couldn’t help saying, “Calm down. It wasn’t me.”

“I saw clearly—you struck, then I heard Pei Shu’s voice from below the cliff! He said ‘so it’s you!'” Meng Potian swung her great blade. “Who are you!”

Meng Potian had followed Pei Shu’s trail first, intending to take a shortcut to reach the Horizontal Halberd Army camp early, but found all directions surrounded by Yu Guangting’s forces. She had to cross through the mountains. As Gong Yin predicted, unfamiliar with the terrain, she got lost. She wandered back and forth on forked paths, sometimes going downhill, sometimes uphill. Several times she nearly reached Jing Hengbo’s camp but passed by, finally ending up back on the mountain. She’d followed sounds to find this cliff, arriving just one step behind Gong Yin—just in time to see Gong Yin strike and hear Pei Shu’s laughter from below.

Gong Yin recognized Meng Potian, but she didn’t recognize him. Though they’d had dealings in Tortoiseshell, Gong Yin had always changed his appearance without showing his true face. Though Meng Potian felt vaguely familiar now, in her urgent anger she couldn’t think carefully.

Gong Yin frowned—he wasn’t afraid of Meng Potian attacking, but feared her acting foolishly.

“Get out of the way!” Meng Potian had no heart to fight now, rushing straight to the cliff edge, lying down regardless to look. Evening mist was already rising with mountain fog thick—who knew how deep the cliff was? Where could Pei Shu still be seen? By feeling alone, this cliff was very deep—falling down would surely mean no survival.

Meng Potian stared blankly for a long time, then inserted her blade behind her back and grabbed the cliff edge with both hands, about to climb down.

A hand lifted her up. Gong Yin’s dark eyes met her angry and painfully shocked gaze. “The cliff edge is so slippery—don’t seek death.”

“Get lost!” Meng Potian drew her blade while suspended in midair.

A palm wind struck, sending her flying a zhang away. Meng Potian fell in a tumbling mess. With difficulty she raised her head to see a tall, thin woman standing a zhang away expressionlessly, wiping her hands with ice and snow.

This was naturally Nan Jin, who hadn’t caught the cloaked man and was full of fury. Seeing Meng Potian being disrespectful to Gong Yin, she struck without thinking—the man she couldn’t even approach, other women certainly couldn’t either.

As for Jing Hengbo, she didn’t count as a woman. She was a bewitching sorceress.

Meng Potian stared blankly for a while, then supported herself on her twin blades to stand, swaying as she pointed at the two. “Fine, I’m no match for you, and I won’t humiliate myself. But today’s blood feud cannot go unrevenged. If you have guts, wait for me!”

After speaking, she turned and left.

Nan Jin crossed her arms and sneered, her expression saying “all jianghu people make excuses like this.”

But Gong Yin was sighing—if he hadn’t guessed wrong, Meng Potian would definitely go find Jing Hengbo.

He could only follow with Nan Jin. Meng Potian ran down the mountain very fast—having grown up in mountains and wilderness, she was extremely skilled at climbing and leaping. To avoid being silenced by Gong Yin’s pair, she pulled an iron rope to traverse the mountain forest, swinging across mountain streams several times. This time her route was winding and twisted, yet she didn’t get lost.

Gong Yin had originally wanted to intercept her halfway—no matter what, first control this impulsive type like Pei Shu. But walking to mid-mountain, he suddenly sensed movement and discovered a force secretly infiltrating through mountain paths.

Without question, this was naturally Yu Guangting’s force. This man was cautious and cunning—receiving news that Jing Hengbo’s army was poisoned, he still didn’t relax. With his main army surrounding the mountain, he would surely attack from several points.

Gong Yin ordered Nan Jin to take a shortcut down the mountain to quickly notify Jing Hengbo, while he pretended to flee into the forest, appearing before that secret force. This force was led by a deputy general under Yu Guangting who recognized him as a strategist recently favored by the regent prince, but didn’t know of the regent prince’s recent suspicions about this gentleman. Hearing Gong Yin say he’d accompanied assassins to kill but accidentally got separated and now wished to guide the army to find the empress’s tent, they happily accepted.

As the army secretly advanced through the forest, Meng Potian, who’d been racing wildly, had already reached the empress’s camp. By now the soldiers had awakened and received urgent orders to ambush throughout the camp in combat readiness. Meng Potian’s sudden intrusion was taken as the regent prince’s scout, immediately captured and brought to Jing Hengbo’s tent.

Jing Hengbo was discussing tonight’s battle plans with subordinates—how to divide the Lin Prefecture noble private armies following the regent prince, how to give Yu Guangting a head-on blow. Turning to see Meng Potian standing at the tent entrance with a bruised face, she couldn’t help staring in amazement. “How did you get here?”

She knew Meng Potian was probably coming this way but hadn’t expected her so quickly. Looking her over, she asked in surprise, “How did you get so disheveled?”

Meng Potian stood gasping at the tent entrance, exhausted from the day’s ordeals and repeated blows. Having suffered rough treatment in this camp, her spirit was now depleted with no strength left to show off. She collapsed with a thud at Jing Hengbo’s knees. “Your Majesty, save Pei Shu! Save the young marshal!”

Jing Hengbo was startled, quickly helping her up to inquire. Meng Potian spoke urgently, focused only on her own account without noticing Jing Hengbo’s changing expression as she listened.

“…It was two people in white, a man and woman, both tall and thin, both highly skilled in martial arts. The woman was expressionless like wood, the man looked decent but cold, both using ice and snow type martial arts with the entire cliff covered in ice and snow—rather like the legendary Nine Heavens Gate techniques…”

“You must have seen wrong!” Jing Hengbo suddenly interrupted.

Meng Potian, who’d been immersed in her own thoughts and speaking torrentially, suddenly froze, mouth agape. “Huh?”

“These two people—impossible!” Jing Hengbo said decisively.

Meng Potian stared at her, her expression gradually changing.

“Empress,” she said slowly, “you know them?”

Jing Hengbo hesitated, thinking, then said, “You were far away at the time and probably didn’t see clearly. In any case, these two are impossible. How about this—I’ll go up with you first…”

“Your Majesty!” An officer urgently said, “You cannot leave now! On one hand there’s no one to command the army, on the other Yu Guangting has surely entered the mountain. If Your Majesty enters the mountain now and runs into them head-on, it’s too dangerous!”

Jing Hengbo frowned in difficulty. She couldn’t ignore Pei Shu’s life, but these thousands of soldiers were also lives. At this crucial moment of battle between two armies, if she left with Pei Shu also absent, the entire army would have no commander and would surely be slaughtered by Yu Guangting. That was also thousands of lives!

What could she do?

Pei Shu… would Pei Shu really die so easily from others’ schemes? A hundred-battle general, golden war god, with dozens of campaigns with almost no defeats, having experienced countless life-and-death dangers, and a cunning strategist—would such a person be so easily killed?

Meng Potian pulled at her sleeve, looking at her pleadingly. Seeing Jing Hengbo’s troubled expression, her own face gradually hardened.

“You won’t go, will you?”

“Potian…”

Meng Potian laughed coldly.

“I was presumptuous. What kind of person is Her Majesty the Empress—how could she risk danger for a subordinate? Pei Shu’s utter loyalty to you, fighting through life and death for you—that’s what he chose to do. Ultimately you indeed needn’t care about him.” She drew her twin blades, their edges reflecting her suddenly cold gaze. “Life and death reveal the heart—nothing more than this. If Your Majesty won’t go, then don’t go. But surely you’ll agree to one small request of mine?”

“Potian,” Jing Hengbo sighed. “Don’t rush to explode. Wait for me—there’s something suspicious about this matter. Let me think how to arrange…”

“Lend me your army’s strongest crossbows, most deadly poisons, most formidable elite troops.” Meng Potian interrupted. “You can agree to this much, surely? After all, Pei Shu is worth your saving. Your kingdom still needs him to fight for it, doesn’t it?”

Jing Hengbo had no mood to calculate her sarcasm, staring at her to ask, “What do you want these for?”

“To kill people, naturally.” Meng Potian said resolutely. “Whoever harmed him, I’ll kill them.”

“No!” Jing Hengbo’s tone was even more decisive than hers. “Potian, I said it’s impossible for those two people. You misunderstood!”

“You keep saying I misunderstood—I saw with my own eyes yet you dare say I misunderstood!” Meng Potian grew agitated, raising her twin blades. “You weren’t at the scene—what right do you have to say I misunderstood?”

“Based on my understanding of those two! They wouldn’t!”

“So understanding—who are they!”

Jing Hengbo turned her head away.

Meng Potian turned to leave. “If you won’t give them, I’ll go kill them myself!” After two steps, “Bah! Heartless woman!”

“Stop!” Jing Hengbo’s color changed dramatically. “Seize her—don’t let her run around!”

“Jing Hengbo, don’t go too far!” Meng Potian suddenly leaped up, dashing to her side. “How Pei Shu treated you, you know yourself! Now he’s in trouble—you won’t go yourself, won’t send people to help me, and won’t let me seek revenge. How can there be such a heartless, ungrateful woman as you in this world!”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t care about him!”

“Then send people to help me take revenge!”

“They’re not the killers!”

“If not them, then who! On what basis do you trust them so much without even seeing for yourself?”

“Because he’s Gong Yin! He simply wouldn’t stoop to such things!”

…

Deathly silence.

After a moment, Meng Potian laughed strangely.

“Oh… Gong Yin… the great State Preceptor Gong, the great Emperor Gong, your legendary lover who exiled you yet remains entangled with you.” Meng Potian nodded repeatedly. “No wonder you protect him without distinguishing right from wrong, no wonder you don’t believe me though I saw with my own eyes, no wonder you abandon Pei Shu and refuse to help me—so it’s your lover who killed his rival, and you, the loving one, naturally understand your lover’s difficulties and must protect him at all costs. One less Pei Shu doesn’t matter, but one less Gong Yin—who would you share intimate nights with in future?”

“Potian!” Jing Hengbo’s face had also turned pale. “Do you think you’re writing stories? Where do all these irrelevant things come from? I said there’s something suspicious about this matter—why can’t you calm down and think?”

“Think what! Think about how many pieces Pei Shu should be in now? I saw it with my own eyes—what more thinking is needed?”

“Haven’t you heard that seeing isn’t always believing?”

“My eyes aren’t blind!”

“You wait—I’ll go look with you right now!”

“No need! Since it’s Gong Yin, bringing you would just be delivering sheep to tigers!” Meng Potian’s twin blades flashed as a section of fabric floated to the ground.

Jing Hengbo looked at that piece of fabric landing on her shoe, somewhat dazed.

What did this mean?

That… severing robes and breaking ties?

“Jing Hengbo, you can choose to believe and protect your lover—that’s your right. But I choose to avenge the person I like—you have no right to control me. Today I sever robes and break ties with you. I’m leaving immediately. Either let me go, or take my life!”

Jing Hengbo stared at that piece of cloth, her heart in chaos—what was all this?

Meng Potian’s twin blades rang together with a clear sound. She turned to leave.

The guards at the tent entrance moved to block her, but Jing Hengbo wearily waved her hand.

With such deep misunderstanding, forcing her to stay would only deepen the misunderstanding. With Potian’s unyielding temperament, pressing her further would truly result in bloodshed on the spot.

Earlier on the mountain, what exactly had happened? How had it become like this?

Meng Potian’s figure disappeared on the mountain path. Jing Hengbo was about to follow when suddenly there was commotion outside.

A figure flashed as Nan Jin appeared before her, saying expressionlessly, “A secret army has come around from behind the mountain.”

“Report—” A messenger ran up breathlessly, slightly tense. “Your Majesty! Yu Guangting’s army has appeared ahead!”

Jing Hengbo rubbed her forehead with a severe headache.

She couldn’t leave now. She could only order a team of soldiers skilled at mountain travel to follow Meng Potian as much as possible and thoroughly search the scene for Pei Shu, while she dealt with the urgent military situation at hand.

With armies approaching on this side and Meng Potian racing up the mountain on the other, those soldiers couldn’t possibly catch up to her and quickly lost her trail.

Meng Potian climbed the mountain in one breath, running to that empty cliff edge. Seeing the setting sun had fallen with ice and snow unmelted, the ground in chaos, her heart ached and she couldn’t help but collapse, tears falling.

She sat in the ice and snow, not feeling cold. Silent tears fell for a while—crying for Pei Shu’s tragedy, crying for Jing Hengbo’s heartlessness, crying that Pei Shu gave so much yet couldn’t get one bit of Jing Hengbo’s true heart, crying that she followed Pei Shu so devotedly yet couldn’t get one glance from him, crying for the world’s romantic entanglements—he loved her, she loved him, she didn’t love him, he didn’t love her… all confused, all incomplete—all unsatisfactory, all unwilling, all unfulfilled, all unaccomplished. In the end, an empty cliff remained with friends scattered, the beloved lost, and oneself alone.

Crying until tears dried and heart grayed, she stared blankly at stars gradually appearing in the sky. It was said that after death people became stars in the sky—those who died at similar times would be close as stars. If she couldn’t walk close to his side in this life, perhaps gaining eternal companionship after death would fulfill her dreams and not waste this life.

Thinking this, she suddenly didn’t feel sorrowful anymore. Instead, faint joy welled up in her heart as if happiness was within reach, needing only determination.

Miss Meng Six had been doted on by her father since childhood, acting as she pleased, doing whatever she thought of without hesitation or delay.

She stood up, wiped her tears, and without wasting words, smiled at the black clouds and thin mist below.

In the haze she seemed to see Pei Shu’s smiling face in the clouds and mist.

It was a warm expression she’d waited for and longed for.

“Mm.” She sniffled, spread her arms, and shouted loudly below, “I’m! Coming!”

One step forward.

Heaven and earth lost weight.

Wind like knives slashed past her ears as the cliff flipped overhead and clouds and mist rose before her eyes.

In the last moment before losing consciousness, she thought she seemed to, perhaps, maybe, possibly…

Heard a loud curse.